Chapter 471: 469
It was Kain's third day in Saeko's world.
The experiments involving his Untouchable field resumed.
The Seven Deadly Sins consisted of Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, and Lust. During the previous round of experiments, Wrath, Gluttony, and Lust had produced the most obvious effects.
Today's testing had lasted from morning until late afternoon.
The results showed that Pride, Envy, Sloth, and Greed could also be influenced. Unfortunately, their effects were painfully slow.
Kain had to keep the Untouchable field active for an entire day before he could barely amplify the emotions of someone who was already highly susceptible to outside influence.
Several special test subjects were now displaying astonishing reactions.
The subject most susceptible to Wrath had previously turned into a mindless berserker. His current behavior, however, was strangely different.
It was as though he had laid down his weapon and devoted himself to a life of peace.
Every trace of hostility had disappeared from him, replaced by overwhelming compassion.
No, it wasn't compassion.
It was endless shame, remorse, and guilt.
The man seemed to have suddenly awakened from a lifelong delusion. He was so consumed by regret over his past crimes that he began trying to harm himself.
Correction.
Just before doing so, the subject noticed the other test subjects nearby. His gaze immediately turned sinister.
He secretly picked up a blade, concealed it inside his sleeve, and approached the nearest person with a harmless expression.
The instant he entered striking range, he attacked before the other man could react.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The blade plunged into flesh again and again.
"Hahaha! You're all sinners! So am I! Let's repent together and go to hell!"
It appeared as though he had repented and, before ending his own life, wanted to perform one last good deed for the world by taking other criminals with him.
Kain, however, saw through the truth.
The man wasn't trying to make the world a better place. He hadn't developed a genuine sense of justice.
His nature was fundamentally evil, and that nature hadn't changed.
The sudden eruption of unbearable guilt had simply made him afraid of harming innocent people again.
Other evil people were different.
He could continue indulging his bloodlust against them without feeling guilty.
Furthermore, every criminal he killed gradually eased his remorse.
That meant once his guilt dropped below a certain threshold, it would no longer matter whether his victims were good or evil. If his desire to kill and commit violence became strong enough, everyone would become prey.
Before long, the subject was killed by the others working together.
Even so, he took seven or eight people with him before he died.
Entering that state seemed to allow him to unleash astonishing combat power.
No, that wasn't quite right.
His actual strength hadn't changed much. He had simply stopped fearing death, while everyone else still valued their lives and hesitated to confront him directly.
Being unafraid of death didn't mean he felt no pain, either.
His psychological agony far surpassed his physical suffering, all because of the guilt consuming him.
"Repentance? What are you doing this time?"
A slightly tsundere and dissatisfied voice sounded nearby.
Kain glanced sideways and saw Saya approaching, her pink twin tails swaying behind her.
"A reverse experiment."
"A reverse experiment?"
Saya murmured the words before quickly understanding what he meant.
During the previous experiments, Kain had amplified negative emotions and innermost desires.
This time, he had done the opposite. He had suppressed the subject's desires to their lowest possible level while stripping away his other negative emotions.
That made a criminal appear to have become a good person.
However, once the man could no longer ignore the horrors he had committed, the resulting guilt destroyed him anyway.
Huh?
Kain suddenly glanced at Saya, causing her to remember everything that had happened at the villa. Her face immediately turned red, and she glared at him viciously.
When she and Yuriko had awakened, Kain had already disappeared.
That had left Saya both exhausted and annoyed. Part of her had wanted him to remain there until they woke up.
Instead, Shizuka and the others had arrived at the villa while searching for him and discovered mother and daughter in an extremely awkward situation.
Saya knew the others would eventually learn about her complicated relationship with Kain and her mother, but being discovered like that was still mortifying.
"Here. Take this."
"What is it?"
Kain accepted the USB flash drive Saya handed him, looking puzzled.
"Hmph. This genius successfully extracted a simplified version of the Earth Elixir manufacturing technology from the production system on the STC hard drive."
Saya raised her chin proudly.
She had finally managed to reproduce the system's enormous computational model as a smaller, lightweight model.
This reduced version of the pharmaceutical system could also manufacture Earth Elixir.
She had only succeeded in exporting it today.
There was, however, one problem.
The simplified system consumed far more raw materials.
When the original system on the STC hard drive served as the core production program, manufacturing one bottle of Earth Elixir required roughly one-thousandth of the resources consumed by the simplified version.
In other words, producing Earth Elixir with this lightweight system cost a thousand times more resources than using the original.
Saya made sure to warn Kain about that minor issue.
Still, other worlds would finally possess a method of manufacturing Earth Elixir independently. Despite its inefficiency, the system could alleviate an emergency when no other solution existed.
The researchers in this world had also conducted extensive studies on Earth Elixir and produced an improved version.
Whether it could cure a wider range of illnesses remained unknown because they didn't have enough test cases to draw a reliable conclusion.
One improvement, however, was immediately visible.
Its healing speed had increased tenfold.
"Extracting this system wasn't easy. It's almost like the original has built-in anti-piracy protection. This is currently the only copy, so when you give it to someone else, warn them not to mindlessly duplicate it. An unauthorized attempt might cause the program to erase itself."
Even though Saya had exported the simplified system onto an ordinary USB drive, that didn't mean anyone could use it to create unlimited copies.
"Hey, I deserve some of the credit too!"
Another voice eagerly joined the conversation.
Saya clicked her tongue but didn't argue.
Oriha Nashida had indeed helped with the programming, while Shizuka and several others had assisted with the project.
Still, Saya had unquestionably done most of the work.
Her displeasure wasn't caused by Oriha claiming credit.
It was because Oriha had been the first person to barge into the villa that morning.
She had burst straight into the room shared by Saya and Yuriko, giving them no time to compose themselves or conceal the aftermath of their embarrassing role-play.
Oriha had then pounced on Saya with a barrage of teasing questions, turning an already mortifying situation into complete chaos.
Saya still hadn't forgiven her.
"Thank you for everything."
In the blink of an eye, their chaotic farewell party had ended.
They had deliberately concluded the gathering ten hours before Kain's departure. Everyone was worried that exhausting him until the final moment might affect his condition and hinder whatever awaited him after he returned.
That was also why the party had begun so early. Nearly everyone who could attend had come to see him off.
Now, those final ten hours had nearly passed.
"Be careful."
A tender, gentle voice reached Kain's ears.
The purple-haired girl embraced him tightly.
Unless Saeko deliberately told someone, no one in this world would ever learn about Kain's occasional habit of showing her a more mischievous side of himself.
She had asked him not to reveal it.
That was her one request. She wanted that side of him to belong to her alone.
Naturally, Kain had agreed.
The girl before him looked like the very image of a traditional Yamato nadeshiko.
Saeko gently pressed her lips against his, then drew away.
In the next instant, she placed both hands against him and gave him a light push.
Kain's surroundings began to change.
She had personally sent him on his way.
(End of Chapter)
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