Chapter 5: "Both scarcity and abundance, weakness"

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The sound of pen against paper echoed in the room.

I looked toward the source of the sound; my brow clearly furrowed. "Can't you write faster, we don't have all the time in the world!" I said in an annoyed tone.

On the table, a few writings lay stacked, while, next to it, lay an open book. An ink-black aura surrounded it and the pages turned quickly as words appeared out of nowhere, filling each side of it in less than a second.

Husband was sitting in front of it, being the one to conjure and maintain the spell.

I couldn't help but let out a sigh. I just stopped paying attention to him and went back to concentrating on my experiments.

The world around me slowly seemed to disappear.

Inside the small space in front of me, a few dozen rodents were moving around.

Instantly, several needles rose into the air, stabbing into each of the rodents without leaving them time to react.

One of the magic artifacts was activated, making everything in the small experimentation room begin to move faster and faster, but it was not enough.

Some mana came out of my body, reaching the magic artifact, causing the rodents' time to speed up even more. So many years of experimentation allowed me to not have to take my attention away from the experiment to perform such trivialities.

Hum... This should be 7 times the natural speed... That's enough for now.

In what for me passed a few moments, the previously unconcerned rodents began to show clear signs of distress.

Wasting no time, I conjured multiple spells at the same time.

My eyesight sharpened; nothing seemed to escape my sight, let alone my other senses. Thanks to the mana from one of my investigation spells, the internal structure of the rodents appeared in my mind as clear as crystal.

Hum… The rodents that interacted with the Alpha-23 substance began to grow at a faster rate than the others; the ones that were injected with a higher dose even reached old age…

Substance Bēta-23 decreased mana production, but they are now desensitized, their reflexes are slow, their thinking speed and intelligence has greatly decreased, some seem to be in a state of semi-consciousness.

Tests with the Gamma-19 substance had much lower mana reserves; mana flow remained unchanged, but cells at the external level of tissue were beginning to show signs of destabilization; these tissues were beginning to necrotize.

Delta-7 used to reduce both reserves and flow; all injected rodents died quickly. This had long since been discarded, so it was not present in this experiment either, and I did not plan to continue researching how to improve this substance, as it is a waste of time.

Epsilon-16 greatly improved the constitution of the rodents; they were bigger and stronger. The cells absorbed mana from the reserves at a faster rate as this substance improved the quality and quantity of mana they could endure. Although one of the negative sides was the low amount of mana in reserve, since it was absorbed before it could accumulate in large quantities.

Zeta-4 had reduced the quality of the rodents' mana, the absorption speed of the cells had increased due to the low quality of it, but the result was still simply disappointing in many ways.

Hum... It seems that Epsilon-16 is showing the best results.

I continued to observe the development of the rodents, with a clear focus on the ones that were injected with the new version of Epsilon.

Compared to all the others, this one showed gratifying results in a fairly early version. Will this be the way to go?

My attention did not waver, not even for the slightest instant, but, when enough time passed, the rodents that interacted with Epsilon began to show major alterations.

Their figures became deformed, the muscles of some grew disproportionately, while some bones came to pierce the skin. The organs of some came to break less developed bones. Other less developed organs were perforated or crushed by bones and muscles. Tendons and ligaments ruptured as they could no longer withstand the strain or were even enhanced to the point of not allowing movement of connected tissues.

Rodents were turning into mutated beasts, taking away any hope I had felt for an instant. It was clear that I still had much to work on…

When enough time had passed, all the rodents and beasts had already died.

With a wave of my hand, the corpses were removed from the experimental site.

I looked at the temporal artifact, giving a slight nod at the time passed.

Three days, seven hours, twenty-seven minutes, and fourteen seconds—this time the experiment was somewhat faster than the previous one.

Without wasting a second, I walked to the table passed by my husband, and grabbed one of the empty books.

The cover opened, the pages began to glow with an intense golden glow as they turned at high speed, blots of ink became full paragraphs, and when about 55 seconds passed, all 227 pages were written.

Hum… This was the third consecutive experiment… That's enough; I'll take a break…

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I held up the writing, and, after conjuring a simple spell, the information it contained was transmitted to my mind.

After a few minutes, the information had been organized and understood manually.

Ah... I see... This experiment has improved slightly compared to the others, but the results are still far from what is required...

I looked towards Beloved, however, she already had her eyes closed, her back straight and leaning against the back of the chair. A few strands of her hair have snaked across her face, resting beautifully on her forehead and cheeks.

This was a rare sight, as she hardly slept and, when she stopped experimenting, she was usually very agitated... I can't blame her, though.

Even using magic, this feat, which she made look as trivial as breathing, was extremely complicated as the body had to be in a state of concentration for long periods of time. However, Beloved was able to use her full concentration for over a week, appearing to be absent from the outside world. All while multitasking, maintaining spells, and showing no failures due to fatigue. The few times she sleeps is when fatigue could begin to affect her effectiveness during the next experiment. It was clear that I was no match for her in this regard.

With a slight smile, I let her rest, my gaze returning to the writing in my hands.

This whole project was, evidently, to save our son, Társalo.

During the early stages of experimentation, we investigated Társalo's body, which he willingly accepted.

One of the results... still lingers in my mind to this day... This was the fact that, if we did nothing, Társalo would undoubtedly die.

I clearly remember how I mentally crumbled that day... However, Beloved seemed as serious as she always was in every experiment and, leaving me no time to fall to the abyss of grief, she led me to continue the project as if nothing had happened.

The next day, thanks to my fortitude and some support from Beloved, I continued as if nothing had happened; the only difference was the tension that invaded me every so often.

Well... That's not important anymore...

The Goetia Mortality, that is what is truly important. After investigating Társalo's body, we discovered the reason for the weakening of his physique.

It turns out that the mana produced by Társalo's magic heart was of too high a quality, its density was much higher than it should be.

Normally, this would be a good thing, but everything in excess ends up being a problem.

Cells have a limit to the amount of energy they can absorb, and if this limit is exceeded, the energy will begin to create more damage to the cells than the benefit they receive from being nourished.

Upon discovering this, the question came to us as to whether this occurred with all Goetia Mortality carriers, however, we ended up dismissing this idea.

These Mortalities did not seem to have this issue in their records. This could be explained with the intervention of their family, as in our case, only that, coming from a kingdom with more resources and information, they could solve this problem easily.

But... The strange thing was that even the Mortalities who came from low lineages did not have these records. Of course, the possibility that they received patronage from another kingdom came to mind, but, according to our data, this was highly unlikely.

Therefore, Társalo was an exception; after all, aptitudes of the same degree are very different from each other, so this was not a strange occurrence.

After discovering the root of the problem and confirming that we could not seek outside help, we came up with a host of possible solutions, which, as always, are much easier to formulate than to materialize.

One idea was to delve into Kronos magic and, perhaps, find a solution. However, this was like trying to find the right path while deep in the mist.

Leaving aside that possibility, we tried to find a way to realize some of the concrete ideas. For example, reducing the production of mana so that the cells would not have so much load, that way reducing quantity but not quality. Another was to reduce the mana that was stagnating in the reserves. We also tried to reduce both the flow and the reserves, however, it was impossible to achieve a favorable result without causing death.

Therefore, the options that had the best chance were to improve the absorption capacity of the cells and reduce the quality of the mana, but the difficulty of this was immense.

I placed the writing on the table, giving a sigh....

I couldn't help but think of Társalo and, also, of Adaphia's image....

Adaphia possessed the Soma Mortality and, because the two Mortalities are closely related, the concern that she would find herself in a similar situation crossed our minds.

It was something simple, if Társalo was having trouble with his body due to his strong mana, Adaphia might be having trouble with her mana due to the rapid absorption of her body cells.

However, it seems that fortune smiled on us since Adaphia's magical organs were in perfect condition, including the mana itself… There was no problem at all.

Upon discovering that the two Mortalities were not so closely related to each other, a great joy filled us from head to toe… But we could not waste time.

Still with this information in mind, we decided to investigate Adaphia's body thoroughly to see if we could find anything that would help us get ideas on how to proceed, but the effort did not bear any fruit…

Hmm... Okay... Enough, I'm going to give my mind a rest.

I mustn't waste this valuable free time, since Beloved is only sleeping for about 4 hours...

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The houses were rising towards the sky, meanwhile, the wide streets on the ground seemed to narrow due to the large number of people passing by.

I sat on one of the benches in the square, which was a gathering point for people.

Merchants filled the place, shouting the price of their goods to the four winds.

Signs of restaurants and taverns filled the view.

Many of the people scurried about, clearly too busy with work to enjoy the beauty of the capital, while others strolled or spent time with their families.

Occasionally, knights would pass by, either because they were on patrol or during their free time.

Some people seemed to recognize me, but the number was few, as I was keeping a somewhat low profile, coupled with my short stature and the fact that I was wearing the least ornate clothing I possess. Anyway, I had guards watching me at all times, even if they were unseen, so I didn't have much to worry about in that regard.

The buildings were of different colors and details, but certainly gold color was something the vast majority possessed, just as the people walking the streets.

Looking into the distance, I could find the high walls of the capital.

These were made of large rocks that were completely smooth and fitted together without leaving any gaps between them. The walls had a pure white color, while gigantic blue runes were engraved on them, with one appearing every few meters.

After a specific amount of runes, a large tower rose up; these were surrounded by golden runes, giving it a glow similar to that of gold. The towers were a core of the magical formation; these protected one of the most important components for the wall to remain effective against all kinds of attacks. After all, a mere wall is not versatile or efficient enough in this world with magic.

I smiled mentally; I was reveling in these sights.

After the research my parents did, they discovered that I could no longer nourish my magical heart as the accelerated mana creation process expended too much of my body's energy, which, added to the other problems that Goetia Mortality gives me, made it a way to hasten my death.

Therefore, I now spend my time studying and appreciating the world.

Even though walking tires me out rather quickly, I go down to the capital often to enjoy myself; after all, I will never know when will be the last time I will be able to even walk… My skin had already turned a somewhat sickly pale color, and it has become very easy for me to get burned with the light of the Great Star…

One of my ideas, some time ago, was to create firearms from my previous world... I didn't know their exact mechanism, but, with a general idea, father and mother could easily create them...

But the idea was quite useless; in fact, these weapons exist in some kingdoms and are given to the lower ranks of the army, hunters, etc. They are very limiting and not very versatile weapons, as well as predictable, since they only attack where they aim.

An experienced magus or knight can overcome the ability of these with ease.

But... My idea was never to make use of them for the kingdom's army, since I knew they would not be useful. My idea was to use them for myself, as other weapons might be quite ineffective in my hands. Swinging a sword over and over again would quickly tire me out and leave me vulnerable.

But, with a pistol or rifle, I would just have to practice my aim and pull the trigger... There was one big problem, though: the recoil.

Before, I might have been able to withstand it; I could have used these weapons in a precarious situation; however, knowing that my situation was getting worse and worse… In the future, I would probably end up breaking some of my bones when shooting one. I'm not even sure if I could withstand the recoil currently… This made me discard the plan.

Hum...

My gaze fell on a man in armor walking through the large square.

Maybe he was a knight or maybe a magus; honestly, those titles are very ambiguous… Usually, magi focus on external manifestation magic, while knights focus on internal manifestation magic. But most people like to be versatile; therefore, all knights and magi end up having both types of magic… So, the distinction between magus and knight basically depended on the person himself, although, to me, they are all magi in essence.

Suddenly, a hand landed on my shoulder.

"Hello Brother... Do you know what time it is? We should be getting home," said a warm voice, this one carrying a charisma I'd recognize anywhere.

"Hum... You'll blame me for going off to enjoy myself a bit? It's not like I'm in a tavern, Brother," I joked as I turned my gaze to his.

"Heh… That's true, but… Don't you know how Sister is like? You know for a fact that she'll be worried if you take too long to come back! And, if that happens, she will hit both you and me, which, honestly, it's not something that causes me great satisfaction," he said while showing his characteristic smile.

I could only show a faint smile in response. I got up from the bench and started walking with Brother towards the castle.

I could see it from a distance; the castle walls were similar to the walls of the capital.

Heh… It's okay… It's not bad to stay at home either; I can spend time with Brother and Sister after all…

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2,787 words.