Chapter 1001: Frieren and Selene

Strax discovered very quickly that taking Selene to Frieren would be easier than convincing the Great Witch to walk at a normal pace.

Ever since she had heard the word "homunculi," the elegant and diplomatic posture she had maintained throughout the entire meeting had disappeared.

Selene walked beside him through the mansion corridors with her staff practically striking the floor with every hurried step, asking questions about materials, cores, growth methods, and spiritual stability before she had even seen the project.

Strax answered only what he knew, mainly because most of Frieren’s explanations went in one ear and out the other the moment they started involving arcane calculations with more symbols than he had patience to follow.

"How many bodies?" Selene asked for the third time.

"Forty-eight."

She almost tripped.

"Forty-eight functional homunculi?"

"Thirty-six physically complete. Twelve still developing."

Selene turned toward him so quickly that her orange hair swayed beneath the hat.

"And you said that as though she were baking bread."

"For Frieren, it probably is almost the same thing."

"Do you understand the scale of this?"

"I understand the size of the materials bill Monica showed me."

Selene stared at him for a few seconds before concluding that discussion was going nowhere.

Strax continued through the mansion until he reached a far less used section, away from the bedrooms and common areas.

A sequence of runes recognized his presence before an apparently ordinary wall silently split apart, revealing a staircase descending deep beneath the property.

Selene became serious again when she felt the amount of mana rising from below.

It was not merely research energy.

There was demonic essence, draconic magic, spiritual residue, and something artificially alive mixed throughout the environment.

"Interesting..." she murmured.

"You haven’t seen anything yet."

The two descended.

The farther they went, the less the place resembled a hidden installation and the more it began to feel like an entire research center built beneath Asgard.

Reinforced stone corridors were crossed by magical conductors, transparent tubes carried alchemical liquids between different sectors, and several rooms possessed enough barriers to contain explosions that would destroy ordinary buildings.

Selene slowed down with every new structure she encountered, analyzing symbols on the walls and containment formations.

Strax had to call her twice because she simply stopped to examine some technical detail.

When they finally reached the main laboratory, Frieren had her back to the entrance.

The elf had her hair tied carelessly, wore an apron over her clothes, and had her hands covered in a thin layer of mana while manipulating some crystalline structure on a workbench.

Around her, diagrams floated in the air showing organs, magical channels, and something resembling a spiritual network.

She did not even notice Strax arriving until he knocked twice against the metal side of the doorway.

"Frieren."

"If you broke something, leave it there."

"I haven’t even come in yet."

"Then wait five minutes."

Selene’s eyes widened slightly.

Strax pointed toward the elf.

"That’s Frieren."

Frieren finally realized he was not alone.

She dismissed the diagrams with a movement of one hand, turned around, and found the orange-haired woman standing a few meters behind him.

Her eyes moved over the hat, the clothes, Selene’s face, and then immediately stopped on the staff.

The same change happened to Selene when she noticed that the floating symbols Frieren had just dismissed did not completely belong to any magical system she recognized.

The two remained silent for several seconds.

Strax started smiling.

"Frieren, this is Selene Feywin. One of the Ten Great Witches. She wants to bring the Witch Congregation to Asgard and build a Magic Tower."

Frieren blinked.

"All right."

Selene blinked too.

It was clearly a much less impressed reaction than she had expected.

Strax continued:

"I mentioned the homunculi."

Frieren’s head slowly turned toward him.

"Why?"

"She said they’re specialists."

That changed everything.

Frieren looked back at Selene, this time actually paying attention.

"Specialists in what exactly?"

Selene took one step forward.

"Body construction, artificial mana matrices, alchemical cores, spiritual integration, autonomous golems, and depending on the school, pseudo-soul development."

Frieren immediately dropped the instrument she was holding.

Strax recognized that look.

It was the same one she made whenever she found some strange creature she wanted to take apart.

"Pseudo-souls?" Frieren asked.

"Artificial models capable of generating limited behavior without a true soul. They do not form a complete existence, but they are sufficient for advanced golems and some simple homunculi."

"Autonomy?"

"To a certain extent."

"Memory?"

"Constructed."

"Learning?"

"Depends on the matrix."

Frieren walked toward Selene.

"Come."

Neither of them looked at Strax.

He let out a small sigh and followed behind.

Frieren crossed through a second door and activated a series of security runes.

The next chamber was enormous, occupying a large portion of the underground structure.

Rows of transparent tanks stretched from one side to the other, filled with a slightly blue liquid.

Inside them floated female bodies at different stages of formation.

Some were complete and motionless, connected by magical filaments to external structures.

Others still had parts developing, while the twelve newest remained in separate chambers where muscles, nerves, and mana channels were still being constructed.

Selene stopped.

This time there was no smile.

It was pure astonishment.

She slowly walked toward the first tank and placed her hand over the glass without completely touching it.

Her eyes began glowing with mana as she analyzed the body inside the capsule.

"This isn’t conventional alchemy."

"No," Frieren replied.

"Nor cloning."

"That either."

Selene brought her face closer.

"You built the bodies in layers."

Frieren finally smiled.

"Yes."

Strax realized at that moment that he was lost.

Frieren began explaining.

"Skeleton first, but we don’t use ordinary bones. The structure receives magical minerals during growth, increasing resistance without compromising flexibility. Then we create musculature around predefined mana channels. This prevents the energy from having to form pathways naturally during maturation."

Selene turned toward her with shining eyes.

"You made the magical circulation before the nervous system?"

"Partially."

"That should cause rejection during neural growth."

"It did."

"How did you solve it?"

Frieren pointed toward another tank.

"Demonic essence."

Selene froze.

Frieren continued, now completely absorbed.

"A compatible demoness provided structural material. I discovered that demonic essence has much greater adaptability than human essence. Instead of forcing the nervous system to accept a finished magical network, we make the network adapt to the nervous system as it grows."

"That’s absurd."

"It worked."

"Absurd doesn’t mean wrong."

Strax crossed his arms behind them.

The two had already forgotten he existed.

Selene walked to another tank, observing the dark core visible in the center of the creature’s chest.

"Artificial demonic core?"

"Semi-autonomous."

"Produces energy?"

"Produces and regenerates."

"Rate?"

Frieren answered with a number.

Selene went still.

"That’s higher than the natural output of an average demon."

"They aren’t average demons."

"Clearly."

The conversation accelerated.

Frieren began showing physical test records, explaining that the bodies had been built for combat from the ground up.

Part of the motor matrices had been inspired by Scarlet’s movement patterns and combat intent, which had allowed them to eliminate several useless reflexes and prioritize efficient responses.

Selene asked for the diagrams.

Frieren opened them in the air.

In less than a minute, the two were standing side by side moving symbols, erasing lines, and adding hypotheses.

"This channel is redundant," Selene commented.

"It’s a stabilizer."

"You can move it behind the core and save energy."

"No. Expansion during overload would rupture the connection."

"If you use an elastic conductor."

"Material?"

Selene drew a sequence of runes in the air.

Frieren fell silent.

Then leaned closer.

"What alloy is that?"

"Mithren Silver mixed with salamander fiber."

"Can it withstand demonic energy?"

"Not by itself. Soak it in neutral mana solution for three weeks."

Frieren was already taking notes.

Strax raised one hand.

"Do you two maybe want to remember that I—"

Neither answered.

Selene had just asked about the soul problem.

Frieren led her to a separate structure where several empty crystals were positioned around a magic circle.

"The body works. The core works. The brain responds. We can even create basic commands, but that isn’t life. Without a soul, we have an extremely sophisticated structure waiting for someone to be inside."

Selene crouched in front of the circle.

"And you tried spontaneous formation?"

"Failed."

"Spiritual fragments?"

"Unstable."

"Complete souls?"

"Not yet. I’m not ripping random souls out just to test."

Selene immediately nodded in approval.

"Correct. An incompatible soul could destroy the body or, worse, remain trapped in constant suffering."

Frieren looked at her.

"You’ve done that before."

"My Congregation has existed for thousands of years. We have made almost every possible mistake."

The elf looked genuinely interested.

Selene began explaining that one of the Congregation’s divisions possessed complete records of attempts to integrate souls into artificial bodies.

Many had failed, but those failures had produced methods for measuring compatibility before transfer.

Personality, spiritual density, magical affinity, and even habits formed during life influenced adaptation.

Frieren began asking questions faster and faster, and Selene answered at the same speed.

Within minutes, they were already discussing a hybrid hypothesis.

Instead of placing a soul directly inside the body, they could first create an intermediate matrix linked to the artificial core, allowing the soul to establish a connection gradually.

Frieren suggested using the demonic structure as a cushioning layer.

Selene proposed three concentric circles to separate memory, identity, and spiritual authority during adaptation.

Strax did not understand half the words.

Worse, neither woman seemed to breathe.

He slowly walked behind them while they continued moving through the room.

Frieren showed Selene the twelve bodies still growing, and Selene immediately pointed out modifications that could be tested before completion.

Then Selene opened a small storage dimension and removed three metal plates covered in inscriptions.

Frieren almost snatched one from her hand.

"What is this?"

"Sixth School golem command matrix."

"Does it self-repair?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Look at the third layer."

Frieren looked.

She went still.

"Interesting."

Selene smiled.

"I know."

Strax placed his hands on his hips.

Neither looked at him.

"So..." he began.

Frieren moved a magical formation.

Selene immediately corrected two runes.

"You do know I’m still here, right?"

Silence.

Strax waited.

Nothing.

He looked at the thirty-six complete homunculi, then at the two women practically in a trance over a table, talking about cores, souls, golems, and production possibilities as though they had known each other for decades instead of less than half an hour.

Finally, he sighed.

"I’m going for a walk."

Neither answered.

Strax started walking toward the exit.

"I’ll come back later and see how things are going."

Frieren raised one hand distractedly without even looking at him.

Selene did exactly the same.

Strax stopped at the door and watched the two for a few more seconds.

Selene had already taken off her hat and placed it on a workbench, while Frieren pulled a chair closer to the diagrams.

The two were now discussing whether it would be possible to create soldiers capable of developing magical affinities of their own after receiving souls, and the amount of technical enthusiasm growing in that conversation began to worry Strax in a completely different way.

He shook his head.

"Monica is going to kill me."

Then he closed the door behind him.

Inside the laboratory, neither of them noticed he had left.