"122: Indulgence Tickets and a Secret Meeting between the Newcomers"

While Index Su Mo worked on constructing the Execution of Light Ritual, the other Su Mos passed the time chatting. They soon shifted the conversation to alchemy, curious about its broader applications.

"What if we tried to transmute monsters instead of humans?" DanMachi Su Mo asked Fullmetal Alchemist Su Mo. "Would we need to modify the transmutation array?"

"Generally speaking, no," Fullmetal Alchemist Su Mo shook his head after a brief pause. "Though with stronger monsters, you'd need to defeat them first before transmuting. The link between soul and body is too strong to simply extract them alive."

For particularly powerful monsters, it wasn't so easy to turn them into Philosopher's Stones. But as long as the creatures were defeated first, transmutation remained feasible.

"That's manageable," DanMachi Su Mo nodded. With his current strength, the dungeon monsters were no longer any real threat. To him, they were practically walking Philosopher's Stones.

Hearing this, Fairy Tail Su Mo chimed in, "Even if the existing transmutation array works, if we can fine-tune it further, we might get better results. From what I remember, Philosopher's Stones in your world aren't exactly pure."

Indeed, Edward Elric's father, Hohenheim, had spent centuries conversing with the souls trapped inside his Philosopher's Stone, which proved that the human souls hadn't fully dissolved. Like chunky bits left in peanut butter, the Philosopher's Stones of Fullmetal Alchemist were essentially semi-finished products. Though they allowed equivalent exchange, a truly complete Philosopher's Stone shouldn't contain such 'impurities.'

In fact, much of Father's failure was due to these impurities interfering with his plans. Fortunately, Su Mo had no intention of embedding the Philosopher's Stone into his body like Father had, so this issue didn't impact him directly.

"True," Fullmetal Alchemist Su Mo agreed. "A perfected Philosopher's Stone should be a crystallization of pure spiritual elements, completely free of emotional or conscious residue. We should be able to refine ours even further."

Though their current Philosopher's Stones already possessed the power of transmutation and offered similar abilities to purer versions, as alchemists, they naturally longed to pursue the ideal form of their craft. After all, perfecting the Philosopher's Stone ranked just beneath attaining the 'Truth' itself in the hierarchy of an alchemist's dreams.

After finishing their discussion, it wasn't long before Index Su Mo completed constructing the ritual. His expression was, however, a little strange.

"What's wrong? Did something go wrong with the construction?" Fairy Tail Su Mo asked, sounding concerned. Had the ritual failed?

"No," Index Su Mo shook his head. "The construction went perfectly."

"Then why the weird look?" Fairy Tail Su Mo asked, puzzled.

"I finally understand why Index was so evasive when I asked her about the Original Sin Purification Ritual before." Index Su Mo let out a helpless chuckle. "Turns out, the base theory behind the Roman Catholic Church's purification ritual is... indulgences."

Original Sin was one of Christianity's core doctrines. The faith taught that all humans inherited Original Sin, and although Jesus Christ sacrificed himself on the cross to atone for humanity, people continued to accumulate sin by defying God's will. Only through faith in Christ could they be redeemed and ascend to heaven during Judgment Day.

During the Middle Ages, however, the Church developed the practice of selling indulgences as a way to monetize salvation. They claimed that the surplus merits accumulated by saints, the Virgin Mary, and devout believers had been stored up by the Church. If an ordinary sinner lacked sufficient good deeds to outweigh their sins but still wanted to enter heaven, they could purchase these surplus merits via indulgences. In effect, they were buying borrowed righteousness to qualify for salvation.

It was, essentially, an elaborate and highly profitable scam, exploiting people's desire to reach heaven.

However, the standards for determining who qualified as a righteous person or a saint were so strict that the vast majority of people had no choice but to purchase indulgences to ensure their ascension to heaven after death. In this way, the Church managed to amass an astonishing amount of wealth through this practice. Naturally, over time, this led to significant public resentment, and only after several centuries was the system of indulgences finally abolished.

From the perspective of modern society, the indulgence system is seen as a complete stain on history. To Protestants, the Catholic Church—even the Pope—has no authority to turn sins and virtues into some kind of currency to be stored or traded; that is a privilege reserved for God and His Son alone. Nowadays, whenever this subject is brought up, Christians generally feel a deep sense of shame. Since Index herself is a nun, upon realizing that the fundamental theory behind the Sin Purification Ritual was actually based on indulgences, it naturally made her feel extremely embarrassed. This was a disgrace to the faith.

"Haha! No wonder God's Right Seat was never particularly obedient!" Fairy Tail Su Mo chuckled when he heard what the Index World Su Mo said. "To think that the original technique for purifying original sin was actually based on that system. Even if the members of God's Right Seat were devout believers, once they realized the foundation of this ritual, I doubt they held much reverence for the Pope afterward." After all, it was the Pope who had officially sanctioned the sale of indulgences. Once they understood this erroneous piece of history, it was only natural they wouldn't take the Pope too seriously.

"Alright, enough idle chatter—let's share it!" Genshin World Su Mo stepped forward, patting the other's shoulder as he transferred the completed Execution of Light spell formula. Immediately after, he was smacked in return by the Danmachi, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Fairy Tail versions of Su Mo. After all, Genshin Su Mo was much closer to them than Index Su Mo.

Once the sharing was complete, they chatted for a bit longer before each Su Mo bid farewell and returned to their respective worlds. The once lively mist space quickly fell into silence, becoming completely empty.

…

No one knew how much time had passed when the mist space stirred again. A young man wearing a navy justice coat and carrying himself with a lazy demeanor appeared amidst the white mist. The moment he arrived, his eyes grew sharp, his entire aura turning razor-sharp like a blade that could slice the heavens themselves—perhaps he truly could.

"Where is this?" the young man murmured as he instinctively touched the standard-issue naval officer's longsword at his waist and activated his Observation Haki. However, his normally flawless detection abilities completely failed him here. "Interesting…" Su Mo's expression grew wary. For someone to bring a Navy Admiral here without him even noticing—it had to be the work of a Devil Fruit user with some bizarre ability. Still, such users often lacked direct combat power. Even so, he couldn't afford to let his guard down. Being caught off guard would be far too embarrassing—and Vice Admiral Garp would never let him hear the end of it.

Sensing no immediate danger from the mist, Su Mo cautiously moved forward until he reached the central plaza of the mist space. Surveying the empty surroundings, he frowned. If this was a dreamscape conjured by some fruit ability, it was far too realistic. But if this was reality, then someone should've approached him by now.

After pondering for a moment, he decided to test whether anyone was hiding nearby. An invisible wave of Conqueror's Haki burst outward from him like a tidal wave, filling the entire plaza. Under normal circumstances, such overwhelming force could crush floors and shatter rocks. But here, it caused not the slightest ripple. His Haki swept through the entire space without eliciting any reaction.

"It's not a dream," Su Mo concluded. His level of Conqueror's Haki was far beyond what any dreamscape could withstand, so this had to be reality. But then—how had he been brought here without any resistance? What kind of Devil Fruit ability could pull a Navy Admiral into another space without even requiring contact? This was absurdly broken.

While Su Mo was lost in thought, the mist stirred once again. Soon, a teenage boy emerged from the white fog. The moment Su Mo saw the youth's face, his expression turned to shock. "You are—?"

"You are—?" the boy echoed, equally astonished. His originally dark pupils shimmered like rainbows—an eye color impossible for ordinary people.

Both of them instinctively raised their guard to the highest level. Yet deep down, neither truly believed the other would harm them.

"Your name?" they asked simultaneously. After a brief exchange of glances, they answered in unison.

"Su Mo!"

"Su Mo!"

The tension eased slightly as they realized they weren't enemies. Neither was the impulsive type, and both preferred to resolve the situation through communication. Thus, without the knowledge of the other Su Mos, these two newcomers began their first meeting in the mist space.