Chapter 96
Several days earlier, inside Laboratory No. 1 of Marshall’s ’Mage Tower’...
Loki lay limply in the experimental chair, feeling as though he were about to return to the Celestial Spirit World ahead of schedule.
Before coming here, he had never imagined Marshall’s experiments might actually endanger his life.
If Loki died while the Celestial Spirit World was still denying him entry, he would genuinely be dead.
Unfortunately, Marshall had never shown the slightest mercy.
Loki felt wronged, he wanted to cry!
But the pride of the Lion King would never permit such weakness!
Only Marshall’s excited voice echoed throughout the laboratory.
"You Celestial Spirits are truly fascinating!"
"Mm."
"Your bodies are formed from the power of the stars, and they bear extremely clear traces of Thought Projection Magic. However, there are also some important differences, especially when it comes to your souls."
"Mm."
"Celestial Spirit souls are completely different from human souls. Completely different."
Marshall’s eyes shone with fascination.
"Human souls feel more... disorderly. Chaotic. Filled with endless possibilities."
"Celestial Spirit souls, however, are extremely orderly, stable, and almost incapable of changing."
"It’s as if everything about you was designed in advance."
"Your souls resemble meticulously written programs—or perhaps magical programs designed to simulate how a soul operates?"
"Mm."
A strange light burned in Marshall’s eyes.
"There’s no doubt about it. You aren’t naturally occurring life-forms. You’re artificial beings."
"Every one of your abilities was established when you were created. That’s why you can become stronger but can’t truly evolve beyond your original design."
"Your very existence is a special form of magic."
"...Impressive, Marshall. You uncovered the secret behind the Celestial Spirits so easily."
Loki’s expression became complicated.
"But..."
He weakly raised his head.
"If that was all you wanted to know, I could’ve simply told you."
"You didn’t need to torment me like this."
"What?!"
Marshall’s head snapped around.
"Why didn’t you say so earlier?!"
"You never asked..."
"..." ×2
The two stared at one another, equally annoyed.
Marshall was furious that Loki had wasted so much of his time.
Loki was furious that the brat had spent days inventing new ways to torture him.
"Forget it. At least the experiments weren’t completely useless."
Marshall crossed his arms.
"I confirmed that even an artificial soul can develop independent thoughts."
"The only true weakness of Celestial Spirits is that your growth ceiling is locked and you can’t evolve on your own."
"Still, you’re already more than powerful enough for most purposes. Whoever created you was incredible."
"I demand that you completely restore my celestial energy!"
Loki pointed indignantly at himself.
"I endured all of that for nothing!"
"Actually, I found a convenient way to replenish your celestial energy."
"What is it?"
"Come out, Lucky!"
Marshall summoned his Canis Minor Celestial Spirit, shoved the small, long-snouted dog into Loki’s arms, then used Link Magic to bind the two of them together.
"See?"
"Whenever I provide Lucky with magic power from now on, you’ll receive a portion of the celestial energy too."
"It’s almost as though you’ve become half of one of my summons."
"Isn’t that far more convenient?"
"...Silver Keys convert magic power less efficiently than Gold Keys."
Loki stared at him.
"Why don’t you link me to Virgo instead?"
"Because you’re filthy."
"Hey! That’s going too far!"
During the month Marshall had been trapped in Edolas, the idle Loki had thoroughly abandoned all restraint.
The bastard was currently dating eighteen women at once.
He was an absolute menace!
Even Gildarts would have to bow before him in defeat.
Fortunately, Loki still understood boundaries and never laid a hand on any of the underage girls in the guild.
Otherwise, Marshall would have personally taught him how to behave like a human being.
Loki raised his dim, faintly translucent arm and sighed.
"Marshall, you know our true bodies remain in the Celestial Spirit World."
"But do you know what those true bodies actually are?"
"No. I’ve never heard any details."
"Of course not. Celestial Spirits don’t casually reveal their secrets."
Loki shrugged.
"Still, it hardly matters if you know. Our true bodies can never leave the Celestial Spirit World."
"Our true forms are... sheets of parchment."
"Parchment?"
"Yes."
"Though whatever animal produced that hide certainly wasn’t an ordinary sheep. The parchment is almost impossible to damage."
"Magical writing inscribed across it records everything about us."
"You were right. The existence of a Celestial Spirit is itself a type of magic."
"Can I see one?"
"No."
Loki answered immediately.
"Our true bodies cannot leave the Celestial Spirit World. Even if we willingly tried to show you, it would be impossible."
"That rule is absolute."
"I see~ Virgo!"
"Did you call for me, Little Master?"
Marshall handed Virgo a magical terminal.
"Virgo, could you take some photographs of your true body and bring them back for me to study?"
"What a perverted request, Little Master."
Virgo looked at him calmly.
"If you continue spending time with Leo, he may corrupt you beyond repair."
"What are you imagining?!"
Marshall’s face darkened.
"I mean your true form as a piece of parchment! Not your physical body!"
"Oh."
Virgo gave Loki a meaningful glance before nodding.
"If that is Little Master’s request, Virgo can only obey."
She disappeared.
It was more than half a day before she returned.
"My apologies, Little Master. Taking the photographs required some time."
"That’s fine. Let me see what your true body looks like~"
Marshall excitedly accepted the terminal and opened the images.
"Extremely ancient magical writing..."
"I’ll probably need to consult Super Archive while studying it before I can understand everything."
"But there’s no question that this is Script Magic."
"So a soul can genuinely be created through written magic?"
He zoomed in on another section.
"[A body shall form when infused with celestial energy...]"
"No wonder Celestial Spirits can’t truly be killed..."
"I understand!"
Marshall’s eyes widened.
"I understand now! So that’s how it works!"
The photographs of Virgo’s parchment were like priceless treasure to him.
His theory had been correct.
A combination of Script Magic and Soul Magic was enough to create a genuine artificial soul.
Once that soul was filled with sufficient magic power, it could generate an entirely new life-form!
The resulting creature wouldn’t be natural, but almost everything about it could be designed by its creator.
Its appearance, abilities, strength, and limitations...
Everything.
For example, Marshall found Smoke Magic interesting but had no desire to learn or use it himself.
He knew that combining Smoke Magic with Poison Magic could create a terrifyingly lethal weapon.
Even if he didn’t want those powers personally, he could simply design a creature that existed solely to wield Smoke and Poison Magic.
Its strength would never surpass Marshall, its creator, but that still meant he could build an extremely useful biological weapon that would never permanently die.
The enormous collection of obscure skills sitting unused in Marshall’s System might finally have found a purpose!
The creator of the Celestial Spirits had probably sealed their true bodies within the Celestial Spirit World because they feared their creations being destroyed.
That was a sensible method of protecting them.
But strictly speaking, a Celestial Spirit’s true body wasn’t the parchment itself.
It was the magical writing inscribed upon the parchment.
Or more precisely, it was the information encoded within those magic-infused words.
The magical text was the real core of their existence.
The parchment was merely a medium used to carry that information.
If those same magical words were copied into a book instead, a Celestial Spirit should theoretically still be born from them.
Then what would happen if Marshall uploaded those life-creating scripts into Super Archive?
What could he create there?
A virtual life-form?
Modern Mages could upload information into Archive Magic, but without sufficient authorization, they couldn’t delete anything already recorded within it.
In other words, anything written into Super Archive was effectively permanent.
If Marshall created a life-form whose core information existed inside Super Archive...
Would it ever be capable of dying?
Marshall desperately wanted to know!
After discovering this mysterious technology, his Inspiration surged wildly.
He became as excited as a child who had found a new toy and immediately began attempting to create his first custom-built life-form.
...
Back in the present...
Marshall stared at the creature standing in front of him.
It was barely two heads tall and didn’t even reach his knee.
It wore a tiny penguin costume and possessed a little face that looked suspiciously similar to Lisanna’s.
Marshall sank into deep thought.
Did this count as success?
"Gugu-gaga!"
"...Little Master."
Virgo stared at the tiny creature.
"Is this the new life-form you created?"
"Yes."
Marshall nodded solemnly.
"She already has a name. Her name is Guga!"
"Gugu-gaga!"
"...What does she do?"
"Nothing."
"?"
"Can she speak?"
"Gugu-gaga!"
Marshall pointed.
"That’s the only thing she can say."
"...Then what abilities does she possess?"
"Uh... None?"
"..."
Virgo fell silent.
For the first time, she began questioning her Little Master’s competence.
Had spending too much time with Leo damaged his mind?