Aeon Nether & Idol Effigy

Chapter 88- Ingredients

My main ability isn't being thrown aside either. At times in the warehouse, I'll find useful things or things that have souls of previous original people in this world where their transmigrators had died. Most had come up to ask me to destroy the furniture or item or find someone who could win over the object. There were strange things in this strange warehouse that I couldn't help, but think they were introducing me to a whole new world.

So, every now and then I'd set up a place on campus to bring these objects to people who'd try to conquer them more safely. There was also someone named Gaab who'd consistently come with a group of people to try. His ability seemed cool and grew due to the items I bought. Many like him also discovered things about energy or their own abilities through the objects. My friends also got their share from the objects.

Funnily enough a few items had hidden gacha balls received from monsters who'd died within the objects. So, every now and then I'd have to teach someone how to pry off the ball cover to get the item within it. At these times there would be people who'd come back to me to check or process their items with them. It seemed like a necessary thing to do after everyone saw how the item changed or evolved after Gaab and Florent did it.

Items varied from wearable to more usable or strange objects. A Lot of people from my shelter class liked to buy strange objects from other people to place into their own collections, research, experiment or sell them off later. It wasn't hard to imagine that these things might be worth something, especially since we already had administrators test them for safety and transportation.

The strange objects were the most useful in crafting new things and everyone was excited at the prospect of having someone buy it during their dungeon service years, since currency can't be converted there. You can only get additional money in dungeon service from your ancestors or relatives left over amounts. Which isn't a lot and if they did have a lot it would be questionable as to what they actually did in dungeon service since the lessons there cost money.

Everyone wanted items or to save the strange objects up for some other reasons too. A few didn't care about dungeon service and directly sold them off.

Every passing day at lunch I'd bring the objects up from the warehouse for people to try them safely. Each time I do this, more and more people come up to give it a try. And every following breakfast we'll have groups of people come to learn how they should process the items with their energies. There were now people who'd sit in random places with a ball in their hands trying to concentrate their energy around it. Or even those that try to evolve and upgrade their objects to become more personalised towards themselves.

Even the worst energy user would aim to have a complete ball processed and for me to take them through the item upgrading journey at least once. It was something people saw as a tutorial or a lecture they had to take. Or something other to do here and another topic of discussion that could buy them some air time.

Either way, the general thought process of everyone here was to concentrate on one gacha ball and to aim to collect as many as you could or completely conquer as many objects I took from the warehouse as possible. It was a fun game or a hobby where you'd collect items to later talk about together on how they were researching them.

Near the end of the month when the performances were over, we stood waiting for the rankings to be called out.

All of us were dressed up like art pieces in some type of living exhibition. The viewers at home and in the audience voted. All the while we weren't allowed to turn around to look at the screen computing our results behind us.

I already knew that I wasn't going to win first place. I was fighting for third place.

The announcer's started ranking us and the judges first. Then they announced the fifth and fourth places before announcing the top three.

"Aeon in Third, Drag in Second and Felixe in First!" The fanfare went out and the contestants' own ranking order was finally revealed. Without Felixe I'd be in second and Drag in first. Harold would be in third unsurprisingly enough. He still had a neutral average look that would scream protagonist in some peoples worlds. Why I kept feeling the need to bring me up beguiled me.

It wasn't the best result for me, but I felt whole knowing that I did what I aimed to do.

My friends standing in the audience cheered me on and the show ended stating that we needed to stay in our own villas for a few days. Everything was over like that. Not quite feeling like an idol show, but at the same time the name Idol Effigy felt very adept at fitting its name.

...

"Aeon, teach us how to use our rewards. I just bought Harold's too. He was happy enough to give his ingredient to an injured person seeking all the medicine he can." Felixe sounded incredibly amused, as he walked towards me with Drag next to him. For the first time I was seeing Felixe's face after he cheated someone and I'd be doing a disservice by not pointing out how good it looked.

Felixe and Drag both came into my room. To accommodate our recorded activities, I pushed out the furniture to the sides of the room and finished drying the fluffy carpet after deep cleaning it the day before the performance.

"Sit and show your ingredients. I'll do it with you all." I stated, receiving nods and honest actions from the two.

I then took out a stone that seemed empty of previous energy and placed it before us. I pointed to the grooves on the large rock. "I carved indentations into the rock to help guide your energy whilst isolating the ingredient. This one is for the ingredients we got in the judges ranking. Just pulse your energy around the ingredient after you find a groove. I made a few ones designed on your ingredients on the day the rewards of the show were announced. So you need to pick the one that reacts the most to your energy and ingredients. You can tell by how clearly and strongly the carved pattern transfers to your energy."

I said all that and began attempting what I just said. The words in rune showed up and I placed it in the best craved indentation in the rock. The other two did the same in a larger amount of time. Once they both echoed the word, "Done", I continued.

"okay, now you'll want to find your way inside the ingredient to map out an image or feel for its innards. It's easier to do this with your eyes closed, because there's also a slight pull from the ingredient when you've achieved this that's easier to sense with your eyes closed. After the pull you need to pull the ingredients pulling force into you. At that point your ability will sense it and play with it. It's hard to describe, but you'll understand when it happens." I noted before continuing to do it by myself.

My ingredient glowed and expanded into a certain shape with cuts running throughout it without tearing the ingredient apart. The plant seemed to attack my energy in mid air with some strange substance that glowed and made a sound coming out from its insides. My ability started to play with it after a while and eventually had the ingredient disappear slowly disintegrating into me.

I raised my head and met the two who watched my process through to the end before trying it one at a time. When they finished they smiled and laughed incredulously at their screens. It seems that their abilities have improved.

"Let's do the other- " I was interrupted by Felixe who predicted what I'd say.

"-ingredients too. We're being watched and I don't want to be interrupted into leading others whose ingredients are less... potent?" Felixe stated.

Nothing was said against him. Our ingredients for the contestant rankings appeared.