Soul of Negary

Wearing a brand new uniform, ‘Negary’ carried a small bag on his back as he entered the Mobis Institute. Their work efficiency must be praised, as the enrollment process finished in less than half a day’s time.

Watching the students going into the school, ‘Negary’ slightly frowned.

The Mobis Institute’s environment wasn’t lacking, but it currently had an acute sense of unease clearly lingering in the air. Everyone who lived in this environment would surely become highly belligerent, if not for their self-righteous dignity as Uppers, they would most likely display open impatience on their faces right now.

“Auditing student, these are the timetables you’re allowed to select, as well as the key to your dorm. Furthermore, these are the school’s regulations, make sure to memorize all of them, if you violate any of them and face expulsion, don’t blame me”

The head of enrollment wore very decent clothing, but there was a small scratch near the cuff of his coat button, as well as a small, almost indiscernible blood mark at the edge of his leather shoes, which suggested that he had used violence not too long ago.

While living under the conditions of this institute, everyone was prone to being belligerent, their rationality could always disappear without any warnings, emotions like hysteria, hot-headedness, and irritability, all became especially obvious.

〖 Understood 〗after accepting the things that the head of enrollment gave him, ‘Negary’ began to take a stroll around the institute.

Most of these people had already shown unusual signs, but they weren’t able to recognize it, believing this to be nothing but the unease leftover from the horrible attack of the previous day.

Very few with especially sharp spirit sense would be able to sense the abnormalities in the institute, but people with such sharp spirit sense would usually be the curious type, so as soon as they recognized the abnormalities, they wouldn’t choose to take refuge, instead would choose to investigate alone.

Carrying his bag with him, ‘Negary’ noticed a few young men and women chatting among one another as they held a blueprint in their hands while walking towards the institute’s library. Among them was a young man with brown curly hair and a hat, who seemed to have snuck a glance towards ‘Negary’ before lowering his head again.

〖 What sharp spirit sense. However, in such an environment, having acute senses won’t necessarily be a good thing 〗

‘Negary’ chuckled to himself. Those who had sharp senses would be able to sense things that regular people could not, and most of the time, these things did not differentiate from good or evil.

After observing the institute for a bit and taking a look at the destroyed structures, ‘Negary’ once again confirmed that the twin sisters were among those who came to the Academic City to undertake his mission.

As ‘Negary’ checked a flower bed covered in dust, he rubbed his finger along the edge of the rocky encasement. A small bit of dried-up colorful mucus began to give off a faint putrid scent as ‘Negary’ rubbed it away with his finger.

〖 This sensation… power of Impurity, but slightly different as well 〗’Negary’ scowled, picked up his bag again, then began heading towards the dorm that he was assigned to.

Originally, the institute wouldn’t have assigned a dorm to an auditing student. As the name suggested, auditing students were only allowed to listen during certain lessons, even their access to the cafeteria and WC would usually be restricted. And yet, the Mobis Institute had granted the new auditing students access not unlike that of official students, which further reinforced the fact that something was wrong.

‘Negary’ used the dorm’s sink to wash his hand, but still couldn’t completely shake off the faint foul stench from his finger that normal people wouldn’t be able to detect.

‘Negary’ scowled a bit, he didn’t hate the foul stench, as his main body Negary had already taken over an entire world, gaining control over almost every last bit of matter and energy within it. Negary had already experienced every scent, taste, and sensation that humans could and could not perceive, so if ‘Negary’ truly cared about such things, he would still be restrained by human perception.

Everything that existed was only a part of the world’s operation. And for Negary who had operated an entire world; even if his thoughts had been simplified due to the limits of the human brain, he had still discarded many of humanity’s shallow perceptions.

〖 How interesting, a specious power of Impurity 〗

‘Negary’ was able to recognize that the smell came from a small bit of strange Impurity that was stuck to his finger, and if he didn’t deal with it for a long while, it could easily cause his body to undergo mutations.

‘Negary’ opened his bag and took out a large collection of bottles and vials. Because he couldn’t borrow power from the original Negary, he had no choice but to use materials commonly found in the Academic City to concoct certain serums and powdered substances.

First, he used a cotton swab to take a bit of red liquid to rub on his finger, then took out some brown powder from a purple vial using a chemistry spoon and spread it on top of the foul stench at his fingertip. He then held two flints with his right hand and banged them together, causing the sparks to land on top of the brown powder.

A burst of flame erupted, followed by a rotten smell that came off with the brown smoke. Because there wasn’t enough fuel, the flame quickly fizzled out, leaving a few small white beads on his finger.

‘Negary’ then collected the white beads into a clean bottle, his finger was completely unharmed by the flame, and the stench from before had also disappeared.

Looking at the white beads in the bottle, ‘Negary’ chuckled, then put them all back into his bag. After reorganizing his things a bit, he left his room for the cafeteria.

His current body was a regular human one that hadn’t gone through any modifications, so food and drinks were still a necessity.

…

There weren’t too many people in the cafeteria, the overall atmosphere was stifled and heavy. Students who had the means would choose to eat outside the institute, but not all Upper families were necessarily wealthy. For example, Chromie, who originally went to study in the Academic City, while his home’s financial situation was much better than regular folks, he still chose to frequently eat in the cafeteria after paying the high tuition fees.

‘Negary’ chose a portion of black pepper steak, as well as a portion of dirt-infused algae; this new food had already appeared within the cafeterias of some institutes. Not noticing any smell out of the ordinary from carefully sniffing the food and checking with his spirit sense, ‘Negary’ pulled out a small bottle he had brought with him, poured it into his food, then began to eat.

“Hello, fellow student… May I sit here?”

The young man with the sharp spirit sense from before stood in front of ‘Negary’ with a plate of food in his hand. Quite obviously, he had managed to recognize a bit of ‘Negary’s’ uniqueness due to his spirit sense, so after observing ‘Negary’ for a bit, he chose to actively contact him.

〖 Of course 〗’Negary’ glanced at him before casually replying.

He hadn’t accepted any power from Negary and had even disguised his existence, yet this person still managed to notice his abnormalities. Most likely, his spirit sense was already potent enough to perform Spirit Sight.

Naturally, part of this was due to ‘Negary’ not concealing his uniqueness completely. If a Sediment who suddenly held an entirely new source of food in his hand didn’t display any abnormalities, that in itself would be the biggest abnormality, so ‘Negary’ chose to disguise as a half-Mystic who had certain unique capabilities.

“Thank you. I’m Roger Cleves, you must be a new auditing student?” the young man thanked him.

In the end, he was still only a student in an institute, his sharp edges still hadn’t been sanded down by the cruelty of society, so his way of doing things was quite direct. After discovering ‘Negary’s’ uniqueness, he immediately attempted to learn more about ‘Negary’.