Chapter 21: Chapter 21: More Experiments 2
The first subject was a D Grade Angel. Leonel fetched him from the dungeon. Zeke was waiting in the lab. He wanted to try something out. Leonel returned with the subject. The subject was in enchanted shackles and most of his mana had already been drained.
"So, what now?"
"I want to try something."
As Zeke said this, he aroused his mana and released his bloodline aura like Leonel had taught him. His wings unfurled behind him in all their glory. His irises started glowing as he stared at the Angel, dead in his eyes and said, "KNEEL."
The Angel was much taller than him but he felt infinitely smaller when he released his aura. The Angel felt the fear that it had felt that day once again. He felt like he was in the presence of an absolute supreme being and started trembling. As soon as he heard the command, he obliged. It was as if his body had a will of its own.
"Wh-wh-who are you?"
"For you, God."
"Huh? But that’s just a legend. He doesn’t really exist, right?"
When Zeke heard this, he got confused.
’What the hell is this guy talking about? I was just making shit up. Does he think that really Gods exist? I mean they might, considering the Myths and all. But what is this legend? Maybe, I can use this to my advantage.’
"You tell me. Do I exist? How do you feel when you’re in my presence?"
"Like an ant."
The Angel spoke subconsciously.
"That’s because you are one. Now scurry back to wherever you came from and spread the word of my return."
He carelessly waved his hand as if he was dismissing him. Leonel decided to play along and nodded like a loyal warrior before taking the Angel back to the dungeon.
After he returned he looked at Zeke speechlessly and started laughing.
"What was that? ’For you, God.’ I physically cringed when you said that. What are you planning?"
"I was bullshitting. These trials will require intricate work and if they willingly cooperate with us, it will make all of this a lot easier. And, we get Faith as a bonus. If it all goes according to the plan, that Angel will spread the word of my existence among all of the captives. I’ll visit the dungeon with Cass in a few days so that we can confirm their guesses."
[Bullshit thy enemies and bullshit yourself, and victory will be yours.
Art of War, Sun Tzu]
As expected, the Angel did well in spreading rumours. Obviously, the majority didn’t believe him but that was about to change. A few days later, Zeke and Cass visited the dungeon. The captives looked at them in doubt. They were the supposed Supreme Gods? Kids? And why were there two of them? Wasn’t it supposed to be just one?
"Has the ant done as he was told? I still see the doubt in your eyes. I can’t believe that you ants still dare to doubt our identities. How we have fallen, mere insects doubt our word. Back in the day, a glimpse would have been enough to decimate you all. It seems that you need some proof."
Zeke bullshitted as the boys released their bloodline auras. They even used a little Faith to make it even more imposing. Cass remembered his lines and bellowed.
"YOU LOWLY INSECTS WANT SOME MORE PROOF? WE CREATED YOU FAILURES AND CAN END YOU AS WELL. THATS RIGHT."
Leonel, who was hiding in the background exerted some of his aura and crushed a Demon to death.
"YOUR RACES ARE NOTHING BUT THE RESULT OF A FAILED EXPIREMENT. BUT THERE IS STILL HOPE. SO CHOOSE. DO YOU WANT TO EVOLVE INTO SOMETHING GLORIOUS OR DIE AS THE FAILURES THAT YOU ARE?"
The captives collectively kneeled and shouted, "SUPREME GODS."
It was a sight to behold. More than 5000 Angels and Demons kneeling with their faces down and devout expressions. Their ploy had succeeded. They were sure that it had because they could feel a waterfall of Faith coming from the captives. They also knew that it was only possible because the captives had been heavily sedated until the day before. To them, it had only been a few days since they had felt that fear and were still reeling from the shock.
"Now, we will begin a new round of experiments. Hopefully, the results won’t be failures like you."
They then left. They would begin the trials the next day. They went back to the house and saw that they had a System Achievement. They opened their System Achievement Window.
-----------------[Achievements]-----------------
1. Perfect Evolver I: Perfectly cleared the first Ascension Trial.
Potential +150%
2. Gemini Primogenitor: The first race to have two Primogenitors.
Skill: Primogenitor’s Blood
Skill: Gemini Fusion Harmony
3. Juvenile Chemist Supreme: The first being to create an Ex Grade elixir before unlocking the System.
Skill: Supreme Creator’s Insight
4. Hidden Predator: Strike fear into two of the strongest races(Angels and Demons) of #@%#$^@.
Protection against divination
5. Creator of a New Race: Created a systematic method to create a specific race (Blood Soul Slime).
Potential +10%
6. Destroyer of a New Race: Thorough destruction of a specific race (Blood Soul Slime).
Potential +10%
7. Trickster: Trick a large number of living beings into believing your words.
Skill: Tongue of Loki
------------------------------------------------
They checked its description,
Tongue of Loki(S Grade): Provides silver-tongued eloquence and masterful manipulation of language. Grants the ability to weave intricate narratives, sow discord, and effortlessly navigate the art of persuasion with an otherworldly finesse, leaving others entranced or deceived by their words.
Zeke was speechless. Forget the long description, this skill had only one use. Make his bullshitting even more believable. He had received a skill...for bullshitting. The boys trained and made bottles of ink for the rest of the day.
The next day, they fetched the Angel that had spread the rumours. This time, the Angel was very cooperative and didn’t try anything even after they removed his shackles. Zeke and Leonel had talked about how they should proceed with designing the Conduits. First, they would need a reference. Fortunately, Leonel had a solution for that.
He started infusing mana into the Angel’s heart. The Angel’s body had been thirsty for mana so it readily accepted it and his heartbeat increased. The mana flowed along with his blood in his blood vessels. Leonel kept track of the mana and soon had a detailed diagram of the Angel’s blood circulatory system in his mind.
He stopped infusing the mana and shared the diagram with Zeke. They then began designing the first prototype. It took them two weeks to complete it. The tattoo was made up of runes that were used in enchanting. The runes were very tiny and they were very close to each other so it was impossible to tell that the whole thing was made up of different runes and looked like a complete whole.
(Refer to magic circuits from Fate)
Now that the design was complete, it was time for testing. They knew that it would be an arduous process as they would have to perfectly tattoo more than a million runes on the Angel. So, they took a rest and slept for twelve hours straight. They woke up completely refreshed and got to work after a hearty meal.
It took them a week but they were finally done. They had finally tattoed the external conduits on the Angel’s body. The tattoo was a pale white. The only thing that was left, was to activate them.
"After you add your will to the mana, guide it into the tattoo."
The Angel did as he was told. He absorbed the atmospheric mana into his mana centre. After he removed the planet’s will and imprinted his own, he sent all the refined mana to the tattoos. To his surprise, the tattoo readily his accepted mana. The mana started travelling at great speeds, far greater than it ever had and reached his heart.
Some of it was absorbed by his blood and the rest circulated throughout his body with the help of the tattoo. After a full circulation, it returned to his mana centre and sped up his speed of refining the atmospheric mana. For 30 minutes everything was fine, but then something went wrong.
He wanted to stop cultivating because his heart had started hurting and needed some rest. But to his dismay, he couldn’t. The speed of mana circulating in his body kept on increasing. His blood had already been saturated with mana so all of the mana was being circulated. It became a destructive cycle.
He could even feel a pain that originated from his soul due to the continuous battle with the remnant will of the planet in the atmospheric mana. At some point, the mana exceeded all his limits and his Vessel cores exploded.
Zeke and Leonel who were observing, were covered with the Angel’s bits and pieces, at least what was left of him.
"So...That was a bust."
"Nope, that was a burst."
"..."
"Really Zeke? Come on kid, it’s not the time to be joking. Let us see what went wrong. The subject lost control of his mana and was unable to stop cultivating. Due to this, the strain on his cores kept on increasing until they couldn’t take it anymore and exploded."
"That sounds about right. Let us take a bath and reconvene."
They both took a quick but thorough shower and met back at the lab. The cleaning staff had already cleaned everything up. They started devising a new design. Zeke even used his Supreme Creator’s Insight skill to improve it.
This time the Angel lasted 45 minutes before exploding. They again began experimenting and just like that another six months passed. The boys celebrated their eleventh birthday. And the experiment, well, the tattoo had become so intricate that it took them a month just to tattoo it on the Angel, and that was after their increased proficiency. To put things in perspective, they could easily tattoo the first Conduit tattoo in a single day. Still, the angels could only last for about three hours before they exploded.
Zeke was getting frustrated. It had been a year since they had Awakened as Players but they still hadn’t gotten stronger. Although they had polished their physical abilities, mana and soul-wise, they were still the same. So, Zeke decided that it was time for some drastic measures.
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Author’s Note:
Hey guys, I hope you like the novel.
The official art will take some time because, one, I don’t know any illustrators. And two, I am broke. But I would love to see your fan art. Who knows, maybe I’ll choose the official art from them.
I have good news and bad news. I’ll tell you the bad news first. My prefinals are starting from 1 December 2023 so I won’t be able to post any Chapters before 25 December 2023.😭
After that I will resume uploading and maybe there will be a mass release. Just a maybe, if I get the time.
Now the good news. As some of you might have noticed, this novel has been contracted. So, even though my birthday was in August, I’ll still accept your gifts.
Leave reviews and comments because I love it when you guys interact with me.
Shout-out to @Suctiom, @romance_guy, @ASURA, @Unrexl and @Yuuuleer for being the first five members of the Discord server.
I have already uploaded the race description of Sol Angels and Ash Demons on Discord. I will also post the description of the Neo-Nephilims there so do check it out.
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