To see or not to see, that is the question; whenever you chose to blindly follow what you thought was right, or to voluntarily open your eyes to the truth. But, it was not easy to do. Even for a pragmatic approach.
“Dr. Kamiya, I’m off now, see you tomorrow.” Coats laden in pure white light. In an environment which reeked of alcohol and medicine. Another colleague tapped for the day, as the sun sank to the horizon. The scientist stayed at the lab, donned with the bags under his eyes. Accompanied by a messy table of instant noodles and haphazardly placed chopsticks. He sighed and sank on the sofa, spine straightened as he closed his eyes even for a short period of time.
‘When is the last time I saw those two? Hah, I’ve been busy in this shit-hole that I can’t see them. But, what can I do? I did not know being a chemist has the most shit eating pay known to man.’
“Haaah, okay, time for round two,” The young man observed the samples in the dish. The result never met his expectations, as all of it were impossible to do.
The higher-ups of the company wanted his team to complete a serum, which they thought they could capitalize on. It was a compact serum that targets specific cells in the chest area. It could differentiate cancer cells from healthy ones. It was so effective that he wanted to release it already. However.
“What do you mean dilute it? Are you mocking me?” He exclaimed, he felt like his pride was shot down like a game bird. Asking him to dilute his magnum opus just to reduce its effectiveness therefore the patient will need to buy more thus making crazy amount of cash they could think off.
“Dr. Kamiya, you must understand, this alone will break the medicine field, it’d be best to dilute it to reduce its effects”
“Don’t take me for a joke, I know what you wanted. Seriously, I’m not a fool. You don’t make sense, Yes, they will break the medicine field, that’s for good. Then why do you want to capitalize this instead of effectively eliminating breast cancer?”
“...”
“Exactly, I worked tirelessly for this, and you’ll ask me to sully my own work.”
“Don’t be overconfident now, Dr Kamiya. Just follow what we want. You’ll get your cut.”
“...” His lips squirmed. The allure of money he could not resist. Even trampling his own pride, he cannot possibly decline this, because he needed it. The money to afford... Someone else. "Fine."
Alone in a restaurant, finally having a decent meal he had craved for the last few months. The twinkling yellow lights flashed on his eyes as the cold crisp of the balcony area of the restaurant caress his skin. ‘That left a sour taste in my mouth, I can’t even enjoy this meal.’
After he successfully diluted his serum to his protest, he was paid a hefty cash. Reluctant, he accepted the money. After-all, it was the only reason why he goes against his morals. Not like he had any at this point, he felt like a hollow husk. Like a nut without its casing, he felt vulnerable. In a deep contemplation of his mind subsequently heard a familiar voice.
“Arise?”
It was a woman with long dark hair and a familiar smile. She donned a pure white coat and glasses that he could only describe as ‘nerdy,’ the dark festering feelings of his soul disappeared as the woman joined him on the table.
“Ayase...”
Ayase called the waiter and ordered juice. Then she asked Arise, “Why the long face? I never seen you this sad before. Not like you exuded much facial expression anyway.”
“Hey, I do have facial expressions. But, yeah, I do feel sad, compromising my moral compass to change my serum for the company’s profit,” He argued, then he looked down
She laughed lightly and joked. “I never thought you have a moral compass,”
“Hey, stop joking around,” He chuckled, he felt his sadness melting away in a hot pot.
“But, you’re financially motivated, because of her right?”
“...” He nodded, silently gazed on the ground.
Moments later, Arise asked. “So, how’s Eishi? I rarely see both of you. And I kind of missed him, that also applies to you.”
“We’ve been in contact, but he’s busy as well.”
“For?”
“You know the convention next year?
“The Solvay conference?” He answered. “He’s aiming for that?”
“Yeah, he’s nitpicking the origin of species as of now. But I do think he cracked the code already. But he won’t share me.”
Then she added, “But, aren’t you trying to be invited in the Solvay conference as well?”
“Used to.”
“But, with your current serum. You could be invited there.”
“I’m gonna get risked on getting sued.”
“So what, you never give shit about the law anyway. Remember when you sneaked a hefty amount of amphetamines.”
“Oh, don’t even make me remember that.”
Ayase, chuckled then she suggested, “You hated that company, and their shitty umbrella logo. You could win the noble prize if you push through it.”
“But, do I really want to do that? You know how powerful that company.”
“If they sue you for leaking insider info, their schemes will outweigh their allegations against you. The fact that they tried to capitalize a diluted form of your serum is already a shitty move. Imagine how angry the people would be for hiding the cure.”
Arise sighed, he shifted his gazed on Ayase, he said. “What you said was a good point, Is it worth it though? I really need the money.”
“You could always sell the patent for your serum formula.”
“Thank you for lifting my hopes up.” Arise smiled. His demeanor seems lighter than what it had been before. Then Ayase stood up.
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“Don’t be, we’re friends, best friends even. But, do not ruin yourself to the point you’re contemplating on your next move. I suggest defiance is what you need. Try thinking about it for the past week.” She suggested, her voice was soft as honey and light as air. She walked away and before she vanished in Arise’s sight she imparted. “It was your choice, do what you must. Good bye Arise, I’ll see you in the Solvay Conference.”
His body convulsed out of the bed, the wooden floor thud as his body hit the extremity of the floor. “Ow, that hurts.” He rose from the floor as scratched his head in confusion.
‘I’ve been dreaming of Eishi and Ayase lately. This time, it was Ayase. I do miss them at times.’
The gentle morning sunlight penetrated through the window as the chirping of the birds filled the house.
The day was busy as always. Mel’s out for the day as she had a client outside of the city. Meanwhile Stanzi was busy training his control over his cryology. For the meantime, Arise juggled between checking his vanilla extract and using healing magic on it to see if the rate of absorption was accelerated, then joining Stanzi to train his own Aerology and Fulmonology.
Within the grand of schemes, Arise’s dreams about his friends vanished. Like they never existed, rather he was busy on his own agenda. For the past five months, he cycled with training and experimentation. With Mel’s help, he mastered the fundamentals of elemental and he could have a slight chance against other mages. But, other conundrum Arise faced was his own inability to match his output power with input.
When using elemental magic, the amount of input energy he used does not match the output elemental power that he converted, his body absorbed most of the aetheric energy and converted it into heat and life force. Understandably, Mel’s puzzled by this as well, she noted that humans could not waste this much energy when using magic.
“Your body works quite differently huh. Is it because you’re from another world?”
“I couldn’t be, my body is native to this world.” Said Arise.
“That’s true.”
Then she noticed, “You’ve been using a lodestone ring this whole time. So this mean, you’re incredibly inefficient at this.”
“I noticed that too, so if I used magic without the assistance of the lodestone ring, my output should be lower than I initially had?” Arise proposed.
‘Though, it is important to mention that my aetheric energy in equilibria does not face the same problems as my elemental magic. It is a matter of my affinity to these elements, which I lacked.’
“hmm,” she paused irritably- finding a reason to explain Arise’s case. Though, as irritated as she could be, nothing came of light. “I could not discern any problems. For the most part, your body must be refreshed by getting life energy from aetheric energy.”
“That would be true, every time I cast elemental magic, my body feels wholly refreshed, like I have a full eight hours of sleep.”
“Interesting. Then, what about equilibria?” She waved her fingers as she furrowed her brows.
“Well, there’s no problem, healing magic counts as equilibria right?”
“Yes, it does.” She confirmed calmly.
“Then, I do not have any problems with equilibria. Whatever I put in my body, comes out the same.”
Hearing those words, Mel tittered, ‘How interesting, but this alone won’t prove my theories for now. As far as I’m concerned, I still do not know how his body functions. Yet, his Equilibria, which he scored with perfect ten, does not have the same problems as elemental. This alone could pose trouble to use. Now that those Rhoeia dogs are sniffing near my house. I need to teach him equilibria so that he could protect himself. Those mutts does not know any restraint.’
“Utterly risible.” She muttered.
“Pardon?”
“Ignore it, I’m just talking to myself.”
Arise looked at Mel with confusion as she vanished from his sight. Ignoring his magic, he checked his extract. Five months earlier, it was clear like the swan lake. The smell of vanilla was faint, instead it was overpowered by the stinging smell of alcohol. But in his constant application of healing magic, transformed the extract within five months, it had the color of dark caramel which was full of the floral scent of the vanilla. His eyes shone brightly as he looked at his concoction astonishingly.
‘I knew it, healing magic does lower the activation energy of chemical reactions. This is a revelation, Ha ha,” He mused, his face strewn with pride and success. He hadn’t felt this in years. It felt like the first time he proved his theory. ‘How exhilarating, this changed every thing. This magic could change the foundation of chemistry as I knew it. The fact that full infusion duration of vanilla extract usually lasts for a year or two, I reduced it by five months. The constant application of this boosted the rate of reaction exponentially by at least thirty seconds per cast of healing magic. I did it every day for the past five months, which resulted a six months reduction in reaction. I speed it up roughly by 65%’
Though, it left a quite bitter taste on his mouth. His method of achieving this was against his own principles. He tried to find a way to use healing magic without praying to Prodimia. But to no avail; he tried inquiring Mel for answers, however she turned down his request in an instant. She said he is not ready yet- as modifying magic in his current form could spell disaster. Something that Mel vouched with a burnt skin on her thighs.
Feeling defeated, he continued his magic training. Then after a few weeks, Arise and Mel completed the preparation of the shop. Arise, holding his chin up, walked inside the merchant’s guild. With a nostalgic look on his face, he sauntered inside the guild and head to the test area. Mel helped him to get a test faster than anyone could be. It was because of Mel’s reputation.
When he entered inside a room, he was greeted by the smell of old moldy wood. The yellow sunlight piercing through the window as one examiner waited for him- sitting as she smiled.
“You may sit down and start the test. If you have any question, I’ll be here.”
Arise nodded and sat down. On the table laid upon a paper. It was blank, he could see the individual creases on the paper. How the rough surface form an uneven hue of brown, then the examiner asked. “What are you doing?
“Ah, uhh... The paper is blank, I’m supposed to answer right?” Arise asked, feeling confused. He examined the lady, she looked rather stern- face devoid of any emotions, like confronting an animal in the wild. She seemed oddly passionate about her job.
“Sacrifice your blood to the paper, that’s common knowledge.”
“Thank you for telling me” He smiled.
He gathered aetheric energy into a tiny spot on his thumb. He winched as blood dripped from his wound. As the miniscule point of coalesced wind scattered. The blood flowed on the paper, it brought residual energy from Arise’s self harm and activated the paper. It floated as Arise’s blood inscribed the paper with texts, questions from his exam. Surrounded by a band of yellow symbols, the paper relayed its rules to Arise.
[Welcome to Merchant’s exam. Here are the rules to this questionnaire.
First, you must comply to the will of the examiner.
You will be closely surveyed as you take the test.
Second, you will be punished for cheating. Any dirty tactic that is deemed cheating will not be tolerated. As you offered your blood, you entered a temporary binding contract with the examiner. Obey the examiner’s rules until the end of the test. Preparing your questions.]
“Wait, what? Is this legal? You did not mention any binding contract.” Arise rosed from his chair, his voice riddled with panic. He seemed displeased from the fact that he unwittingly signed a binding contract. He confronted the examiner.
With a monotone voice, the examiner refuted, “Do not panic, It is only temporary, a safety net if you will. We can’t have cheaters on our guild you see, so please understand.”
Hearing her reasoning, Arise calmed down a bit. The tension within his muscle released, as he sat back down. “I see, I apologize for my irrational behavior.”
“I accept,” She nodded in respect then she followed by. “Let the examination begin.”
Minutes later he finished the test. The examiner was surprised someone had finished the test in record time. Before Arise got out of the examiner room, the lady grabbed his hands. She asked, “How could you finish this test that fast? Are you cheating?”
Arise, back against the lady replied, “No, I did not. Wouldn’t your contract react of it sensed me cheating?.”
The lady resigned and said, “You’re right, I’m sorry. Then, I can hereby give you a seal of approval. You just need to present your product and you can gain your card as soon as you want.”
“Thank you.”
He walked out of the room, feeling annoyed. ‘All of that exposition... Only to be anti climactic, I thought I’d be encountering hard questions... But nope, it was all grade level math and scenarios.’ He sighed, his head low as he got disappointed from the recent events. ‘Well, nothing can’t change that now. I’ll get that much needed license.’