"Can their abilities be sealed into items for secondary use?" Sū ěr asked, lightly tapping the glass wall. He was a bit speechless as the volume of the shrieking inside suddenly spiked again.
These minor yōkai he had caught each possessed interesting abilities that even he found quite amusing.
"Very interesting," Think replied, not answering Sū ěr question directly. She continued to stroke her chin. "I thought their power came from yōki, but it turns out pure yōki is just a highly corrosive energy that can easily change and assimilate any matter it touches. It doesn't carry any special abilities—I mean, the abilities of these minor yōkai."
"Although the corrosiveness of these small yōkai's energy isn't strong, if you scaled their size and power level up several times, that corrosiveness would become impossible to ignore. If we ever fight that Yakumo Yukari later, you must ensure you don't get hurt as much as possible." Here, Think suddenly paused, then turned and smiled. "Wait, considering the uniqueness of your body now, perhaps you're immune to this corrosion?"
"Ah, I'm looking forward to that scene." Sū ěr smiled mysteriously, imagining a certain scenario, but did not elaborate.
"In short, those special abilities seem to require the will of these minor yōkai to be activated. Their yōki acts as the fuel and power in this process... unless it's a persistent ability that can be attached to the yōki itself."
"So the conclusion is?"
"The conclusion is that they cannot be sealed into items for use for now. Unless you're willing to cut off their limbs, put them in a box, and use a spell to control them to use their abilities... but you probably wouldn't agree to such a cruel method, would you?"
Think clapped her hands and calmly delivered her terrifying conclusion. When she finished speaking, the screaming inside the glass containers jumped up another notch.
"...Obviously not." Sū ěr rolled his eyes and tapped the glass to temporarily mute the screams, finally getting some peace.
There was no doubt that Think had just been intentionally scaring these minor yōkai for her own amusement.
"Anyway, let's take it slow. We have nothing but time," Sū ěr said, shrugging noncommittally. "And isn't there still Reiryoku? I think this completely unknown world is enough to keep you entertained for thousands of years."
"Ah~ yes, indeed~." Think agreed airily. She noticed Sū ěr gaze drifting toward the exit of the workshop leading to the surface and couldn't help but smile. "Alright, alright, let's go. Let's head outside for a walk~"
"Heh heh~"
Sū ěr was granted "recess."
They didn't mindlessly ignore Yakumo Yukari warning. On the contrary, Sū ěr and Think had reached a decision only after a careful discussion and study: they would stay here.
After all, why should they run just because they knew a Nine-Tailed Fox existed?
Though Yukari made the fox sound formidable, it was quite possible she was just a "country bumpkin" yōkai who hadn't seen much of the world. Even though Yukari appeared very arrogant that day, Sū ěr hadn't felt a genuine sense of danger in his heart.
He had the confidence that if that blonde yōkai had truly chosen to fight him then and there, she would have been the one to die.
He didn't want to move; he didn't want to run for his life just to survive even after changing worlds. Moreover, the claim that the fox was "not easy to talk to" was only Yukari side of the story. What if the blonde yōkai was just using that rhetoric to stir up Sū ěr hostility toward a fox he hadn't even met?
With these considerations, the two ultimately chose to stay put. Regardless of the situation, Sū ěr had absolute confidence that he could escape, so he felt no great sense of crisis.
Though he often spoke of "minuscule power" and being an "ordinary human" to describe himself, Sū ěr had an accurate understanding of his own nature deep down.
Even if he had chosen to temporarily relinquish the throne of the One True God, it had left him with a legacy so rich... it was rich to the point where even Sū ěr himself found it hard to believe.
So in the end, Sū ěr and Think peaceful and warm life continued. The two had made a plan: once the current research on yōki reached the next stage, or at the latest by the end of the year, they would go on a journey to the so-called Izumo and Yamato nations. They wanted to take a good look at the humans of this world... the humans who, according to Yukari, were created by gods.
Not beings who had evolved step-by-step over a long time through biological trajectories, but beings created directly by deities, much like the followers of the Old Deus in the previous world. What would such humans be like?
What differences would there be between us?
Not only was Sū ěr curious, but Think was equally intrigued.
With this small expectation for the future, the days drifted by. However, to Sū ěr and Think surprise, what broke their peaceful life was not their planned trip, nor the Nine-Tailed Fox from the west that Yukari had warned them about. It was a female yōkai who appeared suddenly one afternoon while Sū ěr was rolling up his sleeves to clear bugs from the vegetables in his field behind the house.
She had short green hair with slightly curled ends, looking as if it hadn't been meticulously groomed yet wasn't messy either. Beneath bangs that covered her forehead, a pair of red eyes shimmered like clear gemstones.
The green-haired yōkai wore no shoes; she stepped onto the soil with bare feet. Yet she was tall, her height nearly allowing her to look Sū ěr in the eye—at the very least, she was taller than the gap-yōkai from before. She didn't wear normal clothes; instead, she had wrapped a large piece of dark, ragged cloth around herself. It reached only down to her knees, its edges jagged as if torn by sharp canine teeth.
If Sū ěr wasn't mistaken, the ragged cloth still bore faint bloodstains that hadn't been fully washed away even after several cleanings. On the entire garment, such stains overlapped until the cloth was dyed... a deep, dark color.
"A bamboo house, a field, and a river flowing nearby... It seems this is the place."
While speaking, she glanced around the surroundings. The green-haired yōkai's voice was more androgynous than her delicate features. Bringing her gaze back, she looked at Sū ěr as he straightened up and grinned.
"You have very good taste in choosing fertilizer."