Aleister looked down as the object in front of him shifted rapidly, from coal, to diamond, to various other resources. It was quick, but starting to drain on his mana, so he stopped the spell.
One second, he'd manage to reduce his Transmutation to one single second. It was impressive, at least for a-
"Modern magus, but compared to the Age of Gods". Medea held her hand over the currently lump of coal, transforming it into diamond so fast he couldn't even notice. "Your a novice, and this is with something simple like coal".
"I'll admit my alchemical knowledge is rather lacking, but now, theres no way to push it further I suppose?". He asked, his only knowledge about alchemy was what had been forced into his head by Gaia, and she hadn't bothered to include every detail.
"Alchemy is the closest magecraft to science, so its rather unbendable in most cases. You can force some alchemy with enough mana, but its better if you have the right ingredients". Medea traced her finger along the diamond. "Think of it like a recipe, you can use mana as a substitute ingredient, but its always better to use the actual ingredient".
"Interesting, a shame alchemy has so few spells...".
Warning, my knowledge of alchemy is rather lacking. So I may be wrong in some cases.
Spell improved.
- Transmutation (The most basic spell of Alchemy, transforming the chemical makeup and structure of things to make new things. Can now be performed in one second).
"I'm afraid true dimensional travel is beyond me". Medea admitted, somewhat embarrassed over admitting this. "I can alter space around us, even create small sub dimensions, but travelling to a completely new dimension is beyond me".
"Even thats useful, its not like travelling dimensions would be easy. I have some ideas for how to do it, both magical and technological...". Aleister grabbed a pen and notebook from his shelf, he had started to keep a few around his house from when he got ideas. "Tell me, do you think it'd be possibly to create a Holy Grail?".
"Its not impossible, but not easy ether... It'd require an absurd amount of mana to activate a Holy Grail, and even if I sacrificed this entire city, there wouldn't be enough mana, no I doubt even if I sacrificed this entire country...". The Caster mused, an unacceptable amount of death, at least when they had better options for it. "Summoning other Servants is possible, but no Servant would willingly die for another's wish".
"Dammit, theres got to be some way...". Aleister frowned, he only had three Command Seals so even if he acted as the Master for every summoned Servant, he couldn't kill them all quick enough. There had to be some way- "What about Demi-Servants?".
He quickly began to explain Demi-Servants to Medea, who took his notebook and began writing her own ideas down.
"Turning Parahumans into Demi-Servants is a possible idea, but we'd have no control over who'd be chosen. Add into that a mana starved Servant would be easily defeated, as long as something unexpected doesn't happen...". Medea frowned, causing confusion from her master.
"What do you mean something unexpected?". Aleister asked.
"We have no idea how Parahuman powers work, even if they lack mana, they may be able to power a Demi-Servant anyway. If not counting myself, there would be seven Demi-Servants to deal with". The witch explained. "I can create a Lesser Grail if we get the right supplies, but even then is it worth the risk?".
Aleister frowned, a Holy Grail could turn the tides massively, allowing him to easily access new dimensions and maybe even deal with the Endbringers. But he'd yet to decide if it was truly worth the risk.
Optional mission unlocked!
] Demi Holy Grail War (Ultra).
- Create a Lesser Grail, and use it to activate a Holy Grail War that will turn seven randomly selected Parahumans (Or maybe not so randomly) and transform them into Demi-Servants. Kill or capture them in order to power the Lesser Grail and achieve your wish.
"...Master, you are aware I am a sorceress correct? A princess, who's never had to throw a punch in her life". Medea gave Aleister a deadpane stare.
"You traveled with Heracles, Jason, the Dioscuri, and Atalanta, surely you have some tips?". He was hoping for anything, he was reaching his limits in ways to improve his fighting ability.
"Nothing, and my own fighting style wouldn't suit you. I've seen you fight, you prefer a mix of physical and magical fighting, while I am a pure magical fighter. You prefer close range, I prefer long range. Our fighting styles are simply to different for me to offer any advice". She shook her head, disbelieving her master would even think of this. "If you want to learn how to fight, figure out how to summon Chiron or some other trainer".
"I don't even know if I could even sustain another Servant, I'm barely sustaining your own mana". And that was the truth, even with her Mana A, Aleister had troubles sustaining her and his own magical abilities at times. "Perhaps something to look into once we've managed to sort out a safe way to use the Mana Generator Mystic Code".
"I... Could try modifying your circuits, but it'd be a risky process, and would leave you without your magical abilities as you recover". Medea suggested, it was certainly possible for someone of her caliber, but not something she would normally suggest. "I'll still need to store up some mana as well, unless you want me feeding on souls?".
"Preferably not". Aleister frowned, he didn't like the idea of lacking one of his main abilities, but having more mana could only be a good thing. Maybe once he and Medea made his home more secure.
Medea is a witch and a princess, so sadly she had no good advice to give, so instead I gave some clues and hints to how to improve. You could also search for an ordinary fighting teaching, but that could lead to... Questions.
Skill increased.
- Combat 16%
Cybernetics weren't a new idea, the idea of replacing an organic arm with a superior robotic one a common thing in forms of media, but in recent years had taken a hit thanks to the Slaughterhouse Nine and specifically Bonesaw's horrific experimentation's.
Aleister looked over the currently bound and unconscious Merchant, feeling a bit woozy as he cut open her stomach and stared at her still beating heat, it was... Disturbing on some level to do this, but he pushed it down. He needed to test his cybernetics, and this Merchant had been chosen as his test subject.
He pulled out his first project, an artificial heart composed of smooth metallic steel, and slowly began replacing the former Merchant's heart. He panicked a bit when she almost died from his unskilled fingers, but he managed to get it done, a complete heart replacement surgery with a robotic heart.
He began sowing her up, using a bit of alchemy on her skin to ensure no scars had been left behind, no need to leave ugly scars behind after all. He looked over her, she was... Rather attractive for a Merchant, she had been one of the few who only worked for Skidmark for money, not having a single drug in her system.
"Your name is Cyber from now on, and you have been granted the honor of becoming the world's greatest cyborg". Aleister smirked at her sleeping face, he'd probably need to fix her personality, but the problem was... Did he keep her asleep, or wake her up? He had no clue about her ordinary personality, but with some modifications to the brain he could make her whatever he wanted. (Also, he may need to change the name in the future, but Cyber was a good temporary name).
He'd taken his first steps into modifying humans, and he knew he wouldn't stop here.
Welp, Aleister has created his first cyborg... She's not willing, and currently has no idea whats happening to her, but that can be fixed with a good bit of brainwashing. Of course, that depends how far you want Aleister to go.
Knowledge gained/increased.
- Biology 20%.
- Cybernetics 8%
Aleister looked around Medea's workshop with interest, it was always fascinating to see no matter how many times he visited. He looked over one of the desks, filled with the brim building models, dresses, and dolls. He recognized some from various anime and cartoon's he'd seen over the years, a Sailor Moon, Magical Girl Madoka, and Card Capture Sakura.
"And you made these completely yourself?". He asked Medea, who was currently working on painting a figure of some... He didn't recognize the figure. But it was extremely detailed... If a bit revealing outfit wise.
"Of course, it was a... Happy past time since I was a child. Although I'll admit it probably started from an unhealthy mental place, dolls were just... So much easier to deal with then humans". The witch admitted, putting down her current figurine, she glanced to a set of dolls there were kept in a glass case.
"Blank dolls?". They completely lacked any design, most were feminine in nature, but a few were more masculine.
"A... future project, puppet golems. Not as good as my Dragon Tooth Soldiers, but much less likely to have civilians freak out". Medea began to explain. "They'll look human enough, to the point they'll fool most as long as they're wearing some armor".
"I see, I had been thinking of looking into creating golems, but I'm not sure where to start". Aleister didn't want to be labelled as a Bio-Tinker, especially in a city filled with a known hater of Bio-Tinkers leading the PRT, so organic golems were off the list. "And if anyone investigates further, they'll just think there Tinker-Tech?"
"I very much doubt so, theres nothing organic about the dolls and from what you said, Tinker-Tech isn't meant to make sense to ordinary science, so if need be I can let them test on a doll to calm their worries". Medea smirked, she was confident that no human technology could figure out her magecraft.
Yet Aleister couldn't suppress a hint of worry, if he kept throwing magecraft about without any worry, what if someone did figure out a way to figure it out? Was he just being paranoid? He still had no clue how parahuman powers worked beyond the basics.
He just hoped he was indeed being paranoid and there was no risks.
Bond up.
Medea: 5.
Wow, lots of actions involving Medea today... You know what, as a one time only reward, take a single free bond up for Medea.
Bond up.
Medea: 6.
And at this point, Medea is now firmly in the "Very, very fond of Aleister" category. If you want to try dating her, you have a very high success rate, but getting the bond up higher may be good to wait on for when you're not in the death world of Worm.