Kain took a step back upon hearing the suspicious noise and as an unusual wave of so substance headed toward him. "Ugh…"
Thankfully, it wasn't a real fart that headed in Kain's direction, but rather an uncontrolled torrent of pure spiritual power converted from all of the energies that it had absorbed. Once it released the 'fart' a flood of Source energy filled Kain's body. He staggered as his spiritual power reserves surged back up. Fifty percent. It was around a 50% refill of his max capacity in an instant.
'Not bad…and this is only at white grade…'
Bip Bip
The now deflated purple dot ca to Kain and began to bob up and down to catch his attention.
Its newborn mind tried its best to communicate through the link, not with words, but with emotion.
Well, just one emotion…desperate hunger.
Its entire body seed to be screaming 'MORE!'
Kain stared blankly.
"You're still hungry? You look like you just ate until you almost combusted."
The spore glowed again, and two areas on opposite sides temporarily bulged out slightly more. If it had cheeks, they would've been puffed out.
"You know what? You're a glutton."
He gave it a long look.
"…Glutty? What about Chompers? Nibbles? Or NomNom? Chewy?"
The spore pulsed once—vibrating with unmistakable approval, but it glowed slightly brighter at the last option.
"Okay…your tentative na will be Chewy…" he murmured while grabbing it from where it floated in the air and realizing that it did indeed have a slightly squishy or 'chewy' texture. It felt kind of like a miniature stress ball in his hand.
"EEEEP!"
"Ahem…sorry!" Kain stopped his aggressive squishing and let Chewy float free again.
--------------------------
Ti passed…
Over the next couple of weeks, Chewy beca a semi-permanent addition to Kain's shoulder. The spore's appetite remained endless, but it had gotten better at communicating preferences. Chewy vibrated violently with excitent for high-energy elental attacks, gave a more llow buzz for when Aegis built walls of earth it needed to absorb energy from, but it once even fainted in happiness after absorbing a few drops of earth and abyssal hybrid energy from Aegis.
Kain had to scold it for that last one. What use are you if you faint from excitent in battle!?
In addition to regular training, Kain, alongside Bridge and the rest of their group, took a few low-level missions around the outskirts of Dark Moon City. Escort caravans. Retrieve rare herbs. Help defend a rchant's private warehouse until a deal was completed. They weren't glamorous jobs, but for the others they were challenging enough to serve as solid practice.
For Kain, they were practically a vacation. Especially when compared to he life-or-death missions in the Order.
Sotis he didn't even need to summon a contract. He watched Bridge and the others work hard with a mix of amusent and pride. Occasionally, he let Chewy loose to get so more combat practice, which the little spore did with enthusiasm. Its body would swell slightly after each snack before deflating with an exhausted but contented wheeze.
Kain wasn't sure if it was due to its ability to efficiently absorb various energies, or if it was due to its high quality, but it took only a few weeks to go from white-grade, to red-grade, and now be on the verge of breaking through to orange-grade.
Kain also stayed in regular contact with his business team.
Collin—his assistant, secretary, and overall business manager—continued to be the MVP of Kain's operations.
"We've received full regulatory approval for the FMT pills," Collin reported over a secure call, voice carrying evident excitent. "Not only that, but the military has beco our biggest client. They've integrated the Clear Spring Wolves into active combat units. The healing and offensive abilities of them are just too good to pass up."
Kain raised a brow. "So we're officially war profiteers now?"
Collin choked slightly on whatever liquid he was drinking on the other side of the line. "Er… profit-optimizing public servants?"
"Much better."
There were also updates about the silkworm project.
"We had to increase our moth and butterfly workforce by 300%," Collin said while flipping through what sounded like a stack of papers. "Ever since your calculations for balanced elents in the silk allowed them to evolve into their tertiary Elental Fairy forms, there has been a massive boom in the number of people contracting Silkworms. Even better, or worse depending on how you look at it, the textile industry has gone feral for the generated silks. High-end clothing brands are offering triple the usual price per unit."
"And supply?"
"Barely eting demand. We may need you to co down with you ntal-attribute contract. Then we could accelerate the training for the Silk Moths and Butterflies."
Kain made a note to ntion it to Bea…
As for the spiritual beer business, the tide was finally turning.
Knockoffs of the popular Spiritual Beer were still popping up, but with the new verification system in place, custors had gotten smarter.
"We implented the official distributor registry," Collin continued. "Now, any certified business has a registration badge, and consurs can look them up before buying. Sales of fakes have dropped by 80% in the last month alone."
Kain leaned back in his chair with a satisfied sigh. "You're doing good work, Collin. Keep it up."
Collin's large grin was evident even over the phone. "I am, indeed, the most loyal servant of capitalism."
anwhile, there was no news from Darius, Malzahir, or the others trying to locate his 'sister'. Not much, anyway. They were safe—that much Kain knew—but updates were sparse. Infiltrating the enemy took ti and even more caution.
Still, a part of him itched with the lack of contact. But he pushed the unease aside.
Because right now, he was inside his lab.
And sothing big was happening.
A task Kain had taken on long ago was finally about to see results.
And now, standing in front of him, was the result.
A massive creature towered over his College lab's reinforced floor—a massive boar-like entity, its tallic armor seemingly grown from the bone and muscle itself. The plating was jagged, crude in shape but impossibly durable, gleaming with veins of copper and titanium-tinted spiritual energy. Each breath it exhaled ca with a faint grinding sound—like old gears turning slowly beneath its skin.
"Waaa!"
A sob erupted from the corner.
A rather large and heavy-set man, stumbled forward with tears pouring down his broad cheeks.
The boar turned toward him, let out a low, almost reverent grunt, and gently pressed its armoured forehead into the man's chest in affection.
Indeed, this was Kain's assistant Dravis and his Ragin Steel Boar…or rather, the evolutionary form of the Ragin Steel Boar that had been lost to history.
Kain had already settled the requests of all of his other lab assistants—except for Dravis. Thankfully, knowing the difficulty of his request, Dravis had been incredibly patient. Even better, after travelling through various relics that gave a peek into the history of long-extinct city-states, Kain finally got a clue to the missing piece in its evolution. In combination with his System to double-check that it would work, the evolution was a guaranteed success.
'Looks like I'll have another evolutionary patent to my na…' Kain thought smugly.
Kain took a step back from the affectionate man and pig pairing to give them space.
The scene was almost touching.
Almost.
Then—
Ding!
A new notification appeared on Kain's communication device from the school:
[The final 'Re-Ranking Event' begins in exactly 16 Hours. Please report to the designated location no later than 9 am. Find directions attached.]
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