Ability Research
I was really only asking so I could test the waters with her—see whether I was the sort of person she’d even hand an Artifact to, and maybe arrange to meet her alone.
But the answer came from a place I never expected.
His name was Seo Jinhyun, right? Just like her, he was another student who hadn’t existed in the original story.
I couldn’t dismiss him as some random extra, either. His ability was absurdly powerful, he kept winding up around Blanca, and after getting caught up in the villain’s attack, I’d made a point of keeping an eye on him.
And now, apparently, somewhere along the way, he’d developed this strange sense of camaraderie with Blanca.
They had been together when they were attacked, and they’d even cleared a dungeon together, so I supposed it made sense.
I wasn’t the only one thrown off by it, either. Blanca looked just as startled, staring at Jinhyun as if to ask why he was the one answering.
“N-no, Jinhyun. I’m just saying we can go look, that’s all. I’m not asking for anything. Artifacts are fascinating things, so I just meant I wanted to see it up close…!”
Blanca frowned at Jinhyun barging into the conversation, but she still tried to smooth things over as gently as she could.
She knew better than anyone that I didn’t mean I just wanted a peek.
And yet, the fact that she was saying that to Jinhyun at all made me think she’d probably agree to just about anything if I asked.
If I pushed a little, maybe I could even ask whether I could go home with her.
Anyway, one thing was certain, and that was enough for now.
If there was any disappointment, it was only that I wouldn’t be able to take the Artifact.
I could probably get one if I really pressured her about it, but honestly—did I really want to?
Not knowing exactly what dungeon it was or how difficult it had been, I still doubted it was anything high-ranked if the boss had gone down to a bunch of students working together.
Besides, it looked pretty bad for an outsider—someone who hadn’t even been there—to stand around whining that he wanted it.
I wasn’t exactly like them, but I did want to be a hero.
I’d be ashamed of myself if I acted like that.
Let it go. It wasn’t as if I had no Artifacts at all.
Before entering the academy, I’d already pocketed a few from a delicious little dungeon only I knew about.
With both hands raised in a mock surrender, I answered Jinhyun.
“Of course I’m only here to look. If you’re a professional hunter, that’d be one thing, but this came out of a dungeon cleared by Hero Department students, right? I got curious.”
“Right. Looking at it won’t wear it out or anything. I’m only showing it because I want to show it…”
Jinhyun kept shooting me a suspicious look, but after hearing Blanca say that, he finally decided it wasn’t really his business and looked away.
“Blanca. When your manifestation is done, let us know too.”
“Of course I will. Don’t worry.”
Things had gotten awkward, and I couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I told them it was nice to see everyone safe and headed off.
Honestly, I was a little surprised. She was usually quiet, never the type to stick her neck out, but suddenly she’d stepped in like that.
From everything she’d shown me so far, I’d assumed she’d just stay out of it.
…Looks like something really did happen in that dungeon. I should ask Blanca about it later.
- - - -
Thursday, after class.
We went with the senior to a small building near the Research Building.
“This used to be the club room! It feels so nostalgic coming back here after all this time… I used to come all the time back when there were a lot of people…”
Meirin stared into the dusty interior, looking as though she’d fallen into old memories.
“Did something happen?”
And of course Jinhyun, that tactless bastard, had to shove himself in and ask.
“…It’s not that dramatic. The members all ran away, saying they weren’t experimental subjects, so stop treating them like ones. Heehee. If I’d actually treated them like experimental subjects, I would’ve started with the injections.”
“I think I get why they ran away…” Lucia yawned and hit Meirin right where it hurt. “Senior, you’re kind of lacking in consideration.”
“That’s harsh! I am considerate!”
Honestly, I really should have killed Jinhyun off somehow back then.
Because of that oblivious bastard, it looked like the Artifact I’d planned to give the protagonist was about to fall through.
It wasn’t just that he kept interrupting people, either. The more I watched him, the more I found I liked about him disappearing.
His usefulness as an easy mark was going to become a thing of the past soon enough, and once he kept growing stronger, he’d start thinking for himself.
Just imagining it made me feel distant already.
I need to stop that brat’s growth. How the hell am I supposed to do it? Should I drug him and make him sleep for a few months?
“So, what do we do in this building? Should we just hit that test dummy over there?”
Minho jumped in to steady the mood and asked Meirin a question.
“Correct. You’ll show us a demonstration of your abilities by pounding on the dummy.”
It was originally built as a shelter, so even if you get a little rough, it’s fine!
Meirin said that while pulling a tablet from her pocket, ready to take notes.
“Is it really okay to use a shelter as a club room?”
“It’s fiine. It’s an old shelter. If anything, it should’ve been demolished ages ago, but I had it cheaply renovated into a club room instead.”
Even while everyone else was still being tactful, Jinhyun shoved his way forward and said he’d go first, then stepped into the chamber and displayed his abilities.
Ice, electricity, wind.
Jinhyun was calmly showing off a spread of powers that was hard to believe belonged to just one person.
Meirin watched from beyond the reinforced glass wall, scribbling furiously with obvious fascination, then stopped once she’d seen enough and called him back out to ask him questions.
“Your manifestation is mostly elemental, huh! But you can’t use fire?”
At that, Jinhyun hesitated for a moment, then set his face and answered.
“I can use it. I’m just too afraid to do it yet. I don’t trust myself to control it properly… not yet.”
There was an accident.
When Jinhyun said that, Meirin gave an awkward smile and let the matter drop, saying there was nothing to be done about that.
“Anyway… based on my analysis, your output and raw power are excellent, but you lack finesse. It’s almost like a child who’s just awakened their ability is swinging it around.”
“That’s because I didn’t use my abilities for a while after the accident.”
“I-I see. Um… are you okay now?”
“No. But I’m going to face it.”
“Ahahaha, I see. I’m rooting for you. Next—Blanca!”
I didn’t want to hear Jinhyun trying to cheer me on and say something pointless, so I stepped into the testing chamber.
The moment I went in, memories of the research lab came flooding back, and my mood sank like a stone.
“Prepare…”
Compared to that hell, this was nothing, of course. But I still couldn’t stop my teeth from grinding.
“Begin!”
Pouring all that resentment into my body after loading myself up with all sorts of drugs, I kicked the dummy’s head off with everything I had.
I flooded the space with thick smoke to block their view, then lurked in the fog, striking and withdrawing in repeated bursts.
I didn’t forget to coat my fists and claws with poison that would take effect the moment it touched skin.
While I was at it, I asked the senior one thing.
“…Enough. Stop! I think we’ve gathered sufficient data!”
At Meirin’s voice through the speaker, I stopped hammering the dummy and stepped out of the chamber.
“You can handle close combat just fine! And being able to synthesize all sorts of toxic substances is pretty dangerous, too. You can produce poison gas, right?”
“Yes. I just don’t use it because it’d be a pain to clean up.”
“Good, good. I think I might need to learn that kind of consideration from you. Then… let me ask a few things. Do you have any long-range attack methods?”
“I can spew gas and blanket a wide area, but I can’t really target a single person or direction.”
At that, the senior nodded and typed rapidly into her tablet.
“Long-range countermeasure… limited. Next: the poison you used on the dummy looked uniform. Does that mean you have some kind of penalty that limits you to just one substance?”
“To a certain extent… yes. I can’t synthesize multiple substances at once. Every time I make something, it has to be just one material. It’s not much of a penalty, though, since the synthesis speed is so fast.”
And in most cases, one poison is enough to bring something down, so I didn’t really see a need to use several.
When I added that, the senior nodded as if that made sense.
“Multiple synthesis… impossible for now. Then, last question. What happens if you inhale the poison gas you’ve released yourself?”
“I break it down and turn it into harmless substances. If it’s something that got into my body, I can break down anything. What I disassemble usually gets stored as fat.”
“Fat…? No, wait, more importantly—anything?”
“Yes. Though I hope it never comes to this, I could probably chew up a tree and still manage.”
I’d never actually tried it, though.
When I said that, Meirin thanked me for my cooperation, saying she’d now been able to settle on a direction for future improvements.
“I see… so that’s why a body that turns whatever it eats into fat…”
Meirin looked at me with a faintly creepy expression, then told us to wait a moment and went upstairs.
“I’m… not even worth checking?”
“Didn’t the senior say she already analyzed you last time? Maybe that’s why she isn’t rechecking it, Lucia.”
“…Maybe.”
Minho was naturally building a rapport with Lucia.
Watching that with quiet satisfaction, I was suddenly approached by him, and he asked if that was why I’d said it was okay to drink coffee back then.
“Huh?”
“You said you can break down whatever you eat. So that’s why you said coffee was fine, right?”
Apparently catsfolk weren’t completely fine, though, since I looked it up.
Minho said that while looking at me with interest.
“...No, it wasn’t because of that. I barely slept that day too.”
Grinding down the urge to snap at him, I answered Minho as honestly as I could.
“Oh? You knew that and still did it? Isn’t breaking it down better?”
“Of course breaking it down is better. But… if I went that far, it wouldn’t feel like I was really living.”
I could even control the chemical reactions inside my body if I wanted to.
But I usually didn’t.
Because if I did, I’d start feeling like human beings weren’t all that noble after all—that we were just biological machines driven by chemical reactions and electrical signals.
So I didn’t break down things like that.
...I didn’t say that.
---