Peppers came to the Laboratory Instance after dinner to find Ayse who may have the ability to help her in the plans for blowing up the entire city in Giant World.
“Ayse! I need your help! I want to blow up an entire city! Do you have any Lost Tech available that can do that much damage or help in achieving it?” Peppers shouted at Ayse from afar which broke her concentration from analysing the Steam Tech.
“Can’t you see that I’m busy? How many times do I have to repeat not to disturb me while I am working?!” Ayse rebutted, and Peppers frowned.
“But you are ALWAYS working. Last time you told me not scare you by tapping on your shoulders from behind you. So, I shouted. How else am I going to get you to respond? You lose track of everything once you dive into your work?” Peppers asked, and Ayse sighed with her shoulders feeling like they were going to be burdened with another of Pepper’s requests.
“What exactly do you want now, Peps? Shouldn’t you be capable of blowing a city up without my help?” Ayse stopped what she was doing and looked at the little Fiery Demonic Sage Queen. Peppers told her about the plan Master, and the rest had discussed.
“Hmmm, a destructive force for a ‘city’ that is about the size of Mexico? Even Jin’s current Earth technology could never achieve that. Their nuclear bombs would not be able to reach such explosive impacts. Far reaching effects, yea but that’s not you want.” Ayse told her as she browsed the System’s projected console right in front of her.
“According to my calculations, I believe my full powers can be stretched to the limit to reach that potential.” Peppers replied eagerly. “But I was hoping you have anything that can strengthen me so that I won’t…you know faint and stay in a coma for months. Achieving such a potential milestone in my career as a Demonic Sage Queen, you can say that’s always my goal in life.”
“So, you’d rather be useless for the next few months just because you want to be selfish in pursuit of your own personal goals rather than be useful to Jin? If I am not wrong, with all the inter world troubles awaiting us, he needs you more than ever. Please do remember your place, Bellator.” Ayse folded her arms as she berated the ‘kid’ right in front of her.
“I know…but that’s exactly why I want to be more than just ‘useful’. Lately, he has been relying on Zeru and Kraft and maybe even Milk far more than me. I feel that at some point I’ve been left out of the loop. My most recent accomplishment was the Aegis Barrier, which I only powered up… It’s as if he does not want me to overstrain myself after all the multiple…erm rainbow vomit.” Peppers voiced her concerns out to Ayse.
“But! I have been trying to train myself too! I asked Milk Big Sis for help in training. Dragged her out of bed in the morning so that we can do some laps on the Panda Muscles running track. However, I feel that my body isn’t improving to handle the strain whenever I practice my explosions spells.”
“Hmmm…Then perhaps it isn’t the body’s condition that affects your magical potency?” Ayse thought for a while before answering her. “Have you considered that it’s possible that other factors may be affecting you? Like the recital of your magical spell? Or the efficiency output of the explosion to the amount of magical power you need to use?”
“Are you implying that I am not talented enough as a Sage? You questioning my abilities??” Peppers asked, and Ayse nodded her head.
“I am. Even the most brilliant scientist like my dad tends to make the simplest of mistakes. If you have developed a certain mindset over the years, you can become enslaved by it, unable to see any other possibility. Sometimes a fresh outside perspective is just what you need. Like I remodified his equation to a theory he had and my Lost Tech now works twice as efficient.” Ayse replied bluntly, and Peppers had no way to argue about that.
“So if you wish, I can dedicate half an hour of my time off to help you with tweaking your explosions. Scientifically measuring it so that you can improve step by step.” Ayse suggested with a sly smile. “But you know Peps that I won’t do that for free. For all my time is precious. I could be watching the new season of Mythbusters rather than doing experiments for you.”
“And what do you plan to do? Just see how much explosions I can do in a day?” Peppers struggled with her answer for a bit as if pausing to think, but in the end, she asked hesitantly for Ayse’s help.
Ayse shook her head at her question and decided to tell her a brief overview of the methodology the Head Researcher was going to use. Besides, it was not an everyday occurrence to be able to witness and measure the powers of a Demonic Sage Queen.
“I will methodically run down the list of what you need to cast your explosion spells. Things like how much the enchantments you are wearing that affect your spell power, the weapons you hold, the casting time and much more. Once we have identified all the possible factors of your body strain, we can see if we can increase the potency of the explosion by changing a factor and see how much change do you need.” Ayse replied with a string of examples.
“Oh, and we also have to factor in your age. You better tell me truthfully how old you really are.” Ayse grinned as it was always a topic which Peppers actively avoided.
“Argggh! Why did I even ask you for help? Fine! What do you want in exchange?” Peppers knew that she wanted something.
“Owe me five favours which you cannot refuse,” Ayse replied, and Peppers frowned at that number.
“You kidding me? Half an hour a day for five favours? You think you are some sort of big shot? I read books on your so called scientific procedures. It’s like maths, I can deal with it!..if I have to.” Peppers gave a slightly annoyed look, and Ayse laughed.
“Hahaha, to see you pouting always brightens my day, even though I hate that you always interrupt me. Fine, let’s make it two favours which you cannot refuse.” Ayse knew that her demand had been absurd and Peppers realised that she had been played with.
“I agree. Two, but with 45 minutes per day. And I better have results before the end of the month!” Peppers said.
“That is assuming Jin can’t find any other solution before the deadline you arbitrarily set on yourself. Hahaha. Goodbye, Peps.” Ayse grinned as she began to return to her work that Peppers had interrupted.
The status quo of a silent laboratory returned for a while.
However, it wasn’t until a few minutes that she heard a sudden shout from one of the rooms within the laboratory instance.
“I DIDDD ITTT!!” Weslie came out of her room with her hair all flustered, oil stains all around her face and shouted out loud with bated breath.
