After a long moment, Lucien finally recovered from his teacher's remarkably thorough plan and said hesitantly:
"But, Teacher, you spend most of your time on the airship. Those people don't really have the ability to disturb you here, do they?"
There was one thing Lucien didn't say aloud: the defensive measures on this airship were undoubtedly absurdly powerful. Any enemy would probably be reduced to ashes before they even got close.
Nicolas took another long drink of his cola.
"But holding a funeral for myself would be a truly novel experience. I'd never thought of doing it before. Hmm, what if, after all the mourners leave, I go and take a photograph beside my own tombstone? Or perhaps I should simply create a corpse that's indistinguishable from the real thing. That would be even more convincing..."
The corners of Lucien's mouth twitched slightly.
He thought he understood now.
His teacher simply wanted to experience having a funeral for himself.
In fact, Nicolas even seemed eager to try creating his own corpse, which, for a legendary alchemist, was hardly a difficult task at all.
After saying goodbye to Nicolas Flamel and leaving the airship, Lucien continued his search for a Norwegian Ridgeback settlement.
High above the swirling wind and snow, Lucien sat on Norbert's broad back, looking down at his right hand, where a cerulean wave-shaped pattern had appeared on the pad of his little finger.
This was the Primary Elemental Water Pattern, a loan that had been triggered by chance over the past few days. The task had been simple, so he completed it easily.
He waved his wand and summoned a sphere of clear water, controlling it as it fluidly shifted into various shapes.
Just like the Lightning Sigil, this Water Sigil increased the power of water-element Magic by 10% across the board, while also enhancing Lucien's affinity with the water element.
However, what Lucien cared about more was that, after obtaining this Water Sigil, a faint connection had formed between it and the Advanced Elemental Thunder Pattern on his thumb.
Following that connection, Lucien released another arc of electricity.
The stream of water and the electric arc intertwined as if drawn to each other. Beyond this superficial phenomenon, in Lucien's perception, the state of coexistence between the water and lightning elements was even more interesting.
It wasn't that different elements couldn't coexist. For example, a classic topic in Alchemy was how to utilize the four basic elements of water, fire, earth, and wind. The issue was that when different elements coexisted, they inevitably consumed one another, and the rate of that consumption was a problem that always had to be considered during Alchemy.
At this moment, the water and lightning elements before Lucien were intertwined, yet their rate of consumption was slightly lower than the normal value.
Alchemy was a rigorous discipline, and there were many established standards regarding elemental consumption rates.
After experimenting under different conditions, Lucien confirmed that, as long as he activated the Elemental Magic Pattern, the consumption rate of the corresponding elements would be lower than the standard.
It was as though two children who would normally fight and quarrel had restrained themselves under the supervision of an adult.
The lightning and water elements before him were just like those two children.
Moreover, because the Lightning Sigil had reached the advanced level, Lucien's control over the lightning element was greater, so the consumption of the lightning element was even lower than that of the water element.
Lucien's first thought was that, if he could collect the Magic Patterns for the four basic elements of water, fire, earth, and wind, they would likely provide corresponding benefits in the field of Alchemy.
By reducing the consumption rate between these basic elements, many alchemical theories and techniques could be improved or even reconstructed.
At least, that was the case for Lucien himself, who possessed the Elemental Magic Patterns.
"And then there's composite elemental Magic..."
Lucien watched the stream of water entwined with electric arcs swimming through the air, and this thought surfaced in his mind.
In fact, as Magic became more complex, more elements needed to be mobilized, and when those increasingly active elements came into contact, the rate of elemental consumption would also rise.
This was also why there were so few advanced composite elemental spells. Even though they required more Magic power and more complex manipulation, they failed to produce proportional benefits, making them "not worth it." As a result, research in this area had become increasingly rare.
However, the connection between the Lightning Sigil and the Water Sigil gave Lucien a glimpse of a new possibility.
If he could continue to increase the level of the Elemental Magic Patterns, strengthen his affinity with the elements, and reduce elemental consumption to an acceptable or even negligible level, then composite elemental Magic would have tremendous potential for development.
"Something new to research again..."
Lucien suddenly recalled the system evaluations from several Elemental Magic Pattern loans: collecting the Elemental Magic Patterns would bring a "surprise."
There were five Elemental Magic Patterns in total: the four basic elements of water, fire, earth, and wind, plus the lightning element.
Based on the existing connection between the lightning and water elements, perhaps he didn't need to collect all the Elemental Magic Patterns at their highest level. Even if they were all merely advanced, or perhaps even primary, would there be some kind of change once he had collected all five?
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