Chapter 302: Of course it can’t be that easy…
*Bing-Bong*
It has come to the attention of the writer that there might some mild confusion as to why Hurricroak is speaking to the hunter coherently while the latter is making weird insect noises.
Simply put?
They’re both making weird noises.
What you’re seeing is this:
“Hfjsihf.”
[No, that’s not right.]
What’s actually being said is this:
“Hibtjjdh.”
“Bfjjshffj!”
And if you’re wondering what that sounds like…imagine someone trying to mimic the sounds of crickets, cicadas and wasps all at once.
Got it? Good.
…
Oh don’t give me that look, it’s going to be remedied soon.
Even the writer figured that it would get annoying fast.
*Bing-Bong*
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‘Alright since I’m dealing with a spider corpse…let’s try this core,’ Zhen Liu thought to himself as he walked up to the spider’s corpse, it’s giant ass leg at least, and focused his thoughts on the seal imprinted on his left hand.
Over the course of multiple downtime sessions and after learning about the Library’s storage capabilities, he learned that Logos and Pathos could technically summon the cores directly from storage and into Zhen Liu’s hand. The only issue being that it was a one way trip, so if he summoned a core, he’d have to store it inside himself before returning to the library.
As the core began to manifest between his fingers, Zhen Liu was soon overcome with feelings of [Control].
‘Why can’t this stupid process be faster? If I could I would…oh there it is.’
The best way Zhen Liu could go about describing the feelings of [Control] was…precision.
Everything, everywhere at anytime must be a specific, lengthy, width, height, color, place and behavioral pattern.
For there is a correct way…or death, no alternatives.
But who was to make sure that the world followed this pattern?
Who was qualified to make such decisions?
Why, Zhen Liu of course!
He was the only one educated enough to make the calculations for maximum profit in all businesses ever.
He was the only one learned enough to teach cultures to the savages of the unknown reaches of this world and the next.
He-*POW!*-punched himself in the face with his other hand before his thoughts went too far and he started acting all evil Overlord-like.
“BFJSJHFB?!,” the hunter clicked in alarm.
[Don’t worry about it,] Hurricroak assured her, [It’s part of his process.]
Zhen Liu proceeded to shake his head a bit to speed up the fading of the pain for a bit before stopping and taking a deep breath in order to focus.
‘Enough of that shit, let’s get to making.’
Core in hand, Zhen Liu brought it closer and closer to the Queen’s Remains in order to make his new kaijin.
He may have made his last few kaijin under duress and in the middle of battle, but he was pretty sure this time was going to be calm, controlled and have absolutely nothing go wr-.
=Warning, compatible material is present but shows signs of contamination in interference. Usage of the material may result in corruption of data during kaijin creation. Proceed?=
‘Of course it’s not that easy…hold up.’
Zhen Liu was expecting this thing to be incompatible, or not have a high enough “value” to be consider worth it to make a kaijin out of.
He did not expect the giant spider remnant before him to not only be compatible, but could apparently corrupt his Universe class formula’s whole schtick…what the hell?
‘What do you guys mean by…corruption?’
‘Dope…but…’
=Good in the sense that this trip can possibly be way more profitable than what we had initially predicted based on the idea that both it and the Lacewings corpses had already been picked clean.=
‘Oh.’
=There are only a handful of natural aether treasures in this world that can block our probings…all of which could turn even the most talentless rube into an empire shaking powerhouse.=
‘Oh…oh that’s really bad.’
While Zhen Liu wasn’t too sure about Logos and Pathos’s fighting prowess or aether rankings, he knew damn well that these two probably knew more about the world than most scholars.
So if they say something was powerful, he had better pay closer attention.
‘Nepherage, Frosttusk, Hurricroak. It appears our little trip just got a lot more interesting.’
[We heard milord.]
[Of…course…]
[Time to go tomb raiding!]
The kaijin were starting to get more excited over the prospect of some action, but their native guest noticed this change and she didn’t exactly approve.
“Bugjsbhf-!”
[Oh right…yeah if this girl’s coming along we’re gonna have to do something about the language barrier…,] Hurricroak mumbled in thought…until something clever came to mind.
[Wait…I go it! Nepherage, I need you to do me a favor. Maestro, can you take out the Possestol for a minute?]
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Date: First day of the Seventh Month, Azure Kings Era – Year 56
Our sponsor has revealed the true reason for funding our trip into Insect Hell, and it didn’t just involve making new alchemical discoveries…well… not exactly.
After yesterday’s incident in regards to one of the History Division students returning in such a strange state, Professor Zelini decided to confront both his colleague and Frederick about what the hell they were doing these past few weeks that lead to this incident.
It was one thing if a student got injured on an expedition because of an accident or a rampaging aether beast, but it was another thing entirely for them to come back infected with what they could only describe as a cursed plague!
Literally.
The History Division Professor was about to lash out at that point, a bit of an overreaction on his part…but then Frederick intervened.
And that’s when things went from questionable to downright sinister.
Frederick explained not only to the Professor but to the rest of us that he hadn’t fund our trip into Insect Hell for just poking at medicinal herbs, rather, he wanted to get his hands on something even more valuable than new medicines.
Sacred Beast Essence.
A legendary substance that only had a one in a thousand chance of forming inside of even the most powerful aether beasts, and could grant any who consumed it the strength and abilities of the beast it came from, but there was a catch to this.
If the consumer did not have the strength of will necessary to control the essence, then they’ll become something of a mutated shadow of the beast the essence came from.
And Frederick had just confirmed the existence of the Sacred Beast Essence of not just one powerful aether beasts, but two.
Essence that belonged to the very beasts that created Insect Hell all of those centuries ago.
Initially, the lot of us were angry at being lied to about our reason for coming here and wanted to go back to the academy, matter of honor and all of that…but then Frederick told us the reason why he lied.
It was for the sake of his father.
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“Huh? What is…that?”
The hunter was very confused at this moment.
Before her very eyes, a strange series of events happened one after the other.
First, the scrawny looking one took out of thin air something that looked a bit like a stick with some extra pieces added to it.
Then, the strange red, horned one suddenly transformed into a weird colorful leaf and had inserted itself into the stick.
“What are-”
*BOOF!*
The next thing she knew, she got shot in the face by a red energy blast fired from that weird ass stick.
‘Did…did this guy just shoot me in the face?! Wait…why do my thoughts sound different?,’ the hunter thought as she felt her helmet become loose and fall off her head.
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‘Huh…well, if she doesn’t have a name yet, I think I know what I’m going to call her from here on out…on a side note, I’m starting to think it’s probably unhealthy for me to deal with most of my problems by shooting them in the face with kaijin bullets…this feels vaguely familiar and I’m not sure why.’
‘Wait, you mean in all your centuries, not a single prior lord thought to give impromptu language lessons via kaijin blast?’
=No. Usually just for assassination activities.=
‘Huh…that makes too much sense…’
