Chapter 79: Fate Convergence - IV

After leaving behind the young apothecary and her little assistant, Lillie examined the medicinal pills in her bosom.

There, neatly tucked between her breasts, was a paper envelope enchanted with preservation seals. Despite the enchantments, an herbal hint wafted up to her nose.

It calmed her nerves as she drifted among the myriad races.

An extremely good-looking young man appeared beside her, bare-chested, with patterned scales that appeared like a jagged reef—another High Snakespawn, embodying the highest of bodily aesthetics.

"Madame," The young man’s voice rang like a sinful lure. Sweat dripped down the carvings on his back, exuding a scent identical to the calming medicinal pills in Lillie’s chest.

"Take them and manage yourself better, Rozen." Lillie tossed the paper envelope to her puppet.

As if not expecting the throw, Rozen flinched. His head moved back, allowing his azure, shoulder-length hair to flutter.

"Thank you! Madame, if there’s anything you need, please command me!"

Lillie just waved her hand, letting Rozen fade into the crowd under control.

Recently, the emotions of the living were a little clearer to her. She now understood that each of her puppets required more than just a general concept of what they were supposed to be.

They needed an active set of aspirations that wildly changed depending on the circumstances.

It was something that had no outward appearance at first, but it helped her understand her <Trait>, <String Theory>, a little better.

Her puppets had a little more life compared to before, allowing her to further her understanding of life.

In fact, one of her puppets was busy getting rejected by someone he loved. Feeling the crushing despair that surrounding her puppet’s heart, Lillie felt alive.

"Mmh~"

Lillie’s blue eyes gleamed with a cerulean hue, a vivid blush flooding her cheeks.

"So this is what it’s like to live, huh?"

Something was awakening within her.

***

"It’s masochism."

Grumbling, Aventine massaged his temples when he glimpsed the trajectory of Lillie’s nature.

"Let’s ignore that for now."

He tried his best to drown out the noise from Lillie’s puppets screaming for more. It was an explicit sight that made his eyes and ears bleed.

It felt worse for him because [Absolute Awareness] also made him aware of the sheer ecstasy Lillie was indulging herself in.

"Put—n, c’est désespéré."

Aventine couldn’t help but curse.

—[ HUMAN! WELL DONE. ]

The <Wyrm With No Name> applauded the crisp nature of his curse. Having learned a bunch of languages from Aventine, the Wyrm spent much of its time swearing at the souls in the crystalline staff.

Somehow, the <Sword of Light> and <Soul Permanence> had created a shared group chat in Aventine’s heightened consciousness.

Ever since he successfully created <Mind Force>, there was a little more room in his mind, and the sealed existences in his possession had colonized it. This made it so that their endless chatter was directed between each other.

"...Which is still somehow to my detriment."

—[ I DIGRESS. YOU NOW HAVE ACCESS TO OUR HIGH-QUALITY CONVERSATIONS! DO YOU NOT WISH TO KNOW THE SECRETS TO EVOLUTION? ]

Aventine opted not to answer.

Evolution was easy in theory—like everything in the world—but it was infinitely difficult in application. It wasn’t something to concern himself with for now.

—Crack.

Looking at his broken fingers, there was a different problem he had to deal with.

"Indeed, the imbalance in my stats makes it difficult to make this Martial Art work at the earlier stages."

Luckily...

—Step. Sizzle!

When Aventine walked into the light shining through the window, his wounds rapidly cauterized, and the bones sticking out of his flesh snuck back into place. After waiting for a while, he would then continue to test his Martial Art.

His thoughts wandered.

Unlike <Mind Force>, creating a Martial Art was a lot simpler.

His goal was to create a set of techniques that allowed him to react even without conscious effort. This required using the Mind Force in his body and the mana generated by his Mana Cores—two things he had already completed.

Therefore.

With two of its main components already solved, all Aventine needed to do now was to give his body permission to have its own autonomy.

...Somehow.

He named this Martial Art, <Pure Instinct>, because it wasn’t a set of techniques aimed at increasing one’s strength, lethality, or durability. It was simply there to help his body climb the ranks and move on its own.

So far, Aventine’s tests yielded surprising results. The only problem was that his body tended to overload itself with mana every single time it was given free reign.

Knowing that, he redesigned a portion of the Martial Art to incorporate his <Blessing of Light>, utilizing the beneficial nature of light-attributed mana.

’Theoretically, it can also let my body temper itself without any conscious effort on my part. Since light-attributed mana makes me half a plant with how I get stronger by sunbathing... Hm, the efficiency should triple? Or would it be exponential?’

Aventine blinked, watching as his wounds finally healed while he stood under sunlight.

[Perfect Estimate] gave his thoughts an answer: [ e ], which was the irrational and transcendental mathematical constant approximately equal to 2.71828...

"Euler’s number?"

Seeing such a specific constant born from Earth here in Fleim, he couldn’t help but marvel at the specificities of a world’s <Laws>.

This number was one of the various proofs that both this world and his homeworld had some common rules. Aventine was simply star-struck to have encountered it in this way...

’Now, let’s test <Pure Instinct> while bathed in light—’

—Badump! Badump! Badump!

<Mind Force> flowed through his blood, allowing the red blood cells, white blood cells, and even the purely material nature of plasma to all have their own thoughts. They moved on their own, carrying commands that were transmitted straight into the peripheral nervous system.

The brain and spinal cord entirely.

Mana surged through Aventine’s body, as the cost of maintaining <Pure Instinct> began to subtract from his natural regeneration.

But then his conscious blood suddenly realized that it had access to light-attributed mana.

—WHOOM!

Suddenly, their excitement surged, happily devouring the light-attributed mana and turning it into sustenance and power. Each cell made use of the exclusive resource, naturally enhancing themselves as long as there was supply.

<Mind Force> similarly surged into the further reaches of his circulatory system, lingering around his heart and imbuing his Mind and Will into every drop of blood that moved through its valves and chambers

Instantly, Aventine’s body broke through two different bottlenecks at once.

He grinned.

"Finally..."

...And pulled up those gleaming blue screens into his vision.