We continued chatting about future plans as we made our way to Fayeâs workshop.
â¦Only to find Faye on the verge of being violated by writhing tentacles.
âHyaaaah! Junior! Save me! Help me! Itâs out of controlâhngh! Not there!â
ââ¦â¦â
What⦠what in the world is this?
I knew the Eurelia Continent was a fantasy world, but I never expected to encounter a tentacle monster. For a moment, my brain stalled.
However, my body moved reflexively. I drew my staff and aimed it at the tentacles holding Faye upside-down by her ankle.
Just as I was about to cast a spellâ
âWait! Fire magic is a no-go, Junior. Can you use ice or wind magic instead? Just cut the parts holding me!â
ââ¦Excuse me?â
âIf you burn them, thereâll be no sample left!â
ââ¦â¦â
Even in this situation, youâre worrying about samplesâ¦?
I sighed, marveling at her dedication to alchemy, and cast Wind Cutter.
Swish.
Thankfully, the tentacles werenât particularly durable and were cleanly severed.
Naturally, Faye, who had been hanging, began to fall, but I dashed forward and caught her.
âUgh-ack!â
â¦This led to a minor issue where Faye, upside-down, ended up face-first against my groin and let out a weird noise.
But in the end, I managed to save her and put some distance between us.
Since Faye had insisted she needed a sample, I refrained from delivering another strike and observed the creature instead.
ââ¦Itâs quieter than I expected.â
The creature was massive, taking up nearly half the workshop, but it didnât move from its spot. I couldnât tell if it was unable to or simply unwilling.
Though it grabbed anything nearby and hoisted it up, it didnât destroy anything, merely shaking its catch.
Judging by its ability to lift heavy equipment effortlessly, it wasnât lacking strength.
With her skirt flipped up entirely, revealing white panties, I asked Faye,
âWhat were you trying to make with that thing, Senior Faye?â
ââ¦Itâs weird to talk to me while the wind blows there. Fix me properly, and Iâll tell you.â
You sure are demanding.
I adjusted her posture, flipping her upright, though not before her chest smacked my face. Annoyed, I kept holding her close as I asked again.
âSo? Whatâs that thing supposed to be, Senior Faye?â
âUgh⦠Is it because we havenât seen each other in a while? Something feels different about youâ¦â
âIâll talk about myself later. Explain that thing first.â
âAh, right. You were asking what that is?â
Faye, her large chest pressing against me, exhaled triumphantly, ignoring the fact that her face was partially buried against mine.
âHehehehe. Thatâs my chimera⦠though itâs a failed one.â
âWhat?â
So it was a chimera.
In that case, I needed to subdue it quickly before it caused more trouble. If it spiraled out of control later, weâd end up responsible.
It didnât look particularly aggressive, but its sheer size was a concern. I couldnât risk blowing up the workshop, so instead of a single intermediate spell, I prepared multiple low-level spells simultaneously.
A dozen or so simple magic circles floated in the air.
My increased control over magic allowed me to maintain multiple spells without interference, making simultaneous casting of low-level spells possible.
I aimed carefully, waiting for the right moment, then unleashed the magic.
âWind Cutter!â
Swishhh!
Countless invisible blades sliced through the air, severing the writhing tentacles.
Thud.
The dismembered tentacles fell to the floor, wriggling briefly before going still.
Finally, one last Wind Cutter pierced the creatureâs core.
Squelch.
With a sound of tearing flesh, the chimera ceased moving entirely. I watched it carefully, but it showed no signs of reanimating.
Seeing this, Faye kicked her legs and shouted,
âJunior, put me down! I need to salvage what I can before it starts decomposing!â
âYouâll give me a proper explanation after cleaning this up, right?â
âOf course! Once you hear it, youâll definitely like it, Junior!â
Whatâs she so confident about? Donât tell me she made a life-sizedâno, never mind.
In conclusion, Faye was rightâI did find it interesting. No, it wasnât a life-sized onahole.
âSo, chimeras of the God of Tainted Unity are created by forcibly combining individual strengths through divine power. Like grafting the strength of a bear with the flexibility of a cat. Normally, this would be impossible because combining traits naturally introduces side effects. If you add strengths, you get weaknesses too. Thatâs why divine power is necessaryâthe corrupt alchemists working for the God of Tainted Unity rely on it to eliminate drawbacks.â
âUh-huh.â
âBut I wonderedâdoes it really have to be divine power? Couldnât you combine only the strengths without divine power? Whatâs the mechanism behind divine power anyway? Does it suppress drawbacks? Does it absorb the cost like a buff? Would it stop working if the power runs out?â
âThat makes senseâ¦â
âWhy do drawbacks occur in the first place when combining traits from different organisms? Even humans can have adverse reactions when mixing blood types, though vampires can assimilate any blood without issue. According to Professor Iona, vampires donât ingest the blood itself but absorb the mana or soul remnants within it. That realization gave me an idea!â
âWhat ideaâ¦?â
Faye continued, perched on my lap amid the chaotic remains of her workshop. With nowhere else to sit, she had settled there and was now enthusiastically explaining her theory, eyes sparkling.
I had only asked what the tentacle creature was forâhow did it come to this?
The others, who had initially listened attentively, had long since lost interest and averted their gazes.
Only I remained, nodding mechanically and responding with empty phrases as Faye prattled on.
It definitely wasnât because her chest, which she kept fidgeting with, made it impossible to ignore her. Nope.
Grasping and estimating the weight of the soft flesh in my hands, I gave it a brief shake.
As Faye passionately explained her ideas, still in my grip, her expression shifted to one of realizationâlike a sage who had just uncovered the truth.
âThe important part isnât how strong the creature is or how stable the synthesis is. What matters is understanding the mechanisms behind each trait and designing a way to fuse them seamlessly without conflict!â
ââ¦Excuse me?â
Did I just hear something insane?
She wasnât just talking about synthesizing stronger monsters or animalsâshe was talking about designing creatures from scratch.
Even Iris, who had been trying to follow along, tilted her head in confusion at Fayeâs unfamiliar and radical claim.
But it wasnât because Iris lacked understanding. It was simply a matter of familiarity with the concept.
To me, as someone from Earth, ideas like genetically modified organisms or designer babies werenât new. Weâd even watched movies or had debates about them in school.
However, in this world, such ideas were either nonexistent or dismissed as theoretical impossibilities.
Did Faye actually achieve this�
Realizing the gravity of Fayeâs words, Iris shot to her feet, her petite frameâsimilar in height to Fayeâs but lacking in certain areasâtrembling in shock.
âAre you saying⦠you didnât just combine existing creatures but created a new one from nothing?!â
âNow that you mention it, Iâve never seen or heard of a creature like that tentacle monster before.â
Looking at the quickly decomposing chimeraâthough its decomposition was slower than other failed chimerasâI nodded.
âEhâ¦? No, not at all. I just created a specific tissue for a particular function. That thing ended up like that because the differentiation process went haywire.â
Ah. So we jumped to the wrong conclusion.
âWhat was it supposed to be, then?â
âI was trying to make an ideal muscleâfirm yet flexible, with individual fibers coiled like springs to produce immense force relative to its size.â
ââ¦And what were you planning to do with such a thing?â
âI was going to use it in a chimera to create a super-strong familiar⦠but itâs harder than I thought. If I specialized in chimeras, I might have managed, but Iâm not at that level.â
âFair point.â
Fayeâs ultimate goal was to craft a flawless artifact through alchemy. Chimera creation and potion brewing were just side pursuits to achieve that.
âSo I figured instead of continuing with chimeras, I might compromise and try incorporating it into a golem.â
ââ¦A golem?â
âYeah, a golem. Did you know? Golems canât grow beyond a certain size because of structural limitations. The bigger they get, the exponentially greater weight they must bear, which they canât handle.â
âIâve heard that. Most golems canât surpass three meters in height, except for a few special ones.â
âExactly. Even if you pour in a nationâs worth of money and rare metals, breaking the three-meter limit is nearly impossible. But who says golems have to be made solely of inorganic materials?â
âAre you talking about something like a flesh golem? Those have obvious weaknesses, thoughâ¦â
Before the Evil Gods descended and the cultists began their rampage, black magicians in the Eurelia Continent had wreaked havoc by abandoning ethics in the pursuit of magical power.
Flesh golems were a product of that eraâgiant masses of stitched-together corpses.
They were fragile, weak for their size, and only useful as disposable meat shields to buy time.
â¦Later, these abominations joined the God of Tainted Unity and became the basis for some extremely annoying boss monsters, so I knew a bit about them.
Hearing my response, Faye grinned mischievously.
âClose. Think of it as blending the two concepts.â
ââ¦What now?â
âIâd build the golemâs skeleton from conventional materials and then reinforce it with the muscles Iâm working on. Naturally, the outer layer would still be metal.â
The muscles would support movement and bear the weight, allowing the golem to maintain a larger size and greater strength.
âThe only problem is that if you also consider controlling it, the design ends up resembling a human too muchâ¦â
âLetâs do it immediately.â
ââ¦What?â
Faye blinked, her dark eyes peeking through her disheveled hair.
Letting go of her chest, I grabbed her hands and spoke again, this time with a serious tone.
âLetâs start right now. And no compromises.â
âB-but itâs not something that can be done with just money! Research takes time, and neither you nor I can afford delays!â
âDonât worry. I brought something perfect for the job.â
The transcendent species, whose very existence was a treasureâan unparalleled marvel whose body was valuable even in death.
I pulled out the corpse of a hatchling from Fafnirâs lair.
âThis should save us some time, right?â
âWh-what⦠what is thatâ¦?â
Faye, wide-eyed and stunned, nodded absentmindedly.
I couldnât help but smile smugly at her reaction.
How could I say no to building a giant robot?
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