Chapter 90: Paracelsus’s Research Lab (2)

Maslow’s Tower consists of five hierarchies.

1st: Physiological Needs  

2nd: Safety Needs 

3rd: Belongingness Needs  

4th: Esteem Needs  

5th: Self-Actualization Needs

Excluding the boss room on the 5th floor, only Belongingness and Esteem remain.

Meanwhile, Jeanne and I were still on the 3rd floor.

Why?

Because the warehouse sent me another quest.

Ding-dong!

[Quest]

Recover every stolen stored item.  

• Stolen stored items … (0 / 12,048,109)  

※ A special reward will be given upon completion.

The condition is simple.

The problem is…

• Stolen stored items (0 / 12,048,109)

“Maslow, you son of a… how many did you steal?!”

The number is astronomical.

Just thinking about stealing from the Sorcerer Emperor is already insane, but stealing in the tens of millions?

And the fact that the warehouse didn’t even look emptier after losing that many items is terrifying in its own right.

“How the hell did he move all this?”

I wouldn’t mind learning the trick myself.

Paracelsus’s lab is structured almost identically to the warehouse.

Which means each floor is packed with an insane number of stored items.

Anyway.

Every little bit helps. Better to start moving them than to stand here complaining.

I approached a glass display case.

First, I had to break the reinforced glass.

It was designed to hold priceless artifacts—ordinary impacts wouldn’t even scratch it.

“…Perfect timing.”

I needed to test if my power was fully restored after the antidote anyway.

Actions speak louder than words.

I extended both hands and activated my skills.

Ding-dong!

<Skill 『Inherited Skin Oil』 activated!>  

<Skill 『Embers』 activated!>

Black oil slime poured from my left hand, raven feathers of flame from my right.

The moment they combined, a massive inferno surged like a tidal wave.

WHOOOOOOSH—!

A storm of fire engulfed the glass case.

“Skill power is back to normal. Let’s crank it up a bit.”

Oil and feathers exploded outward.

FWOOM—!

The flames wrapping the case roared even fiercer.

ROOOAR—!

100°C 

500°C 

700°C  

1000°C

1500°C

2000°C

A blaze rivaling lava.

The glass surface glowed red-hot, then began to crack.

CRACK— CRAAACK—

Dozens of fissures spider-webbed from the heated spot.

KABOOM!

The entire case exploded with a thunderous roar.

At that instant.

WEEEEEEEEEEEE—!

Sirens blared, and the lab lights turned red.

<Warning! Warning! Physical impact detected inside the lab!> 

<Anti-theft security system AHM-1 activating!>

“Anti-theft system?”

The thief really knows how to protect stolen goods.

Then.

CLANG!

The ceiling opened, and hundreds of drones poured out.

Flying drones armed with what looked like machine guns on both arms.

Hundreds of red targeting lasers locked onto us.

CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK!

The sound of weapons arming echoed.

Jeanne stepped in front of me.

“Leave this to me, Master!”

Black mana swirled violently.

KRRRRRR—!

She was about to wipe them all out with Gluttony Slash.

The situation was about to explode.

Then a soft voice rang out.

[…Security system disengaged.]

It wasn’t me or Jeanne.

<Voice recognition complete! Director confirmed!>  

<Anti-theft security system AHM-1 deactivated!>

The sirens stopped, lights returned to normal.

The drones flew back into the ceiling in perfect formation.

BOOM!

The ceiling closed. Silence returned.

That voice just now…

I looked around—no one, not even an ant.

Then.

[…Could you come this way…?]

The voice came from one of the research tables.

A round flask sat on it.

A tiny voice leaked from inside.

[Over here. Yes, here.]

I peered into the flask.

Inside was a miniature laboratory—desk, chair, neatly stacked papers, microscope, various flasks.

Everything the size of a grain of rice.

And there stood a familiar silhouette.

Crow-beak mask, white lab coat, limbs wrapped in bandages.

The administrator of the Pathological Safety Needs section was trapped inside the flask.

Then the Feedback log opened.

Flutter—

<The First Homunculus>

– Storage No.: MRG-81547

– Grade: Safe 

※ This item has been stolen.

Hundreds of years ago, in a remote village on the eastern edge of the Lockpia continent, lived a young alchemist named Paracelsus. 

By age twenty she had mastered every existing form of alchemy—a genius.

Countless nobles and tycoons sought her talent, offering wealth and fame.

None could sway her.

She desired neither money nor honor.

She sought the truth of all things. Ultimate knowledge. 

To understand every principle in existence—that was Paracelsus’s grand dream.

But human life is finite.  

Realizing she could never achieve it in a single lifetime, she forged a new body—one that would never age or fall ill.

She transferred her soul into it and became the first homunculus.

“There is a principle behind everything in this world. Understand the principle, and you understand it perfectly. I wish to understand everything in the world.”  

—Paracelsus

“The first homunculus?”

I knew the concept—artificial humans created by alchemy.

A staple in novels, comics, and games.

What bothered me was that she had a page in the Feedback log—and the “stolen” tag.

I looked at the tiny person in the flask.

“You’re from the warehouse too?”

[As expected…! So you really are the Warehouse Keeper…!]

Paracelsus raised her bandaged hands reverently.

[Please, Keeper… take me back to the warehouse… This place is horrific…  

I beg you… My rightful place is the warehouse…]

She haltingly explained her past.

Paracelsus became a homunculus to pursue universal truth.

By chance, she once had an audience with the Sorcerer Emperor.

[His Majesty found my existence fascinating… more precisely, my thirst for knowledge…  

Ah, the merciful and wise Sorcerer Emperor…! He gifted me infinite knowledge…! And granted me a perfect research environment inside the warehouse… filled with unknown creatures and tomes…!]

She trembled with ecstasy.

In exchange for researching the rare books, materials, monsters, and artifacts inside the warehouse, she handled miscellaneous tasks directly under the Keeper.

Basically an elite employee of the warehouse.

A body that needs neither food nor sleep.  

A brilliant mind and vast knowledge.

The perfect worker.

That’s why Maslow kidnapped her and locked her in this knockoff warehouse, forcing her to conduct “low-grade research” for him.

[Keeper… There are mountains of unfinished research waiting for me in the warehouse…  

Please take me with you… Let me do meaningful work again… I implore you…]

“Hm…”

Just from the story, she seems worth taking.

Grade: Safe. A research-obsessed nerd—easy to manage.

The real question is what practical value she brings.

I looked at her.

“Can you make anything useful? Like… elixirs?”

[Elixirs…? That would be…]

She scratched her masked head with a bandaged hand.

Even an alchemist couldn’t just whip up the miracle potion known as elixir…

[500g of oak sap, 10kg of humus, two strands of cat’s whisker, and one bottle of mint decoction…  

If you provide those, I can make it…]

“You can make an elixir with that?”

[Yes… Though with those materials, only one bottle…]

Elixir is a genuine panacea.

Even at auction, the starting bid is a billion won.

High-rank hunters who walk the line between life and death, conglomerates, world leaders—all go mad trying to obtain it.

Meanwhile, the ingredients she listed are things I can get anytime.

Some are even sold at the local supermarket for a few thousand won.

Paracelsus looked up at me.

[The production takes about 15 days…  

The process is complex and requires repeated boiling in a special environment…]

“Two weeks for one bottle. Deal!”

Signed, sealed, delivered—no paperwork needed.

Tears streamed from beneath her crow mask, as if deeply moved.

Then she suddenly looked up, as if remembering something.

[This lab contains an enormous number of items Maslow stole from His Majesty… Why not recover them all while you’re here…?]

“That’s exactly my problem. About 12 million items. How am I supposed to move them all?”

[12 million… roughly half of what’s stored here…]

She tilted her head.

[Keeper, I have an excellent idea…  

A way to recover His Majesty’s property…  

and at the same time make Maslow extremely, profoundly, utterly miserable…]

“?”

A mad gleam shot from the eyeholes of her crow mask.

Insane, gleeful laughter echoed throughout the entire lab.