Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?-Chapter 1312: So-Called Legacy

"Apologies for the noise, curator. But our operations require us to be active at every hour of the day. Even when there's nothing but the stars and moon to provide light."

[Understandable,] Zhen Liu nodded while inwardly thinking that this guy was just being unnecessarily cruel again.

'I understand the idea of a night shift, but this is ridiculous.'

In the hours after Zhen Liu had decided to change his approach in dealing with the false Kaijin Lord, leading to him taking on the role that Logos and Pathos would normally play for him, the former had learned a lot more about the latter.

Making up some bullshit on needing to know more about someone who was going to be his future master, Zhen Liu managed to dig deep into this faker's backstory and learn why he was such a massive douche canoe.

He had learned that the man was known as Dante Quijano, that he was once an Aether Lord for a small kingdom known as the Smouldering Rose Kingdom, and that he was technically several hundred years old at minimum.

That number wasn't too surprising, since the average Aether Lord could live for at least three centuries...but the Smouldering Rose Kingdom fell to ruin at least six hundred years ago.

On top of that, based on the timeline and information that he was given from Dante about himself, the man hadn't consume any medicines that could extend his lifespan or had any miraculous encounters that deeply enhanced his cultivation base.

The only thing that this man had done in terms of odd cultivation deviations was finding the Starcaller's "legacy", cultivating some form of [Chaos], and being able to create kaijin...which was a claim that Zhen Liu was finding more and more unbelievable by the second.

His own mother had met one of the Starcaller's old kaijin, Meteor Horn, and he remembered that she said that the tomb he was guarding, the one that was the final resting place for the Starcaller, was in the northernmost regions of the Stampeding Bison continent.

In other words, it definitely wasn't around here. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

However, it was possible that the Starcaller had left a treasure cache hidden here.

It was a common practice for the older, more powerful, and less wordly warriors to leave behind multiple treasures that they either no longer needed or lost in battle around the world for other people to claim as their own inheritances.

Granted, the inheritances left behind by a Kaijin Lord were a bit more...touchy than regular treasures.

Case and point, Zhen Liu once asked what would happen if his [Veteran's Bone Club] was picked up by one of his cousins instead of himself. The Damned Drunkard, the original owner of the club, explained to him that anybody that didn't have [Chaos] in their cultivation, would find themselves utterly drained of aether instead the moment they attempted to swing the club.

With this in mind, Zhen Liu couldn't help but wonder if this inheritance actually belonged to the Starcaller, or someone else entirely.

After all, not all the previous Kaijin Lords were good people.

Some of them were outright bastards of the highest order.

Fortunately, Zhen Liu was going to find out the truth of this inheritance in a few more moments.

Passing by several more moments of abject misery being played out by a mix of people, the dreamless husks of humanity that the former would become, and these malicious mutated excuses of kaijin, Zhen Liu couldn't help but be bothered by the sight.

Evidently, this displeasure was noticed by Dante, but he misread it as interest.

^Are you curious as to why I have inefficient human slaves dig out the gold as opposed to having the much more powerful kaijin do it instead?^Dante asked in his native tongue.

During this interim, Zhen Liu and Dante had made it clear that they were able to fully understand each other regardless of any language barriers. As such, they both defaulted to their native tongues.

Well, Dante did.

Zhen Liu still need to stick with [Chaos] Speak.

[I suppose, yes,] Zhen Liu agreed, despite the reasoning probably being different. [That one over there looks like he could dig at a rate three times faster than any of these frail mortals. And that's without factoring in the fact that that kaijin was originally a mole.]

Proving his point, the aforementioned mole-like kaijin began yelling at a section of slaves he was overseeing.

[Move it! Move it! I could dig faster than you sorry lot with my eyes closed! And I don't even have eyes!] The mole-like kaijin threatened while slamming a claw into a nearby wall, pulverizing it into powder, and perfectly proving Zhen Liu's point.

However, Zhen Liu knew the reason...to an extent.

[But I am aware that Malevolent Gold gets more potent when suffering is involved. I imagine the confidence of the kaijin has an adverse effect on the metals?]

^To an extent, yes,^ Dante answered. [But there is ana additional element to this set-up. One I think you'll be tell just by looking for yourself, no?^

Just because Zhen Liu was able to see, didn't mean he actually knew what was going on. As such, he decided to throw in a lie to have this man explain it for himself.

[Perhaps. But as one in charge of the archives, I require that my master record precisely how they create their kaijin. What materials the use, what cores constitute their existence and what abilities that these kaijin know.]

^Really?^

[The mantle of Kaijin Lord is something that is passed down through generations. It is necessary to share such information in order to make sure your successors are able to do your name justice.]

^You make it sound as if you expect someone to replace me in the future,^ Dante commented, arrogance dripping at the very last syllable.

[Think nothing of it. I'm just used to seeing Kaijin Lords go out in blazes of glory. Besides, it's often said that the best way to understand a work of art is to ask the artist, right?]Zhen Liu said in a detached yet flattering tone.

Mentally though, he was hoping to be the one to burn this man alive at the stake.

Thankfully though, this was all Zhen Liu needed to say to get Dante monologuing.

^In that case...ages ago, I used to mine out the gold necessary for the cores myself, then use the inheritance of the Star Caller to refine them into the cores. Once I had these cores in hand, I would then...bestow it...onto aether beasts to uplift them into the higher beings known as Kaijin. This was, to me, the first generation of kaijin.^

[Oh? How many of your current kaijin are of this first generation? That as to say, have you lost any in your time here in the mines?]

^I originally created a total of twenty-seven first generation kaijin, but only four remain. Wait, no, it would be more accurate to say, that those four are the only ones who had yet to be absorbed by the later generations.^

[Ah...]

'Wait, does that mean the whole absorb and fuse thing is a recent development?' Zhen Liu wondered...for exactly ten seconds before Dante explained what he meant.'

^Once I had a sizeable enough group of kaijin, I found it necessary to expand my operations and acquire some... laborers.^

[Slaves.]

^Yes.^

A scream of pain soon echoed out moments after Dante had agreed, as if the universe was hammering in the fact that he had made a rather terrible decision in employing slaves.

^The moment I did, I noticed an immediate change in the quality of the Kaijin produced. The cores became less stable, but they were blessed with more power and the ability to absorb other cores. I refer to this group of kaijin as my second generation. By the way, the number of second-generation I have currently active is eighty-seven in total. Give or take a dozen due to recent events and their ability to absorb each other's power.^

[That's...an impress number,] Zhen Liu nodded to hide the shock in his voice.

'This motherfucker outnumbers my ass by at least eight to one?!'

^By the way, those uplifted mortals you saw in the ring earlier today. They're not my third generation if that's what you're thinking.^

[Oh?]

^A mortal without any cultivation is no different than an animal. Turning one of them into a kaijin is a challenge sure, and the results are slightly stronger than one made from an uplifted aether beast. But...they're not what I'm looking for in my third generation. At best, they're a half generation.^

At the comment of being referred to as an animal caused Zhen Liu to mildly twitch, but he managed to hide it so that Dante would comment about it.

^Now, my real third generation is...a work in progress. But I think I'm about to figure it out soon. After tonight, that is.^