Chapter 270
Chapter 270
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 270
Chapter Title: Foreshock (3)
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Contrary to his expectations, Oliver's lessons with the Magic Tower students hadn't yielded much in the way of results.
Normally, he would have employed his own methods to produce quick, visible improvements, using that success to motivate the other students as well. But Kevin hadn't allowed it, so he couldn't.
Of course, that didn't mean he held any grudge against Kevin.
Through their conversation, he'd come to recognize that it was a rather peculiar technique.
Still, it was regrettable. Seeing students wasting time without any drive, or struggling endlessly in the same rut despite their hard efforts, tugged at him.
"At least this side is showing some progress. That's something, right?"
Oliver muttered as he tightened the last screw from atop the ladder.
"Hey, does it look okay?"
"......Y-Yeah......."
Oliver turned and asked, and First—inside the Corpse Doll-Batory—replied in a halting voice.
At first, First hadn't adapted at all to the Corpse Doll-Batory. It had made sounds closer to wailing than speech and couldn't even control its body properly.
But through continuous training and devouring massive amounts of emotions, life force, and mana, it was starting to adapt.
As proof, it had successfully used the Corpse Doll-Batory's knowledge to build the basic setup for Blood Elixir production.
......Is it knowledge? Or memories?
Oliver climbed down the ladder, set his tool belt aside, and jotted down the question in his log.
The record of observations on Children and Corpse Dolls, that is.
[Whether it's knowledge or memories remains unclear. Nothing has been specifically verified yet. However, one thing is certain: when a Child enters a Corpse Doll, it gains not just the doll's basic functions but also related information or knowledge to some degree. (The extent of this information and knowledge is still unconfirmed. Further observation is needed.)]
Scribble, scribble, scribble... With his neat, elegant handwriting, Oliver finished the entry, paused his pen, and looked back at First, who was inspecting the Blood Elixir production equipment.
There were still some awkward movements, but they were far more natural than before. Above all, glimmers of intelligence shone through.
It had some intelligence even before, but First's growth is even more pronounced... I fed it a ton of sustenance, but is that the whole story?
Oliver pondered another hypothesis about Child growth.
He'd thought that stuffing them with emotions, life force, mana, and so on—and keeping the individual alive longer—would boost intelligence. But there seemed to be other factors.
For instance, perhaps the higher the quality of the Corpse Doll the Child inhabited, the more the Child itself would grow.
Not an impossible idea at all.
Oliver was growing convinced. There was already the hypothesis that Children could acquire the Corpse Doll's techniques.
In fact, it felt entirely natural.
Oliver quickly noted this fact in the Child observation log.
He couldn't verify it right now, but since First was gradually speaking more naturally, he might learn the truth through conversation later.
"......This really is fun."
Oliver murmured.
Learning answers to his curiosities, discovering new things, and working—it was all immensely enjoyable.
Especially preparing this Blood Elixir production setup, which had been quite laborious, but offered a unique kind of pleasure in return.
I had to wander the Black Markets incognito to avoid drawing attention, place orders, and install everything myself. That was a hassle.
Especially the final part, where Oliver had received an unexpected shock.
Having to buy the production equipment parts and assemble them himself... It made sense in hindsight, but he'd foolishly only realized it late.
Thanks to that, I frantically dug through books and asked around about tools, but it all worked out in the end. Now I can set up production gear on my own...
"......All done checking?"
Oliver finished his thoughts and asked First again.
First, who had been scrutinizing the equipment from top to bottom, turned its head and replied.
"Doesn't... seem... like... anything's missing......"
First spoke while forcing back what sounded like a sob. Oliver couldn't pinpoint why, but it seemed to be watching his reaction.
"Hmm....... First? You don't have to hold back the sobbing like that. Feel free to speak comfortably. It feels like you're minding me, but you don't need to."
Oliver said just in case.
There was no deeper meaning to it.
He'd just noticed that First and the other Children seemed to be watching his mood.
He'd seen a few Magic Tower students studying while peeking at their professors' or sponsors' expressions, and it had personally irked him.
After all, wasn't studying, research, or training best done with a relaxed mind, even if results didn't come immediately?
"Kuhuh......O-Okay......Kyaha."
"Yes, please do. I want to see you all acting freely and on your own initiative, without worrying about me. That seems like it would be more fun."
The Child gazed at Oliver for a moment, then nodded.
"Got it......Kyaha."
"Yes, thank you....... You all do the same."
Oliver turned back to look at the other Children in the flasks and test tubes on the table.
Of the four flasks, the first spot where First had been was empty. The second, third, and fourth held Second, Third, and Fourth, respectively.
Resembling thick clumps of dark black, they watched Oliver and First's conversation, then nodded in agreement.
"Thank you all....... First. If you're ready, can we start production now? We have some spare Blood Elixir from Edith, but I think it's best to hurry."
Oliver asked, calculating the spare Blood Elixir Edith had mentioned.
They had some left, but it was better to expedite things.
First nodded at Oliver's words and extended a hand toward the Corpse Dolls—Female Black Mages 1, 2, and 3—in the far corner.
"Kyaha......!"
It then drew emotions from the tank within its body and set the female black mages into motion.
The female black mages twitched around the iron lids capping their severed necks.
A bit clumsy at first, but soon they moved naturally, as practiced.
Female Black Mages 1, 2, and 3 staggered over and, under First's control, brought over large quantities of blood packs, herb powders, and other materials.
Thud. Thud. Thud... They carefully placed the items in the designated spots.
Oliver praised First as he watched.
"Excellent. You're controlling them well now."
"......Kyahaha."
First let out a joyful cry, its emotions surging, making the sobbing even more intense.
Oliver spoke again.
"We'll stop using the Corpse Dolls here. From now on, we'll handle it ourselves. Making the elixir is more important right now."
"O-Okay, then... first......"
First replied and tore open a blood pack.
Purchased from the Black Market, it was blood from a young male.
First had said that the younger and healthier the blood, the higher the product's quality.
And it has to be tailored to the gender for maximum effect.
Oliver confirmed the Blood Elixir recipe he'd noted from First's words and watched the process.
First poured the blood pack's contents into a filter.
The blood slowly flowed through the filter's long tube and collected in a beaker below.
This was the step to loosen the clotted blood, and there wasn't much to do but wait.
He could have done something else, but to learn as much as possible at once, Oliver stayed by First's side, watching the blood drip.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip...
After a long wait, the blood finished draining from the filter. First moved to the next step.
It poured the blood into another long tube like the filter—this one for mixing. It looked similar to the previous step, but the purpose differed.
The first had just softened the blood. This one blended it.
The now-purer blood swirled up the tube, shot sideways, and merged with emotions leaking from the mixing tube.
The emotions are absorptive ones like greed and craving.
Oliver checked off each ingredient in the recipe.
The blood mixed with emotions flowed out through a narrow tube. First used blood magic to control it, blending the blood and emotions once more.
Floating in midair, the mixture grew larger as it combined.
But that wasn't the end.
"Kuhuhuhu......."
First focused intently, extracting life force with its free hand and adding it to the blood-emotion mix.
The emotions dwelling in the blood greedily absorbed the life force, and the blood grew even deeper and redder.
Now he understood why Blood Elixir was so precious.
He'd thought it was just because only Batory could produce it, but separately from that, it required highly skilled labor.
Put extremely, even knowing the method, without Batory-level finesse in handling blood, emotions, and life force, you couldn't even complete the prep work.
"Kyahahahaha......"
First cried out to Oliver in a sobbing wail. Holding the mixed blood of emotions and life force, it approached a tank.
Now came the main process.
First opened the cylindrical tank's lid, poured in the blood, then sequentially emptied pouches bought from the Black Market into it.
Various herbs ordered from the Black Market, dried placenta powder, fresh milk, stamina potions, mana potions, 5 liters of fresh blood, and massive life force—Oliver checked each ingredient First added, ensuring nothing was missed or overdone.
Clank—
The tank lid closed.
First twisted it fully sealed, went to the control panel, and pressed a button to activate the tank.
Woooong... The machine hummed to life, and the contents inside began to boil slowly.
"Like this......boil it......for this long."
First spread its left hand wide and raised its right middle finger.
"......Six hours?"
"Yeah!"
First nodded.
Hearing the answer, Oliver reviewed the recipe and First's workflow again, thinking.
It looks easy with the machine's help at a glance, but all the key parts are manual.
Oliver mentally replayed First's actions several times to practice, while First waited by the tank, monitoring the product.
After roughly six hours, First cracked open the tank's drain valve to check the mixture's state, then connected a tube and transferred it to the compression processing tank.
The thickened dark red liquid traveled through the tube into the long conical tank, where it was compressed and heated again.
Pffft—! Pffft—! Pffft—! Pffft—!
After boiling a while longer, about a half-cup of thick dark red liquid emerged as the defective output. First showed it to Oliver.
Oliver checked his notebook and asked.
"Now you use emotions to ignite a fire and simmer this liquid, right?"
"Yeah......"
Oliver nodded. This was the most crucial step.
All were important, but the final simmering determined the product's quality most sharply.
Splat—!
First placed the sticky, lump-like blood mixture on a Petri dish and kindled flames with emotions of greed and desire, heating the entire dish.
The viscous liquid, which seemed too sticky to boil further, surprisingly bubbled up again.
The lava-like boiling blood mixture soon evaporated its remaining moisture, hardening gradually. Reacting to the greed emotion, it formed pill-like shapes.
Pills so intensely red they appeared black.
First carefully picked up a completed pill with tongs and offered it to Oliver.
Examining the pill compressed from countless emotions, mana, and life force, Oliver glanced at his watch.
He was sure they'd started in the afternoon, but now it was past evening into night.
Spending half a day for just one pill. Beyond the cost, the time and labor were no joke.
And mass production seemed tricky given the process.
"For now, shall we look for ways to improve it?"
Oliver said, scanning the recipe again.
The biggest bottleneck for productivity was the initial blood prep. To boost output, that needed fixing first.
It's not the process—it's the materials. Can't mix blood from multiple people; has to be from one.
Solving that would make mass-producing Blood Elixir feasible.
"But getting large quantities from one person isn't easy. Has to be fresh, just drawn......"
Of course, it wasn't impossible. Just kill someone and drain them dry.
"But that's a bit much, right?"
Oliver thought, pondering alternatives.
Increasing workers to expand the production line was an option, but not easy, so he tabled it.
Scaling up required vast space, equipment, skilled hands—and more capital, time, and corpses.
As he mulled it over, beep—beep—beep—a familiar comm tone sounded.
It was Forest's personal communicator.
"Lord Forest?"
[Yeah, it's me. What're you up to?]
"Handling some personal business. What brings you here?"
Oliver asked, puzzled.
After the last redevelopment protection mission, Forest had apologized in advance for being too busy to meet for a while.
Normally, in such cases, Forest waited patiently for Oliver to show up first without pressing—unless something came up.
"Is something the matter?"
[Hmm....... Not yet.]
A cryptic reply. Oliver pressed.
"You mean something might come up?"
[That's right....... Sorry, but could you come out for a bit?]