Chapter 6: Alchemy!

'Now then… How the hell do I use Alchemy?'

The final remaining problem.

Ain knew how it worked fundamentally, but fundamentals alone weren't very helpful for his current use.

Alchemy seemed perfect for his current situation, with a negligible baseline mana cost and all, but out of all of the scientific disciplines… Alchemy was far and away the hardest.

One needs a detailed understanding of all the elements of the periodic table and the chemical makeup of the material they are working with. They also need to be knowledgeable about the human body and how it reacts to different chemicals.

Space Chemistry, basically.

Ain's knowledge of the prior was good enough. While he wasn't the greatest of scholars or anything, part of his job was documenting unknown curios, and he wasn't making potions or poisons, so he could ignore the third requirement for now. All that was left was his knowledge of what made up wood.

For all he knew, it could be similar to how a palm tree was genetically closer to grass than another tree. This was, of course, assuming the wood this was made of was similar to any of those he knew from other planets.

'Welp… Without the proper tools, brute force is my only option!'

As Ain's thoughts passed, he straightened up and crossed his legs. He wasn't a fan of such a method, but he couldn't deny its effectiveness in times of need.

Much like when he entered his inner world, he slowed his breathing and focused on the Mana around him.

'The Mana here is quite thin. That could be an issue.' He mused.

He knew he didn't have enough Mana to do this and was heavily relying on the fact that he could absorb the surrounding mana. 

'No, it'll be enough. Just worry about what's in front of you.'

As he focused on the wooden fence, Ain felt his tiny Mana pool suffer. 

Suddenly, Ain clapped his hands together before twisting them opposite of each other so his middle finger was past his wrist.

A sharp pain shot through his chest as his soul began to expand outward. The nearby Mana particles were quickly absorbed into it, but with each new particle, the pain grew.

'This Body is too young to take in foreign Mana, and my soul is too weak to regulate it for me… But this is fine! I won't be doing it for long enough to cause any permanent damage!' He told himself.

As long as he didn't screw anything up.

He's never done this before. Even saying he was estimating would be an overstatement! He was practically guessing.

But it didn't matter as long as he guessed right!

He quickly placed one of his hands on an exposed knot in the plank and channeled Mana into it. The mystical energy began coating the wooden planks on a microscopic level.

As his Mana drained faster, the Mana absorbed by his expanded soul was used quicker, and the pain grew further.

It felt like there was a constant flow of needles being stabbed into him from all over. Not a single spot on his body was spared from the pain.

He tried to grit his teeth, but he still lacked them.

'Agh.. Shit! Uhm… Change it, uh, anything! Uhm erm!'

Ain focused his Mana around his hand, and the knot began to darken in color as it softened. As the wood's fibers broke down, a powder-like pulp began to form.

During this time, thanks to his pushing into the plank with all his weight, the plank's integrity wholly shattered, causing him to fall straight onto his face.

Losing focus due to the fall, all of his magic was rescinded immediately. He was lucky that such a small amount of Mana wouldn't cause any backlash.

"Oww." He groaned.

Hey! Even if his vocal cords aren't developed enough to speak actual words, he could verbalize his pain!

It was a start.

A start or not, tears welled up in Ain's eyes, due to both the pain from forcibly expanding his soul and falling on his face, although one of those was far worse than the other.

But he couldn't cry! He was a… Rather small child, actually. He was definitely on the smaller side, but he was a very mature baby!

'God, fuck, ow!' He cursed inwardly.

He tried to get up from his face down butt up position, but his first attempt ended in utter failure. The pain was causing his body to revolt as he tensed every muscle simply not to cry.

Luckily, the pain from absorbing mana with his damaged soul was extraordinarily sharp but equally short-lasting.

It didn't disappear entirely, but it became a dull, monotonous ache rather than a piercing pain, which was much more manageable for Ain.

Wiping the tears away, he began his waddle toward the door. It had already been nearly a dozen minutes since Annalise had escaped. For all he knew, she could've been caught by the old lady who was taking care of them.

But that didn't deter him!

What did was him nearly tumbling over himself the moment he moved. The world spun circles around him. Between the Mana used, the pain, and now Ain attempting to move around with such a young body was taking its toll.

Regardless, he continued out the door and into the hall. He was sure he could keep himself awake! He had to! While it wasn't life or death, if he passed out in a random hallway, it would be very embarrassing!

A fate arguably worse than death.

'Now then… Where could that beefcake of a child run off to… Or, Crawl in this case, huh?' He paused, finally taking in how ridiculous this entire situation actually was.

'Well, whatever! I'm coming to find you, Annalise!'

Stealthily… as stealthily as a two-month baby could be, he began to traverse the house. He hugged the wall in hopes that the downcasted shadow would hide him a little better.

All the while, he hummed the theme song of a certain impossible mission.