Chapter 47: Investigations

At the lounge of Rhine labs, Saria was sighing again and again. "Ifrit's been through a lot. I just hope the chimera treatment will cure her." Saria couldn't help but get worried.

"Hmmm? Why are you so worried over here, Saria?" Ash was stretching his legs after sitting around for a long time, trying to manipulate the genes of the seaborne that is in the abyssal hunters' genetic code.

"Ash... It's nothing important really." She didn't want to burden him with her work. Especially because she learned from Kirsten that he's busy with his own personal one.

"Come on, it doesn't look like it. Lay it out on me." Ash sat down next to her and patted her on the shoulder.

"Hah, are you sure? I guess if you insist. I've been checking out a minor lab that had an explosion nearby. It's my duty as defense to check if there are any leaks or something else that will be detrimental to Rhine labs." Saria rubbed her temples.

"So? Find anything interesting?" There were no groups that were sent out to contain dangerous materials, so he was curious why Saria looked distressed.

"Ahh, I was getting to that. I found a girl, she has oripathy. A severe case too." Saria frowned and Ash patted her on the back.

"Well, then have this." He gave her a stim and Saria looked at it for a good moment. Then she understood that it's one of Paradiso's extremely valuable bleeding edge suppressants.

"N-no... Ifrit is already receiving treatment you see. We can't accept that from you Ash." Saria waved her hands and she did not want to be indebted heavily.

"Well, is it effective?" Ash raised a brow and Saria winced. "The treatment is about to start actually... We just wanted her to be more calm. Because she snaps at every researcher nearby."

"Well, then just take it. Don't make me repeat myself Saria, use it if you need to." Ash smiled and Saria put it in her hands.

'Well, if he insists. It would be rude to decline further.' Saria smiled at him with a nod.

"I'm interested in this kid, Ifrit's the name? Come on, let's go check her out." Ash stood up and Saria led him to structural where Ifrit is located.

Arriving at the room, Ash opened the door and they saw Ifrit having a bonding moment with Silence. The scientist was reading her a story and Ifrit listened to her intently.

"Saria!" Ifrit ran towards the vouivre and was quite attached to her. "What did I say about running around recklessly?" Saria chided her and Ifrit yelped.

"It was dangerous?" She wasn't quite sure, but Saria nodded to her and gave her another strawberry flavored candy.

"Yatta! Don't worry Saria, I won't run around like that anymore." Ifrit promised and she popped the candy into her mouth.

Silence smiled at their interaction, the two were inseparable whenever they met. But she noticed the large man with intimidating horns besides Saria.

She remembered him and was a little bit scared, but also thankful for him protecting her honor as a person.

"So this squirt is Ifrit Saria?" Ash looked at Ifrit and he checked her body. It was littered with originium crystals and she's obviously terminally ill.

He then raised a brow at the vouivre. She was too stubborn, she should have just accepted the suppressant without any problems.

"Hey! Who are you calling a squirt!?" Ifrit yelled at him with the righteous fury of a child her age.

"You are, squirt. Look at how small you are, I can swallow you whole easily, kukuku." Ash grinned at her and showed his dagger-like teeth.

Ifrit paled for a moment, but she held onto Saria and she got more courage. "Shut up! You're just bigger than anyone else! Even Silence and Saria look smaller compared to you!" She huffed at him.

"Well, well, the little spitfire can retort well. You're gonna do great kid." He ruffled her hair and Ifrit snarled.

Even when her oripathy is terminal, the kid's still going strong. It was a necessary trait to survive. Just like how it is with cancer.

"So, I assume you're this Silence?" Ash looked at the Liberi and she straightened up. "Yes sir, that would be me!"

"No need to be all stiff like her. Call me Ash and let's get along." He pointed at Saria and the vouivre scowled.

"Oi! Saria's not stiff! She's really kind..." Ifrit wanted to protect her and Saria smiled at the kid's efforts.

"Sure, sure, and Kirsten pays attention to everyone and loves Rhine labs dearly." He rolled his eyes and Saria thought that was a good point.

Ifrit hissed at him like a feral cat and Silence smiled wryly. "Sorry about that Ash, Ifrit is a good kid. But she's quite headstrong." Silence explained and he nodded.

"Doesn't matter, though I have a question. What's the treatment you're going to use for her?" Ash raised a brow and Ifrit hid behind Saria when she heard the word treatment.

'Hmmm... Suspicious. A trauma for treatments, this girl might be an experimental subject.' Ash furrowed his brows.

"It's the chimera treatment." Silence was about to explain more about it, but Ash raised his hand and elaborated on it. Much better than Rhine labs' version.

Saria and Silence were shocked. "What? You haven't thought of those things yet? The chimera treatment is actually a bootleg version of our suppressants. It's just more feasible because we have a secret ingredient." Ash winked.

"Ahhh, so that's why... Then, Dr. Ash, can I ask you to watch Ifrit's treatment? See if it's really effective?" Silence was quite desperate because she got attached to the blonde.

"Hmm, I don't see any harm. About this time of day, because I'm researching genetics." Ash agreed and was quite curious how the chimera treatment would do.

"Silence, we don't need this stinking guy here! Look at him, scientists aren't buff!" Ifrit complained and Ash laughed.

"You sure kid? Saria's buff, how about you flex your bicep to her Saria?" Ash chuckled and Saria rolled her sleeve and did a couple of poses for Ifrit.

The girl froze and her mind exploded. She never imagined a scientist could be buff. Especially Saria, not in a million years.

"Oops, she's had a wild discovery. I'll leave you to it then, here's my number. Call me when you start treatments." Ash gave them his business card that's made of originite prime.

"Ahhh, this probably costs a couple years of my salary..." Silence's hands trembled as she held the pure black business card with the letters glowing golden with energy.

"Hah! So that guy's just a rich bastard! He's probably making his slaves research for him!" Ifrit hissed and Saria bonked her on the head.

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Returning to his lab, Ash popped his knuckles and was ready for another round of experiments.

He was getting shipped some of Specter's cell samples regularly and he went through hundreds of them already.

"Hah, the code of these motherfuckers is insane. It changes regularly and it's basically impossible to sequence it!" He rubbed his temples at his vain attempts.

Walking to and fro in his space, he was thinking of other methods that he can use in order to sequence the genes successfully and possibly stabilize Laurentina and Skadi.

Suddenly, his door got opened and there was a smug looking Muelsyse.

"Heh, I've finally got some evidence you bastard. Not that I'll share it with you. Beg for it and I'll give it to you." She smirked and Ash sighed.

"Not now Mumu, I'm busy." He continued tinkering and ignored her.

Muelsyse was shocked and she looked around the laboratory. It is filled with equipment that can reach costs up to the billions. Shocking her immensely.

"What? You researching how to annoy people? Maybe using your evil powers like how you stopped me from using my arts!" Muelsyse huffed and Ash froze.

"T-that's right! Why am I doing conventional research? Mumu, I really like you, you know? Now go, I have things to do." He kissed her cheek and shooed her away.

Muelsyse just stood in front of his door, frozen. "W-what just happened?" She couldn't believe it and she roamed around Rhine labs with a dazed expression.

Back at the lab, Ash took another sample and he started testing it with his powers. Trying to freeze the activities of the sample like in cryopreservation.

He decreased the temperature of the samples so it would hibernate. And not slow enough that it will adapt.

"Hmmm, it died... I need to tweak it a bit." He continued on and on. Dozens of experiments turned to hundreds, and soon enough, with his stamina and energy. Hundreds turned into thousands.

The sun rose already, signifying a new day. But he was as focused when he started. "Test 6969, decreasing the energy output of cells. Temperatures are slowly decreasing, 1°c a minute." He was sweating from his concentration.

"Injecting supplementary bioenergy for fortification. Cell activity rose, but at expected levels." He squinted his eyes. It was close, he could feel it.

"Stabilizing atomic bonds and molecular structures with electromagnetism manipulation. Cellular chemistry looks stable." Ash swallowed some originite prime to help power up what he was doing.

His energy was plummeting quickly from his grand experiment. Controlling a fundamental force of the universe. And it wasn't the type where he can shoot lasers or light either, nothing that simple.

Ash is manipulating the very atomic structures of Specter's cells so they won't destabilize and get corrupted by their seaborne genes like a choir boy in a priest's quarters.

"Just a bit more..." He gritted his teeth and was sweating bullets. In hindsight, he wasn't prepared at all to manipulate energy at this level.

If people can consistently do what he's doing without major consequences. They would undoubtedly rule the world. One look at someone and they would melt, reduced to atoms.

He knew he would be able to do it, but a side of him was glad that he can't just look at people and destabilize their atomic structure if he felt like it. Or he might be a little different right now.

After a few more minutes that felt like years. Ash dropped to his knees and his head was throbbing. Like it was going to explode.

Huffing, he stayed on the ground for a good hour to rest. And if people checked his brain with a CT or MRI scan, they'd see that he was suffering some brain damage.

Forcing his brain and neurons to fire trillions of times throughout his experiment would kill anyone else except him. Calculations at the atomic level are simply too large for a normal brain or computer to manage.

"Fuck... I hope I won't be doing that again..." Ash stood up slowly as his brain regenerated.

"My head, fuck." He rubbed his temples and would really love some anesthetics right now, but it was worth it.

He checked the sample on an electron microscope and they were effectively frozen in time. The cryopreservation was complete. And there were no signs of corruption and damage.

"Booyah! Oww!" He cradled his head after shouting, a stabbing pain dousing his victory.

"My head's killing me..." He carefully put the successful sample inside a special fridge for now and slept for now.

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After a few hours, he was awoken by his phone. His ringtone from his past life is still unchanging. Though this time, it was the sound of Adele's sheep.

"Uh, wha?" Ash woke up and he hasn't felt a good nap like that in years. He then answered the phone and Silence reminded him that he promised to watch over Ifrit's treatment.

"Ohh, yeah. I'll be there Silence." Ash quickly stood up and went to the treatment area where Ifrit would receive some.

Arriving at the place he was right on time, Saria and Silence were already prepared.

"Saria, Silence... I'm fine, I'll be a good girl and accept the treatment." Ifrit smiled wryly.

"Don't worry Ifrit, this would make you feel better." Saria looked towards Silence and the Liberi started to inject a serum to Ifrit's IV port.

Ifrit shut her eyes tightly and Ash noticed that she seemed to be expecting a really painful experience.

But it wasn't really bad and Ifrit gained some confidence and relief. "Hey, that wasn't so bad?" She smiled at Saria and Silence.

"Right? You'll feel better in no time." Silence patted her head and Saria gave her some candy.

"Ifrit, listen to Olivia alright? I have some work to do. Go and keep being a good girl, you'll get well soon." Saria smiled at her and she left.

Ash followed her and he had some questions. "Saria, surely you noticed Ifrit bracing for some ungodly pain?" He raised a brow and she nodded.

"Yes... Honestly, I think she was experimented on at the place I found her. But she won't talk about it and I can't force her." Saria frowned.

"Good, then we're on the same track. Let's go then." He gestured for her to lead the way.

"What do you mean?" Saria was confused and he sighed. "You're going to the lab where you found her right? Let's go, I'll say to you now. I'd be a big help." He chuckled and they rode her buggy to the place.

Arriving at the ruins, Ash's eyes scanned the area immediately. "Ohh, this place suffered a thermal explosion. Look at those scorch marks and melted steel beams." Ash pointed at a bunch of rubble.

"That's what I thought, this can't possibly be caused by a chemical leak of some ammonia or something which they reported. This is like a thermochemical bomb that burns at extreme temps." Saria furrowed her brows.

"Come on then, let's go and check it out more. Two is better than one right?" He smiled and he raised his hands.

The rubble all cleared and Saria blinked. "Yeah, especially with powers like yours." She laughed and was psyched to investigate the ruins better this time.

"There you go, I didn't know you can laugh like that. Lighten up you know? It suits you more instead of that eternal scowl on your face." He patted her head and he headed inside, leaving a frozen Saria.

"Treating me like a kid, hmph." Saria huffed to no one in general and she followed suit.

With Ash's telekinesis and extreme strength that is much higher than Saria's. They quickly cleared the rubble that blocked another entrance.

"This place is thrashed real well. But the underground level isn't that much in a bad shape." Ash rubbed his chin and they headed towards the blocked hall.

After checking all the rooms, ruined or not. They found nothing. "Well, it seems we're at a dead end." Saria sighed and rubbed her temples.

"Wait, I see something." Ash saw a glimmer of black on the ground, hidden well beside some concrete.

"A film..." Ash saw an old style film tape. "You have something where we could play this?" Ash looked at Saria and she shook her head.

"I don't, but maybe Muelsyse has one. She's really interested in history and the like. I also don't know how to unwind this tape." Saria looked at it and she was pretty sure it wasn't right.

"Yeah, me too honestly. This has been phased out for decades now. And I'm just 16 this year." He shrugged and Saria craned her neck to him lightning quick.

"How old are you again?" Her eyes twitched and she cleaned her ears. "16? Yeah, I'm a pretty youthful individual." He laughed at her reaction.

Saria was too shocked at the revelation. 'An emperor at 16 years old. Picked by the twin empresses, and most likely the richest person in the world.'

"Come on, let's get this to Muelsyse or a specialist if she can't help. This might have some pretty important information." Ash helped her up and they rode her buggy back in silence.

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Ash was messaged by Saria that Muelsyse can help and it would take a week to rewind the tape to its beginning. She might know a thing or two about it. But she wasn't an expert.

And now, they were checking Ifrit's treatments again. "I'm ready Silence, give it to me." Ifrit smiled and Ash chuckled.

"Good that you are squirt, you're steadily improving yeah?" He smiled at her and Ifrit squinted her eyes at him.

"Nobody asked for your opinion you giant brute!" Ifrit huffed at him and turned her head sideways.

"Now, now, don't be like that Ifrit. Ash actually waived all your bills for your treatments." Silence chuckled and Ifrit looked at him suspiciously.

"What are you supposed to say squirt?" Ash raised a brow. "Screw you." Silence whacked her on the head and Ifrit looked at him with embarrassment.

"Thank you." She said silently and he nodded. Silence then smiled and slowly injected the serum to her.

Ifrit was confident, but Ash could see the changes on her face. Something was different, her eyes twitched. Like there's something unexpected.

She then gave a forced smile and Ash squinted his eyes. He wasn't sure, but there might be something suspicious with this.

"All done, you're doing really good Ifrit." Silence patted her head and Ifrit sighed in relief. "Yeah, I'm a good girl after all!" She cheered and Ash gave her some candy.

It was his super special nutrient packed strawberry supreme. Accompanied by a carton of strawberry milk. He loved strawberries after all.

"Wahhh! This is for me?" Ifrit checked it out and sniffed the candy like a vigilant animal.

"Yup, that'll help with your malnutrition squirt. Look at you, you're skin and bones." Ash pinched her cheeks and she snarled.

"Thanks giant brute!" Ifrit smiled and she popped the spherical candy into her mouth. "W-woah... This tastes awesome..."

"Of course it does, that thing costs one million LMD a pop." Ash nodded and it was his favorite too.

Silence laughed and looked at Ash who wasn't really reacting. "You... You're not serious, are you?" She looked at the candies he gave Ifrit and there were a couple of dozen of them.

"Not really no, it's made by the finest chefs to perfect the taste. And the nutrient packed treat has bleeding edge tech incorporated to it so you'd receive all the necessary macro and micro nutrients you need." He shrugged.

Silence almost cried from the ludicrously expensive candies. He just gave away decades of her salary to Ifrit by the form of candies.

"Ohh, is this expensive too then?" Ifrit sipped on her strawberry milk. "No, not really. I just got it from the vending machine." Silence sighed in relief.

She couldn't understand rich people. Especially people like Ash that is at the apex. Where money is like air to them.

"Okay squirt, I'm gonna be absent for a few days due to my experiments. Eat those candies well alright. Though you can only take two a day or you'll die from toxicity." He rubbed her head and Ifrit closed her eyes.

"Silence, tell me if there's some changes to her treatment alright?" Ash went to his lab again and Ifrit looked at the Liberi.

"Is that how a big brother would treat his sibling? It was, nice..." Ifrit smiled and bunched up her candies carefully.

"Yes, a good brother would." Silence smiled.

And as he said, Ash didn't appear for days as he was too busy in trying to reverse engineer the genes of Specter to make a stabilizer.

After his little stunt, the work was just beginning. The next steps are as hard or even harder than freezing her samples.

Saria was also busy in investigating the ruins further, trying to get more info. And Kirsten has also been calling her frequently to her office so the Perro can have a partner that would help her understand Ash's tidbits of information about space and how to travel there.

"Silence... Silence! It hurts!" Ifrit was sweating and she was gritting her teeth. And due to Ash's absence, one caprinae was watching the treatments.

"It's almost done Ifrit! Hold on, we can't stop now!" Silence held her hand and Ifrit nodded with tightly shut eyes.

And thankfully, Silence wasn't lying. Ifrit panted heavily and she felt tired. She quickly popped one of Ash's candy into her mouth and felt better.

There were some hormones mixed inside that would make a person's brain release endorphins after all. Making it a natural pain reliever and mood enhancer.

Silence furrowed her brows and she went to where her teacher was. "Professor, we can't keep increasing the dosage of Ifrit's treatment. It's too risky for her and painful. We also had signs that she was using arts subconsciously, albeit a small amount." Silence argued.

"Silence, my dear. As for the dosage, you have to remember that this is experimental treatment. We will just up the pain killers." Parvis put a hand on her shoulder.

"But... But patient suffering should be a factor of utmost importance." Silence shook her head and Parvis sighed.

"Look at your patient Silence, ever since she started treatment. The girl's oripathy has started to lessen. And she looks healthier than ever." Parvis showed Silence the physical exam of Ifrit.

"Of course she is, Ash gave her some experimental supplements called soldier pills. It has all the macro and micro nutrients a person needs." Silence was still thankful for that and the effects really shows.

"Be that as it may. The treatment is what would inevitably prolong her life. This is what we should do as scientists. We both treat her disease and gain more data about it so we can save millions." Parvis explained and Silence bit her lip.

"You have oripathy as well Silence, Joyce does too. This will be a breakthrough for treating oripathy that doesn't need to rely on Asmodeus Bio Gentech." Silence nodded.

"Not everyone can reach Paradiso, we can help a lot of people if this treatment is successful Silence." Parvis looked at her with a serious expression.

"I... I understand professor." Silence frowned when she looked at Ifrit that was asleep due to exhaustion.

So they continued.

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Muelsyse has finally finished what Saria tasked her with and she went to the vouivre to report.

"Saria! I finally finished, what's with this thing anyway and why were you rushing me?" Muelsyse sighed. Bringing with her the tape and a player for it.

"Good, it's related to the accident from earlier. I'll call Ash for this." Saria texted Ash that the tape was ready to be viewed.

"W-what? Why are you calling that prick here!?" Muelsyse was outraged. "He was the one who found this precious piece of evidence Muelsyse. Why do you dislike him so much anyways?" Saria raised a brow.

"T-that's..." Muelsyse can't tell her, she wouldn't understand anyways.

After waiting for a few minutes, Ash arrived and the elf hissed at him. "What? Do you want another one on your other cheek?" Ash kissed her other cheek and she sputtered.

"Y-you bastard!" Muelsyse tried to drown him with her water but he just looked at her while a sphere of water encased his head. He didn't really need to breathe anyway, just manipulate his energy for anaerobic respiration.

Saria noticed that he didn't really mind, so she chuckled. "Ahhh, that's why? You guys have a lover's quarrel?"

"Saria!? What the hell are you on about?" Muelsyse puffed her cheeks and Ash sighed, he just cancelled her arts and gestured for Mumu to play the tape.

She grumbled and put the tape in the player with a foul mood.

"Experimental treatment 58, commence." They heard a person announce and some guys in hazmat suits went nearby a girl and started injecting her with something.

"That's... That's Ifrit." Ash squinted his eyes. The other two can't notice it due to the blurry images. But to him, there was no doubt.

The horns, the shape, the hair, everything matched. It was definitely Ifrit's outline.

The girl then screamed and fire erupted from her body. "Shit! Quick, give her some anesthetics! Or we're toast!" One of the researchers shouted.

But Ifrit released another burst of flames and everything went black. They were silent for a moment and thought it was terrible.

"She's a victim of experimentation, shit." Saria was correct in her assumptions and Ash nodded.

And while Mumu contemplated what happened, she perked up from the name. "Ifrit? Ahhh! I forgot, Saria. There's this project from structural that has that name!"

Mumu showed her the pictures she took and they read project Diabolic.

"Where did you get this Mumu?" Ash growled. "It was in Parvis' office, I never thought that the girl you saved would be the test subject." Mumu frowned.

"Saria! We go to structural, now!" Ash shouted and the two ran kicking the door down from their haste.

"Wait for me!" Muelsyse followed and they quickly went to Ifrit's treatment room.

And they arrived just in time to see Ifrit being tied down on her bed as she released a burst of flames, screaming in pain.

"Saria! Give me the stim! Hunt down Parvis! I want him here yesterday!" Ash controlled the thermal energy in the room and the flames died down.

Saria tossed him the suppressant and Ash quickly gave it to Ifrit. He then sucked in the energy of her originium as the suppressant needed some time to work.

He then glared at Silence who was sobbing. "What the hell did you do? I told you to tell me when there were changes to the treatment! Saria trusted you! I thought I could too! So why the hell did Ifrit almost die because of you?" He scowled and Silence went to her knees.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Professor insisted, that Ifrit needed the treatment... I didn't know that it was something else!" Silence tried to explain herself.

"Shut up, you'll be answering my questions later." He fixed up the scorched bed and put Ifrit on it.

He controlled Ifrit's biological mechanisms as life support so her body can rest and he repaired the damages.

"Damned Parvis, he was experimenting on Ifrit!" Muelsyse pieced the puzzle and she frowned.

"I thought I could leave this to her, but I was wrong. Damn, she was supposed to be the one in charge of this." Ash shook his head at his mistake.

After waiting for a few minutes, Saria arrived with Parvis in tow and he was thrashing around. "This is ridiculous! I have done nothing wrong, control approved of this experiment!" He shouted.

Ash walked up to him and back handed his face. "Shut up old man, I'd have killed you this instant. But that's an easy out for you. I'll have you gutted in public."

He then chained him down to the ground while wrapping him in thick steel that even Saria would have trouble prying off.

"Stay there trash, your reckoning will come." He spat on the caprinae's face and Saria escorted Silence somewhere else to calm her down first.

"This is a mess, who would've thought this would happen in Rhine labs. I never imagined that the test subject would be the girl that Saria saved. Kirsten has to have an answer to this." Muelsyse furrowed her brows.

"You said that right, but Kirsten won't approve of this willy nilly. She's focusing on something else... Shit, this might be my fault too." Ash sighed.

The woman was obviously obsessed with space and completing her parents' legacy. It wasn't farfetched that she would just stamp approvals left and right to focus on her new books and papers.

"Hah, fuck Murphy. This is definitely that guy's fault." Ash sighed and cursed the one responsible for it all.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.