Philosopher's Stone

The Philosopher's Stone is a legendary stone that wizards have set out to create that would have the power to turn base metals into gold.

In the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf story series, Gargamel sought to create the Philosopher's Stone by capturing a single Smurf, so he had set up a trap by luring a Smurf toward a promised sarsaparilla field with a passage that was hidden under a bush, where a cage was waiting for him. Nabby, who went out into the forest with Brainy Smurf to get walnuts for Papa Smurf, fell victim to this trap and was taken to Gargamel's hovel, where he started preparing the ingredients for the Philosopher's Stone. Brainy returned to the Smurf Village to warn Papa Smurf about Nabby being captured by Gargamel, and so the village leader had his little Smurfs stake out the evil wizard's lair in the hope of rescuing Nabby before the preparations for the formula would be complete. Failing in doing so, the Smurfs directly assaulted Gargamel just as he was about to put Nabby into the boiling mixture and rescued the captured Smurf, foiling Gargamel's plans.

Over the course of the next five years leading to Empath's final return from Psychelia, Gargamel would discover that he would need six Smurfs instead of just one to create the Philosopher's Stone, and thus came up with various schemes to get his six Smurfs, but all of them were thwarted by the Smurfs.