We continued chatting about future ns as we made our way to Faye’s workshop.


    …Only to find Faye on the verge of being vited by writhing tentacles.


    “Hyaaaah! Junior! Save me! Help me! It’s out of control—hngh! Not there!”


    “……”


    What… what in the world is this?


    I knew the Eurelia Continent was a fantasy world, but I never expected to encounter a tentacle monster. For a moment, my brain stalled.


    However, my body moved reflexively. I drew my staff and aimed it at the tentacles holding Faye upside-down by her ankle.


    Just as I was about to cast a spell—


    “Wait! Fire magic is a no-go, Junior. Can you use ice or wind magic instead? Just cut the parts holding me!”


    “…Excuse me?”


    “If you burn them, there’ll be no sample left!”


    “……”


    Even in this situation, you’re worrying about samples…?


    I sighed, marveling at her dedication to alchemy, and cast Wind Cutter.


    <em>Swish.</em>


    Thankfully, the tentacles weren’t particrly durable and were cleanly severed.


    Naturally, Faye, who had been hanging, began to fall, but I dashed forward and caught her.


    “Ugh-ack!”


    …This led to a minor issue where Faye, upside-down, ended up face-first against my groin and let out a weird noise.


    But in the end, I managed to save her and put some distance between us.


    Since Faye had insisted she needed a sample, I refrained from delivering another strike and observed the creature instead.


    “…It’s quieter than I expected.”


    The creature was massive, taking up nearly half the workshop, but it didn’t move from its spot. I couldn’t tell if it was unable to or simply unwilling.


    Though it grabbed anything nearby and hoisted it up, it didn’t destroy anything, merely shaking its catch.


    Judging by its ability to lift heavy equipment effortlessly, it wasn’tcking strength.


    With her skirt flipped up entirely, revealing white panties, I asked Faye,


    “What were you trying to make with that thing, Senior Faye?”


    “…It’s weird to talk to me while the wind blows there. Fix me properly, and I’ll tell you.”


    You sure are demanding.


    I adjusted her posture, flipping her upright, though not before her chest smacked my face. Annoyed, I kept holding her close as I asked again.


    “So? What’s that thing supposed to be, Senior Faye?”


    “Ugh… Is it because we haven’t seen each other in a while? Something feels different about you…”


    “I’ll talk about myselfter. Exin that thing first.”


    “Ah, right. You were asking what that is?”


    Faye, herrge chest pressing against me, exhaled triumphantly, ignoring the fact that her face was partially buried against mine.


    “Hehehehe. That’s my chimera… though it’s a failed one.”


    “What?”


    So it was a chimera.


    In that case, I needed to subdue it quickly before it caused more trouble. If it spiraled out of controlter, we’d end up responsible.


    It didn’t look particrly aggressive, but its sheer size was a concern. I couldn’t risk blowing up the workshop, so instead of a single intermediate spell, I prepared multiple low-level spells simultaneously.


    A dozen or so simple magic circles floated in the air.


    My increased control over magic allowed me to maintain multiple spells without interference, making simultaneous casting of low-level spells possible.


    I aimed carefully, waiting for the right moment, then unleashed the magic.


    “Wind Cutter!”


    <em>Swishhh!</em>


    Countless invisible des sliced through the air, severing the writhing tentacles.


    <em>Thud.</em>


    The dismembered tentacles fell to the floor, wriggling briefly before going still.


    Finally, onest Wind Cutter pierced the creature’s core.


    <em>Squelch.</em>


    With a sound of tearing flesh, the chimera ceased moving entirely. I watched it carefully, but it showed no signs of reanimating.


    Seeing this, Faye kicked her legs and shouted,


    “Junior, put me down! I need to salvage what I can before it starts dposing!”


    “You’ll give me a proper exnation after cleaning this up, right?”


    “Of course! Once you hear it, you’ll definitely like it, Junior!”


    What’s she so confident about? Don’t tell me she made a life-sized—no, never mind.


    <hr>


    In conclusion, Faye was right—I did find it interesting. No, it wasn’t a life-sized onahole.


    “So, chimeras of the God of Tainted Unity are created by forciblybining individual strengths through divine power. Like grafting the strength of a bear with the flexibility of a cat. Normally, this would be impossible becausebining traits naturally introduces side effects. If you add strengths, you get weaknesses too. That’s why divine power is necessary—the corrupt alchemists working for the God of Tainted Unity rely on it to eliminate drawbacks.”


    “Uh-huh.”


    “But I wondered—does it really have to be divine power? Couldn’t youbine only the strengths without divine power? What’s the mechanism behind divine power anyway? Does it suppress drawbacks? Does it absorb the cost like a buff? Would it stop working if the power runs out?”


    “That makes sense…”


    “Why do drawbacks ur in the first ce whenbining traits from different organisms? Even humans can have adverse reactions when mixing blood types, though vampires can assimte any blood without issue. ording to Professor Iona, vampires don’t ingest the blood itself but absorb the mana or soul remnants within it. That realization gave me an idea!”


    “What idea…?”


    Faye continued, perched on myp amid the chaotic remains of her workshop. With nowhere else to sit, she had settled there and was now enthusiastically exining her theory, eyes sparkling.


    I had only asked what the tentacle creature was for—how did ite to this?


    The others, who had initially listened attentively, had long since lost interest and averted their gazes.


    Only I remained, nodding mechanically and responding with empty phrases as Faye prattled on.


    It definitely wasn’t because her chest, which she kept fidgeting with, made it impossible to ignore her. Nope.


    Grasping and estimating the weight of the soft flesh in my hands, I gave it a brief shake.


    As Faye passionately exined her ideas, still in my grip, her expression shifted to one of realization—like a sage who had just uncovered the truth.


    “The important part isn’t how strong the creature is or how stable the synthesis is. What matters is understanding the mechanisms behind each trait and designing a way to fuse them seamlessly without conflict!”


    “…Excuse me?”


    Did I just hear something insane?


    She wasn’t just talking about synthesizing stronger monsters or animals—she was talking about designing creatures from scratch.


    Even Iris, who had been trying to follow along, tilted her head in confusion at Faye’s unfamiliar and radical im.


    But it wasn’t because Iriscked understanding. It was simply a matter of familiarity with the concept.


    To me, as someone from Earth, ideas like gically modified organisms or designer babies weren’t new. We’d even watched movies or had debates about them in school.


    However, in this world, such ideas were either nonexistent or dismissed as theoretical impossibilities.


    Did Faye actually achieve this…?


    Realizing the gravity of Faye’s words, Iris shot to her feet, her petite frame—simr in height to Faye’s butcking in certain areas—trembling in shock.


    “Are you saying… you didn’t justbine existing creatures but created a new one from nothing?!”


    “Now that you mention it, I’ve never seen or heard of a creature like that tentacle monster before.”


    Looking at the quickly dposing chimera—though its dposition was slower than other failed chimeras—I nodded.


    “Eh…? No, not at all. I just created a specific tissue for a particr function. That thing ended up like that because the differentiation process went haywire.”


    Ah. So we jumped to the wrong conclusion.


    “What was it supposed to be, then?”


    “I was trying to make an ideal muscle—firm yet flexible, with individual fibers coiled like springs to produce immense force rtive to its size.”


    “…And what were you nning to do with such a thing?”


    “I was going to use it in a chimera to create a super-strong familiar… but it’s harder than I thought. If I specialized in chimeras, I might have managed, but I’m not at that level.”


    “Fair point.”


    Faye’s ultimate goal was to craft a wless artifact through alchemy. Chimera creation and potion brewing were just side pursuits to achieve that.


    “So I figured instead of continuing with chimeras, I mightpromise and try incorporating it into a golem.”


    “…A golem?”


    “Yeah, a golem. Did you know? Golems can’t grow beyond a certain size because of structural limitations. The bigger they get, the exponentially greater weight they must bear, which they can’t handle.”


    “I’ve heard that. Most golems can’t surpass three meters in height, except for a few special ones.”


    “Exactly. Even if you pour in a nation’s worth of money and rare metals, breaking the three-meter limit is nearly impossible. But who says golems have to be made solely of inorganic materials?”


    “Are you talking about something like a flesh golem? Those have obvious weaknesses, though…”


    Before the Evil Gods descended and the cultists began their rampage, ck magicians in the Eurelia Continent had wreaked havoc by abandoning ethics in the pursuit of magical power.


    Flesh golems were a product of that era—giant masses of stitched-together corpses.


    They were fragile, weak for their size, and only useful as disposable meat shields to buy time.@@novelbin@@


    …Later, these abominations joined the God of Tainted Unity and became the basis for some extremely annoying boss monsters, so I knew a bit about them.


    Hearing my response, Faye grinned mischievously.


    “Close. Think of it as blending the two concepts.”


    “…What now?”


    “I’d build the golem’s skeleton from conventional materials and then reinforce it with the muscles I’m working on. Naturally, the outeryer would still be metal.”


    The muscles would support movement and bear the weight, allowing the golem to maintain arger size and greater strength.


    “The only problem is that if you also consider controlling it, the design ends up resembling a human too much…”


    “Let’s do it immediately.”


    “…What?”


    Faye blinked, her dark eyes peeking through her disheveled hair.


    Letting go of her chest, I grabbed her hands and spoke again, this time with a serious tone.


    “Let’s start right now. And nopromises.”


    “B-but it’s not something that can be done with just money! Research takes time, and neither you nor I can afford dys!”


    “Don’t worry. I brought something perfect for the job.”


    The transcendent species, whose very existence was a treasure—an unparalleled marvel whose body was valuable even in death.


    I pulled out the corpse of a hatchling from Fafnir’sir.


    “This should save us some time, right?”


    “Wh-what… what is that…?”


    Faye, wide-eyed and stunned, nodded absentmindedly.


    I couldn’t help but smile smugly at her reaction.


    How could I say no to building a giant robot?