Chapter 255

Now that Haruto had collected a large number of mimics, he could finally stop holding back and put the methods he had been considering into practice.

His first attempt was the most straightforward: cutting away a portion of flesh while the mimic was still alive.

Unfortunately, the severed meat began disintegrating almost immediately, turning into ash and vanishing before he could do anything with it.

Next, Haruto tried surrounding the mimic completely with Nen.

That method worked slightly better. His Nen successfully prevented the creature’s mana from escaping at first, but once the mimic died, the body lasted only a few seconds before collapsing into ash anyway.

Haruto tried again.

And again.

One mimic after another died during the experiments, yet none of his attempts truly succeeded.

At best, he managed to preserve a corpse for several minutes.

It was frustrating enough that Haruto seriously considered developing a specialized Nen ability solely for stabilizing monster corpses.

The problem was that such an ability would probably have little use once he left this world.

That was precisely why he had been reluctant to take that route.

Naturally, Frieren, Fern, and Sense had all noticed what Haruto was doing.

Fern and Sense did not pay much attention to the experiments. As far as they could tell, preserving a monster’s corpse after death was simply impossible.

Frieren, however, grew more curious with every attempt.

Haruto was failing, but he was not making no progress at all.

There was still a long way to go before success, but the fact that he had managed to delay the disintegration even briefly proved that his idea was not pure fantasy.

It might genuinely be possible.

That realization made Frieren want to get involved.

After thinking for a moment, she spoke up.

"Maybe you should try sealing magic."

Haruto looked toward Frieren, who was standing nearby with her arms folded.

He considered what he knew about sealing magic in this world.

It actually sounded promising.

Sealing magic was inherently designed to bind and restrict mana. More importantly, it used mana itself. If he wanted to stabilize mana, using energy of the same nature might be far more effective than forcing it into place with Nen.

"Sealing magic... that might really work."

Haruto nodded thoughtfully.

Then he spread his hands with a faint, self-deprecating smile.

"Unfortunately, I don’t know any sealing magic."

Until he had consumed food containing a substantial amount of this world’s mana, he could not properly use its magic system in the first place.

And even if he could, sealing magic was still something he would have to learn.

At that answer, Frieren’s lips curved upward.

She gave a couple of smug little hums.

"Hmm-hmm. Want me to help?"

She even stepped a little closer, staring at Haruto with poorly concealed excitement.

One glance at her expression was enough for Haruto to understand exactly what she was thinking.

He did not care.

If Frieren could help him preserve the ingredient, asking her for assistance was hardly a problem.

So Haruto nodded immediately.

"Then I’ll leave it to you, Frieren."

His straightforward answer made Frieren’s eyes brighten even more.

"Judging from the structure of the dungeon, we should be getting close to the deepest section. Let’s find another burial chamber and take a break first."

She turned immediately and, before long, located a suitable chamber.

Frieren’s enthusiasm was not solely because she wanted to know what cooked monsters tasted like.

More importantly, if Haruto’s experiment actually succeeded, the consequences could affect the entire world.

If monster corpses could be preserved, then humanity would suddenly gain access to enormous quantities of mana-rich material.

Those materials could potentially be used in potions, magical tools, and countless other applications.

Once they entered the burial chamber, however, Frieren did not immediately begin studying the mimic.

Her first priority was to take out all the "treasures" she had collected and admire them one by one.

Most of them were not particularly valuable in any practical sense.

Frieren did not care.

She examined every little trinket with genuine delight.

Watching her enjoy herself, Fern could not help smiling as well.

Only after Frieren had carefully finished organizing her collection did she finally turn her attention back to the mimic.

Before they began, Haruto decided there were several things she needed to know.

"More than half of a mimic’s body is made of mana."

"Its organic tissue is entirely supported and stabilized by that mana."

"Once it dies and the mana collapses, the physical tissue disintegrates along with it."

"So if we want any severed tissue to remain intact, the most important thing is stabilizing the mana and preventing it from dispersing."

Haruto explained everything he had learned through Ingredient Deconstruction, along with every conclusion he had reached so far.

Fern and Sense listened as well.

As Haruto continued, all three women gradually became more serious.

They had killed countless monsters before, but none of them had ever studied monster anatomy in such detail.

Ordinary monsters disappeared completely within seconds of death.

There had simply never been enough time to perform this kind of research.

Haruto’s explanation felt as though it had opened an entirely new door before them.

"So that’s how a monster’s body works..."

Frieren murmured, her eyes growing brighter.

"Then what about demons?"

"Are their bodies structured the same way?"

If demons were also constructed around mana as their core, then this knowledge could potentially be used to develop more specialized and powerful anti-demon magic.

It might even push the study of demons forward by an enormous amount.

"I don’t know."

Haruto spread his hands.

"So far, mimics are the only monsters I’ve studied."

Of course, because demons also turned to ash after death in much the same way as monsters, Haruto suspected their bodies probably followed a similar principle.

But without studying one directly, he had no intention of stating that as fact.

"Only mimics?"

Frieren’s gaze flickered.

Her curiosity about Haruto deepened.

She could clearly sense that he was powerful.

He was also the sort of person who immediately thought about turning monsters into food.

Yet somehow, the only monster he had ever studied was a mimic.

That did not make much sense.

Still, Frieren did not press him.

Everyone had their secrets.

Compared with digging into Haruto’s background, making this experiment succeed was far more interesting.

"If that’s the case, ordinary sealing magic won’t be enough."

Frieren thought for a moment.

"I’ll need to adjust the structure of the spell."

What she needed was not a complete seal.

If she froze all of the mimic’s mana entirely, the creature’s body would become rigid and unusable.

For the flesh to remain suitable for cooking, the mana had to be stabilized without being allowed to escape, while the organic tissue itself still retained its normal properties.

Frieren fell silent and began working through the problem seriously.

A few minutes later, she nodded to Haruto.

Then she raised her staff.

A soft pale-blue glow gathered at its tip.

The air inside the burial chamber seemed to stir as a large amount of mana converged around the staff.

Frieren lightly touched the tip against the mimic.

Hum—

A faint vibration filled the chamber.

Pale-blue magical runes spread outward from the point of contact like glowing chains, crawling over the mimic’s shell and wrapping around its entire body.

Then those runes sank deeper.

They penetrated into the creature and locked themselves around every strand of mana flowing through it.

The mimic, which had been struggling moments earlier, abruptly went rigid.

Even its open jaws froze in place.

"I’ve applied an adjusted sealing spell."

Frieren withdrew her staff and looked toward Haruto with a distinctly pleased expression.

"I didn’t completely stop the mana from flowing because you said the tissue needs to stay usable."

"That means the seal will only last about an hour."

"Once that hour passes, it’ll fail on its own, and the mana will still collapse."

"To make something more suitable for permanent preservation, I’d need a lot more time to redesign the spell properly."

Frieren sounded slightly regretful.

They were still in the middle of the First-Class Mage Exam.

She obviously could not stop here for days—or longer—just to develop an entirely new sealing spell.

"One hour is more than enough."

Haruto smiled.

He drew his Melk Knife and walked toward the immobilized mimic.

His gaze settled first on its thick tongue.

It was more than a meter long, plump and dense with firm muscle.

Excellent meat.

Haruto steadied his breathing.

His wrist turned.

The Melk Knife traced a clean arc through the air, moving so quickly that only a faint blur remained.

One stroke.

The mimic’s enormous tongue came away in a single clean cut.

Haruto caught it before it hit the floor.

Then he stopped breathing.

His eyes remained fixed on the severed tongue without blinking.

Even his heartbeat seemed to slow.

Frieren, Fern, and Sense all stepped closer as well, their attention locked on the piece of meat in Haruto’s hands.

One second.

Two.

Five.

Ten.

Half a minute passed.

The mimic tongue remained exactly as it was.

Pink.

Full.

Glossy with fresh moisture.

Its flesh still possessed its natural elasticity, with no sign whatsoever of turning to ash.

"We did it!"

Haruto clenched his fist and let out a low shout, excitement breaking across his face.

Every failed attempt, every frustration, every moment of helplessness vanished at once.

Only exhilaration remained.

He turned toward Frieren.

"Frieren, seriously—thank you."

"Hmm-hmm. It only took me a little while."

Frieren raised her chin with obvious pride.

She was doing a poor job of hiding how pleased she was, and even the tips of her ears had turned faintly red.

Her gaze shifted back toward the preserved mimic flesh.

She was excited too.

The sealing spell had worked.

Which meant Haruto’s theory had been correct.

And now that she knew that...

She was definitely going to take another look at her anti-demon magic.