WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the EX-Rank Pet Maker Hunters Obsess Over ◈
Chapter 21: A New Enhanced Form?
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[ Model Name 》 ELM-G-03 ]
[ Mana Core Rank 》 C ]
[ Lifespan 》 8 years ]
[ Traits 》 Intermediate Spirit Body (B), Energy Amplification (C) ]
Luise's magical beast truly reflected her deep understanding of energy-based beings.
Her spirit entity was round and extremely simple. It had probably taken this form because of my advice.
A spherical shape, with its arrays optimized to minimize energy loss.
‘It's a simple but efficient structure, at least in theory.’
In my view, unlike other magical beasts, spirit entities didn't need to cling to a particular form.
Parts meant for mobility, like legs or wings, generally weren't all that important.
They were nice to have, but it wasn't like the creature had much trouble moving without them.
That was because spirit-entity magical beasts naturally possessed characteristics similar to actual spirits.
They inherited the nature of spirits, which could have physical forms or blend into nature itself. As a result, spirit entities could also move as energy-based beings.
Still, unlike true spirits, spirit-entity magical beasts had the weakness of being unable to turn their core, the mana core, into energy. They couldn't remain in energy form at all times.
That was why they imitated animal forms to supplement their physical bodies, though wings and legs weren't essential.
With those idle thoughts in mind, I examined Luise's spirit entity from every angle.
Opportunities to directly handle and inspect the work of a top-tier alchemist like Luise didn't come often. I had to take this chance to thoroughly pick it apart.
[ Hmm... Is contestant Yoo Hyun stuck on something? The observation phase is taking quite a while... Can I get off work on time today? ]
At the host's voice, I looked around and saw that everyone had begun settling on a direction for their procedures and preparing in earnest.
‘Six to four in favor of surgical procedures. There's even a lunatic planning to shove an improvised Spirit Stone straight into the mana core without further processing...?’
As I'd explained, surgical procedures weren't very effective on spirit entities.
Still, this was within expectations.
Spirit entities had a reputation in the magical-beast industry for being difficult to create and difficult to enhance. I could understand why so many people were wasting their time.
Regardless of what the others were doing, I continued examining every detail of Luise's spirit entity.
“Hmm... She even paid attention to this part.”
I inspected the anesthetized spirit entity's butthole.
“That's a very interesting hole.”
It wasn't that I was interested because I had some kind of spirit-entity fetish. I was just curious what kind of hole it was.
After checking, it seemed to be an organ that made it easier to assimilate with natural mana.
The end of this hole probably connected directly to the mana core.
Since the core was partially exposed through the hole, it was easy to predict that it would increase the efficiency of natural mana absorption.
“That's novel...?”
I'd wondered why it had a butthole, but this was the reason. It was a good idea.
Anyway, the overall structure was clean. I could feel how much thought Luise had put into it.
Oh, and spirit-entity anesthesia wasn't actual anesthesia. It was more like putting it into a state of suspended animation. The enhancement table continuously emitted special waves that sharply reduced the mana core's activity.
Ordinary anesthetics didn't work on spirit entities due to their nature.
Anyway.
‘Now I know exactly what to do.’
A method of enhancement that was possible only for Luise's spirit entity came to mind.
* * *
Among the judges, Luise's ears had already turned red, and now she was breaking out in a cold sweat.
“...Why is he looking at it for so long? Is something wrong with it?”
Was there a problem with the ELM-G-03 model?
The elderly Maximilian, seated beside her, spoke to Luise.
“Hmm, Yoo Hyun seems to be struggling quite a bit. Come to think of it, Luise, I heard you already knew Yoo Hyun? The rumor has spread everywhere.”
“Huh? Well, Yoo Hyun is my close friend... No... Um... We do know each other. Why?”
“I'm just wondering. Didn't you provide the magical beast for this Enhancement competition? Yoo Hyun is a young man with a bright future, so I'm worried he might get caught up in some controversy.”
It certainly could become an issue.
Yoo Hyun and Luise were acquainted. Luise had pushed her way into the competition as a judge right before it began, and she had even insisted on putting forward her own magical beast for the final Enhancement Division.
Didn't that suggest some sort of ulterior motive?
Luise snorted and turned away.
“Hah... With Yoo Hyun's skill, there's no need to worry about that.”
His talent was too undeniable for anyone to find fault with it. It wasn't even comparable to hers.
“That is true. Still, Yoo Hyun does seem to be struggling with Enhancement. Spirit entities are difficult. Most contestants have chosen the wrong direction.”
Maximilian muttered that it was absurd for one person to master Enhancement after Design and Cultivation.
Luise was inwardly relieved to see Yoo Hyun struggling.
‘R-right. Yoo Hyun is human after all...’
If he was good at Enhancement too, could he still be human? He'd be the god of magical beast synthesis.
As was repeatedly said, Design, Cultivation, and Enhancement were different fields. Each required entirely different abilities.
She could say with certainty that doing all of them perfectly was beyond the realm of humans.
But...
“Oh... Yoo Hyun is starting to prepare for the procedure?”
“Looks like he found a clue...!”
“Let's see... The equipment he brought is an essence-extraction auxiliary device, an array-modification auxiliary device... Hmm? The other materials are understandable, but why did he bring so many Spirit Stones?”
The other contestants had brought one Spirit Stone, or at most two. Even then, they had mostly brought an extra just in case, and most were only using one.
Only Yoo Hyun had brought more than ten Spirit Stones.
“Is he planning to extract essence from the Spirit Stones? He brought an auxiliary device because he needs to extract a large amount.”
“But there's no reason to extract such a large amount of Spirit Stone essence. Wouldn't that be far too much? There's no way all of that could be put into a C-rank magical beast.”
Enhancement meant improving a magical beast's traits or properties.
That was why using Spirit Stones to enhance a spirit-entity magical beast wasn't strange.
Yoo Hyun, though, had brought far too many Spirit Stones. Excessively so.
Maximilian tilted his head at the sight.
“I can't even imagine how he intends to use them. That's far too many resources for an enhancement procedure...”
Yoo Hyun's actions were nothing short of bizarre. But everyone watched with interest because of what he had shown them so far.
Only one person did otherwise.
Luise's eyes widened when she saw Yoo Hyun begin his work.
“...Huh? No way?”
Maximilian saw her reaction and asked.
“...Do you have some idea?”
“No, I think I know what Yoo Hyun is aiming for... but is that even possible...?”
Luise had an unmatched understanding of spirit entities among the judges, so she could vaguely infer what Yoo Hyun was attempting.
“But... that can't work... No... can it?”
All sorts of possibilities surfaced in Luise's mind.
Yet based on everything she knew, none of them should have been able to succeed.
“Luise, what did you realize?”
“Yoo Hyun is... I'm not certain, but I think he's trying to create a new Spirit Stone...? No... can that even be called a Spirit Stone? It isn't a Spirit Stone to begin with. It's more like...”
The answer tantalized her. She felt like she knew something, yet she couldn't put it into words.
A hazy formula seemed to emerge in her mind, but she shook her head.
‘If I'm right... can what Yoo Hyun is doing really be called magical-beast enhancement?’
Luise's gaze turned toward Yoo Hyun.
With almost divine mana control, Yoo Hyun extracted the essence from the Spirit Stones being broken down by the device.
“Ooh... He really is extracting the essence. It's incredibly clean. The arrays are in perfect condition.”
“Hmm... Is he not planning to modify the Spirit Stones themselves like the other contestants? He's only taking the arrays?”
“Wait! He's extracting more? Is he really going to extract all of them?”
With the help of the device, Yoo Hyun extracted the essence from each Spirit Stone in turn. Essence arrays accumulated around him one after another.
After extracting the arrays from every Spirit Stone, he began carving them one by one into shapes like puzzle pieces.
Using all kinds of reagents and materials, he stabilized them with the desired properties and forms. Before long, his worktable was filled with pieces of various shapes.
Yoo Hyun was following a process clearly different from the other contestants.
Even the contestants nearby couldn't focus on their own work and stared at him.
“...What is he trying to do now?”
“He's modifying arrays that he extracted so cleanly? Those will become unusable.”
Contrary to their worries, when Yoo Hyun combined the arrays he had carved, they interlocked neatly and became one.
Hummm!
A powerful resonance spread through the venue.
The combined array escaped its fixed form once more and became a flowing mass of energy.
A mass of pure energy rippling over Yoo Hyun's hand, free from the physical form known as a Spirit Stone.
“...What the hell is that?”
The alchemists sensed it instinctively.
Yoo Hyun had made something absurd again.
“...Good lord.”
Unable to even guess at the technique now, everyone held their breath and watched him.
As though his preparations were finally complete, Yoo Hyun began the procedure.
What Yoo Hyun held as he stood before the anesthetized spirit entity was something unexpected.
“Mana core dissolution solution...?”
As its name suggested, it was a chemical used to dissolve cores. It was used when someone needed to directly alter a mana core, but since the mana core was a magical beast's core organ, handling it carelessly was naturally extremely dangerous...
Stab. Glug, glug, glug, glug.
Without hesitation, Yoo Hyun shoved the bottle of dissolution solution into the spirit entity's butthole.
“No, are you insane?! What the...?!”
“Aaaah! If you inject that much, the mana core will be completely destroyed!”
Twitch, twitch.
As everyone reacted in horror, the spirit entity's condition rapidly became critical, and its entire body writhed atop the enhancement table.
Its core organ, equivalent to its heart or even more important, was melting away. Of course it would react that way.
“Ah... Yoo Hyun, what are you doing...?”
That couldn't even be called an enhancement accident. It was no different from brutally killing the magical beast.
Yet Yoo Hyun calmly pulled the bottle out of the spirit entity's butthole and squeezed its body, forcing the dissolution solution out.
Gush-
The judges screamed at the dreadful sight of the mana core, which had once sustained the spirit entity's life, melting and flowing out.
“No, that's not an enema solution!”
“What kind of obscenity is this?! Where did that technical side of you go, Yoo Hyun?!”
The judges tore at their hair.
Ignoring them, Yoo Hyun slowly inserted the mysterious mass of energy he had created into the spirit entity's butthole.
Yet even after he had put the entire mass inside, the spirit entity showed no reaction.
The round spirit entity lay limp and powerless, like a cold corpse.
Yoo Hyun turned off the enhancement table's anesthetic function, placed a hand on the spirit entity's body, and closed his eyes.
The entire venue fell as silent as a grave.
[ This is making me nervous.... ]
The host muttered as they watched Yoo Hyun's table from up close. Yoo Hyun was receiving the most attention, so they had to keep broadcasting his work.
After a while, Yoo Hyun slowly opened his eyes and nodded in satisfaction.
“It's done.”
[ What's done... ]
At that moment, before the host could finish speaking, the spirit entity began to glow faintly.
Then...
Flash!!!
[ Aaaah, my eyes! ]
It released a massive burst of light.
The flash engulfed the entire vast venue...
When everyone opened their eyes again, the spirit entity that should have been on Yoo Hyun's table was gone.
[ W-what? Did it disappear? ]
As the host panicked, one of the judges pointed at the sky.
“T-this can't be! Look at that!”
“What?!”
“Gaaasp!”
Floating overhead was the spirit entity that should have died when its mana core melted.
Its round body had even grown tiny protruding limbs!
The newly born spirit entity stretched out its short, nearly useless limbs and roared.
“...Ener...gyyy...”
The spirit entity's booming cry shook the arena.
[ Model Name 》 ELM-G-03 ]
[ Mana Core Rank 》 F- ]
[ Spirit Core Rank 》 C+ ]
[ Lifespan 》 ?? years ]
[ Traits 》 Mid-High-Grade Spirit Entity (B+), Energy Amplification (C+), Energy Control (C+) ]
[ This magical beast underwent a special enhancement process. ]
“...T-there was a status window like that?”
Even the judges saw an entry they had never seen before.
“Th-this... This is an incredible discovery! This is insane!”
“My god... A magical beast's status window wasn't fixed! Infinite possibilities were open to us!”
“Eureka...! Eureka! Yoo Hyun, answer my questions at once!”
[ ....... ]
Naturally, the venue erupted into chaos. The host finally lowered the microphone and bowed their head.
[ Breaking News ] Sweeps the Design, Cultivation, and Enhancement divisions... Korean genius alchemist sets an unprecedented grand-slam record at Messe Frankfurt!
[ Special Report ] Steps into God's realm... First successful magical beast synthesis of a new species never before seen on Earth through an enhancement procedure!
[ Issue ] Not a simple modification but the creation of a new species... International Alchemy Association (IAOA): “A revolutionary shift in the biological paradigm of magical beasts.”
[ Exclusive ] “Magical beasts have no limits any longer”... Korean genius who swept Design, Cultivation, and Enhancement reaches the pinnacle of the world with a new magical beast species.
[ Comprehensive ] “Regulation-supporting lawmakers are in tears”... Overseas magical-beast industry devastated by the creation of a new magical beast species!
Footnotes:
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