Ch.108Chapter 108

Today was another joyful Monday. It made me happy to see friends who didn’t even need to come to the Academy visiting my research lab just to chat with me. They could have just messaged me, but the fact that they made the effort to come in person made me want to give them snacks or something.

Unfortunately, there were limits to what I could do. My allowance came entirely from the Professor, and since her funds weren’t unlimited either, it wasn’t easy to ask her for things.

It was disappointing. Still, I wanted the Professor to live more comfortably. She often stayed up late researching and would enter the lab where the academy students worked, checking on various things before leaving.

The Professor was conducting multiple research projects. That’s why I didn’t want to disturb her too much. I used to think research just involved sitting at a desk, but after hearing how much money was needed to prove theories, I became more restrained.

Was money the issue after all? Even as I pondered this, I shook my head, knowing there wasn’t much I could do right now.

I stared intently at the Professor as she diligently typed on her keyboard before leaving work. Wearing computer glasses to protect her eyes, she looked like she was about to dive into the monitor.

I rested my face on the table. My cheek felt slightly cold against the surface. It was starting to feel like summer. I could sense that everyone was approaching their final exams.

Since I wasn’t a student, I had plenty of free time, but thinking about how the others needed to focus on studying made me realize I’d probably be bored again. I remembered being extremely bored during the exam period before.

I recalled the midterm period. Back then, the Professor was completely absorbed in her research and creating exam questions, and my friends didn’t even have time to chat with me, leaving my phone silent the entire time.

“…Hmm.”

I really wished Ouroboros was here. During times like these, I desperately needed someone leisurely like me. Although Ouroboros was supposedly helping the Professor’s research with magic, creating an artificial body for a Demon God seemed difficult, as there was still no news about it.

I kept quiet, not wanting to seem like I was rushing things. In my adult form, I could use magic, but I still didn’t fully understand what was possible, what wasn’t, and how to handle what was possible, so I hesitated to bring it up.

I enjoyed the coolness with my face pressed against the table. After staring at the Professor for a while, I rested my head on my hands. Just as I was about to close my eyes and take a nap, the Professor called me.

“Ourr.”

“Yes?”

My voice came out sounding silly. Startled, I immediately covered my mouth with both hands. Taking a breath with a “hup,” I saw the Professor peeking out from behind the monitor, chuckling.

I felt slightly embarrassed. Answering so suddenly made my voice come out nasally. Not expecting this, I squeezed my eyes shut. Then, lowering my hands, I slowly opened my eyes.

“What, what is it?”

I even cleared my throat to change the mood. The Professor made a gesture with her hand, suggesting we should leave.

“Let’s head to the Research Building.”

Although we were already in a research building, there was a clear difference between going to the research lab and going to the Research Building. Lost in thought, I nodded.

After a short nap, it would be nighttime. Once night fell, I would quietly end my day by going to sleep. Essentially, my schedule for today ended here.

Sleep, wake up, go home, sleep again—that’s it.

“Okay.”

It was disappointing, but since I could live for a very long time, I was fine with this routine. But was living a long life really a good thing? Wouldn’t it be better to age slowly at some point?

I had a choice.

Living an eternal life, or at some point abandoning immortality and aging and dying like a normal person. It would be possible if I just eliminated the aura-like energy I was constantly emitting.

Life was long. There was no need to make hasty decisions, so I just shook my head. For now, I decided to invest time in helping Ouroboros emerge.

If possible, I’d prefer to take the artificial body being created this time. After all, Ouroboros is the original owner.

**

I opened my eyes. Golden irises met a pure white space. The only one who could be close to her was Yuria, wearing the ring.

It hadn’t been that long. Just like blinking, she could face the world as if she had just woken up from sleep. It worked on the same principle that no matter how much time passes, someone who loses consciousness feels like it was just a moment, like waking up after a day’s sleep.

Ouroboros opened her eyes in her adult form.

She touched her neck, made an “ah” sound, and slowly rose from the bed. Then she looked toward where Yuria was.

“Work again today, I see.”

“Of course. If you’ve decided you want to exist, shouldn’t you make efforts to make that possible?”

Yuria spoke forcefully, deliberately trying to shake off her gloomy feelings. Ouroboros observed Yuria’s behavior and remained silent. It wasn’t that she didn’t care. She just had that level of emotion.

Having gained somewhat of an observer’s eye, detached from the world, she thought she didn’t care about anything, but lately that thinking had been changing.

The change wasn’t dramatic, so she couldn’t suddenly smile at Yuria’s sentiments. Part of the reason was that she herself felt awkward and couldn’t laugh easily.

“I suppose so. What should I do?”

Ouroboros could lend her power, but she didn’t know exactly what needed to be done. She simply waited, thinking Yuria had figured out how to create an artificial body.

“First, we need to make cells divide, somehow using the DNA from Ouroboros’s body to create the same form. But since the principle of creation is different from other organisms, I don’t even know how to approach DNA testing.”

“I see.”

Yuria was struggling after her initial approach failed. She had tried to find spiral-shaped DNA fragments, but couldn’t properly read them because the Demon God’s body, formed from Mana, had them in a peculiar form.

Yuria felt frustrated at the research hitting a roadblock, but Ouroboros just accepted it. She was simply waiting for Yuria to come up with an adequate answer.

“For now, I’ve created these fragments. These are cell fragments, and the goal is to repeatedly expand them until they reach human size. While I hope the abilities and conditions of Ouroboros and Ourr will be the same since we’re cloning, I’m not sure if that will happen.”

“…If you’re going to do this, give the newly created body to me.”

“Huh?”

“When something happens, I’m the one who can properly handle it. I’ve heard about Ourr, but that self is too young.”

Yuria tilted her head at Ouroboros’s words.

“Young?”

Even if the personality splits, it ultimately comes from the original. There must be some part that starts from “self” somewhere, so she wondered how the term “young” applied.

Ouroboros shook her head at Yuria’s confusion and explained.

“I’m not affected when my body becomes younger. That’s because I don’t lose anything when my brain shrinks. Most of what I lose, I choose to cut away. But Ourr, whether foolish or not, doesn’t choose to lose a few years of the past and wants to preserve herself. I don’t know if she thinks forgetting the past would make her not herself, but she chooses to let her mental age become younger as her body does.”

“…You lose memories?”

“Just temporarily. Since capacity decreases as you get younger, you just give up that moment. I don’t have anything I want to remember anyway, so I gladly give it up and maintain my sanity.”

Ouroboros remained consistent regardless of her body’s age, while Ourr’s mental age fluctuated with her physical age. Yuria had noticed this before and was now facing this truth.

“…I see.”

She wondered if telling Ourr about this would make any difference.

“Well, it doesn’t matter if you tell her. This is probably instinct. It might be the result of the expanded personality trying to resist losing itself. She could lose decades and it wouldn’t matter.”

Ouroboros had lived for a long time. Though she didn’t know exactly, she had lived for over 500 years, so she thought there would be no problem even if she lost over 200 years, nearly 400 years of memories when becoming younger.

She couldn’t know exactly what state Ourr was in. Since it was a situation of being herself but not herself, she refrained from speaking as if she completely understood.

“Isn’t it hard to live without those memories? They might have been periods that shaped who you are.”

“I am who I am. My established values don’t change.”

“I see.”

With Ouroboros’s firm answer, Yuria had no choice but to accept it. She knew well that as a mere human, it would be foolish to argue about a Demon God, especially one of a type she had never seen before, when the subject herself was so certain.

She sighed.

“So, where do we start…”

And with that, they returned to the research.