Chapter 255 - Failed replica

The alchemical values of this needle universe were well-developed, and therefore, hyper-specific. He needed specific ingredients if he was to make potions, which may be a daunting task, considering that he needed to collect weeds as well, on top of other things. All of the weeds here were crimson red, so he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart from one another, not without racking up some experience first, at least. He couldn’t skip this part, regardless of how high his IQ was.

The only comforting thing out of this topic was that the alchemical lab in the basement was whole, and it was ready to be used. All he needed were the proper ingredients, and this task was quite difficult itself, so he decided to put it aside for now.

“Phantom Alchemy is looking a lot easier in comparison. I had all the ingredients on a shelf back there, but here, I have to collect a bunch of red, bastarding plants myself!” He thought, and he only got more and more irritated.

Anyway, another book that he grabbed reminded him of one of the other tasks that was in his mind. Now he didn’t understand this book all that much, but there were pictures drawn in it, and these pictures gestured towards the magical branch of telekinesis! Judging from the pictures, telekinetic abilities were mainly passed genetically, which meant that they were genetically mixed in one’s DNA, so it wasn’t as easy to steal the powers of a telekinetic mage, certainly not!

Powers that were passed genetically weren’t rare, it was a very common phenomenon, but telekinetic powers were far more complex in comparison, they were unique. However, he also wanted to figure out the exact boundaries it had, he wanted to see if such abilities were truly exclusive to certain mages! If they weren’t, he’d have a new ability added to his arsenal very soon.

Timothy had already figured out the mana patterns within telekinetic abilities, and now, there was only the matter of creating one for himself! He figured that there were numerous types of such abilities, even though the common observer may think otherwise.

“Exploding organs is probably an advanced move, so I shouldn’t start with that.” He thought, “Telekinesis is pretty new to me.”

Timothy wanted to give it a shot, however, he also didn’t want to abandon the books of this library and what they might contain, so he looked for the rest of the team, and got them to read any of the remaining books, and they were to decipher whatever texts they could understand. The library here was very small, so it shouldn’t take long for three active readers to find something interesting!

“Read anything you can, it doesn’t have to be about alchemy. If you find something that talks about the passing of time, then we would hit the jackpot!” He guided them.

Skendus had a knack for weird things, and he was an illusionist too, so he might understand these uncommon books better. Ortana herself used to be a plant before she started her shape-shifting journey, so in this case, she might help figure out numerous alchemical recipes, because she’d be able to recognize species of weeds and plants better than anyone else! He was right to put the two of them into work.

Anyway, Tim pushed his chair away from the table where they’ve read books on, just so he’d be more loose, and more free to give his plan a shot. To get things started, he summoned a blank, pale essence where he could draw mana channels on.

“Okay… let’s see if I can get this right.” He muttered, and for once, he was nervous about such a task. In his head, this was quite an important experiment!

Timothy drew a circle first, as this was the main, inner feature of this branch of magic. Afterwards, he drew something that looked much like the letter S across the circle, right in the middle of it, and this itself was now considered a telekinetic circle. After this, he had to create more of such circles, and intertwine them in ways where they would look balanced, and would grant him a new, usable ability!

Logically, he made a replica of the ability that he had already studied, the one belonging to that ability fragment. It was safer to tie the mana channels together on that basis, and he did exactly that.

Timothy then tried to absorb the ability, assuming that he created a whole one for himself, however, it didn’t work. The new ability refused to enter his body, and all of a sudden, the essence that carried the ability, dissipated.

“Well fuck,” He grunted, “This is the first fucking time my body rejected something that I made.”

The group watched him, and they were as surprised as he was. Though they could not understand his process as much as he did, they still were aware that something went wrong. They couldn’t help him either, because their individual MQ’s were too low.

[The ability rejected you,] The system beeped, [It bounced off of your skin as if you were a gross, sea cucumber.]

“Why?” He asked, and he noticed that Skendus was trying to hold his laughter in.

[Mana always reacts to one’s physical body, it’s the way it goes. In this case, the mana patterns you created, failed to cooperate with your body, so there must be a certain physical, or genetic necessary threshold you’d need if you’re to absorb the ability! Your best shot is to keep studying it, because I do not have an answer for you.] She added.

“You’re making me think that I should've eaten the flesh of that old bastard or something. I’m not so keen on eating humans, system.” He communicated.

The system assured him that eating the flesh of those telekinetic mages would’ve been useless, so now, he was back to step one. He didn’t know how to absorb telekinetic abilities, even though he replicated one of them using his own mana channels! He was stunned.

“Bloody hell, this is a tough one! I’ll be able to understand this universes’ weird time flow before I understand the biology riddled behind this fucking telekinesis. What’s the big deal anyway!? It’s not like I could lift a whale through telekinesis!” He held his forehead.