“Let’s start simple.”
I channeled Mana into the Dragon Heart I had weaving.
What I had just weaving was a simple illusion, using neither the Obsidian nor Menosorpo.
But if I injected Mana into this design structure, then surely a Dragon Heart made of my Mana would…
Poof.
…Not appear.
The Dragon Heart, which had been absorbing my Mana, seemed to be progressing well, but soon it lost its form and scattered.
“Was it too simple to think that just because it’s a Mana crystal, I could just fill it with Mana?”
Well, if this kind of production method were possible, anyone who knew the structure of the Dragon Heart could mass-produce them.
The fact that it didn’t work means that simply filling it with Mana is not enough.
“Satan just replenished Mana to an already-made Dragon Heart, so it’s a different concept from creating one from scratch.”
But I got the idea.
The Dragon Heart itself is a vessel. I saw Satan filling that vessel with his own Mana.
In other words, as long as the vessel itself is complete, it should be possible to fill it even if it’s not Dragon Mana.
‘The Dragon Heart is definitely a Mana crystal. That means the vessel itself is also made of Mana. However, during the crystallization process, it changes into a structure different from what I know.’
Just like water and ice are the same substance but have completely different forms.
Mana and Mana crystals also have very different structures.
The structure of the Dragon Heart is already inside the workshop, and that’s what I’m looking at right now.
But if I can’t figure out how to crystallize Mana myself, even if I pour Mana into this structure, it won’t solidify and will just disperse on its own. Just like it did a moment ago.
“The problem is that there’s probably no one who knows such a method.”
If such a method existed, it would have already been recorded in the continent as a great discovery.
I sighed. This is a level of difficulty that can be easily imagined by thinking about how long it took to invent a way to turn water into ice, that is, for humans to artificially lower the temperature.
A way to turn water into ice. Put it in the refrigerator. Then how do you make a refrigerator?
Create a device that lowers the temperature. In other words, a ‘refrigerant’ is needed. A way to turn gas into liquid ‘without lowering the temperature’. For that…
“…Somehow, it seems like a more brute-force method, though.”
I came out of the workshop. I needed a wider space to test what I had in mind. No, I needed an open space.
This is Roach’s cottage, so there are no people around, but there is a risk of being caught, but in this case, let’s just accept it to some extent.
“Huh?”
I felt a presence and turned around to see the Metamorph squirming and following me.
“Want to watch?”
I don’t know because it’s a slime, but it seemed to nod its head.
“Okay. You liked to learn. Transform into me and observe.”
At my words, the Metamorph stopped squirming and soon swelled its volume greatly.
It took less than 2 seconds to transform into me. It felt like the transformation speed was getting faster and faster.
‘This is a strange feeling.’
It’s strange that a kid who looks exactly like me is looking at me, but it’s even stranger considering the fact that Frondier is not really me.
In a way, it looks exactly like me, and in a way, it looks completely different.
“Is this okay?”
But the Metamorph suddenly asked a strange question.
“Huh?”
“Me copying you. Is it okay?”
In the meantime, its speech had become quite fluent. Of course, it wasn’t a perfectly polite sentence, but I roughly understood the meaning.
“There’s no reason why it wouldn’t be okay. Transformation is your power.”
“…Everyone hated it.”
“Are you okay with it? I kidnapped you, and I’m the one who fought you.”
“…I don’t know.”
The Metamorph lowered its eyes slightly and said. Is that appearance also an imitation of a person, or is it a manifestation of the Metamorph’s own emotions? Thinking about that is both creepy and intriguing.
“Not all of it, but I remembered. I hate that place. I don’t want to go back.”
The place the Metamorph mentioned must be the laboratory. Probably the laboratory in the other world where the demons are active.
“You made me remember, and you stopped me from going there. That’s not kidnapping. I know that much.”
“…So you’re being quiet? Because you have no intention of being hostile to me?”
“Yes.”
The Metamorph is not stupid in the first place. There’s no way it could be stupid with its high-speed learning ability.
However, it’s not just a monster with superior intelligence; the Metamorph is excessively obsessed with its own ego.
That must have been the reason why it was obsessed with Azier’s falling edge. It tries to find itself by doing something that no one else can do.
“But people are afraid.”
The Metamorph said.
“They’re afraid of what will happen after I learn everything I see. And I don’t know what the result will be either. So I thought that’s why you locked me in that house. To prevent me from seeing anything.”
You mean locking me in the workshop?
That was simply a measure to prevent the demon from taking the Metamorph, but from the Metamorph’s perspective, that’s how it looks.
“But this time, you didn’t say anything when I followed you out, and you even told me to observe.”
The Metamorph’s eyes turned towards me.
With Frondier’s face, it looked at me with those pitch-black eyes.
‘…Is this how people feel when they face me?’
It’s a really annoyingly languid face. I don’t know what it’s thinking. The effect is maximized because the Metamorph’s emotions are still faint.
“Aren’t you scared?”
The Metamorph asked. Aren’t you scared of what will happen after I learn everything?
My answer was already decided.
“I am scared.”
“…Then why? Curiosity?”
“No.”
Well, of course, the mechanism of the Metamorph, which is not human, is fascinating every time I see it, but…
That’s not the important thing.
“There’s no point in being scared.”
“…No point?”
“Yes. I’m not going to kill you.”
“Why? Other people, the eyes of the people who looked at me were definitely…”
The Metamorph stopped talking. It must know very well what the eyes and expressions of the people it observed in the prison meant.
“You didn’t attack the Emperor of your own will. It was the demon’s trick.”
It wasn’t that it wasn’t its will, but rather that the Metamorph had no will of its own at the time.
“…Maybe not.”
“You haven’t had any intention of attacking anyone since then. You just wandered around trying to test one skill.”
Moreover, I pierced the Metamorph’s back when it tried to attack the Emperor.
From my perspective, as someone who is not a resident of this world, the Metamorph’s actions, whether towards the Emperor or a passing citizen, are simply ‘attempted murder’. And it wasn’t even of its own will.
“You said you wanted to know who you are, right?”
The process of the Metamorph finding its ego. That’s different from finding the memories of its birth.
It wants to know what it should do, what it was born and lives for, in this land where it was born.
Seeing that, I came to a certain conviction.
“That’s not strange.”
“I feel like I’m the only one like this.”
“Of course you are.”
The Metamorph I’m looking at is not a monster, but…
“You were just born.”
…Looks like a child.
“Everyone goes through the same process as you.”
Everyone stops at some point to figure out who they are.
The Metamorph is the same. I don’t know what will happen to this guy in the future. Whether it can really learn everything. And if so, what will happen after that. Whether it will be helpful or harmful to humanity.
There’s nothing I can know now, but…
“I wouldn’t kill a child.”