Chapter 10: The Philosopher's Stone

The Elric brothers finally arrive in Central City, where Major Armstrong introduces the soldiers taking over their protection from him, Second Lieutenant Maria Ross and Sergeant Denny Brosh. The two escort the boys to the National Central Library, but break the news that its First Branch, said to hold Doctor Marcoh's hidden notes, burned to the ground the day before their arrival in what looks like deliberate arson.

Over in East City, Colonel Roy Mustang endures a scolding from visiting Major General Hakuro for his unit's long failure to run down Scar. Mustang shrugs off the reprimand but confides to Hawkeye and Havoc that he too wants the matter settled, partly to gain standing with Central Command and advance his quiet campaign for the seat of Fuhrer. Outside, Lust joins the ever-watchful Gluttony and reveals that torching the first branch has guaranteed Ed will never turn up Marcoh's notes. Gluttony then catches the scent of a blood-cloaked Ishvalan and asks whether he may eat; Lust orders him to leave nothing behind. Below in the sewers, Scar senses a pursuer, spots the ravenous Gluttony, and their clash detonates the tunnel around them.

Back in the capital, the search for another copy of the notes stalls until the group is pointed toward Sheska, a young woman recently dismissed from the first branch for reading its books instead of doing her work. She confirms that Marcoh's writings were filed there and, thanks to her photographic memory, offers to reproduce the entire text. Five days later the finished transcript reads like nothing more than an ordinary cookbook. Ed thanks her and hauls it back to the main library, explaining to Brosh that alchemists routinely encode their advanced documents, so an exact copy gives them a real shot at cracking the cipher.

A week of grinding effort barely moves the needle. Lieutenant Colonel Hughes stops in, notes that the Tucker chimera case is still open, and grumbles about court-martial records lost in the same fire. Learning that Sheska can also reproduce those from memory, he happily arranges a job for her in his office. The brothers press on and at last break the code, only to be sickened by the secret it guards: the Philosopher's Stone's chief ingredient is a living human being.

Ross and Brosh formally take charge of the Elrics' security in Central. Lust is confirmed as the culprit behind the library fire that destroyed Marcoh's original notes, and Scar's underground battle with Gluttony collapses the sewer. Sheska's flawless memory lets the brothers rebuild the lost text, and Hughes recruits her to reconstruct the vanished court-martial files. The decoded notes deliver the chapter's devastating revelation about the human cost of the Stone.

The chapter establishes that Edward's State Alchemist research grant carries a sizable sum of money. It also reveals that Ed disguises his own research as a travelogue, while Roy hides his behind the names of women. Lust remarks that Ed's presence in Central makes keeping watch on him unnecessary, a likely nod to Father's reach and Pride's vigilance in the capital. Alphonse comments that alchemy was supposedly first practiced in the kitchen, though how that squares with the craft's true origins in Amestris is left open. By Ross's account, the brothers need ten days to break the code. The chapter's Japanese title is Kenja no Ishi, and its events were later adapted in both the 2003 and 2009 anime series.