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Chapter 78

“It seems to have worked.” I muttered, looking down at Erika.

That was close. I had almost lost her. My experiment could be said to be a failure, and yet she still lived. Her body was covered in what resembled a cocoon or a seed. I could still see her, but she appeared to be in some kind of suspended animation. This was because she was. I used Encapsulation to put her inside a protected layer.

I expected that I’d be able to put her into my Luminal Space. I wasn’t sure if I could put a living person or not, but I was more confident that if I used Encapsulation on her and she was in suspended animation within a cocoon, I could then effectively drop her into that space until I saw fit to remove her. This had ended up being perhaps my first big miscalculation because as soon as I tried to move her into my space, I found that I couldn’t.

I quickly realized that this was because she contained mana. It wasn’t her life force that kept her from entering my inventory, but her conflicting mana. With her unable to enter my space, I waited in horror for the first spatial crack to start to tear her apart. Yet, when it struck, it bounced off of her cocoon without the slightest bit of damage. There was an unpleasant sound like metal scrapping on rock, but there wasn’t a single scratch on the outer surface.

As I watched the cracks that were enough to tear through the defenses of any normal human and render them asunder, I couldn’t help but frown. The only thing I could consider was that Encapsulation would increase her defense considerably. For me, it was always a 50% increase. This shouldn’t have been enough of a defensive boost to save her life. Since I was the one using it, perhaps her Encapsulation gave her the same boost it would have given me.

However, even that much defense shouldn’t have been enough. After all, I had an extremely high defense, and I was still being damaged constantly. The rate was so high at the moment that my HP was decreasing, rather than healing as quickly as it was damaged. The spatial cracks couldn’t damage her in the slightest, and she seemed perfectly safe within that state, while if she received the damage I received, she’d be dead a hundred times over. This caused me to frown a bit. I couldn’t help but look at my status.

Name: Spirit

Evolutionary Form: 10

Evolution Level: 3

Species: Human

HP: 3,994,372,118/3,999,999,900

Stamina: 3,999,999,900/3,999,999,900

Attack: 3,999,999,902

Mana: 3

Defense: 3,999,999,903 (5,999,999,855)

Agility: 3,999,999,902

Skills:

Absorption Skill: Active Diffusion, Endocytosis, Phagocytosis, Pinocytosis,

Attack Skill: Calcification, Electrogenesis, Eutrophication, Phage Tail, Pilli, Water Jet, Spores

Body Modification Skill: Cellular Growth, Cellular Redistribution, Chromatophore, Metamorphosis, Morphology, Shape Modification, Specialization

Buff Skill: Anatomical Separation, Decoupling, Physical Reinforcement, Signal Transduction, Toxins

Crafting Skill: Adhesion, Cohesion, Decomposition, Filtration, Glycosylation, Lysis, Matter Shifting, Transcription

Control Skill: Autobiokinesis, Cloud Control, Differentiation, Externalized Control, Unification

Defense Skill: Apoptosis, Cellular Wall, Encapsulation, Fibrinolysis, Organ Reinforcement

Endurance Skill: Aerobic Respiration, Chemosynthesis, Fermentation, Glycolysis

Experience Skill: Conjugation

Health Skill: Autophagy, Binary Fission, Gastrulation, Growth Factors, Homeostasis, Mitosis, Photosynthesis, Regeneration

Knowledge Skill: Adaption, Nuclear Envelope, Replication, Succession

Language Skill: Translation

Magic Skill: Basic Magic

Movement Skill: Cilia, Dexterous Movement, Flagellum, Pseudopod

Perception Skill: Chemiluminescence, Chemotaxis, Cognitive Senses, Parallel Processing, Photo Sense, Thermoception

Storage Skill: Endocytosis, Exocytosis, Luminal Storage, Selective Permeability, Vacuole

Stealth Skill: Crypsis, L Form Switching

Support Skill: Acidify, Antibodies, Mimicry, Mind Division, Mutation, Mutagenic

My defense was nearly four billion. Presuming she gained my Encapsulation defense, it would only be up by two billion. So, why was she completely unharmed by the spatial cracks, while I was constantly receiving damage? Don’t get me wrong, I had the HP to spare. Even at 10,000 HP a strike and at my current rate, I could last years in this place.

However, if that was the case, the spatial cracks should blow through her defense. She should be receiving far more damage than me, and she didn’t have the massive HP to handle those kinds of strikes. Any way I looked at it, she should have been torn into pieces in front of me. Instead, the spatial cracks were bouncing off her defense and she seemed completely fine. I even tried Encapsulation on myself, and while the damage halved, I was still getting it even with six billion defense. What was the point of having an impossible amount of defense if it didn’t mean anything?

I didn’t know if I should be annoyed or not. I decided to count my blessings so that I didn’t have to watch an innocent girl torn to pieces in front of me. I reached down and picked up her cocoon and then carried her away. I managed to recover her ring and even figured out how to enter the space. It felt a bit different from entering the Luminal Space. It was hard to explain, but a Luminal Space felt like a part of my body, while the inventory was distinctly not part of myself and I felt a bit of foreign feeling entering it.

I quickly identified the book she had taken. The noble had completely overlooked this book, as it was merely a book on alchemy, but Erika seemed to see its value, and it did have the value of being the final piece in the library-sized formation. Once I reached the library, I saw no point in hesitating. I placed the book into its proper position, and with that, I heard a click. The hair on my arms began to rise as I felt mana move and twist from one book to another. It seemed my other half had done well in figuring it out, and a short moment later, there was a rumbling sound.

I had to step aside as the floor lowered down into steps leading to some kind of unknown chamber. I couldn’t help but feel a bit of excitement. After multiple lifetimes living as pond scum, to be on a treasure hunt and even solve a puzzle, it was somewhat invigorating and I found myself not hating this part of being a human again. Looking down at the dormant Erika, I couldn’t help but make a face.

I could leave her there, but I didn’t know how long the Encapsulation would last, and even if she somehow survived with Encapsulation, I didn’t think she would survive outside it. The pair of us headed down the stairway, and the first thing I noticed was that the fog didn’t follow us down, even if it did seem to normally move with gravity. There was some kind of barrier I couldn’t sense that kept the spatial fissure out.

It was rather nice to feel the damage being done to my end. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but it was a continuous prickling that I didn’t even notice how annoying it was until it was gone. I finally reached the bottom of the staircase, and we were in a large room. Unlike the other rooms, this room wasn’t ornate or beautiful. It looked like a dungeon. The air was cold and musty. There was a large stone door blocking my way. I moved up to it and tried to push it open, but despite my considerable strength, the door wouldn’t budge.

“What’s the point of a billion attack if I can’t tear a door from its hinges?” I muttered to myself.

It seemed like this was another puzzle. I had already just gotten done with the last puzzle and already they wanted me to think some more. The other me might be bored, but I was eager to move forward and acquire whatever this place had to acquire. After a few moments of hesitation, I looked down at Erika, and with a sigh I waved my hand, undoing her Encapsulation.

It was another five minutes before her eyes started to flutter open. I was still examining the door, seeing if there was some way I could open it.

“Huh?” I heard her as she slowly sat up, her hand touching her stomach. “I’m healed?”

It seemed like Encapsulation sped up healing as well. That was something I hadn’t realized until after undoing hers. Her eyes naturally fell on me.

“Spirit?” She asked.

I turned toward her. “Erika.”

She stood up, her face turning slightly red. “I thought you were dead.”

“When I was running from that guy, I ended up slipping down these stairs in the library that magically appeared. I hit my head, and when I woke up, there was a strange fog outside.”

I had already thought about how I was going to lie my way out of this situation.

“How did I end up here?” She asked the next expected question.

“The spatial cracks have a pattern to them. I memorized the pattern so that I could move around out there. I found you unconscious and I dragged you back here before a crack could get you.”

There were holes in my story, but I didn’t expect a girl like Erika to think too much about her survival.

“You came back for me…” She looked away. “I left you for dead, but you came for me.”

I shrugged. “My sister would have been unhappy if you died.”

“Ah!” She looked up at me, and then away again. “The secret of the library must open right before the fog arrives. You luckily encountered it, but your pursuer is not so lucky. The noble from before has already escaped, however, given everything, when he returns after the storm ends, I’m not sure there will be any place left that is safe.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“That noble summoned his father. Although he couldn’t find anything of value, you can be sure his father won’t leave it at that. Once the storm is over, he will come and claim whatever treasure is here… and kill any witnesses!”