Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste
Chapter 87: Human Transmutation

Chapter 87: Chapter 87: Human Transmutation

After resting well for a day, Perfikot appeared at the dock again.

She continued to tap her cane on the ground occasionally, sometimes poking the stones she had transformed using alchemy to check their solidity.

"It seems that using large-scale alchemy for material transformation last time was still a bit rough. Many places have stones that are quite loose and crumble at the slightest tap, making them unsuitable as dock foundations," Perfikot said regretfully, but her hands didn’t stop moving as she adjusted the problematic spots she was inspecting with alchemy.

However, because she was only making minor repairs, there wasn’t much mental pressure on her, so she appeared quite calm and unhurried.

Even though watching her knock here and there with that cane again caused some mental pressure for others.

After all, the power Perfikot exhibited before was simply too astonishing, scaring quite a few people.

Not to mention the natives on Sweet Berry Island who had little experience; even members of the guard and exploration teams who witnessed Perfikot’s massacre in New Shaker City were filled with awe and even fear towards her.

This isn’t difficult to understand since Perfikot had already shown her ruthless side in New Shaker City, and now she was displaying her immense power again. From any perspective, she possesses strength capable of bringing fear.

Even knights who are also extraordinaries felt intimidated by Perfikot’s demonstrated power.

It’s important to know that while the power of extraordinaries in this world is strong, it’s rare to achieve something as exaggeratedly transformative as Perfikot’s complete reshaping of the dock all by herself.

Or you could say, except for alchemists and mages, no other extraordinary professions are capable of such feats.

At least not with their extraordinary abilities.

In this regard, the old steward Foster even indicated that even if he donned the steam knight armor, he could hardly do such things.

This is not because he isn’t powerful. As a titled knight, he is already a high-level extraordinary, and with the support of steam knight armor, Foster’s combat power has surpassed all knights throughout history who reached this level.

After all, historical knights didn’t have such an outrageous thing as steam knight armor, capable of tripling a knight’s power.

Foster, possessing such power, could confidently claim that even with just a lance or chain-saw sword, he could easily tear through an entire infantry regiment or sink an old warship.

But achieving the broad area influence like Perfikot is still impossible.

Even among alchemists themselves, few can accomplish similar feats, since from the beginning, alchemists didn’t pursue pure destructive capability.

The titles of alchemists relate to academic achievements rather than combat power.

Alchemists are one of only two extraordinary professions where knowledge determines ranks instead of power, with the other being mages.

For these two professions, acquiring power is simpler than eating or drinking as long as one possesses sufficient knowledge.

Be it alchemy or magic, both offer numerous ways to enhance oneself or gain great power, requiring strong theoretical knowledge to support.

For example, Perfikot’s parents excelled in researching the human body and flesh, even opening the forbidden door to human transmutation and attempting it on their daughter.

This led Perfikot to become one of the highest achievements pursued by alchemy—the perfect life.

To explain what perfect life is, one must start with the core concept of alchemy.

In the view of alchemists, whether life or material, both possess various imperfections and flaws; by repairing these in materials, new substances can be obtained.

Alchemy, therefore, is a technology used to repair and perfect matter.

As alchemy developed, alchemists devised two different pursuit goals based on their core ideas—one is popularly called making stone into gold, transforming all imperfect or unstable materials into gold, a perfect and stable substance through alchemy.

The other is using alchemical methods to gradually perfect life with all sorts of imperfections and flaws, known as human transmutation.

During efforts toward these two goals, some alchemists proposed developing a substance capable of completing both life and material, known as the Red Medicine Philosopher’s Stone.

The Philosopher’s Stone’s power can perfect life and transform any flawed material into its most stable form, considered the ultimate truth pursued by alchemists.

However, the difficulty of creating the Philosopher’s Stone is extremely high, so most alchemists wisely avoid pursuing this ultimate topic.

Generally speaking, ordinary alchemists mostly focus on material completion, leading to the professional title of alchemist.

As for human transmutation, since it requires various living beings as experimental subjects, it’s somewhat difficult for the secular world to accept.

Thus, during the dark millennium of the Middle Ages, alchemists were often persecuted and ranked alongside witches as targets for church suppression, with human transmutation long considered taboo for various reasons.

After all, in the church’s view, humans are creations of God, perfect works of the Divine, and alchemists practicing human transmutation are blaspheming the Divine.

Until the steam age, alchemists could only secretly research this field without exposing themselves to the church.

It was not until the steam age when the church’s power gradually declined that restrictions on this field eased, with many new age alchemists devoting significant efforts here.

These research outcomes not only advanced human transmutation further but also greatly promoted the world’s medical field.

Although bloodletting remains the primary treatment method for doctors, surgical operations have clearly advanced significantly, and at least doctors now know what’s inside a belly and their functions.

Perfikot’s parents were prime examples of alchemists researching human transmutation during this period, and they were indeed exceptionally talented, completing their daughter’s project of turning her into perfect life and coming close to creating the Philosopher’s Stone.