CHAPTER 357: SKILLS

"So, what do you think?" I say, handing some papers to Lucius after a long, revealing conversation about the angels. In just a few days, we managed to successfully create 35 angels.

We made a lot of small, fine-tuned adjustments to the relic to maximize its efficiency and keep it stable and safe for continuous use.

3 died from the changes we tried, 6 had strange mutations, and 1 died, but the creation of 34 living angels already shows that we have achieved great success with a success rate of 93%.

And with the recent modifications, we were able to create 7 angels in a row that were perfectly fine, increasing the success rate to 99.99%. With these tests completed, we’ve concluded that the relic is ready for use in loyal troops.

"Looks perfect, Pandora, really good. It took days of perfecting, and without your support, it would have taken much longer. You’re so good at biological manipulation," he says with a smile.

"Yes" it was easy for me because I’m better at analyzing other people’s bodies than most. Considering my strength and normal abilities, it’s easy for me to find more hidden deformities in the angels’ bodies.

And anyway, I really put in my best effort to help just to get that damn list of hero abilities as soon as possible. It’s time-consuming and annoying, but I’m playing it safe on that front.

It would be terrible to be too hasty and as a result, not discover the heroes’ abilities. Just imagine if some hero had an instant-death active or passive ability? I need to know, I can’t fall for something as stupid as a single ability, and that’s why knowing such information is important.

"With this, I think we can conclude the relic as complete after one final overall adjustment on the release of the sacred element," he says, and I agree. The relic is still quite costly in terms of expenditure.

If it weren’t for the "battery" using this machine so many times in a short time, it would be impossible. Ren is really doing a great job as a battery for the relic.

’I think that’s enough...’ Time to try to guide the conversation to something better. I’ve spent so much time reducing his paranoia, gaining his friendship, and having to pretend to like all of this that I should have the necessary favoritism for him to tell me.

"You know, Lucius, I recently received the war plan," I say, shifting to this topic. I’ll try to find out the heroes’ abilities. Lucius and I are "great friends" now, so it should work if I do everything right.

"Oh, that one... Many haven’t received it yet, but considering its importance, it makes sense. So, what do you think of it?" he asks with genuine interest in his voice, and there’s no reason for him to lie.

"It’s actually very good, I’d even say impressive, but some things raise a doubt for me, like how some of those things are possible?" It’s obvious they’re relying on the heroes’ abilities.

Lucius probably has about 40% of the blame for the plan being that way. It’s almost a certainty of mine, as there are many illogical things in the plan that couldn’t be done without the use of an ability.

Besides, the time estimate described in the plan itself is totally unrealistic considering the route and travel time from one side to the other.

"Oh yes, for example, the initial troop and ship transport considering the passage of days, right? The time is fast because we’re using the abilities of some heroes," he says, and I agree.

"That seems very good, but if we’re going to war, wouldn’t it make sense for the most important parts to know the abilities of each hero for more extensive support?" I ask without asking directly.

"Normally, yes, but we can’t give that information to just anyone, since the heroes still think they have ’freedom of choice’ a funny thing, isn’t it?" he says, admitting that for the church, they’re not even human, just tools.

"Yes, yes... So, you just give them the feeling of control so you can keep them under control." If the heroes knew that the church knows the abilities of everyone, they could do stupid things without having been trained first.

"Exactly... Where are you going with this?" He asks, being more intuitive than I would like.

"I believe it would be good to know, for example, I believe some of us could provide excellent support in planning and finding flaws that others haven’t seen," I say as he seems to ponder for a moment on what to say.

"It’s not a bad option, an opinion from someone who understands the subject seems good... Pandora, I know you’re talking about yourself, but how can I know if you’re trustworthy enough to know about this subject? After all, the heroes’ abilities are information that few have."

"And why wouldn’t I be trustworthy?" I say with an ironic smile on my face.

"Tell me, why wouldn’t you be trustworthy?" He responds to my question with another question.

"..."

’And why wouldn’t I be trustworthy? How should I respond to that?’ It doesn’t make sense for me to say why he should distrust me. That would be like handing him a weakness on a silver platter.

If I give a reason why he should distrust me, that would only open the door to breaking the trust. Avoiding the subject would only bring his paranoia back.

And saying that just because we’re "friends" wouldn’t do any good. It needs to be a more neutral and logical response considering his paranoia.

"I have nothing that makes me unworthy of trust, after all, if I had something to hide, I wouldn’t be here in the church helping against the demons and helping in the creation of angels... Besides, I could have killed you in the thousands of opportunities that have already occurred."

"...Hahaha, good answer, Pandora. So, if I tell you the abilities of each hero, would you keep it a secret, help formulate the last parts of the plan better, and let the church take all the credit?" He speaks greedily.

’What a despicable little worm... Too bad for him that I don’t care.’ I don’t want credit, I just want the information, and anyway, if he really hears my idea and slightly changes some routes, it will favor me.

"Of course, what matters is winning the war, don’t you agree? Who gets the credit or not, in fact, doesn’t matter to me as long as my enemies suffer painfully," I say with a smile.

"I like the way you think. Okay, I’ll send you a list with the current complete plan and the heroes’ abilities. I believe this will help you visualize the plan we have and why it’s that way."

’Complete plan... So it’s already done...’ What miserables. The plan I received was obviously very good, but there were still things being done. Now I realize that the plan is already ready.

They’re just stalling, probably because prolonging the war moves money and slaves, as well as gives them more freedom to act unethically, just with the excuse that an important thing is happening before the decisive battle.

"I want to make it clear that after the information is opened, it will fragment over time after being read, so try to memorize everything, okay? I don’t trust papers that others can access much, memory is the best safe," he says in a paranoid way.

"Of course... I agree that memory is the best safe." It’s better to just agree. I’ll put together what he gives me with what I’ve seen to know if it’s a lie or the truth.

"Also, no note-taking or sharing this information with others. The heroes’ abilities are the church’s property and are not something we share."

"I understand completely. I just have one question: how exactly was each hero’s ability discovered?" I ask to change the subject and not seem like I’m just focused on what each ability does.

"That’s a good question. It was done right at the first evaluation of the heroes. Some basic data was revealed to everyone, but complete status data for each one was also sent to the church."

"After all, the church needs to know what it’s dealing with, and we needed to plan the future with what we had. Some have really great abilities, others have really annoying ones."

"But everything is useful, and if it’s useful, we’ll use it. After all, only a fool wouldn’t use available resources just because it seems too inconvenient."

"And the security measures? In my view, the heroes are not as ’safe’ or obedient as they should be. What do we have to deal with their surprise rebellion?"

I don’t doubt that some of them would have the courage to stage a coup. They’re a bunch of deluded fools who think they’ll come out alive after the war. Anyway, I want to see what mechanism the church has to control them.

"A magic was engraved in their brains to explode their heads in case of treason, after all, we don’t need traitors and we can always summon more heroes if the situation requires it," he says, and I agree.

"Summoning more heroes is quite convenient..." I say as he closes his eyes for a moment.

"It’s true, but it’s also costly. If it weren’t so problematic, we could make an army of heroes. Unfortunately, even this divine magic has its limits," he laments a bit.

"Well, I guess it’s my time to leave. I have to prepare the school materials for my students," I say, getting up from the chair.

"I understand. You’re a temporary teacher at the academy, aren’t you? Maybe I can call you in the future to teach future paladins, as I’ve heard you have a rather unique training method," he says as if it were funny.

"Who knows, in the future," I say, leaving the room to go home. I can’t wait to receive the information on the abilities of each hero.