Chapter 597: terrifying tentacles 改良

terrifying tentacles 改良

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“Emi… are you conscious?”

Sensei spoke to me, above my head, as I lay on the cold floor of the control room.

I am.

But it’s been a month since I last ate anything decent.

So I’m pretty exhausted.

I looked up at Sensei to show that I’m conscious.

Sensei, looking worriedly at me, too weak to even stand up, is currently wearing… a rather revealing outfit.

Her torn prison uniform is barely covering her large breasts.

Her belly button is completely exposed.

The reason she’s dressed like that is because she let me eat her clothes.

When the table in the dining area completely disappeared, Sensei finally realized that I had been eating it.

I think she’s a bit slow to notice, even if she was concentrating on drawing the magic circle…

And then, half-believing my claim that I can “eat anything”, she offered me a part of her cloth prison uniform as food.

She also chose some unnecessary machines installed in the room, and offered them to me.

The table and chairs, Sensei’s clothes, the machines, and the wooden box that contained the Darkeyalon magic stones…

I somehow managed to survive this month by eating those things.

Therefore, this control room, which originally had an inorganic feel to it, has become even more desolate, with those things gone.

But.

Although I’m alive.

Even after a month, I still couldn’t learn 【Absorption】… or any similar magic technique.

Or rather, before a month even passed, I reached my physical limit, and couldn’t even train anymore.

Even though I can function as long as I have something in my mouth, be it sand or stones…

It’s frustrating.

Extra-sama’s lamenting voice is also weak.

I wish I could have stocked up on food…

Since Extra-sama, who has been inside me for a long time, says so, it must be true.

But if it’s absorbed as mana, can’t I use that mana to satisfy my hunger…?

And yet, I foolishly ate everything on the first day…

So this happened.

It’s all my fault, from start to finish.

I brought this upon myself.

I feel really sorry for Sensei, for having to deal with this…

“Emi… Emi?”

Sensei, worried about me, who was lost in thought and unresponsive, shook me in a panic.

Oh, sorry, sorry.

I’m alive, I’m alive.

I blinked to convey that.

And Sensei, please don’t touch me.

I might want to eat you.

Sensei, after making eye contact and confirming that I’m conscious, breathed a sigh of relief, smiled slightly, and said in a slow, loud voice—

“Rejoice, Emi! …The foundation of the teleportation magic circle… is complete!”

—She declared!

Surprised, I glanced at the magic circle.

It’s a little hard to see since I’m lying down, but it’s completely circular, and densely drawn.

“However, it’s still just the foundation… It’s not unusable in this state, but there’s a risk of accidents. I still need to draw some supplementary patterns on the outer perimeter. The mana consumption is way too high right now. At most, I can only send one person. If I teleport one person in this state, it’ll consume a large amount of the giant magic stone’s mana. If that happens, there won’t be enough mana for the facility’s barrier, and the sludge will… S-Sorry, what was I talking about…?”

Sensei, proudly putting her hands on her hips, puffing out her chest, was explaining the situation, but realizing that she was rambling, she quickly summarized—

“Anyway, ten more days! Just wait ten more days! And then… we’ll both be safe!”

Ten… more days, huh.

My stomach growled—Gugyuuuu.

Will we…?

I’m hungry…

This might be bad…

“Emi… I’m sorry…”

Sensei, sensing my sadness after hearing “ten more days”, slumped down and apologized.

No, no… it’s my fault.

You don’t have to apologize, Sensei.

“If only I had been able to create a manual for learning 【Absorption】, even with a flesh-and-blood body… I call myself ‘Sensei’, but in the end I haven’t been able to do anything teacher-like for you…”

That’s not true.

Actually, Sensei has been teaching me various things during her breaks from drawing the magic circle… about Magic, the history of the world, the places she traveled to when she was young…

During this month, Sensei has been a proper teacher, and I think I’ve been a proper student.

Come to think of it, in my past life, I lived in a country with a well-established school system, but I don’t think I ever met a teacher I could truly respect.

It’s just a coincidence, I guess.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The “teachers” I knew… were adults who turned a blind eye to the bullying I was subjected to… or even actively participated in it.

They were all like that.

Seriously, what’s with my bad luck in my previous life?

Was I hated by God or something?

Although I don’t know if there really is a god in my previous world.

Anyway, besides Master—

Sensei is the first “teacher” I’ve ever met, I think.

I’m grateful for that alone.

I looked at Sensei, who was gently stroking my head, with those feelings in my heart.

I wonder if she can feel them.

“【Absorption】… the Magic spoken of only in legends.”

After stroking my head for a while, Sensei stared at her own palm and muttered.

“I’ve known of its existence since I was young. If I could just use this Magic, I could use any other magic or spell as much as I wanted. So I put a lot of effort into learning it.”

Saying that, Sensei sighed deeply.

“But in the end, I couldn’t learn it with a flesh-and-blood body. Perhaps the people of legend who used it had a unique constitution that allowed for 【Absorption】? That’s what I thought, so when I was creating this Magic Prosthetic Body, I thought, ‘I’ll just create a body that can easily use 【Absorption】’.”

…Hmm?

“And that thought came to fruition, and my current self was born. In other words… perhaps it was fundamentally impossible to learn 【Absorption】 with a flesh-and-blood body. It’s not your fault, Emi, that you can’t learn 【Absorption】. Emi… I’m sorry. I gave you false hope…”

…………Hmm?

Hmm, hmm, hmm?

Sensei bowed her head to me with a painful expression.

So it’s not her fault.

But.

Wait a minute.

Putting that aside.

Something’s… bothering me.

Hmm?

What is it?

I forcefully grabbed the reins of my thoughts, which were hazy from hunger.

What is bothering me?

Think.

Think…

“…What’s wrong?”

Here, Sensei, noticing that I was thinking about something, asked, putting her hand on her chin.

Too exhausted to speak, I desperately tried to convey my thoughts with my eyes.

Something is bothering me.

I want to hear more.

“…Do you want to hear about my love life?”

There’s no way I’d want to hear that, you dirty old man!

“…I’m afraid I can’t… I can only tell you those stories after you turn fifteen…”

You really are a dirty old man!!

“…Do you want to hear more about 【Absorption】?”

Yes, that’s it!

She finally understood!

I blinked rapidly, to show my affirmation.

“But I’ve already told you almost everything, haven’t I? If there’s anything I haven’t told you…”

Sensei, crossing her arms, pushing up her large breasts, closed her eyes and groaned for a while.

“Ah… I haven’t told you that the mechanism of the 【Absorption】 I’m currently using… is modeled on the way spirits absorb mana, have I?”

Saying that, she opened her large eyes wide.

“Spirits… are magical lifeforms that sometimes guide heroes and saints in heroic tales… but in reality, they’re dangerous creatures with high intelligence. They regularly consume souls and mana, and they also attack humans. Although they can understand language, human common sense usually doesn’t apply to them.”

Sensei, with a serious expression, started explaining about spirits.

Spirits… so spirits exist in this world.

“But spirits are dangerous creatures, but because they have high intelligence, it’s possible to make contracts with them and ask for their help. Those who fight with the help of spirits are called ‘Spirit Users’… and well, I had an acquaintance who was a Spirit User. He was a rotten old geezer, and he had a contract with a dark spirit.”

Sensei, who usually speaks calmly, said ‘rotten old geezer’ with a truly bitter look, full of emotion.

That geezer must have been truly rotten.

“And so. I observed many times how his contracted spirit absorbed mana from him. Therefore, when creating this Magic Prosthetic Body, I referenced the spirit’s mana absorption mechanism. Although this arm of mine looks like a normal human arm… it’s actually something like a ‘spirit’s arm’.”

“…………!!”

Here!

Looking at Sensei’s smooth, white arm… I realized what had been bothering me, and gasped!

“That’s why it was truly careless of me to encourage you, a flesh-and-blood human, to learn 【Absorption】, and I’m sorry! I apologize!!”

Sensei apologized to me again, but honestly, that’s not what’s important right now.

That’s it!

‘Spirit’s arm’!

…Extra-sama.

Up until now… I’ve been observing and trying to imitate Sensei’s 【Absorption】.

But.

My body… my constitution is not suitable for learning 【Absorption】, right?

Yes, that’s why.

That’s why I’ve been desperately training, so that even I can use 【Absorption】.

But.

Yes, it didn’t work.

But that’s only natural.

A human arm isn’t an organ for “absorbing mana” in the first place.

Because Sensei absorbs it through her arm, I assumed that’s how it’s done… but that was the mistake.

Because my arms are human arms.

And Sensei’s arm is a “spirit’s arm”!

“In other words…”

I, mustering the last of my strength… somehow managed to sit up, and glared at the giant magic stone.

“Emi!? What’s wrong!?”

Sensei, noticing my strange behavior, is panicking, but I don’t have the energy to spare for her.

“Fuu…”

I exhaled quietly, and focused.

I don’t have a “spirit’s arm”.

So I can’t absorb mana.

Am I wrong, Extra-sama?

Then.

“I’ll just create one.”

My own “spirit’s arm.”

An organ for mana absorption!

“Aah…!”

I quietly gathered my resolve, and extended two 【Black Tentacles】 from my shoulders.

They look the same as always, rough, thorny, and menacing.

Because I’m used to extending them like that.

But their nature is completely different.

My usual tentacles are weapons, for piercing, tearing, and crushing to kill.

But these tentacles are different.

They’re not that sturdy, except for their claw-like tips.

They’re weak tentacles.

So weak that… they probably have almost no mana resistance.

I imagined the sludge surrounding the room we’re currently in.

That’s right.

Come to think of it, it was also absorbing mana by extending tentacles made of sludge.

I should have been imitating… that!

“RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

After letting out a bark, I… shot the tentacles from my shoulders towards the giant magic stone with all my might!

The two tentacles, extending straight ahead, deeply pierced the giant magic stone!

And then, the next moment!

Towards my tentacles…

A large amount of mana from the giant magic stone started flowing in!