Eren observed that Layla was describing things about Homunculi to Kirin patiently. But she never called herself a homunculus.
Alephee was still connected to Eren's mind. As such, she could sense what he was thinking. She looked at him and smiled before speaking up.
"You are right, Eren. I don't see myself as a homunculus because this is just a temporary vessel for me. I would find myself a real vessel when the time comes. With your help, it is completely possible."
Alphee said, making Eren remember why Eliza had zeroed in on him in the first place. His constitution as a slime half-blood and his connection with Reen. They were the right raw ingredients for creating a real vessel for oneself, which was seen as even more of a taboo than creating homunculi.
Alephee knew what Eren was thinking so she clarified it in a serious tone.
"Don't worry. What Eliza is doing is not the only way to create a flawless vessel. And something like that won't be enough for me anyway."
Alephee chuckled a bit before continuing.
"I guess all homunculi have an identity disorder. Being immortal, they want to belong to the world of the living.
They do not want to accept the differences in existence they have with humans. Hence, they create a personality for themselves and stick with it."
Kirin and Eren didn't disturb Alephee. They just let her continue speaking as they continued walking along the lakeside.
"I'm different from other homunculi because my consciousness is not derived from the soul splitting or copying of memories. My thoughts and personality are not a construct based on some alchemist's origins or experiences.
This body has Eren's origin blood. But my thoughts are not influenced by it."
Alephee looked at Eren and formed a smile. She knew Eren had wondered if she was real or not in the past. Before speaking up, she cleared the air for good.
"Eren, you need to know this. Layla is not a normal homunculus either. Her consciousness is real. You know what that means?"
Eren narrowed his eyes when Alephee made another revelation about Layla. He listened to all that Alephee had said so far before concluding.
"Do you mean to say Layla once existed for real?"
Alephee nodded at Eren's question right away before adding further.
"That's right. Someone took her real soul and made a homunculus body for her afterward.
Binding a soul to a homunculus body is not an easy fit. The creator must know what they are doing. Otherwise, both the soul and the process of creating a homunculus body would be compromised.
In my case, I did all the heavy lifting. The modifications in the process that were suggested by me were for this reason. Otherwise, you would have failed the process many times."
Alephee said and thought about Layla. She was very impressed when she first sensed Layla. She was practically indistinguishable from human beings. It didn't take long for Alephee to understand that Layla was special.
She looked at the lake water that still glittered with a golden hue as she said it. Her talk with Eren was making him understand what or who he was dealing with even though Layla looked to be a child trapped in a teen's body.
"A very capable alchemist has created the artificial bodies for the real twins Layla and Leela in the form of homunculi. And I can tell you that it was not Eliza."
Eren looked at Alephee when she spoke her last words. Kirin wasn't aware of what or who the duo was talking about. Alephee answered all her questions because she knew those were the same questions Eren had in mind.
Alephee told the duo that a homunculus would heal from any injury quickly after extending their mana reserves. They could even survive after their heads get chopped off and would only show signs of weakness when it comes to their heart array.
These artificial humanoids cannot be poisoned. Plus, they would have no restrictions or compatibility issues placed on them when it comes to using any elemental spells. In any case, the restrictions wouldn't be as severe as for ordinary living beings.
Since homunculi didn't have traditional mana circuits, there was no class for them either. They would need a medium to cast their spells with and would only use their artificial mana circuits to tweak the spells' effects.
Still, since it was not cast by a living thing, the spell executed by homunculi had a deviant mana signature. Even a non-sensory class ranker would discern that the spell was not cast by a normal human if they ever saw a homunculus executing their spells.
Alephee explained to Kirin and Eren that a homunculus would not have a ranking status in a traditional sense either. They didn't have mana cores in them after all.
A homunculus' entire body acted as their mana reserves. The type of mana they use depends upon the heart array. An Adept-ranked heart array would allow the homunculus to use Adept-ranked mana and Adept-ranked spells.
A homunculus would not be able to cast spells after they depleted their mana reserves completely. They were also incapable of using the mana in the surrounding environment to replenish themselves.
As such, the artificial humanoids depended heavily on Extols and such to replenish themselves. The effect of every spell they would cast could be quantified in terms of Extols. As such, most homunculi were walking money-burning machines.
Homunculi were also incapable of giving birth to children.
The kingdom of Edinburgh and other forces around it considered homunculi as menaces that needed to be taken care of. When a mad Sage released a batch of homunculi in the past, it made things difficult for these forces.
Since they were difficult to kill, a huge force needed to be dispatched before such destructive homunculi were taken care of. As such, every stray homunculus would be tracked and hunted by these forces.
Layla knew about these things from Arthur's descriptions of the current rules and regulations set by the Anfang alliance. Thus, she had refrained from using any spells directly for the most part whenever she showed herself.
