The End of Potionry Is Theology?

As usual, Rein went to the Extreme Truth Martial Arts Hall and then spent some time browsing books in the library.

In the afternoon, I arrived at the sewer laboratory on time.

Rein has made rapid progress in his studies these past few days, and the old man Ilubeck is taking him more and more seriously.

It seems they sincerely want to take on a disciple as their last apprentice.

"Hmm, you grasped the knowledge I taught you yesterday quite well. Today, you can start practicing refining these intermediate-level materials."

"Yes, teacher."

In the laboratory.

As usual, Rein first completed Ilubeck's teaching tasks, and then helped out.

And you know what? This lab, though built in an abandoned sewer and a bit remote, is incredibly quiet. It's perfect for researchers who are so engrossed in their work that they might not leave for ten days or two weeks at a time.

At a certain moment, the sound of the door opening rang out.

Just by listening to the footsteps, Rein knew that it was the little mechanic Karl again.

"Karl, you're here again."

"Hmm, come get Grandpa's medicine. Wow, Brother Rein, what are you dissecting?"

"I need to extract the oil from the cecum of the Black Spine Beast to prepare a burn healing potion."

"It's slimy and disgusting."

Karl stuck out his tongue with a look of disgust.

Rein smiled and calmly scraped the fat off the bloody, mangled intestines.

He'd learned some of the details over the past couple of days. It seemed Karl's grandfather had been poisoned and paralyzed, requiring advanced Life Potion to maintain his basic vital signs.

The "Golden Liquid" he's currently using can't be stored for long periods, so he has to frequently come to the lab to get the medicine.

After Karl came in, he waved the newspaper in his hand and called out to the old spider, "Grandpa Neto, this is the latest newspaper."

Newspapers also exist in this world, but they are not very timely.

Moreover, it is not sold publicly; it is a luxury item exclusively supplied by insiders to various high-society figures.

It takes ten days to half a month to produce one batch, and each batch costs three Silver Nar, which is not cheap.

Ilubeck was busy observing the experimental samples. Without turning around, he replied, "Little Karl, is there anything interesting in today's newspaper?"

"Yes, I have."

Karl glanced at the newspaper and read out a few headlines.

"Last month, the White Bear Merchant Association of the Xid Empire discovered a new large gold mine in the southern part of Ajax Province."

"The Oma Royal Academy of Sciences is preparing to hold a trade fair for new steam-powered equipment in three months, and invites all lords to attend."

Five days ago, the 'Black Skull Phantom Thieves' attacked a warehouse owned by the Black Gold Merchant Guild, resulting in a fierce firefight.

"."

Rein also listened intently.

Recently, he has been reading a lot of humanities and history books in the Central Library, and he is no longer as clueless about the place names and forces mentioned in the newspapers as before.

But when he heard the next news report, the scalpel in his hand suddenly stopped.

Karl: "Oh, and also. Emperor Spurglin XV of the Oma Empire issued a nationwide proclamation, announcing the bestowal of the title 'Frost Moon Queen' upon Ymir Spurglin, and the establishment of a duchy."

Rein was familiar with the name "Ymir" because he knew a big shot who happened to have that name.

He only learned of the surname "Spurglin" from historical records; it was the surname of the royal family of the Oma Empire.

But when the two words were put together, he was a little confused.

"No way Ymir is actually the Princess of the Oma Empire?"

Rein's face showed shock, yet he found it hard to believe.

How could a top-tier nobleman, second only to the emperor, appear in the wasteland severely injured and in such a disheveled state?

But if it's not the same person, could there be two Ymir among the high nobility of Omar?

Unfortunately, the newspaper only contained text and no photos.

However, he pursed his lips again, thinking that since he probably wouldn't have any further contact with this person anyway, it didn't matter who it was.

Not far away, Ilubeck, upon hearing the news, paused for a rare moment in his work. "Huh? Ymir actually got crowned queen? Looks like the reform movement failed."

The old man only muttered one sentence and then didn't say anything more.

Aside from one or two familiar names, Omar's political situation no longer held much interest for him.

Karl took the potion, and when Rein saw him about to leave, he remembered the barbarian girl's request.

He asked, "Karl, wait a minute. I have a mechanical question I'd like to ask you."

Karl: "What?"

Rein: "Do you know what the origin of this machine code 'S11-7-YY567#22' is?"

"Hmm, this kind of mechanical coding isn't common. Oh! I remember now, this should be a special mechanical code used by the OMA military, prohibited from civilian use."

Karl thought for a moment and said, "I remember my grandfather telling me about this coding system. The first letter represents the grade of the mechanical item: C is special, B is dangerous, A is legendary, and S is 'Special Grade Forbidden Item'. The number '11' should be department-specific. If I remember correctly, the Omar military's various departments are numbered 07-15. 10 and 11 seem to be the codes for intelligence agencies like Blackwater Platform."

Sure enough, a professional mechanic can glean a great deal of useful information from a simple piece of mechanical code.

Karl deduced the origin of this thing at a glance.

"The special mechanical code of the intelligence department of the Kingdom of Omar?"

When Rein heard this, he also thought it made perfect sense.

It was only natural that the mysterious people who had clearly received tracking training when they entered the city were from intelligence agencies like "Blackwater Platform."

Karl became interested and asked, "Brother Rein, where did you see this code? It must be a very interesting high-precision machine. I'd like to see it too."

Rein said truthfully, "I heard about it from a friend. She said it was a code found on a sealed mechanical box."

"A mechanical box? It's probably a [Mechanical Secret Box]"

Karl pondered, "That must be something that's very important, or perhaps very dangerous."

Rein: "Is there a way to open this mechanical box?"

"Yes, but you must use a special key!"

Karl said with certainty, "My grandfather once told me that he designed such a [Mechanical Secret Box]. S-level coding means highly encrypted mechanical programs. If it is a mechanical casket of that level, it must be made of a special alloy and have at least two sealing methods, mechanical and magical. Unless there is a 'custom key' that matches the casket, even the designer cannot open it, let alone external force."

"Oh."

Rein raised an eyebrow after hearing this, but didn't ask any further questions.

If even a professional mechanic like Karl has reached this conclusion, then there's no way he, an amateur, could possibly find any better method.

That so-called "exclusive key" is probably still in the hands of those mysterious people. It seems the barbarian girl's request will only disappoint her.

After Karl left, only Rein and his apprentice remained in the laboratory.

After finishing his homework for the day, Rein discovered that Ilubeck was studying a strange lump of meat.

Over the past few days, he had gradually become familiar with the old man's temperament. He seemed rigid, but he wasn't actually that difficult to get along with. At least, although the old man was strict in teaching him, it was clear that he cared a lot about it.

He walked over and asked curiously, "Teacher, what kind of meat is this? I've seen you put it in the culture medium for several days now. What are you observing?"

"This is human tissue that was previously cut off from Bazel."

Ilubeck responded, "This is a topic I've been researching for the past few years—'the feasibility of implanting alien Gene Chain into humans.' And werewolves, a subhuman species that has an extra beast-like Gene Chain compared to normal humans, are the best subjects for my research."

"."

Upon hearing this, Rein looked at the lump of meat with a strange expression.

It seems that although Bazel didn't pay much in terms of money to treat his injuries, he still incurred considerable other costs.

However, the theoretical knowledge in biological sciences is already very advanced, and its difficulty and depth far exceed those of ordinary clinical medicine. He still can't quite understand it at his current level.

In fact, very few people in the entire medical community could understand it.

Today, Ilubeck seemed interested in elaborating further, and asked, "Rein, do you know what the essence of the Transcendent is?"

Rein recalled the records in the ancient texts and replied, "Break through the Gene Chain and unlock the potential of the human body?"

"It's fine for ordinary people to answer like this, but as a medical student, you should be more rigorous."

Ilubeck glanced at him and said, "Humans are born with twenty-four 'Dominant Gene Chain.' The essence of awakening the Transcendent is actually activating the 'Latent Gene Chain' that are already hidden in the human gene sequence. With each First Tier, one more 'Dominant Gene Chain' is added, and the ability will increase by First Tier. As for 'werewolfs,' they are born with one more dominant gene chain than ordinary humans, so they have twenty-five!"

Rein vaguely understood and asked, "Teacher, are you saying that your research results will eventually allow ordinary humans to have an extra Dominant Gene Chain, just like werewolves, without awakening Transcendent?"

As he spoke, he glanced at the eight spider arms on Ilubeck's back and added, "And, how about solving the problem of genetic isolation between different species?"

"Yes! But that's not all."

When Ilubeck talks about scientific research, there is always a fervent passion for scientific truth in his eyes. He added, "If this research is successful, we will even be able to understand what kind of organism 'gods' really are!"

"Gods?"

Rein hadn't expected the topic to veer so far, suddenly shifting from biological sciences to theology.

"Yes."

Ilubeck said, "According to records from ancient texts, the supreme gods had no concept of genetic isolation. They could interbreed with various species, creating entirely new species. In the mythological era, there were many powerful beings who were half-human and half-beast, such as centaurs and Gorgon (Medusa). These were demigods born from the union of even more powerful gods and beast-demons. They inherited the genes of the gods, but their strength was inferior to that of the previous generation of gods who gave birth to them."

Upon hearing this, a sudden thought flashed through Rein's mind, but he couldn't quite grasp what he had understood.

At this point, Ilubeck added, "Therefore, I speculate that genetics can lead to missing Gene Chain, which is why our modern human bodies are becoming increasingly weaker than those of ancient humans. My research project is to prove this hypothesis and find the scientific path for humanity to ultimately advance to godhood!"

Rein: "Science as a god???"

This old man's research approach.

I don't understand it, but it sounds impressive!

At this moment, Rein realized that in this world where the technology tree had gone astray, biological science also seemed to be heading in some strange direction.

"God may not be as far away as we imagine."

Ilubeck smiled knowingly, a sharp glint in his cloudy eyes.

"The ability to reproduce also shows that gods are a type of living being, just more advanced than what we perceive. Furthermore, there are different ranks within the divine hierarchy, essentially based on the Gene Chain. The higher the rank of a god, the more complete their Gene Chain. This perfectly aligns with the essence of 'Modern Potionry' —breaking through the Gene Chain to become stronger!"

He paused, looked at Rein, and continued, "Science is progressing. In the past, humanity didn't understand many things, attributing them to theology, which was actually a form of cognitive ignorance. But now, through science, we can understand the essence of all things. This is the greatest charm of science—the power of recognizing truth!"

"Ah"

Rein listened in a daze, feeling as if his brain had received some strange and unusual knowledge, and he was having some trouble digesting it.

He suddenly realized that there seemed to be a deeper meaning behind the old man's words today.

Sure enough.

"What I'm trying to tell you all this about is the essence of Potionry and its future research direction."

After Ilubeck finished speaking, he added, "It would be a waste for your talent to only study medicine and potions. So, starting today, I plan to begin teaching you Potionry true 'Modern Potionry' that can reveal the truth!"

The old man spoke in a very serious tone.

Rein felt that the old man seemed to be serious.

I'm asking for your votes on Monday, everyone! Please, please!