" We should talk somewhere more private " they went to Melda and Frank's room and started to talk " How long have you been aware ? " " A long while before honestly I didn't how to break the news to you "
Melda made a deep sigh " I have been thinking about them for a long time but hearing the truth seems so different " " It's okay to feel betrayed considering what I will tell you " " Lily what did they think of us ? "
Lily looked at the blank grimoire " Seems kinda harsh and arrogant of them to say this but I'll rephrase it to be as less degrading as possible . Like most backward civilizations they don't think about whether you live or die but only as long as you are useful , they view you as tools and the broken key they have is something they kept to make sure that you mythical beast could be more useful "
" What injustice " " You'll have to get used to it I'm surprised you were not as angry as I was . And since it seems that I know whose side you are on I'll show this "
Lily manifests the debt chain " This is a debt chain I've been using to gather information from these distributors of keys as well as collecting payment from the Labyrinth "
Melda wondered how useful this was " It's like a purchase system the amount of debt I am owed is the same amount of buying power I have , it's complicated to explain but it has been very useful to identify people's alignment . "
" But with this much how did you acquire it " " There's more in here than you think " Lily showed the debt chain " I've used the Labyrinth to bring you guys back and it has given me a lot not only that I've also got a lot of other things "
" Waitwaitwaitwait , you had the Labyrinth pay you , cause of debt ? " Lily nodded " But how ? " You know those two candidates that fell right ? I intentionally gave them away and I did the same to the first candidate that fell too "
" You were the cause of that ? " " Yeah I did have Beryl take me there , plus you know Life and Death ? They're the ones who are capable of reviewing memories and they've been helping me with that when I found them "
" So those abstracts were more versatile " " Yep believe it or not although I'm more amazed about your potential , it's basically like my body " " So how have you been going through this ? You should've been rebelling against the Descenders but you're acting as the frontline " Melda asked " Because I have to "
" Even though I'm rebelling against them I only rebel against the distributors they are the ones who bought me here and the corrupt descenders . I'm not siding with the Labyrinth either because I'm supposed to be a third party and I have to keep those close to me safe , you guys included but I couldn't do it without making sure we have the same ideals so I had to tell you about them "
" I understand that , I should tell the others but if you have all of our strength unlocked won't they be suspicious ? " Melda asked .
" Maybe , but I could just hide the fact that you guys are slowly gaining potential and just pretend that the Key to your sealed bloodline was a last option so you don't have to worry about that , I can restrict information to be limited so they won't think we are getting too strong "
" Thank you for telling me all this " Melda said " You're welcome " " So what did you do with Rate Last night ? " " We didn't do whatever you're likely thinking about mother-in-law " " I wish you'd make one look forward to having grandchildren , even if they're not pure "
" Well even if we were to make one I won't be the one bearing it " Melda thought about Lily's two children " Huh well I'm sure it won't be a problem some of us are like seahorses in that matter "
" Then I'll see you tomorrow , you can talk to them on what you'd like to do while you do the primal instinct training " " Is everyone aware of this ? "
" Yep I use the debt chain to restrict information from leaking out , only you guys are the only not aware of them " " So you've been watching these people ? ... I'll make sure to tell them about what I found will those dispatched descenders be a problem ? "
" Nope , I made sure to restrict them to only the quarters outside and the halls . So you can speak as freely as you want after their curfew hours " " Thanks for the assurance "
Melda leaves while Lily goes to the glass dome and waits for Rate " Are you ready to go ? " " Yeah I'm ready to research " they went to Dreamland and allowed Lily to learn more about her .
The next day Rate was met with Lily's other children again " Stepma " " Sorry ? " " Are you not going to make a child with Papa? " Rate blushed wondering why children like Aurora are asking that " I want a younger sibling too mother isn't making any more " " Mine too " Beryl said .
" Sorry about them " " I-it's fine but uhm why would they call you father ? " " Probably because of how they were born first when Aurora was still a dead seed I used Great Fire's phoenix flame and she absorbed the poisonous air which holds a bit of my genetic code so I technically sired her "
" What about the dragon " " he was a sick egg and his mother wanted him to be revived but the problem was that the revival I wanted to give to him was corrupted by a killing light so to heal him we ended up using my blood to evolve him to be resistant making him my kin but what I didn't account for was that my blood revived him instead "
" Oh and it changed him ? " " Yep his color is based on my eye " Rate looked at her green eyes " Oh but originally if I couldn't seal my powers you would slowly die if you stared at it for too long "
Rate moved away " Hahaha don't worry I'm not going to hurt you , but even if you had mutated I'll be able to heal you " " Uhm but isn't that painful ? " "If it is then you can consider it as mental training , speaking of how is the primal instincts training going on with you ? "
" It's going well , some of my friends started using it so that they could also be useful and even a few of the adults " " You act like you're not an adult ? " Lily said " Well that's because we're young compared to the adults "
" That's silly but I guess you are mentally younger " Lily takes Beryl and Aurora " So you two are excited to have a sibling right ? " " Yah " Beryl said " You'll have to be patient then " " Okay Papa " Lily smiled and let her children leave through a door to wait for classes .
" So I'm going to bear the child ? " " If you don't like we can always use one of those pods to nurture them " Rate thought about the pods which he had experienced " Maybe not " " Well even if we were to have any you'll have to wait after all I don't want to risk you "
Rate wondered what Lily was waiting for and connected the dots " You want to wait for me to become a calamity beast ? " " Hmm yeah that works too that would increase your survivability although I might have to have a stable circulation of nutrition but that'll come naturally "
" Then I'll try to get there" Rate said and left while Lily wondered if bearing a child was something that good for him to be that motivated ' But if he becomes a calamity beast will the lack of death hinder him ? ' Lily was very aware of the necessity of death in everything from one's own body to an ecosystem .
' Maybe I should ask Death ' Lily visits Death " Death I want to ask how necessary death is to a body " " Why are you asking that ? " " Because the mythical beasts are calamity beasts with their bloodline sealed , I'm afraid that their inability to die may cause something to happen "
" Well , shouldn't you ask Life that ? " " Why ? " " Cause she's the more experienced one, she did say that living without dying is painful right ? " " Ohh that makes sense "
" But you should probably be a bit cautious of returning the deaths the reapers have been talking to some of the deaths and they're beginning to talk "
" Then we'll have to do something about that maybe it could be possible for them to cooperate" " You mean like how a familiar interacts with the summoner or tamer ? "
" Sure we can think of it like that " " But if you are worried about the deaths from the mythical beast it's not a complete thing anyways because I'm unfamiliar with it "
" Then I'll call Life , you'll be returning Rate's ability to die to him and the other mythical beast " " Even though it was so hard to separate them , but fine I'll resolve that , but you better have Life by then because it's really hard "
" Then I'll make sure to gather the mythical beast to line up to regain their death , I'll also bring Life to ensure it , maybe I'll even go " " But what will you do " " Read "
...
Lily walked to Melda who had her death returned " So how is it ? " " It's as you have expected it feels like my body is less stiff " " Life did say that death is change , I was a bit too hasty in getting rid of the death glad that you could take it back "
" But it does show us some insights , Frank told me that the world in him feels more active " " Death is necessary for an ecosystem to thrive after all " " Yes but I am aware but it also makes me wonder what other things are necessary in the growth of the world inside us that makes us calamity beast "
Lily thought about her body and said " Variety , the more different your body composition is the more resilient it is , you can think of it as a country whose food supply is sourced from one crop , spreads a disease for that crop and it affects the country but if they have more than one they'll be more resilient to any plagues "
" So that's what it's like " " I diversify my diet but for the world inside you , I'm not very sure how to increase diversity " " I've talked with Rate about your comparison with your body and ours . So maybe you know how to make it more resilient "
" There is one but I doubt it's the right one , my personnel has been studying your blood and traced it to a long line of mythical beasts and found that you are all from a common ancestor " " We do have stories of the first calamity beast , back in our ancestors time it was full of food "
" Were the times simpler and the ecosystem was stable , then civilization came you welcomed it and it slowly didn't end well for you " " That's the gist of it " Death continues to return the deaths while Lily learns more about the calamity beast .
" Here's my solution to your expanding size when you unseal your blood , I've found that my skin is a giant seal so I figured that it could be useful to reduce your size although your hunger is still the same "
" That's still plenty but how do you create this ? " " I happen to stumble upon it I've been thinking of using the blank grimoire to get the knowledge but it is better for me to understand it , plus unlike other traditional seals my skin keeps changing to accommodate the evolution that naturally occurs in my body , so I had to study that too "
" It does seem different from what we are made of " " Only because the way we contain our powers is different , you sealed it so you don't have to deal with it , while I resisted the primal instincts or the embrace of death which caused it to evolve , moreover I've gained resources to feed myself so the speed of evolution is going much faster you may also get to that point too "
" That's assuring " " Now I'll be busy counting some of the sponsored rewards that I got from the sponsors " Melda figured that the key would be one of them " the broken key I got isn't fixed yet but I'll eventually put them together and figure it out and a few of you should be ready to acquire the power "
" You don't have to put that high on the priority list we're still not ready for that kind of power " " I know , that's why I did that training for you guys "
Lily goes back to the glass dome and starts taking out the loot " As per usual Woods you get the super fertilizers " she gives Woods ashes , crushed bones and practically anything found in a compost .
' Although some of these have stranger origins they might turn Woods into a greater will but the real deal is the increased source of food if the forest thrives the herbivores grow and so do the carnivores . But in my territory , it means more food access meaning I could unlock a few of the calamity beasts and they'll be well fed but that won't be fair for the others and it's gonna make them weak '
After giving Woods the sponsor gifts she looks at the broken key ' That distributor did the right move to just gift it to me as it is ' she could tell that the key had some missing components .
' It's much harder to repair because these pieces are important maybe it's possible if I have the key to their world to consult with it but it costs a lot of the debt chain's purchasing power to get something like this maybe I should speed up the evolution development if Birch was with them '
" Argus what is Birch doing right now ? " " He's currently observing and tutoring the fireform while wishing he could do more than one thing at a time " " Cloning him would be a difficult task but it would be nice for him to do things much faster but can't hurry the speed "
Lily thinks of how many keys she'll likely acquire all at once if the evolutionary serum was a success ' I could use the forbidden debt chain to get everything but that may not be as good as I think it would '
" In the end the acquisition of the keys to the exits all rides on the business I'm developing up there , I can have faith in the two mad geniuses when they meet up after a week or so , but what should I do until then ? "
She thinks of the spies and wonders if she should also offer them a last option to immobilize them like the first three descenders ' But then again that won't work as well as I think ' she thinks back to the sages and their divination magic wondering if they had sold it somehow .
' it would be troublesome if they had given it to the descenders they did create a counterspell so that it was impossible to be seen in any of their divination but if I do that the descenders will grow suspicious of why '
She looks at the debt chain on the Labyrinth ' Maybe I should give them a taste of their own medicine , the reason why I shield myself from any divination is that the Labyrinth could potentially see '
She prepared several counterspells and told Birch to execute them on the entire territory " Boss I've been doing a lot of your demands already "
" And I've been giving you want you wanted , research opportunity , plus you're still researching the fireforms and there's even the mythical beast who can turn into calamity beast , I'll get it as soon as the evolution potions are complete and you'd be able to have more plus there are still some deaths and life manifestation which you haven't studied "
Birch imagined the strange lifeforms he was about to learn " I'LL DO MY BEST BOSS " he said filled with enthusiasm ' He'll be extremely excited with them , I'll have to give him one Death to study too maybe it's possible for him to lost his life if he wants '
" But the thing is I found that Death has been awakening the reaper's self and Life has been asking me to do the same for them so how about I extract your life and death while you animate your corpse with your soul , you'll get to keep the life and death manifestation "
" I'll take that offer " " You'll get it after you finish it should take you a week or so to finish the counterspells and the shrinking in total so I'll see you then " Birch was excited to get to that point .
' I'll have to find a new teacher I'm sure the mythical beast can do that ' Lily calls a few people to take care of the education and gets a call from Melda " Are you volunteering to teach ? " " No it's about you siding against the defenders "
" Oh did you tell to the rest of them ? " " Yes they'll eventually also tell the younger ones that but the important thing I want to ask is how much you know about them "
" I know that the descenders have a few corrupt who don't want to come down here to fight essentially like the wealthy refusing to touch a farm because it's dirty "
Lily checks the blank grimoire " And then there are the distributors they essentially power these types of corrupt descenders , they bring any outcast to this world and from what I've heard through my debt chains is that these distributors used to bring people in without anything because they were lacking in forces but soon enough it devolves into a business opportunity "
" So the broken key was something they received as payment ? " " Yes , sometimes this payment goes the other way I just found out who was the one who sent me to this world and what kind of offering they received "
" Then why do they not choose to just leave ? " The blank grimoire turns and reveals a face ' Huh that makes plenty of sense ' " Duarte " " Who ? " " Duarte , he's the person that traps them into this world , it seems like I just happen to have him as my biggest stockholder . Although I'm curious why he doesn't send more outcasts to my place "
" So this Duarte person is the one commanding these distributors " " Yes and it just so happens that they are sending more outcasts to the other candidates " " Is there a reason you haven't allied with them yet ? " Melda asked .
" Nope but it does seem like the two candidates are backup frontlines , they probably decided to create one so they don't have to hold that competition and it seemed like they are taking a while to catch up to the current frontline , so anything else ? "
" No I just want to be more aware of the situation " " I'll tell Argus to give you the briefing if that's what you need " Lily said " Thanks for that " " You're welcome " the call ends and Lily thinks about the payment which the people happily gave away .
She checks on the blank grimoire to understand how the distributors value her evolution potion ' Ohh it's because of the properties when Duarte's wife drank it , it rose the limit of her growth . Guess my body is more amazing than it looks but this thing that Scyan created is amazing too '
"The evolutionary potion was able to evolve anyone towards a direction , it is unlike the current growth potions which take time ." ' I'm surprised they can make it this far without this evolution option , but is it because they are constantly throwing outcasts at the Labyrinth that causes this ? '
Lily checks the loot they handed to her ' The gifts I gave to Woods have been from separate people ' she thinks of her contacts who also benefited from being connected to her .
She checks the information through Indus finding out that he hasn't been involved in the distributors other than selling the excess pieces without any form of awareness ' But it seems like Indus is being pushed to sell more by the distributors maybe I should look for how they do it '
Words appeared writing "The requirements for bringing outcast to this world requires the keys that open a gap and a labyrinth piece to command , this Labyrinth piece is useful in bringing the outcast and bypassing lie detectors"
" Because the Labyrinth did bring them in , it's just that it was them who opened the door . I doubt a single piece is going to be enough right ? " Lily thought that they may have a spell and confirmed it .
' There's no reason for me to get that spell in the first place although I should at least find out what it does ' "The control spell used requires a part of the target as well as how much power the target's piece the user has"
" Huh did you absorb it ? " "Yes , the technique was instantly integrated into the blank grimoire allowing the debt chains' longer reach" ' Interesting I guess the blank grimoire will evolve on its own '
She turns to the debt chains towards the rift kingdom ' It's about time I collect some debts ' Lily seized the debt chains of the rift and rift diver kingdoms and gave it to the blank grimoire . The grimoire erupts spreading its pages linking to one debt chain " Huh a big web "
She turns to the information web of chains and taps a page with a desire for knowledge "Same previously acquired knowledge" " Nothing new then dig further "
"The center of the Labyrinth is where Immortal remains , inside a barrier similar to the one that contains the world and seals the Labyrinth's body and protects Immortal whose body is also made of the same seal formula"
"Immortal is the smallest matryoshka doll , but why ? " "Attempted speaking with the immortal has revealed the Labyrinth's origin as a monster which their ancestors caught, the Labyrinth grew in power and was sealed into this world but also dragged the ancestors and trapped them"
' This is the true history I'll have to share this with Keyly and even promote it as another black text , there could be some potential information leak so I'll have to use the debt chains to restrict it '
Lily continues reading the information "Immortal became the symbol of the rebels due to their straightforward approach to fighting the Labyrinth and the rebel aims to rid the society of its corrupt"
' So the rebels plan to destroy the corrupt first then fight the Labyrinth but why is there that much trust ' "The rebels simply have faith that immortal will prevent the Labyrinth's puppets from completing the key"
Lily stopped and thought about the dynamics ' So that's why they call them rebels , but in the end, these rebels are just two different people , one fights the descenders the other fights the corrupt descenders '
" I'm glad it looks like I'm on all of their sides " Lily chuckled at the irony that all of them believed her to be their ally ' No matter , whether rebel or not I stood to benefit however ' she looked at the text "Immortal's communication has been losing recently and we've been unable to contact them"
She looked at the Labyrinth "The Labyrinth is restricting Immortal from telling anything out by silencing them and closing off any entrances by leaving monsters to guard any entrance to the center"
' In other words , the Labyrinth values that I'm pretending to be by their side but now it's clear enough that the rebels aren't on my side so when they appear I'll be using them any way I like '
Lily watched the debt chain on the Labyrinth grow weaker signifying her paying the Labyrinth for keeping her act of giving it the key confidential and figures out the deadline .
' Don't worry I'll make sure to make it up so for now , I'll search for them ' Lily sends her residents out on an exploration mission in disguise while they search for the rebels .
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