CHAPTER 131: THIS IS LYRA

This is Lyra

Everyone looked at each other for a moment, a bit unwilling to take the chance. All except three people.

Ellie looked interested and Fredrick looked thoughtful, while Lady Haggai unhesitantly raised her hand, drawing some gazes.

"Are you sure?" The Citadel Lord asked with some skepticism, and she simply nodded.

"I’m the one who convinced you to agree, so it’s only natural I take the chance," She shrugged. "Besides, if he’s being honest, then I get to evolve my beast first." Everyone shared a glance before mumbling about those reasons being understandable.

"Great, Lady Haggai, please summon your beast," Osho asked, glad that someone was willing to take the chance. While he was a bit surprised that neither Fredrick nor Ellie had gone for it, he was also a bit glad due to potential bias.

Lady Haggai nodded and opened up her Beast space. A moment later, a small willow tree appeared on the desk, barely a meter tall, but pulsing with potent nature Affinity Mana.

As soon as it appeared, Osho decided to activate his ability. Immediately he did so, pulsing green ribbons appeared all over, attached to the willow which was observing him despite its lack of eyes.

Plant-type beasts with high potential were rare. After all, unlike beasts of flesh and blood, they didn’t immediately have a consciousness, so it was usually under rare circumstances that one with good potential appeared. However, they were often considered to reach their potential cap the quickest for this same reason.

But regardless, it had the ribbons, meaning it could evolve.

Osho felt everyone observe him as he took note of the ribbons and what materials they were attached to in the distance, the names of them entering his mind.

"A single Verdant Acacia Seed. A single Nature Gem of advanced grade. Grounded leaf powder of a Pinnacle tree, 5 pounds of the stuff. 10 pounds of Serene Bark. Finally, a singular Vita grassroot." He listed off the material names calmly, and everyone looked at him with surprise.

"Well, those certainly exist. So we know he isn’t just calling random names." Fredrick joked, but it fell flat.

"All of that can be arranged." Lady Haggai said while giving the Citadel Lord a look.

"Why are you looking at me???" He asked with confusion, and Lady Haggai scoffed.

"What? You think I’ll provide that stuff from my coffers?"

The Citadel Lord: (￣ー￣)

"Sigh. Fine, whatever. You have access to the fault." Osho saw Major Thompson’s lip twitch while Lady Haggai seemed satisfied.

What followed was the group leaving the secret meeting room that wasn’t really secret, just extremely difficult to enter and required the combined clearance of Major Thompson and the Citadel Lord to enter and exit.

Once they were out, the Citadel Lord made a few calls while Major Thompson looked at Osho.

"I take it that you’d want the same arrangements as before?" He asked, referring to when Osho had created a ’tonic’ for Gale which was really just triggering another evolution.

"Correct." Osho nodded.

The group of high-profile individuals and high-school graduates was certainly eye-catching. At least, it would have been if not for them moving through a restricted part of the compound, and the ones who could access it were quite few.

Soon enough, they arrived at a large laboratory that was teeming with scientists moving out and about.

They drew quite a bit of attention, but were left unbothered as they made their way to an elevator which led underground.

This place was a lot quieter than before, and there were a few rooms one could use. In front of one room was a military personnel holding two large suitcases.

"Citadel Lord! Major! Experts!" The Man bowed his head,unable to salute due to his hans being full.

"At ease soldiers. Everything is prepared?" Majow Thompson asked and the man nodded simply while gesturing to the suitcases.

"Good," He turned to Osho. "This lab is far more kitted compared to what you used before. Everything you need should be inside." He explained, and Osho nodded before turning to Lady Haggai.

"Would you mind if I took..." He trailed off as he didn’t know the name of her beast. "Lyra." Lady Haggai answered.

"Right, is it fine if I take her in alone? It’s fine if you wanna watch, but I can concentrate better if no one is observing me." He explained, and she hummed, tilting her head for a moment before nodding.

"Alright, carry on." She gave him the go-ahead. The door was opened and the soldiers went in with the suitcases while Osho carried the willow tree that was surprisingly light inside.

He set her on a counter, her branches moving about in what Osho judged to be curiosity as the door was closed behind him.

He exhaled and put on a lab coat, face mask, and gloves.

’Hey, I feel like an actual scientist now.’ He chuckled to himself as he regarded Lyra before turning his attention to the suitcases. He opened them and made sure everything he asked for was indeed there, and as soon as it was confirmed, information on how to make use of everything immediately flooded his mind. He closed his eyes for a moment to digest everything, and when he reopened them, there was an obvious determination in his gaze.

"Alright Lyra, I’m pretty sure you’re relaying whatever you’re seeing to Lady Haggai, so allow me to explain what I’m doing as I do it." He started talking as he took out the materials and kept the suitcase to the side.

"First of all, we take the Nature Gem and give you that, and have you absorb the energy inside to prime yourself." He explained and took out the fist-sized green gem that glowed faintly. He placed it in front of Lyra whose roots extended to the Gem and started to absorb its energy.

"While you do that, we then take the pondered pinnacle tree leaves and turn the Serene Bark into straps they can be sprinkled on..."

___

"He’s started." Lady Haggai stated as she took out her tablet and started recording everything Osho said aloud.

Everyone else simply stood around, some leaning against walls while others paced.

"You kids, come over her." Mrs Jane gestured Ellie and the others, and the 5 of them moved a bit away from the other people. They expected Principal Timothy to follow, but surprisingly, he just watched them from a distance.

Once they were out of earshot, Mrs Jane turned to them.

"So, how does this make you feel?" They blinked.

"Huh?" Kurt tilted his head, confused.

"How does this make you feel?" She repeated. "This Ability Osho possesses, how do you feel now that he has revealed it to us?" Hearing this, they were silent for a moment, then Ellie spoke up first.

"Well, my first reaction was disappointment," She spoke, her expression unreadable. "The fact he had such a secret and didn’t tell me hurts a bit, I won’t lie. It makes me feel like he didn’t trust us enough to reveal anything." She sighed.

"However, the fact that he didn’t just ask you guys who are actually important to join this meeting, but us, who can’t actually provide any tangible benefits from knowing, makes me feel like he does trust us, and simply didn’t tell us before because there was no reason to. Besides, he used it to help me already, so..." She trailed off,and the others nodded.

"Yeah. He already made it clear that he wants to evolve our beasts as well. I get the feeling that this is his way of apologising to us for not telling us sooner," Kurt chuckled. "If I’m being honest, I’m more surprised than disappointed. I mean, unlike us, he’s known Ellie his entire life, so it’s only natural that she’d be compensated for being lied to. But us? We’ve only known him for a bit over a month, but he’s entrusting us with a secret that would flip the world on its head if it got out." He shrugged.

"Yeah. If I’m being honest, I don’t really feel like I should be here," Sam scratched her neck, feeling sheepish, and Irene nodded in agreement.

"Nah, you guys are good," Ellie shook her head. "That’s just how Osho is. He has walls up, but it doesn’t take much effort to make him trust you. One or two displays of loyalty will make him stand by you, and the whole deal with the Abyssal Scrounger solidified you guys in his mind. Besides, he has a knack for who he can and can’t trust. Call it instinct." She shrugged.

Mrs Jane nodded with satisfaction off to the side.

The group spoke some more for a while, and soon, 45 minutes soon passed.

That’s when Lady Haggai suddenly let out an audible gasp, her tablet falling to the ground and chattering. This caught everyone’s attention as they quickly went over.

"Haggai? What’s wrong?" The Citadel Lord asked with some worry, it was rare to see the usually stoic woman lose her composure like this, but everyone already had an idea of why.

"He... He..." She stammered.

At the moment, the door suddenly opened.

"Oof, she’s kinda heavy now." Osho’s slightly strained voice sounded, and everyone turned to him with surprise. Surprise that turned into shock shortly after they saw what Osho was carrying.

"So uh, this is a bit beyond my expectations, but I succeeded." Osho said with a small smile on his face.

As for why everyone was shocked?

Well, he held Lyra in his arms. A small child with green skin wearing clothes made of leaves sat in his arms, her head buried in the crook of his neck.

"Uh, yeah. This is Lyra." He flashed a smile at the stunned audience.