บท 13: Volcanic Marshes [1]
https://discord.gg/ZrWk2jqjbV
AU things—no storyline changes.
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The fight continued on for a good ten minutes—and the result was within my expectations. Valia had lost.
But the fact she managed to hold on for a whole ten minutes was something deserving of respect, unlike Jun and Takuma, Valia has yet to achieve [Balance Breaker]—and it's rather obvious the difference between a Sacred Gear with locked and unlocked potential is rather large. Furthermore, Valia was outnumbered.
Jun and Takuma not only seem to be able to resonate in body, but in mind as well. During the fight they were able to coordinate themselves flawlessly and didn't spare a moment to signal the other in any way.
I congratulated them on their newfound power and left the area, now it was time to reap the rewards of my efforts.
Azazel has a promise he needs to deliver on—he watched everything that happened through his monitoring system I presume, so he's already seen what has transpired here. I made my way into Azazel's office as he was sat there with a proud expression on his face.
"You really managed to make it function—now I will most definitely make good on my promise, but before that I have something to tell you of equal importance" I rose my brow and awaited to see what he had to say.
"Catch" he tossed a rectangular object with a band around it, it looked like an ID card. It had my face on it as well as an upside down cross and three leaf-like wings protruding from each side furthermore it was golden in color. It was Grigori's emblem.
"This is?"
"You presented a theory well beyond your years, you've shown an impressive amount of commitment and to top it all of, you've solved something that even I failed to do" Azazel looked at me with somber expression.
"Remember this is completely up to you—Koen, would you like to officially become a Junior Researcher at Grigori?"
"Yes" I didn't waste any time thinking about it, the opportunity to have even more access to Grigori's facilities was paramount towards furthering my passion, and there's also another benefit I know about that I absolutely had to get my hands on. Also—I'm probably the youngest researcher ever in all three factions—neat huh?
"A quick response—I like it, oh, and along with the other benefits you'll be briefed about, your personal lab will be located in room 3-A, just swipe your card on the scanner and you'll be good to go"
And there it is—each researcher in Grigori gets there very own lab, the place actually doesn't have that many researchers because they're quite picky about who they choose—and with the mountain of cash they have lying around, why not invest?
I can now seclude myself and hide from Valia's mood swings as I work on my artificial organ project—speaking of which, I now have an idea of how I'm going to proceed with it, or at least begin to. The organ is going to act like a second "heart" per say. However, instead of blood it is going to be pumping the energy stored in Fire Kelp, which I've decided to name Flare.
The organ will basically be a miniature ant farm I'm going to place in my body—even if the container aspect of it works perfectly, I realized there was yet another problem. Where was it going to absorb Flare from? It came from the Magma Ants pollination after all.
Basically the power from my [Flame Shake] would act as feed for the ants considering they seemed to like it—and because I wouldn't be placing a Queen Ant in my body there would be no risk of there being too many ants causing the organ to burst and a whole horde of them rampaging through my body.
The materials are going to be a combination of liquified Fire Kelp to make absorption of Magma Ant pollen possible—and silver as the Mana Wiring I'm going to have to do for this is most definitely going to be very complex, and the better the conductor is the more effective the wiring will be.
I also managed to realize how stupid my fears of rejection between my body and the organ were—[Flame Shake] causes me to have the same properties as both the soil sustaining Fire Kelp and the plant itself, why on earth would an organ made from the same material cause rejection?
As long as I kept a connection between [Flame Shake] and the organ stable I wouldn't have to worry, however I definitely don't want to end up having to manually do it. Therefore, I'll have to create a second structure to do that.
Anyways, I'm in no rush as I want to do this properly, so for now I'll keep doing trial and error with my blueprints until I have a concept I'm confident with.
"Before I take you on the promised expedition, I believe I said you could make a wish of your choosing as long as it didn't involve the True Library?"
"I want a sample of your DNA" He did say it could be anything as long as it didn't involve the TL—my unparalleled genius seemed to continue to form projects despite my focus on the artificial organ, and who says I can't manage two ventures at once?
"Huh...I did say you could wish for anything...I guess I can't force you, but would you mind telling me why?"
I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell him—he can't refuse anyways.
"I'm going to turn myself into a Fallen Angel" I might only be nine years old, but the lifespan issue is one I'm bound to encounter eventually, ever wonder why there aren't any researchers from any of the human factions with the power to rival Ajuka or Azazel in intellect? Experience, something talent can't solve.
Furthermore, I don't want to be bound by the frailness of the human body, and why limit myself to two forms of power? Why not get three with the addition of [Light Magic]. I plan to use science to cheat my way to power—systems or overpowered bloodlines are for sissies, real men make their own cheats.
As for why I want Azazel's DNA to accomplish this—the only method for a human I can think of to become a Fallen Angel is becoming an Angel through the [Brave Saint] system and then falling, although I don't think I have to explain how much of a hassle that would be.
That's why I'm going to look for a way to turn my own body directly into one of a Fallen Angel's, naturally I need the DNA of a Fallen Angel to accomplish this, and I'm not close to any of the other Fallen Angel's here other than Azazel, so I didn't have anyone else to ask.
It may be quite foolish "wasting" my wish just to get this when it's likely just asking him might have worked, and not to mention there's no guarantee I'm going to succeed in this endeavor—but then again, experimentation itself is a gamble most of the time.
Why not ask Azazel to help me with this? What's the point of pursuing research if I just get others to solve my problems for me, trial and error is a natural part of science, you form a hypothesis, conduct an experiment to find out of if it's correct, and if not—back to the drawing board.
"A Fallen Angel? There hasn't been a single human who's managed to convert to one...I'm guessing you want to prolong your lifespan but why not opt for becoming a Devil or even an actual Angel?" What a stupid question.
First of all, the main method for a human to become a Devil is to become someone else's dog, and I'll be dammed if I'm doing that, and even if I do it artificially—being a Devil just has too many weaknesses—I mean just from hearing prayers? Seriously...Surprisingly Fallen Angel's don't share this weaknesses with Devil's concerning the whole "Holy Items" thing—shocking considering their origin.
What about a magic system that operates off imagination you say? I already have the transmitter for that, I could care less—and need I remind you how should my two projects succeed I'll already have more than enough variety when it comes to my arsenal—it's not like becoming a Devil would automatically give me the same talent as Sirzechs or something—that shit is pure bloodline bs.
And if I become a Fallen Angel—I already have someone who'll be able to teach me a great deal about my abilities right next to me. Yes progressing as a Devil would probably be easier, but I actually value [Light Magic] over [Demonic Power] and as most things with me, my reasoning was based of a gamble.
The Sacred Gear system was made by God from the Bible—and he created Angel's beings who harness [Light Magic]—I have a suspicion that there's something I can do between [Light Magic] and [Flame Shake], I have no idea what it is...but...considering how broken the system is, there has to be something I can do...something.
I've already considered the whole population problem, and truthfully, I don't see a reason to care. Despite my involvement in Grigori, the whole factionalism thing is unimportant to me, I know the power of the race as collective will dwindle even more than it already has once or if Azazel gets sealed to fend off Trihexa.
But even if I'm the last Fallen Angel in existence, as long as I can isolate myself in a laboratory I don't give a shit, the whole Trihexa thing isn't taking place any time soon, so If I end up becoming hunted for whatever reason, I'm confident I'll be strong enough to protect myself by then, unless an entire faction unites against me or something, which I doubt, I'm aware of how much of a "risk-taker" I am, and that most of my ideas are based off "what-if's" but what can I say? That's part of my nature I guess.
"One has too many flaws and a troublesome society, and the other is too much of a hassle—and it also has a shit ton of flaws as well which you already know about" If I end up becoming an Angel—basically all the types of experiments I want to do would probably become a no-no, from my perspective that race is even more flawed than the Sacred Gear system itself.
"I have to admit, I'm awfully interested in what you are going to do in order to achieve that—very well, I don't mind giving you a sample of my DNA—now then, I guess it's time for your expedition" I smirked—let's see what he has in store for me.
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Right now I'm currently facing a near endless terrain of darkened rock and ruptures in the surface with magma glowing from within. I don't know where this is as I have never seen it in the light novel or Manga, maybe it was in the anime but I never watched it so how would I know.
"Welcome, to the Volcanic Marshes of the Underworld" Azazel spoke as if he was a tour guide.
"What's the point of me being here?"
"Well...I might have lied to you when I said it was an expedition—but before you get pissed hear me out" He's treading on thin ice here, if I'm about to hear some bullshit I am going to dedicate every fiber of my being towards getting back at this schemer.
"It's not an expedition in the sense where I'll be going along with you for a short trip—it's more of a individual venture if you will" Well why didn't he say that in the first place? I'm down for a solo trip, I'll be able to do whatever I want without people ratting me out for it—yes I still hold a grudge against Nakajima.
"Before I leave you to your own devices, I made sure you'd have a few things to help you out" He handed me a map of the area that with labeled sections with numbers 1-3, as well as an odd scroll looking piece of paper with Grigori's logo on it.
"For the map start by pouring a bit of the energy from [Flame Shake] into it" I complied and a blue cursor appeared on the map that blinked continuously—was this me? I guess it was basically like a GPS.
"This'll prevent you from getting lost—now pay extra attention to the area labeled three, you absolutely MUSN'T enter that area by any means, if you enter there I'll know and you'll be brought back to Grigori before you know it, and you can assume there'll be punishment awaiting you"
"I guess I'm fine with that—but may at least know why I'm not supposed to enter there?"
"I doubt you've heard of him—but it's the territory of an Ultimate Class Devil by the name of Tannin—he's very protective of that area as many of his kin dwell there, you may not recognize the name, but I expect you to understand what Ultimate Class means"
Well Tannin's definitely not someone I want to piss off...for now.
"Got it—and this scroll?"
"Although they are weak, there is wildlife in this area and should anything unexpected happened you can simply tear the scroll and it'll bring you back to Grigori—a failsafe if you will"
Handy—I like it.
"Is there any time limit on how long I can explore this area?"
"Nope—this is a reward after all, normally when researchers embark on these trips it's for data collection, but you're free to do as you will as long as you don't enter section three, if you don't have any questions then I suppose it's safe travels for you"
I nodded but before I entered the area I remembered something crucial. In the log for [Flame Shake] Nakajima stated that being in a hot area might cause [Flame Shake] to develop faster, I looked towards Azazel with a questioning look.
He just smiled in response, I guess that might be part of the reason why he brought me here, and I doubt this is really a solo trip, I have a feeling Azazel will be monitoring me in some manner, considering his doting nature, at least when it comes to Valia.
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AN: Not all, but some have asked if it's a harem, and truthfully I have no idea, I guess it depends how confident I am in my abilities to develop a romance plot, I definitely want to avoid making it rushed like in ATD.
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