God, this erudition makes chemistry easy. By specifying the items I can create, I can effectively isolate anything by using it as material.

"Construct!" Parts of the wooden door dissolved in the air as it reformed into a smaller box, it has a protrusion that was made of glass. Arise poured Iodine on the glass compartment of the box. The yellow fumes were swept away from the table.

Then, he slowly poured the clear sulfuric acid into the flask. He added the saltpeter to the acid. As soon as the substance touched the acid, it sputtered violently. Turning into a yellow liquid as the acid consumed the saltpeter.

Moments later, Arise used the theory of creation and separated the potassium bisulfate from the mixture. The flask flashed in a yellow light as the yellow liquid turned into a glimmering gold, the light formed into a ball outside the flask and transfigured into white flaky sphere.

Hazel wondered what Arise was doing. He was sitting in the corner for the past twenty minutes. She saw the various reactions of the substances, she could not help but ask. "You're quite adept in alchemy, I did not know that."

As Arise put the powdered silver in the nitric acid solution, the yellowish liquid shifted to a crystal clear solution. "I am, though what I'm doing is beyond alchemy." Even though alchemy was the forefather of chemistry, his processes were far different than what alchemists did in the 1600s.

Arise took a deep breath, purple energy flowed throughout his body like water. Channeling it, changing its shape and direction. Arise mused.

I never tried using fulmonology before. Frankly, I'm scared, I saw Mel being hurt by her own magic… I don't want to electrocute myself.

He poured the silver nitrate onto a plate, followed by copper sheets.

Here goes nothing.

As he his breathing thumped in rhythm, with his left finger as anode and right as cathode. Forks of electricity erupted from his fingertips. Arcing created a pattern of fractal in the air. It tingled on Arise's skin as the electricity ran rampant.

Touching the copper plates with his left finger, the electricity ran wild, like an overactive child as his right finger touched the solution. Gradually, the copper plates turned into a shiny silver sheen. Arise smiled as he saw the finished product.

He lifted the mirrors from the solution and washed them with water. Dripping wet as it lustered into a silver sheen.

Perfect, now I could polish it even more.

Using a bristle brush, Arise polished the mirror. It glimmered like diamonds as it reflected an inverted version the young man.

The orange candlight pierced through veil of darkness, as Arise analyzed the mirror he made, something was caught in the corner of his eyes.

It was an inverted version of the room, the table filled with a messy collection of documents, the bed where the woman and Hazel sat, the cages of the transfigured monsters. At first, it wasn't that strange, he noticed a few doors present than where it should not be. Then, Hazel and the woman stood with a sinister smile.

Arise glanced behind him. The doors were not present in the background, only Hazel, who smiled at Arise. He smiled back as he returned his gaze to the mirror.

Odd… that's not how a mirror works…. What are those phantom doors in the mirror

As his gaze returned to the mirror, a young man stood between Hazel and Arise. His face was obscured with the looming darkness, twitching violently as if he was a bad code.

He stood confidently, his spine straigthened out. His lab-coat like outfit fluttered in an ethereal manner while he fidgetted his white collar.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

I remember him, he was there in that bar... Is he related to our transmigration?

Arise looked behind him again, it was just an empty piece of the room, illuminated by the candle.

As he observed the glitching man in the room, he had pulled a card from his breast pocket, and it was caught between his slender fingers. It looked brand new, clear as it glitched with the man. Even if he could not see his face, he smiled.

Jack of Hearts

What does that mean? Why is he present here, why is holding a Jack of Hearts card… aren't those from Earth?

Jack of Hearts, one of the highest cards in the heart deck. In tarot, it was described as a youthful man with a budding feeling. It was symbol of new beginnings of love and affection. Arise never believed in cartomancy or tarot, he thought all of them were bogus.

So, he had no idea what the man meant.

The card flared up, the young man nodded as he smiled at Arise. His eyes widened in suprise as the mirro suddenly tarnished

It twisted like taffy, warped beyond repair. The man vanished from the reflection as Arise scrambled to see him with the other mirror.

Damn it…

His thoughts were suddenly muddied by the apparition, yet he decided to shove it inside his head. He was not important at the moment, Arise needed the daguerreotype as soon as possible. Their limit was the sundown.

So he continued what he started, not thinking of the young man.

One by one, he put the mirror plates on the wooden box.

As the iodine hits the mirror, I'll remove it.

Purple fumes rose like a balloon, sullying the clear mirror.

The resulting mirror was plated with a dull cheese like yellow layer, over the reflective surface of the mirror. Arise placed it inside a dark wooden box as he continued to expose the other mirrors to the vapor.

Arise stood up, he called Hazel. "Hazel, can you use Gabriel's flame?"

He looked around the barely lit dungeon, the monsters rattled in their cages.

"On it."

Pwshhh!

Hazel blew on the aetheric energy on her hand as a condensed ball of flames emitted a bright flash like the sun. It pierced through the darkness festering on the corner of the dungeon.

The rough wooden camera obscura rubbed through his fingertips, as he slid the mirrors against the radiance of Gabriel's flame. He finally made the most complex invention in Tellus.

The daguerreotype camera.

This camera was widely used in the 1840s, it was made by Louis Daguerre. It works by absorbing light using a photosensitive chemical using silver mirrors. This creates a monochrome color with more details that was not available with traditional painting.

It was the perfect tool to capture and freeze anything in time. Arise stood on the monster cages, he was shaky like a twig. He removed the cap from the lens and stood still.

Moments later, Arise removed the mirror and confined it inside a dark box. He loaded it again with another.

Encapsulating the horrors the duke had done, it was the best course of action they could get. Even though Hazel does not understand what Arise was doing, she continued to provide light for him.

I just need to expose this to mercury vapor. Then, we have incriminating evidence against the duke.

From the monsters, to the paper logs, Arise made sure to capture all of it.

He felt like a detective, analyzing evidence and preserving it. He felt so proud of his work.

"What is that?" Hazel asked, she had no clue what a camera was. She thought it was some sort of magic device that Arise had made from alchemy. In essense, she was not wrong, but to Arise it goes further than that.

"It's called a camera, it projects what you see into a flat surface like painting, but fast and more detailed."

Hazel mouth parted, she was in awe by what she heard from. A painting much faster and detailed? It sounds impossible, even with magic. Yet, Arise claimed to have made such contraptions, even in this perilous situation. She could not believe it.

It was worth to put her trust in Arise, for the better or worst.

Grabriel's flame was huffed like a candlight, it fizzled as the darkness encroached and festered. Hastily, Arise commanded Hazel, "Get her, let's get out of here."

Hazel went to the woman, she held her as Arise grabbed the block box and the camera obscura. In his mind, he could sell photography services, it could make him mountains of Sol, because it was faster than painters.

"Who are you?" A voice roared inside the dungeon. His voice was hoarse from the sulfuric acid vapor that lingered in the hallway

Arise and Hazel glanced in panic. Golden symbols swirled around them as the purple energy hummed low. "Aetheric Conveyance!"

The dungeon flashed brightly as Hazel, Arise and the woman vanished like bubbles. Leaving no trace of them besides the apparatus Arise left. The rocks shattered against the dungeon walls as the man hurled it across the room.

Like a shadow, Duke Thomas emerged from the darkness. His eyes narrowed as he looked around.

He stomped on the glass apparatus Arise brought, shattering like eyes as anger rumbled under his skin.

"Who are they…. I can't let this evidence go outside. They can't be far, teleportation spells always leave a trace."

The duke glided his palm in the air, shimmering with aetheric energy. In his vision, the room turned into his study room. He stomped outside as he ordered his man to search the area near the mansion.

They could not run farther than a few notches. This can't get out no matter what.