A few days later, in Alopha's laboratory, Mulan carefully studied the crystals in the culture dish. They resembled delicate frost flowers forming on its surface.
"Drip... drip..."
Mulan held his index finger above the culture dish. Blood kept dripping from his fingertip into the dish, and the crystalline flowers continued to spread.
Just then, Alopha entered the laboratory.
"Professor Jonester, haven't you taken a break yet?"
"We're so close to getting results that I can't sleep. The crystals dissolve as soon as I stop dripping blood. Come, let's try stabilizing their shape."
Deeply moved by Mulan's dedication to alchemy, Alopha said nothing more and immediately stepped over to begin preparations.
They placed the culture dish in the center of a simple Alchemy Magic Array. As Alopha fed magic power into it, the array's light converged from its edges toward the center.
"Use half the crystals first. Be careful with your magic power."
"Don't worry."
Their exchanges were brief, but they worked with remarkable efficiency. The crystalline flowers floating on the liquid gathered together, piece by piece, and gradually began to fuse.
About five minutes later, a diamond-shaped crystalline substance the size of a grain of rice appeared above the red solution. Their first attempt had succeeded.
Both Alopha and Mulan were thrilled.
"Hard, but very light, and highly transparent. Most importantly, it's stable! We did it, Professor Jonester!"
"We did it, Professor Alopha!"
"We did it!"
The two kept repeating those words, their excitement evident in both their expressions and their state of mind. When Matt arrived, they went through another round of jubilation together.
Their work at this stage was not finished, however. Using their privileges, they postponed the sixth issue of Truth and Magic outright. Printing of the new Magic Journal would only begin once they had finished