Researcher-in-Training [3]

https://discord.gg/ZrWk2jqjbV

"I'm positive—and look on the bright side, I'm killing two birds with one stone, I get my power boost, and you'll be able to get more information for your log" What I was about to do may sound reckless, but should everything go accordingly, I was about to discover a cheat-like method of getting stronger, there was no way I was giving it up that easily.

Nakajima sighed which caused me to tilt my head—wasn't he meant to be a research maniac? I thought stuff like this was kind of his thing?

"Listen to me—I absolutely adore research, and results have always been a priority, but please don't mistake me with those savages who put lives at risk in exchange for 'progress', I am a firm believer that research is to better peoples lives, not endanger them" His reaction to my statement was a rather pleasant surprise.

"Nakajima, I haven't thought of you to be such a person for even a second, trust me, I'm doing this because I want to, not out of pressure to produce results" I'm not opposed to seeing such a warm side of him.

I was literally going to just jump face flat into the soil and allow the Magma Ants to crawl all over me, and give me their pollen. Is it potentially dangerous? Yes. Do I know how stupid it might be? Yes. Will it awaken some weird fetish in me? I hope not.

I took a few steps back from the border of the plantation—and preformed a few light stretches.

"Koen, think this through—yes they seem to be friendly towards you, but you have no idea how long it might last, what if the effect wears all of a sudden and they start eating you alive?" Nakajima was trying to be the voice of reason, but reason holds no weighting over the pursuit of power.

As I was removing my shirt, I just smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up—he shook his head in disappointment, he seemed to know I was far to stubborn for him to make me give up.

"Here take this" he handed me what seemed to be a blindfold and some weird looking...underwear? At least that's what I think it was. As well as a weird looking gas mask, and what seemed to be an ear piece.

"What's this?" I thought I already told him I wasn't looking for 'that' kind of relationship—was he trying to get me into some BDSM play or what?

"This is gear that our researchers use whenever dealing with small dangerous critters such as Snapthorn Wasps or Swarmer Beetles—long story short, they're designed to keep insects away from 'those' regions and also protect your eyes as well as prevent any critters from entering your ear canals or nostrils"

How convenient—and how incredibly useful, I shuddered at the thought of hundreds of ants entering my body like that, at least the fact that I'm worried about it confirms that I wont awaken any extreme fetish from this.

"Thanks" I took the gear and put it on, I couldn't see anything, but I felt a hand guide me towards the soil—presumably Nakajima.

"Turn around 180 degrees and lay down, and remember, do not let your Sacred Gear deactivate for even a minute—once you feel that you are beginning to run out of stamina signal me with a thumbs up and I'll hose you off, understand?" His tone was dead-serious and was justified considering this was my safety we were talking about, getting bitten by a singular ant was one thing—but a whole hoard on the other hand.

I gave him a nod and took a deep breathe—and then I laid my back onto the soil.

Instantly, I felt hundreds of legs crawling all over my body, the sensation was creepy at first but it was all in the name of progress. I felt small dust like particles being smothered all over my skin and begin to assimilate.

And then came the sensation I was waiting for—I could feel my flame getting stronger and stronger, and at a rapid pace nonetheless. I heard a weird sketching sound near me, I assumed he was probably scribbling notes like a mad man.

---

About three minutes later, I felt like I was about to run out of stamina—it might seem rather pathetic, and you'd be only half right. Yes I hadn't trained my Sacred Gear all that much, but I had to keep my flames spread evenly throughout each nook and cranny of my body, I had a feeling that if even an inch of my skin did not radiate [Flame Shake's] signal—it would be bite-on-sight. The ants only increased the destructive power of my Sacred Gear—everything else would be up to me.

I stood up and made a thumbs up signal.

My spine began to shudder, and I held my arms together trying to maintain my warmth. The bastard was using cold water! At least it got the ants off...

"Brrrrr...you...could....at least....use...warm water!" my teeth were shattering, I didn't have a shirt or pants on! I was just wearing these weird underpants and the headgear.

"Stop complaining—you can just warm yourself up" he tried to sound composed—but I could tell he was quivering with anticipation, he wanted to see how much my flame had grown.

Using a little bit of my remaining stamina, I first dried myself up and proceeded to hold my palm, flat out. I conjured a sphere of flames that was a meter in diameter, using a candle-like flame was no longer an adequate method to measure the strength of my flames—my growth was astonishing.

"And you were only in there for three minutes—ah, my notepad! Where's my notepad!"

I put my clothes back on and had a sudden realization. "Do you think it would be possible to bring a few ants with us? It would be a lot more convenient if I could just train myself like this at the base"

"Unfortunately only Azazel can authorize something like taking the species away from it's natural habitat, on the bright side however, I can arrange a routine if you like where I can take you here for training"

"Sounds good—so, what now?"

"Well I've already summarized the majority of my findings, we'll return to Grigori and see if Azazel has anything for you" I'm going to have to put my office worker skills into full drive in order to convince him, I need these ants—no matter what.

---

I was walking through the halls of the Grigori Institute—I told Nakajima to go ahead as I needed to take a leak.

After washing my hands (with soap because he aint nasty) I opened the door and stood there stunned. Valia was there and seemed to be waiting for me to exit...she was tapping her foot with an annoyed expression, did she want to take a leak as well or...?

"Explain" she stated.

"Explain what?" I have no idea what she's going on about—does she not know how to use the bathroom or something?

"Tch, don't play dumb with me" she clicked her tongue and pushed me back inside the bathroom—locking the door behind her, she got close—too close, and began pressing her body against me with a threatening glare.

I had a feeling I was about to get my ass whooped so my voice became slightly desperate. "I seriously don't know what you're talking about! What do you want me to explain!?" The amount of force she putting against me felt like my bones were about to creak, does she not know her own strength?

"Your strength! Just yesterday you had the power of an ant and all of a sudden it's grown tenfold! Tell me how!" So that's what she was talking about—but isn't that a bit odd? She already deemed my Sacred Gear to be weak so even if I did grow why would she care? And that's when I realized my own stupidity.

The deal! In three months she wanted me to prove my growth in order for her to accept me as a training partner—but still, she doesn't have to be so aggressive about it, she could have just asked normally. "First of all, you don't have to be so belligerent about it—and secondly if you want something from me it's only fair that you give me something in return"

Again—I know her personality was heavily affected by her father's abuse, and I can sympathize with that, really, but there comes a time where she will have to learn to mature, past trauma or not.

"Fine—what do you want?" she calmed down and eased a bit of the pressure she was applying on me—but was still right up in my face nonetheless.

"In exchange, I want you to start eating lunch together with me" I stated. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for a romantical relationship with an eight year old, my body may be young but my mind is still that of a thirty year old man—it just feels wrong. Although I don't know if I'll be able to say the same once she's grown up.

My goal here was to reduce the distance between us—you can call me selfish but I want to try being closer to my "sister"—I neglected everyone in my family in my previous life, pushing them away in exchange for the sweet comfort of alcohol. Don't get me wrong, I still long for alcohol—but now that I've got a second chance at life I don't want to make the same mistake of pushing away people in my life again.

Never again do I want to return to that sad state where I wallowed away throwing self pity parties for myself day after day, rambling about how much my life sucked without doing anything to change it. Sure I got a rather shitty start in this world—but it could have been worse, and although Azazel isn't really my father, he treats me warmly, and I cannot be more thankful for that.

"That's it...?" she asked—it seemed my question dazed her quite a bit, what did she expect me to ask?

"That's it" I reaffirmed.

"Very well, I'll eat lunch with you from now on, now hurry up and tell me how you progressed so fast!" someone's rather impatient.

"Have you heard about Magma Ants?" she raised her eyebrows, and my explanation began.

---

"You did what!?" she blurted.

"Hey, progress is progress" I replied.

"So you can grow like that...." she mumbled.

"Physical training is not the only way to obtain strength—well to be fair my mindset was the same as yours up until this little experiment of mine, you could say that breaking apart your Sacred Gear, figuratively of course, and understanding it's workings can help you adjust your training more accurately" She just stared at me with a deadpan expression.

I'm an idiot! What am I trying to explain to a literal child?

"Simply put, the more you understand your Gear, the better" I decided to just water down my explanation.

"I see..." she seemed to be pondering what I said—and just unlocked the bathroom door and proceeded to walk off, a thank you would be nice...anyhow as long as she makes good on her promise I don't have any qualms.

Now then—it was time to convince Azazel to allow me to harvest a shit ton of ants, mission—commence!