White Serpent Pirates' HQ,
"How's she doing?" Kai asked, walking into one of the many domed labs within the Bounded Field.
Morning Mist, wearing a green gown contrasting her red hair and the Pikachu Plush Hat on her head, walked behind him, staring at his yellow-cloaked back.
"The girl's a genius, master," Meg replied. "It's especially in the fields of puppets. Her puppet creation is only behind my Origami Creation, I believe. She's also an expert in manufacturing pseudo-Magical Circuits into her puppets. After completion, it's hard for even me to tell them apart from the real bodies."
Kai's eyes narrowed, the demonic, purple rim around his slitted, hazel eyes glowing. "How does that work?" he asked. "Magical Circuits are engraved on souls, not on the bodies. Puppets don't have souls. And Old Sage has no talent in the matter of souls, either."
Meg took several steps and came to walk next to her master. "True," she nodded. "Magical Circuits transform Life Energy into Magical Energy. Puppets don't have Life Energy, but Old Sage has developed her own Multiversal Interdependency regarding this.
"As you already know, master, Old Sage's Magic Crest is her mindscape itself, the series of Mystic Eyes of Enchantments that reflect each other endlessly.
"She transfers a part of this Magic Crest into the puppet, casting illusion on the very principle of working of Magic Circuits. As long as there's magic within the puppet (depending on the materials), the illusion forces Magic Circuits to think that the magic itself is Life Energy which, then, acts as a trigger for the Circuits."
Kai's brows rose. "That's…"
Meg smiled. "As I said. Simply genius."
Walking next to each other, Kai and Meg entered a gigantic hall.
It was a touch dark in there, with a green glow filling up the corners. Around a hundred giant glass cylinders of various sizes were lined up in rows and columns in the hall, containing a green solution. And in each cylinder, there was a corpse of Pokemon.
Sensing their presence, Orochimaru walked out from the darkness, carrying a tablet.
He ignored Meg and handed over the tablet to Kai. "Fascinating creatures," he hissed, licking his lips. "I have collected their DNA samples. Let's see if I can work around their natural deterioration."
Kai went through the details and returned the tablet.
Sounga let him summon an army of the dead. However, there was one limitation to it. Every undead came with its own Mana, Life, and Breath reserves. When those reserves finished over time, those summoned undead also disappeared, and for good this time.
Kai wanted the undead to last longer, filling up the vanishing reserves over time.
Orochimaru was working on their Life and Breath reserves already.
Old Sage was given the task of replenishing their Mana reserves.
"Do you need my help?" Kai asked.
Orochimaru scoffed. "You are good, but not that good," he mocked. "I do want the corpse of higher grade Pokemon… and a tissue sample of Selene…"
That was a mistake.
In a fraction of a fraction of second, white mist oozed out from Kai with wrath and slithered in and out of Orochimaru.
With terror on his face, Orochimaru's figure blurred and disappeared, the tablet levitating midair.
-Motherfucker!- the Life Devourer cursed, taking the shape of a white-haired, short girl, her hands inside the pockets of her skirt. -I guess he couldn't handle my tissue sample… Hehe!-
Meg's lips twitched.
Kai closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and recalled Orochimaru.
The Legendary Sannin stared at the short monster. Then, taking the tablet, he marched off, hissing to himself.
Kai ignored the bratty Selene and walked inside the depths of the lab, Meg following him as she playfully chatted with Selene.
Even before he saw it, Kai felt pulses of magical energy hitting his face from afar.
Towering over a huge table that held the corpse of Pikachu and a Contestant, there was a massive Spider. It looked not only menacing but methodical as if a great craftsman was working out his charm.
"Am I interrupting?" Kai asked. He hated disturbing a scientist who indulged in the studies… especially when they were in favor of his benefits.
"No." The giant spider lifted the corpses and submerged them in the tubs of solutions, their bodies glowing with thin lines of blue, magical circuits. "Maybe… Cough! Old age is getting to me… Hello, master…"
Kai shook his head.
Meg tried not to show any expression over Old Sage's weirdness. The girl was her first student. "Hello. Come out."
The spider stirred as if electrocuted. Then, clicking its mandibles like a sigh, its abdomen parted.
Tina, wearing a black one piece, slid out, wearing round glasses. Her blue hair and eyes glowed in the darkness as she looked at them, her gaze falling on the Plush Hat over her master's head.
Selene misted her way forward. She slithered around her, examining her body. Then her eyes landed on Tina's breasts. -Huge!- she hissed.
Flattening his mouth in a thin line, Kai snatched Selene off the ground and buried her inside him. Good thing the girls couldn't understand Parseltongue.
But when he looked at opened mouths of Meg and Tina, it seemed they didn't need to know Parseltongue to know what the unruly brat had hissed out.
Kai coughed. "Alright, enough joking around," he said. "Come here."
Old Sage adjusted her glasses, eying Kai with blatant curiosity. "You have changed…"
Kai's eyes stirred imperceptibly. Other than the Characters of the Grimoire, none else knew yet what had happened to him during the Sorting Ceremony.
The Contestants around him didn't know that Kai's very existence had elevated to an eldritch entity.
They didn't know what kind of disaster they had avoided in the face of Soul King.
They didn't know that Kai wasn't just lucky anymore.
He was the embodiment of Luck itself.
For Old Sage to pick up on it at one glance… The Ad Infinitum and the Lucky Intuitions instantly changed the plans he had for her.
Perhaps… she can be more than a convenience… Kai observed, smiling.
Standing next to him, Meg's heart thumped as she saw that smile. What was her master up to now?
"What is your goal, Old Sage?" Kai asked, shocking Meg.
Old Sage looked up in Kai's demonic eyes. "To serve you…"
And a hint of Kai's bloodlust seeped out.
Thud!
Meg staggered back.
Old Sage's knees struck the metallic floor.
"Let's try again," Kai asked, smiling, "what is that you desire the most?"
Without getting up, the deceptively teenage-looking woman lifted her head, her blue gaze matching Kai's hazel. "To… to create the biggest, strongest, and manliest puppet!"
Blurting out her hidden desire, Old Sage's cheeks went red.
Kai's smile widened. "To serve shouldn't be a goal, Tina," he told her. "To serve should be your job. Whether you like it or not, you must do it. I don't care about your feelings while carrying out your job. The same goes for everyone who works for me.
"But goals… now that something to contemplate about. Without them, we are nothing. And I don't deal with those who are nothing."
Old Sage's eyes lit up with curiosity. "You… need me for something."
Kai crouched next to Tina and ruffled her hair with great curiosity as well.
Then, with a bang, he transferred his plans regarding the Eon Soul Dew, Philosopher's Stone, Magic Circuits, Magic Crests, Magic Core, and the Wand directly into her mind, two yellow crystals bobbing up and down in her blue eyes.
A horror seeped into Old Sage's bones.
With an open mouth, she stuttered out in terror. "You… you are mad…"
Kai got up and turned around. He suddenly paused and looked over his shoulder at her. "Tina… there's nothing wrong with madness… as long as we are walking towards our goal… No?"
Old Sage got up as she saw her master and her… grandmaster? Yes… her master and her grandmaster walking away.
She looked at herself. She looked at the spider behind her. She looked around.
This was… yes. This was madness. The least she could do was to enjoy it…
Now that thought was a curious one, wasn't it?
**************
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100 Power Stones: +1 Bonus Chapter