Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

Isaac regained some consciousness, rubbed his aching head, and looked at the burly man in front of him, asking, "Oh, it's you. What happened?"

"It's nothing, but if you don't get up at this hour, you might get a scolding from your superior," Bakania laughed. "Don't forget, we Brix Army can't let our guard down for a moment."

“That’s true.” Isaac’s head still ached. “What exactly did you guys give me to drink yesterday?”

"Wine."

"What kind of wine is this? I still have a headache."

“Just a regular bottle of wine, this is it.” Baccania took a bottle of wine out of his coat pocket and handed it to Isaac.

Isaac didn't read what was written on it, but one sign caught his attention:

96% Vol

"What the hell did you give me to drink?!"

“This is a Brix tradition, and you’ll have to go through this sooner or later.”

Bakania pretended to be insightful and worldly-wise, but Isaac still caught the glint of a suppressed laugh on his face.

"Bullshit! You bunch of animals, you did this on purpose, didn't you?!"

"Who told you to get promoted so quickly!"

"You've told the truth, haven't you! You bunch of bastards!" The two immediately started arguing.

Isaac had already put the dream he had just had out of his mind.

--------------

"That concludes the story of my 'dream'."

Now, Isaac has finished telling his story to Hohenheim.

Chapter 384: The Spy Satellite Manufacturing Program

"My story is finished."

Isaac talked for so long about the last 'dream' that he didn't notice the sky outside the window gradually darkening.

“You mean… the ‘dream’ you experienced a few years ago wasn’t actually a dream? But something that really happened?” Hohenheim asked.

Isaac nodded and said, "That's exactly what I mean. I heard from my superior earlier that I experienced strange phenomena during a certain period of time, which basically proves that... my consciousness was swapped with someone else's."

"The person you're talking about... is it 'Alan Jaeger' from your story?"

“Yes.” Isaac’s expression had been very serious since the beginning. “I do have some kind of connection with this child named Allen.”

After a pause, Isaac continued, "And based on your previous description, I also roughly know that the so-called world inside the walls is the people that King Karl Fritz brought there a hundred years ago."

“That is indeed a possibility.” Hohenheim also began to recall what King Karl had said to him when they first met.

"This world is about to end, and I need to take a small group of people to Paradise. Will you help me, Alchemist?"

'We are sinners…'

……

Isaac looked at Hohenheim, who was lost in memories, and waved his hand in front of him: "Hohenheim, what is the 'doomsday' that King Fritz mentioned?"

“At first I thought it was the little man in the bottle, but now it seems that’s not the case,” Hohenheim said uncertainly. “It’s probably related to their legendary ‘demon of the earth’.”

Everything in the world must follow the principle of equivalent exchange. Their ancestors obtained the power to crush human civilization, and the price they paid was bound to be high.

After thinking for a moment, Isaac shrugged and gave up: "Never mind, none of that matters. What we need now is to know the current state of the island."

"Did you not dream about that place again afterward?"

“Yes, as I just said, that was the last ‘dream,’ and naturally, we haven’t made any contact with that place since,” Isaac said. “However, what we do know is that the people on that island have always lived a peaceful life and are not our enemies for the time being. But just in case, it’s still better to keep an eye on them.”

"What do you plan to do?" Hohenheim asked curiously.

"First, we need to know the location of that island... By the way, do you know Hohenheim?"

"I don't know. King Fritz never told me where that island was. I only know that the island's name seems to be Paradis." Hohenheim couldn't offer any help either.

"Whatever, let's make a prediction then."

As he spoke, Isaac took a world map out of his briefcase and placed it on the table.

"How can this be predicted?"

“Of course,” Isaac said confidently, picking up a pen and starting to doodle on the map. “First of all, I always switch consciousness with Allen in the middle of the night while I’m sleeping, and the time there is always in the afternoon, so we can determine that there is a ‘time difference’ between us.”

As he spoke, he drew a vertical line on the map.

“That determines the longitude,” Isaac said. “Plus, the climate there is humid and cold, and the river’s flow deflects to the right, proving it’s in the Southern Hemisphere. So, this is roughly the location.”

Isaac drew a horizontal line.

The two lines intersect at a point not far south of the Marleyan Empire.

"As expected, the Marleyan Empire's giant weapons must be connected to Paradis Island."

Are you planning to send investigators there?

“Our country doesn’t even have a port right now, and there’s an international conference coming up soon. We have a lot of things to deal with afterwards, so we don’t have any free time,” Isaac said, putting away the map.

There are too many things to do right now, so the Paradis Island matter has to wait.

“And once the spy satellite is built, the situation there will be clear at a glance,” Isaac said with a smile, standing up to say goodbye. “Thank you for chatting with me for so long, I also have my own work to do.”

“Oh, then I won’t keep you.” Hohenheim laughed. “I’ve heard about Edward and Alphonse. They’re always causing trouble, aren’t they?”

"It's alright, I'll enjoy being young and lively for a while longer."

After a few brief pleasantries, Isaac left Rockbell's workshop, and Hohenheim resumed his aimless reading. Having dedicated centuries to battling the Men in Bottles, he could finally relax.

-

Inside the Fifth Research Institute in Central City, a large number of staff members in white coats were busy working.

This is the first time the research institute has been so bustling since it was abandoned for a period of time and then put back into use.

"Director Chiju, are you sure that rockets can be built?" a staff member asked Chiju Natsuyo, who was also wearing a white coat next to him.

Shortly after arriving at the Fifth Research Institute, Natsume Senju took over as director, and everyone there was required to cooperate with her research.

“Yes, and this is also part of Mr. Isaac’s plan,” said Chizu Natsuyo. “How many alchemists do we have here?”

After working at the research institute for a few days, she discovered that the alchemists of this country were simply unbeatable. What would normally require a lot of time to make materials was just a matter of drawing a few transmutation circles here, and the external structure of the rocket was completed in just a few days.

Similarly, these alchemists were also curious about computers, which could calculate extremely complex data at such a fast speed.

Alchemy combined with modern technology has formed the current Fifth Research Institute.

"Including Mr. Tucker, our institute has a total of twenty alchemists and one state alchemist," the staff member said. "Fortunately, this is a national research institute; otherwise, we might not have so many alchemists willing to come here."

"Hmm." Chishou Natsuyo nodded, then tilted her head to look at the design drawings in her hand.

There is no doubt that this rocket belongs to the category of launch vehicles, and what it carries is naturally an artificial satellite.

As for the development of artificial satellites, Sumire Muroto was in charge.

"Are you sure you're okay? Didn't you say I needed to bring your workstation over before I could do my research?" Isaac asked from the side.

Sumire Muroto continued typing without turning around: "This kind of old-fashioned spy satellite doesn't need to go through all this trouble. I can make it with my existing computer."

At this point, she sighed: "Speaking of which, I taught Xia Shi all his knowledge, so why is he the director while I'm just a researcher?"

“There’s nothing we can do about it. She was chosen by hundreds of people at the research institute to be the director,” Isaac said helplessly. “Although their reasons for choosing her were things like ‘The director is so cute!’”

Chapter 385: Weapon Development & International Conference

There are two days left until the international conference begins.

In preparation for the subsequent colonial operations against Japan, Isaac specially transferred about 5,000 people from the military to the new country for specialized training in amphibious warfare.

Although Japan is currently a weak nation with low industrial capacity, and the Kabane are tough-skinned and unintelligent creatures, they should not be underestimated. We must strive to minimize our losses.

"Despise the enemy strategically, but take them seriously tactically." This is a quote Isaac read about from a great Chinese figure in the last century, meaning that one must establish an unwavering belief in victory from a holistic perspective. However, in specific operational deployments, one should be cautious and make prudent decisions.

Isaac himself has always admired this great man.

Isaac originally wanted to build aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft, but his current computer, which was only used for Steam, was completely incapable of producing such advanced carrier-based aircraft. Although it was an advanced computer from 2031, it could only run some AAA games, and it was still a bit of a stretch to use it for weapons development.

At least some of the air data processing computers that are carried on advanced aircraft cannot be manufactured.

Even so, he still developed an aircraft that can be used in combat today—the A-10 attack aircraft.

At the very edge of Central City stands a massive factory, which currently belongs to the weapons development department of Isaac Future Technologies.

Right now, Isaac is showing the weapon to Olivia at his factory.

"The A-10 attack aircraft has a top speed of subsonic and carries six air-to-ground missiles and two air-to-air missiles," Isaac said.

"The GAU 'Avenger' machine gun mounted on this machine has a maximum rate of fire of 4200+ rounds per minute, and its ammunition consists entirely of depleted uranium armor-piercing rounds and high-explosive incendiary rounds in a 4:1 ratio. Not to mention the Kabane, even the armored divisions of the Dorakma are no match for us."

This depleted uranium armor-piercing round was a favorite of Isaac's. Theoretically, it could penetrate 55mm of uniform steel armor at a distance of 1200 meters. Most tanks of that era would be like paper in front of it. In addition, with the high-explosive incendiary round mixed in, armor-piercing and explosive destruction could be completed instantly.

"Not bad." Olivia looked at the aircraft with a rugged appearance in front of her with satisfaction. It was very different from the foreign aircraft she had seen before.

"So, sir, I'd like to send a large number of alchemists to produce this type of aircraft before we officially go to Japan, but not many, five hundred will be enough."

“Granted.” Olivia agreed. “You can select five hundred pilots and give them specialized training.”

"learn."

“By the way, the location of this international meeting is within the territory of the Kingdom of Albion, so we may have to go out to sea.” Olivia said with some difficulty, “What should we do then? Should we use the ports of the new country?”

"Let's go by plane."

"what?"

“That brings us to our next product,” Isaac said with a smile.

He led Olivia to an object covered by a curtain.

"This is what I'm going to introduce next, the AH-64 attack helicopter!" The curtain was lifted, and a majestic helicopter was quietly parked there.

"...You've produced so many weapons in just a few days!"

"I had no choice but to accept the situation," Isaac said with a smile.

The current international situation is not favorable for Amnestos. Not only is it surrounded by three neighboring countries, but it also has to deal with the repercussions of the previous hydrogen bomb attack. Strengthening its military capabilities now is also a precautionary measure.

Now we're just waiting for the international conference in two days.