Julian moved his frail body towards the work table, on which was lined a row of failed potions, some herbs, and a glass which contained a glowing stones producing enough light to act as a lamp.
But he didn't care about those for now. Right now, his goal was figuring out what was wrong with him and for that, he needed a paper and pen.
Reaching the table, he moved most of the equipments to the side, only to freeze when he caught his reflection in a reflective orb that was on the table.
It showed a man with beautiful but sunken golden eyes, messy black hair and pale skin. His cheek bones were completely visible against his skin but that wasn't what made him freeze.
The reason he froze was because this was the same face he had seen moments before the truck rammed into him, only a lot younger and healthier... Was that some sort of sign?
Still, asking questions with no immediate answer was not going to help his situation.
He soon spotted a piece of parchment paper and to the side of it was ink and a quill dipped inside.
The parchment seemed empty at first, only for it to be flipped over and reveal the words:
I DON'T WANT TO DIE!
Around the words were droplets of ink and dried tears.
"It seems he really was scared of dying," Julian muttered.
The memories he received were either incomplete or his brain hadn't fully processed all, but even through the few he received, he could tell how scared of death the kid was.
Elias was no older than twenty one when he succumbed to this disease and Julian took over.
Speaking of which, if the vessel of Elias currently housed Julian's soul, then what happened to Elias's? Did he also get reincarnated? Maybe into a world he could finally achieve his dream?
But those were questions that couldn't be answered by Julian right now, since he lacked knowledge on subjects completely unrelated to science.
"Wherever you are Elias," Julian started, "I want you to know that your name would be renowned around the world as the greatest alchemist just as you wanted."
With that promise, the name Julian Ward died again.... Becoming nothing more than a memory of a genius who once lived on earth.
From this moment on, he would be known as Elias Verdan, the failure alchemist who became the greatest of them all.
Cough! Cough!
But before that, he had to make sure he didn't die...again.
Sitting down on the stool that was close to the parchment paper, he turned it back to the side with no writing, dipped the quill in ink and started scribbling.
It wasn't the greatest of writing experiences, but he would be able to do what he wanted to with it.
Elias wrote the heading: symptoms, before underlining it. Using both the memories he received and what he had just observed, he wrote down the following:
Deathly pale skin, sunken eyes, trembling hands, chest pain, coughing blood and blue veins.
He leaned back and observed the writing done by his trembling hand, Elias summoned his previous life's memories.
"Pale skin could be related to several causes," Elias muttered under his breath.
"Anemia… heart failure… tuberculosis… or some kind of toxic exposure…" His mind raced, piecing together what he knew from both his old life and the fragmented memories of the former Elias. "But I need to be precise, I can't just start finding cure for every suspected cause."
These were the most common cases he could think of that matched his situation, so he wrote them down.
"Tuberculosis usually develops slowly," he whispered, recalling his studies of respiratory illnesses. "Fever, night sweats… weight loss. This fit Elias's current look but there was one problem. According to the memories he received, there was no slow development, he just suddenly started coughing out blood and his condition deteriorated from there."
Elias crossed out Tuberculosis from his list since he was ninety percent sure that his situation wasn't caused by it.
He tapped the quill against the parchment thoughtfully. "Heart failure could cause the blue veins and pallor… but there's no swelling in the limbs, no fatigue before this. And according to his memories, this body had never encountered any heart issues before.... Well, apart from heartbreak."
Elias chuckled at his own joke before swallowing, his throat was dry... That's right, he still hadn't quenched his thirst yet, but that could wait.
Heart failure was also off the list.
"Severe anemia… yes, that explains the pale skin and trembling. But anemia alone doesn't make the lungs bleed this much," he continued, "and definitely not so suddenly."
Instead of crossing Anemia off the list, he just put a question mark on it since he was only eighty percent sure that this wasn't the cause.
To Julian...no Elias, any percentage lower than ninety might as well be zero since he'd always ensure a ninety to hundred percent in all his research and articles.
That only left him with one option.
"Toxic exposure or poison." Elias frowned. He suspected that the cause of his current frail and dying self was of an external, rather than a failure of his organs or anything internal.
But the question was...what?
Well, not really since it was evident enough even from where he sat. As stated before, Alchemy was an extremely crude form of science and the safety precautions were basically non-existent.
Potion alchemists completely ignore the use of masks or even gloves, so getting poisoned by one of the herbs or minerals which might be toxic was a common occurrence, especially among poorer Alchemists.
Elias fought the urge to call them idiots for the nth time since he reincarnated, but they couldn't be blamed either.
They barely knew what each ingredient could do, talk less about knowing whether or not they had dangerous toxins or not.
He glanced around the worktable. Dried powders, scattered herbs, and broken vials with faintly shimmering potions lay all around.
Each was a potential toxin that could have been the cause but he couldn't jump to conclusions just yet.
"Of course," he muttered, his voice hoarse, "this is what happens when you ignore proper precautions…"
Turning to the parchment, he dipped the quill in ink and started scribbling again. He was ninety percent sure that toxic exposure was the reason why he was like this.
The herb responsible?
He had no idea, but he was going to find out and for that, he needed a lab rat.