Chaotic Craftsman Worships The Cube

As they walked over, Thera's eyes were locked on her aunt while Ben couldn't help but take in the crowd around her, all of them appearing at first glance to be from the same species or at least hybrids that shared a similar paternal heritage, with that assumption only falling through as he looked at their souls as well, the skills they held telling a different story for the group they were no doubt sent to observe.

He had questions to ask from it all but they were put briefly on hold as they made their way to the one who seemed to have been responsible for their presence there, waiting to the side as the great spirit exchanged words with the only other person who didn't match the rest and only stopping their talk as she took notice of them.

"Hmm? Child, what brings you here?" Vividus asked as she took note of Thera's presence, with Thera nearly grinding her teeth in return.

"You called for me, of course I'm here. Though I probably wouldn't have been if I'd known you were the one who sent out the request."

"Oh, are you and your little pet the ones the guild sent? It didn't matter to me who I got so I didn't ask, although I suppose I do remember hearing you were working with them and you have finally made yourself useful enough to get that rank… Hmm, actually, with the mana you're giving off I'd say you've finally begun to go past being just an acceptable standard," The great spirit muttered at the end as she appraised her niece, thoughts indecipherable running through the ancient being's head. "Just what are your magic levels currently anyway?"

"What's it matter?"

"I am currently your employer, it isn't too much to ask."

A sharp breath as Thera tried to keep from swearing at her aunt then and there before she finally answered. "Spiritual life is nine, earth is seven, dark is four, and my non-affinity is two. Don't ask about the rest of my status, that's my business."

Ben could see the answer had perked up the one Vividus had been talking to as well while the great spirit only smiled wider. "And from the feel of it, your mana has reached a good volume as well, if you've gotten better at using it on a larger scale then I'd go so far as to say you've actually managed to make something of yourself. Hmm, well done I suppose."

The small congratulations managed to catch Thera off guard enough that it paused her bad mood, leaving her to sigh after a beat of silence as she looked around. "So then are these the people we're expected to observe?"

"They are. Unfortunately, I don't currently have the time to examine how they perform in the field myself as another one of my more floundering projects requires my attention so I do hope you'll be able to help produce a decent report on their performance for me."

"And what exactly is so special about them?"

"They're constructs modeled after your little lover."

"What?"

"Chimeras," Ben answered before the spirit could. "But more than that. Each one of them holds either the skill partial homunculus body or integrated homunculus body. You turned people into chimeras using artificially constructed life to modify them."

"Very good," Vividus clapped. "And correct. Seeing the improvements to your base biology after your own modifications made for an interesting project but as decent as what you produced had ended up being, I knew I could go much, much farther. Of course, the main difficulty had been finding a way to bind a homunculi's flesh to a person in a way that would produce the necessary skill to yield the best results but thankfully I had plenty of experimental material. It may not have made up for their crimes yet but Iberu and his like have been making excellent test subjects."

The statement made Ben whip his head to the crowd, searching to see if he could find the old head of craftsmans' tower among them. It was obvious that among all the modifications Vividus had done to them, one had been stripping them of their skin and replacing it with something new, with every test subject there having a scaled appearance that was mixed between a dark purple, orange, and green, but he didn't know to what extent they'd been changed so he couldn't know if they'd even have the same facial structure to try and identify them.

Even as he looked though, Vividus just chuckled. "Oh, you won't find him or any of his cohort there. I have plenty of other tests to run on them so they'll remain at my home. No, these were all ethically sourced volunteers, each of them looking to get stronger as I reached out my hand to them."

"How could you have possibly gotten so many volunteers to be experimented on," Thera asked, a question Ben couldn't help but wonder himself. Counting heads, Ben could make out fifty of them, all people who'd supposedly agreed to be put through such a thing. To be so heavily modified that they wouldn't be recognizable to even the people they held most dear, with that seeming to be the crux of the matter.

"People who have nothing left make for easy subjects to work with," The spirit told them indifferently. "Having lost home, family, and friends, there were plenty who wanted the strength to fight back, all I did was offer it to them."

"...You took advantage of people while they were at their lowest," Thera muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. "Infinite hells Viv, I always knew you were a monster but this is…"

She didn't even know what to say. Words couldn't properly express her disgust. After unending weeks of trying to help everyone she could through clinic work, her aunt had instead put her incredible life magic towards doing that. There was no reaction she could give that would fit what she was feeling, even with the spirit appearing entirely indifferent.

"All I did was give them a choice, the fact that they took it was up to them."

Ben could feel Thera wanting to yell at his side but he took her hand before she could, trying to help her keep her cool while he spoke up, aiming to keep track of the practical.

"So to what extent have they been altered? It's not just their flesh, is it?"

"Finally, a decent question. No, while their skin was remade to the best of my abilities, producing something that is far stronger and more resilient while also creating energy for them through exposure to the sun and heat in general, you'll find every part of them modified to one extent or another. Their bones and muscles have been improved with my designs incorporated into what they already had and while I didn't replace too many of their organs if I could avoid it, I have adjusted their systems and included new ones I've especially designed myself. These people are my masterpieces."

Again, he could feel Thera wanting to say something but there was nothing that would come from turning it into a fight as Ben asked a question that had grown in him with the explanation.

"If you've modified them to such an extreme extent, how can they possibly still be listed as having that as their partial or integrated bodies? It sounds like you've changed them nearly in their entirety."

"Only around thirty-five percent for each one," She said, sounding proud of her achievement. "It just so happens that the efficiency I was able to pull it off with exists on a far higher level than base biology. You'd be surprised how many unnecessary flourishes exist in a standard race due to the messy process that is evolution and the gods of every people I've seen didn't do much to improve upon it outside of the changes they needed to make to uplift their believers. Everything I've created however exists at peak efficiency and seeing as how what I created should be able to breed into the gene pool thanks to the system interaction creating those skills, I'd go so far as to say that so long as we win in the end, in the long term I've improved every race on the planet."

"So nice knowing I have a megalomaniac in the family," Thera finally said. "So what? If they prove their efficiency you're going to expand production on them?"

"Of course, so long as the results are what I expect I'll be offering my services to every group on the planet," She said lightly. "And no matter how you might feel on the matter, I'm expecting an honest and accurate evaluation."

Thera was silent at that, knowing she'd do the job she'd been given but not wanting to give her aunt whatever satisfaction she'd get from outright saying it, not that she had to. The great spirit had her expectations and even if the two of them left out of protest, they weren't the only adventurers who'd come to do such a thing, a fact made clear as she turned away.

"Ah, it seems the last group has finally joined us. In that case, let's have a quick talk so I can be on my way."