SCIAW: Chapter 197/198

Chapter 197: Fujiwara Is Indeed Quite Suitable

After entering the room, Chika didn't treat it as a boy's room at all—instead, she acted like it was her own space.

She sat down on the single sofa, made herself a cup of tea, and took a sip of the steaming drink.

"!"

"It's so hot!"

The tea was boiling, and she had taken an impatient sip.

Or rather, she wasn't suited for drinking scalding hot tea in the first place.

"Did you burn yourself?"

Ren walked over and looked at Chika's reddened lips, clearly aware of how much damage the tea's temperature had caused her.

Chika's eyes welled up with tears as she fanned her mouth rapidly with her hands and nodded frantically.

"Don't move."

Ren shook his head. She was unexpectedly reckless. Then he reached out and tapped her lips lightly.

"Secret."

As soon as Ren spoke, the burning sensation around Chika's mouth suddenly vanished.

"Ah~ That's better."

The scorching pain faded, replaced by a cool, soothing sensation. Chika felt immediate relief.

"Be more careful when drinking next time. If you're not used to hot tea, don't force it. There are cool drinks in the fridge."

"No, drinking cold tea late at night can cause a stomachache, especially this season."

Chika picked up the cup of hot tea again, but this time, she was obviously more cautious. She blew on it gently and only took a small sip once it had cooled slightly.

The lukewarm temperature was much more pleasant.

Ren sat across from her.

"So, is this about the diary? Or the reward?"

"The reward," Chika replied directly.

"I've heard Kaguya talk about the diary a lot, and you guys don't really avoid me when you bring it up, so I know the basics."

"What I don't understand is the reward I got from the lottery. I'd like your help to figure it out."

"No problem."

It was just identifying a reward item he didn't recognize—not a big deal for him.

Ren waved his hand casually and asked, "Fujiwara, what was the name of your roulette draw?"

"Lord of Mysteries."

Chika's straightforward answer made him freeze just as he was about to retract his hand. He looked at her with a slight smile.

"This is really…"

He tried to keep a straight face. Besides him, someone else had drawn from the Lord of Mysteries. That was a bit unexpected.

"Was it a potion?"

"Yeah."

"What sequence?"

"Hmm~ I think it was a potion called Spectator."

That response made Ren take a closer look at her.

"But honestly… it really suits you, Chika."

For anyone else, the Spectator potion wouldn't be a good match. But for Chika—it oddly fit.

The potion pathway granted excellent abilities, but the side effects were also significant.

Unlike Ren, who had drawn Wild Card at the start and thus became unique, almost immune to the usual side effects, Chika didn't have that kind of buffer.

Still, Ren began explaining the Audience potion's powers.

"Fujiwara, let me explain the potion you drew—Spectator."

"Drinking the Spectator potion grants you extraordinary abilities. It enhances your spirit and observation skills. You'll be able to discern others' intentions and thoughts just by observing their behavior."

"Isn't that basically mind reading?"

For the first time, Chika felt just how close supernatural power really was and how strong this ability sounded. If it were her mother, she'd be ecstatic to get something like this.

"It's not quite mind reading. You're making inferences based on what you observe. The potion just enhances your observation skills to the extreme."

"But the pathway you drew—the Visionary pathway—eventually develops into reading people's hearts. The next potion down the line, Sequence 8, should be Telepathist. It further strengthens the observation abilities you gained from Spectator, and also allows you to perceive auras."

"At that point, maybe you really can read people's minds."

"Mmm… Even Shinomiya and Ran probably wouldn't be able to block that."

Magic nullification only works against supernatural powers. But when it comes to observation, there's really no way to defend.

After all, mind reading through the Visionary pathway works via observation—external, internal, and mystical cues. It's fundamentally an extension of one's own perception, not some overpowered forced mind-reading like the Diary's cheat ability.

Observation can't be nullified by anti-magic.

Of course, Ren also made one thing clear.

"Just keep in mind, it's only observation. Other than that, you don't get anything else."

"Neither Spectator nor Telepathist offer any boost to direct combat ability. That's important."

Chika nodded slightly. She understood what Ren was saying.

Even though the Spectator path didn't give her something flashy like Kaguya's abilities, she still felt like it was a perfect match.

Compared to Kaguya's direct power, she believed she was better suited for a supporting role. Mental acuity and observation were her strengths.

"Amamiya, I think the Spectator potion really does suit me."

In a sense, Ren also felt the same, it really did suit Chika.

"If you're okay with that, then I'll explain how the potion system works."

"Okay."

"Although the potion system looks impressive, it comes with certain risks. Once you start taking potions, there's always the danger of losing control."

"Losing control?"

The phrase sounded dangerous, and Chika's expression turned serious.

"Well… Ren, I don't really get what that means. I just want to know, can it be controlled?"

"Yes."

Managing loss of control wasn't that difficult.

What "losing control" really referred to was encountering trouble during promotion, or being exposed to information beyond what your mind can handle.

Most Lord of Mysteries pathway users lost control when they heard the whispers of high-sequence beings during advancement, or when they accessed too much forbidden knowledge and suffered cognitive pollution.

Damage taken during high-sequence battles could also trigger it, but that was something still far off for Chika.

Then there were curses.

But none of this was particularly stressful for Ren, who held both Sefirah Castle and access to the River of Eternal Darkness.

"When you drink the potion, you can chant my name and turn that into faith in me. I can protect you."

(To be continued.)


Chapter 198: Loss of Control

"Just drink it and chant Amamiya's name, right?"

Chika confirmed one last time.

"Right."

At the moment of confirmation, Chika made her final decision. She took the potion bottle from her pocket, uncorked it, and drank it down in one go.

In an instant, her vision burst into color, and the entire world around her began to spin.

She didn't even realize a strange sound had escaped her lips, nor did she notice the faint pink scales that had started appearing on her skin.

"…Strange. Why such a big reaction to a low-sequence potion?"

Observing Chika's changes, Ren was genuinely surprised. A potion of the lowest sequence shouldn't cause such a strong reaction.

This wasn't a fully mysterious world, there were no high sequences here.

There shouldn't be any high-sequence whispers either. So why such a violent reaction?

Without hesitation, Ren acted. An invisible fog instantly enveloped Fujiwara, completely suppressing the signs of losing control that had started manifesting.

Once the symptoms subsided, Ren heard a faint prayer.

[Amamiya… Amamiya…]

The voice was soft, but clearly Fujiwara's.

"…Seems like the loss of control was quite serious for a lowest-sequence potion."

Ren muttered, puzzled, then closed his eyes and focused his consciousness into Sefirah Castle.

Beside the ancient stone table sat a pink-haired girl.

Fujiwara had been drawn into Sefirah Castle through her prayer.

"Ah!"

The girl lying on the table looked like a student jolted awake during class. Her face was flushed, her heart raced, and she was panting heavily, as if she had just awoken from a nightmare.

She immediately searched for him and soon spotted the figure standing by the stone table.

"Amamiya!!!"

She leapt at him without hesitation. The moment she did, her emotions burst forth uncontrollably.

"The world… it was twisted… I heard so many strange voices…"

"I felt… I felt…"

The world was collapsing around her.

She was in terrible condition. It felt like she had glimpsed a madman's world firsthand. In that twisted reality, she too felt as if she would be consumed by madness at any moment.

If she hadn't called out Amamiya's name in time, she felt she might never have seen him again.

"It's okay now, it's okay… It's all over."

Seeing Chika on the verge of breaking down, Ren could tell just how severe her loss of control had been. If he hadn't used Sefirah Castle to suppress it, she would have turned into a monster in less than thirty seconds.

Using the Soul Assurer's extraordinary ability, he gently comforted her and stroked her hair to calm her.

Ren also examined her spiritual condition using his spiritual vision.

"…Hmm?"

Had the corruption faded?

The black ink-like corruption on Fujiwara's spirit body was visibly dissipating before his eyes.

Corruption… could it fade this easily?

Even without having seen all the Lords of Mysteries, Ren knew that corruption wasn't something that just vanished on its own.

This was… unusual.

As he watched the corruption vanish entirely from Chika's spirit body, he felt a bit unsettled.

He hadn't used the full power of Sefirah Castle, not even the River of Eternal Darkness.

So how had the corruption faded?

Ren carefully examined Chika's spirit body, ether body, mental body, and astral body again, yet found no remaining contamination.

It really was odd.

A low-sequence potion should not have had such intense side effects. This wasn't the world of Adam.

Even Adam from that world wouldn't trigger something like this.

Not only had she nearly lost control, but she'd also been exposed to corruption… and yet the corruption had vanished on its own.

Ren made a mental note, this was something he'd need to monitor closely moving forward.

He was apparently quite special, as he had never experienced anything like this himself...

He'd never once encountered loss of control, let alone corruption.

It looked like he'd need to personally watch over Chika during her future advancements.

To prevent any future losses of control or corruption, it was now necessary for him to be present.

[Please… I don't want Grandpa to die… I don't want Grandpa to die…]

Suddenly, a prayer echoed in his ears.

A red star slowly descended from the endless fog above.

While soothing Chika, Ren guided the star before him.

The red star shimmered with a projected scene.

A gloomy young man was about to stab an old man in the abdomen. A girl dashed toward the old man, her expression filled with desperation, praying with everything she had.

Looks like the opportunity had arrived.

Then, in response to that prayer, a corresponding power would be granted, to change fate.

A power to temporarily alter the destiny of the one who prayed was granted in the form of a gift.

After completing the gift, he looked down at the still-crying Chika and sighed helplessly. It was going to take a while to calm her down.

But there was no helping it. After all, for an ordinary girl to go through loss of control and encounter spiritual corruption—emotional instability was inevitable.

…By the way, could he pull Hayasaka into Sefirah Castle too?

Just as Ren was thinking that, a red star fell from the foggy ceiling.

Ren peered into the star and saw Hayasaka reading a diary.

So it was possible, then.

But it seemed the diary itself was what allowed her location to be locked.

He gently tapped the star.

"Hayasaka, the net has closed in on the Hatamoto side."

"I've got something going on here and can't leave right now. Go check it out first, I'll join you later."

Hayasaka, visible through the star, was momentarily stunned. But she quickly sprang into action.

Seeing this, Ren didn't continue watching. Instead, he focused his attention on comforting Chika, who was still quietly crying.

(To be continued.)