By now, Ogron had mixed several things and still needed a mana source, for the finishing touches.

"So Satoshi. I hope you know how to purify materials. We need to remove some impurities from the dried plant mix," Ogron said while taking a beaker from a burner flame.

"Of course I know that. But we'll let the machines do it," Satoshi replied.

"No. We do it by hand. I don't trust your machines. They're probably just as unreliable as the owner of the machines," Ogron commented, handing him the beaker.

"So purify it yourself," Otaz added. "Alright, alright, alright," replied Satoshi, and it didn't take a minute for Satoshi to fail at it.

In the end, only a lumpy black liquid in the beaker remained. The skeletons Ogron and Otaz were utterly disappointed by Satoshi's failed purification. "Yo, I tried my best," Satoshi stated with a forced smile.

"I'll take it back. I'll pay some other mage to teach Az magic. I don't want to see a mage like you, who is too incompetent to purify materials. In my damn 500 years of living, I have never seen such a bad mage with such bad mana control.

The youth is truly tainted," Ogron commented coldly. "Except Az, of course," Simaev added. "Exactly, except Az, he still has a pure soul," Ogron muttered while taking a second beaker.

"I'll give you three chances, and if you fail at that. Then you hand me your mana core or destroy it in front of me since someone like you is not worthy of having the talent of a mage," warned Ogron while mixing plants and extracting some certain substances. Satoshi couldn't help but gulp at his words.

The only thought Satoshi had was: 'This must be one of the old monsters before the age of machines. It was said that the old monsters were waging an ideological war against the new generation on how to deal with the machines. But unfortunately, I was never told how the war ended. This information was only a footnote in my book. My professor at the time dismissed it as nonsense, but when I look at Ogron, I could believe that this footnote was stating the truth.

The more interesting question is actually, who Otaz is. Compared to Ogron, he gives even fewer details about his era. But if I understood the interactions correctly, even Ogron seems to respect him, although he is weaker than Ogron. I've heard that he lived in a much earlier era than Ogron. Legend has it that the mages' ancestors, were humans who hunted mage monsters by the hundred, half of whom usually died. Then the few with the best potential were bathed in their blood. Thereupon they would be tied to a stone where one carved them than with sharp stones, runes on his body. In the end, liquid mana blood would be poured into the carved runes...' however, before Satoshi could continue fantasizing, he was jolted into reality by Ogron.

His next attempt also failed, and on his third attempt, Satoshi put into the machine. Ogron was just disappointed by this and muttered, "At least this thing works." He took the beaker from Satoshi and inside was a slightly blackish-green liquid. Otaz handed him several beakers with liquid in them, to combine and in the end, a blue potion was created.

"I don't know what kind of occult mumbo jumbo you've been up to, but I can tell you one thing. I don't drink that. It's very likely to kill me," Satoshi remarked as he pushed the beaker away from him.

"Drink it," Ogron commanded. "No, never," replied Satoshi, who slowly took a few steps back and ended up with his back to the counter. Otaz suddenly grabbed Satoshi's skull from the side and opened his lower jaw. Ogron smiled and poured the liquid into his mouth, only for it to land on the floor. Simaev laughed in the background. "You idiots actually thought you were human, haha haha. How the hell are you supposed to drink something like that? Hahahhaha" was heard from the background. Ogron just looked at the beaker and took a deep breath in and out. "We'll rub your bones in it," he said afterward. "Leave my bones alone. Only my wife can touch them," Satoshi cursed.

A few minutes later, the group of four made the same magic potion again, but this time Satoshi used his magic to attach the liquid to his bones. "Ok, what now?" asked Satoshi while all his bones were encased in floating liquid. "Um yeah. Usually, you imagine how you want to look and create an illusion. From a distance, you will look like the old you, however, upon physical contact, you would realize that you are not the real thing. At the same time, mages from intermediate level and above will be able to see through it. So don't get your hopes up to high," Otaz told him while scratching his chin. "Wait, Ogron. Why didn't we use it on us???" continued Otaz. "Because we lacked the materials.

Because we couldn't attach the liquid to our bones due to the lack of mana core and because I completely forgot it," Ogron replied.

"Nevertheless, thank you, my dear comrades. This should make my life temporarily simpler even if I can't touch my daughter that way," Satoshi sighed as he looked at his body in the mirror. If he put no effort into looking at his reflection, he looked like a human being. With a smile, he touched his cheek, only to see the liquid dropping down and destroying the illusion.

"Never mind, you can't have everything," Satoshi muttered before removing the liquid from his bones with a spell and pouring it into a container. "I should try to freeze it to my bones by some methods afterward. That way, the illusion would be preserved in the long run," muttered Satoshi, who used an ice spell on his bones. A short time later, cold air blew against his bones, and Satoshi slowly dripped the liquid onto them. It didn't take long until he looked like a weird skeleton covered in ice blocks. "Ok, that looks really weird," commented Ogron, who could still see the illusion. But with a single move from Satoshi, the ice, as well as the illusion, was destroyed. "I guess that's the wrong approach, after all, unfortunately," Satoshi muttered. Ogron just sighed after watching Satoshi, "Why do I have to make another portion for you now."