WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
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◈ I Became the EX-Rank Pet Maker Hunters Obsess Over ◈
Chapter 94: Evil Eye Experiment
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Evil Eye
It refers to an eye with special abilities, the kind that often appears in fiction.
It might let you see things that normally cannot be seen... enhance your dynamic vision... let you see far into the distance... weaken someone just by looking at them... control their mind... or even turn someone to stone if they meet your gaze.
‘Or create an inextinguishable flame, or trap someone in a powerful illusion.’
Anyway, all sorts of absurd abilities manifest through the medium of an “eye.”
Since ancient times, across both East and West, the act of seeing has held great meaning for humanity.
To see is to recognize.
What cannot be seen is an unknowable fear, but the moment it is confirmed with one’s eyes, it gains a “name” and is drawn into human perception.
Eastern sages called seeing an object with the eyes “sight,” and grasping its underlying principle “contemplation.”
Sight obtains form. Contemplation obtains the reason that form is as it is.
Then what about Western sages?
They said that a gaze was not simply a sense used to perceive an object. A gaze was an invisible thread extending from the observer to the observed, and the instant that thread touched its target, an unbreakable connection formed between them.
In other words,
To “see” in the East was to seek to understand the world.
To “see” in the West was to seek to seize the world.
The former understood the principles of all things and intervened in their changes. The latter grasped whatever entered their sight and interfered with its laws.
Yet neither side could answer the final question.
If there is an eye that looks upon the world, what looks upon that eye?
And if even an eye that sees through everything in the world cannot see itself, then what does that eye fail to know?
I see... So that’s it...
“Ah... I ‘understand’ it. The essence of an Evil Eye.”
“Huff, huff....”
[ You’re making a damn ridiculous spectacle. ]
I snatched up Amon and kneaded Amon roughly.
Creak. Squish. Squish.
[ Aaargh-!!!!!!!! ]
“Amon, this kind of sensibility is important when crafting an Evil Eye.”
Did this Wakppu Jelly Dog not even know that?
Ah, what a hopeless Jelly Dog.
Anyway.
It might look like I was putting on airs, but this was actually an important line of inquiry for crafting eyeball-type magical beasts, Evil Eyes.
An Evil Eye that sees what others cannot and finds hidden beings is the first stage in my Evil Eye classification: Observation.
The second stage, Insight, is understanding the meaning of what is seen and perceiving the principles and relationships hidden behind appearances.
And the third stage, Definition, does not stop at understanding an object. It determines what that object is.
The first stage would include abilities such as Mana Sight, which lets one see the flow of mana...
The second stage would include something like a Foresight Eye, which predicts an opponent’s movements based on what it sees.
The third stage would define what has been observed and create phenomena. The ability to petrify a target merely by seeing it, which I mentioned earlier, would fall into this category.
‘Some magical beasts actually possess these abilities.’
That made this a field that was easier to create from magical beast essence than expected.
“There are countless magical beasts with special vision on an entirely different level from human sight.”
Eyes that could see spiritual flows, or eyes that could see thermal energy.
Of course, even if the eyes could see such things, it would be useless if the brain receiving the information could not recognize it accurately.
But Hassan’s vision-sharing ability could easily solve that problem.
Hassan’s ability was closer to receiving information that had already been processed by the magical beast’s brain, so he did not need the ability to interpret the vision himself.
Still, my view was that to handle an Evil Eye perfectly, it would be better to perceive the information directly in one’s own brain, exactly as it was seen....
The question was how much information a human brain could withstand. That had not been researched yet.
“It’s a difficult part.”
“Huff, huff....”
[ Urgh.... ]
Squish. Squish.
I had heard that a few Hunters possessed Evil Eye traits... Would they be able to properly handle the eyeball-type magical beasts I made?
But they would have to remove their eyes and insert new Evil Eyes....
“I’ll solve that slowly. Their brains might adapt to the Evil Eyes, too.”
“Huff, huff....”
[ Stop... it.... ]
Squish. Squish.
I looked at the eyeball-type magical beasts slowly forming in the incubation tanks before me.
Bubble, bubble.
* * *
Hassan, having received a prototype eyeball-type magical beast, looked around Jelly-polis, which was still under construction.
“Hmm....”
He could freely adjust the temporary eye’s field of vision.
He exchanged mana signals with the magical beast and moved it however he wanted.
There was no discomfort at all.
Sometimes the eye wriggled, which gave him chills, but still.
In any case, he was very satisfied with its performance.
Its vision surpassed even that of Hunters, allowing him to count the bolts on distant structures under construction.
Still, he briefly wondered whether what he was seeing was truly reality.
He climbed onto the steel frame of a tall building under construction and looked down over the city.
“A giant Jelly Dog is flying through the sky with a bus dangling from it... a gigantic armadillo is rolling around an empty lot in the distance... and a monster mole that looks like it ought to be killed in a raid is digging a lake....”
The ground was also shaking oddly, as if something was excavating underground.
Was this really reality?
Could the magical beast have taken control of my brain and implanted strange information into it?
Somehow, it felt even less real than Merfolk Island.
Come to think of it, this place had been unusual from the moment he arrived at the Korean airport.
“Huff, huff, huff....”
“Huff... huff....”
“Huff...? Huff, huff....”
That sound could be heard everywhere.
“They were panting like crazy....”
Whatever it was, the scenery before him was clearly not normal.
When he looked down at the building he was standing on, he saw Jelly Dogs riding atop the heads of workers mounted on spider-type magical beasts.
There was no way a three-tier magical beast-worker combination climbing vertically up a building’s exterior was real.
In the end, the cause of all this had to be the man named Yoo Hyun.
“...But even after turning a city into this, he doesn’t seem like an Apostle.”
Neither Seoul nor Jelly-polis contained an Anomalous Gate created by a Transcendent.
There was no reason to develop a place that was not a stronghold to this extent.
An Apostle’s stronghold was where an Anomalous Gate had appeared.
But the only Anomalous Gate in Korea was the Treasure Island Gate on an island called Shinan.
Then Yoo Hyun was... just what exactly...?
“Hmm... Well, if he isn’t an Apostle, that is good in its own way.”
If he was not an Apostle, but simply an extremely, extremely skilled magical beast pet maker... it would be advantageous to remain close to him in the future.
With great anticipation, Hassan decided to tour Korea until his new eye was complete.
* * *
Above a ruined city.
“So this is the next subjugation site.”
“Huff, huff....”
The blood mage Valentina looked at the forest visible in the distance from above Sichuan.
Although Valentina was observing from quite far away, an unbelievably enormous tree grew there.
Getting any closer to confirm it was dangerous.
That place was no longer reality.
Roots stretching from a gigantic tree covered the entire Sichuan magical beast research complex, yet they continued growing without end. Mutated magical beasts filled the entire visible area.
Plant-like stalks grew from the bodies of some magical beasts, making them resemble horrific fusions of plants and animals.
Building-sized trees stood throughout the forest, bearing plump fruit. Packs of magical beasts gathered around them.
The creatures picked and ate the fruit, and each time they did, they rapidly mutated and evolved into even stronger life-forms.
“...It will certainly be a problem if we do not deal with this quickly.”
“Huff....”
Still, the groundwork for the subjugation was progressing smoothly.
Quite a few Hunters could be seen on the outskirts of the forest, far from the giant tree.
In the direction they were heading stood a tree about ten meters tall, bearing golden fruit that seemed not to belong to this world.
“...Hmm.”
Valentina watched the scene with interest.
As soon as information about Sichuan had been leaked at the Round Table meeting, people had begun gathering there like that.
Naturally, they were after the elixirs growing on the trees.
The golden elixirs in particular were absurd items capable of raising a Hunter’s rank itself, so they would be especially tempting.
‘They even extend lifespan and reverse aging.’
They were universal elixirs that restored youth and health.
However...
Hunters blinded by the fruit approached without realizing it was a trap. They were ambushed by magical beasts and became nourishment for the trees.
‘The fruit grows by using humans as nourishment.’
Things with such absurd effects always came with an equivalent price.
The forest likely intended to lure in Hunters and ordinary people that way. Everyone desired youth and health, after all.
Having finished observing, Valentina descended to the ground.
Tap.
The Jelly Dog on Valentina’s shoulder slipped and fell.
“Rose...?”
Rose, the Blood Jelly Dog, had rolled onto the ground.
Boing.
But something was seriously wrong.
“Rose!!”
“Huff... Huff....”
Its breathing was slower than usual.
It could not even seem to move, merely gasping in Valentina’s arms.
“Why...?”
Valentina had bought and fed it Jellykko-exclusive nutritional treats that were supposed to extend its lifespan every day.
Why...?
“...Wait, Rose. I’ll take you to someone who can help soon.”
“Huff... Huff....”
Valentina left, holding the limp Jelly Dog in her arms.
* * *
Valentina took the fastest flight and came to find Yoo Hyun, Rose’s maker, but....
“W-What is this...?”
Whoooosh!!
Wind? No, something indescribable was swirling through the area.
In front of Yoo Hyun’s laboratory, a dark-skinned man sat cross-legged and levitated in midair as if he had attained enlightenment.
Intangible energy was radiating from around him.
Yoo Hyun stood before him, checking something on a document with an interested expression.
Valentina looked again at the man sitting cross-legged.
The man seemed to be in a trance, his eyes half-open. One had a gold iris and a black sclera, while the other had a blood-red sclera and a blue iris.
The moment he opened his eyes wide, a mandala formed behind him, and the atmosphere of the space changed.
“...!!!”
Reality was being eroded and rewritten.
Tier 2.
He even seemed to be manipulating something not of this world.
As Valentina stared at the absurd sight in shock,
“Ho, the combination of number 17 and number 21 has pretty good synergy. Okay.”
Yoo Hyun raised his hand...
Pop!
Both eyeballs were pulled from the man’s eyes.
“Aaargh-!!!!”
The man, who had been on the verge of enlightenment, clutched the empty spaces where his eyes had been and rolled across the ground.
Yoo Hyun, who had subdued a being that had reached Tier 2 with a single gesture, finally seemed to notice Valentina.
“Oh, you’re finally here. I figured you’d be showing up around now.”
Having witnessed something she should not have seen, Valentina broke out in a cold sweat.
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