The Tale of Hero Alice's Social Death - Chapter 189

Chapter 189 – Not a Loss

Although Alice wasn’t a psychologist and couldn’t infer the emotions of others through their voices, the oddity in Lacey’s voice was very obvious. This situation led Alice to think that an accident had occurred during the body construction process, and she couldn’t help but grow worried.

Previously, Alice had learned from Lacey that there were, in fact, two successful instances of people reconstructing a body for themselves using the Seed of Nature. However, there was also one instance of failure.

Alice understood that the procedure wouldn’t necessarily succeed with so few precedents to use as reference. Hence, she had told Lacey not to put too much of a psychological burden on herself and that it was fine even if she failed and wasted a Seed of Nature. Lacey had also promised Alice that she wouldn’t feel down even if she failed.

Hence, when Alice heard the strangeness in Lacey’s voice, he couldn’t help but worry if something had happened to Kristine’s soul. While she didn’t mind wasting a Seed of Nature, it’d be troublesome if the failed attempt had damaged Kristine’s soul.

The instant these thoughts appeared in her head, Alice hurriedly opened the door and walked out of the room.

Currently, the alchemy arrays engraved on the living room floor using magic mercury had already lost all their mana and turned into puddles of ordinary mercury. Meanwhile, Lacey stood by the largest mercury puddle in the center of the living room, and sat in the middle of the puddle were the fragmented remains of Kristine’s Soul Gathering Tablet…

“Lacey! Where’s Kristine?!”

Alice hurriedly walked up to Lacey and asked in an anxious tone. She had just taken a look at the living room, and she had failed to locate Kristine’s presence anywhere.

It should be known that Kristine was currently a soul. Without a proper medium to attach herself to, there was a high chance that her soul might dissipate. Although Kristine had previously shown intentions of ascending to heaven after learning that Alice had defeated Grant, there was a significant difference between taking the initiative to ascend to heaven and getting one’s soul forcibly dissipated.

The experience of having one’s soul forcibly dissipated definitely wouldn’t be pleasant. Alice would definitely be filled with regret if Kristine’s soul had to suffer through such an unpleasant experience because of her willfulness.

“Lady Kristine is fine. In fact, I’ve constructed her body already,” Lacey said, snapping out of her daze after hearing Alice’s question. She could also tell what Alice was worried about, so she quickly offered an answer to reassure Alice. “It’s just that…the result is not quite like I imagined.”

“The result is different from what you imagined?” Alice sighed in relief when she learned that Kristine was fine. However, she also couldn’t help but be confused by Lacey’s answer. “What’s different?”

“Wouldn’t you know if you see for yourself?”

A somewhat peeved and childish voice suddenly came from a corner of the living room. When Alice turned toward the voice, she found herself looking at a little girl who had just walked out of the bathroom. The girl was really small, and she looked practically the same age as Alice.

Alice’s appearance and height were basically at the standard of a 13-year-old girl. Since the Loli Goddess had never told Alice the exact age of her body, Alice had arbitrarily decided that her body was 13 years old.

Meanwhile, the girl who just walked out of the bathroom also looked about 13 years old. Although the other party’s body had shrunk a lot, Alice still quickly recognized the other party’s identity after seeing the other party’s long light-blue hair and familiar facial features.

“Kristine???” Alice’s eyes widened as she looked at the blue-haired loli wearing a big, loose T-shirt. “How did you become like this?”

“How should I know? Shouldn’t you be asking the alchemist you brought instead?” Kristine said gloomily. Although she was glad that she now had a physical body to move around in again, she failed to understand why she had ended up with such a childlike appearance. So, while speaking to Alice, she turned to Lacey, hoping to get an answer.

“Actually, I’m not quite sure of the exact reason, either. I was certain I carried out every step of the procedure correctly,” Lacey said frustratedly. “But I think it might be related to the Seed of Nature.”

“Related to the Seed of Nature?” Alice was stunned when she heard Lacey’s conjecture. “Is there something wrong with the Seed of Nature? That shouldn’t be the case. This is something the elven patriarch handed me personally, and I’ve always kept it inside my pant—the pouch I carry. Nobody else has touched it before.”

“I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with the Seed of Nature… In reality, there has always been speculation circulating in the alchemy community regarding the Seed of Nature, which is the ‘mana sediment’ theory,” Lacey said, offering her thoughts on the matter. However, considering that Alice and Lacey were laymen when it came to alchemy, she tried to explain her thoughts using the simplest terms. “Simply put, the Seed of Nature begins producing mana once it matures, but it doesn’t release all of the mana it generates.”

“You mean to say that…” Kristine, who stood by Alice’s side, seemingly thought of something after hearing Lacey’s words.

“That’s right. A small part of the generated mana will settle inside the Seed of Nature. Meanwhile, the older a Seed of Nature, the more sediment mana it will contain,” Lacey said. “However, This has always been a theory that has never been verified. After all, the elves are the ones mostly researching the Seed of Nature. There is very little information the human kingdoms’ alchemists possess on the Seed of Nature. Meanwhile, the central argument of this theory is that many of a Seed of Nature’s functions are tied to the sediment mana it holds.”

Alice’s mouth twitched as realization dawned on her. The Seed of Nature she gave Lacey was part of the batch that ripened only recently. As for the one that had remained hidden in the Elven Forest for who knows how many years, Alice had kept it inside her pouch.

Of course, Alice didn’t decide to give Lacey the newer seed because of personal greed. After all, she didn’t even know about the Seed of Nature’s mana sediment previously. She simply thought that the newer Seed of Nature would produce better results. Hence, she had given that one to Lacey.

Unfortunately, the mana sediment theory was true, and the new Seed of Nature contained hardly any sediment mana. Hence, the body produced using it had shrunk significantly, and Kristine became a loli.