Chapter 237 – This Is Art

“The nature of these pollutants is strange.
Rather than call it a pollutant, it'd be more accurate to call it a natural substance with unfavorable properties.”

This was the conclusion Lacey had come to after researching the demon realm's air for some time.
Based on her findings, the mana in the demon realm's air couldn't actually be considered polluted since the “pollutants” weren't a result of external factors.
Instead, these “pollutants” were an inherent part of the demon realm's environment.
So, one could say that the demon realm's mana was in its natural state.

“A natural substance with unfavorable properties?” Kristine muttered as she looked at the empty jars on the floor.
She had brought thirty jars of air back from the demon realm, and they had used over twenty jars already.
Fortunately, Lacey indeed had the qualifications of a senior alchemist as her research had already yielded some results.
“Can you give me a simpler explanation? I don't know much about alchemy, so I don't really understand what you mean.”

“For example, if you squeeze the air in the human realm, you'll squeeze out 'water' which we can drink directly.
However, if you were to squeeze the demon realm's air, you'll get a mixture of 'oil' and 'water,' with oil being the pollutants and water being mana.
If you try to drink this mixture, it's only natural that you'll feel uncomfortable,” Lacey explained after pondering for a moment.
“But the problem now is that the demon realm can only produce this oil-water mixture.
The 'oil' component wasn't artificially added.
Instead, it is an inherent part of the demon realm's environment.”

“I see.
So, the demons' special organs are filters that filter the 'oil' out of this mixture so that their bodies can use normal 'water,'” Kristine said, nodding.
She had a much easier time understanding Lacey's words after the girl equated mana with water and the pollutants with oil.
“Then, is there a way to get rid of this 'oil'?”

“It is possible, but this solution will be no different than transforming the demons' special organs into a type of magic.
It can only help the demons extract normal mana out of the air.
It cannot resolve the source of the mana pollution,” Lacey said, sighing.
“It's akin to creating gas masks to ensure that we can inhale non-toxic air in an environment that is filled with toxic air.
While the toxins in the air are no longer a threat to us, they are still all around us.”

“This is troublesome… That explains why the demons have never thought of solving their pollution problem.
Even if they do know about the cause, there's nothing they can actually do about it,” Kristine said, suddenly realizing why the demons would rather fight a war with an overwhelmingly high chance of defeat than try to solve their pollution problem.
The demons definitely had their own talented alchemists, so they must have realized that the demon realm's pollution was an inherent part of nature, and there was no practical solution to it.

“It's unfortunate, but there really is no solution to this problem.
No matter how capable alchemists are, there is nothing we can do to resist the laws of nature,” Lacey said, shrugging to express her inability.

“Laws of nature… Right! Laws!”

Kristine suddenly realized something after hearing Lacey's words.
Since the demon realm's pollution was of natural causes, didn't this mean that the pollution was part of the world's laws?

There must be a “law” that was causing the demon realm's environment to end up in such a horrible state.
So, if they could erase or modify this law, they might be able to resolve the cause of the demon realm's harsh environment.

The reason the demon realm's inhabitants had never thought of this point was most likely because none of them knew about “laws.” Of course, the Demon Kings should know about the existence of laws, but there was no way they would waste their time fixing the demon realm's environment.
All they cared about was living a life of luxury and exacting their revenge against humans.

“This is interesting.
If the demon realm's mana pollution is related to laws, I can try solving it,” Kristine said, chuckling under Lacey's confused gaze.
Then, she grabbed one of the jars that still contained air from the demon realm and opened it, releasing the air into the room.

When the light purple air hovered out of the jar, Kristine narrowed her eyes and cast Psychokinesis Transcendence.

Kristine had recovered a good portion of her strength already.
Although she was still some distance from recovering to her peak, she already had enough strength to cast taboos without external help.

Meanwhile, Kristine's Psychokinesis Transcendence was much more refined than Alice's.
After all, she was a veteran Hero.
Hence, the psychokinetic threads she created quickly penetrated the purple air and analyzed the “polluted” mana in it.

Sure enough, Kristine quickly discovered that the polluted mana was a mixture of two components.
From a microscopic point of view, there were lavender particles attached to the surface of every mana particle.
Meanwhile, these lavender particles were most likely derived from the law that was causing the demon realm's mana to be generated in a polluted state.

“…But why does it feel like I've seen these lavender particles before?” Kristine muttered with her eyes narrowed.
While she still couldn't influence laws with her Psychokinesis Transcendence, her psychokinesis threads could analyze and influence everything beneath laws.
Thus, she tentatively tried to separate some of the lavender particles from the polluted mana particles.

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However, Kristine's expression changed the next moment.
The reaction of these lavender particles was much more intense than she expected.
It was as if these lavender particles came with magnetic properties.
As soon as she pried them apart from the mana particles with her psychokinetic threads, they immediately began exerting a powerful pulling force on their surroundings.

However, this pulling force did not randomly attract everything in its range.
Instead, it only targeted mana.
Seeing this, Kristine instantly understood the severity of the situation as she promptly dismissed her Psychokinesis Transcendence, turned around, and lunged at Lacey, pushing the ignorant girl to the floor.

Boom!

An explosion occurred just like Kristine expected.
This was an inevitable outcome since concentrating so much mana into a single spot would naturally lead to a mana overflow.
Fortunately, Lacey had previously exhausted a significant portion of the room's mana while conducting her experiments.
So, the mana density in the room was relatively low, and the explosion resulting from the mana overflow wasn't as severe as it could have been.

Even so, the explosion had still demolished the room's door and walls.
The explosion had also sent Kristine and Lacey flying through the demolished walls and landing in the living room.

“Cough, cough… I didn't think those lavender particles would be so unstable…”

Kristine had an extraordinarily tough physique, so such a small explosion couldn't even leave any injuries on her body.
At most, it had shredded her clothes and choked her with smoke.

When Kristine looked at the girl under her, she saw that Lacey still didn't seem to realize what had happened as she wore a dazed expression on her face.
Just when Kristine thought of offering an explanation, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.

“What are you two…doing?”

Alice's mouth twitched when she saw Kristine, as naked as the day she was born, pressing Lacey to the floor in the living room.
If not for the destroyed bedroom behind them, she would have most likely thought that the two were conducting some sort of special play.