Alchemists do not need self-cultivation

"There shouldn't be any combat missions next, right?" Violet asked. "The lieutenant general can also take a good rest for a while."

The previous operations in Tep City, the mission to establish diplomatic relations with the new country, and the deployment of troops to Al-Lugo and Japan were all happening in quick succession, leaving Isaac with absolutely no time to rest.

“I should be able to take a good rest for a while,” Isaac said with a smile. “I remember I still owe you a few dates, right? I’ll go to my superior’s office in a couple of days to apply for leave, and we can go on a trip abroad together for a while.”

Violet was stunned by Isaac's words.

This seems to be one of the very few times he has proactively asked to put aside his work to take her out for fun.

"Where would you like to go? I'll go back and plan the route."

“I want to… go to Leidenscheft.” Violet smiled warmly. “That’s where I met the lieutenant general.”

"I'll listen to you."

“Speaking of which, what should we do with Miss Nameless?” Violet suddenly remembered that there was another nameless person. “She’s still a child. If we’re all gone, who will take care of her?”

"Oh yeah..."

Isaac then realized that Wuming was only twelve years old, and it seemed unreasonable to bring her to Amestris and then not take care of her.

“Let’s find someone to take care of her temporarily, since she spends most of her time at school anyway.” Isaac stood up after thinking for a moment. “I’ll go back to Dongfang City to do some final things, and then I’ll ask my superior for leave.”

"Then I'll wait for you." Violet smiled as she watched Isaac walk out the door.

He still needs to devour the last android—Gluttony.

Chapter 462: Anomaly

Inside the Central Command laboratory, Gratoni was still strapped to the experimental table.

This short, obese android, even after months without food, maintained its spherical shape. Although forcing him to go without food for months as part of gluttony was tantamount to torture, it couldn't kill him.

Then came the sound of footsteps.

As if sensing Isaac's presence, Gratoni, who had been somewhat listless, suddenly became agitated.

"Isaac...I'm going to eat you!!!"

Swish!

Without saying a word, Isaac drew his saber and chopped off his head.

The round head fell off the lab table and turned into a wisp of smoke, and then a new head grew from the broken neck.

He was glaring angrily at Isaac.

“Don’t look at me like that. This is what happened when you went against humanity.” Isaac looked at Gratoni with icy eyes. “Whether it’s you, Raste, or even your father, the Man in the Bottle, destruction was inevitable.”

As he spoke, the shadow beneath his feet transformed into hundreds of sharp blades that pierced into Gratoni's obese body.

"Ah!!!" The intense pain made the fat man scream.

"Relax, it will be over soon."

Isaac's consciousness once again entered his subconscious.

……

In this blood-red space, he saw Gratoni struggling incessantly, but his body was still torn to pieces by the soul storm, turning into a Philosopher's Stone and disappearing here.

Just as the Philosopher's Stone merged into this space, Isaac suddenly felt a faint sense of hunger.

"Is this the aftereffect of devouring Gratoni?"

Ignoring the hunger, Isaac focused on the changes in his body.

However, apart from a slightly heightened sense of smell, nothing else changed. The fake Gate of Truth within Gratoni, which he desired, also failed to appear.

"Could it be that the Gate to False Truth isn't here?" Isaac then began searching within this space of consciousness.

The space is mostly composed of the souls of humans who have become Philosopher's Stones, and the storm formed by millions of souls is truly spectacular.

Most of them are from the Tokyo district of the previous world, who were trapped here after being turned into Philosopher's Stones by the Land Transformation Array.

"That can't be right, where did they go?"

As Isaac searched through millions of souls, a bright light caught his attention.

A door stood right in the center of the storm of souls.

The Kabbalah tree of life pattern on the door indicates that this is the door to the forged truth that Isaac is looking for.

"Hahahaha, I've finally found you."

With a maniacal smile on his face, he touched the door.

However, the anomaly occurred at this moment.

The previously closed door suddenly opened, and the enormous suction force absorbed all the souls in the consciousness space, including Isaac's consciousness, which was captured by this powerful suction force.

"What's going on!"

Isaac, in his consciousness, was unable to resist the suction force and was pulled in completely.

……

In reality, Gratoni was nowhere to be seen on the lab table, while Isaac was kneeling on the ground, clutching his heart.

His forehead was covered in sweat, and red lightning occasionally crackled from his body.

“Damn, we were a bit too confident.” Isaac endured the excruciating pain all over his body, but a maniacal smile still lingered on his face. “But it’s interesting. This power that humans cannot control is truly fascinating.”

The laboratory lights began to flicker, and sparks kept popping out from the interfaces.

Gradually, Isaac's body began to disintegrate as the electricity wrapped around him began to spread, starting with his hands and feet, then his torso, and finally his head, which was completely destroyed by the electricity.

The commotion in the laboratory subsided, but the place was now deserted.

"Truth, I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I think I've died again."

In the white space, Isaac and Truth sat face to face on the floor.

Truth covered her face, which already had no face to begin with, with her hands. "Have you become addicted to coming here?"

"Do me a favor, Matthew."

"Don't call me by that name."

Truth looked at the grinning Isaac with a hint of helplessness. He understood that the alchemist in front of him was not afraid of the situation.

"Take a look behind you first."

Upon hearing this from Truth, Isaac turned around and saw two identical Gates of Truth behind him.

"So, I succeeded?"

"You have indeed successfully integrated this false Gate of Truth into your soul, but such power is not something a human can withstand," Truth said. "You seem to have become somewhat arrogant, alchemist."

“Arrogance is an exaggeration, but greed is certainly real,” Isaac laughed. “How am I supposed to get back this time? It seems my Philosopher’s Stone has been taken by the fake Gate of Truth.”

Without these Philosopher's Stones, he could not reconstruct his physical body.

"There's no other way, how about you stay here with me?"

"No way! I promised Violet I'd go on a trip with her!"

As he spoke, Isaac stood up and kicked the huge false gate of truth in front of him.

"I get bored when you don't spend time with me."

"At worst, I'll give you my computer. It has a Steam account with 2000 games on it, so you won't get bored."

Truth glanced at Isaac, and finally sighed.

"Then we can only use the original method."

"Huh?" Isaac asked in confusion, "Go through the 'gate' to the next world to collect the Philosopher's Stone again?"

“You don’t need to collect the Philosopher’s Stones again. As long as you gain a new physical body, your Philosopher’s Stones will function normally,” Truth explained. “And your False Truth Gate will also work.”

"That's great, I'll head over now."

As Isaac spoke, he prepared to open the Gate of Truth, but then stopped when he placed his hand on it.

"what happened?"

"I promised Violet I'd go on a trip with her when I got back, so I was wondering how long it would take for me to go and come back?"

He spent three months in the previous world, but more than seven months in Amestris, which proves that the flow of time is different in each world.

He didn't know how long it would take to return from a random world.

“Don’t worry, I’ll compress the timeline here, so you can go without worry,” Zhenli said. “This is the first and last time I’ll help you.”

Thanks a lot!

Upon hearing this, Isaac opened the enormous door of truth and walked deeper into it.

In the white space, truth remains once again.

“This time, things are very different from last time.” Truth suddenly grinned as he said this. “But I believe you will still surprise me, you mad alchemist.”

Volume Four (End)

Volume 5: The Crowd

Reminder before the start of Volume 5

Firstly, after being reminded by fellow readers, it seems that Volume 4, which is used to lay the groundwork for the subsequent plot, has become somewhat boring. However, this volume is necessary for the sake of the plot arrangements later on. For example, Attack on Titan and Princess Principle only introduced the characters without developing the plot. I also didn't write about the 'Battle of Unato' in Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (because it hasn't been released yet).

So I apologize in advance to all the readers who were bored.

Now let's talk about Volume 5.

This volume will be one of the darker volumes in the book, with the protagonist's evil and madness only increasing compared to the Black Bullet volume (for example, in the game Taiwu Scroll, the faction changes from 'I am the only one' to 'reputable'). Although it is still a lighthearted story, I would like to remind everyone to be prepared.

that's all.

Chapter 463: I, Isaac, am 12 years old.

There is a villa located in the suburbs surrounding Manhattan, New York.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, causing the sleeping boy to frown.

"Isaac, it's time to get up."

A somewhat bland female voice reached the boy's ears, but he still showed no intention of waking up.