Ball of Nothing

Zero sat on the bed in the lamp and stared at his latest purchase. This soul supplement was something hard to explain and all three fairies looked at him waiting for an explanation.

The young doctor sighed. \"I don't know the specifics of this yet but I think Zeffery can be trusted. Besides, I didn't spend any money, I don't have any to spend. It's just that he had a favour to ask for and Tanya recommended him... he wouldn't lie about it. I cannot open it here and risk it hurting everyone.\"

Mii became irritated at Zero's vague explanation. \"Hurry up and appraise it then! Tell us what this is. I don't believe there is anything such as a soul supplement. Magicians of all kinds will be fighting over it if this was the case. Soul ripping magic cannot be cured. If such a miraculous supplement exists, don't you think soul magic mages will be less feared?\"

\"There are soul magic magicians? Why haven't I heard of them?\" Zero asked.

Wii chuckled nervously. \"That's something that we found out after going through Merlin's forbidden library. It hasn't been scanned yet.\"

Lily patted the eggplant fairy and turned her attention to the glass jar. \"Is that going to be dangerous? I can't feel anything soul-related from it. There's only a very confusing mess of energy radiating from it.\"

Zero raised his brow. If Lily said that, then it must be true. She was the expert at finding souls after all. It's either Zeffery was lying or the soul fragment that he used was too small or destroyed in the process of creating this soul supplement.

\"Appraise!\"

At once, a system window appeared before Zero. Four pairs of eyes studied it intently.

Item: Soul Supplement

Creator: Zeffery

The soul supplement is created from a fragment of Zeffery's soul and fused with many kinds of energy forms from all planes during the gnome's travels.

Effects: Rumoured to heal broken souls. Has never been tested, the system has rated the item as potentially dangerous for ordinary consumption.

Detected energy types include yin qi, yang qi, elemental mana, soul, life, thoughts, miasma, spirit particles, void fragments, blessing remnants and unknown.

Zero didn't understand the description. The soul fragment belonged to Zeffery? Also, the detected energy types confused Zero. He could understand qi, mana and even miasma. However, what were the others? Souls were considered a type of energy? Wasn't life something that was created by nature? Why did that become energy? He could understand spirit particles acting as some sort of energy. However, what were blessing remnants and void fragments? Lastly, how were thoughts an energy form? Didn't that mean Zero was somehow capable of producing his own energy type with so many thoughts running through his brain every day?

\"What's this?\" Mii asked with a frown. She was searching through Zero's massive database and even the reading device but still found nothing. This soul supplement was simply too suspicious. She didn't know who Zeffery was and even if he was introduced by the Queen of Dryads, Mii didn't trust them. This thing sounded dangerous and she didn't want Zero having any ideas about using it even if he didn't have a soul.

Wii blinked. \"Oh!\" she shouted suddenly, alarming everyone. \"It's something that can be used to analyse and understand the different types of energy. Remember the first step to forming recreation magic? It's an analysis of the different forms of energy using the system.\"

Zero nodded slowly and then vigorously. \"That's right! Mii, Lily, get back to position and standby for anything that should go wrong. I'm going to absorb this try to separate it to the various forms of energy and learn the conversion rate of each energy type into the base form for my use. Also, let me know if there are any special properties for each kind of unique energy. This is such a good find!\"

Mii and Lily caught onto it quickly and got to work. Zero grinned and thanked Wii before absorbing it. The system quickly detected an abnormality and contained it before it could cause further harm. Thankfully, Mind's Eye was capable enough to sort the mess of energy absorbed into its original states.

Zero looked proud of himself and let his assistants take over the work from there. Right now, Zero had to create a grimoire based on his current knowledge that was still increasing by the second. At least most of Merlin's books have been read. The young doctor couldn't wait to bind his own grimoire and write his own spells. He was now proficient in writing runes and wanted to design a special safety measure for his grimoire like all good grimoires.

Zero wasn't going to curse people who stole and used his grimoire. However, he had to ensure it didn't fall into the wrong hands. If there was truly one person Zero didn't want his grimoire to end up with, it would be Solo. He had to Solo-proof the book for their final encounter and what better time to start than now?

With that, the young doctor set to work.

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Merlin decided to check on Zero's progress. The teen had decided to stop hiding in the lamp and start working on his grimoire. As the master of Arabesque, nothing could escape his eyes. Zero was in the garden using magic to grow something. From the crystal ball, Merlin couldn't see what kind of plant Zero wanted to grow. It was a strange seed that didn't grow no matter what and Zero had given up.

Luckily, it was time for a break and the wizard took the opportunity to go down and chat with his student before lunch. Bib returned with food from La Boutique today and the wizard god was thrilled to have a change of palate for once.

\"How's your progress?\" Merlin asked, startling Zero who was digging up the seed that failed to grow.

\"Teacher! I was trying to grow this strange seed we got from Sleepy Cave hoping that it'll be a good tree to create a grimoire out of. However, it won't grow and my appraisal level isn't high enough to know what this is.\"

Merlin raised a brow. \"The quality of paper doesn't usually affect a grimoire. Also, let me try. Maybe I can identify the seed. You said it came from Sleepy Cave? Was it the seed that was left in the chest at the end of the dungeon?\"

Zero nodded. \"I've been holding onto it and trying to grow it in different soils but nothing works. It might be dead.\"

Merlin stroked his long beard in thought and reached out his hand for Zero to pass him the seed. Zero cleaned the dirt off the seed and placed it in Merlin's palm, waiting as his teacher appraised it. Merlin's expression changed from thoughtful to one of wonder and shock after the appraisal.

\"Zero! Didn't you receive a quest to plant the new Tree of Life from one of the three divine sisters of heaven?\"

Zero nodded.

The wizard god grinned. \"This is the seed for the Tree of Life that had died on Endow Hill. Sleepy Cave has been holding onto it. I don't know how it got there but I suspect Sleepy cave must have been leeching off the power from the Tree of Life. Lovina's birth in Half Moon Village on Endow Hill can be explained as well. The witch has been cursed with immortality to constantly be reborn every hundred years alongside this Tree of Life. The curse of the phoenix cannot be broken so easily but we can stop this never-ending cycle of rebirth for her if it is planted in Heaven.\"

The young doctor couldn't believe his ears. Of the three quests, the first one was so easily fulfilled. How could this be? Then again, fate worked in a strange way so Zero didn't think much about it. From the time Sedna found him to how he first set foot on Endow Hill and became Hua Tuo's apprentice, surely all these were predestined.

\"Say... I want to use the Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge to craft some items. Do you know of a way I can revive the Tree of Knowledge and grow the Tree of Life?\"

Merlin hummed and thought for a while and advised. \"You'd have to gain Gaia's permission to enter the Garden Eden. After that, you have to find a way to divert some water from the Spring of Vitality to the Garden Eden for the Trees to grow. The Garden Eden is withering now due to the lack of mana. I don't think we should do anything now before sealing up the crack at Titan's Cliff.\"

Zero nodded. \"Understood. I think I shall wait a little longer to create my grimoire then. It's time for lunch. Shall we eat?\"

Merlin agreed. Master and student headed to the kitchen to fill their stomachs while discussing other matters. Over lunch, Zero learnt about Merlin's progress with the magic device to measure chaos energy. the seal stamp that Zero and Merlin made together proved to be the very first step crucial for Steve's research.

\"He told me that he has the prototype ready. Chaos energy can be measured and we have a fixed formula to calculate the balance required between qi and mana to counter and trap it successfully. Zero perked at the news.

\"Can I come with you? My new magic is based on the theory of energy conversion.\"

\"Oh?\" Merlin was surprised. He did tell Zero to create his own unique magic but didn't think that Zero would find inspiration so quickly. After all, the teen was still struggling to read everything in his library only a few days ago. The devices he loaned Zero's assistant must have been of great help for the teenager to make such good progress.

Zero explained to Merlin about his concept of recreation magic and waited for his teacher to comment. Merlin was silent for a very long time, tumultuous thoughts threatened to break his self-control.

\"Zero,\" Merlin choked. \"This recreation magic... would it work for ordinary mages without any meridian network?\"

Zero shook his head. \"It's not related to meridian networks or chakra channels. This is built upon Mind's Eye system and my innate ability to absorb just about anything. It's a unique magic built on my ability. I wish to counter the power of creation with this.\"

Merlin nodded and sighed heavily. It was just as he had expected. An alchemist could only dream of the things Zero could do. Sensing that merlin was somewhat depressed, Zero decided to explain a little more about how a regular person could hope to replicate such magic.

\"It takes a lot of understanding of the structure of an item to perform recreation magic. It's also the reason why I need the Tree of Knowledge and Tree of Life to create this grimoire. It doesn't matter what form it takes, energy is the basis of everything created. Mana and qi are closer to the base energy form that was used for creation. I'm still in the process of trying to understand the conversion rate. At the same time, I need to verify if chaos energy is a form of energy itself. My theory is that chaos energy is an energy form that is beneath mana and qi which is why it keeps attacking them. It is the energy form just before the power of the void used to devour and counter creation.\"

Merlin nodded. \"Steve and I share the same sentiments about it. However, we were unable to trace sources of chaos energy even after visiting Titan's Cliff. They seem to appear wherever a plane exists. Arabesque is also constantly under the attack of chaos energy but the mana barrier wards most of it away. The same thing happens with Nirvana.\"

Zero nodded. \"I actually discovered something very interesting on my errand in La Boutique earlier,\" he confessed. \"Somebody gave me something called a soul supplement. I managed to absorb it and it contained almost every kind of energy form that could be found. It's a little hard to explain but something puzzles me greatly and I'm hoping you would know the answer.\"

Merlin nodded and waited for Zero to clarify his doubts. The teen explained how he wasn't sure of blessing remnants, void particles and thoughts. Zero shared with the wizard his theory about different planes containing different forms of energy and that the simplest type of energy would be the one that gave the least amount of energy after conversion. Lily had reported that of all the energy types, the void particles gave the least amount of energy after conversion while blessing remnants gave the most energy after conversion. Qi gave lesser energy as compared to mana while sins and virtues gave the same amount of energy after conversion.

It was fascinating. As the inventor of alchemy, Zero's perspective opened up new paths for Merlin who had been stuck on his research for many years. It didn't matter how many gadgets Merlin invented. The problem of all those gadgets being heavily reliant on spells and mana bothered him. If there was a way for these gadgets to function on a different energy source, Merlin might be able to create things that non-magicians could use. Merlin's energy source was electricity so there should be a different way.

At the same time, the concept of recreation is very similar to chemistry and physics. Merlin wasn't sure if Zero studied any of those yet but based on Steve's explanation of the subject, they were advanced alchemy invented by humans from the first Earth before it was destroyed. Technology was a product of this science but not even Steve was an expert in it. There was a profession of learned men and women back on the old Earth who specialised in understanding the base structure of all forms. However, Merlin was unable to use the findings of those scientists to help with his alchemy. The base forms found by those scientists were too obscure for Merlin. They simply formulated theories about things that could not be seen and worked up an idea from there.

\"Zero, what if I told you that humans of the old Earth once tried to invent recreation magic the way you think but used an advanced alchemy method called science? The domain called technology that Steve governs is a product of that science. However, humans used to rely on a created energy source called electricity by sacrificing material items. They didn't use mana or qi. Will you be able to follow that discovery to explain how your recreation magic can be replicated or where it is different?\"

Zero thought about it. \"I can try. However, I still have a lot of books to process. The topic of Math and Science hasn't been touched in detail for me... right now, I'm still stuck on history and philosophy.\"

The magician laughed. \"I remember that you took inspiration from philosophy to create your Parallel Minds. This is unheard of before. Could you share a little more about how you did it? I need to record this into the books and update them.\"

Zero beamed and told his teacher how he used the method of branching out multiple thoughts to aid him in surpassing the limits of arithmetic. In the process, math, science, history and art were born from philosophy. The conclusion that Zero came to after reaching his first hundred Parallel Minds surprised Merlin.

\"There is no beginning or end. Everything is a cycle. It doesn't matter where you come from, philosophy is like a joke and everything that mattered wasn't real. That's how I decided to come up with recreation as a concept. Unlike the Great One, I cannot create. However, who is to say that I should be the one to destroy creation? Before anything else, I am a doctor. If I can rebuild bones and eyes, why can't I rebuild mountains and dimensions?\"

Merlin nodded. Now that Zero put it this way, things made sense. \"However, fixing a plane is rather different from taking existing materials to craft them.\"

Zero grinned. \"It's not very different, sir. When I healed Amaraline's eyes, I absorbed them to analyse the structure before recreating them with modifications to restore her sight. Back then, I made a mistake and Amaraline's eye colour changed. I also absorbed her clairvoyant abilities but after thinking about the basis of recreation, I realised that I didn't actually make a mistake with her eyes. It was a fifty-fifty chance. Amaraline's eyes that were recreated couldn't be considered her original pair of eyes. I didn't reverse time to restore them, I recreated them as if she was being born again. Repairing Titan's Cliff will be the same. I might not be able to return Heaven to its original form because Hell has already broken away from it. However, I might be able to take a part of something else from somewhere to match the plane's structure and close that crack. I cannot create things from thin air. I cannot create. However, if I have something to work off from like energy, I can recreate.\"

Merlin nodded. He now understood what Zero wanted to do better. The scientists were unable to convert elements of objects to a different element because they didn't have the understanding that Zero had about creation. In Zero's eyes, anything that exists can be reduced into the initial form called energy. Energy is something that the creator of this world possesses and nobody else can control it. Zero might have been the creator once but now, he didn't have any of the initial energy he once had. Creating this world took everything out of him and Zero's existence was meant to take everything back. The wizard never once questioned that Zero was the destroyer. However, he was thrilled to see that Zero wants to defy fate and try to recreate the world instead of taking it all back.

Still, a small part of the magician was envious of Zero's ability to melt down elements and convert them into something new like malleable metal that could be made into a pot or a sword with the flick of a wrist. For the longest time, it had been every alchemist's dream to freely manipulate the creations of this world. After hearing Zero's in-depth explanation, Merlin finally had the answer he sought.

Alchemy was the mastery over creations that every magician sought. Alas, a dream was all it could be.

After all, who could triumph over the power of the creator against himself when not even Gods dared to try?