Symphony for the Insect Princess

"...The things he sent were quite interesting. These were indeed made by me. I remember that when I was going to Balbula for something, when I passed through Kasolu, that idiot city lord begged me to make a humanoid based on his dead girlfriend. I just had nothing else to do, so I did it."

"Is this what you created?"

"Yes, although only wreckage remains. I created several androids back then, and I guess most of them were just puppets with flesh and blood. It would be great if there was one that truly had its own consciousness."

As for true success?

Impossible! Impossible!

Oshimir smiled self-deprecatingly.

Using alchemy to create humans—this knowledge, considered taboo by countless people, has a long history. However, from ancient times to the present, no alchemist has ever truly succeeded. The creatures they created are either deformed monsters or mindless puppets, far from being true humans.

Everyone says that Osimer is the only one who can truly create humans through alchemy, but that is not true.

Oshimir, the culmination of all the great achievements of the past and present, had indeed overcome nearly every technological obstacle, but that was all. Successfully creating a human being was no longer a matter of technology, but rather a matter of probability. Of a thousand artificial humans, over nine hundred would be mere flesh, while the remaining dozens would be like the robots on Earth or in Masialo, limited to following specific programs and acting like advanced familiars.

He only had three examples of "closest success," and those three androids did have independent consciousness and minds that were almost identical to those of real people—but they still had flaws. One went insane, and two died within two years of living before their bodies broke down. In the end, they were all failures.

I think the androids he left behind in Kasol, who had not yet fully grown when he left, must have suffered the same fate, right?

At this time-

"teacher!"

The elevator in the corner of the workshop suddenly opened, and an apprentice wearing a gas mask hurried in, completely without any courtesy - this was normal, for alchemists, so-called etiquette and complicated hierarchical relationships would only hinder the pace of seeking knowledge.

"What is it, Apprentice 12?"

"Here, please take a look!"

He held a tightly sealed box in his hand. Oshimir and Assistant No. 6 simultaneously activated the remote analysis device.

"……poisonous?"

"Hey! How can you bring dangerous things into the central workshop?" Assistant No. 6 said dissatisfiedly.

Although there are only a few safe substances in Oshimir's workshop.

"Where did this thing come from?"

"Just sent to the Atlas Building."

"We must have received a lot of random stuff throughout the year, right? Do I have to look at every single one?"

"This... this thing is quite special. After discussion, the Safety and Supervision Department unanimously agreed that it should be brought to you for review! Oh, and by the way, this thing is highly toxic, so absolutely avoid direct skin contact!"

"What is so worthy of such attention..."

Oshimir opened the box and took a closer look.

It's half an arm.

It is fair and slender, so its owner must be a young girl, and a beautiful one at that.

Judging from its temperature, it must have just been separated from the body not long ago.

If an ordinary person received such a horrifying gift, he would be horrified and think it was a prank by a perverted murderer, right?

But Oshimir held his breath for a moment.

The two camera eyes zoomed in sharply.

"This is……"

I picked it up with a robotic arm that was not afraid of the erosion of poisons, looked at it again and again, and the more I looked at it, the more I couldn't let it go.

"This... seems to be made by me? It's simply..."

It's not on the same level as previous works.

"It's not the ingredients or the construction... What is it? What makes it so different?"

Even Oshimir was stunned.

He could tell at a glance that it was made by him, and it must be part of a human he had created, but, but...

It’s just different, completely different from my previous works.

"……life?"

As soon as the words came out, Oshimir woke up from his dream. He grabbed the apprentice's collar like crazy.

"Where did this come from? Who sent it? When? Where? And—"

"Um, um, teacher, here's a note. I received it along with this thing."

The apprentice held out the note, and Oshimir snatched it away.

"..."

After watching it several times...

"Pass my message on. Temporarily lift the security on the outer layer of Atlas."

"Varied--"

"Teacher!? Are you serious?"

"A distinguished guest is coming soon... Haha, I'm really looking forward to it."

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"Oh-oh-"

Qimila's eyes were flashing and she was walking in circles, completely attracted by this strange city.

The entire city is composed of modern buildings, vastly different from the rest of Maya. Between countless tall buildings and on their rooftops, spiraling aerial tracks crisscross the landscape. Carriages shaped like sightseeing cable cars race across the tracks at high speed, ferrying streams of people to various locations throughout the city. The throughput is enormous. These tracks, covering the skies of Okomi, appear chaotic, but in reality, they follow a strict pattern, divided into first, second, and third rings... a truly comprehensive urban transportation system.

"Look, look! There are so many things floating in the air that look like roads! And there are cars running on them!"

"That's the Skyrail, right? Mishra Academy has one too, but..." Sedraon also looked up, "...the academy's Skyrail has a smaller coverage area and breaks down all the time. The technology here is more than ten years ahead."

"Actually, the Skyrail was created by alchemists a long time ago, but it's never been widely adopted. What Okomi is using now is probably an improved version based on the Tedison Protocol v34.71.889. It uses the "Magic Essence" energy source flowing in from the border battlefield, solving the energy consumption problem and achieving almost full automation. And... yes, do you see those Skyrails under construction to the west? They're probably prototypes that have been further improved. Based on the current version, they've added a series of inertia recycling modules, and their energy consumption should have been optimized as well..."

The layman watches the excitement, while the expert watches the details. Aisia couldn't help but talk a lot, but no one was listening except Nellis.

"Ah, the roads are full of streamlined iron boxes. These can't be the popular magic motorcycles out there, right? They definitely aren't carriages..."

"In Okomi, magic motorcycles were completely eliminated fifteen years ago—and, incidentally, horse-drawn carriages were eliminated seven hundred and thirty-six years ago. Since the beginning of cross-border exchanges, land transportation has been upgraded here. These are called 'Cars,' and they're exactly the same as cars on Earth, except that the lower-end products use magic crystals as energy, while the higher-end ones use magic marrow. But as you can see, most of these vehicles here are suspended and wheelless. This helps reduce friction, but the disadvantage is that they're not very agile when turning..."

Asia couldn't help but talk a lot more, and Charlotte had to listen to her with a wry smile... although she didn't understand most of it.

Chapter 144: The Insect Girl and the Saint Girl (Updated today, Happy New Year!)

A long-awaited update! Happy New Year! Give me your monthly tickets! (Escape)

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"Everyone, we've arrived at the quarantine station."

Nellis gave a reminder, and the others immediately became serious.

After all, passing through a quarantine station is a rather serious matter.

As the plague spread, all larger cities set up measures to prevent the plague at various entrances: some cities, such as Kasol, simply set up complex magic circles at the city gates to detect bacteria and viruses; while in world-class cities like Okomi, quarantine stations are equipped with a large number of professional personnel and no mistakes are allowed.

The quarantine station also serves a function similar to customs, and item inspections are also carried out here.

(Pierce, has the meeting gift for Oshimier been sent out?)

(If nothing unexpected happens, the sage should have received it)

(Where’s our luggage? There’s too much stuff in there that would be dangerous if it were found.)

(Already arranged)

(Very good, thank you for your hard work)

What a reliable butler.

"Huh? The people at the quarantine station here are not from the Pantheon?" Qi Mi Laqi said.

Although the Tower of Babel also has a large amount of magic to detect and kill diseases, the Pantheon is generally more proficient in this. Usually, the people guarding the quarantine station are definitely from the local temple, but here they are all alchemists holding unknown instruments.

"It's normal. After all, alchemists are guys who look down on other professions. They must think they are much more reliable than priests~" Sedroon shrugged. Aisia glared at her and was noticed by Sedroon.

"Why are you staring at me? Aren't you the same?"

"Tsk, I can't deny it... And you can tell from that poster."

"poster?"

Following the direction Aisia pointed, several people looked over—

"..."

Nelris' eyes widened slightly, but immediately returned to normal.

Everyone has seen that poster.

There is a girl painted on it.

With beautiful long light brown hair and eyes of the same color, she wears a white dress, her hands clasped in prayer before her chest. In the background, the gods, led by the god of life, Leon, reach out to her with open arms. The overall composition emphasizes both the girl's beauty and purity and the benevolence and majesty of the gods, clearly the work of a renowned artist.

This was the poster the Pantheon had distributed throughout Maya nearly two years ago, promoting their newly crowned Saint, Winnie Lebenhold. This Saint's achievements in combating the plague over the past two years were remarkable, earning her the love of the people of Maya and doubling the number of followers at the Temple of Lean.

However, the poster they saw had been altered.

A large red cross was painted on the saint's face, and the holy light emanating from her body was obscured by dark paint. At the top of the poster, a line of eye-catching words was added: "Miracles are created by humans, not by gods."

This poster alone is enough to illustrate the Alchemist's attitude towards the Pantheon.

Alchemists are atheists, firmly believing that all miracles are the work of humans and that gods are merely foolish superstitions—a belief that completely contradicts all religious beliefs. Not only would they be met with hostility from the Pantheon, which worships every deity in the world, but even the Tower of Babel, which worships the Goddess of Magic, and the Knights of the War God, who worship the God of War, would never treat them well. This is perhaps the fundamental reason why alchemists never get along well with other professions.

Because of this, the city of alchemists will not allow people from the Pantheon to sneak in, and the quarantine station naturally only employs alchemists.

This is just a small episode.

The crowd slowly moved forward, and the group gradually approached the quarantine station.

"Nell?"

"What's the matter, Charlotte?"

"You..." Charlotte hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "Do you know the Saint?"

Nelris tilted her head.

"That's a stupid question. It would be strange if you didn't know the famous Saint Winnie Lebenhold."

"You know very well that this is not the understanding I'm talking about."

"...Well, let's just say we know each other."

All of a sudden, several people who had been eavesdropping with their ears perked up came over.

In fact, every one of them was curious about Nyrlis, because she rarely talked about her past. Aside from the fact that she was originally a noble of the Kingdom of Aaron, that she had killed all her relatives for the sake of the great secret treasure, and that she had no father or mother, they knew almost nothing about her.

"Hey, hey, hey, you really do know a lot of important people, right?"

"What is your relationship with Miss Saint? I'm very curious!"

"I'm a little concerned..."

Faced with everyone's questioning - even a housekeeper sneaked over - Nelris frowned. Normally, she hardly showed her emotions except when acting, so just "frown" was very fresh to others.

"It's okay to talk about it, Winnie Lebenhold. For the time being... you can consider her my friend, right? And a childhood playmate."

"Hey hey hey hey hey hey I'm not the only one of Nier's friends!?" ← Qimila

"Yo~~~~ I didn't expect that our big sister is actually having an affair with the saint~~ Awesome!"←Sedroon

"An unexpected answer that makes sense...if you think about it carefully, it's not surprising at all" ← Charlotte

"Damn Saint..." ←Asia

"Are you satisfied? Then—"

"——Excuse me, is this Miss Nellis Zelah?"

Just as they were passing the quarantine station, several people wearing strange gas masks stopped them, interrupting others from asking further questions.

"I am, you must be..."

"Apprentice of the Sage of All Skills, our teacher is waiting for you. Please follow us."

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