Direct Delivery From Naples (5)

The Heavenly Father created all things by number, that is, by determining their weight and size.
Enlightenment does not dwell within chaos, and can always be found amid simplicity.
-Prism Sword Isaac Newton-

The sea and sunlight trapped inside a bottle.

The Cocktail “Capri Sun,” harmoniously containing the energies of yin and yang, had been placed atop the living room table darkened by drawn curtains, but it was still radiating brilliant light.

The elixir, which held within itself a mysterious Primal Qi of unfathomable depth without leaning toward either yin or yang, made me recall a sight I had witnessed more than ten years ago, when I was a boy.

The opportunity that allowed us to complete the elixir had come thanks to the experience of visiting a city on the Mediterranean coast with my master.

The idea of drawing the powerful Yang Qi needed to process Mita Holy Water directly from the sun, rather than from another elixir or the Essence preserved by a Kung-Fuist, was only possible because I had seen Capri’s bright sunlight with my own eyes, rather than London’s.

Balance is stability.

The particles of Mita Holy Water, stimulated by Yang Qi and vaporized into bluish vapor, had been placed in a stable state, but as a result of absorbing a vast quantity of Yang Qi inside a sealed Danube Steel vessel from which they could not escape, they remained inside the vessel in their most natural form.

“It seems to have grown at least two or three times heavier.”

The new elixir weighed far more than when it had been Mita Holy Water.
Watson also carefully picked up the bottle with both hands, then nodded.

Her face showed awe, delight, and satisfaction all at once.

But soon, a new question began to fill Jane’s eyes.

“I say, Holmes.”
“What is it?”
“I am asking because I am briefly curious, but if we are not going to drink this ourselves, was there any need to go out of our way to neutralize it with Yang Qi?”
“No. We will have to consume it someday. I merely intend to use it for another purpose right now. And if the elixir’s volume is unchanged, yet its weight has increased, what do you suppose that means?”
“Ah…….”

The mystery of Universal Gravitation.

Watson murmured softly.

“Correct.”

In all creation, there exists an invisible force that draws things toward one another.

Everything that exists in the heavens and under heaven keeps to the place where it ought to be because the mystery of Universal Gravitation moves the world.

Yin and yang pull one another, and Watson always comes to remain at Sherlock Holmes’s side.
It is also the same principle by which an expert who sets out upon the Murim road encounters a worthy rival.

Elixirs are the same.

The Primal Qi held by an elixir also possesses mass.

It is an utterly obvious piece of common sense that an elixir containing powerful energy becomes heavier than distilled water of the same volume.

Of course, its absolute weight would vary depending on the medium in which the Primal Qi had dissolved and other conditions, but although there were differences from the original Mita Holy Water, such as color and the presence or absence of radiance, as long as the volume itself had barely changed, there was no room to doubt that this elixir contained a far more enormous energy than the original.

“The internal energy method I learned is one that would cause no trouble even if I drank most elixirs without any preparation, but the quantity of Primal Qi possessed by Capri Sun is absurdly too immense for the current me to accept. Even back when this was still Mita Holy Water, if I had drunk it thoughtlessly, the side effects would have gone berserk before the internal energy method’s ability could take effect, and the false personality would have seized control.”
“If you say that much, I do not think I could drink this either. One often hears stories of Kung-Fuists whose bodies burst apart after mistakenly drinking an elixir possessing a power far beyond what they deserved…….”

It was as Watson said.

That excessive greed invites calamity is a lesson anyone living in the martial world must engrave upon their heart.

Since I had learned the Lionheart Method, I had never in my life had difficulty consuming elixirs, but Mita Holy Water and Capri Sun alone were exceptions.

Even my master, Phileas Fogg, was only able to drink Capri Sun after suppressing his Pseudo Persona and reaching the complete state of Shedding Demonhood.

If I, who had not yet attained the level he had at the time, consumed this, my elixir field and blood paths would be unable to endure it.

The proof was that neither Watson nor I could currently gauge just how much energy the elixir possessed.

Just as a blind man cannot grasp an elephant’s whole form by touching its leg or ear, the unfathomably deep energy contained by Capri Sun was not something our energy senses could easily grasp.

It was only natural, since the Yin Qi Mita Holy Water had contained had joined as one with pure Yang Qi comparable to it and sublimated into an elixir of even higher grade.

However.

That did not mean I had the slightest intention of sitting idle and leaving the completed elixir to age until Watson and I could endure this power.

“Rest assured, Watson. Did I not already say it? I intend to use this in a completely different way.”
“I was waiting for those words. To be honest, watching what astonishing method you will show me has been becoming one of the joys of my life.”
“That is fortunate. This time, I can live up to your expectations.”

Without hesitation, I opened the stopper of the sealed vessel made of Danube Steel.

Then, with the same knack as when unfolding Indra Net, I produced Poltergeist and lifted out a single drop of the elixir inside.

-Srreung!

As expected, the blade of the Heavenly Demon Cane, drawn through Poltergeist, gave off a clear sound.

“You said the Morning Star was made by Beppo’s master. Whoever that is, they must be someone with quite amusing ideas. Yes. Drinking an elixir is not the entirety of how one may use it.”

Just as the horn of a Unicorn Salamander can be processed into a pipe or other objects, Mita Holy Water and Capri Sun processed from it can also be used in any number of other ways if one focuses on their outstanding abilities.

-Cheok!

When I formed a sword-incantation finger with my right hand, the drop of elixir floating in the air reacted to my Essence and Intent and began spreading out so thinly that it could not even be seen.

It was a task impossible without the precise energy-circulation ability and high degree of concentration obtained by opening my minor meridians.

The sight of a single drop of elixir spreading wide through the air like a thin, transparent veil was utterly mystical even to me, the person carrying it out.

This was a high-difficulty processing method that forcibly increased the distance between the elixir’s particles, fixing them in a state infinitely closer to vapor than liquid.

Because Yang Qi is generated in the process when one forcibly widens the distance between particles, if the elixir used had not been Capri Sun but its original form, Mita Holy Water, this could never have been attempted.

“……This seems to be the limit for now.”

After stretching Capri Sun over as wide an area as possible, I drew my sword-incantation finger horizontally.

-Hwik!

The incredibly thin cloth made of elixir wrapped around the blade of the Heavenly Demon Cane in an instant, then, in the blink of an eye, reacted with the subtle energy emitted by the Ten-Thousand Year-Old Cold Iron itself, the material of the blade, and was deposited onto the blade’s surface.

-Hwaaaak!

The intangible energy emitted by the coated blade.

Watson, startled by the peerlessly powerful energy that could be felt merely by looking at it, began to stammer.

“J-just now…… What happened……?”
“Thin-film deposition. Among craftsmen, it is counted as one of the eight great processes for manufacturing divine weapons and treasured arms.”

Kung-Fu Physical Vapor Deposition.

This process, more familiar by the abbreviation KPVD to craftsmen who manufacture precise divine weapons and treasured arms, was meant to achieve various effects, such as adding new abilities or strengthening original ones, by coating completed weapons or other important objects with a thin film made of elixir.

In particular, Ten-Thousand Year-Old Cold Iron, the material of the Heavenly Demon Cane, was a Heavenly Substance and Earthly Rarity that innately contained Cold Qi, so it was Meissen Bespoke Ceramic for rapidly condensing an elixir that had turned into vapor.

“The blade of the Heavenly Demon Cane was sharp and sturdy enough to cut through Aura from the beginning, but now that it has undergone this process, there will be nothing I cannot cut from now on.”

As I said that, the first thing that came to mind was the trace left behind by Moriarty, who had shown me an overwhelming difference in ability in front of the Palace of Westminster.

That man had created the same mystery by which Danube Steel is formed, sent internal energy into the atmosphere, and tried to crush me by making a cube with indestructible hardness and tremendous weight.

If, at that time, the great hero Oliver Twist, Dragon Head of the Homeless Clan, the Ol’ Dirty Bastard wearing vintage shoes, had not appeared in time and swung the No. 1 wood of the Dog-Beating Staff, I would by now have become a wandering soul and be drifting through the Nine Circles Of Hell.

But what about now?

“With this sword alone…….”

At the time, the invisible heavy weapon James Moriarty had dropped above my head was, judging by the density of the energy it emitted alone, something I absolutely could not cut with my own strength.

That day had been the first time I saw a solid object that could not be cut even with Ten-Thousand Year-Old Cold Iron.

A wall possessing a sturdiness that surpassed even Sword Aura.

If I could not surpass it, my blade would never reach Moriarty’s neck.

But what if it were the blade of the Heavenly Demon Cane, onto which Capri Sun had been deposited?

‘Lord Harcourt must be keeping the trace Moriarty left behind…….’

I now had one more reason to visit Lord Harcourt.

I was certain that now, I could cut the strange wall of air Moriarty had created.

“Since the sword is finished, let us move on to the next step.”
“What? There is still something left to do?”

Watson, who had received the Heavenly Demon Cane and had been admiring the strange radiance emitted by the blade, looked at me with startled eyes.

“Does Capri Sun not also share the property of its original form, Mita Holy Water, as a non-Newtonian fluid elixir? Through a method entirely different from deposition, we should be able to supplement the combat strength of both of us.”

More important than cutting down the enemy was ensuring that Watson and I could preserve our lives under any circumstances.

And the most effective method devised for that purpose was―

-Sreuk.

“H-Holmes! Why are you suddenly taking off your jacket!”
“Sorry, but bring about two sets of clothes that you like to wear as well. Yes. The clothes you are wearing now would be perfect. Hurry and take them off.”
“Whwhwhwhat are you saying, no matter how close you and I are, and even if we can cover up each other’s faults as much as needed, to suddenly tell someone to strip off their covering like that! Even if I normally dress as a man, I am still a lady, you know―”
“I meant that you should go change in your room and bring them.”
“……Hm?”
“I intend to ask Mrs. Hudson to do the laundry now.”
“What…… did you say……?”
“We will have the clothes absorb plenty of the elixir. No matter what form we are struck by, the non-Newtonian fluid elixir absorbed by the clothes will turn solid and protect our lives.”

It was, in short, laundry.