"A new round of experiments began..."
"The wisdom spark performed satisfactorily!"
Another day, in his residence in Nevis City, Soreno wrote a new entry in his experimental journal in his room, summarizing his recent successes and failures.
What pleased him was that the substance he had secretly extracted, which he called the "wisdom spark," had demonstrated the ability to greatly strengthen a creature's mind and increase its intelligence.
Just a tiny amount could enhance a lower-tier creature's mental power and intelligence, rapidly raising them to a level comparable to those of higher-tier creatures.
"Something that transcends matter and acts directly upon the mind and soul must be the mysterious substance the Grand Alchemists of history sought so desperately, as well as the so-called might of God that religious circles take such pride in.
Judging by the results so far, it can be combined with the artificial selection involved in 'Intelligence Bestowal' to produce large numbers of rune beasts and servants with higher-tier intelligence who are loyal to me.
My approach was correct after all, and the application of the 'Soul-Stealing Art' that Gallo successfully developed is also quite effective!
Perhaps the only problem is that, for now, this substance cannot be extracted from anything in nature or synthesized artificially.
Its sole source is the minds and souls of highly intelligent life-forms."
Soreno stopped writing in his experimental journal and sank into thought.
This was indeed a problem that would be difficult to solve for the time being. It had nothing to do with good or evil, right or wrong; the issue was purely that the material had only one source and was expensive.
No matter how he looked at it, it was not a good option.
But if it could not be synthesized artificially, then extracting it required killing and