14 Mass Conversion
Burne stood in front of the tablet and started reading the contents. It was written in an old dialect of Amestrian, which was a slight twist at the English language.
Burne read the text on the tablet.
'Elements are the basis of all creation. From an atom to the entire planet, everything is made of elements. Manipulating elements lets an alchemist create, mould and destroy the wonders of the world at their will. But everything has a price.' Burne paused as he reached the part he was looking for. "The law of equivalent exchange." He mumbled.
'Matter can neither be created nor destroyed— it can only be converted.' Burne nodded reading the texts. He knew this as it was the basis of all alchemic spells. 'A certain element can be converted into another with the use of transmutation circles.'
He continued reading. 'But for an accurate and successful conversion, one needs to accurately measure the mass of the atoms.' Burne raised an eyebrow. 'The biggest mistake that many alchemists make which causes the failure of a conversion or results in the wastage of energy— is not using the accurate amount.'
He paused, surprised by the discovery. "Some conversions indeed consume a lot of energy to even convert a tiny thing."
'If an atom of an element has a mass of twenty, using an element atom with a mass of nineteen will end in a failed conversion. To avoid this, some alchemists will use more than one atom to carry out the conversion. Some use two to three atoms to convert into one atom but this results in the loss of a lot of mass as the atom only requires a mass of twenty and adding more will either change it into another element or the extra bit will be ejected in nature. The alchemists lose a lot of energy because of this method of conversion. Matter cannot be destroyed so the extra bit is dispersed in nature to form new elements in the air.'
Burne was shocked at the discovery. Almost every alchemy institution taught that an alchemist should use more energy and a larger mass to convert some of the denser elements.
'But apparently, that is not the case…' Burne thought in astonishment. 'I always lost a lot of energy while carrying out larger conversions and it also put a burden on my nerves. But maybe I won't have to strain my nerves anymore.'
With a hopeful smile on his face, he continued reading.
'An atom of scandium has an atomic mass of forty-four— nearing forty-five. And many alchemists use two atoms of calcium which has an atomic mass of forty to form scandium. An alchemist requires to imagine the atomic structure of the element while carrying out the conversions. The required mass is taken to form the new structure while the remaining mass is ejected in nature, this results in the loss of energy. While this might not seem much at first as an atom is something that a human eye cannot see. But to convert an actual visible item, one requires converting trillions and trillions of atoms and that is when the energy consumption becomes visible.'
Burne nodded as the text made perfect sense. 'To avoid this loss of energy, an alchemist can use elements whose atomic mass when added forms the perfect or near-perfect mass of the desired atom. Using two sodium atoms whose atomic mass is twenty-two— nearing twenty-three causes minuscule loss of energy compared to using two calcium atoms.'
Burne was grinning as he finished reading the tablet. If he could follow what he learned, then he would be able to solve a lot of problems he usually faced. This meant he would be able to carry out more alchemic spells and that also for a longer period of time without fainting. He also figured that this meant more precise results that would help him to craft items with more accuracy.
'But this does make me wonder… why was this technique abandoned? Or was it kept hidden from the average alchemist?' Burne thought.
Alchemy— even in the past was used by many kingdoms as a weapon to fight and conquer other kingdoms. So not allowing other kingdoms to figure out the secrets ensured an edge over the rest.
'It is the same now…' Burne thought as he looked at the tablet. 'Grandfather would have been disappointed if he knew what I am going to do.' He sighed. 'But I cannot let anyone find out about this during a war.'
He placed his hand over the tablet and similar to what he did with the secrets of the philosopher's stone— he destroyed the tablet.
The tablet melted as he collapsed the bonds between the atoms, resulting in a puddle of liquid that froze instantly on the ground.
'This will ensure that no one ever finds out about this.' He thought. 'I will let the world know about the secrets when everything stabilises… and that should be after the wars are settled.'
But just as he was about to leave, he heard footsteps, followed by a shout of warning.
"Whoever you are, show yourself!"
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Buccaneer had gathered a team of eight to explore the altar. Previously the altar was part of the border so the military was not allowed to occupy it. Some alchemists were allowed to look at the altar because it was considered a sort of ancient alchemic shrine, so the military couldn't stop them from checking the place out. But they were not allowed to damage or take anything from the altar.
'Not that there should be anything in there.' Buccaneer thought.
The place was nothing more than an attraction. One of the only places within the border that a person was able to travel to. But even that was only allowed to the alchemists and not the general public. And if an alchemist joined the state, their permission to visit was revoked.
This made no sense according to Buccaneer but it was an ancient law made by the first rulers of Drachma and Amestris, and it was valid till they received the letter from the state. Which stated that from now, Amestris had full rights over the altar.
'I am not sure how the alchemists will react to this…' He sighed. 'But there is not much that I can do about it.'
He walked closer towards the structure but frowned as he noticed footprints around the place.
"Someone is here." Buccaneer said. "Stay alert, it might be an alchemist… in which case we can tell him or her to leave." He frowned. "But there is a chance that the Drachma soldiers are trying to search the place for valuables as they lost the right over this place."
"Yes, Captain." The soldiers agreed.
They walked inside the broken structure with utmost vigilance, not daring to miss anything. Buccaneer followed the footprints to a dark room. That was the place where the altar was located.
'Did the person leave?' Buccaneer wondered. He walked closer to the altar and was surprised to find no flowers over it.
'It has to be Drachma!' He frowned.
Every alchemist that visited the altar left flowers as a sign of respect to the ancient alchemic grandmasters but there were no flowers on the altar despite the footprints on the way. The only explanation that Buccaneer could think of was that Drachma had invaded the altar.
He was about to storm off the room and report it to the Major General but stopped as he heard some noises.
'No one is here. So where is this noise coming from?' He thought.
Trying to find the source of the noise, he placed his ear on the floor, trying to track the path of the sound. But once he laid his ears on the ground, his face morphed into a scowl.
He looked at the soldiers. "Someone is below us! Break the floor!"
He said before roaring. "Whoever you are, show yourself!"
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[A/N: I am not happy with this chapter... I might rewrite this at a later date. I had to rush as I was busy so the grammar and structuring got fucked.
But anyways... The mass conversion ability might not seem very special for now... But trust me, it is one of the most OP abilities that I could think of. You will see how efficient it is when I write battle scenes.
Some people might be confused about the Seven Monuments thingy... So let me explain. These are places where some ancient grand alchemists hid their greatest theories and discoveries but with the passage of time, people dismissed their existence. Each monument will contain knowledge about a certain branch of alchemy— elemental, organic etc. And everyone knows that knowledge is the greatest weapon.
Like always, leave paragraph comments next to errors and mistakes for me to fix them later.]
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