——Thank you, everyone. We spent a long time in the top ten of the monthly ticket leaderboard today, and the gap isn't large, so let's keep pushing for more monthly ticket support.
Also, considering the recovery of my update schedule and story continuity, tonight's second chapter will be delayed to eleven thirty. It'll be a big five-thousand-word chapter—that is, I'm moving tomorrow morning's update to tonight, totaling nine thousand words, equivalent to three chapters.
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Under the gaze of numerous Archanists, Ravendy stood behind the experimental apparatus and launched straight into the topic without any preamble: "In the legends of the elves, dragons, humans, and other intelligent races, the world's beginnings are strikingly similar: lightning flashing, thunder roaring, volcanoes erupting, floods raging. Even the Church, which we despise the most, has similar descriptions in its Holy Scripture. After the debate over whether the substances of life could be artificially synthesized emerged, certain senior Archanists of the Elemental Will were inspired and proposed a hypothesis—why don't we simulate that kind of environment? Let's see what actually happens under such natural conditions."
Though his voice was deliberately kept low, everyone could hear the excitement he was trying to conceal.
As he mused, Felipe turned to look at Lucian and saw that his expression was grave and focused, watching intently—he seemed to have no clear idea what the experiment was about. "It probably wasn't him. If he had this kind of conclusive result, he would have thrown it out long ago. Why would it fall to me?"
The other Archanists had similar thoughts. After all, this had been the central topic of discussion for some time, and Ravendy had directly stated he'd been inspired by it, so they began whispering among themselves.
"What kind of substances of life will form?"
"Methane, most likely? Many places with volcanic eruptions produce this substance, though it's generally believed to come from decaying plant matter buried underground, ejected by the eruption."
"So this eliminates the interference of living organisms like plants and produces it from the most primordial natural environment?"
The Archanists below buzzed with discussion, while outside the main hall's entrance, among the servants awaiting orders, Nicola and Valente used every ounce of their strength to suppress their fury and keep their emotions steady enough not to be detected by the high-ranking Archanists.
"These accursed, blasphemous dark magicians—they dare to intrude further into God's domain! Everything was caused by that blasphemer Felipe! It's all his fault—he must be purged!"
Pinning down their Divine Arts aura and power with special sacred artifacts, the two of them resembled ordinary people. Under the old mage Funn's arrangements, they had infiltrated the Saliwa estate half a day early and now stood alongside the other servants in the early spring chill, waiting beside the main gate.
Only when the magic apprentices who oversaw them gave orders could they carry in hot water, towels, and the like.
Who could have known that before they even found an opportunity, they watched Ravendy step onto the platform and heard him describe the experiment, nearly losing control of the blazing rage in their hearts and offering themselves up for the Lord.
"Quiet—please, everyone, be quiet!" Ravendy's resonant voice silenced the murmuring in the hall.
After sweeping his gaze across the hall, Ravendy continued: "Based on gas analysis near volcanic eruption sites and analysis of the elemental composition of substances of life, we will feed absolutely pure water, hydrogen, methane, and ammonia into this experimental apparatus."
"The methane is artificially synthesized from carbon combustion gas passed through hydrogen with the aid of a catalyst… and the final injection ratios were selected from numerous control experiments we conducted simultaneously."
Watching Ravendy activate the alchemy circle to artificially prepare ammonia and methane, Tina Dimos, Felipe, and the other Archanists began to lose track of exactly what substance he intended to produce.
The artificial synthesis of methane should have been significant as one piece of evidence in a series that disproved the doctrine of vital force, yet Ravendy's manner suggested he was casually preparing some minor thing in his arcane laboratory—hardly worth mentioning.
In the quiet yet puzzled atmosphere, Ravendy methodically synthesized the gases, step by deliberate step.
"So methane really can be produced from non-living matter—it's no longer something only decaying corpses and certain bacteria can generate…" After some time, witnessing Ravendy calmly mix the newly prepared gas with hydrogen in precise proportions and feed it into the glass flask at the upper left of the apparatus, many necromancers couldn't help but sigh inwardly. In the span of just over a week, so many of their long-held beliefs had been ruthlessly overturned.
Before the injection, Ravendy had not only used his own magic circle to verify that no other gases were present, but also had Pesor, Felipe, and others confirm it with their own identification spells, ensuring the experimental results were genuine and reliable.
This meticulous attitude only heightened the Archanists' curiosity. Ravendy then injected pure water, produced by burning hydrogen and oxygen, into the glass flask at the lower left.
"The experimental conditions and materials are now prepared—all things commonly found in natural environments. Now, let us begin the formal experiment." Ravendy activated the magic circle, causing continuous electric sparks to appear inside the upper left flask. "This simulates lightning."
"And this simulates the high temperatures of volcanic eruptions and the raging floods." As he explained, Ravendy activated the alchemy circle surrounding the lower right flask.
He then opened the valve on the connecting tube, linking the entire apparatus. The pure water in the lower right flask evaporated under high temperatures, traveled through the tube into the upper left flask, met the gas mixture, and was shrouded in the ceaselessly flickering "lightning." After a period of time, the naturally condensed water flowed back through the lower tubes and other parts of the apparatus into the water-filled flask.
Seeing the complete cycle established, Ravendy stepped off the platform and activated the surrounding protective magic circles: "This will take approximately one week. I'm activating the circles, and I'd also like all of you Archanist to place your own unique Magic Seals around the apparatus, to prevent any human interference during this period."
"Approximately one week? What on earth is this supposed to do?" The Archanists were utterly baffled about the experiment's purpose. Timothy, refined and scholarly with his gold-rimmed spectacles, offered a quip: "Is a baby going to be born inside? So it needs that long to gestate?"
The necromancers paid no mind to this obvious joke. Human transmutation was already extraordinarily complex—even setting aside the matter of the soul, more complicated substances of life didn't just produce themselves so easily! Far too little of a substance of life came out of such a simple experiment.
Ravendy nodded solemnly: "Yes, approximately one week. In the meantime, we can discuss the matter of alchemical substances aiding plant growth. The rooms on the upper four floors of this main hall and the buildings behind it are sufficient for everyone's use. I'd also ask that you all help supervise the independent, objective operation of this magic circle."
The puzzled Pesor, Roderigo, and the others sent transmission spells to consult the nearby Lord of Lost Souls, then agreed to Ravendy's request—they themselves were deeply curious about what this primordial environment simulation could actually prove.
Exirion and Elstine, seated beside Lucian, were quite interested in natural and primordial matters, but their understanding of arcane experimentation was cursory at best. They had no way of guessing what this simulated primordial natural environment experiment was truly attempting to achieve. So curiosity overwhelmed distaste, and they turned to Lucian: "Mr. Evans, what were the senior Archanists of your Elemental Will trying to prove with this experiment?"