Chapter 194 - Chicken
Lena straightened up, focusing on her wings to keep her stable in the air without tumbling to the floor. She could feel the ancestral spirits watching her, waiting for her to explain herself.
So she did.
"I like magic," Lena said simply. "I like to kill. And blood makes me shiver in excitement."
She wasn’t lying. Not even a little bit. Those were genuinely things she enjoyed about Masteria. The combat, the spell casting, the visceral satisfaction of winning a fight. All of it resonated with something deep inside her.
The ancestral spirits went quiet for a moment, their presences pulling back slightly as they conferred among themselves in hushed voices.
Lena could hear fragments of their conversation echoing through the steel chamber.
"...seems to be the case, doesn’t it?"
"...finally... a worthy pixie..."
"...how long has it been since the last one?"
"...years... maybe three? Probably not that long..."
"...doesn’t matter... this one is different..."
The spirits were excited. The way they spoke in hushed voices suggested they’d been waiting for something like this for a very long time.
Finally, they had a pixie worthy of being tested.
It had been years since anyone had made it past their initial screening. Most pixies who entered the vault were immediately rejected and destroyed. They lacked the qualities the ancestors valued. They were too weak, too stupid, or too cowardly.
This one, though. This Lena. She was different.
One of the spirits spoke up, addressing the group rather than Lena. "We’re not sure if she’s a Pixie. Is that alright?"
"Obviously," another spirit replied. "That’s what makes her such a good pixie."
It wasn’t a conversation that made sense. But they spoke on.
"Evolution!" a third spirit added sagely.
That comment received a couple nods and rounds of agreement.
Another chimed in. "Exactly. Something about species changing over time. We heard about that from the humans when we were alive. That must be what happened here. A new variant developing."
They turned their attention back to Lena, one of them speaking directly to her. "What was your name again, young one?"
"Lena." she replied.
"Lena. Good. Remember that, everyone. We’re testing Lena now."
The ancestral spirits gathered together, and all stared at Lena.
"We will now begin the trials," Maent’s voice announced formally. "You will answer our questions truthfully and demonstrate your worthiness to inherit our legacy."
Lena nodded, her expression a bit more serious now. Not too serious that she was suspicious, but enough to let them know she was at least thinking.
"First trial," Maent continued. "Tell us, what must the pixie race do to advance? How do we ensure the future strength of our kind?"
Lena didn’t even hesitate.
"The pixie race must be selective about reproduction," she began. "We need to identify superior genetic traits and ensure they’re passed down while preventing inferior traits from contaminating the bloodline."
The spirits listened intently.
"Strength, intelligence, magical aptitude, these are the qualities that matter," Lena continued. "Pixies who lack these qualities shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce. Their genes would weaken future generations."
"We need a systematic approach. We should evaluate every pixie based on objective measurements of power. Those who fall below the threshold get sterilized. Those who exceed it are encouraged to have as many offspring as possible with other superior pixies."
One of the ancestral spirits made a noise of approval.
Lena kept going. "Furthermore, we should eliminate the weak before they can become a burden on resources. A culling of the useless every generation would ensure only the strongest survive to maturity."
"And crossbreeding," she added. "When pixies mate with other species, it should only be with the absolute strongest members of those species. No exceptions. Diluting pixie blood with inferior genes from weak humans or fairies is counterproductive."
She was reciting almost word for word specific doctrines from Earth. Eugenics. Sure, most humans would react in disgust.
But to the pixie spirits, it made perfect sense.
Of course inferior pixies shouldn’t reproduce. Of course only the superior ones should pass on their genes. Why would you ever do it any other way?
The ancestral spirits were nodding along, a grin on their spectral faces while they radiated satisfaction.
Lena decided to emphasize her point even further. "That’s why I personally plan to mate extensively with a human and have tons of kids!"
The spirits continued nodding enthusiastically. Then they stopped.
"Wait," one of them said slowly. "A human? Singular? Not multiple humans?"
They turned their full attention back to Lena, confused. "You said ’a human.’ Not ’humans.’ Just one?"
Lena felt a brief flash of panic. Had she made a mistake? Was claiming to have a single dedicated mate somehow wrong by pixie standards?
They asked her directly. "Explain. What did you mean?"
Lena was gambling now. If they had curses that could verify her statements, she needed to tell a truth that sounded impressive.
She suddenly blurted out, "Hey ancestors! Use your powers to prove me right! My mate fought one of the Dark One’s elite guards and survived!"
The spirits froze.
Complete silence filled the vault.
The Dark One? They certainly didn’t expect to hear that name here. The Dark One’s elite guards... even the weakest of them was stronger than any of them had ever been in life.
They didn’t speak.
They simply acted.
A curse immediately activated, ancient magic flowing through the chamber and wrapping around Lena. A vision materialized in the air before them.
The image was hazy at first, then sharpened into clarity. It showed a frozen wasteland, ice and snow stretching in every direction. In the center of the vision stood Lumi, his wand raised, facing off against a void black armored figure floating in the air.
An Elite Guard of the Dark One.
The vision barely lasted two seconds. Yet those two seconds were more than enough to show that the two were indeed in conflict.
The vision faded away, leaving the ancestral spirits in stunned silence.
Then, slowly, smiles began to grow on all of their faces.
See, the pixie spirits interpreted the situation in a very specific way.
To them, this meant that Lena had successfully deceived a powerful human who was at least at the start of Fourth Rank, potentially even higher.
Not just deceived him casually, but deceived him thoroughly enough to make her his dedicated mate.
And according to what Lena had said about having "tons of kids," this human was apparently devoted enough to father multiple children with her.
Perfect.
Absolutely perfect.
A pixie’s greatest weapon was never their magic or their claws. It was their words. The ability to use language not to communicate honestly, but to deceive and manipulate to get what they wanted.
And Lena had just demonstrated mastery of that art by securing a Fourth Rank human as her personal breeding partner.
The first trial was passed. Flawlessly.
"Excellent!" Maent’s voice rang out with genuine pride. "You understand what it means to be a true pixie! Deception as an art form, using your wits to claim power far beyond what your current strength should allow!"
The other spirits chimed in with their own approval.
"Magnificent!"
"She really is the future of our race!"
"We were right to test her!"
One of the spirits spoke up. "On to the second trial, then!"
Another spirit paused. "The second trial. Right. What was that again?"
A silence rang out for a couple seconds. Whether they were all senile fools or simply pixies being pixies was up to debate, but the reality was, they really had forgotten.
"I... don’t remember."
"Me neither."
"Wasn’t it something about combat prowess?"
"No, that was the third trial."
"Are you sure?"
"I think so? Maybe?"
Once more, they fell silent for a bit. Lena stood there as if nothing was wrong. She didn’t speak, she didn’t move. She stared onwards as if she wasn’t part of this. And thus, they also ignored her as they got sidetracked.
"How long have we been here guarding this vault?"
"Centuries, probably."
"The trials were established when we first created the vault."
"Right, but what were they exactly?"
"I remember the first one. That was definitely about the future of the pixie race."
"But the rest..."
"Meh. Whatever. We’ll make one up."
The spirits turned their attention back to Lena, examining her carefully.
They weren’t sure they even wanted to give more trials at this point.
She’d already proven herself worthy. She understood pixie philosophy, demonstrated ruthless pragmatism, secured a powerful mate through deception, and showed ambition to strengthen the bloodline.
What more did they need to know?
One of the spirits randomly blurted out the first question that came to mind. "What’s your favorite food?"
Lena didn’t miss a beat. "Hearts!"
The spirits went quiet for a moment.
Well.
Alright then.
See, the casual question had actually been a hidden tactic, just to see if she’d give a pixie-like answer without preparation or thinking too hard. Just to reverify if she was a pixie.
And she had given a correct answer.
"Hearts" was definitely a pixie answer. Violent, visceral, showing a preference for the most vital part of a kill.
And though the curse magic couldn’t be used to directly spot a lie or truth, it was obvious at a glance that she wasn’t lying. She genuinely enjoyed eating hearts.
Perfect.
As for how Lena managed to answer truthfully without being a psychopath...
She liked chicken heart soup. It was a real dish. People made it on Earth all the time.