I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 822 - Side Story 95 Chimera (3)

Rudger unfolded the documents he received from Hans. They were written in an ancient language, but that wasn't much of a problem for Rudger. He possessed knowledge of ancient archaeological languages.

"It's a journal."

He thought it might be an experiment log, but upon reading it, that wasn't quite it either. If anything, it was closer to a researcher's personal memoir.

Rudger slowly turned the pages. They had weathered considerably over the long years, but not to the point where the letters were illegible.

-Today was the day to inspect the septic tank, so the lab smelled a bit. The fact that even such trivial daily matters bother me shows that I'm definitely tired. It must be because of the experiments that went on late into the night. I should have gotten some sleep. Still, the process of injecting mana into 'Cali' yesterday was quite successful. It's marvelous that such tremendous energy can be contained in the body of a small beast.

It was an experiment related to spirit beasts. Rudger turned to the next page.

-'Cali's' transformation is astonishing. Originally an ordinary forest creature, now I can sense intelligence in its eyes. Its fur shines with a silver light, and its claws have become harder than steel. It's still inexperienced at controlling the flow of mana, but its potential is tremendous. Everyone including myself was overjoyed. But at the same time, I felt fear. What are we creating right now? Are we not stepping into the domain of the gods?

-Yesterday evening I strolled outside the laboratory. The stars adorning the night sky were exceptionally bright. I wonder if somewhere among those stars there are beings like us, exploring life or trying to create it? I suddenly felt lonely. These are concerns I can't confide to anyone - where the end of this research lies, whether we're truly on the right path. My colleagues only focus on data and results, seemingly uninterested in such fundamental questions. But I understand them. This is, after all, for the sake of humanity too.

-Today we increased the mana injection into 'Cali' to the maximum. The mana waves emanating from its body were enough to shake the entire laboratory. At that moment, I saw a very clear emotion in its eyes. It was pain and sorrow.

-This experiment has long since surpassed mere scientific curiosity. We are rewriting the definition of life. But what will we lose in the process? Perhaps we've already lost it. After the experiment ended, I gazed at the night sky. Otherwise, I felt I wouldn't be able to endure it.

-The sky was clear and beautiful. Countless stars twinkled. That beauty seemed like the possibilities of our future. But except for the starlight, the night sky is dark. It felt like looking at the path we must take. Oh dear, I suppose I was being too sentimental. 

In the end, the experiment is successful. We have created a spirit beast. Someone will probably use this for military purposes. But that's not what we want. Our original purpose was for humanity's sake. To avoid remaining as puppets of the gods, we wanted humans who develop and evolve on their own.

Rudger's hand paused as he turned the journal pages.

'Gods and humans.'

These people too had struggled in their own way to escape from the grasp of Lumensis, doing their best.

'By evolving humans, did they mean to make humanity like spirit beasts?'

Some people would ask whether spirit beasts weren't essentially humans who had become mages. But Rudger could firmly say no.

'Spirit beasts are the result of having so much mana accumulated in their bodies that their very existence becomes altered. Or rather, it should be called evolution adapted to their circumstances.'

That's because ordinary beasts cannot use magic. They don't have the intelligence to use spells, so they don't even know how to expend the mana that accumulates.

'The environment where spirit beasts are born fundamentally has a high concentration of mana. Naturally, in such an environment, even the plants and insects are excessively imbued with mana.'

The beasts living there continuously accumulate concentrated mana in their bodies the moment they graze on grass.

'If refined properly, it becomes a spiritual medicine, but left in its natural state, it becomes poison instead. Spirit beasts have grown up continuously eating that. Or by hunting and eating beasts that ate it.'

Just as heavy metals accumulate, mana keeps accumulating, and physical alteration occurs. In that process, those who adapt and survive can become spirit beasts.

'Right. If we must compare humans to spirit beasts, there would be those who possess magic eyes.'

A constitution where one gains strange powers from being born with excessively condensed mana in a part of their body.

From magic eyes to word spirits and synesthetic mana perception abilities. Such constitutions should be considered close to spirit beasts.

'But they tried to intentionally create this?'

Compared to studying spells and learning magic through acquired means, it would certainly be stronger. It would be fair to say that truly dramatic evolution of humanity could be achieved.

"Brother. Just what is written in there that you're looking at it with such a serious face?"

Hans couldn't contain his curiosity and asked.

"This is a researcher's journal. It seems the ancient people artificially created spirit beasts inside that ruin." 

"Huh. Don't tell me that's why this forest was crawling with spirit beasts?" 

"Right. And their ultimate goal was to evolve humanity itself to be like spirit beasts."

"Wait, is that even possible? And that's..." 

"Essentially human experimentation."

And there are those who favor human experimentation the most. They were the dark mages.

"...If we'd let these bastards slip away here, it really would have been a disaster." 

"Right. The detailed progress isn't written, but just opening up that possibility would have been a considerable help to dark mages."

In fact, the aim to evolve humanity to be stronger was still happening in various places across the continent.

Among dark mages, the extreme ones had abandoned their humanity by modifying their own bodies.

'Some turn their bodies into insects, or excessively enhance their bodies. They've even made humans into chimeras using cells from the World Tree.'

The contents written in this journal were one branch of such attempts. Except, compared to other attempts, this was a case where the results and outcomes came out very meaningfully.

Rudger, who had been continuing to turn the journal pages, saw the last page.

-All preparations are complete. Creating spirit beasts is successful. If we could just apply this to humans, we could grasp greater freedom in our hands. Of course, the data is still insufficient. Applying it to animals and doing it to people are clearly different things. Honestly speaking, I doubt whether a human body can withstand that. I thought it might be better to just give up here. But we couldn't. We received news that the followers of the gods attacked our home country. My mom and dad were there. There was no way to know what happened to them. I - no, all of us - lost the homeland to return to. This laboratory became our last bastion.

-The data is still insufficient. Safety cannot be guaranteed. And applying it to humans wasn't easy either. Everyone in this laboratory are researchers. Nevertheless, to confirm the results, someone had to volunteer for the experiment. The person who receives it will surely die. What madman would do such a thing?

-Right. I suppose I was that madman after all.

-Honestly, it was a feeling of letting things be. A researcher who should reduce errors and instabilities in everything and raise the probability of throwing such a gamble? But it can't be helped. The world doesn't flow as we predict. All the elements of the world are too complex and diverse. Even considering all of them, glimpsing the future isn't easy. Especially since there's no existence harder to predict than humans. Because we don't move by rationality. Sometimes we throw away our lives foolishly easily, and bet on excessively low possibilities. Why? Honestly, I'm not sure. Perhaps it's because of a complacent mindset that things will work out somehow.

-This journal ends here. I volunteered for the experiment, and despite my colleagues' dissuasion, I didn't bend my stubbornness. It was something someone had to do. Rather, I was secretly proud that I was that first person. Making a self-sacrificing choice to confirm the results of an experiment. Isn't that cool? Hmm, thinking about it again, it seems foolish too. But so what? Since I've made this choice, I intend to have no regrets. If someone sees this, I hope they don't throw it away at least. Friends. We'll meet again. However, I hope you don't follow me too soon.

The journal ended there.

"It seems the researchers attempted to turn humans into spirit beasts beyond just creating spirit beasts." 

"Turning humans into spirit beasts. Then what kind of result would come out?"

When a beast that can't speak becomes a spirit beast, it gains intelligence, understands language, and knows how to use magic. Their species characteristics are expressed extremely, and they essentially gain powers close to supernatural abilities. Then what about humans? If humans become beings similar to spirit beasts, what kind of results would come out?

"We can't confirm that. However, there's something we can vaguely speculate." 

"What's that?" 

"Even with magic eyes, it's a constitution that occurs when a baby from a mage bloodline is born with excessively condensed mana in their eyes at a low probability. It's when mana excessively dwells in a specific part of the body." 

"But becoming a spirit beast means essentially overflowing with mana throughout the entire body, doesn't it?" 

"Right."

Rudger thought of his student Mina. She was born possessing too much mana. Because of that, leading an ordinary daily life was nearly impossible for her.

'Mina is, in a way, one of the possibilities that humans can become spirit beasts.'

Of course, even Mina couldn't be compared to spirit beasts. She merely had a lot of mana, and didn't possess magic eyes or the tongue of word spirits.

"If this experiment truly succeeded, that human would possess unbelievable powers. Perhaps, they should truly be called a god." 

"A god..."

Hans was startled with a gasp, but then tilted his head.

"...Would that be threatening?"

Hans asking that was because of Rudger. Gods being dangerous? When the person who communicates most smoothly with gods is right in front of him?

Moreover, not just one god but several are lining up to bestow all kinds of benefits on Rudger alone.

From Hans's perspective of watching this from the side, he couldn't help but express doubt.

"It's because you haven't experienced it directly. It's true they show me goodwill, but the goodwill of gods is too much for humans to handle."

Imagine a child who likes ants pouring honey on them. The ants won't be able to eat it all and will drown. Same with lollipops. If you just give one to an ant, the ant will be crushed to death before it can even lick the candy.

"Everything is a matter of degree." 

"But brother, you can handle it sufficiently, can't you?" 

"That's also true."

Of course, it was possible because Rudger himself had worked the hardest to get this far.

"Let's go inside for now. Or are you still uneasy?"

At Rudger's words, Hans finally spoke with a serious face as if he'd just remembered something.

"Brother. I didn't want to enter that ruin, did I?" 

"That's right." 

"As you saw, my beast instincts violently rejected it. The surrounding spirit beasts also tried not to go there." 

"What are you trying to say?" 

"I thought carefully about why. Why this rejection? Is there something dangerous inside? While thinking about that, I ended up going berserk after unintentionally coming into contact with spirit beast genes. And I could feel it." 

"Feel what?" 

"Inside that ruin, there's something."

What Rudger first thought of was the artificial sun. If it was a relic with tremendous energy, he thought it would be enough for Hans to fear it. Beasts dislike fire, after all.

'But if that were the case, there were many other animals living in the artificial garden inside.'

And the artificial sun he actually saw didn't look that dangerous. Then why did Hans, and the surrounding spirit beasts, not even try to approach the ruin?

Rudger's eyebrows twitched.

"Don't tell me..." 

"If what you said, brother, is correct. Isn't it inside there?"

Hans said, assuming the worst possibility.

"A human turned into a spirit beast."