Chapter 1208 - Three Samples

Tapping her fingers on the table, Shiro glanced over at the other Knights that she had captured.

Taking a deep breath, she flexed her finger, releasing all of them into cages before looking at her lantern.

'Iriel.'

'I know what you're going to ask. I'll salvage what I can but I'll be honest with you, all of them have practically fused into one mass of energy to power the suit. Even if I was to recover part of them, their souls are incomplete. If they reincarnate, their soul will probably be used for monsters.' Iriel sighed as Shiro stayed silent.

'Is it truly so hopeless? I'm sure there are some ways we can help. I mean my soul was broken but it's recovered somewhat. Anima is still shattered but 'mine' I suppose I fixed.'

'Yes but that's only because the other shards of your soul were mostly undamaged. Even if it was damaged, your identity as Anima gave you extra benefits. Unless you can find undamaged pieces for these souls, I doubt you can do it.'

Thinking about it, Shiro had an idea. The idea itself could be achievable but it was somewhat doubtful considering the feat that they would need to accomplish. However, that had never stopped Shiro before so it shouldn't stop her now.

"Aarim." Shiro called out as Aarim turned her attention towards Shiro who now had this glint in her eyes.

"Yes?"

"How exactly does your spell Save and Load work again?"

"I think I know what you're going for but unfortunately, I've never saved their previous state so I cannot help them." Aarim sighed.

"Yes, but what if there is a way for you to see their previous state? This might be improbable but with Error, I am able to read their source code. If you demonstrate the skill to me enough times, I might be able to pinpoint which 'code' you are saving and loading for your spell. If we can pair the two together, there's a good chance for us to help them."

"I mean… It might be doable. But you need to keep in mind that this is already a very experimental spell. While it has gone through extensive testing, it's still rather unstable as I am tampering with something I cannot see. My 'save' and load works with what I see rather than the code. Or at least that's how it is to my knowledge. Using your method could help them but we would need to test it first." Aarim said as she didn't want to test a new spell on people who couldn't say no.

"I know, I'm just putting it out there as an option. I doubt many of them would want to reincarnate into monsters. But setting aside the idea of helping them for now, we still need to test your skill. What if I were to bring some items until you are comfortable enough with your skill. Once that's done, we can do some trial runs on minor injuries and scale upwards." Shiro offered.

Thinking about it, Shiro asked Nan Tian to get some items while she checks on the nanobots within the armour. She had a candidate for human testing but that's only if she was to say yes.

Hearing her request, Nan Tian nodded his head and went to fetch a few items that were broken when Shiro had destructive energy swirling around her body. Since they weren't completely destroyed, fixing them should be possible. And if they could fix things damaged by destruction energy, souls shouldn't be too difficult.

Of course, he wasn't going to neglect obtaining normal items too since they need to test it with a wider variety of items.

While Nan Tian went off to grab a few items, Shiro started to remove the souls from the armour. That way she can test the nanobots without harming any of the souls.

Transforming Error into a small blade, Shiro activated Analysis EX. With Error enhancing her eyes, she delicately separated the soul from the armour.

It was rather difficult considering the fact that cutting it off from the nanobots does cause it some harm too since the nanobots were helping the souls maintain their shape in a clump to act as fuel. Without this, they'll scatter and break, which is the opposite of what she wanted.

Thankfully, she had a perfect container on hand that didn't absorb them like the armours.

Stabbing Iriel through the top of the lantern, Shiro allowed him to have some control while she placed the souls inside. That way he could round them all up and make sure they're not deteriorating.

Once the souls were separated from the armour, all of the energy within the armour disappeared, leaving just the nanobots. It lay lifeless in the cage but Shiro wasn't about to uncage them since the nanobots from the creation side were still aggressive to her even without the souls. Instead it was now acting upon 'instinct', attacking whatever was in its way.

Once she sealed it up and locked it in the cage, it was now more docile.

She wanted to compare it with her normal nanobots but there was a slight problem. She didn't know what parts of the nanobots changed due to her nature as the First Born of Destruction. She knew that the nanobots wouldn't be this powerful had it not been for that. Thankfully, there was a way but it required turning someone else into a Nanomancer.

She could implant a certain type of nanobot within their body, transforming their physique in order to allow their mana to turn into nanobots.

The moment she brought this up to Aarim, Aarim suggested that Shiro try it in her since she can use Save and Load afterwards to revert herself back to her prior state. After a bit of persuasion, Shiro agreed.

"Should I make it so that the nanobots enhance you more?" Shiro asked since it could benefit her but Aarim shook her head.

"Thanks for the offer but I'll pass. Nanobots don't exactly suit me so I'll stay with what I have right now." Aarim chuckled.

Sitting down, she took off her jacket, exposing her back so that Shiro could begin the transplant.

Nodding her head, Shiro stood behind her and placed her hand against Aarim's back.

Focusing her mind, she channelled a small portion of Jormungandr's mana through her body and transformed it into nanobots.

Cutting a small hole in Aarim's back, she inserted it into her body, causing Aarim to tense up for a moment as she attuned to the nanobot.

"Try to make a sample now and revert yourself just in case the system makes it permanent." Shiro reminded as Aarim nodded her head.

Furrowing her brows, she aimed her hand at the table and focused hard. Since nanobots only work with a clear blueprint, it was a bit difficult for her to make a decent sample quickly. But since she created the spell that converted mana into mana sticks to improve focus, she essentially created a nanotech mana stick that had no other purpose other than aesthetic since everything was metal.

Once the stick was created, Shiro tugged a small wire, retrieving the nanobot from Aarim's body while she healed herself.

Even though they were a bit slow on the retrieval, it didn't seem like the system had created any changes so they had nothing to worry about.

"How do you even make large things on the fly? I knew it was hard but goodness. You really need to have a full understanding of what you want to make huh?" Aarim said as she struggled to make a tiny stick, never mind trying to make a gun like Shiro.

"What can I say? I have an amazing memory." Shiro chuckled.

Now that she had three samples in front of her, a 'normal' one from Aarim, destructive one from her and a creation one from the mysterious woman, Shiro activated Analysis EX and checked the similarities. Anything that was common through all three would most likely be used for the base nanobot while anything extra could be variables brought by the creators.

Once she found most of the similarities, she observed the extra parts.

'Hmm… For Aarim's nanobots, the structure seems to be more rigid and stable but not as adaptable compared to mine and the creation ones. Since this was her first creation, she wanted to make sure it takes shape rather than adaptability. Had she chosen to keep some nanobots she could probably make quite a few items in the future, but they won't be easily transformed to anything else. Her nanobots are pretty much one time use.' Shiro thought to herself before glancing at the nanobots created using creation.

If she was being honest, compared to destruction, the creation nanobots seemed a lot scarier.

Everything added to it was for the benefit of assimilating everything and anything. Turn everything into creation energy. It didn't matter if it was living or dead, everything was welcome to be assimilated. If a person dies to destruction, they are wiped out in one go before being 'recycled' into energy for the universe or the caster. As for creation, it molds everything for the benefit of 'creation'. It's almost like a strange hive mind that wouldn't let you reincarnate or be 'recycled'.

A perfect example would be the souls that are used for the armour.