The wooden crate containing 3 pieces of Eli's Staff sat on Zachary's desk with it's lid opened wide. To its side, Zachary were scribbling some notes with his left hand, while his other hand were holding a gadget that looks a lot like a smartphone, but slimmer.
"So grinding Eli's Staff into powder is the best way to use it in cooking. Huh..." turns out he's using a cuisine recipe as his reference.
If you think about it, that's entirely reasonable because Eli's Staff is classified as spice used in cooking. So naturally, referencing a cuisine recipe that use Eli's Staff as one of the ingredients has its merit.
"There's no helping it then." Zachary stopped taking notes with a sigh. He stood up, and walk to the small table placed at his door. On it, was a switch with bell symbol on it. Zachary hit the switch for a few moments before releasing it. Then, he wait.
"Need anything, Young Master?" An aged voice of a butler asked through the speaker holes above the buzzer switch.
"Can you fetch me a mortar and pestle and a knife please, Martins?" Zachary said. The microphone holes on the bottom side of the buzzer switch picked up Zachary's voice and transmitted it to the other end of the line.
"..." Martins went silent for a few second, clearly mulling over why the young master want those things this late at night.
"Of course, Young Master. I'll be at your door in a few minutes." Martins said.
"Thanks, Martins. I know I can count on you." Zachary joked, which elicited a chuckle from Martins.
"Anytime, Young master." Indeed. Even late at night, when people are supposed to be sleeping.
Zachary wait patiently for butler Martins to arrive. He had already unlocked the door and was now already seated back at the table. Resuming to taking notes. now though, he wasn't using cooking recipes as reference anymore, but are reading reports about the natural habitat of Eli's Staff.
It's a biological study thesis by a guy named Arman O'Weiss, published 7 years ago. Fun fact : Arman O'Weiss is now a professor at El Malais International University of the Future(EMIUF).
knock! knock! knock!
The door of his room were knocked three times and Martins voice simultaneously called out, "Young Master. I've brought the items as requested."
"Come in. The door's unlocked!" Zachary said and Matins heard that loud and clear as he twist the doorknob with one hand while perfectly holding the three items that Zachary requested in his other hand.
"Put it here on the table, please." Zachary said. Wordlessly, Martins walked to Zachary's table side and neatly arrange them before asking, "Anything else, Young Master?"
His eyes briefly swept toward the wooden crate before settling on Zachary again.
"That's all for now. Thanks again, Martins." Zachary said, offering a toothy grin at the middle aged refined butler.
Martins replied with a gesture while saying, "Anytime, Young Master." with a polite smile on his lips.
"Oh! Lock the door behind you please!" Zachary suddenly remembered and said. Martins doesn't reply but the click Zachary heard from behind was enough to confirm that the door's now locked from inside and Martins had already gone out.
Zachary's alone in his room again. Which only meant one thing : time to do another "little" experiment.
Standing up, Zachary moved to the tableside where the pestle and mortar, and the knife was neatly arranged.
His hand reach toward an Eli's Staff, grabbing it and placed the spice on his table. He used the knife to cut a small part from the Eli's Staff. Less than an inch section of Eli's Staff that had just been cut were then placed on the mortar bowl.
Grabbing the pestle, Zachary began pounding away at the spice.
Despite the ease to cut, Eli's Staff seems to react differently against blunt force. It's weirdly hard to break down, and it took Zachary more than a quarter of an hour to finally get the result he wanted.
The originally finger thick Eli's Staff had been successfully pounded away into coarse fibrous powder.
"Phew! Damn, that's unnecessarily hard!" Zachary shook the soreness away from his wrists, grumbling but a grin hung on his lips.
"Not as fine as I imagine it to be, but this will do it." Zachary commented.
Now, what might Zachary be planning to do with it?
It was obvious. It's going straight into his mouth.
But Zachary wouldn't have expected what would happen next.
As soon as the fibrous powder of Eli's Staff made contact with Zachary's saliva, a pungent smell, an extra hint of spiciness, and a wave of heat swiftly overwhelmed his taste buds.
The suddenness of it almost made Zachary choke, but he endured. He struggled to swallow the whole thing but he manage to after some difficulty.
Comments or complaints can be made later but now, Zachary quickly sat in meditative pose on the floor and unfurled his Life Code.
He watch with great interest as wisps of golden Runes slowly made its way to the Material Edict. It doesn't aggresively attach or breakdown the structures within, but simply "floats" around aimlessly.
After what felt like hours, Zachary finally manage to observe how Eli's Staff works. It was a wonderful sight to behold, and the way it seamlessly integrate with the Material Edict of his Life Code were simply unexplainable.
Zachary was simply lost for word but the observation had indeed benefits him immensely.
First of all, Eli's Staff is indeed the ingredient he's looking for. That much was confirmed. Secondly, Zachary concluded that Eli's Staff is the perfect catalyst for what he's about to do next. Third and finally, "Ptui! This thing tastes awful! Ugh the aftertaste's killing my tongue!"
Zachary learned not to eat random stuffs. Especially spices....
He had no other choice but to call for Martins again to bring him a glass of water. Make that two glass of water as he's gonna need that second glass after he's done with what he's planning to do next.
The effects that Eli's Staff had weren't quite easily noticeable with just that. If it was, then the El Malais Kingdom of today would've been vastly different.
Most probably, in that nonexistent timeline, the El Malais kingdom would have conquered this entire world.
Zachary hadn't done anything but observe how the Eli's Staff metadata in the form of Golden World Runes react with his Life Code. As he expected, the biggest interaction happens within his Material Edict.
Meaning what he's about to do have exponentially higher chance of succeeding.
With renewed vigor after downing a glass of water to wash away the vile aftertaste violating his tongue, Zachary get back to grinding another inch of Eli's Staff.
This second time, it took him slightly less time to break it down into a finer powder, but it's still visibly fibrous.
With a look of dread, Zachary first sat back down in meditative pose before putting the powder in his mouth. He didn't immediately swallow it this time, but let it sit there on his tongue. Despite the intensifying heat and prickly sensation spreading in his mouth, Zachary endured.
Reaching a state of focus, Zachary once again arrive in his inner world, heading straight toward his Truesoul. He grasp a wisp of glow emanating from it, and head out.
This time, Zachary guides it to his tongue instead of his hand. This was when an unexpected development happens. Upon contact with his Soul Energy, the powdered Eli's Staff in his mouth melts into liquid, and gently slid down his throat. Though the heat intensified, making Zachary grimace unconsciously.
Zachary once again unfurl his Life Code to carefully guide the Golden World Runes, only to find out that the Runes now have a tinge of dark purple glow emanating from it. A surprise big enough to momentarily stuns Zachary.
Without even needing to consciously guide the purple tinged Golden Runes, it seamlessly began integrating with the metadata in Zachary's Material Edict.
From the "wound" in structure that had resulted in the cut on his left hand's thumb, the Golden Runes entered. Healing the structure, then spreading inward.
By the end of it, nearly 10% of Zachary's Material Edict had changed color from white to golden.
That wasn't all. The purplish tinge spread even further.
Zachary felt a tug from the direction of his inner world, and he responded immediately. His Truesoul triggered an instinct, telling him to channel more Soul Energy into his body.
Even better, Zachary made a decision on the fly and pull the Soul Energy in the form of unbroken lines of thread. Allowing continuous flow of Soul Energy without needing to go back and forth.
The best decision he made in this life is undoubtedly this one.
To say that he's happy would be an understatement. He's 'this' close to jumping in exhilaration. Though he's basically floating in his inner world right now and there's nowhere to step on.
The changes to his Material Edict were qualitative. Zachary could feel his physical body going through a transformation.
When this transformation ends, Zachary already knew what he's going to do.
To hell with the vile aftertaste! To hell with the spiciness! To hell with pungent smell!
"ZEHAHAHAHA! I'M GOIN' ALL-OUT BABY!! HELL YEAH!!!"