As for whether Stirling will offer other conditions besides points, Angel still doesn't know.
However, if Portia really asked him about the knowledge of exchanging life and converting magic patterns, he would have no choice but to ask Sterling...
Yes, he intended to ask in his own name.
As for the price, he must pay it.
After all, Mr. Kanter responded to his "shaking people" when he was in the Sea of Mist. Angel must repay this friendship.
"If I need to find Sterling later, I wonder if I can ask Antonio to contact him for me." Angel looked at Antonio.
Antonio nodded: "Of course, I believe Mr. Sterling will agree to meet."
This is not Antonio's deliberate boast. In the past few hundred years, whenever members of the R&D Institute came to Stirling, he never refused.
How can gathering wool from other wizards be as satisfying as gathering wool from the Research and Development Institute?
Therefore, if Sterling knew that Angel was looking for him, he would definitely agree to meet.
Angel: "Then I'll trouble you."
Antonio stroked his chest and said, "No need to be polite, it is my duty to serve the members of the R&D Institute."
Angel thanked Midora again. His proposal seemed to be the most feasible at the moment. As expected, it was definitely right to approach Midora regarding the research and development institute.
Midora smiled and said: "Then when you meet Portia next, do you need my help?"
It is said that it is a compliment, but in fact it is a plunder.
Moreover, with Midora present, Portia would probably not mention the matter of life alchemy.
This sounds like a good thing, but the presence of Midora may also make Portia wary. People who do bad things secretly are often more sensitive than others.
Although what Portia did was not completely forbidden, it was still taboo in the eyes of the general public.
Otherwise, Portia wouldn't have done it secretly in private.
Therefore, Angel thought for a while and rejected Midora's raiding formation.
He planned to talk to Portia head-on.
If Portia really can't reach an agreement at all, that's okay. Anyway, he has already got the news from Stirling and can take other paths.
Seeing that Angel insisted on meeting Portia alone, Midora did not dissuade him. As long as Angel was sure that he did not support Portia's involvement in the alchemy restricted area, it was no big deal for him to meet Portia alone.
Midora even felt a pity. If Angel hadn't been too young, he would have tried to see if he and Portia could be brought together. Under the nourishment of love, maybe Portia would gradually relax her desire for the alchemy of life?
But then again, although it is difficult to bring Angel and Portia together, we can also try other methods to stop Portia silently.
Although he is not as good at off-board moves as Dean Muse, he can still try.
While Medora was thinking about counterattacks against Portia, she said goodbye to Angel and temporarily walked out of the signal tower.
He did not leave immediately, but stayed at a nearby alchemy shop that he often visited. He planned to wait for Portia to leave before contacting Angel to see how far Portia had traveled on this road in the alchemy restricted area.
.
After Medora left, Antonio also left. However, before leaving, Antonio also helped contact Portia.
Portia happened to be in Fantasy Mechanical City, so it wouldn't take long to get to the signal tower.
Angel looked at the empty light screen opposite, silently waiting for Portia's arrival.
…
While waiting, Orao looked at Angel with the eyes of a curious baby: "Can I ask a question?"
In their previous conversation, Orao heard many questions that puzzled him, but he was too embarrassed to interrupt and held it back until now before he found the opportunity to ask.
Angel glanced at Orao and did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned off the "call" function of the light screen to prevent the conversation from being transmitted to the other side.
After doing all this, Angel nodded: "Okay."
Orao immediately came to Angel's side, bent down, and asked: "Just now I heard you guys say that the alchemy of life is a forbidden area for alchemy?"
"That's right." Angel said, taking a step back and looking up at Orao: "You'd better stay away from me. I'm not used to people talking while looking at the top of my head..."
The three-meter-tall Orao looked down at him even though he was bent over.
Before, they were a little far apart and didn't feel awkward. Now that they were in the same room, the awkward feeling came immediately.
Orao pressed his hat and took a few steps back obediently.
Orao: "Why is life alchemy a forbidden area for alchemy?"
Angel glanced at Orao in confusion: "Are you interested in this question?"
Orao scratched his hair under the brim of his hat: "I'm not interested... I just remember that Miss Margaret has been looking for a method of life alchemy for a while, and everyone in Naraku City knows about it."
Just because Orao knew about this, he was very puzzled: Tens of thousands of years ago, Margaret could openly search for life alchemy methods, but why has it become an alchemy forbidden zone now?
When Angel heard Orao's words, he was also stunned for a moment: "Margaret is looking for a method of life alchemy? Did you remember it wrong? It's not life alchemy, but biological alchemy, right?"
Bioalchemy and life alchemy are different.
Although bio-alchemy sounds a bit scary, it is actually a discipline with an extremely rigorous academic closed loop. But life alchemy is different, it involves the forbidden zone law in the lowest level logic of the world.
Bioalchemy focuses on transformation, while life alchemy focuses on... creation.
In the words of some religious fanatics - the creation of life belongs to the realm of "gods", and human beings are treasonous if they touch it.
Of course, wizards do not believe in gods, but based on the experiences summarized by countless predecessors, it is basically certain that the creation of intelligent life will definitely touch the Law of Depth, and everything related to the Law of Depth is absolutely forbidden.
Precisely because it is in an absolutely restricted area, the birth of Toby is still a miracle that cannot be replicated.
but--
Absolutely forbidden area does not mean that wizards dare not touch it.
Wizards are a group of people who pursue the truth. For the sake of truth, they can turn into moths to fight the fire one after another.
However, if you want to touch the absolute restricted area, you must meet two conditions, which are the "access thresholds".
Either you are powerful enough to withstand the dangers of countless Laws of Depth; or your breadth of knowledge is enough to analyze the secrets of the Law of Depth.
If one of these two conditions is not met and you touch the absolute restricted area, it will basically not end well.
The dead, the crazy, the mutated, even the ones who disappeared without a trace...these are all the consequences of touching the restricted area.
The original Ivo disappeared silently. Although he was accidentally found by Angel later and confirmed that he had lost all his memory and turned into a "plot NPC" in a disordered thing, it has to be said that this
The outcome is actually not that good.
It is precisely because the R&D Institute knows the horrors of the absolute restricted area that it reminds its members time and time again not to be contaminated.
However, there is no prohibition.
Some genius wizards often take a side road when they find it difficult to see the way forward.
This is true whether it was Ivo Spruit back then or Portia today.
While Angel's thoughts were circulating, Orao pondered for a moment and replied: "I am very sure that it is not biological alchemy, but life alchemy."
Angel was surprised for a moment, but quickly calmed down.
This answer is a bit surprising... but it makes sense.
Orao: "Did the alchemy circle also experience deviations over the past ten thousand years?"
Angel thought for a while and replied: "In terms of research and development trajectories, there is no deviation between the alchemy circle ten thousand years ago and the alchemy circle now. However, the overall background is still a little different."
"Ten thousand years ago, the Southern Territory was not cut off from the other three wizarding worlds. There was also a direct way to the source world. At the same time, legendary wizards emerged in large numbers." Angler paused: "Even miraculous wizards occasionally appeared in the Southern Territory.
.”
"In this context, life alchemy is a challenge, but it is not an absolute forbidden area."
There are two completely different situations between having a legendary wizard and not having a legendary wizard. A legendary wizard represents great strength and extremely profound knowledge.
The entry threshold for exploring the alchemy of life happens to be: strength is the sail and knowledge is the guidepost.
With such conditions, exploring the alchemy of life will naturally not become an absolute forbidden area. At most, it can be regarded as... an ordinary forbidden area. People are advised not to enter, but no one will care about you if you do enter.
After listening to Angel's explanation, Orao seemed to understand something: "I see, so it seems that the current alchemy circle is not as good as before?"
Angel: “If the environment is different, development will naturally be different.”
Angel's words sound very official, but in fact the key point he wants to express has already been stated: "environment" and "development".
Environment naturally refers to the general background. And development... Since it is development, it means a big step forward. No matter whether this step is wrong or right, at least it is progress.
Angel does not worship the past and belittle the present. Jon's enlightenment teaching gave him a more rational brain.
There is no point in comparing good and bad. Everything is just another template for the development of civilization.
He once talked with Frost and learned a lot of secrets. For example, even if the other three wizarding worlds had not severed their ties with the source world, their development in alchemy had not yet found any decent path.
Therefore, the existence or absence of life alchemy is not the criterion for judging the quality of the alchemy circle.
Even in the source world, life alchemy is something that very few people would explore, and it is a true field of genius.
"Compared with these, what I'm actually more curious about is, where has Margaret gone on the road to alchemy of life?" Angel looked at Orao.
Orao: "I don't know about this. However, as far as I know, Miss Margaret did not find the method of life alchemy before the accident in Naraku City."
Angel frowned: "Didn't find it? Didn't she find the magic energy array that converts matter into life?"
Angel was able to confirm that Margaret was an enchanted alchemist thousands of years ago. The various alchemy books he found in Margaret's boudoir in Naraku City in the Nightmare Realm all proved this conclusion.
Precisely because he knew that Margaret was an enchantment alchemist, Angel also understood that the life alchemy she was looking for must be a magic energy array that transforms matter into life.
——This is also what Portia wants Angel to help find. However, Portia does not know the existence of this magic energy array. She asked Angel to help find the relevant magic patterns, not the magic energy array.
"I am very sure that Miss Margaret has not been found." Orao confirmed again.
His words made Angel fall into deep thought for a long time.
Because, in the alchemy book Angel found in Naraku City in the Nightmare Realm, there were records of related magic energy arrays... and even more than one.
Angel knew that after the nightmare world reflected reality, many things would undergo surprising changes.
For example, the wise master of Naraku City in the Nightmare Realm is just a greedy three-eyed blue devil without any wisdom.
For another example, the Clear Sky Poetry Room in reality was the place where Augustine and Margaret had a tryst; but in the nightmare world, the Clear Sky Poetry Room had a horrific mutation! According to Augustine’s own account, he once went there
After passing Naraku City in the Nightmare Realm, I didn't dare to enter the Clear Sky Poetry Room inside, and I couldn't even get close enough to get a glimpse.
Although the nightmare world reflects reality, it is far higher than reality.
Angel knew that matter and life would undergo horrifying distortions in the nightmare world, but what he didn't expect was that even knowledge... could mutate.
Margaret did not find the method of life alchemy, but the "Basics of Alchemy" that Angel found in the nightmare world already contained the relevant magic energy array for turning matter into life.
And this is just the "basis" of alchemy.
You know, the knowledge that Angel remembers is not just "Basics of Alchemy"!
The more Angel gets to know the nightmare world, the more unfamiliar it becomes... Where does this power of reflecting and distorting reality come from?
Angel even thought about whether the nightmare world is the "mystery" itself?
After all, Angel had only seen this kind of completely illogical power on mysterious objects.
But the entire nightmare world is mysterious, which is obviously impossible...
Angel thought for a long time, but couldn't come up with any reasonable explanation. He simply shook his head and shook off all these complicated thoughts.
He is just a little wizard now, and if he thinks about a world far beyond his level, others will only laugh if they know about it.
Moreover, high-level knowledge will have high-level traps.
Therefore, the best way is not to think about it, so as not to fall into the pit.
After Angel gave up thinking about the nightmare world, a few minutes later, the picture on the light screen suddenly shook.
A witch wearing a witch's flower veil appeared in the picture.
The veil is very thin, and you can clearly see the witch's smile under the veil.
"Little brother Angel, we meet again."
Familiar taste, familiar name.
There is no doubt that the person coming is Portia.