explosivecombat | NIETZSCHE; DEAD PHILOSOPHERS' INBOX

Are you asking me to explain a concept I haven't attained, teacher?

Do you believe it to be attainable at all?

Of course I do.

I think the concept you're asking me to contemplate is the same one that, upon mastering it, grants enlightenment. I think it's what a person understands when they come to terms with their role in the universe. I think it's one I'm bound to struggle with articulating because, like any wise student, I'm not merely conscious of what I know, but also of how much I don't.

The sort of power you've described an alchemist wielding — I think it's one that needs to be tempered with recognition of the forces at play, and that's why you ask for what this statement means. Is it life — that all things belong to it, and every individual life touches the others in some way? Is it the energy you manipulate? That'd fit with your law of equivalent exchange — everything is the same, is one, and so long as the balance is equivalent, any one of those things might become any one of the rest.

You want my thoughts? I think that it's the first lesson — the one that forces a student into precisely these thoughts and inquiries and self-reflections so that they can't help but appreciate the magnitude and possible ramifications of the power their education might put at their disposal.

Had you insisted on standing by your first answer, I would have told you to get out of my sight as a pupil and not return until after at least half a year's reflection on the matter.

I would be willing to teach you for that last one, however.

I'm already out of your sight, and you'd miss me if I avoided you for so long.

And if you truly intend me to learn, teacher, then I hope you'll elaborate on how I managed to meet your approval.

The first answer was purely intellectual. It told me what you've learned, yes, which is valuable insight, but it told me nothing about you. Anyone can recite facts and teachings, and at best you were sounding incredibly pretentious. It was fluff, really.

There's a difference between asking for an honest answer and asking to be impressed.

I wasn't trying to impress you. But I couldn't give you a solution without first trying to define the problem — and with no guidance from your end, I had to make up for it with an attempt at my own.

Fair enough, especially since most usually take a while to form their own understanding of it; it's actually rather unfair to expect a solid answer right away, given that it's a difficult concept to get one's head around. But that was a good answer, in the end, particularly for one that was come up with on the spot.

Oh? And how long are your hopefuls usually given to produce a satisfactory answer?

It's never been an issue when it comes to my hopefuls, as I've never taught anyone personally.

I don't know how long it takes others, but my first attempt at an answer was rejected; I was told to go work on it for at least a few weeks before trying again, and it took me a few months to come up with something satisfactory.

[Oh, boy, she's special again.]

What is it that makes a good answer, then? Surely it can't just be honesty and a good-faith effort alone — there's something you're looking for in what you hear. And I hit on it?

Alchemy isn't something that can be done by everyone; there is an element of natural talent to it, a sort of aptitude that can't be replicated by just anyone who tries.

It's not something that can be put into words very easily, so it's a bit difficult to explain exactly what we look for when it comes to those sorts of answers. You'll just have to trust me when I say that particular aptitude recognizes itself in others.

And that particular aptitude survives and can be found even across worlds?

You have a soul, don't you?

What kind of a question is that?

Theoretically speaking, if you have a soul from which to draw power, you're capable of performing alchemy; I haven't seen any exceptions to this. There are several that I've met here that I don't doubt would be able to do it, given time and practice and proper teaching, if the restrictions this world likes to lay on us weren't in place.

Are you from a world where the soul is a matter of faith? Because I've met some that aren't sure whether they have one or not.

I don't understand. If you have a soul, then theoretically you can do alchemy — but you said yourself that not everyone can do alchemy. Are you suggesting there are people without souls? Or is it a question of competency, that anyone might have the potential but that doesn't mean they can do it well enough to be worthy of remark?

It's definitely more a case of the latter. It's along the lines of saying that if you have hands, you theoretically would be able to draw - you just have some who can draw portraits and others who struggle to draw stickmen. That last set can draw, technically speaking, but they don't have any sort of natural aptitude for it, and there comes a point where practice will only get you so far - even if those sorts of people manage to put in enough effort to perfect their technique, there will always be an element missing, that sort of natural creative spark won't be present because they simply don't have an eye for it.

It's like that with alchemy as well. Some can draft arrays that would result in absolutely stunning transmutations, but due to the lack of natural aptitude they likely wouldn't be able to activate those arrays. It takes a certain sort of understanding and relationship with the world; not everyone has that, even if they can comprehend the theory.

But from what you've said, I do.

Which is good, because whether I have the knack for it or not, that wouldn't stop me from wanting to learn.

I'll see what I can teach you, then; I'll warn you now that I'm not much of a teacher, temperament-wise, and obviously whatever I teach you won't be functional here - my own arrays are completely useless, much to my irritation.

But as long as that's acceptable, then I don't see why not.

It's nothing short of insulting, the way Johto tends to strip people's talents away. There are plenty of reasons to like it here, but I've never considered that to be one of them.

Though I do hope these generous lessons you're offering won't detract from your ability to function in your capacity as a member of the Legion of Evil.

Oh, don't worry, I'll still be keeping the region busy between lessons.

Although now you have me wondering - did this place strip talents from you as well, or are you just sympathizing with those whose talents have been taken away?

I speak more than twenty languages. Having them all rendered irrelevant has been irritating, to say the least.

I have other talents it's hindered, too, but that would be telling.

More than twenty? I'm impressed; I speak several myself - though they all originate from countries that most here have never heard of, so it's likely for the best that there's some sort of universal understanding here, given that I don't know how well they would translate.

From what I've seen and heard from the people I've met here, the world I come from is one of the bigger ones out there — or at least, more varied culturally. Keeping up with the local languages of the places I visit is something of a matter of necessity.

I concede that the universal understanding is, in the grand scheme, for the best. But that doesn't make it less irritating, in its moments.

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