A Villain's Way of Taming Heroines

Chapter 446: Bring it to an end - Five - I

"The universalization of extraordinary" has led Eileen Ziegler to be ostracized and opposed by nearly all sorcerers, causing him to fall from his position as one of the world's top alchemists… into a state of delusional ruin.

Eileen has only found a direction and created a prototype, yet he cannot advance any further.

He recognizes that this is the limit of his intellect and capabilities, which do not allow him to reach higher realms.

Therefore… he has placed all his hopes on his granddaughter, who possesses unparalleled talent, shaping Ravenna through his own demise into a creature absolutely loyal to her ideals, unswayed by any external influence.

How, then, can one achieve this paradoxical notion of extraordinary principles, which seems fundamentally unattainable?

There are only two paths for a mortal to ascend to extraordinary: one is through the Heavenly Road, progressing step by step to transform the levels of life, and the other is to plunge into the abyss for self-awakening.

Both paths come with exceedingly stringent conditions.

The Heavenly Road requires a qualification for transcendence, which is not innately predetermined. Since its creation, various extraordinary rituals and special artifacts have enabled mortals to possess qualifications, even transforming them directly into extraordinary beings, such as the Holy Church's Water of Redemption.

However, the rarity and cost of these rituals and artifacts impose even more severe restrictions than innate qualifications.

Even in a mortal family, the one in ten thousand chance to alter one's destiny by birthing a child with natural extraordinary qualifications does not guarantee escape from their constraints.

The Heavenly Road is a man-made path to transcendence, where rituals, materials, and resources... Most "ordinary" extraordinary beings can only advance further by selling themselves to more powerful beings.

Meanwhile, extraordinary beings who plunge into the abyss, though not bound by the complex demands of the Heavenly Road, face even more stringent requirements in terms of qualifications.

As "orthodox" extraordinary beings, by directly contacting the abyss with their souls and drawing knowledge and power from the infinite source of the world, those without inherently strong souls, as Ansel explained to Seraphina about Heaven and the Abyss, are like a sheet of paper soaked in water, eroded by the torrent of information from the abyss, leading to madness and then destruction.

Qualifications, talents, resources... These elements completely separate the extraordinary beings from the mortal, with no possibility of connection.

And mortals who cannot harness ether are utterly incapable of using alchemical devices that rely on ether as a base energy, thus the so-called universalization of transcendence is entirely a dead end.

But Eileen, after decades of endless struggle, this former alchemy master has finally found that supposedly non-existent path in his twilight years.

Helen looked at the materials spread across the table, exhaling slowly.

Evidently, both Ravenna and Ansel had long been prepared for the culmination of this wager.

Through countless calculations, derivations, failures, and restarts, Helen had gathered all the necessary materials to reach the utmost limits of possibility.

Clutching the alchemical carving knife in her hand, she commenced what might be… the final act of creation in her life.

Eileen discerned the essence of the path: an epiphany struck him.

If one wants the mortal to control the extraordinary…Why attempt to control the extraordinary directly?

This approach, currently adopted by the Tower of Babel, involves creating devices that operate without the direct manipulation of ether, thus limiting the possibilities to a narrow scope. However, Eileen's vision was never confined to such constraints.

Ether, the lifeblood of the extraordinary, can ignite flames, summon storms, call forth thunder, and nourish the earth… In the hands of the extraordinary beings, it can achieve anything, transforming into any form of energy.

Thus, by crafting a device that internalizes the process of "extraordinary beings manipulating ether" into an automatic mechanism that converts ether into any required energy…

Ordinary beings could wield the extraordinary and revel in its boundless possibilities without directly manipulating ether!

Why, despite the near omnipotence of the extraordinary beings, does this world remain so backward and barren?

They can construct towering skyscrapers yet the landscape is dotted with dilapidated houses; they can traverse space and even travel to other worlds, yet the carriage remains the best mode of transportation; they can breed livestock whose flesh bolsters health, yet countless people subsist on the cheapest rice bran and wheat bran.

Because the infinite potential of the extraordinary and the omnipotence of ether have never truly permeated the realm of the ordinary.

If ether were used as a medium to output a perfectly adaptable form of energy, all devices developed on this basis would no longer be directly constrained by ether. The entire industrial system born from this, and the society built upon this industrial system, would possess the limitless potential represented by ether, steering towards a future of unparalleled brilliance.

This is the universal ether furnace, a creation potent enough to completely revolutionize the empire… the entire world!

The alchemy workshop sprang to life, the forge roared with intense flames, steel clashed with a piercing screech, and ether, omnipresent, flowed and shaped itself in the ways the two genius sorcerers desired.

This was an exceedingly lengthy process. The creation that Eileen had pursued for decades and had yet to achieve could not possibly be realized so easily. The outcome of this wager would not be determined by who could produce a real universal ether furnace, but by whose results came closest to the perfect creation they had both yet to touch.

"What can you achieve?"

Helen suddenly spoke, despite her focus on creation.

"..."

Ravenna, manipulating Nidhoggur and evidently more at ease than Helen, who was still using the alchemical carving knife, was ten times faster and had more spare capacity, yet she did not respond to Helen's question.

"No matter what you achieve, the true Model Seven is beyond your reach," Helen muttered to herself, steadily and forcefully inscribing the complex ether circuits on the alchemical materials.

"—Even though you have had access to the secret archives of Hydral for three full years."

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