The Will of a true scientist

She came blasting through the door, panting, her eyes bloodshot and her body sweating, anger and shame dancing across her face in a call of mockery.

Kai looked at her. After confirming where he was, he had used the Party's privilege to share his location with her. It turned out that he was in a hotel room, its rent already paid for the next month under his Code Name. It wasn't even the same building where the man had taken him.

Only half an hour had passed since those events, and yet, Kai felt like ages had come and gone, and waiting for her arrival had done nothing good for the agitation bubbling up inside him.

"Oh, master!" Item-M fell to her knees. "I've failed you. I…"

"I don't think you could've done anything, anyway," Kai told her, sitting on the bed. "Get up and sit on the chair. We have much to cover."

Item-M stood up sluggishly, and when she turned to take the chair, her eyes landed on the waist-high cylindrical glass tank, filled with light green liquid and the curled, charred figure suspended in it. Petyr Baelish was standing near the tank, his eyes gleaming with unseen curiosity. She snapped her head in Kai's direction, her eyes widening in horror.

Today she would learn a new definition of horror, Kai amusingly thought. The events had shaken him, but he was still non-perturbed, for he had a trump card, just waiting for him to use. Alas, when he ordered Petyr to come out, he learned that the character had seen or heard nothing, and had not even felt something odd. He would deal with this situation later.

First, he must see to his Item.

Item-M sat, her head bobbing from Kai to the tank, and then back at him. "I didn't know what happened and how it happened, master," she began, justifying her failure to see the danger beforehand. "One moment you were walking with me, in the other you weren't. You… you just vanished."

Kai sighed, and then told her everything, starting from the man's appearance. This already made her gasp. Item-M seemed horror-stricken, glued to the chair like a pale statue. Her color went from red to white and then gained an unknown shade of purple. Clearly, she didn't know who this person was, Kai reflected.

He continued, now talking about the strange world the man called Limbo, him breaking the Iron Coin, flashy bangs, and then the details of the Deep Ones shared with him. By the time he paused, taking a breath, Item-M's hands were over her face.

Kai didn't give the respite she direly needed. He continued with the second thing the man had come to discuss. The Book. Her head snapped up and she mumbled something incomprehensible, but Kai was almost sure she had unknowingly prayed to Hastur, asking for HIS forgiveness. He didn't blame her. If it wasn't for the D-Mail in his arsenal, he might have been sitting in her place right now too.

Then came the third and most horrific part. Kai took his time to tell her that, taking pauses and not missing any details. The room was so silent that a buzz from a mosquito could have thrown it into shambles. Item-M's eyes were planted on the part between Kai's brows, tears trickling down from her smooth cheeks. The idea of the curse of not getting chosen by any true wand had pushed her beyond the gates of rationality.

Kai smiled. "We still have one option," he told her. "No need to lose hope. The thing is, who was that man? He certainly was from your Temple, and if I am to believe his fiasco of a tale, then there are high chances that he is the older brother from the tale. But all this can easily be nothing but a ruse to just curse me. Who knows? Maybe it was him who perpetrated all this. Seline's foolish actions to leave the safe house, then the child getting kidnapped… It all seems quite a far-fetched coincidence. But if it's not, then…"

Item-M looked up at the ceiling. "I don't know either," she told him, without matching his gaze. "I don't know…"

Kai frowned. "He should be at least a King," he guessed. "There can't be that many Priests above the 15th floor of the level of Kings…"

She looked down, and Kai's heart skipped a beat. A supreme, frightful expression was on her face that he could've never believed Item-M could even show. Even when he had mentioned the Deep Ones, her face hadn't looked so… so lost.

"When I reached the 13th floor," she said, airily, "we were told about the full structure of the Temple on the 5th Set. We were also told that there is only one devotee above the 5th Set with the power to match the Kings, and who acts as an overseer of the entire Temple and a go-between the Emperor and the Temple too."

"Then certainly…"

"No." The refusal in Item-M's tone shocked Kai. "The man you met couldn't be this devotee, master. That devotee is named the Grand Seer. And… the Grand Seer is a woman."

Kai's mouth opened, but words seemed to have left him. A woman? Only one woman of the level of Kings. Then was he… No. Kai bluntly rejected his conjecture. He derisively laughed at himself for even having such a thought.

That man couldn't be from the 7th Set, Kai told himself. Never. Never…

And yet, Kai remembered the manners of the man, his speech, and his gait. His single eye had suggested it could look down on even the empire when the man had talked about it.

The claws of fear gripped his heart. A chill burst out from his chest, and Selene took shape, her scaly body slithering around Kai's shoulder. She flicked out her tongue, kissing his chin, the weight of her white figure pinning him down to reality.

No. He could not afford to let himself be washed away by these absurd thoughts. He must not. The peak of the Absolute Power was too high, yes. So what if he had taken just a peek at it? At least… now he knew what creatures he would deal with on the slope below this peak, didn't he?

His hand went for Selene's and he patted her, running his fingers across the length of her long, lean body.

-Keep quiet- he hissed, worrying about her insane ravings. He neither had the time nor the patience to deal with them. Not right now.

"Nothing makes sense," Item-M grumbled, clutching her head. "I can't recall anything about these Deep Ones, so I can't confirm if the things he… he had told you were true or false. I don't know about this strange curse, so I can't do anything about it, and I've never heard the name Conqueror before, either. Nor do I know anything substantial about the Hao family. I've never thought that even after being a 13th-floor fallen Contestant, I would fail to serve you, master."

Kai could feel her emotions. The touch of self-loathing in her voice was so strong that it felt tangible. Given her age and experience, it wasn't expected of her. But, because of the Soul-Blood Oath, Kai knew what truly pained her. It was one of the statements the man had told him, and it was eating her from within.

'You did well not taking her virginity. It was promised to HIM.' Such were the words spoken casually by that man. But now, if they were to take him seriously, these words had sealed Item-M's fate. She couldn't go back to the Temple, and even though she believed in Hastur, her loyalty to Kai wouldn't allow her to have her heart in those prayers. For over 50 years, she had devoted herself to the service of the Temple, and now that she had broken off from them, she couldn't even live her life as she desired.

He couldn't have her like this, Kai reasoned. She was his strongest Item, even more than the Book in a sense if he were to account for her experience and knowledge. He was no psychologist, but even then he could tell that if this goes on, she would lose a part of her ferocity, courage, and daring attitude forever.

"You worry too much," he told her, laughing. "It was nothing but an odd bump in our life that was bound to come later, if not sooner. By the time I am done with it, you wouldn't even remember it and I would have to tell you it all over again."

Kai's brusqueness and casual tone contrasted the dark aura lingering within the room. Item-M gaped at him. "You mean…"

Kai nodded. His hand flicked, and an ancient-looking black book appeared in his hands, its title etched on the cover in odd but fascinatingly complex runes. The Tales of Beedle the Bard had finally upgraded, and Kai couldn't help but grin as he looked at it.

An Item that even an Old One desired. Now that made him feel proud, giving a true meaning to the risks he had taken in his Initiation Mission. Sure, the Book had its own issues when it came to the Thousand Tale Parasite, but power without a price was not something Kai would ever have with open arms.

Kai brought out the Item upgrade Notification for the pleasure of his eyes again.

[

Congratulations Contestant Kai Stormborn

Your Item is upgraded to the next Grade

Item: The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Original)

Grade: Common (Growth - 3/5)

Specification: An anthology of magical tales handwritten by Beedle the Bard

Requirement:

1. Worth 80

2. A Glitch

3. Extreme Emotion

4. Presence of Characters

Attributes:

1. Store Magical Tales

2. Current Status: 8

Skill: The Song of History

Effect:

1. In the presence of Characters, automatically write a tale about them

2. Proximity required: 8 ft

3. The Contestant must say the true name if multiple characters are present

4. The depth of the written tale depends on the current grade.

5. The tale can be expanded by repeating the procedure with the upgraded Item

Skill: Thousand Tales Parasite

Effect:

1. Devour tales to upgrade itself

2. Automatically writes a Hidden-Tale of the Contestant.

3. When the Hidden-Tale is completed, devour the Contestant's memories

4. When opened, the Item gains an intention, rejecting an unworthy tale

Skill: Primordial Theater

Effect:

1. Imbue life to the magical tales.

2. The Characters within the tale come alive and can be used by the Contestant

3. The Contestant can imbue life in two characters simultaneously

4. Each ACT will have a Cooldown of 24 hours

5. The strength of the Characters depends on the tale's completion-status

6. Each tale and its Characters have their requirements and limitations

Quality: 100%

]

At one glance, no one in their right mind could say that the Item has upgraded. The requirements had become harsher, and the proximity he needed from the characters had decreased. Yes, he could call out two characters simultaneously, but this felt more like an elaborate plan of the Book to goad him into having as many characters around him as possible. He wouldn't be surprised if this limit were to increase further with the next upgrade.

But the two most drastic changes were the ones that had caught Kai's attention.

First, now he needed to devour just two more tales to upgrade the Book. Second, the Cooldown. The former was an obvious advantage, but Kai felt conflicted about the latter.

This upgrade of the Tales of Beedle the Bard felt less like growth and more like pruning.

Nevertheless, Kai could count the number of times he had thought of using the ACTs back to back on the fingers of his one hand. More often than not, he could only use one ACT before losing the power to use another one. Now that he thought about it, this Cooldown felt more like a restriction for the newly gained tale than for anything else.

Yet, the moment he thought about the word "restriction", another sentence popped up in his mind unannounced.

'In restriction lies freedom.'

Kai shook his head, and took a deep breath, concentrating on his emotions. With one snap, he threw the book open to the latest tale. The tale of insane scientist Hououin Kyouma in large computer typeface letters was written at the top.

This was his trump card. His salvation. His counter.

Come on, he thought, beaming. Part the curtains of your Primordial Theater. Now.

"El. Psy. Congroo." - words rang out, crossing the smoky veil. [AN: Hououin Kyouma's catchphrase]

The lanky figure of Rintaro Okabe walked out, wearing his long, white lab coat and holding a red-black flip mobile against his right ear. His short black hair was pushed back, and there was the faintest hint of stubble on his chin. The moment his golden eyes landed on Kai, he shut the mobile, putting it in the pocket of his coat, and threw his hands across himself.

"I am the mad, insane scientist Hououin… Kyouma! Muahahaha!"

Kai gawked at him.

"The God of Science has divined. From now on, I am Lab Member 001…" Okabe spun, standing at his place, and pointed his finger at Item-M. "I declare you Lab Member 002, Ms. Virgin."

Item-M blushed, color rising to her pale cheeks.

Then the young scientist pointed at Petyr. "And you are Lab Member 003, Mr. Finger."

At last, Okabe looked at Kai again and bowed sarcastically. "We bow to Lab Member 000, Mr. Storm."

Kai couldn't believe it. Item-M had repeatedly told him about the eccentric and delusional manner of this character, and those fits of maniacal laughter. Yet, the reality of having a scientist like Okabe trapped in such a body with those unique traits hit heavily on Kai's thoughts.

It was then Okabe noticed the tank behind Petyr's figure, making him spring towards it.

"An animated life suspension mechanism!" Okabe cried. "Who did this?!"

Kai narrowed his eyes, thinking whether the young scientist had truly figured out the true mechanism of the tank or if it was just another random string of words.

Suddenly, Okabe gasped, and Kai almost jumped to his feet.

"What happened?!" Kai asked, preparing himself to burst out with strength.

"It's them!" Okabe cried, pointing at the cylindrical tank. He took out the flip mobile, flicked it open, and put it against his ear again. "The organization has attacked again. I repeat, the organization has attacked. One more innocent life now hangs between the doors of…"

Kai heard the nonsensical rant and fumed. On the other side, the corner of Item-M's mouth twitched, and Petyr didn't hold himself back either, laughing out loud.

In just a few moments, the tense atmosphere had been turned upside-down.

"D-Mail," said Kai, begrudgingly sitting down. He did notice that Item-M was giggling under her breath, and couldn't help but think that this weirdo's presence wasn't all bad for the group.

Okabe paused, looked over his shoulder at Kai, and came running towards him. "Message?" he asked, now showing uncanny professionalism. "And the number of days."

"Don't come to the planned station," Kai told Okabe. "Remove the spaces if it's over 36 bytes. Set it for 1 day."

Kai didn't like it. That he couldn't control the actual number of hours troubled him. By now, he had already figured out that Blood Prophecy failed because of the Primordial Tower. Whenever he had neared the time limit of the mission completion, it had failed to work. That's why it didn't work within the Tower as well. And he had shared these details with Item-M on the train.

So, he was worried if the D-Mail would go back into the Random World or not, as one day ago, he was in the World of Game of Thrones.

"Hahaha! That's 28 Bytes, Mr. Storm," Okabe shouted. "I am adding the word 'loopyloo' at the end to make it 36 bytes."

'Why?!' Kai made a face but thought better than speaking of it.

"Done." Okabe cried.

Kai smiled, closed his eyes, and waited. Nothing happened.

He opened his eyes and found Okabe looking at him with a wry smile flashing across his thin face.

"I meant I am done typing," he told Kai, looking away. "OK. I am it sending now."

A click sound reverberated, small and sharp. Kai's eyes were glued to the mobile. Okabe tore his eyes off the mobile and looked at Kai. Then he pressed the send button again.

Again and again.

"It's not working," the scientist said meekly. "Oh, no! The organization has hacked it finally. I must delete my browser history."

Kai lunged at the lunatic. "Give it to me!" he shouted, his hands wrapping around the phone. But no matter how much he pulled it, he couldn't take the mobile out of Okabe's hands.

"Let it go!" Kai shouted, his anger exploding, and his heart thumping like the hooves of thousands of horses beating against the solid ground.

"I am trying!" Okabe snapped back. "Mr. Storm, it's the organization. Ms. Virgin, Mr. Finger, Help! They must be coming. Hide the tank."

The muscles on Kai's hand bulged, and he tugged so hard at the mobile that both he and Okabe went tumbling down on the floor. Send it. Send the fucking mail. Words bombarded Kai's mind like a chant.

A hand landed on his shoulder, light but firm.

He looked back and found Petyr looking at him, his smile gone.

"Accept it, my lord."

Kai didn't know what he was trying to imply. So, Petyr repeated. "Accept that the ACT can't be played."

Kai snapped. "No. The ACT can't fail."

"It hasn't failed, my lord," Petyr said, the sly smile returning to his face. "When Blood Prophecy had failed, even then it had consumed your HP. Accept it."

Kai's grip loosened, and hope abandoned him like a traitorous friend.

He never lacked in extreme emotions and opening the Book whenever he wanted was a testament to that. He also didn't lack the Will to Defy. Focus Punch had proved it for him.

Yet, it was the thing that Kai had taken so much pride in that had failed him now.

All his life, Kai had considered himself a scientist.

Then why couldn't he meet the ACT's requirement?

Kai felt lost, thinking that he… the son of two greatest scientists, lacked the Will of a true scientist.

How could he ever accept it?

**********

AN: Relevant images are available on Discord