by N. Heller
"Where is that golden-haired woman?" Irezumi glanced around the room. "Is she holding you three hostages? Do you need my help to get rid of her?"
"Do you think you can take on Magus alone? No offense buddy, but I think you're a little bit way over your head."
Lin Sanjiu was torn between laugh and cry when she had the thought. She said, "That's not necessary. We're just taking shelter in here for a while… Don't worry; this won't interfere with our next trial."
Since Irezumi had busted their guise, Qing Jiuliu had reverted to his usual sloven self. Like a sloth, he dawdled to a couch nearby and slouched himself into it. Then, he said, in the same lazy manner, "Ah, this feels so good… Tell us the next trial when you get the news. We have plenty of time to wait."
Irezumi snorted. Clearly, he still couldn't come around after being deceived by them. He folded his arms in front of his c.h.e.s.t and glanced from one of the three to another with his yellowish serpentine eyes, "...The next trial has come up. I'm here to inform you the details."
Lin Sanjiu instantly pulled a long face.
"Ugh, I don't have time for all these trials right now—"
"After the last Consular Officer has died, we've asked one of our colleague that's going back to the Twelve World Centrum to bring the news to the organization. The organization had sent us a new Consular Officer a few days ago." When he said until this point, an angry look suddenly dawned on his face, "Then you know what? He's dead! We haven't even seen him, and he's dead! Don't you think it's weird?"
The moment those words were spoken, Lin Sanjiu suddenly heard that Ji Shanqing gulped.
Slowly, she turned and stared at the grand prize.
…She had almost forgotten something.
Ji Shanqing had been posing as a Consular Officer a few days ago…
"I have no idea why all the Consular Officers have such bad luck… In short, there are two things you guys need to do in the second trial. First is locate a Consular Officer in this world, and second, find the culprit that killed the new Consular Officer. After all, the organization isn't a pushover. We will pay back in double for those who have offended us." Irezumi sighed. After that, he glared at the three and warned them, "You guys have done a pretty good job in the first trial, so keep up the pace. We're going to win this time too. I'm telling you this because the other arbiter has found himself a few more capable candidates."
If it weren't for Irezumi, Lin Sanjiu would have buried her face into her palm and sighed.
Qing Jiuliu suddenly saw the light when he looked at the expression on Lin Sanjiu and Ji Shanqing. He put on a fake smile and promised Irezumi that they would try their best effort to make up for what they had done wrong in the previous trial. Perhaps Irezumi was happy with his attitude, he gave some more advice to them and left through the broken window.
The moment he left, Qing Jiuliu turned around to face the two at his back and narrowed his eyes, "...Let me guess. You two again?"
Crestfallen, the tall woman didn't know what to say. She jabbed at Ji Shanqing and said, "...Explain it yourself."
"I have nothing to say, but I'm not the murderer." The grand prize grumbled morosely, "...When I got there, he was already in his death throes on the side of the road, and he looked nothing different from a dead body. I walked forward to see whether I could save him, then I saw the sigil on his wrist. Only then did I realize he was a Consular Officer."
Ji Shanqing cleared his throat and gave Lin Sanjiu a surreptitious gaze before continuing, "He had nothing left on his body aside from the sigil. I guess somebody had raided him for good before my arrival. I know he couldn't be rescued anymore… And then I thought about you, sis. In order to leave a clue to you, I decided to use his identity."
"... What kind of lousy plot is this? If such a plot appears multiple times in a script, that scriptwriter must have lost his touch," Qing Jiuliu said with tongue in cheek. The alcoholic drink in the bottle dropped by a little bit.
"You know—oh, nevermind, you don't know," Ji Shanqing glanced at Qing Jiuliu. He still had no idea what's the purpose of keeping this kind of person in the team. He shut his mouth and swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue back into his stomach.
However, Lin Sanjiu knew what was he going to say. Ji Shanqing was a unique specimen. He could absorb the Evolving Ability of the person he last killed and merge it with his current ability to form a new ability. In other words, when he killed the Consular Officer, he should have attained the ability of that Consular Officer.
Lin Sanjiu sighed inwardly. Ji Shanqing had been so obedient after they had left the Starry Carnival Amus.e.m.e.nt Park, following her here and there without making any fuss. She had almost forgotten that he had possibly killed many people in the Mirror Maze.
After she had explained to Qing Jiuliu, she turned back to the grand prize and asked, "So, what is your ability now?"
"After [Economic Bubbles] and [Consular Officer] have merged," blinking his pair of innocent pitch-black eyes, he poured everything out, "...the [Spumous Visa] was formed. I can issue visas like any other Consular Officers, and I don't doubt that my visa actually works. It's just they couldn't last very long… When the time is up, the visa will disappear like bubbles."
Lin Sanjiu was at lost of what should she say. There's only one thought in her mind right now, "No wonder Magus would abduct you with her gunny!"
Chapter 474 - A Master And Her Three Servants
Lin Sanjiu felt that the life of the next few days was even more challenging than the fight with Irezumi alone.
Even though they were in an era of apocalypse, Magus remained persistent in living the best quality out of her life.
She wanted her bed sheet changed every day. The rug on the floor had to be cleaned and vacuumed on a daily basis. She wanted no hair in her bathroom, not even a single strand. She had a long list of requirements regarding the air freshener to be used in her room: air freshener with synthetic fragrance was off limit; only light perfume and fresh flower were allowed, and they needed to be changed every day.
It wasn't hard to find some light perfume, but that wasn't the case for fresh flowers. Since they were clueless of where to find some fresh flowers, Lin Sanjiu just plucked a green bristlegrass and threw it under Magus' bed with the mind hoping that Magus wouldn't one day bend down to look for her earring under her bed.
Aside from Magus' room, Lin Sanjiu had to clean the other room that contained Magus' hostages. After all, with so many people cramped inside a room without any sunlight, Lin Sanjiu was confident that their room would soon be permeated with a musty smell if she didn't clean it. When she queried Magus why would she collect so many human specimens, the latter just lifted her chin and threw Lin Sanjiu a sidelong glance, "For you to ask this question, I can assume that you have no idea how useful they are. Anyway, if you couldn't get yourself some living human specimen, perhaps you may collect some dead bodies? It would do the trick too."
Lin Sanjiu nodded in assent, though she had only a hazy notion of the whole idea. Lin Sanjiu allowed her curiosity to set in as she mulled over what Magus had said. Then, she moved on to her next battlefield—the kitchen. Although Magus didn't request them to prepare her three meals per day, she would ask them to cook her lunch or dinner now and then.
Speaking of which, Lin Sanjiu felt a little bit strange.
Truth to be told, Lin Sanjiu's cooking skill was even worse than Ji Shanqing's, but the silver lining was that Magus wasn't a picky eater. It was just whenever Lin Sanjiu sent her meal into her room, Magus would return the meal to her not long after. Every time, there weren't any noticeable reduction in the dishes. It appeared to her that Magus was playing with the foods rather than eating the meal. Nevertheless, Magus was always able to pinpoint out a few of her slip-ups she made in the kitchen such as the fish that wasn't cooked thoroughly or that she had used too much salt.
There were too many varieties of requests and demands from Magus. Aside from cleaning the rooms, Lin Sanjiu had to manicure her
nails, iron her clothes, polish her shoes, and so forth. After she had done all those errands, she realized, with great surprise, that she hadn't had time to take care of her [School of Higher Consciousness] and that segment of foreign cells. At the same time as Lin Sanjiu was overwhelmed by all kinds of domestic drudgeries, the other three people were pretty occupied with the task in their hands as well.
"Four of a kind, bomb!" Qing Jiuliu exclaimed. He threw the cards in his hand into the ring and huffed at the slip of paper that dangled from his forehead, "Oh yeah! Finally! It's my turn to win!"
Ji Shanqing lifted his head. He was about to speak but said nothing in the end. He returned the king on his hand back to his deck.
Qing Jiuliu blinked his eyes, as he had smelled something fishy from Magus' smile. He turned his head to see that Lin Sanjiu was standing at his back, with her arms crossed in front of her c.h.e.s.t, and her face was overcast with fury.
"... Smoking, drinking, gambling, you really know how to enjoy your life in the most hedonistic way huh."
"Eh-he-he-he, just a mini-game to cheer up the team's morale."
"Cut the crap! Take the broom and clean that room," Lin Sanjiu said as she lassoed a broom from the corner with her bone tail and stuffed it into Qing Jiuliu's embrace. Then, she turned to look at Ji Shanqing. Her final bit of compassion and love for her grand prize had crumbled away at this moment, "You, throw on the apron, and start to prepare the meal."
Ji Shanqing and Qing Jiuliu looked at each other. Both of them said nothing and went to do their bidding.
"Well, good riddance you're here," Magus drawled. She threw her deck of cards on the table and rested her chin on her palm, "...I was going to lose this round anyway. Look, all are numbers."
"Magus," Lin Sanjiu found herself a seat and pushed away all the cards, "When should I begin to activate my Higher Consciousness?"
Magus lit up a slim cigarette and set it in between her fingers, "Has your Evolved Ability recovered yet?"
Lin Sanjiu thought for a while before laying her palm open. She concentrated her mind and, with some struggle, a contour of a card was slowly blinking into existence on her palm. Not wanting to give up, she fed the figure with more of her Higher Consciousness, after which the card took form and finally appeared on top of her hand.
"This ability of yours is such a perfect match to cheat on a card game," Magus' eyes glowed. She smiled, "...Hmm, so you can use your Higher Consciousness now?"
"Yes, I can use my ability, but I still can't open my [School of Higher Consciousness]." She opened her eyes and said, but her voice was laced with disappointment.
"Oh? That's weird." Magus replied as she exhaled a ring of smoke from her mouth.
As the white smoke twirled around her face, she narrowed her eyes. Her long eyelashes cast a shadow on her pewter irises. Her aged face wasn't flawless, yet the very air around her that exuded her true feminine charm had a mysterious power that had Lin Sanjiu glued her eyes on her. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't tear her gaze away from her.
"Hey," Magus snapped her finger, cutting into Lin Sanjiu's thought. She jerked up and sat as stiff as a ramrod.
"Your Higher Consciousness is weak." She slumped into the chair, using her slender body to create a graceful curve. "It's such a miracle that you can escape from the astral plane."
"Why? What makes you say that?"
"I have to start from the foundation," Magus gathered up her golden hair behind her ear and said nonchalantly. "Do you know the reason why there are so many posthuman, yet only a few of them have Higher Consciousness?"
Lin Sanjiu shook her head. She didn't know why.
"The Potential Growth Value is what constitutes a posthuman. And all posthuman needed Potential Growth Value to further develop their abilities. You should know that, right?"
"Great, so I don't have to start from zero. That'll save us an eon of time," Magus said. "Just like building a house on top of a substructure, the development of an Evolved Ability is premised on the Potential Growth Value. However, it isn't the same for Higher Consciousness. In other quarters, Higher Consciousness is not an Evolved Ability."
"It isn't?" Lin Sanjiu asked, her mouth gaped wide in surprise like a giant black hole.
"Close your mouth, that makes you look less like an idiot. Higher Consciousness has realized the Potential Growth Value, making it into a power that draws energy from your willpower, your psyche, and your mind. Although both Higher Consciousness and Evolved Ability feed on the same source, the former is a whole new system," Magus said, keeping her frown, "For instance, you plan to build a house on a foundation, then somebody comes along and took away the foundation you have made and used the rebar to make something else… Of course, it's not going to bear any fruitful outcome. Hence, posthuman with low Potential Growth Value can never develop Higher Consciousness."
"In other words, it's easier for growth type posthuman to form Higher Consciousness?"
"That's right; you're a pretty quick learner. Although the growth of Potential Growth Value in growth type posthuman is rather sluggish, it's still growing anyway. Hence, all growth type posthuman will and must be able to develop Higher Consciousness in the end. It's just a matter of time. But there is this rare group of human, as scarce as hen's teeth, that are loved by God. They are naturally born with a limitless amount of Potential Growth Value. For example, me."
"Limitless? What do you mean by limitless?"
"1,972," Magus retained her level-headedness even though she was swanking about, "... It's considered a rare specimen for an ordinary posthuman to start with 150 Potential Growth Value."
"1,972?! Well, somebody is even more gifted than you, Luther," Lin Sanjiu gasped as the face of Luther swam into her mind.
"Although it's hard to quantify how much Potential Growth Value a growth type can gain over time, in general, a posthuman can grow around seven to eight points of Potential Growth Value per year," Magus said as she lifted her chin, "... Once you have gotten the first drop of your Higher Consciousness, you can multiply it through various ways. Do you have any experience of this before?"
"Fantastic. Now there are two attributions of Higher Consciousness. One is 'quantity,' and the other is 'quality,'" Magus was a great lecturer. Even though she had an air of insouciance about her, the way she gave her lecture was straight to the point. "One can increase his or her 'quantity' through training. So now, back to your question, you asked what is the benefit of having a large mass of Higher Consciousness, right?
"The amount of your Higher Consciousness determines what kind of ability you can develop.
"To facilitate your understanding, I'll use numbers as an example here. Let's say you have 100 points of Higher Consciousness now. When you have depleted your Higher Consciousness, it can be regenerated to 100 over time. Hence, the maximum consumption rate of the ability generated by your [School of Higher Consciousness] will be capped at 100 points."
Magus stopped at this point and looked at Lin Sanjiu. Only to find that there's a blank expression on the latter's face.
"...You still couldn't get the gist?" She sighed, "Look; if your [Defence Forcefield] consumed 50 points of Higher Consciousness, it could be successfully enacted since you have enough point for it. However, says if one of your ability cost around 120 points of Higher Consciousness. Will you be able to cast that ability? No, right? So here's the thing: the higher the cost, the more powerful is an ability. If you didn't have enough point to cast the ability, it wouldn't produce any effect."
Blinking her eyes, Lin Sanjiu nodded woodenly. Then, she quickly asked, "Then how about 'quality'?"
The moment the question was asked, she felt her body had tilted to one side, then a sense of weightlessness deluged her. Before she could comprehend what had transpired, she was flung, along with her chair, by an invisible force and connected with a meaty smack at the other side of the room. The impact was too huge that even the drawing on the wall shook.
And, Magus didn't ev
en flick a single of her fingers.
When Lin Sanjiu finally had gotten back to her feet from the ground, she asked, with an obvious mark of excitement in her tone, "...How did you manage to do that? What kind of ability was that?"
"That is 'quality,'" Magus threw Lin Sanjiu a grin. "When the 'quality' has upgraded, your Higher Consciousness becomes stronger and more powerful. Your quality is bad and your quantity barely exceeds the borderline of normal. What did you do with your Higher Consciousness when you're not using your abilities such as the [Defence Forcefield]?"
"I… just let it be," Lin Sanjiu answered; her voice was thick with embarrassment.
It seemed that Magus wasn't prepared for this kind of answer as well. Slack-jawed, Magus needed some time to process in her brain before saying, "What a waste."
"So I…"
"That's Higher Consciousness! That's what I used to fling you around!" Magus shook her head and heaved, "When your 'quality' has improved, you can do a lot more things with your Higher Consciousness. Legend has even said that those who have reached the pinnacle of the Higher Consciousness can bring unreal things into existence. Besides, stronger Higher Consciousness can nullify the effect of some abilities that could fiddle with your mind."
Lin Sanjiu suddenly thought of the cat doctor and the souls.
"Quantity and quality would never achieve equilibrium. In another way, you can't have it both way. When you reached a certain point in your development, you have to decide which one of the two you want to specialize—Anyway, it's still a little bit too early for your current level," Magus tapped on the table with her fingernails colored in red. Then, she rose to her feet.
"Then? What should I do next?" Lin Sanjiu exclaimed with an exaggerated exhilaration. She wanted more than enough to train her Higher Consciousness now, "Mrs. Manas is still in her slumber..."
"Simmer down. Although the knowledge I told you is of the essence in Higher Consciousness, it has nothing to do with arousing Mrs. Manas from slumber," Magus said. She stopped in front of Lin Sanjiu and stared straight into the latter's eyes with her pewter irises.