Alchemy 

Sorry about the week without chapters, but it was for a good reason. As I said before, my sister got married. 

That's right, friends, now she's someone else's problem, hahaha. 

Jokes aside, this has been a very busy week here at home, so I hope you understand and don't think I abandoned this work. 

Tomorrow there will be a new chapter, so stay tuned and, if possible, comment.

Thank you, and bye.

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Chapter 3 – Alchemy 

In a dark room, a young man was typing on the computer while lines of code appeared on his screen. Behind his back, a beautiful young woman was curled up on the bed. Her beautiful body was only covered by a small blanket, and she was sweating profusely as small tears came out of her beautiful blue eyes as she looked at the wall. 

The young man then stopped typing, and after taking another look, he drank some energy drink before waking the girl up for another round without worrying about how tired she was. 

- Wait…HAaa~ 

Meanwhile, a 5-year-old child in ethereal form watched all this while frowning with some disgust. This boy was obviously Simon, based on one of his memories. 

When he slept, he didn't always go straight to the library, sometimes he came across certain memories that somehow moved him. Watching his past self fuck Eliza with no regard for what the girl was going through or thinking at the time made him feel a little uncomfortable.

He didn't feel guilt or regret, in his worldview, that wouldn't lead him anywhere, but he felt disgusted with himself and with his actions that made him lose a girl who could have been his perfect partner—who knows, the woman of his life. 

Although the few contacts he had with her before she got into prostitution were only at the supermarket checkout, Simon knew and felt that Eliza was a good girl and that she would undoubtedly be a great mother in the future. 

- If someone asked me if I regretted it, I would say no, but I'm ashamed. 

Simon went to the library as he talked to himself, left the scene behind, and began to study.

The alchemy of the FMA world, like nature, follows a basic principle that cannot be circumvented in any way. The equivalent exchange. If you want something, you must provide something of equal value. And this is something that is noticeable from the beginning. 

Alchemy is divided into three parts: Comprehension, decomposition and recomposition. 

Comprehension is the most difficult to master, it not only requires a high level of knowledge of materials at atomic-molecular levels and their structure, but also a greater understanding of how nature itself works. One is all, and all is one. 

Soon after comes the decomposition process, which requires less skill and basically consists of destroying the physical structure of the material that will be transmuted. 

And putting an end to recomposition, this is a process that requires the alchemist to not only have the ability to manipulate the decomposed material in a malleable way but also to have imagination and perception in order to best fit alchemy into his style of work. 

In the end, alchemy is just a way that human beings have found to manipulate nature to their will, at least to some extent. 

Simon felt that his level of understanding had already reached a suitable level for carrying out decomposition and recomposition. What you need now is a little practice, and then you can begin studying more complex transmutations.

He also noted that alchemy had several branches, and he personally didn't know which one to pursue. After spending 5 years studying them, he cataloged these branches into different groups, leaving only 3 left in the end. 

The first and most common was what he called mineral alchemy. This type of alchemy allowed the manipulation of minerals such as rocks and metals in a more malleable way, was quite common, and was the easiest to use. Of course, each alchemist had different ways of using their alchemy, even though both had the same type. 

For example, Major Armstrong used alchemy to combine his superhuman strength so that he could produce large darts or projectiles made of rocks or other elements and launch them through a combination of kinetic force and energy, causing surprising damage to the enemy.

Another was Giolio Comanche, who manipulated pure silver in a liquid state, turning it solid and molding it into different types of bladed weapons. 

The second type is what he called elemental alchemy, which directly manipulates the molecules of the environment by shaping them into simple elements such as fire or water. The most famous alchemists presented in FMA were Roy Mustang, the flame alchemist and Isaac McDougall, the ice alchemist. 

Although Roy was called an alchemist of flames, what he actually did was manipulate the oxygen around him and cause it to combust, producing flames and explosions. For that reason, his alchemy was much more complex and difficult to understand or copy. 

And finally, there is the third type, biology alchemy, or bio-alchemy. This can be said to be the most complex of them all, ranging from the creation of chimeras to the creation of homunculi. 

There is also the alchemy of souls, this type of alchemy does not fall into any of the previous three, and Simon has little or no knowledge about it. What he knows is only that he can manipulate souls into a circle of blood by trapping them in a container or by shaping a philosopher's stone. 

- I always ask myself. If I created a body and then fixed a soul in it, would it be possible to bring someone back to life? Hmm, I don't think so, but I'll try it anyway. 

Simon kept studying the space in his mind until he finally woke up the next day. 

He had coffee with the children and then went to play for a bit before sneaking into the basement of the house, squeezing himself into a small, hidden spot between some crates, and starting to test the alchemy. 

Although Simon's understanding had reached an acceptable level, it was difficult to do anything with so many people around and not draw attention. So after almost a week of searching around the house, he found this place. The only problem was that children couldn't go down here due to the dust and other things that could hurt them. 

Simon finally got an opportunity today, and he wasn't going to give it up. Arriving at his small hiding place, he drew a circle on a sheet of paper with the necessary runes and then placed some pebbles on it before starting to move the dystrophic energy to decompose the pebbles and then put them back together in the form of small dolls.

Simon stayed at this for a while until he realized he had been gone for almost 4 hours. He left the premises and went upstairs, only to see an angry Director Victoria looking for him. 

- Mr. Simon Morgan, where have you been? Do you know how long we've been looking for you? Do you have any idea what we thought had happened? Do you...

He ended up being reprimanded for several minutes, but he didn't feel bad. Unlike when his mother was scolding him for whatever nonsense he had done, this time he really did the wrong thing by disappearing for 4 hours.

Simon just stayed silent, and after the lecture, while he waited for some spankings, all he got was a genuine hug.

- Please don't do this again, Simon. You promised me?

- Hm

- Okay, now go take a shower, we'll have lunch soon 

- All right, 

Simon went upstairs and took a simple bath. He saw that Headmistress Victoria's eyes held genuine concern for him. He couldn't remember if he'd ever seen his mother with that look before. 

Remembering the promise he made to her made him feel truly sad for the first time since he came to this world. 

Simon knew he was not a good person, but he had those he cared about. Were there many? Yes. And none of them were in this world, but now he found himself very attached to some people in this place, making him feel for the first time the warmth of a long-lost family. But not even that would stop his plans.