CHAPTER 347: SUCCESS

Some days have passed and Lucius has made the necessary modifications to that relic to create angels, and now we’re going to test the results.

"Is everything ready, Lucius?" I question as we see the machine.

"I believe so, we were able to make the adjustments quite quickly, now we just need to check if it will work or if we’ll need to try something else, after all, it can always fail," he tells me as we look at the machine.

"Well, then let’s start. Who will be the lucky guinea pig that will test this marvel of magic and science?" I ask sarcastically as some of the team members down here bring in an unconscious person.

"Wait... Lucius, wouldn’t it be better to put someone awake in the machine? Given that an awake person can try to resist death more than an unconscious one?" I say as they place the person in the machine.

"You’re right... wake her up," he says, handing me a piece of paper while the others work on putting potions in the openings of the relic that were made to inject the potion into the target.

"This is her information," he tells me without much interest as I start reading.

[Name = Unknown Age = 16 years Level = 7 Family = Orphan Gender = Female]

I only read the first five things and ignore the rest, I have no reason to know about this girl’s life, if she has a high aptitude for holy magic and is being used as an experiment, the guilt of both things is not mine.

"Looks good enough, Pandora?" he asks as they wake the girl with magic.

"Yes, they did an impressive job on the relic, although I don’t understand that much about artifacts," I focused more on magic and combat, with some extra training in alchemy and potion making.

However, I never really focused on the area of relics, although it seems interesting, it’s something that requires a lot of time and patience, and I don’t have time to waste practicing creating relics right now.

Besides, to create relics I would need a tutor who is very good at this kind of alchemy, since potion making and relic creation are branches of the path of alchemy.

"Let’s see now if we’ll be successful," he says as he steps back, I also step back as they restrain the girl in the machine, she seems desperate, but doesn’t react much.

"Everything is ready to start," one of the men near the relic warns everyone as everyone backs away as if the machine were about to explode.

"..." Lucius, for some reason, creates a barrier around himself, so I also create one around myself, just in case this really explodes out of nowhere for having been modified.

"Turn it on," Lucius says as a woman pulls a lever, soon the machine makes a strange hum as it begins to glow, emitting a lot of magic in an almost dazzling process.

Quickly emitting a golden light that covers the entire area, making it impossible to see anything, the holy element released is in an enormous unnatural amount.

Soon the guinea pig starts screaming in pain, but it’s impossible to see anything and her screams are ignored, we just wait to see if the machine failed or is working, the fact that it hasn’t exploded is already a good sign.

And so after two minutes of screaming, the light begins to diminish and the screams have completely ceased, and what we see is something "unexpected".

"O-OH... so beautiful, so... perfect," Lucius says with tears in his eyes as he looks at the girl we just used the machine on.

’What a disgusting guy’ I look at Lucius with disgust, his gaze is disgusting and repulsive, honestly this religious fanatic is disgusting.

It seems it worked, the girl gained large white wings and an angelic halo, besides the fact that she is emitting a large concentration of holy element as if her body were now made of it.

Lucius begins to walk up to the unconscious girl, holding her wings and analyzing her body while I also approach to get a closer look.

’A level 7 girl can have this level of power... no doubt this kind of monster is quite unique’ It reminds me of when I was born, I was already absurdly strong and comparable to Rank B to Rank A monsters in certain respects.

"Pandora, I’m very grateful for your guidance, the idea of the potions was the final key to our success," he says excitedly as he frees the girl from the machine, he sticks his fingers in her mouth, checking even her teeth for any flaws.

"It was nothing, all for the goddess, right?" I say, observing the girl with interest, who would have thought, she really became a real angel, her race has changed completely and now her body is almost entirely composed of holy element, which must grant her several advantages.

"Yes, all for our goddess," he says excitedly with the creation of an angel, my single line about the potions helped him create this aberration of nature, this thing should not exist, but now it does.

"But Lucius, how will you control these things?" I question as he ponders, I doubt he’s going to create something he can’t control.

"Mental control and religious indoctrination, although these disposable test subjects are the basis for creating the angels, they are not the final project."

"The elite of the church is the final project, we will transform them into angels and since they are loyal to the church, we won’t need mental control on them," Lucius reveals that he already had plans for when the relic was a success.

"But a single angel is not enough, Lucius, there are variables and trying to use the relic now without more precise adjustments can generate flaws," I say this to him, who stops to think.

"You’re right... but it was an initial success, we just need to improve a bit and it will be ready for use in loyal troops," he says, handing the girl over to another researcher who begins to carry her away.

"Imprison her and study her body, even if you need to completely dissect her, we need to see if there are any flaws or problems that will cause future death," he speaks coldly as if the girl were not a living being.

"Pandora, do you like wine?" he asks, changing his cold face to an immediate smile as he asks me.

"It depends on the type."

"Great, I have one from 7,000 years ago that I saved for this special occasion, and I want to share it with the one who helped me in this final stretch," he says with a smile.

"Sounds great," I say as he starts walking towards the exit.

"You, adjust everything for new tests tomorrow, and as soon as you’re done, you’ll have the rest of the day off to celebrate," he says as everyone happily accepts while talking to each other.

Soon we two leave this secret area as we start to return to the church, I see that all of Lucius’ distrust has disappeared, which means he will soon trust me enough to tell me about the heroes’ abilities.

’It’s good that Mikael talked about Lucius, or I would have tried to steal information from places and would have been discovered or made it difficult to try this method.’ Thanks to his help, things have become less complicated.

"You know, Pandora, you helped realize the church’s dream. Many previous Popes failed to perfect this relic, we were too blind to the novelty."

"We tried to maintain the relic as a standard instead of trying a new approach, your idea with the potions, although simple, was the closed door that we never opened, but which had the solution."

"Although it’s still not so perfect and needs some degree of refinement in some places, it was a big step we took," he says as I think.

"Wasn’t the Ren also a big step?"

"Ah yes, of course, successfully transforming her into an angel was a big step, and it certainly helped, it was thanks to having already transformed her that your idea with the potion made sense," he speaks as if it were nothing.

’So that’s why he was so open to the idea of the potions.’ It’s complex, but interesting without a doubt.

"Lucius, I have some questions, could you answer them for me?" I ask as we arrive in the normal area of the church, leaving any hidden part as we start to go up to Lucius’ office.

"Of course I can, what interests you?"

"The goddess, I’m very interested in her and her history, and I’m not referring to the religious history exposed to the public, but the real religious history that the church has, but that the people are too foolish to understand," I say in this way as he smiles.

"Are you trying to become a saint? You have a lot of talent in holy magic, very much so, if well taught, you could earn the title of saint and become the new saint of the church," he says as I think about the answer.

"I don’t want to be the saint."

"And why not?"

"Because I believe that this position should go to someone who can continue in it for a long time." As if I would love that cursed bitch.

"I understand your side, it’s a shame you won’t have the opportunity to contemplate the magnificent future the church will create," he says as we arrive at his office where he opens the door and lets me in as if he had no problems.

"Yes, it’s really regrettable..." Depending on me, the church won’t have a future anymore.

"You can sit down, I’ll serve the wine for both of us, we need to celebrate the creation of the first stable 100% machine-made angel without the use of external abilities," he says as he takes a small box of some magical wood from a drawer.

From inside the box he takes out a bottle of wine that emits a lot of magic from its glass, it really seems to be an item of impressive quality, especially if the date he said is the one of the manufacture of this wine is correct.