New Speculations on Alchemy!

At the same time, on the other side, Kiyonosuke ran into the captain, who was carrying lunch, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Has he still not come out?"

Having said that, he looked toward the warehouse with a hint of admiration. If he had previously believed that Ichiro had reached this point through pure talent, that notion had now vanished entirely.

The so-called title of "genius" brought nothing but humiliation to people like Ichiro!

"Genius"—a simple two-word term that erased countless hours of hard work!

Having lived for hundreds of years, Kiyonosuke had only ever seen one person work as desperately as Ichiro. After all, residents of the Soul Society with spiritual power lived extremely long lives, and to date, very few Soul Reapers died of old age.

This resulted in a very diluted sense of time, leading them to live quite leisurely lives, especially after the establishment of the Thirteenth Division. While there were others like Ichiro who wished they could split one day into two, they usually only persisted for a year or two before being assimilated into the status quo.

Someone like Ichiro, who had been researching tirelessly for a month straight, was a rarity among rarities.

"I've noticed him frowning more often lately; it should still be a while. By the way, some squad members have been showing interest in this warehouse recently. Although there is a barrier blocking them, just to be safe, you should go tell them not to get close, so as not to disturb Ichiro's research."

"Yes, Captain." After saying this, Kiyonosuke glanced at the light meal the captain had prepared with a look of surprise before turning to leave.

How strange, the captain is actually making light meals now.

On the other side, while the captain and Kiyonosuke were talking, Ichiro was squatting indifferently in front of a massive alchemy array. After checking the data needed for this experiment, he placed both hands mechanically onto the array.

Although he was only one step away from success, this did not excite Ichiro in the slightest, because he had been stuck on this "one step" for the past week. Ten days ago, the previous "one step away" had just been resolved.

So, Ichiro was currently very calm—extremely calm. Success was merely a stroke of luck; failure was simply to be expected.

After all, if a research project didn't fail hundreds or thousands of times, could it even be called scientific research?

Of course, the "lucky ones" were an exception.

It was just a pity that the lucky ones had extremely short lifespans and were few in number, so most research relied on piling up data through massive amounts of experimentation before organizing it to reach a conclusion.

At the very beginning, he had simply been blinded by a moment of lucky success.

Of course, having come this far, he couldn't possibly give up halfway. He would absolutely not step one foot out of this room until the experiment was complete!

Alchemy, begin!

A flash of light surged, and a perfect body appeared in the center of the alchemy array. Unfortunately, in the eyes of Ichiro, who had seen it countless times, this once exquisite sight was now nothing more than a pile of white flesh. Just like in previous experiments, he woodenly placed his hands on the female body and began to analyze the data.

Gradually, the dullness in Ichiro's eyes faded, and specks of starlight began to emerge from the depths of his gaze!

Biological functions: intact!

Spiritual power system: intact!

Internal organ structure: perfect!

Brain structure...

Brain structure...

"Damn it!" Ichiro cursed angrily.

Although he had anticipated it, he still felt very frustrated when he actually encountered it. Sure enough, after solving the previous issue with the spiritual power circulation system, a new problem had emerged.

Originally, the brain structure should have been able to support the residency of a complete new soul, but after adding the spiritual power circulation system, calculations showed that the soul's power would increase significantly, and the original brain structure simply couldn't support it.

But this was clearly nonsense. He had dissected the two corpses of death-row prisoners prepared by the captain, and he could confirm that, despite being people of the Soul Society, their brain structures were basically identical to what Ichiro understood.

Therefore, it could be preliminarily determined that some factor was still missing, causing the brain to be unable to carry a soul burdened with spiritual pressure.

After venting his anger, Ichiro quickly cast aside unnecessary emotions and began to calmly analyze the data again, writing down every possibility to fill his database.

Anger was one thing, but the experiment had to continue.

In fact, Ichiro didn't need to keep going this way. At this step, or even several steps ago, what he needed to do could have been accomplished in one go using alchemy, just like when he researched the Mimicry Zanpakuto.

He could use alchemy to create a finished product first, then reverse-engineer it to deduce the skipped technology. Theoretically, this experiment could be done the same way.

But Ichiro didn't dare to gamble.

Alchemy demanded equivalent exchange; who knew if the price would be enough to "pay" for it when the time came?

Soon, three days passed. During this time, Ichiro tried a few more possibilities, and as expected, he failed. After all, he wasn't one of the "lucky ones."

This time, he didn't continue calculating. He decided to pause this experimental method and think—think carefully. He would reflect on the difficulties he faced and everything he possessed, then try to piece and combine them to see if he could find a new way forward.

This was something Ichiro had learned from a colleague in his past life. Whenever his research hit a bottleneck, he would do this: think carefully instead of continuing blindly.

Consequently, over the next few days, whenever the captain came in to deliver meals, she would see Ichiro sitting in the middle of the warehouse, thinking quietly. She sighed; the captain knew that Ichiro's research had once again hit a major obstacle.

The captain said nothing, simply retreating quietly as she always did.

Ichiro glanced at the captain as she left silently, a warmth rising in his heart. His mind, which had been irritable due to the lack of breakthroughs, calmed down slightly. After watching the captain leave, Ichiro withdrew his gaze, and it was at this moment!

An object in the warehouse caught Ichiro's attention!

Zanpakuto: Demon Dragon!

Although the Zanpakuto Demon Dragon was merely a casual creation of Ichiro's, he still held some grand expectations for it. It had just been set aside because it was currently too dim-witted to be of any use.

And now, Ichiro had found a breakthrough for his experiment right there!

What was the current dilemma?

A brain lacking a certain element could not carry a soul burdened with spiritual pressure.

What was the Demon Dragon Zanpakuto missing?

Soul!

So, if I were to imbue the Zanpakuto Demon Dragon with a soul, wouldn't I have a new subject for observation?

Once his train of thought opened up, ideas surged endlessly in Ichiro's mind. For instance, must a soul be forged using Alchemy?

Before discussing that, the question "What is a soul?" surfaced in Ichiro's mind first, accompanied by the chaotic scientific literature he had read in his first life.

A simple example would be, why does cloning produce a soul?

How is a soul born?

Combining the research from his previous life and this one, Ichiro already had the answer: spirituality, plus the elements that constitute a soul, and memory!

These three things form a soul!

In other words, as long as these three items are prepared, the Zanpakuto Demon Dragon can be born with a soul!

Starting from this point, Ichiro also thought of a problem he had been ignoring: Alchemy is called an alternative science, but no matter how alternative it is, it is still science!

And since when has science only had one path?

Thanks to A♂Mo; asfefa; Book Friend 2019******8067; Saki, Sakuya; Delusional Hero; Dark Archangel 1; Void Ascension; Old Days Boss Azathoth for the monthly tickets. Thank you all very much for your support!