Marvel: The Alchemist Just Wants a Peaceful Life.

Chapter 102 Asgard's Cultural Discontinuity

One thing that must be said is that Western countries, or rather, the mythological systems based on Western cultural symbols, or even real-world countries, really don't have much of a food culture.

Basically, every three sentences revolve around roasting meat and stewing vegetables, which are essentially just three cooking methods: roasting over a fire, stewing in water, or steaming.

Even a divine realm like Asgard cannot escape this curse, and even more so, it has implemented these three cooking methods more thoroughly. After all, Asgard did not have the culinary culture passed down from the rabbits, so it was impossible for them to know the essence of stir-frying.

This led to a situation where, in the eyes of the Ancient One and Sherlock, two Earthlings, the Asgardian luncheon, apart from the unique ingredients, offered virtually no surprises.

What? You mean Doro? This little foodie never cares about surprises or anything like that; as long as it tastes good and he's full, that's all that matters.

What Sherlock found less pleasant was that Odin and Frigga's gazes were almost entirely fixed on Doro throughout the entire gathering, giving off a strangely grandparent-grandchild vibe.

This made Sherlock feel extremely threatened, and he even began to regret bringing Doro to Asgard.

After the luncheon, Sherlock finally understood why he felt that flutter in his heart when he looked at the Ancient One.

It's true that the Ancient One came to confront Odin, but with the help of Sherlock, the alchemist, the Ancient One's negotiations were very successful. Odin not only relinquished ownership of the Destroyer armor, but also "humiliatingly" agreed to allow Sherlock to open the Asgardian library to him for a month.

Simply put, for a whole month, Sherlock could freely learn all the magical technologies of Asgard in the library.

No one can stop Sherlock from learning; even the core technologies of Asgard are fully open to Sherlock!

It will be a month later before the Ancient One comes to take Sherlock back to Earth, and throughout the entire process, no one in Asgard can do anything to stop him.

How could Odin, an old man, agree to such a treaty that Shylock considered "humiliating and detrimental to the nation" without any objection?

Not only did they agree, but none of the Asgardians in the entire hall seemed to find anything amiss!

Upon learning this news, Sherlock's uneasy feeling intensified, yet he couldn't find any reason to refute the unease he felt, as if he had been tricked.

This made Sherlock feel extremely uncomfortable.

In particular, when the Ancient One was about to leave after the luncheon, she jokingly told Sherlock to study hard, but she didn't tell Sherlock what had happened, which made Sherlock even more upset.

As for why Sherlock didn't refuse such a condition?

It's simple, Sherlock really can't refuse, because he's genuinely craving the alchemy and runes from Asgard's magical technology.

What puzzled Sherlock was that after sending the Ancient One away, Odin almost immediately had Frigga and Thor take Sherlock to the library, even giving Sherlock a feeling of impatience.

Is this compensation really fair?

Sherlock's head was filled with more and more questions.

However, after Sherlock entered the library and secluded himself there for a whole week to study Asgardian magic and technology, he finally understood what this awkward feeling was all about.

"Ancient One! You fucking screwed me over again!!!"

Early in the morning, a roar came from the library of the Asgardian palace, clearly indicating that Sherlock had finally discovered the truth inside the library.

The truth is actually quite simple: it is because alchemists are so rare that Odin values ​​Sherlock so highly.

It is no exaggeration to say that there are only a handful of people in the entire universe who can master alchemy, and without exception, they have all become so-called masters.

Alchemists like Sherlock, who can easily perform human transmutation and appear to succeed, are fewer than one hand's worth in the entire universe's time dimension!

The so-called magical technology of Asgard is nothing more than a pseudo-alchemy created by forcibly imitating alchemy through magical loops.

When Sherlock analyzed the Meowth Hammer, the complex arrays and runes within it were essentially just imitations of alchemy.

Without understanding this magical technology, Sherlock would feel that the array of runes and magic patterns that constructed the Meow Hammer was extremely powerful.

However, after Sherlock spent a full week learning systematically here, he realized that compared to real alchemy, the magical technology contained in the Meowth Hammer contained far too much redundant and obsolete code.

To use a somewhat inappropriate analogy, if we compare a magical item to a computer, then alchemy can essentially modify the 0s and 1s, while magical technology can only be modified using programming languages.

Its upper limit is locked; it can only be said to be infinitely close to the essence of 0 and 1 in alchemy, but it can never reach the level of directly manipulating 0 and 1.

Of course, this doesn't mean that magic and technology are weak. On the contrary, the ideas and experiences that Asgard has developed over so many years to become an interstellar civilization are definitely something Sherlock should learn from.

However, whenever Sherlock thinks about how he marveled at the advanced design of the Meow Meow Hammer when he was analyzing it, he feels an urge to smash his head against his own head.

It can only be said that he suffered from a lack of cultural knowledge. If he had been more knowledgeable back then and could have seen through the redundant designs in the Mjolnir, Sherlock wouldn't have been tricked by the Ancient One again like this today.

The reason why Sherlock said he had been tricked by that bastard Ancient One again is quite simple.

Inside the library, Sherlock discovered blueprints for a wide variety of things, from the overall structure of Asgard to the design of the Mjolnir and Stormbreaker.

Sherlock discovered that many of these items were covered in dust and had not been touched at all.

This means that many things here have not been maintained for a long time!

Sherlock initially thought he had guessed wrong. After all, a behemoth like Asgard couldn't possibly have a population of soldiers who were all muscle and thus lost their cultural heritage, could it?

However, to Sherlock's utter surprise, things really were just like that!

Odin was somewhat impatient because he wanted Sherlock to figure these things out so that he could carry out a maintenance of the entire Asgard.

As for why things turned out this way, we have to mention Odin's personality in his youth: he valued military prowess over civil affairs and loved to wage war everywhere.

In short, it's no exaggeration to say that it was all Old Deng's own doing.

Giving Sherlock access to Asgard's magical technology was simply one of the prices Odin paid to protect Asgard.

You might say, "Aren't the Meowth Hammer and the Stormbreaker weapons designed by dwarves?"

That's right, these dwarves are already considered the top craftsmen in all of Asgard!

Or to be more precise, these dwarves were merely skilled workers.

Whether it's the design blueprints for the Stormbreaker or the already manufactured Meowth Hammer, they are all legacies left by their predecessors.

To put it simply, Asgard is now very much like NASA in the United States. It has the blueprints for a rocket that can land on the moon, but it ends up being unable to understand or build it.

Of course, at present, it is only Sherlock's guess that Odin wants to make Sherlock a laborer, but even if it is true, Sherlock feels that there is a lot of room for maneuver in this matter.

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