Marseille Harbor Labyrinth Mystery

Transmutation

The steel briefcase in Jean's hand hissed, alchemical acid searing its surface.

Jean didn't have time to assess the damage. The Neptune drone, with its single, viscous eye, fired a second blast of acid. If he used the briefcase again, the minerals inside might dissolve entirely.

"I can't let you win," Jean hissed.

He channeled pure alchemical energy into the air, but this time he wasn't looking for water. He was looking for cold. The room was an ice warehouse, and its cooling machinery was the perfect weapon.

Jean focused his mind on the freon pipes circling the ceiling. Transmutation. Rapid freeze.

The pipes screamed, and in an instant, all the coolant inside them flash-froze into solid ice crystals. Internal pressure exploded, not with fire, but with a sharp spray of ice shards.

*Pshhht!*

The ice shards rained down at lethal speed, impacting the mining drone. The first shard pierced its lens eye; the second shattered its muzzle. The drone shuddered violently, discharging thick black fluid before dropping back into the cracked hole with a grim *blub*.

Silence returned. Jean gasped, clutching the briefcase, which now felt intensely cold.

"That was... close," he murmured.

He had to leave. The ice floor was already extremely unstable. Jean turned and rapidly climbed the emergency stairs.

When he reached the upper floor, the Saline Mist Potion was still working. The internal guards were still milling around, complaining of temperature hallucinations and unable to distinguish cargo crates from their own shadows.

Jean passed Marco, who still lay rigid, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

"I will come back for you, Marco," Jean whispered, his tone a promise, not a threat. "I need you as a witness. A witness to the downfall of Le Requin."

Jean left the Ice Warehouse, stepping out into the cool Marseille air. Outside, a truck driver was still shouting, trying to see his rig trapped behind the wall of salt.

"Where are you, you damned sorcerer! I can't see anything!" the man yelled, his voice laced with mercury and confusion.

Jean ignored him. He jumped from the pier, heading for his ship, the *Triton*. The rare mineral briefcase felt like hot coal in his hands.

When he reached the *Triton*, he immediately went to the captain's cabin. He placed the briefcase on the desk, which was now made of solidified alchemical coral. The faint blue glow of the mineral illuminated the symbols he had recently carved into the walls.

Jean sat, closed his eyes, and allowed his energy to interact with the mineral.

"Why do they want this so badly?" Jean asked the briefcase, his voice barely a whisper. "It's not gold, it's not diamonds. It's just an ancient catalyst."

The mineral vibrated, and Jean felt a highly focused wave of alchemical energy pulse from it. It was like a compass. A compass pointing to a single spot in Marseille.

Jean opened Anton's tablet. He pulled up a map of the Vieux-Port—a logistics map showing the Ice Warehouse, the piers, and the sewage system.

He placed his hand over the map, channeling the mineral's energy.

*Let me see the current.*

In his mind's eye, the map was no longer lines of roads and buildings, but layers of water. Dirty surface water, murky middle water, and far below, pure, ancient water.

Jean saw that the ancient water was moving, flowing from the mountains to the sea, but right in the center of the city, there was a vortex. A powerful energy vortex, like a beating heart.

That vortex was directly beneath Le Requin's Ice Warehouse.

"The Nexus," Jean murmured. "The Mediterranean Alchemical Nexus. A hidden, natural conduit of ancient water."

Requin didn't know. He just thought it was a good spot for an ice warehouse because of the natural subterranean cold. But Neptune knew. They were mining the pure water beneath the Ice Warehouse, trying to steal the city's energy core.

"So, Le Requin is the unwitting gatekeeper," Jean said, leaning his head against the alchemical coral wall. "And I just stole their cargo and neutralized a Neptune drone there."

Now, he had to plan his next move. He couldn't just attack Le Requin. If he killed the Shark Boss now, Neptune would take over the Ice Warehouse within hours, and the Nexus would be lost.

"I have to destabilize their hierarchy without destroying it," Jean thought, looking at the remaining Saline Mist Potion.

He picked up Anton's tablet again and played an old video recording Anton had made, showing Le Requin raging in the Ice Warehouse.

"Listen, Shark Boss," Jean spoke to the video as if Le Requin were in front of him. "You have a massive problem. You think your problem is the loser who stole the cargo. But your real problem is logistics."

Jean snapped his finger at the screen. "That Ice Warehouse is everything to you. Cargo distribution, cash storage, and most importantly, your reputation as the man who controls the temperature and the inventory."

"If I can't deliver the goods on time, I'll cut off your hands!" Le Requin's voice boomed from the tablet.

"Exactly," Jean gave a cold smile. "I need to create a logistical chaos so severe that you're busy fighting your own supply chain, not me. Sabotage, not murder."

Jean looked at the remaining Saline Mist Potion. Enough for one more use.

"Saline Mist Potion. Effects: Sensory Hallucinations, Cooling System Failure, and Paranoia. Thirty precious minutes."

"But it's not enough, Alchemist," Jean said to himself, mimicking a skeptical voice from his past. "Just one hit, and they'll know you did it. Le Requin is smart."

"He's smart at crime, not alchemy," Jean retorted to himself. "I just need to buy time. Time to stabilize this *Triton* into a permanent base, and time to manufacture the Saline Mist Potion on an industrial scale."

Jean stood, his eyes fixed on the map. The Ice Warehouse was the focal point. But he couldn't attack directly.

"I need a bigger diversion," he muttered. "A diversion that involves the entire Vieux-Port, not just that small warehouse."

He had to make Le Requin believe that the entire port was under attack by unseen forces.

"Pollution Alchemy," Jean thought aloud. "Marseille is full of raw materials. Heavy metals in the water, diesel emissions, and most valuable, sulfuric acid from the old ships."

If he could gather all the sulfuric acid from the port, he could make Sulfur Acid Mist, a deadlier version of the Saline Mist.

"That will take time," Jean realized. "Tonight, I can only use what I have. And what I have is the last of the Saline Mist Potion."

Jean picked up the potion. "I'll give you one night of hell, Le Requin. A night where you question every inventory count and every employee. A night where you think you're losing your mind."

Jean stepped out of the cabin, looking at the salt statues he had left on deck.

"Ready?" he asked the frozen Rico. Of course, Rico didn't answer.

Jean jumped back onto the pier. He wasn't heading for the Ice Warehouse anymore. He was heading for Le Requin's headquarters, located on the hill, overlooking the entire port.

"If the Saline Mist attacked logistics, this Saline Mist will attack the brain," Jean determined.

He ran across the pier, the Saline Mist Potion in hand. He had to get into the headquarters' ventilation system, where Le Requin was sound asleep, and spread the paranoia.

"This isn't about stealing minerals anymore; it's about redefining who controls the water in this city."

Jean arrived at the foot of the hill. Above him, Le Requin's office looked like an arrogant mansion. Lights were still on on the upper floor.

*Click.*

Jean heard a sound behind him. Not a criminal, but the very quiet sound of a police siren.

He turned. A police patrol car approached slowly, without lights; it didn't look like a standard Marseille police vehicle.

The car window rolled down, and an officer in a black uniform stared at Jean.

"Hey, you. Stand right there!" the officer commanded.

Jean knew this wasn't regular police. This was the Neptune Cartel disguised, sent to look for the remnants of the destroyed drone.

Jean didn't have time for transmutation or escape. He only had the precious Saline Mist Potion in his hand.

"Damn it," Jean hissed.

The officer aimed a flashlight at Jean's face. "Hands up! We got a report about... a strange smell of salt in the area."

Jean raised his hands, but in one hand was the capped bottle of Saline Mist Potion.

"I don't want trouble," Jean said.

"Shut your mouth and put that bottle on the ground!" the officer ordered.

Jean glanced toward Le Requin's office. If he wasted the Potion fighting this officer, he would lose his edge tonight.

Jean made an instant decision. He uncapped the Saline Mist Potion and drank half of it.

The mercury-salt fluid burned his throat but instantly flooded his nervous system, boosting his thought speed tenfold.

"I'm going to make you disappear," Jean whispered, his eyes now emitting the same faint blue glow as the stolen mineral.

The officer stepped out of the car, pistol in hand. "Don't move or I'll shoot!"

Jean channeled explosive alchemical energy into the Saline Mist Potion remaining in the bottle. He wouldn't drink any more.

He threw the bottle onto the ground in front of the patrol car.

The bottle shattered, and highly concentrated Saline Mist exploded into the air, not smoky gray, but pure white fog.

The officer screamed, panicked. "What is this?! I can't breathe!"

Jean didn't wait. He ran to the side, touching the iron lamppost next to the road.

The energy from the Potion he drank allowed for transmutation on a vastly accelerated scale.

Transmutation. Iron to chlorine gas.

The lamppost hissed, and deadly chlorine gas began spreading around the patrol car, mixing with the Saline Mist.

"You want to catch me?" Jean yelled into the fog. "Then taste the purified sea!"

The officer was coughing violently. Suddenly, from inside the mist, came the sound of panicked gunfire. BANG! BANG! BANG!

Jean knew he had to go. He ran up the hill toward Le Requin's office, leaving the chemical chaos behind him.

He had to complete his mission. He had to reach the main ventilation.

Jean reached the office wall, which was made of marble. He touched it, the Saline Mist Potion coursing through him now pushing him to the limits of physical strength.

Transmutation. Marble to fine salt. An entry point.

The wall began to hiss, the marble softening, and a gap opened. Jean leaped inside.

He was inside the dark office. He heard a loud snore from the upstairs bedroom. Le Requin.

Jean had to find the ventilation. He crawled across the floor, channeling the residual energy of the Potion within him.

Suddenly, he noticed something. On the floor, behind a bookshelf, was a small, hidden steel box. It emitted a familiar alchemical aura.

Jean knelt, touching the box. It wasn't money. It was an alchemical Potion.

He opened the box with his silver screwdriver. Inside were five small bottles containing trembling, pale green liquid.

"Level 1 Transmutation Potions," Jean whispered, shocked. "Le Requin has an internal Alchemist?"

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened. Le Requin stood there, wearing only underwear, his eyes red from being woken up. He was unaffected by the Saline Mist because he slept in a sealed room.

Le Requin saw Jean, saw the alchemy box in Jean's hands.

Le Requin's face transformed from confusion to burning rage.

"You! So you're the one who stole my goods! You think you can mess with me in my own home?" Le Requin roared.

Le Requin pulled out his pistol, but his hand was steady.

"Leave that box, Valéry, or I promise you'll be the filthiest salt block in the Mediterranean!"

Jean didn't move. He looked at the Potions in his hand, Potions he could use to destroy Le Requin.

"You're wrong, Le Requin," Jean said, his voice cold again. "I'm not Valéry. And I won't be leaving this."

Jean shoved all the Level 1 Transmutation Potions into his jacket pocket.

Le Requin fired—

BANG!

Jean leaped aside as the bullet struck the wall, scattering marble fragments.

Jean had to use instant defensive alchemy—