The Harvester-Chapter 454: "Common sense check."

"Hey, my best friend. How are you doing?"

"...what do you want this time, Xiorra?" Hans snapped at the man who just barged into his room without warning. He cleaned a paintbrush he was using on the canvas in front of him and started applying a new color from his palette.

"Painting, huh?" Rakna stood behind him, observing the picture. It seemed about half-done with some colors yet to be added in, but the general vision was observable. It depicted a woman with fairy wings inside a picturesque garden.

"Right, Nyx did borrow stuff from you, I remember," the therian commented. "Still, every time I see you, you’re either writing or reading slouched on some couch. This is healthier, at least."

"It is not because you got yourself a mother that I wish for one," Hans deadpanned. "What do you want? Do you have another absurdly unique woman to bewitch?"

Rakna snorted. "I figured I’d ask you about what I said earlier."

"The Chintamani and Gaia?"

"Yes."

Hans sighed. "I hardly am enthusiastic about explaining anything to you."

"Please?"

"At least, sound sincere," he retorted and continued painting. "As you should know already... it is one of the Mani Jewels of Buddhism. They are... theoretically speaking, precious stones."

"Did Buddha live during the Lost Era?" Rakna asked curiously.

"The First Buddha indeed did, among others," Hans corrected.

"First, huh?"

"Yes," the azure-haired boy uttered indifferently. "Buddha is not someone; it is a state of being. It is no secret. However, ’The Buddha’, also known as Siddhartha Gautama, is the only one that has enough reason to be singled out. He was the first to reach spiritual transcendence."

"Hm... how does that correlate to the Chintamani?"

"The true nature of Mani Jewels," Hans said. "You see, Buddhahood does not grant immortality. It does not even increase the lifespan of its achievers. What it does grant is spiritual immutability, an enlightenment that transcends Samsara. It is, in fact, not uncommon for Buddhas to die of old age."

"..."

"What matters here is their ’physical death’. When a Buddha perishes, their body goes through a rite, so to speak. A process of... sublimation and elevation, that releases the spirit and completes their path to Nirvana. Their enlightenment, varying from one to another, cannibalizes the flesh and tempers it into a jewel; a Mani."

Rakna’s eyes widened.

"The Chintamani is no exception. What makes it special, you ask? Simple. It is the remains of the one and only Siddhartha. That is all. Its power dominates the World by way of spiritual infusion. It is also meant to rule over other Mani Jewels. Which is why, the holder of the Chintamani is also called a Lord; the Lord of Jewels, to be exact."

"Then, the Boss of that Dungeon..."

"That Quest you put up in the Guild, was it?" Hans nodded with half-lidded eyes. "Presently, it is likely that a Buddha resides there and also happens to be the current Lord of The Chintamani."

"...any advice on how to confront that?"

Hans gave him a side-eye. "Aside from a perfected Dharma, this unnamed entity likely possesses several more Mani Jewels of different abilities. That is all I could tell you. The Chintamani’s direct use is unclear, at best. I have never seen it personally. The most I have heard... is that the jewel is as overbearing and extreme of an object as it is consecrated."

Rakna huffed to himself, mindlessly watching Hans paint for a short moment. "...by the way, I am going to ask just in case, but you’re fine doing the raid with us, right?"

Humming quietly, Hans made a wide stroke with his brush. "It would be intriguing. But I have to say, it does not particularly catch my interest. I would rather not."

"Well, my Founding Intuition kind of ’endorsed’ you for it," Rakna snorted.

The boy clicked his tongue. "Why should I care about Egregore’s whispers?"

"Then who would you recommend as a replacement?"

"Your deranged girlfriend will be helpful," he replied. "She has an edge against a Buddha."

"You mean Flavia?" Rakna was a bit taken aback, not necessarily due to who he chose, but at why he mentioned her first. "You know what she hides?"

"I do, to some extent. And you would too if you tried enough. "

"Right."

"Oh, and that demoness you brought," Hans added. "Take her as well. Alongside your guildmate, that quiet and unsociable girl, their ability to supervise team battles is unparalleled."

"I was already thinking of it," Rakna nodded. "All right... Thanks for the info," he said and turned around to leave, earning a raised eyebrow from the painter.

"Did you not have another thing to pester me about?"

"Yeah, but that’s more of a personal curiosity than anything else. I’ll get out of your hair."

"Good. I am no expert on the life stories of Outers anyhow," Hans retorted.

"Figured," Rakna snorted and left the room. He pondered what he should do since he practically had nothing urgent to do, aside from climbing Plateaus and waiting for the ’Forefront’ before the raid on the Vampires.

Challenging the Chintamani Lord’s Dungeon would come once Ensis decided on a date.

"I have Tarnished Death’s staff and Sonata’s new perks to go over too," he muttered to himself as he started walking. "Oh, and the rewards for owning a Half-Transcendental Item."

"{Are you sure about the staff? It could be a trap.}"

"As far as I could tell, Tarnished Death wasn’t the type to lie," Rakna responded. "To be exact, the peek I took of his soul revealed enough to me. As he said himself, he was truly ’innocent’. And the innocent doesn’t lie, does he?"

"{...}"

Rakna moved on without saying anything else and knocked on a certain door, which would have made Hans grunt at the difference in treatment.

"Come in~" An unusually sultry tone sounded from behind and the therian welcomed himself in with a snicker.

The first thing he saw was smoke of different colors spewing from alchemical equipment. Next to one of those instruments, Natsu was working quite diligently, applying his flame inside a vial and writing notes with a pen grasped by tendrils of fire.

"She’s in ’that’ mode," the Celestial Kindle said blankly without looking back.

"I can imagine," Rakna smiled in amusement and walked further into Evelyn’s lab. One important detail to bring up was how large the room was compared to his last visit; it was bigger than what it was supposed to be from the outside by a significant amount.

In fact, it was almost dizzying how far it stretched. This room alone could rival his training room in surface area. And the reason for that was a machine placed in the very center. Connecting both ceiling and floor, it released waves of spatial energy from a spinning cube.

At that moment, Rakna felt a presence sneak up on him but did nothing about it. Its identity was revealed as soon as it decided to hug him from behind.

"Hehehe, caught you," a raven-haired Evelyn grinned. There was an aura of Infernity alit around her as she snuggled up against him. Her Half-Devil wings and tail were out as well.

"Evelyn," Rakna sighed as she squirmed against him. Undeniably, if nothing was done, she’d start nibbling on his ears. "I see that you renovated with Gaelius’ help," he remarked and wrapped her with his tails, stopping her and simultaneously dragging her in front of him.

She smirked whilst being picked up and shrugged. "Yes. That thing he calls Dimensional Plier is a nice piece of technology," she answered, glancing at the spatial machine. "At first, the effect was mild but the longer it stayed on, the more space it generated."

After she said that, she off-handedly disengaged her Blackening, and her appearance reverted to normal. The black lab coat that she was wearing regained a white color at the same time.

She immediately blushed at her behavior but obviously got used to it recently as she cleared her throat, calming down and quickly dismissing her succubus wings and tail.

"A-anyway, I have some things to show you," she smiled excitedly and grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the other side of the room. "First! Someone you’ll be happy to see."

"Someone?" Rakna tilted his head with a smile, amused by her cuteness.

"Look here," she pointed at a place where her barrier magic was dividing the room. On the other side, a large figure seemed to be sitting, asleep. "He’s usually dormant when I don’t need his help or else he gets somewhat bored and antsy."

Rakna widened his eyes, quickly recognizing the creature. It was slightly different from what he remembered, but he was sure of it. "Aster," he immediately said.

The undead chimera from the Labyrinth Trial. He was still incredibly intimidating and passively releasing an aura that induced fear, whose strength was more than respectable. Though, after his encounter with several Outer Gods, Rakna could not really attest to it.

That said, one thing was for sure, Aster was stronger and his body had been remodeled. Some of the deformations he had were gone, likely due to Evelyn’s care. His brown leather hide was clean and the gray fur that accompanied it was not in mismatched patches anymore.

His head was less monstrous, with a leaner skull, and fangs not growing as unevenly. His horns were evenly trimmed, in a manner of speaking. The limbs were not particularly different, though his legs appeared extensively more robust and ended in larger hooves.

His body in general also shared one more novelty; an evident rise in muscle mass.

"I’ve been slowly strengthening him with alchemy," Evelyn remarked. "Apparently, after doing a bit of research, his original race is called ’Traqil’. What I learned is that Aster was not only young by his race’s standards but that he also had begun to genetically deteriorate."

Evelyn walked over to the other side of the barrier and caressed the sleeping chimera. "So, I’ve used some of the funds you gave me to buy materials and stabilize his physique. Once that was done, I built a new Core and implanted it in him. It was to make him a Chimera again rather than an undead. In the end, it worked almost too well. He awakened as a Naraka-Class instantly."

Following her words, Rakna promptly appraised Aster’s status.

❮ ◈ ❯

Name: Aster

Maker: Evelyn J. Malcanthet

Age: 11 | Level: 600

Race: Naraka Chimera

Titles: Guardian of Terror, Guarded by Love, Salvation Protector, Graced By Undeath, Revenant, Evolution Frontier

Attributes:

STR: 500 | END: 700

SPD: 300 | DEX: 150

INT: 100 | LCK: 2

Skills:

- Hyper Regeneration (Lv--)

- Horror Zone (Lv--)

- Memory of A Warm Embrace (Lv--)

- Guardian’s Aura (Lv. 12 ⋆)

- Power Surge (Lv. Ex)

- Revenant’s Grasp (Lv.9)

Unique Skill:

- Labyrinth Terror (EX ⋆⋆⋆)

Description:

The former boogie man of the labyrinth. A creature that once lost its sanity dwelling in the corridors of its prison, killing every intruder as if they were its jailer. It dreamt of a mother it couldn’t meet and met death at the hands of an unexpected savior.

Returning from beyond, overcoming undeath, evolving to a Naraka-Class Chimera, and swearing allegiance to a Hell Priestess, it recalls its deliverance and aspires to be a Guardian of his own rather than its child.

Note: A Chimera showing promising signs of growth into a higher class.

❮ ◈ ❯

"That’s impressive," Rakna remarked honestly. Like before, he only had attributes, but there was an actual skill section this time, though not categorized the same way as Hosts. The Unique Skill was an attention-grabber for sure, but the modest number of titles was nothing to scoff at either.

"Yep!" Evelyn smiled happily. "At first, I was confused by the speed of his evolution, but I learned one more fact about Traqils. The brain is not where they store episodic memories; but all cells of their body, mostly their flesh."

"That’s... a peculiar physiological trait."

She nodded twice. "And it’s not even the most interesting part. Logically, if they get injured, it is normal for memories to be lost alongside the flesh. And it does happen. But strangely, once their regeneration kicks in, it also brings back the memories, which should not be possible. How come they can reconstitute memories that they have lost?" She waved her finger.

"The answer to that is again something else," she continued as she ran a few routine checks on a computer nearby. "Each of these ’storing cells’ produces a psychic wave that lingers after they are destroyed and are actually pinged to the brain. The latter receives the information and steers the regeneration process to rebuild the memories."

Rakna smiled wryly, quietly listening as she explained without missing a beat. Well, not that he would wish to interrupt her after seeing the excitement on her face. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

"In conclusion, they are a race that can be infinitely resurrected as long as their brain is restored and the body somewhat still intact. The memories inevitably flow back into their consciousness and essentially create a new soul. As soon as I inserted the core, Aster inherited his ’former self’s life. That legacy gave him these skills."

"And finally, another consequence of his physique is the amazing psychic powers," Evelyn added and opened a status window of Aster visible to anybody. "It’s not just Labyrinth Terror. Horror Zone and Memory of A Warm Embrace are based on ESP. So, I realized one more thing; Traqils are genius psychics."

"I see," Rakna nodded. "Labyrinth and Warm Embrace are both memory-based. The former is a recreation of the Trial he was trapped in and the latter is a visualization... of his mother."

"Exactly!" The succubus smiled widely. "What hinders Traqils is their low Intelligence. Now that I’m done restoring his physique, I’m confident I can start adding new genetic codes and raise him to Revelation-Class."

"Do you need any specific Wilden?"

"Not really," she shook her head. "It wouldn’t be bad for a material to have high Intelligence, but at this state, it’s better to use a creature as high-level as possible. But it has to be compatible and humanoid."

"Hmm..." Rakna looked up in thought and extended his hand toward her.

"Yes?" She blinked in confusion.

The therian smiled. "Can you show me your Storage Ring for a bit?"

"Sure," she readily complied and gave him her hand. Immediately, a swirl of soul flames encased their grip and focused on the ring around one of her fingers. The fire was siphoned into the item, depositing something inside.

"Here. I don’t know how useful that’s going to be, but I reckon leaving it to you is a better option regardless," Rakna said as he pulled back.

Evelyn tilted her head and used the Item Box skill to look inside the ring. As soon as she laid eyes on the description of the Liminal Krymog, her eyes widened. "Wow... this is the dragon you killed yesterday?" She asked, already thinking of the research value of this Wild Boss.

"Well, the ’version’ at the end of the fight, yes," the therian snorted. "How is it?"

"It’s... basically perfect," she shook her head. "Of course, the imbalance of power might be hard to handle, but dragons make for extremely malleable material. Curiously, the draconic genetic code is admittedly ’fierce’, but it’s actually so dominant that it forcefully upgrades inferior genes that come in contact with it. Basically, all creatures can drink Dragon Blood and receive nothing but benefits. Same for their flesh and organs; only their bones are tricky."

"Hm... I did use Scavenger on it, however. Does it matter?"

"Well, frankly? A bit," she shrugged. "It could have made Aster stronger. But to create a chimera, the genetic factor contained in preserved body parts is the most important."

"I see. I look forward to seeing how strong he becomes."

"You definitely should," she smiled and then remembered something. "Right, there’s something else I wanted to show you," she said and blinked away, reappearing in another part of the lab.

Rakna sweatdropped at the casual use of Blink. At this point, he was quite curious to know how far she had gone into mastering this skill; the power of indiscriminate teleportation was rather intimidating on paper, after all.

He took his time to catch up with her, glancing around at the equipment, reagents, and papers. It was fascinating to see the research notes and finished products. On the other hand, it wasn’t that endearing to see a dissected heart lying around...

"First, this!" On cue, Evelyn appeared in front of him and handed him a pouch. "It’s the finalized version. It’s curated and more efficient for you. There’s about a thousand, so use as much as you want."

"Okay?" Rakna was briefly confused until he took the pouch and looked inside.

❮ ◈ ❯

Designation: Consumable/Hell’s Cardiac Pill

Tier: Special

Description:

A pill refined by an advanced alchemist and Infernal Transmuter with the hearts of deceased creatures. The creator of this pill has managed to compress the cellular matter of hundreds of hearts into crystallized drops of essence thanks to their Sub-Path. The pill’s alchemical recipe also guarantees a uniform effect on all who consume it, expelling the surplus energy.

Engineered with the unique properties of the Beast Emperor’s Nirvana Skill and magic crest, this pill has become a recovery item that cannot be imitated anywhere. It is an item designed to bring one back from the gates of Hell.

Warning! This item holds too much power to be consumed by any Host under the level of 500 and cannot be taken more than twice every three hours. If these warnings are not heeded, the offender risks their internal organs melting.

Effects:

- Heals physical wounds and negative status effects.

- Recovers 50% of MP

- Recovers 50% of STA

Note: This item loses efficacy after Level 900.

Personal Note: If consumed by Rakna Xiorra Blade, most side effects will be negated and will recover close to 100% of MP and STA. Most injuries will be healed no matter the severity.

❮ ◈ ❯

"Oh..." Rakna was genuinely astonished.

"If it’s you, one pill should return you to peak form. But, by my estimation, two or three per hour is probably your limit if you don’t want to ’overflow’. Also, of course, you should only eat one pill at once and be careful when your reserves are already filled up to some extent."

Rakna silently picked up one of the unassuming drugs and stared at its crimson sheen. "...did you release this to Harvest? I feel like this should revolutionize recovery items."

Evelyn puffed her cheeks proudly, her hands on her hips. "Advertising already started. It’s going to be on the shelves as soon as Miss Kara orders it. They’re going to be pretty expensive, so she’s making sure there won’t be any issue."

"Well... thanks for this," Rakna uttered as he stashed the pills away into his soul storage.

"No problem. With that done, this is my current project," she pointed at a silver tray filled with a variety of rough drug tablets, of seemingly random colors and shapes. "It’s what I started making after you gave me a block of obsidian."

The therian inspected the tray. He had indeed given her a sample of his magic; one conjured with the express purpose of containing his Obsidian Points and thus the core of his transmutations. It was briefly after he gave her Aster.

"What do they do?" He asked instead of appraising them.

"I call them the Sage’s Gifts," she said with a meaningful smile. "They’re still prototypes and since there’s around fifty steps to the concoction process, I won’t go into details. But to summarize, it’s possible to use your Obsidian to infuse a certain ’element’ into these drugs."

"Oh? And what can that do?"

"Lots of things depending on how you prepare them!" Evelyn grinned. "But the ones I have found the most useful are temporary immunity to an element and temporary magic affinity."

Rakna had to blink twice at that. "...wait, what?"

"Eh? I mean, for example, if one of these tablets is infused with ’fire’, then someone can eat it to become immune to it... or temporarily gain an affinity for Fire Magic," she reiterated. "Actually, it may be more accurate to say their current affinity will change into another."

’...Fray, common sense check.’

"{Not passing the bar, I’m afraid,}" the fabulist deadpanned.

’Figured,’ Rakna scratched his head as he looked at the prototype drugs. "So... to be clear, you’ve been trying to recreate my Philosopher’s Craft from my fight with the old man?"

"Yes! Exactly that."

"...and you only needed to see it once to reach this stage?"

"W-well, it’s nothing impressive. I burned through a lot of materials and time to do this," Evelyn replied bashfully. "I even asked Flavia for help; there’s a Unison Spell, a dilation barrier, around the lab so that I can spend even more time on my work..."

"...I didn’t even notice that."

"Oh, it’s subtle! It’s only 40% faster. Flavia has improved since our first attempt, but she said it could easily reach 100% as long as she improves her magic more. As for me, I just do my best to maintain it. I’ve tried to overlay two barriers before, but I couldn’t last more than ten minutes."

Rakna’s expression twitched faintly. ’I think Evelyn’s way more of a prodigy than we thought.’

"{...}"

"Ahem," the therian cleared his throat with one eye closed. "Good to hear it’s all... going well."

"Thank you! Oh, and if it’s not too much to ask, can you give me some more Obsidian?"

"Hm? How much?"

"Oh, just about a thousand metric tons please."

"...a thousand what now?"

"Tons."

"..."

"Is it... too much?" She asked nervously.

"...no," Rakna pursed his lips. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Naturally, he had mana to go around, and he could somewhat cultivate Obsidian Points, but conjuring a self-reliant block of what essentially was the incarnation of all aspects of his magic and soul...

It was far harder than a regular spell; only a step below Star Manifestation even. In short, it was a pain in the ass. But... Rakna didn’t have the heart to refuse Evelyn’s earnest request.

’Well then... let’s get ready to spend my mana capacity a few times over,’ he thought bitterly as he began to flex his magic circuits for the next three hours or so.

This chapter is updat𝓮d by fre(e)webnov(l).com