The Alchemist's Guide to Flesh and Blood Ascension

The texture of the crystal wall travels through your fingertips.

Cold and rough, just like a night in the Morse Desert.

"Iseria, can you hear me?" Yunevo removed his mask and called out to the other side of the crystal wall, but the beige-haired girl on the other side just stared at him blankly, looking somewhat anxious.

The sound was as if it had hit a perfectly bouncing "slime block," passing by his ear without any loss, and disappearing into the deserted street corner.

Could there be a vacuum-like medium inside?

As if to prove his conjecture, he stretched out his hand and tapped three long and one short signal above his head with his knuckles—the code he had agreed upon with Iseria back in Starmoke, meaning "all is well".

The medium used is also uncertain... but there is no vibration when it is struck. The only thing that is certain is that this thing cannot transmit sound.

Opposite to Yunevo, Iseria also pressed herself against the crystal wall, frantically patting its smooth, scorching surface. Her mouth opened and closed, as if she were repeatedly calling out the name of the black-robed alchemist.

But soon, she also noticed something was wrong, so she forced herself to calm down like Yonivore, took several deep breaths, and then forced a smile at the person on the other side of the crystal wall.

Yunevo gently patted his chest to reassure Iselia, then began to think of words that might describe everything.

Parallel mirror image? Opposite world?

This thing looks like the yin and yang fish in a tai chi symbol...

If you add the tactile feel of the crystal wall, then it truly is a yin within yang, and yang within yin.

But what was the purpose of the "Holy Remains" in designing all of this?

Yunevo sat down facing the crystal wall, pinched his cheek, and looked at Iseria opposite him, who was imitating him so well, and chuckled.

Yes, the most urgent task is to re-establish contact with Iseria—any form of effective communication will do.

Iseria's side was night, while his side was day.

According to what the "holy remains" once said, if this place is regarded as the boundary between the past and the present existing simultaneously, then one's own position is undoubtedly the past.

The span of time... So what in oneself can transcend time?

The potion would evaporate, the mark would be corroded by wind and sand, and then buried underground along with the relocation of the capital in Zerhalan.

A gentle breeze, carrying warmth, swept by, bringing with it the grassy, ​​dried scent of the ground plants that filled Yonivore's nostrils.

Without water, these withered grasses will also be ravaged by the scorching sun and die, with only plants like cacti surviving in the end.

cactus?

Yunefu couldn't help but think of the sea buckthorn demons, those drought-resistant monsters that resembled giant cacti, possessing characteristics extremely similar to cacti.

Their root systems are more extensive and distributed in both shallow and deep layers of sand...

Even if the seabuckthorn demon dies, its roots still survive underground, living freely.

Perhaps I can do something about this and leave some traces that transcend time on the [Root of the Desert].

……

At Iseria's side, the fair-haired girl was hugging her knees, obediently watching Yunevo's every move.

Of course, she couldn't help but think about it too...

"How can I contact Yunevo?" Iseria muttered to herself, the cold night wind making her lean closer to the crystal wall, which was the only "heat source".

She tried knocking on the crystal wall, then lowered her head in frustration: "Ugh... why can't even a sound get through?"

"Use ether."

The familiar voice of Yunevo seemed to echo in Iseria's ears.

The pale-haired girl looked up in surprise, only to find that the black-robed alchemist had somehow crouched on the ground, continuously channeling magical energy into the ground at a strange frequency.

She asked Yonivore on the other end of the line in a normal voice, "Can...you hear me?"

But the black-robed alchemist did not react.

Iseria sighed, the word "ether" seemed to linger in her ears for a long time. She patted the dust off her robes and looked up at the bright moon in the sky.

"Ether...?"

When Little Ether was swept away by that strange obelisk, his emotions were like... like the feeling of "reunion after a long separation" that Eunice described when he met the sixth ratman.

Could she ask the little "ethers" to communicate with those little things... and eventually strike up a conversation with Eunicev?

Immediately, Iseria's right arm emitted bursts of blue light.

Upon first entering Morse, after encountering the "Iron Sand Demon Armor" with Junevo...

He said there might be a curse, those dark things.

So at that moment, Iseria secretly set aside an "Ether" squad to protect him and mark him.

That way, you won't get lost in the vast desert...

After accepting those bounties, Iseria discovered that the little "ethers" were helping her gradually understand what Yunevo was thinking and why he did what he did.

This is why their tacit understanding improved so rapidly.

But now, she never expected that this "Ether" team would become the "key to victory" at this moment.

Iselia heard Yunevo's heartbeat.

A connection that transcends time and space... has been achieved.

"Iseria?" Yunevo asked tentatively.

"I...I can hear you," the pale-haired girl's voice trembled slightly.

"Thank you for your hard work. The purpose of that 'Holy Remains'... is to see our 'cooperative ability'," Yunevo said, then stepped onto a stone slab.

At the same time, the crisp sound of the stone slab shattering reached their ears, on Iseria's side...

A broken lamppost spanning the street lit up with unusual purplish-red runes, then turned to ashes and vanished in the next moment.

"Keep moving forward, and if nothing unexpected happens... the surrounding environment will provide something to keep me going," Yonivo continued to instruct.

Sure enough, Iseria soon spotted a brand-new stone slab with a completely different color. Without hesitation, she followed Yonevo's example and carefully stepped onto it.

Eunice had almost forgotten when was the last time he had placed his complete trust in someone...

Even while hunting Ironcore Ancient Trees in the Wayne Forest, he maintained a slight suspicion throughout—collecting his companions' pheromones back then wasn't just for the "selection" of breaking the great array...

Therefore, it was actually hard for Yonivo to believe that he would entrust his trust to a girl he had only known for half a year.

Ah... Yonevo, Yonevo, you've become weaker.

The black-robed alchemist joked about himself, yet he followed the guiding "etheric light" without hesitation...

Facing the increasingly unpredictable two-person collaboration.