Chapter 86: Bonus - : Fullmetal Alchemist

Chapter 86: Bonus Chapter: Fullmetal Alchemist

This is a bonus for 2.5k stones. I took me a while to notice that we had crossed the goal so the Chapter is late.

Next one will be at 5k stones.

Get cracking.

...

After failing to catch a flight twice because of the stories of a certain online author, Reed Richards finally landed in New York to prepare for the coming degree at Columbia University.

But even during his visit to the University and the half-hearted explanations for the delay, his mind was still occupied by the story of Pluto.

That story really left him with no room to breathe. It was like watching prime Mike Tyson in a fight, just one punch after another.

Thankfully, he had already rented a room at a boarding house he had used before during his time in New York. That’s why he didn’t have to worry about settling in and getting used to the place once again, since even the room he booked this time was the same as last time.

"You are finally here." Mrs. Dinkins, the boarding house’s owner, welcomed him with a smile.

"I just got held up back in California." He rubbed the back of his head a bit before dragging along his suitcase.

"That sort of stuff happens, no need to worry." She gave him a genial smile. "Make yourself at home; your parcel arrived at noon, and Sue placed it in your room."

"Thank you."

After a bit of small talk with the familiar old lady, Reed went upstairs and plopped on his bed.

It had been a while since he had been back in Manhattan. And about Sue, she was only twelve when they last met, following him about the place as he rambled to himself about his studies and personal projects.

’She was in a movie with Kingo, wasn’t she?’ Reed didn’t watch the movie; he just heard Ben talk about this radiant supporting actress that needed more screen time.

Reed hadn’t thought too much about it then, but after seeing the picture of Susan in the front Parlor, he couldn’t help but pause for a moment.

’Maybe Ben wasn’t exaggerating on the new shining star part.’ After a brief pause, Reed turned to the package on the desk that had arrived before him.

Normally, he would unpack his luggage and set up the room into an efficient living space, but this time, he reached for the package after getting used to the change in the air.

Inside the brown package, which he ripped hurriedly, was the physical copy of John Doe’s new work, Fullmetal Alchemist.

When he saw the preorder option two days ago, he placed the order in a heartbeat after reading the brief synopsis. It was good thinking that the book wasn’t released right before his flight, or he might’ve missed another plane.

’I think missing it twice is bad enough.’ He expected a lot of this work, given how deeply Pluto had hooked him.

And his brain started working right from the cover. The blonde boy with white gloves, a black shirt(?), and a red cape, with a bulky robot behind him.

Nigredo (blackening/death), Albedo (whitening/purification), and Rubedo (reddening/creation). Mirroring the three core stages of the magnum opus in traditional alchemy.

Even the Flamel symbol beside the content page. These small details were what kept him so absorbed in the work, because nothing was random, even in Pluto. Most readers didn’t read that deeply because they either didn’t expect the writer to put that much effort into a story, or they just couldn’t be bothered to do so.

But Reed couldn’t stop his brain from working overtime, and John Doe was exactly the type of writer who carefully placed small pieces throughout the obvious plotline.

Being able to solve that extra puzzle and piecing it together by himself, that made figuring it out even more rewarding.

’I can feel it. This one is going to keep me up at night.’ Reed flipped the page and arrived on the first coloured page.

And sure enough, the opening two sentences had him stuck on them for an hour.

Teachings that do not speak of pain have no meaning... Because Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return.

This was an interesting concept that was also explored in Princess Mononoke in a way. But it felt like John Doe was about to go in depth about it in this work.

Reed studied the partially shown alchemy circle, the blond boy calling for Alphonse while a bloody trail extended from his missing left leg.

"We’re starting serious, huh." Reed looked at the double spread that followed. The blond boy looked a bit older with a metal armour behind him.

But he was most interested in the alchemy circle etched in the background. The average reader would just take these as chicken scratches, but not him.

He quickly took out his personal device from the suitcase and started to search the web for reference. This circle and the one shown partially seemed based on historical Western alchemy and European occultism.

And that’s how it took Reed two hours to get to the fourth page.

The first Chapter started with a religious broadcast across town. About some sun god Leto and his emissary.

The blond kid was eating food as the people and kids were amazed by the giant, talking armour. Reed wondered if this armour was something similar to Brando’s pankration suit.

’Brando... man, I didn’t want to remember that.’ Reed was reminded of Pluto, second volume; that Chapter was so rough that he could barely think.

Still, he moved onto the next page before he got caught up in those feelings again. The town people were speaking of this Father Cornello like he was God himself.

There was no doubt that this guy was sketchy based on his words alone, but Reed was more focused on how they fixed a broken radio with an alchemy circle.

’How did they do that?’ It wasn’t like they used the circle to just reassemble it. They had even fixed the broken parts.

What sort of process did it take to perfectly mend the parts together and then reassemble it in less than a second?

He was trying to understand why it happened. If it was something as simple as ’magic ’, he would be pretty disappointed. Still, he followed the Elric brothers, and the Fullmetal Alchemist Edward Elric.

’Even I thought it was the one inside the metal armour.’ Reed moved on from Edward’s outburst as Rose came into the picture.

"Raising the dead?" His eyes narrowed upon reading that Father Cornello claimed that, but reading about him in the next few pages made the tension in his brows relax.

This guy was obviously a fake who took advantage of the desperate people. Edward also thought the same as him. It was quite interesting to hear him speak of a Human’s chemical makeup and how, even after so many years and that much knowledge, humanity has been unable to create a human through alchemy.

’The missing ingredient, he is talking about consciousness, I suppose.’ Reed nodded along as Edward talked about the concept of God. And how scientists who didn’t believe in that concept were closest to him.

"It’s like that myth about the hero. He made wings out of wax so he could fly. But when he got too close to the Sun, to God, the wax melted, and he crashed to the ground."

Reed narrowed his eyes at the focus on Edward’s left leg. He did lose this leg before, so how come it was back? Did he use alchemy to get it back?

Given how he talked about the composition of the human body, it was likely this was possible in the story. And if so, he really wanted an explanation for that part.

If they could do something similar to that in the real world, it would be a revolutionary discovery and another giant leap for mankind. It wouldn’t just stop with the limbs; they could rejuvenate people, curb the so-called uncurable diseases, and so much more.

The possibilities were endless. But there was no concept of Alchemy in the real world, at least Reed hadn’t seen it himself yet.

That’s why he was more intrigued when Edward talked about how the Law of conservation of mass and the Law of natural providence came into play with the four elements and three principles.

’Maybe I should look into this a bit more.’ The system seemed well put together for now. But there was another thought that popped into his head.

What if something went wrong?

In chemistry, an experiment gone wrong usually resulted in an explosion; a mistake while creating a machine resulted in it not working; and in coding, it resulted in hours of debugging.

But what would happen if failure occurred in alchemy? Since there was a positive result, a negative one should also exist here.

Reed got an answer as soon as he lightly read through the fight sequence.

Even if it wasn’t his favourite parts, there could be information inside them that would help him understand and predict future development. It would be embarrassing to complain about plot holes in the story when in reality it was just holes in his ability to pay attention.

Still, it was a surprise to see that there was nothing inside the metal armour. Then how was it talking and acting like a person?

’This is what happens when you trespass in God’s domain? Does that mean it happened because of a failed attempt? But what were they attempting for the backlash to be like this?’ Reed looked at the Elric brothers with a grave expression.

"What do you mean it is a story for another time? I need details! I need them now!" Holding onto the smooth pages, his hands trembled.