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"A door?"
Dudley shook his head, and his consciousness became much clearer.
When he reacted, he discovered that he was no longer in his bedroom.
It was as if his soul had left his body, and in the blink of an eye, he had arrived in an unfamiliar place.
"Where is this?"
Dudley looked around at the environment. Everywhere was a vast expanse of white. He could not see anything clearly.
Behind him was also white.
Only when he looked straight ahead did something come into sharp focus.
It was a door.
A stone door.
An ancient stone door, full of traces left by time.
Dudley unconsciously took several steps forward and arrived before that great door.
On the ancient stone door, something seemed to be engraved, an enormous magic circle. Looking closely, it was ten circular wheels, separated and distributed along both sides of the door like tree branches. At the bottom of the magic circle were ten wings, likewise spread along both sides of the door.
The Kabbalistic Tree of Life.
"It seems... I know where this is."
The Gate of Truth.
The place every alchemist wanted to reach.
'Before the gate stands the practitioner. Behind the gate lies Truth.'
According to legend, anyone who pushed open this gate could see Truth.
It was similar to the Root pursued by mages in the Nasuverse, the place they would spend their entire lives trying to reach.
Standing before the great door and looking at the weathered traces left by the ages, Dudley seemed to hear an indistinct voice beside his ear.
"Come. Push open the gate. Push it open. Everything you want is behind it."
"Anything can be realized for you."
"Money, fame, power, beautiful women, strength!"
"Inexhaustible and endless."
"As long as you push open this gate, you can become an omnipotent god."
It was full of temptation and desire, enough to shake anyone's heart.
Unfortunately...
"I refuse."
Dudley said this calmly, completely unaffected by the voice's temptation.
'I am not a proper alchemist.'
Yes. Dudley knew alchemy, but to a large extent, that was because of the system. He was not an orthodox alchemist.
His own attitude toward alchemy was also very clear.
'To me, alchemy is only a tool.'
Without even thinking, Dudley turned and left. He did not even look at that great door countless alchemists longed for, showing not the slightest attachment.
'How do I get back?'
"Wait. Do you truly have nothing you want?"
That voice sounded again, only much clearer now, no longer as hazy as before.
"Do you truly have no desires?"
A transparent figure whose appearance could not be seen clearly emerged beneath the Gate of Truth and shouted loudly at Dudley.
"Of course I do." Dudley stopped, his back turned to the figure.
Pushing open the Gate of Truth required paying an enormous price. Some lost arms and legs because of it. Some lost their bodies. Some lost both eyes.
The things the Gate of Truth could give, Dudley could obtain through his own hands. It would merely take some time.
Money, fame, power, strength. Dudley did not lack any of these things.
And the things Dudley truly wanted were things the figure could not give.
"Can you let me transform into a Super Saiyan?"
Dudley's voice drifted over.
"..."
The transparent figure fell silent.
"Or Ultra Instinct?"
"..."
"Turn into anything? Rewrite reality? Live forever?"
"..."
"If none of that works, giving me Star Platinum would be acceptable too."
"..."
Facing the various requests Dudley put forward, the figure only responded with silence.
Equivalent exchange was real enough, but the premise was that it had to know what the thing was and understand its composition.
Super Saiyan, Ultra Instinct, and Star Platinum were currently incomprehensible existences to the Gate of Truth.
In theory, the Gate of Truth should be an omniscient and omnipotent existence.
However, that omniscience and omnipotence were only relative.
Once something exceeded its range of understanding, it was no longer omniscient or omnipotent.
Different worlds did not necessarily share rules. You could not use one universe's authority to enforce another universe's laws.
For example, the Gate of Truth could not revive the dead.
But the Eternal Dragon of the Dragon Ball world could. In fact, many worlds could accomplish "resurrection."
"Since you cannot do any of that, do not make such sweeping claims."
Dudley spoke calmly. He was not afraid of offending the figure.
Or rather, he simply did not care.
'Other... worlds.'
Before the Gate of Truth, the originally transparent little figure seemed to have discovered something and became full of excitement.
'Exploring unknown worlds. Obtaining unknown information. Worth exchanging.'
It murmured to itself, as if persuading itself.
The stone gate slowly opened a crack without anyone pushing it.
It was already a mature Gate of Truth. It was time to learn to open itself.
In the next second, Dudley felt everything before his eyes change once again.
The Gate of Truth gradually disappeared, and the white environment vanished with it.
When Dudley came back to himself, he was still sitting in his seat, holding his wand.
He glanced at the time.
Less than ten seconds had passed.
It was as if everything that had just happened had only been his hallucination.
But it absolutely had not been.
There seemed to be a trace of understanding about alchemy added to his mind. He lightly snapped his fingers.
A red light suddenly flashed in the air.
Boom.
An explosion suddenly rose in the bedroom.
It appeared without warning and vanished without warning.
This was actually a form of alchemy, adjusting the concentration of air to produce an explosion.
The ability of a certain Flame Alchemist.
More importantly, Dudley had never drawn this explosion transmutation circle, nor had he used the power of the Philosopher's Stone.
This meant he had already obtained the ability to easily activate alchemy even without a transmutation circle.
This was something everyone who had seen the Gate of Truth possessed.
The difference was that they all paid with limbs or senses, while Dudley had paid nothing at all.
"How convenient."
Dudley sighed, then looked again at the pile of materials on the desk.
Seeing the Gate of Truth was only an unexpected interlude.
Now there was something more important.
He pressed his hands together.
Magic Armor Modification, activate.
Under Dudley's operation, that piece of mithril seemed to come alive. First, it turned into a liquid, then slowly covered the wand, plating it with a layer of silver-white.
Unfortunately, there was too little material. Otherwise, Dudley would even have wanted to modify the wand into Gandalf's style.
It could usually cast Lighting Charms, and at critical moments, it could also be used as a weapon. One strike, one enemy down.
On the side of the silver-white wand, many magic-circle diagrams were drawn, adding a sense of mystery.
Next came the emerald containing traces of magic. Dudley embedded it in the middle of the wand.
Then there was the magic crystal, the blue gemstone.
As the most important core of the wand, Dudley embedded it at the end.
Under the powerful effect of the Magic Armor Modification skill, everything proceeded very smoothly.
Before long, a brand-new wand appeared before him. Its entire body was silver-white, simple yet elegant, giving off faint traces of cold.
Dudley pinched the wand with his fingers and gave it a light wave. A smear of rainbow appeared before his eyes.
Just like when Harry had first received his wand.
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