Still, the reason it felt uncomfortable was that it sounded like Shirone had used her.
Tess: "Shirone isn’t like that! Even if Kanya weren’t a citizen of Heaven, he would’ve helped her the sa way! Shirone is kind and..."
Canis: "I know, I know what kind of person he is. That’s why."
Canis readily admitted, leaving Tess speechless.
Canis: "He must’ve been sincere in giving away the White Elixirs. So what I’m trying to say is this: Shirone may have acted out of goodwill, but he’s not stupid enough to not think this far ahead. Right?"
The group couldn’t refute him.
If it were Shirone, he would’ve thought of what Canis had ntioned. That ant he must’ve had so strategy in mind. Just then, Shirone walked over with Kanya.
Kanya: "I’m sorry for causing you to lose out because of . I won’t forget this kindness."
Amy glanced at Shirone over her shoulder. As expected, he seed to know and shook his head.
In life, there are tis when acts of goodwill are seen as calculations. That was Shirone’s situation now. Not wanting to hurt Kanya, he decided to wait and see a bit longer.
Opinions were exchanged through the ntal channel. Canis wanted to speak, but it was decided by majority vote to leave it to Shirone.
As the eting ended, Amy and Kanya were busy examining the Fire Spirit and the drone.
Watching them, Shirone realized that among the won in the party, only Arin had nothing.
Shirone: "I’m sorry. I used up all the Elixirs."
Canis: "I don’t need it. I didn’t co here to get sothing like this."
Tess, who was stroking the drone, flared up.
Tess: "What? Say that again."
Canis: "I don’t need it. I didn’t co here to get sothing like this."
As Tess gritted her teeth, Canis added, "We didn’t risk our lives to co here just to wander around Purgatory. You should rember that the drone you’re hugging is sothing anyone in Heaven can carry."
Canis was right.
If Purgatory was a market selling goods, Heaven was a factory producing them. The fact that all the principles of this world originated from the laws of Heaven was enough to understand.
Tess pouted and turned away.
Anyway, the drone was hers. No matter what fantastical items existed in Heaven, if she couldn’t obtain them, they were just pie in the sky, right?
She cheered up again and stroked the drone. Then, she suddenly wondered how to use it.
Afraid of breaking it, she didn’t handle it roughly, but no matter how much she shook or tapped it, there was no sign of it working.
Tess: "Kanya, how do you use this? It’s supposed to be new, but it’s not working."
Kanya: "Give it here. I’ll take a look."
Kanya took the drone and examined it. She noticed a steel band wrapped around the drone’s flight chanism and made a troubled expression.
She also knew that the drone was bought with a White Elixir. But she never expected to be sold sothing like this. A machine with an unremovable band was useless.
Kanya: "Um... this can’t be used."
Tess: "What? Why? Is it broken?"
Kanya: "No, it’s the opposite. This is a brand-new product straight from the factory. See this pattern on the steel band? It’s called Hena. You need to remove this seal to use it. But the seal can only be removed at the factory. That’s why it’s unusable."
Tess looked like she was about to cry. The item she had paid a White Elixir for was nothing more than a lump of scrap tal.
Listening to the conversation, Shirone realized why the rchant had been so desperate to sell the item. He hadn’t ntioned the seal.
Amy: "Give it here. I’ll go get a refund. Selling a defective item without explanation is fraud!"
rchant: "You’re right. I did commit fraud."
The rchant who sold the drone walked over with Clove.
His straightforward admission left Amy deflated.
The group cald their anger and waited for the rchant’s next words. But he said nothing. Instead, he took out three Yellow Elixirs from his pocket.
Amy: "What’s this?"
rchant: "The original price of the drone. Of course, I’ve taken my profit, but you won’t find it cheaper at any auction. All ch items co with a lock. I’m sorry for not telling the truth."
Arin confird it was true.
Amy guessed why the rchant had co clean. First, it was clearly fraud, and after seeing Shirone’s strength, he realized things could escalate.
In the end, he decided to make ands and at least keep his original profit. For a rchant, he wasn’t very bold.
rchant: "Don’t look at like that. I have no ulterior motives."
Amy: "Then why are you returning it?"
rchant: "As an apology. I felt miserable. I left Heaven and ca to Purgatory, but I lived believing there was hope. I didn’t want to lose my pride as a rchant."
Shirone accepted the Yellow Elixirs as if he understood. Arin said it was half-truth, half-lie, but Shirone was tired of fighting over beads.
The rchant consoled them in his own way.
rchant: "Even so, I didn’t discount it much. Usually, ten Yellow Elixirs can get you one White Elixir. In Purgatory, the value of a drone is that high."
Tess: "What does that matter? We can’t even use it."
The rchant had nothing to say about that. ch equipnt wasn’t his main trade, and he didn’t know much about it since he had only acquired it by chance.
But Amy got a hint from the rchant’s words.
Amy: "If it’s valuable, doesn’t that an there’s a way to remove the lock?"
Tess looked at the rchant with a glimr of hope, but he just shrugged, indicating he didn’t know.
Listening to their conversation, Canis sighed.
He was annoyed that they were agonizing over the lock’s key right in front of them. Should he tell them or not?
In the end, out of a sense of camaraderie, he spoke up.
Canis: "Do you really not know?"
Tess: "Huh? What do you an?"
Canis: "Rember how we got here. Use your head and think."
Tess racked her mory. They had escaped to Heaven through the Gate of Gephin. The Gate of Gephin? Wait, what did we do at the Gate of Gephin?
Tess: "Shirone! Quick, quick, unlock this!"
Shirone also realized.
The Gate of Gephin was also a type of ancient weapon. Its appearance was nothing more than a stone wall, but when the Immortal Function was activated, it beca a dinsional gate. Perhaps that’s why it was nicknad the Unlocker.
Shirone took the drone, clasped it in both hands, and focused. Would it work? He had his doubts, but he was about 80% sure it would.
When he activated the Immortal Function, the drone began to glow. The rchant’s eyes widened as he watched.
Following the pattern of the Hena seal, a red emblem appeared. It looked different, but the phenonon was the sa as what they had seen at the Gate of Gephin.
With a ting, the Hena seal fell off, and light seeped through the gaps in the drone’s assembly.
Shirone lifted the drone with a bright smile.
Shirone: "Wow, it really works!"
Still smiling, Shirone’s body froze.
Countless Noor’s were staring at them. Kanya and Rena, as well as Guardrak and Clove, looked shocked, as if they had lost their minds.
Thinking it was just the seal being removed, Shirone heard whispers from sowhere.
When Arin tried telepathy on a few people, their voices entered his mind.
Arin (telepathically): "Nephilim."
Many words were exchanged, but the common term was Nephilim.
As the voices grew louder, Shirone grew uneasy.
He didn’t know if the term Nephilim was good or bad.
Arin said their emotions were a mix of awe and fear.
Kanya, who t Shirone’s eyes, flinched. But rembering it was blasphemy, she knelt.
Kanya: "Citizen of Ra greets the Nephilim."
Shirone couldn’t grasp how the situation had escalated.
Then Guardrak approached. His face was more serious than when they had been chased by heretics.
Guardrak: "You’re not fallen ones from Purgatory. You’re the ones who opened the gate and entered."
Shirone: "I don’t understand. What is a Nephilim?"
Guardrak: "In this world, only angels can freely travel between Heaven and Earth. They have various duties, but one of them is to conceive a child who will enlighten the land. Only a virgin who has never borne a child can do this, and it’s called virgin birth. Nephilim are the descendants of angels and virgins. In Heaven, they’re called those who are free from the law."
Shirone recalled the priestesses the Kergo chieftain had brought to the banquet. It was said that only virgins could bear the children of angels.
Still, it didn’t make sense because he wasn’t a Nephilim. If he were truly a descendant of an angel, why had his mother abandoned him?
Moreover, being called a Nephilim just because he could use the Immortal Function was flawed.
If all Unlockers in the world were descended from a single bloodline, scholars would’ve discovered it by now.
Guardrak: "Nephilim are free from Ra’s will. But the citizens follow them. They’re at the highest position a human can reach."
Shirone didn’t like it. Just because his ancestors were great, why should the citizens follow him?
Also, the Immortal Function was a level he had achieved through challenge. It felt absurd to attribute his own hard-earned achievent to his bloodline.
Shirone: "Forget it. Knowing that fact won’t change anything, right?"
Guardrak: "That’s true. This is the land of heretics, after all. By the way, why did you co to Purgatory? Are you here to carry out an angel’s mission?"
Shirone guessed the value of an angel. They were a ans of communication, bridging gods and citizens across dinsions.
Shirone: "Yes. We ca to enter Heaven. We have a ssage to deliver."
Guardrak: "I thought so. But why did you co to Noor’s Sanctuary?"
Shirone: "It just happened..."
Shirone looked back, and Kanya turned her red face away.
Her heart was pounding. Shirone was neither a heretic to be shunned nor a re imitation. He was the great Nephilim who had defeated the Horned Demon and obtained Epines for her.
Shirone tried to calm Kanya down.
Shirone: "No need to be so nervous. Honestly, I didn’t even know I was a Nephilim. Just treat normally."
Kanya: "But... how...?"
Amy stepped in to help. Shirone’s words were true, but sothing about it felt oddly uncomfortable.
Amy: "Yeah, relax. Even if Shirone is a Nephilim, the rest of us are heretics. If we can treat him normally, why can’t you?"
Kanya didn’t see it that way.
Those who accompanied a Nephilim couldn’t be classified as heretics. They were connected to the Nephilim, and the Nephilim was connected to the angels.
Regardless, she couldn’t defy the higher laws, so Kanya decided to treat Shirone as he asked. But deep down, a profound resonance echoed within her.
Tess didn’t care about Nephilim or anything else. Shirone was just Shirone to her.
She grinned as she examined the drone. Just the sound of it whirring made her heart race.
Kanya approached and held out her hand.
Kanya: "Give it to . I’ll teach you how to use it."
The drone was a remote-controlled device that used the human brain as a control tower. It transmitted information directly to the user’s eyes through advanced retinal vision technology. Depending on the conditions, it could fly up to 10 kiloters from the control tower.
Kanya: "To use the drone, you need to set a personal password. It uses a unique frequency, and only cha technicians know the principle. Anyway, to use it, press here and then..."
As she touched the initialization button, the hemispherical drone split into several parts.
When placed on Tess’s head, it tightened with a chanical sound and began reading her brainwaves.
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