“Here you are, sir.” A young kitsune woman said as she guided James into the laboratory that they had set aside for him. Given the varied nature of his research, there was a wide array of different devices arranged for him. Everything was neat and new, and James couldn’t find a speck of dust in the entire room.
“Nice.” He smiled happily as he observed the lab. The devices were honestly a little bit below the standard he was used to in his world, as he had focused far more on technology. However, this was the first time that someone else had prepared a lab for him. Usually, it would just be him ordering whatever equipment he needed.
“If you require anything else, don’t hesitate to ask.” The kitsune guide smiled towards him, finding him far more agreeable than she at first expected.
“Research assistants.” James said with a firm nod, catching the woman by surprise.
“Are you sure, sir? I don’t believe that we have any researchers at a level where they would be able to provide you enough assistance in your fields…”
There was a rather difficult expression on the young woman’s face, but James shook his head. “Then I’ll just have to teach them. I don’t mind if they come from other worlds, as well. As long as they are passionate about learning.”
The kitsune woman chuckled slightly. “Sir, we are servants of Udona, the Goddess of Education. If I were to limit the criteria to simply being passionate about learning, this lab would surely not be large enough.”
James blinked slightly at that, holding his chin. “Okay… researchers that have personally made advancements in either genetic manipulation or energy configurations. That should narrow down the pool quite a lot. And, if there are still too many, ask them to bring samples of their work, and I’ll judge the best five to join me. Race, age and gender don’t matter, so long as they are able to meet the main criteria.”
“Understood. I’ll send the message through the Towers. The news should reach every world within two days, and you should have your applicants within a week.” After saying that, the woman offered a faint bow, turning to leave and carry out this task. In a way, she had been assigned to be James’ attendant, and given full authority to fulfill his requests so long as they were within the law.
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“Hmm?” A certain female elf looked down at her communication crystal, seeing that she had an incoming call. Grasping the crystal firmly, she injected a bit of mana into it to activate it. “Yes, Bors? Is this important? I was just about to start a new experiment.”
The man on the other end, an elderly elven male, chuckled dryly. “If I couldn’t call you when you were about to start an experiment, I’m afraid we’d never be able to speak. But yes, this is quite important. I believe I’ve found a rare opportunity for you.”
“Did you get the dragon scales I asked for?” The elf’s eyes sparkled as she asked that, causing Bors to clear his throat.
“Ahem… no, not that. I assume you haven’t been watching the news lately?”
“Why would I?” She shrugged her shoulders, far less interested now that she knew he wasn’t calling about the items that she had requested previously.
“Well, there is a new figure that appeared within Deckan. He is looking for research assistants specializing in ‘energy configuration’. Apparently, his research is being directly aided by the crown.”
Though his words seemed impressive, the elven woman still did not seem interested, looking at him passively before he added on… “This is also a direct acquaintance of the Keeper, confirmed by Lady Tsubaki herself. Furthermore, the report says that his theoretical knowledge should surpass that of this world by at least a hundred years.”
“Lead with that, next time!” She said with a flustered tone, already leaving her office to rush towards her bedroom. “This is Deckan… should I pack for warm weather? Is he accepting elves, or do I need a disguise? Are there any special requirements I should know about?”
The fact that this man was directly associated with the Keeper meant that he would have access to whatever research materials he required, no matter how rare they were. Dragon scales? She could get the crystal fragments of a living meteor if she needed it! As for his theoretical knowledge… she would have to test that herself.
“He’s only accepting those that have made achievements for themselves already, and requires you to bring a sample of your work. You have three days to make it to Deckan, at which point he will judge the samples to select five assistants.”
“So I’ve gotta bring my best work, huh?” She glanced towards the crystal ball in the corner of her room, swirling with silver and yellow mist. This energy was her latest and greatest achievement in the field of energy configurations, and she was confident that nobody would have created something like it yet.
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Within the beastkin lands, a small electronics store was being used as the base for a meeting. Numerous beastkin of different races were idly chatting before a felyn with bright red hair jumped up onto the counter. “Alright, everyone, quiet down!”
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When she shouted out, the murmur of the crowd stopped. Her eyes scanned seriously over the group before a smile spread over her face. “Good. Now, I assume everyone’s heard the news?”
Rather than answering out loud and causing another stir, everyone simply nodded their heads. “Good.” The felyn shopkeeper said again, her smiling becoming brighter. “Today, we’ll be selecting someone to send and join this research lab.”
Understanding the fundamental laws behind different energy systems had always been one of the core principles behind this group, so it was no wonder that they were jumping at this chance. “We’ll be conducting a vote on who to send. The elders within every city have arranged for the vote to be held online. Tonight, at midnight our time, connect to the virtual forum. Everyone should be familiar with the process by now.”
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“Eh? There were this many people?” A week had already passed since James put out his announcement, and he was led to a large conference room of over two dozen people. Among them were kitsune, humans, beastkin, even dwarves. At the far end was a single… robot? He had heard about the golem race, but never met one himself.
“How many of them are genetics experts?” James asked, looking towards the kitsune woman that had once again acted as his guide.
She cleared her throat in response, glancing away guiltily. “There are no published articles about genetic manipulation, so we didn’t include that criteria in the advertisement. Everyone here has come for the research on energy configurations.”
James’ shoulders slumped when he heard that, shaking his head sullenly. His dream of a nine-tailed fox race seemed to be getting further and further away. “Okay… everyone, present your energy sample. If you have it stored internally, just circulate it. I’ll take care of the rest.”
As he said that, he spread his energy through the room, using it to detect the smallest details of his would-be assistants. Most of the gathered candidates retrieved items from their storage spaces, whether they were glass orbs, paper talismans, or even sealed jars. Others stood where they were, as strange lights and mists gathered along their bodies.
Like I thought, a lot of them overlap… He noticed that several of the energies had the same identity, simply stored differently. There were three necromantic auras, and six people that were using a mix of ki, mana, and spiritual energy that felt like needles under his detection power.
These nine were directly eliminated, asked to leave first due to the fact that none of them brought something truly unique to the table. Of the ones left… James pointed to five of them. Two kitsune, an elf, the lone golem of the group, and a lycan. “You five pass.”
In truth, there were others that he wanted to recruit as well, but the lab would already be fairly cramped with seven people. Internally, James was already counting Chelsea as one of his research assistants, regardless of the fact that she had just been born.
Everyone else left with sullen expressions, complaining about a wasted trip. Meanwhile, it was the elf that passed who actually stepped forward with a curious gaze. “Sir, may I ask, what method did you use to conduct this test? You didn’t seem to do anything more than give us each a passing glance.”
He didn’t expect the one to ask this sort of question to be one who he had already chosen to pass, but the pace of the rejected parties slowed down a bit to hear his answer. “Your energy is a mix of all four base types through a peculiar process. Where I’m from, it’s known as Transference Mist, and its primary ability is to copy and paste enchantments from one item to another.”
“Unfortunately, you haven’t discovered the means of storing the energy within the body yet, so you can only channel it through this crystal ball in your hands. This reduces the usability of the energy to less than ten percent, as it is difficult to wield such a thing in battle without causing mishaps.”
Then, he pointed to the golem. “You have quite the interesting energy. At first, it appeared to be purely mana, but I noticed a thin thread of spiritual energy inside of it. From its arrangement, it seemed to be an energy with some awareness, but requires a high level of control to input directions.”
After that was the human. “Your mix of ki and natural energy reached the third layer, directly condensing the power of space as your element. Although it seemed to be the most ordinary of the group at first glance, it is actually one of the more complicated combinations. If I’m not wrong, you condensed and dispersed elemental ki dozens of times before you noticed this trace of energy being left behind in your pathways.”
Finally, he pointed to the two kitsune. “As for you two, your energies perfectly compliment one another. You must have trained together. One of you condensed a light-based energy made of natural energy, mana, and ki, while the other condensed a darkness-based energy with a similar formula, only replacing the mana with spiritual energy. When the two of you work together, it should create what I know as the Destructive Balance energy.”
James accurately pointed out the characteristics of the five chosen energy types, even explaining the applications for those he did not have a name for. Seeing this, everyone was left dumbfounded. Those who had been dismissed already were left with no other means to protest the decision, seeing that he clearly had been able to see through their characteristics as well.
The elf was the first to recover, a new glint in her eyes as she stared at James. With just his explanation, she had confirmed that his knowledge was on an entirely different level from theirs’. Even for her, if she analyzed a completed energy, she would need to spend weeks to theorize its uses without practical experimentation. Yet he had done so with only a glance. She could already assume that he had some sort of detection ability that they weren’t able to sense, but that only made her more excited.
“No further questions, sir!” She called out with the widest grin she could ever recall. Internally, she was thanking her friend for telling her about this chance, as it was perhaps the greatest opportunity for her to pursue her passions.
James nodded, waiting for the rest to leave. “From now on, all of you drop the ‘sir’ talk. I’m James, and that’s it. We’ll be working together for a while, so let’s all do our best at getting along.”
In truth, James was quite pleased with his selection. The fact that one of the participants had an energy he had never seen was already enough to make him feel that this was worthwhile. Even though his worlds did not specialize in energy cultivation, the four fundamental energies did still exist. They were merely harvested and analyzed through scientific means, so they very rarely grew to the same level as a world focused on that field.