This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

"Are you sure? How confident are you in your knowledge of sigils? Why do you even know so much about sigils?" Kain asked. After all, if Serena's interpretation was wrong, then he'd waste a lot of time researching an array with little importance to him.

"I'm confident enough," she replied, her tone carrying an air of certainty. "And as for why I know so much about sigils, it's not exactly a secret. The Storm family is one of the founding families of the Celestial Empire. Our education was... comprehensive, to say the least."

Kain raised an eyebrow. "Comprehensive how?"

Serena smirked faintly. "Comprehensive as in 'you don't get to choose.' From the moment we're old enough to hold a book, we're taught everything deemed important to the family's legacy—strategic thinking, spiritual power theory, extinct languages, and, yes, sigils. They were a significant focus."

Kain's skepticism softened as he listened, and couldn't help but compare her privileged but burdensome life as a Storm, to the humble yet warm childhood afforded to his siblings at the orphanage. 'I never thought a day would come where I'd consider my siblings and I to be more fortunate than a legacy.'

"Sounds exhausting," Kain finally said after remaining silent for several seconds.

Serena's smiled sadly, "It was. But it's also why I recognize sigils like these. Many sigils are related to extinct languages or ancient systems of belief. My studies covered both extensively."

Your journey continues at empire

Deciding to trust her knowledge, Kain decided to confide in her some of the knowledge he'd previously kept hidden.

Kain hesitated for a moment before speaking, his voice low. "In some of the previous notes we had taken from the Brightstar lab, I came across references to something called Heaven's Will."

Serena's expression grew serious. "I've heard the term before," she said cautiously. "But only vaguely in very old text. What those ancient scholars even meant by the term is unknown."

"From what I've gathered, Heaven's Will is described as a kind of governing force—something that enforces the natural laws of the world. And more importantly, it's the reason why beast-tamers have affinity limitations."

Serena's eyes narrowed. "Affinity limitations? You're saying this... Heaven's Will is what prevents us from contracting beyond our natural affinities?"

Kain nodded. "That's how the notes I read describe it. They think of it as a shackle, something that locks each of us into predefined roles with predetermined potential. No matter how hard you wish, Heaven's Will sets a hard limit on you from the moment of your awakening ceremony. You can't bypass it."

"And they're trying to break that limit," Serena said, piecing it together.

"Exactly," Kain confirmed. "The hybrids, the sigils, the arrays—they're all part of an attempt to communicate, circumvent or even manipulate Heaven's Will. If they succeed..." He trailed off, the implications hanging heavily in the air.

'They could probably easily lead a revolution and take over the nation…after all, very few people are probably fully satisfied with their affinity'n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Kain frowned, his mind racing. "The question is, can it even be done? If Heaven's Will is as absolute as they describe, their experiments might be doomed to fail."

"However,…" Serena, began as she continued to read the notes, "it doesn't yet seem as though they have gotten crazy enough to try and challenge or control Heaven's Will. Rather, based on the few sigils I can understand, it's more likely that this array is more so focused on attempting to rewrite one's affinity.

"Most ancient civilizations believed that one's affinity is due to a blessing bestowed upon them based on what is most suitable for their personality and/or a future obstacle they may encounter later in life. This array seems more like an attempt to cajole the Heaven's Will into giving another suitable affinity as an option instead."

If that's the case, then this organization wasn't as far in their research of eliminating the need for affinities entirely, as they'd expected. However, just the opportunity to reroll the dice and awaken a different affinity was still priceless to many.

'I'm sure the infamous student that awoke an F-rated ice-gold fish affinity in my hometown would jump at the opportunity…'

"However, if we really want to fully understand this array, we'd need to carve and activate it. Thankfully, it doesn't seem as though it's necessary to do so on human flesh, we could carve it into anything with a semblance of consciousness." Serena finally finished.

Kain readily agreed to her proposal, and he just so happened to have the perfect candidate.

There were many researchers at the college that also needed to perform experiments on living creatures—not everyone focused on developing new evolutionary forms like Kain.

However, as normal law-abiding citizens, all research was done on spiritual creatures, moreover before their request to be provided a specific spiritual creature is provided, their research proposal is thoroughly reviewed by a board to make sure it wouldn't result in any unnecessary cruelty or suffering.

Even with all of those safeguards in place to make the research as humane as possible, most research also still had to be performed on a specific type of spiritual creature developed many years ago called the Nihilrat. A small spiritual creature that resembles a rat and is completely devoid of any pain sensors.

Once the plan of action was decided, things moved quickly. Kain had put in a request for a Nihilrat due to his curiosity long ago, and had had one put aside for him months ago that he hadn't picked up.

Going back through his approval documents, he finally located the pick-up room number and the ID of his assigned Nihilrat and fetched it back for Serena.

They began with shaving the majority of the fur on its back before a sharp metal pen emitting a buzz was pulled out of Serena's space ring.

It was unnecessary and crude to carve a sigil deeply into flesh for it to work, and more likely was the option selected by those at the organization due to their unique inclinations for cruelty.

However, tattooing the sigil onto the body's surface should be almost as effective, without the grim visuals…

For a while, only the faint hum of the vibrating 'pen' Serena was using to work filled the room. The Nihilrat waited patiently in place as she worked, without any signs of discomfort aside from wanting to stretch its legs every couple of minutes.

Unfortunately, due to the frequent breaks, and the many finite details of the array, it took almost 8 hours in total to complete. Gabriel had long woken up and was now perched on a stool near the workbench, watching intently. His wide eyes were filled with a mix of curiosity and unease as he observed Serena and Kain's intricate work on the Nihilrat.

"Is this going to hurt it?" Gabriel asked softly, breaking the silence.

Serena glanced up, her hands still steady as she worked on the final sigil. "No. That's the reason we're using a Nihilrat," she said reassuringly. "It doesn't have any pain sensors. It can't feel anything from this process."

Gabriel nodded slowly but didn't look entirely convinced. "What happens when you activate it?"

"That's what we're here to find out," Kain replied, his tone more matter-of-fact. He gestured toward the array etched onto the rat's back. "If this array works the way we think it does, we'll see some kind of reaction—hopefully one that doesn't involve the lab exploding."

"Comforting," Gabriel muttered, folding his arms as he leaned back on the stool.

Serena finished the last line of the sigil, sitting back with a satisfied sigh. She placed the pen down and wiped her hands clean with a cloth. "Done," she announced.

At the same time the final line of the sigil was activated, the entire array on the spiritual creature began to emit a faint glow.

However, while Serena and Gabriel were watching the rat intently for any changes, Kain was more focused on something else. The array that was supposed to communicate with Heaven's Will, strangely seemed to be calling to him.