Part 73: Chapter 10-9: Fights and Footsteps

Part 10-9: Fights and Footsteps


Throwdown with Firis

Oh, what is it? You can ask me anything, go ahead!

It’s about the A Rank Exam! Mireille wants letters of recommendation! The same ones you need to take the certification exam!

A letter of recommendation! That takes me back. Sure! I can handle this for you.

Great, thanks, Firis! I knew you’d come through for us!



Huh?

Fight me! If you win, I’ll write your reference!

Firis, hold on… We want an alchemy reference… That’s all! We’re not trying to be the best gunslingers in the world, or aiming to be mighty warriors.

I know, but alchemists need to be able to fight, too! The certification exam includes fighting.

It does? This exam sounds more violent than I thought!

Hahaha. It might just have been how the examiner got their kicks, thinking about it now. Anyway! No need to make this complicated! If you defeat me, you get the recommendation! How about it?

Very well. Hehe! Don’t complain once we beat you, Firis!

Haha, bring it on! You’ll find fighting me to be pretty challenging! Just let me know when you’re ready. You’d better prepare carefully, for your own sake!

Hmm… you know what, Lydie? I think we’re ready!

I agree! Firis!



Yeah! Let’s do this!

Okay, good. But we can’t fight here, so let’s change location.

Ah… there’s plenty of sensitive materials here, after all…

Where do you propose we fight, Firis?

Hmm… Braisewest!



Are you sure? Two on one seems a little unfair…

Hehe, don’t worry about me. I went through hell in my own training, I assure you.

Lydie. Let’s just take her at her word and fight her together. I don’t think we’ll win, otherwise.

Yes, sure. Both of us together. Come on then, Firis!

Hahaha! Give it your best shot, girls!


Music: Journey to the Beyond

Alright, time to use our certain death bomb…

W-Wait! No need to go that-



Just kidding! This isn’t a certain death bomb, but close enough!



Guh!

Now, for the opening salvo!




Flaming hot arrow!!



Yowch!

Sue!

How was-





We… we won!

A stunning victory, if I say so myself!

Guwah! I’m beat! But your victory will be short-lived! Ilmeria and Miss Sophie will avenge me!



Ah! The battle was so fierce, I got a bit carried away.

Hahaha. You were so strong, Firis. Both of us together could barely match you.



Firis’ Reference received.

Great! Thank you! You’re still acting a bit odd, but no matter.

This is my letter of recommendation. Ah, but it’s the first one I’ve written, so it might be wrong?

What? Are you sure this will be alright?

Hahaha. I used my own old recommendations to write it, so it should be fine. If it’s wrong, let me know and I’ll fix it. …Sorry, this doesn’t make me look very good, does it?

Don’t say that! We’ll treasure this, Firis!

Thank you for saying that. Hehe… I wonder if everyone who gave me a recommendation felt like this? Anyway! Back to Merveille!

Okay! Now that we’re home safe and sound…


Free-Thinking and Footsteps

Oh? I’ll do whatever I can to help!

We need letters of recommendation from certified alchemists! But not for the certification exam… but because Mireille wants them for our A Rank exam!

I see. A letter of recommendation. You’ve reached the point where people ask you for them, Sophie. We really had to look around for certified alchemists in our time, didn’t we?

Hahaha, that’s right. It took quite a while to find them… In any case, if a recommendation is what you need then I’ll write one!

Great! Thank you! I’ve got some paper here, actually…

Hold it. First, I need to test you to make sure you’re worthy of it. I know you’ve got the skills, but we have to follow the protocol here.



Good, that’s the way! Let’s start from the beginning. Girls, you know what’s important in alchemy. Not just synthesizing skill, but also…

Imagination, yes.

That’s right. Imagination is vital for alchemy.

So I want to check the capacity of your imagination. Please show me your recipe book.

Our recipe book? It’s a total mess… Are you sure?

Surely it can’t be that… Oh dear, that is messy! Just let me know when you’re ready, then. I’ll be waiting here.

Alright, Lydie! You’re the tidy one between us, so…

Right, right. Hmm… this goes here, and that goes there… just a bit more… there we go! And now that I’m done with that, organizing it really gave me more confidence in the recipes we’ve come up with!



Yes, we’re ready! Lydie has sorted it all out, perfectly!

Hehe, okay then. Let’s take a look. How many recipes have you thought up? Hmm…



Oh my! This is wonderful. They’ve done well to come up with this many recipes!

Really? Heheh, it looks like all our hard work has paid off.

You’ve passed the first stage, then. Well done. Now we move on to the next test. Are you ready for this? You need to go and make some Philosopher’s Stones.

Philosopher’s Stones…! Did I hear that right? You said Philosopher’s Stones, right?

Yes, you heard that right. It’s fine. It won’t be too hard for you.

Really? Isn’t making Philosopher’s Stones the final goal of many alchemists?

That’s what many think, but the stones are really just a milestone on the road of alchemy. All famous alchemists first made Philosopher’s Stones, and then found their own path beyond them.

Sure, fine, but doesn’t it still take years of research before you can make them?



What?! At sixteen?! Is that true, Sophie?

Hahaha, it’s true. Firis was making them at around the same age too, though!

Hahaha, you’re all too much! But you’re also making me think… maybe we can do this!

Yeah, me too. We can’t give up before we try, either!

Yes, that’s the spirit! Use all the experience you’ve accumulated and do your very best!

Alright, Sue! If these are Philosopher’s Stones we’re talking about… let’s get to it!

With everything we’ve got! We’re really walking among giants here, between Sophie and Firis…

Making Philosopher’s Stones at sixteen… if the two of us can pull it off, we’ll well and truly deserve to walk alongside them!



We’ve got everything we need, but even with everything we’ve got, we’ll be in this for the long haul…



Even with a Ruby as a catalyst, it seems we can’t activate any of the spots that would let us make an extra Philosopher’s Stone, or transfer more traits, or raise the effect level threshold.

And as powerful as a Ruby is, we don’t have nearly enough room to make the most of all these big components… still though, let’s do the best with what we have!



Hmm… we hit the blue effect, but can’t activate the yellow effect no matter what we do, and looks like we’ll need an enhancing agent for the green…





There we go! Now, we’ll be at this for a while…



We just need the traits, and…


Philosopher’s Stones and Milestones

Wow… I think we might actually be pretty good at alchemy?

It doesn’t quite feel real to me. We just kind of made them, didn’t we? Let’s take them to Sophie, anyway. You never know, these might not be good enough.

Good point. Such a beautiful sparkle, though… I really hope these are the real deal!

Yawn… let’s take em to her first thing in the morning. I need some shut-eye…



Hmm, why don’t we register one with Corneria first? These will really come in handy for our synthesis later on!

Right! Now then, for the moment of truth…



Sophie. We’ve made the Philosopher’s Stones!

W-Well? Are they good?



Uwah, that look! They weren’t any good after all!

Haha, I’m just kidding. Sorry! Just a little fun. Great work, both of you. Philosopher’s Stones don’t come much better than this.

Yes! This is great, Lydie! We really made Philosopher’s Stones!

Yes! Amazing! This means we’re among the greatest alchemists now!

Indeed. If you’ve reached the point where you can make these, you are far past any regular standards of measurement.

That’s right. Which means, this is for you!



Sophie’s Reference received.

Of course. You’ve got both the imagination and the practical skills. I bet you could pass the certification exam right now, if you took it.

Wow, you think so? Hehe, maybe we should go give it a try!

N-No Sue, we have another goal first! We need to raise our Atelier Rank!

Yes, yes, I know, Sis!



Now, we have all four letters of recommendation from all four certified alchemists in town…

I can’t wait to see the look on Mireille’s face!

…Wow, you got all four? That’s amazing! You don’t do things by halves, do you girls?


The Final Mysterious Painting
Flower Stamp Condition Get all four letters of reference. The only real soft threshold here is being at least Alchemy Level 37 to be able to make the Philosopher’s Stones for Sophie, but if you’ve hit that, then you’re good to go.

Great work, anyway. This means you now have A Rank!

Yes! We’re finally A Rank! Only one step away from S Rank!

True. But only the very best atelier can even start the exam for S Rank. It’s super hard. The narrow passage that none has passed yet… Do you think you could be the first?

Yes, we will. We have to have the greatest atelier in the kingdom!

Glad to see your spirit remains strong. That’s the twins I know and love! I’ve got something to share with you now, too. I’ve obtained a new Mysterious Painting! I missed my chance to introduce it to you before, so let’s head over to the gallery now. Hehehe!

Hehehe, let’s!



Its name is the “Starlight Plain”. And on a not so bright note… It’s also the last painting we know the whereabouts of.

So that means… no more after this one?

I’m afraid so, at least for a while. Put everything you’ve got into this one, then!

Yes, we will! Come on, Sue. We need to hurry up with the Restoration!

I’m with you, Lydie! We’ll see you later, Mireille!

…They do get along so well together. I’m a little jealous of that. All Mathias and I ever did was fight each other…



Alright, we’re home!

Daaaaad?

No response… I guess he’s busy painting in the basement.

Guess so. Speaking of which, from the moment we accidentally wandered into the Heavenly Flower Garden over a year ago, til now…

Right? I couldn’t have imagined it would be but the first of many adventures to come!



I know. We’ve used so many materials from inside there! That’s why we’ve been able to reach A Rank. There’s no time to sleep now!

The final restoration… Let’s make the greatest paints Mireille has ever seen!