The Chimera Creator
The chimera creator Lura had allowed us to stay in a shack village on the outskirts of her settlement. The necklaces prepared by the secret police were said to signify “refuge” among the minority tribes. In other words, we were people who had lost our village. It was a tradition among the southern minority tribes to shelter refugees for up to five days. “These guys are from the south after all.”
The moment the agents reached the shack, they began picking up wooden sticks and sharpening them. The sticks gradually took on the crude shape of spears. “What are those for?”
“For illegal entry. When West Teron attacks, we can’t be holding guns, so we use these instead. Usually, if you’re carrying something like this, they won’t shoot you on sight.”
“Sounds like a gamble.”
“Illegal entry is always a gamble, one way or another.”
“This is ridiculous.” On paper the plan had sounded reasonable, but the details were shaky. Or perhaps, just as the agent said, illegal entry itself was that risky an endeavor. “Since there’s no one watching anymore, it doesn’t matter anyway.”
“Throw the spears away. We’re changing the plan.”
Why had we bothered with such a troublesome method in the first place? Because crossing into West Teron without guides or informants would have been a hassle, we had chosen to be dispatched instead. Now that we had secured agents to fulfill that role, there was no need to tiptoe around Dongbali’s notice.
“We’ll cross the border using alchemy.”
“Alchemy…?”
Alchemy was a restricted ability. It could produce all sorts of effects, yet it could never escape the framework of equivalent exchange. But if I insisted that the power I was about to use was alchemy, what could they possibly do about it?
“From now on, I will exile you all into a small space. It won’t affect your bodies, so don’t worry.”
“Huh? I’ve never heard of an alchemy like that…”
I cut the agents off and called for Patel. “Patel.”
Shhhk— A chilling, ominous aura suddenly spread through the tent. The agents trembled at the inexplicable dread.
“I-is this really okay?”
“You’ll see soon enough.”
They were sucked into the jar. The guides had been safely stored away. I stepped out of the shack, stretched, and began sprinting at full speed toward West Teron. If we were going to take a risky illegal crossing anyway, doing it my way would be far safer.
As I raced across the Southern Plain, a mountain range soon appeared—the range that divided West Teron from the Southern Plain. A heavily guarded border line dotted with West Teron outposts and sentries.
“Patel, let’s go in.”
From the jar I had stored her in, a thick ghostly aura began to flow across the entire mountain range. The clamor of the ghosts would mask my presence. West Teron’s border guards would never even notice a single illegal entrant.
That night.
After crossing the border and traveling deep inland, I released the guides from the jar. They tumbled across the ground, screaming.
“Aaaagh!”
“Eeeek!”
“Pull yourselves together.”
“Wh-what just happened?”
“I told you. We were crossing the border with alchemy. Look around. We’re already inside West Teron.”
The female agent looked around in shock, examining the terrain. If the man was the intelligence specialist, she had been tasked with surveying West Teron’s geography. She quickly estimated our location from the ecology alone.
“Th-this really is West Teron? How…”
“No need to ask pointless questions. I was granted autonomy because I possess this level of ability.”
The agents nodded, convinced. Once the commotion settled, I gave further instructions.
“As discussed, we’re heading to the research facility that produced the second-stage mutant chimeras. Confirm our current position and determine the direction.”
The agent began analyzing the stars and surrounding terrain to pinpoint our location. She soon reached a conclusion.
“We seem to have come in deeper than expected. If we move a little northeast, we’ll reach a small city. From there, if we acquire horses and ride west, we should arrive at the desired location by nightfall.”
She showed me a map. With the route confirmed, it was time to move again.
“Patel.”
I stored the agents back inside the jar. Horses? Why bother? Simply running myself would be much faster.
When people thought of West Teron’s chimera production hub, they always named the capital, Ragoladon. But not everyone could be mainstream. As one moved farther from the capital of the chimera special district, satellite chimera cities gradually formed. At the very edge of that chain lay the small city of Doltan—the place we needed to visit.
I secured lodging in Doltan and released the spies. They needed to contact the other teams and prepare the subsequent plans without a hitch.
“Well then, I suppose I’ll go pay a visit.”
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I rapped on the door of a half-collapsed research facility. It was an ordinary two-story house—hard to believe it had produced a third-stage chimera. Even its location in the city center made it easy to find.
“So the chimera industry really is mainstream here…”
Dongbali had described the chimera industry like monster manufacturing, but the reality I witnessed was somewhat different. On the streets, people with chimera-replaced body parts walked about casually, and the citizens accepted it without any discomfort. If someone lost an arm at work, they simply visited a chimera lab for a new one. Those too poor to obtain proper food could undergo a stomach surgery and gain a body capable of digesting almost any meal for life. To these people, the chimera industry was both medicine and culture.
“So the military-purpose ones are only produced once a year…? The procedures themselves must number in the hundreds of thousands annually.”
Not long after I knocked, a loud crash sounded from inside, and someone emerged. It was a woman in her mid-twenties with green hair tied in pigtails. She looked at me with a weary face.
“What is it…?”
“Are you Lura?”
At my question, she made a sulky expression.
“Again…? I already gave you everything. There really isn’t any more. That was all of it. The association took everything.”
She seemed to have mistaken me for someone from another chimera workshop. A small-to-medium facility—hardly even worthy of being called a company. If they had accidentally created a third-stage chimera here and had it stolen by another country, the outcome was obvious. They had probably been accused of a crime, had all their data seized, and been pressured from every direction.
“You’re mistaken. Come inside first.”
I simply pushed my way into the facility. Lura was shoved backward and landed on her rear.
“Ow…”
Despite its shabby exterior, the interior was reasonably equipped as a workshop. Anyone who could own a two-story building in the city center and conduct chimera research was hardly poor.
Ignoring whether Lura was in pain or not, I continued.
“I have three matters to discuss with you.”
Lura stood up, rubbing her backside. Without warning, I slapped her across the cheek.
Smack— Several teeth flew out and rolled across the floor as her left cheek burst open. Lura’s voice trembled from the sudden attack.
“Hic… Hic… Wh-who…”
I raised a finger to my lips, signaling her to be quiet.
“That was the first matter. Fenil and Benil asked me to give you a hard time if I ever met you.”
The woman before me was far from normal, despite her outward appearance. Creating a third-stage chimera in such an inadequate environment and with insufficient resources was nearly impossible. Yet she had done it. Did I remember the story about how chimera production involved experimenting on abandoned orphans? This woman had been scouring the streets at night in search of materials.
At my words, Lura’s expression brightened dramatically.
“Ah! Those kids!”
Even though she had just been beaten and lost teeth, Lura’s eyes changed as she lunged toward me. I pushed her away and warned her.
“If you don’t want another hit, stay back. The twins wanted you punished for tormenting them, but they also said that if it weren’t for you raising them, they would have died on the streets—so they only wanted a light punishment. But if you bother me, it won’t end with just a fist.”
Lura flinched and backed away. She took a deep breath and asked in a low voice.
“What’s the second matter?”
Her demeanor was completely different from moments ago when she had been crying and lisping. The trembling and acting had apparently been a performance.
“The second is a verification of your skills.”
“Verification…?”
I summoned Ju Giju. Even though a human figure suddenly emerged from the darkness, Lura showed no surprise whatsoever. Ju Giju looked around and spoke.
“What’s going on? Huh, she’s pretty.”
The fact that he could call her beautiful even with half her face smashed in showed that Ju Giju wasn’t normal either. Lura quickly realized Ju Giju was a chimera. As if entranced, she approached him.
“Huh? What are you doing?”
Lura touched Ju Giju’s body all over, then brought out tools to scrape his epidermis and sniff him. Eventually, she even began licking his arm wildly.
“Whoa? This kind of appeal… Hmm, not bad…”
“Ju Giju, shut your mouth.”
While we spoke, Lura remained completely focused on Ju Giju. She muttered to herself and continued various tests before suddenly trembling as if startled.
“A second-stage mutation…?”
“Second-stage mutation? You mean this?”
Ju Giju generated a crustacean shell on his arm, then covered it with slime and reabsorbed it back into skin. His arm transformed into something like a conch shell. A faint sound of waves continuously emanated from the surface.
Shhh— Shhh—
Lura pressed her cheek against Ju Giju’s blue arm, overcome with emotion.
“Ah! Incredible!”
“Man, this is the first time I’ve ever gotten this kind of appeal. It’s embarrassing. But now that I look at you, you’re a bit hurt, aren’t you, lady?”
Using his slime, Ju Giju healed Lura’s face. The bleeding stopped instantly and new flesh grew. Like a gentleman, he even picked up the fallen teeth and carefully fitted them back into place one by one.
“There you go, lady. Say ah.”
“Aah… Aaah.”
“I can’t watch this anymore…”
I stored Ju Giju away. I simply couldn’t bear to watch this ridiculous display any longer. Once Ju Giju disappeared, Lura stared blankly with a hollow expression before whipping around to face me.
“Verification…?! That was definitely a chimera with a fairly stabilized second-stage mutation! How? But it felt somewhat incomplete? The creature used as material isn’t even in any illustrated guide…”
She frantically rummaged through her notes and read them.
“I see! After repeatedly forcing a forced-bond state, it was compressed over a long period…? But this kind of technique…? No, more importantly, what creature was used? Uh…?”
I covered her mouth. Just watching her made me feel dizzy.
“This is the final matter. I’m accepting immigrants. Will you come?”
Before I could even finish speaking, Lura began shouting at the top of her lungs.
“Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes! Immigration! Yes!”
Thus, I accepted the mentally unstable genius chimera creator of West Teron as a citizen of the Equator.