The Alchemist's Guide to Flesh and Blood Ascension

Yunevo lowered his arms from his embrace, leaped off the boulder, looked at the gargoyle still in a mage's salute, and chuckled: "Tedes, it's extending an invitation to a duel between mages... Will you accept?"

Tedes paused for a moment, then gripped his staff, took a step forward, and solemnly responded with the same mage's salute.

The gargoyle slowly raised its head, the purple light of the anti-magic stone in its chest dimming. It adjusted its breathing, then raised its scarred right arm, its five fingers loosely clenched.

In the air, residual moisture and ice crystals condensed into a spear in its hand, rough and solid...

Without the slightest hesitation, Tedes slammed his staff into the ground, and the crystal at the tip of the staff lit up with a ghostly blue tidal pattern, which converged into a rapier several meters long in front of him.

Needless to say.

As the gargoyle thrust its spear forward, the ice spear silently pierced the air... leaving only a trail of frost at its tip!

Tedes' eyes narrowed, and the water blade collided with the ice spear!

The ice spear shattered inch by inch, the water blade turned into mist and dissipated, the gargoyle staggered back a few steps, sat down on the ground, and let out a soft laugh.

The outcome is decided.

Frosty rain fell all over the ground...

Tedes bowed slightly, accepting the gargoyle's nod of approval.

"Thank you..." The gargoyle looked at everyone, its eyes now filled with only two perfectly calm white soul flames.

Its voice was clear and deep, with a tone that had a texture like the friction of rocks.

"But before I disappear, I think there are some 'truths'... that I should tell you."

The gargoyle dragged its entire body with both hands, moving towards the depths of the hall... to an inconspicuous corner.

There, dozens of irregularly shaped white stones were piled up.

Each piece resembles the body of a curled-up gargoyle.

That was a grave, a mound of bones piled up with the remains of their own kind.

It struggled to its feet, then slowly knelt before the tomb, gently stroking the foremost stone as if afraid of waking the sleeping creature.

"Family members...family members were locked up together and fought each other."

The gargoyle paused for a long time...

"We were told that only those who survived... were qualified 'weapons'."

Fragments of memory flooded into everyone's consciousness along with its sound...

In the enclosed, dark space, dozens of gargoyles of various shapes roared and attacked each other...

Even if it's unbearable, even if it's not something we want to do... the church will always find a way.

Gold and white snow fell on one side of the observation window...

On the other side, a white-robed figure from the church was taking notes with a charcoal pencil, his eyes indifferent.

"I won."

The gargoyle's voice was flat.

The laboratory was filled with many people in crimson robes, and the one in the lead... was Uriel, whose voice echoed: "The mages... their research on 'life' has overstepped God's will."

"So the experiment went out of control, and many people who knew about it died... The Church has long wanted to take action against the mages, and this is just one of thousands of excuses."

Therefore, the mages of Starmock were so resolute in their opposition to the Church—it was a blood feud! A blood feud that had nearly severed ties with the Church!

What the Church is trying to erase... is the emerging power of the mages, and also the most cutting-edge research in creationism.

That accident claimed the lives of countless scholars and craftsmen, and it also revealed the true nature of the church to the survivors…

The gargoyle no longer waited, but plunged its hands into its own chest... tearing its own body apart and ripping out that damned anti-magic stone!

It didn't turn back, but simply took out a piece of grayish-white, lustrous, jade-like rib.

"Thank you, I'm sorry..."

The instant the ribs were severed, the deathly gray rock-like material on its body rapidly solidified, spreading from its chest cavity to its limbs...

Finally, there was the deeply drooping head.

A tiny spark of soul fire flickered, then went out completely.

A single rib can bear immense weight.

Break the law and fortify the bones.

It wasn't named by the system; the moment it came into contact with the air... the name appeared in everyone's perception.

At the same time, a tattered manuscript was being pressed down by that rib, a fragment of a manuscript filled with evidence of the church's sins...

The stone statue remains kneeling with its hands outstretched, forever facing the direction of the victims.

Iseria pursed her lips, while Tedes lowered his staff and chanted something in a low voice—perhaps some kind of requiem, or perhaps a farewell message from a tide mage.

Yunevo slowly stepped forward, stopped in front of the stone statue, and held the two items in his palms... they were a little hot.

The tattered pages contained the intricate script characteristic of arcane engineering, some parts of which were scorched beyond recognition by the intense heat, but key passages remained clear, one section of which read…

Project Log Number: XII-07

Recorder: Dalk

Uriel today demanded that the "combat adaptability testing" be accelerated, which I opposed.

But he said, "The void is the best container to hold the will of the gods."

This is not a study about "creating life" at all.

We've all been fooled... They're trying to put life above all else.

Appendix: Sample number three exhibited unusual magical fluctuations today, coinciding with the timing of the injection of substances provided by the church. I have collected the sample and plan to hand it over to…

The diary entry ends here. Yunefu rolls up the tattered pages, along with the "Breaking the Law Bone," and puts them into his bosom.

He stood up, glanced at the kneeling stone statue, and turned to face his companion.

"We should go," his voice echoed clearly in the underground hall. "The truth should not remain stagnant here any longer."

"It's always been clear, hasn't it... Eunicev?" Iselia asked softly.

"It knows better than we do... what it should do."

Tedes finished his low chant, the crystal glow at the tip of his staff went out, and he walked to the tomb, placing a crystal with a tide pattern on the foremost gray stone.

Nehta, the ratman, dragged his now-dormant tail. His pointed face, unusually devoid of any playful expression, bent down, picked up a few pieces of dark gold that had crumbled from the ground, and carefully stuffed them into his pouch, muttering, "Souvenirs. Someone has to... remember what happened here."

Yonivore nodded, looked around at the underground space that buried so many secrets and sacrifices, and then took a deep look at the ground beneath his feet.

The elemental veins slowly resumed their flow, and the kneeling silhouette of the gargoyle was stretched long by the magical light...

When I pushed open the heavy oak door, the outside light stung my eyes, which had been exposed to darkness for so long.

Inside the school history museum, there was no one, only the portraits of the past principals seemed to be silently watching everything.

"What Uriel wants is an empty vessel to hold the gods," Yonevo whispered, "but his vessel... should ideally hold the ocean of truth."

He took the lead and disappeared into the ever-burning light of the Starmoke crystal tower, followed closely by the three behind him.

The heavy oak door closed silently, freezing and sealing away the underground tombs, statues, and echoing time.

The truth in their hands burned with desire, while the cultists stationed outside Stamock remained completely oblivious...