Chapter 550 Who Do You Think I Am?

The decoration in Freya's room was completely different from what Aiwass had expected.

He had originally thought that Freya, as an alchemist, would be a very meticulous person. Not to mention that this villa was used not only as a residence but also as a research institute... Perhaps it would be bright and clean, with everything neatly arranged.

But once you get inside, you can definitely feel the atmosphere of a researcher, but it has nothing to do with being well-organized.

A single bed sat in the corner of the room, and next to it was a desk piled with books, documents, and reports. The quilt on the bed wasn't folded up at all, just casually thrown to the side.

There was no stool in front of the desk, and you could even see the traces of someone's butt sitting on the bed.

In contrast to the minimal living space, the room boasted a massive five-tiered shelf covering an entire wall. The left side was lined with books and documents, while the right side contained bottles and jars. The bottom shelf also contained a number of wooden boxes, some open and some closed, making it look like a warehouse.

In the middle of the room, there are two huge metal devices.

One is copper-colored, and it seems to be related to liquid, because it has a huge transparent spherical liquid container on its back, which is now empty, giving it a somewhat steampunk-style technological impression; the other is a long silver-white metal table like a cooking table, on which are placed various devices that are running fully automatically, which looks very modern.

Aiwass even noticed that, in the corner of the long table, which resembled a modern laboratory bench, were three round crucibles, seemingly unearthed from the ruins. Their shells were an impure black, made of something resembling smooth stone or dull metal. Inside, one was overflowing with an ominous green liquid, bubbling and bubbling.

And on the floor below each instrument, there is a circular ritual array carved.

Beneath the smoking containers, ritual formations were in operation. They shone with a rainbow of colors, and vaguely visible hemispherical protective shields formed in the distorted air, completely isolating the inner and outer environments.

In the corner of the other side, a low metal stove sat horizontally. It looked quite ugly. Its black iron shell was about six or seven meters long, only half a meter high and less than a meter wide. A warm fire glowed inside, and it was unclear what was burning.

"...So this is the Great Alchemist's workshop?"

Aiwass murmured.

The interior is a patchwork of styles. From the outside, the pure wooden villa looks quite beautiful, and even the entrance and the living room are full of artistic style. But once you enter the largest master bedroom, you will find it is a mess.

But Freya was quite proud of it. "These are all great things. All my hard work and collections over the years are here. I've been meticulously designing this system for several years, and now it's finally running stably."

As she spoke, she introduced her proud laboratory one by one. "This magic furnace is a second-hand core component of the Lightforge Furnace that I found while doing business with the dwarves in the Everfrost Empire. I modified the fuel system so that it can now be connected to the giant tree and use the blood of the sacred tree as fuel."

"……ah?"

Freya's first words stunned Aiwass: "Isn't this illegal?"

Is this considered... stealing electricity?

The Light Forge Furnace, just by the sound of it, consumes a lot of energy. And then Freya directly uses the blood of the Holy Tree as fuel...

"No problem."

Freya said confidently, "I specifically asked about this. The Fifth Ring is the research area. I have a quota here... I reduced the operating power consumption of the furnace, and it is definitely running stably below the maximum permitted limit."

She became very happy when she said this. That feeling even reminded Aiwass of Yulia, who was also studying alchemy.

Are all alchemists of this style?

"With this Lightforge Furnace, I can automatically power these ritual arrays without the need for materials, and evenly supply energy to these devices. You can't see the wires because I've hidden them beneath the floor. When I need to change the wiring, I just pry up the floorboards and make the changes. Anyway, this house is alive; once the floorboards are put down, they'll heal on their own."

Freya said this, and excitedly took Aiwass to the huge brass instrument.

It was about two and a half meters tall, with the console roughly at Aiwas's face. To operate it, Freya had even made a box to serve as a footrest.

She stroked the device and boasted, "I found this in the ruins on the sixth floor. This is ancient elven technology, used to extract the blood of the sacred tree to provide a portable energy source. I feel it can also be used to efficiently refine other liquids. I spent a lot of favors to get it."

"Once this thing is running, it can separate fifty liters of liquid as needed. Pretty impressive, right? Many plant essences that are hard to buy outside—those extremely refined essential oils that require botanists at the second or even third energy levels to create—can be produced with it, saving a lot of money. There's no need to use refining to separate and purify layer by layer, saving a lot of time..."

"So how many times did it take you to get it down after you asked me to do it?"

Master Janice on the side complained quietly.

"That's quite a few times," Freya argued. "It's mainly because there's no small size of this thing. It can extract 50 liters of liquid at a time, but I usually only use a few milliliters.

"This machine's extraction and purification efficiency surpasses the combined efforts of three third-level botanists and three second-level alchemists working day and night in three shifts. It's definitely a good thing, but I can't fully utilize its effectiveness."

"If you ask me, it's useless. It's better to get rid of it quickly."

Yannis commented sharply, "It takes up too much space and uses too much energy—why warm it up if you never use it?"

"You don't understand. Once this ancient technology is completely shut down, it may not work even after being restarted. When I got it, it took me about half a month to open it. With technology that was obsolete over two thousand years ago, I doubt many elf craftsmen today would be able to repair it. Keeping it running is the only way to extend its lifespan."

Freya even stopped trying to force a conversation with Aiwass and turned to discuss it seriously with Janice. "Apart from anything else, if such a good thing breaks down in my hands... so even if it's not very useful, it should at least be maintained. After all, it used the blood of the Holy Tree two thousand years ago, and the fuel used now is similar, so the operating environment is very stable."

"Elf ruins?"

Sherlock was a little confused: "Why does the Theocracy have such things?"

"oh."

Freya turned around and looked at Sherlock, her tone and attitude suddenly became cold.

The temperament at that moment even reminded Aiwas of the fake smile on Professor Moriarty's face.

She pushed her glasses and explained, "Because the Theocracy wasn't a 'Theocracy' from the beginning. Elves aren't like humans, possessing all the adaptability of the nine great paths, but they're not purely devoted creatures either.

"Besides the path of devotion, elves possess a strong affinity for balance and adaptability to the twilight. They also possess a modicum of beauty, love, and wisdom. This means that in their original form, elven society must have developed a balanced balance of the three paths—which in turn meant that ancient elves must have excelled in alchemy and necromancy. However, they later abruptly abandoned a significant portion of their heritage and embarked on the path of a religious state centered on devotion.

"But the Dusk Path means engraving. The elves cannot destroy history, so they can only store it aside. These are the ruins of the sixth and seventh floors. There are many abandoned traditions and technologies inside. You can enter and visit, but generally you are not allowed to take anything away."

...Necromancer?

Aiwass was listening at the side and suddenly realized.

He had indeed forgotten about it.

Given the elves' adaptability to the Path of Balance and Twilight, under normal circumstances, they should develop a brilliant alchemical civilization, and they should also be very proficient in necromancy and preservation.

But in reality, the elves abandoned almost all of their technology almost two thousand years ago, and completely gave up the tradition of necromancy and preservation...

In the 13th ring, there are many cultural specimens preserved, including many elven technologies that Aiwas has never heard of.

...If you think about it carefully, all the high-quality underwear popular in the world today comes from elf craftsmanship.

That is why the pure, soft and tough consecrated silk is called "elf silk".

In addition to stockings, there are also sleeves, underwear, hats, and surcoats, all of which are considered the clothing of high-ranking clergy and preserved. However, with the alchemical technology of this era, it is difficult to mass-produce clothing of this quality... Not to mention that this has been very popular since at least the Imperial Era.

From this perspective, could it be that human alchemy, necromancy, and preservation techniques actually come from the inheritance of elves?

Think about the ancient races of the same period, whether it's dwarves, giants, dragons, lizardmen, or snakemen, none of them seem to be very good at these things. Even if those technologies were reinvented, the elves, who lived longer and were more adaptable, should have invented the same things.

While Aiwass was thinking, Sherlock asked, "Then how did you take it away?"

"I?"

Freya chuckled, but her smirk showed no joy at all.

It was a fake smile similar to Professor Moriarty's, yet in some ways completely opposite. Professor Moriarty's fake smile was completely invisible. Only those with keen intuition could sense a hint of danger, but Freya's smile made it clear to everyone that she wasn't trying to smile at all.

"Because I made the elves an offer they couldn't refuse."

She smiled and replied, "I promise to use this device to develop drugs that can slow down or even cure amber syndrome."

"…Treatment for Amber Syndrome?"

Lily couldn't help but ask, "Can you really do it?"

"Of course. Who do you think I am?"

Freya looked at Lily, and the smile on her face became a little more genuine.

She gently stroked her unusually soft golden hair and said in an unquestionable tone: "I am Freya Moreu, the one who reverses life and death! I am the daughter of James Moriarty!

"Because I'm a genius! I am a genius!"

(End of this chapter)