Kyon understood what had happened. Spatial objects had an expiration date. When it expired, its contents erupted outward in a stormy stream. It must be the way things had happened here. The spatial object fell apart from old age and scattered the heritage all over the room, destroying it forever.Kyon quickly pulled himself together.
«Juno, pick up all the whole nephrites in a leather bag. Don"t touch them or it will be like last time. If you hide something, I"ll kick your a.s.s.»
Juno shuddered and shook her head. «I had no intention, master! Why are they scattered? What if the tomb locks up?! I don"t want to get stuck in the same room with you again!»
«A little less talk, and a lot more action.» - Kyon snapped casually.
Juno sadly took out a flashlight from her spatial earring and started collecting dusty b.a.l.l.s scattered everywhere, carefully, without touching them. Last time, a sphere like this nearly killed her and her a.s.sistant.
Meanwhile, Kyon came up with an idea. The looter died instantly, after taking a couple of steps.
{Was it a poison that killed him? Or a technique?} - He would never know.
Kyon carefully examined the skeleton for signs of damage. Nothing. Suddenly he saw a sphere in the pelvic area covered with a thick layer of dust. He blew it off and saw an ideally smooth black ball 1 cm in diameter (like any other key.)
All nephrites were greenish and often translucent. He would never confuse them with anything else.
Kyon slapped himself on the forehead: {Of course! Why didn"t I think of that before?}
He had found the missing puzzle piece and could see the chronology of the events: a powerful man (no less) arrived in the tomb and put the heritage into his spatial object. When he touched the black sphere, it gnawed the way to his intestines and killed him. In a twist of bad luck, the weakened stranger could not get out either because of the pain shock, or an injury or because another trap got activated.
{What are the chances of finding a key of the same nature?!} - The last key of the light had almost destroyed Kyon. It also gave him in return a 50% increase in his attribute of light and a vague feature that he discovered in the battle with Tsayan. Could an object of a similar nature but inherent to the darkness judging by the black color be in the tomb nearby?! Apparently, they were somehow connected with each other or it would be impossible to find them. This planet was huge, indeed. These two tombs must have belonged to the people who know each other well and owned similar treasuries. Most likely... But what it all have to do with the key of mind that had materialized in this place?
{Theoretically speaking, if the scientists wanted to send me here, they would use a kind of beacon to protect me from endless wandering in deep s.p.a.ce. Okay, then what does the dark ball have to do with it all?}
Suddenly, Kyon had an idea. Synergy had an insignificant physical potential. It had simply copied the properties of this sphere-scarab! It solved the question of how it would get inside the person"s brain, who touched it to enslave their soul.
Synergy had formed into a similar ball on its own and waited for someone to touch it. It all added up, almost certainly. It was typical of his masters who always calculated a maximum of scenarios: how he would he get into a body and capture it, how he would appear on a life-friendly planet, how he would gain an advantage for himself.
{Bingo!} - Kyon rejoiced at his hunch. If he had missed something, it was not that important. At least now, he was convinced that he was not in a super-powerful simulation. It was too complicated, with a terrible start, designed to prove the contrary. But he still couldn"t understand why they had sent him here.
Kyon looked at the sphere and swallowed. As soon as he touched it, this little ball would crawl into his guts and gobble up his key of darkness... Moreover, he would experience excruciating pain, all for the sake of a 50% gain of the attribute of darkness!
{f.u.c.k... Motherf.u.c.kers!} - Still feeling resentful, Kyon carefully wrapped the sphere in a rag and tried to put it in the ring. However, nothing came of it!
{Uhm... Only souls and other spatial objects cannot be put into the pockets between the worlds, right?} - Kyon was slightly confused. Either the Stone library was extremely lacking knowledge, or the sphere (like the one in his heart) was something unique and inimitable.
He confirmed his guess about the nature of the sphere once again. However, the thought of forthcoming torments for the sake of enhancing his power killed the mood.
Kyon put the sphere in the bag and then in his pocket. He would upgrade his key of darkness at a more convenient time.
Juno sneezed a couple of times. «Eww! I hate dusty tombs! Master, all the nephritis are destroyed... Maybe we should to Boston before it"s too late?»
«We"ll have to spend the night in the mine. You will feel the local atmosphere and the spirit of adventure. Perhaps you"ll become a slave herself. Although... You are already a slave! Ha ha ha!» - Kyon laughed.
«I"m your student, among other things!» - Juno protested.
«I like your optimism.»
«Master!» - Juno stomped her leg and continued to work with a displeased look. The subjugating formation on her forehead had taken all of her willpower. She was above all his slave, hardly a student. The master did not really teach her anything. The only thing he showed her was how to feel beaten and humiliated. The patriarch"s granddaughter learned to lose! However, losing to this monster wasn"t a shame.
She went on collecting nephrites, casting angry looks at the a.s.sistant who was sitting on the tombstone.
{Get yourself hemorrhoids, lazy b.a.s.t.a.r.d lazy!}
Juno was fuming with anger, but she also wondered why her a.s.sistant was so lucky? And was it luck at all? Come to think of it, he came here purposefully... Did fortune play any role here? Back then, in the other tomb under the estate, he had opened the pa.s.sage in a minute. It was obviously some kind of trick!
{I"m sure it"s something else! I want to find out my a.s.sistant"s secret!} - Juno"s curiosity had consumed the girl her again entirely and completely. She began to think of the ways how to find the answers. What could she offer him apart from ma.s.sage, which, by the way, was getting better and better.
Soon Juno had gathered every nephrite in the room.
The couple safely left the cave without any danger on their way.
It was getting dark outside, and they decided to spend the night in the mine. They were allocated a VIP room each.
The luxurious room surprised Kyon. It had fitted carpets, upholstered furniture, high-quality lighting. Even a window was carved in the wall with a mountain view! It was unexpected a seedy mine with slaves.
Juno settled in the next room.
After a pretty decent dinner, Kyon took out the black sphere and laid it on the carpet. He swallowed nervously.
He could tolerate severe pain, and he knew too well how terrible it could be. Once the masters gave him a pain test. It was close to burning his brain. His psychological trauma healed in about a minute after that. But the memory stayed with him...
It was a mental trap, so he decided to postpone the process of rupturing his intestines, followed by the infernal pain in his soul and all over his body. Kyon gathered the nephrites that Judi had picked up and began to look for the intact ones.
Among several hundred of them, only one looked solid. It had only a couple of microscopic cracks.
He infused it with his pure energy but received no information about the technique it contained. He knew nothing about its nature or its direction. Absolutely nothing. The microcracks must have destroyed it forever. He had to study it by trial and error method, having no idea which element it belonged to.
He added some more pure energy. It condensed into a white mist and entered through his nose. A bundle of neural connections appeared in his mind. Everything went as usual.
Kyon took out some sheets of paper and began to make a drawing of military weapons, without even using special tools. Each detail had strict parameters, following which he could recreate the weapon. He would need these drawings later.
After a couple of hours, Kyon released the attribute of darkness and light, just in case (he could see the difference later.) Finally, he braced himself for his next move. He undressed to his underpants, swallowed a couple of pills, spread some healing ointment on his stomach and touched the sphere with it to minimize the way the sphere would gnaw to his guts.
«А-а-аh! f.u.c.k! Holy s.h.i.+t!» - Kyon cursed the moment the little black ball dug into his flesh like a gluttonous scarab.
He raised his pain threshold to the maximum possible, and it got a bit better. However, as soon as the slow, voracious sphere began to devour the key of darkness, it hurt as if every cell in the body was being torn apart.
The sphere released the energy that flew into the channel to rearrange it. The h.e.l.lish pain was unbearable.
Kyon put himself in a state of coma and blacked out. According to his calculations, the new key would take 16 hours to fit it like it did the last time. But he did not take into account one important detail...
Juno, who was in the next room, suddenly opened her bright s.h.i.+ny eyes. A piercing pain was devouring her to the bone. The dumbfounded girl let out soft moans, unable to scream.
The only rational thought flashed in the back of her consciousness: the master was in pain, and it was being transmitted to her soul!
The trembling girl fell out of the bed and crawled to the furthest wall. Her Instinct told her to move away from the source of pain.
It seemed like an eternity. To overcome these meters was the most difficult task in all her life. The connection with the boy finally broke near the far wall. The painful torture instantly stopped.
Juno broke out in cold sweat. Her once mischievous eyes turned red, her face was puffy from crying. She had wet herself and was s.h.i.+vering.
{Is he... dying?} - Juno embraced herself. She couldn"t come to her senses for a long time. She added another riddle to her collection of questions without an answer. What happened to the master in the next room?
In some moments, Juno pa.s.sed out, exhausted. She slept soundly ten long hours. Then she woke up.
{Was it a dream?! Or .. Did my a.s.sistant die?} - Juno touched her forehead. The formation was still active. Kyon was still alive... She felt relieved, hurt absolutely confused. What the heck?!
She stepped cautiously forward but did not feel the pain. She cleaned herself up and went to her a.s.sistant"s room, where she was surprised to see Kyon still sleeping in his underpants.
{I do not understand! Why is he half-naked?!} - Juno approached the boy and examined his body. She didn"t see any flaws or damage. His sculpted muscles and peaceful caused a strange feeling in her chest. It was far from romantic. She wanted to hit him hard for yesterday! Best of all, with a stake to the heart... She had never experienced such severe pain! Where did it come from? The b.a.s.t.a.r.d was a riddle wrapped up in an enigma! When the h.e.l.l would he start answering her questions?! Juno could not stand it anymore!
«Wake up, you freak!» - She growled like a wild cat.
Kyon opened his eyes with a start and sat up. {Only ten hours?} - He saw the angry girl and understood everything.
«Did it hurt?»
«You"re a monster! I almost died!»
«Worse than losing your virginity?"
«What?!» - Juno looked down reflexively, then turned her fierce eyes to the boy. – «Stop talking nonsense! Why did you hurt?! Why do I feel what you feel?! Explain everything now!»
Kyon stood thoughtful.
«Speak!» - Juno said with icy disdain.
«First of all, mind your manners. Second, don"t you dare to command me or I will punish you. And third, I won"t tell you a d.a.m.n thing.» - Kyon smiled maliciously.
Juno got angry. But she quickly calmed down and came up with an idea.
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«What can I do so that you answer my questions?»
Kyon snorted. «Kiss me on the lips so that I am pleased.»
«Uhm!» - Juno looked staggered.
«And mind you... It"s not my desire. It"s only the fact that you can"t do it. A kind of test from your master. If you can step over yourself, your teacher will reward you for your efforts.» - Kyon added.
Juno was speechless. Kiss him and get the answers? On her own? On the lips?
Juno hated the jerk more and more. She wished she could scratch his complacent face...
«I"d better…» - She didn"t finish her sentence, turned around and left the room proudly.
Kyon grinned insidiously. Torturing her with curiosity was new to him! Judging by the hatred Juno emanated, he got an excellent result! His dark core had made a whole turn. Not much, but still nice!
Kyon sat on the bed and released the attribute of darkness. The dark fog let out intense gloominess that could change anyone"s mood. He instantly felt that the attribute had upgraded to the advanced grade. Its power increased by 50%.
{Wait… Not 50%, it"s 55%!} – Kyon closed his eyes and a.n.a.lyzed what he was feeling with Synergy. It is never mistaken!
Kyon released the attribute of light. {This, too?! Why did the attribute of light become more powerful than the original by 5%?!}
After he upgraded the key of darkness, both keys had increased by 55% in quality. The treasure he had found was unreasonably powerful! He had never read about such a thing. Would he ever find more? Was the increase by 60% even possible? Or even more... How to upgrade the attribute to the superior grade? He wouldn"t have to spend a week to master it, would he? There was no point in this anymore...
{Maybe it"s all about my unique body? It must have united them. It"s based on darkness and light, after all... And the cycle of the creation.}
Kyon could speculate forever, but he would never know the truth. But he knew for sure that no unique body offered any upgrade at the beginning of its development. None but his!
Firstly, his spiritual senses had enhanced. He could feel better when someone released elements. He could sense souls more developed than his own. Usually, it never happened. Pract.i.tioners couldn"t determine the development of a soul if the adversary was stronger than them.
Secondly, Kyon had learned to feel strong negative emotions. The sixth sense! Or even the seventh... This world was f.u.c.king complicated. When Juno was holding him tight on the way to the mine, he could feel a faint cold sensation of danger that the guards emanated. It was akin to a mosquito flying three meters away.
It would be cool to be able to predict his enemy"s intentions! All talented pract.i.tioners could do it... But those in the base phase?! No way! They weren"t supposed to! And even more so, it was impossible to feel the intentions of the pract.i.tioners who were THREE phases higher in development!