3 Comprehension and the Three Types of Alchemy

Chapter 2: Comprehension and the Three Types of Alchemy

3 years later, Littler Garden Orphanage, Balham, London

In a small room, a little boy who was no more than 4 years old was writing some things in a small notebook while reading an introduction to chemistry and physics book.

That little boy was, of course, Simon Morgan. Ever since he discovered the vast array of books in the house, he has searched for ways to get permission to visit the orphanage's library. Because it contains many old books, children are usually not allowed to enter it.

Although it was a bit complicated, he managed to get permission to visit the library, and there he checked out some children's books while doing a thorough search as to which books would be useful to him.

At first, Simon believed he would quickly be able to use alchemy based on how talented Ed and Al were, so he tried to go straight into the more complex books, but unfortunately, he was wrong. The talent of both of them is surprisingly high, but in addition to that, they have trained a lot to be able to perform their alchemy proficiently.

Simon knew what he needed to carry out the most complex transmutations, such as a human transmutation or the creation of a philosopher's stone. But there's no point in knowing the way to a treasure without having the means to walk there.

That's why he spent most of his time studying everything from the beginning and therefore trying to understand as much as possible. Different chemical reactions, actions of mechanics, and thermodynamics—everything seemed to be just a step away from him, but yet it was so far away.

As he was writing his notes, a soft knock on the door took him out of his little world. Putting the small notebook away and closing the book, Simon opened the door and found a smiling Heloise standing on the other side.

- Simon, Director Victoria asked to pick you up to play outside, everyone is there except you.

- But Lize, I don't want to go.

- Come on, it'll be fun.

Heloise took little Simon, and they both went to the small garden. Simon was very attached to Heloise, she had a unique way of making him feel welcome. She wasn't one of the best students but worked hard at school. She was also very good at defending her younger siblings and loved singing to the little ones when she took them to bed.

Heloise was never adopted, but she realized she didn't need another family, she already had a huge one here with her. When they both arrived at the small garden, a little girl, no more than 5 years old, came running and crying to her.

- Lize, Jonas stole my cake

- It's a lie; I already said it wasn't me; it was Peter.

- But Melissa said she saw you get my cake.

- This...

- Ok, enough fighting, Jonas. Did you get Amara's cake?

- …

- Huff, okay, let's do it like this. Jonas, you're going to have to use your Christmas savings to buy TWO cakes for Amara.

- Why two?

- One is because you stole, and stealing is wrong, the other is because you lied, and lying is also wrong.

- But…

- No excuses, or else I will take this case to a higher court, that is, to Director Victoria.

- All right. Come on, Amara, I'm going to ask old Thomas to take us to the bakery.

- Thanks, Lize, I love you.

- No problem.

Simon saw all of this from the outside and had to say, Lize would make a great mother. She is only 11 years old, but she already acts like an adult. She will end up taking over from Director Victoria after a few years. He knew that she also had a small crush on Lucas, another boy at the orphanage. Who knows, maybe they'll both end up getting married and running the orphanage together in the future.

After the entire situation was resolved, Simon played with the children for a while and then returned to his room. Simon was fortunate enough to have one of the rooms to himself. That's because his roommate was recently adopted by a British couple who lived in Canada. He wanted to know why they hadn't adopted a child where they lived, maybe they just wanted a British child too? He didn't stop to think much about it.

Simon continued reading and making notes of what he thought was important. He was beginning to have a deeper understanding and did not doubt that in a maximum of another 6 months, just before his 5th birthday, he would already have understood what was necessary to carry out the decomposition of some materials.

Comprehension can be said to be the most complex and difficult part of alchemy. Know what each element means and how they can be broken down and put back together by changing their molecular composition and the atomic number of their elements. Furthermore, based on what Simon understood about the alchemy of the FMA world, he decided to divide what he understood into three types of alchemy.

The first is mineral alchemy, which is mainly used by alchemists like Ed and Al or Major Armstrong. Of course, each one uses it differently, with Major Armstrong using it to gain brute strength and resistance mainly, and in the creation of a more advantageous battlefield, Ed and Al use it by creating tools to aid in battle, creating weapons, or simply controlling the surrounding environment so that they can defeat their enemies. Each of the styles occurs in different ways, but the base is minerals like rocks and things like that. Anyone who has mastered the understanding of mineral alchemy can also easily decompose other ores, such as iron, and transform them into silver or gold, for example.

The second one is what he called elementary alchemy. This can be said to be the most difficult to use. In the original work, only Colonel Mustang used elemental alchemy, called flame alchemy. While he couldn't generate fire, he could control it and make it expand from a small spark. Another who may have been an elementary alchemist was the ice alchemist, Isaac McDougall, who appeared briefly in the work and was presented as an ice manipulator, but he controlled water in both its solid and liquid forms, perhaps it was possible to manipulate it in the gaseous state, but this was not shown.

And finally, the third type is biological alchemy. This could be described as the taboo of alchemy. Human transmutation, the creation of chimeras, the creation of homunculi, and, finally, the creation of the philosopher's stone. These are the three main lines of alchemy, of course, they are not the only ones. For example, the Silver Alchemist, Giulio Comanche, can be described as what Simon named the "Hybrid Alchemist," since he used mineral alchemy to manipulate silver, but it was always in a liquid state, like water.

This type of alchemy can be said to be one of the hardest to control, but it is still possible. Simon's ultimate object was to fuse the three types of alchemy and try to create something new. Of course, it will still take a long time; he knew that, but he knows how to produce a philosopher's stone; all he needs is to survive until he creates one and achieves pseudo-immortality.

After that, it was just a matter of dedicating yourself. Thinking about the future, Simon gave a small smile as he continued to study and think about how to create a more perfect philosopher's stone to achieve true immortality.

********

The dialogues seem a little lifeless, I'll try to improve that