After spending weeks gathering whatever information he could find regarding the ingredient capable of altering the Life Code of living beings that consumed it, Zachary finally achieved his first major breakthrough.
He had identified the sole known ingredient capable of such an effect—a rare spice processed from the root of a plant.
Eli's Staff was the name given to that root. The plant could not be cultivated through known means and had never been successfully farmed. It was only ever found growing in regions dense with natural resources—places where deep underground mineral reserves, high floral diversity, and moisture-saturated air coexisted.
According to his father, there was an additional condition tied to its growth: the land had to be untouched by conflict. This final requirement was widely regarded as a myth. Even Neil dismissed it outright, considering it no more than folklore layered onto the spice's reputation.
Hearing his father recount what he knew about Eli's Staff surprised Zachary more than he expected. Not because of the myth itself, but because of how easily it had been dismissed.
To Zachary, the idea made sense. If such a plant could alter the Life Code of those who consumed it, then conventional explanations—mineral richness, abundant flora, atmospheric moisture—were insufficient on their own.
If those factors were all that mattered, then mana-rich worlds should have been saturated with similar plants capable of producing the same effect.
They weren't.
Assuming the requirements ended there was a mistake—a comforting simplification. One Zachary recognized for what it was : ignorance.
Understandable since nobody in this world was aware of the wider cosmos and the abundance of life existing beyond this very sky.
It was mid-morning in the El Malais Kingdom.
After months, the current Zachary almost looked like a different person. He had once been thin and short, with long hair, so fragile that a gust of wind could have toppled him.
Now, he stood at 181 centimeters tall. His frame had developed lean muscles, and his complexion had returned to a healthy light-brown tan. He no longer looked pale.
Zachary's facial features were fairly average. He wasn't conventionally handsome, but his face was one people wouldn't easily forget at a glance.
A few days ago, Zachary had asked his father if he could have some specimens of Eli's Staff—a request that Neil mulled over for hours before giving a positive answer.
Eli's Staff was a very rare spice that didn't regularly appear in the common market. It was a commodity under the direct supervision of the royal clan's main branch, the Adamas themselves.
It had been that way for centuries, and this royal tradition could actually be traced back to the time before the ninth king's reign.
It seemed the royal family had long known the wonders of Eli's Staff, which explained why, despite the nation's superiority, they had never waged war against others. At least, they never allowed enemies to bring war to them.
Neil did not reveal the royal business to Zachary, seeing it as unnecessary. However, he still managed to secure some Eli's Staff through his connections and means.
Whatever his son did with it wasn't important. Plus, what could a child who had just woken from a coma possibly do with it? So Neil simply took Zachary's request as the curiosity of a boy.
Looking at the small wooden crate containing Eli's Staff, Zachary felt quite satisfied and could barely contain his desire to lock himself in his room and begin dissecting its Life Code.
For the record, Zachary had also addressed the most critical problem he was facing: the Path of Power, which had costed him many sleepless nights.
It was crucial because, in order to view the Life Code of others, Zachary needed a strong body, a robust mind, and a tempered soul.
His soul had already cleared the requirement, having gone through two lifetimes prior to this one. His soul was actually operating at the bare minimum simply because his physical body was nowhere near powerful enough to accommodate it at full potential.
As for his mind, it had survived the full brunt of two foreign memories crashing into it. One of those even belonged to an immortal being with immense knowledge and wisdom. Without a doubt, his dormant soul had played a major role in Zachary's survival.
The only requirement he still needed to meet was a body powerful enough to at least bear the energy flow he would harness from his soul above the bare minimum.
A problem he solved not too long ago when he realized an oversight in his planning. Using the soul energy to temper his physical body was the most plausible for him.
His soul is already so powerful, and his mind at it's current state could manage the strain to some level.
What was left is the method he should use. A minor issue. Nothing that his vast memory couldn't handle.
Still, it took nearly a day of combing through his memories in search of practical knowledge to use soul energy as the "raw material" for strengthening physical body.
That same night, Zachary did an experiment to test out his theory.
He locked the door of his room, and sat in meditative pose on his soft new bed. His old bed had gotten to small for him by then, and with a word to his mother, Zachary found out it was replaced that very night.
Zachary delve deep into his consciousness and successfully gain sight of his inner world. Most importantly, his Truesoul where the essence of his existence reside. The Truesoul does not exist in material reality but metaphysical in nature.
The colorless flame like Truesoul burned with dim light, signifying Zachary's inability to withstand should it burn brighter. It also means the dim glow was already enough to keep himself fully functioning as a living being.
Seeing his true potential sealed because of his own mistakes and inadequacy brought a sense of anger and displeasure to Zachary. Regardless of the decision he took in his last life, to erase his memories and power, and live in blissful ignorance.
"I should have end things cleanly back then. Now I'm mad." The irritation was visible on Zachary's face.
On the other hand, Zachary also felt grateful for his mistakes, because without it, the strings of event would have gone on entirely different path. Which wouldn't have led to the discovery of Eli's Staff.
Zachary felt his emotions torn. Once again reminding him that he's now a fragile mortal. As contradictory as it might sound, Zachary thinks his current self is much better than his past self.
After calming himself down, Zachary began reaching toward his Truesoul in an attempt to "grasp" the light. After that, he'll guide it out of his inner world, into material reality.
The first part went smoothly as Zachary manage to draw his soul energy into material world, appearing on his fingertip.
Zachary's eyes remain closed as simultaneously, he unfurl his Life Code, viewing it from his mind's eyes.
The wisp of soul energy on his fingertip doesn't look the same in Zachary's mind. He envisioned it as a scalpel, intending to use it to do minor operation on his Material Edict, at the parts explaining the structure of his left hand's thumb.
Zachary's goal is to temporarily separate the flowing World Runes around the edge for an instant. That instant would be the window for Zachary to swiftly turn the scalpel into strings and sewing the World Runes back together.
With that, his Soul Energy will act as the sustenance for the World Runes to heal. If this minor operation succeed, in a few hours at least, Zachary would no longer need to repeat the tedious and extremely dangerous process and could directly channel his Soul Energy to his left hand's thumb and let it spread to the surrounding. Safely harnessing his Soul Energy to strengthen his physical body and slowly gain supernatural power.
In this case for Zachary however, the dangerous part manifest as reality. He was not fast enough in sewing the World Runes together, and the result manifest on his physical body.
A cut appear on his thumb, along with excessive pain. The excessive pain wouldn't happen if it's just a normal small cut.
But Zachary is playing with something fundamental of himself. The pain serve as reminder for Zachary not to overextend himself. He's no longer the immortal that he was, but a puny mortal.
It was this failure in altering his Material Edict that Zachary had no other choice but to wait for the Eli's Staffs specimens to arrive.
The fact that he still couldn't peer into the Life Code of anything else beside himself, remains.
However, he will do another experiment. Now with Eli's Staff as the catalyst.
The Eli's Staff, with it's natural Life Code altering effect, is without a doubt the best "helper" for Zachary's experiment.
The only concern Zachary had, which he couldn't yet confirm, is whether this spice is really the ingestible ingredient he's looking for.