(A/N): Wassup, mga Kai'gan! Panibagong chapter, panibagong katarantaduhan nanaman!
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TOWARDS THE FUTURE!!!
Rumors about the three young people spread around the village, courtesy of Shovel, who saw them yesterday from the other side of the bridge. Old man Kaseki seems to be curious though, "Three humans from outside the village?? Hmmn..."
The little girl's description of them is way off though, like what Ginrou's been telling her too. It's understandable, the way she described the three like aliens or some other creatures and two of them being 'sorcerers'.
En hummed thoughtfully as she added her ow comment about the three too, "Dear me! A long time ago, criminals were exiled from the village, so that's the only thing they could be, right?"
Shovel tilted her head at that, "But, like, there is a young guy and two young lady!"
Magma and Mantle seems to have caught wind of the village gossip as he smirked at his partner, "If they're someone dangerous, I'll crush them! And then Ruri will surely fall for me!" Mantle nodded his head in confirmation, "Ai~"
Kujaku chuckled to herself, "Fufu, it must mean that one of those stone statues came back to life, huh?" Azura laughed nervously at what she said, "No way..."
From the medium sized pond, Garnet scoffed, "The problem here is whether or not that guy and those two girls are strong! That's all there is to it."
Sapphire swam closer to Ruby and Garnet with a small blush on her face, "Hey, who cares if he's strong~ A hottie, a hottie!" Ruby just kept silent.
(From afar, Ana accidentally pulled the rope too hard, causing for it to tear apart and she stood up. Lalaine, who just finished making a medium sized bucket, flinched as she turn to see Ana with red aura surrounding her, "WHAT THE FUCK, ANA? NANI KURE? STOP DOING THAT THIS INSTANT--" Ana turned to face her, her eyes comically glinting red, "Yes... sorry, 'Laine... I just feel like I want to kill somebody right now..." She started climbing the storehouse, "I'll go... get some ropes.." Lalaine almost threw the bucket at her direction, "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO USE THE ROPE FOR?!" Ana is back again to normal as she glanced at Lalaine with a straight face, "To tie that bucket into the tree of course, that's the goal for what we're doing anyway.")
Kokuyou had a serious expression on his face right now as soon as Jasper and Turquoise told him about the three suspicious individuals, "Even if it seems impossible, those strangers were brought here by Kohaku, correct?"
Jasper spoke up in a serious manner, "We still don't know for sure."
Turquoise didn't like what Jasper said though. For her, it seems that he's trying to cover up for Kohaku, so she quickly agreed with the chief, "That's right, chief! It was Kohaku. Jasper, you heard it too! Kinrou confessed so quickly. Quit trying to cover up for her!"
The chief got a furious look as he grip his cup too hard that it broke, "That stupid girl! I ought to disown her! She's always disrespected the rules...!!"
Ruri watched silently as they berated her little sister's action, "....." Before anything could happen, she crouched down on the floor as she fell into another coughing fit, trying to catch her breath as she finished and her father immediately coming to her aid.
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Lalaine and Ana finished what they were doing, with Ana putting up a lot of bamboos with the exact same height in a perfect square and tying all of it so it will all stick together and not fall apart, duh. Inside, there are two medium sized container with water in them, a small cup-like container inside one of the two, it's what they use to cup the water.
Yes, Ana made a bathroom with the help of Lalaine. Her reason is that the river is a bit far for her to walk there everyday, but gathering water from it would not be too tiresome. Lalaine told her that Ana only made it harder for herself, which the girl pretended to not hear.
Chrome starts his yelling with clenched fists, "Tell me, Senkuu, Ana! Tell me how to make the cure-all medicine! I'll totally defeat Ruri's illness!!"
Kohaku raised her clenched fist too, looking determinedly at the two nerds, "If it's to cure my sister, I'll cooperate however I can!"
Senkuu and Ana though, they're standing besides each other with their arms crossed, Lalaine behind them and William Snakespeare resting on Ana's right shoulder. All three of them wearing the same smirk on their faces. Ana smirked evilly at her thought with her curing Ruri with Senkuu and Lalaine, 'If--- When we made the sulfa-drug and cure Ruri, the village will probably worship Science and effectively joining our sides if we tell them about Tsukasa. What else is better than curing the second most important person in the village and getting them to our side? Oh yeah, it's all coming together.'
"LONG LIVE SCIENCE!" "I want to join the kingdom of Science too!" - are what the two nerds thinking, with Lalaine behind them T-posing to assert dominance over the village.
Chrome and Kohaku stared at the three with suspicious gazes. Chrome spoke first and referring to Senkuu and Ana, "I saw that! Those bastards totally did some calculation in their minds before deciding to help Ruri."
Kohaku stared at them blankly with her arms crossed, "Is he a gentleman or an asshole? Is Ana a kind-hearted girl or an evil snake lady? They are really both complex person. Well, basically, it comes down to being logical, but..." She trailed off after that, actually not knowing what to say next.
Ana suddenly threw a new pair of clothes to Lalaine, in which the girl caught with a little difficulty since her eyesight is a fuzzy. Lalaine looked at Ana in confusion, silently asking the girl. Ana only smiled at her, " You go take some bath and relax, I don't want you to go do some work FOR NOW because you'll probably just hurt yourself if that happens."
Lalaine was about to thank her but Ana's smile suddenly turned into a maddening smirk as she moved closer so they are now face to face, with her having a crazy look in her eyes(Almost the same as a certain mentallis---), "Ara ara~ Don't go thanking me yet. Because after we made you some glasses, I'll work and train you down to the bone that you'd wish you weren't revived by me in the past."
"WHAT THE FUCK---" Lalaine backed away as far as she can from Ana, whose face is back to normal again in a matter of second. She immediately got inside the bathroom and closed the makeshift door.
Senkuu started drawing on the ground with a stick, oblivious of Lalaine and Ana's interaction. Kohaku and Chrome aren't though, as they both sweat dropped at her. Ana is laughing in her head crazily. Senkuu started their presentation, "In order to create the Kingdom fo Science, we need..."
Ana crossed her arms under her chest(Because crossing it over is really uncomfortable due to her breast size. Fuwa fuwa~), continuing what Senkuu's about to say and standing beside him, she's not that good at drawing so she'll let him handle it, "Anti-biotics. They eradicate the bacteriaw that plague the human body. The cure-all of Science!"
Chrome and Kohaku's eyes widened at the small information, a thing--- a medicine like that actually existed? Just how advance were the civilization back then, before the petrification happened?
Senkuu followed up, "Since its discovery in the early 20th century, it has saved the lives of hundreds of thousand of people." Back to Ana again, "We can't do a blood test, or discover the name of the disease. However, making her take some is worth a shot!!"
That immediately fired up the Chrome and Kohaku, "ALRIGHT!" Chrome started, "In that case, let's make it right now!" Kohaku is energetic too, "WHAT DO WE NEED!?"
Senkuu gave them a deadpanned look, "We lack every ingredient, so listen the hell up. Somehow the 'act first' mentality you guys have reminds me of a certain block-head..." Ana nodded her head at that, "Yeah, reminds me of a certain puto seko too..."
(From their current location, Taiju and Athena perked up. Both having the same feeling that someone is talking about them as they look around, "Huh?" Yuzuriha just look at them in confusion.)
Senkuu continue drawing on the dirt with Ana explaining, "There are two ways to make this cure-all. We can make Penicillin from organic matter, or, we can make a sulfur drug from rock." She put a finger under her chin, whisphering to herself, "... Personally, compare to Penicillin, in this stone world... Sulfa-drug is easier to make than that one..." She picked up William and put him on the ground, it's time for him to hunt some food.
("Hello everyone, you may be wondering who I am, but my name is Czar. That's correct, I'm one of the characters here. I'm just sharing some bits of secret here, Ana actually asked Senkuu and the Sulfa-drug and Penicillin yesterday night and memorized the exact words he said about it, and that's how she knew about this.")
Kohaku didn't understand mostly of what she said, "Organic matter? Stone? How can you make medicine out of that?"
Senkuu stood back up, explaining it to her and Chrome, "The most famous example is making Penicillin out of blue mold. Because Penicillin is so incredibly useful, Sulfur drugs were lost in the shadow of history. However, in this stone world, the bio-route of Penicillin is like... 'Somehow, by chance, we found a super blue mold with a billion times the normal power! wow!' It would be like expecting to win in the lottery."
"Hrmm..." Ana hummed, throwing her head back and looking at the blue sky. All three of them fpcused their attention to her, "In short, it's a 1 in 13,983,816. That's 1 shot in almost 14 million. My lulck, so far, is proven to be 1 in 500,000 a far cry to 14 million..." She turn to them, shrugging her shoulders, "So yeah, no chance we'll be able to find that one." She got serious look in her eyes, still managing the smile on her face, "On the other hand, we have the Sulfur drug route. In this Stone world..."
She put up her two fingers over her chest the same time as Senkuu did, the two spoke in unison again, "Even though we need an insane amount of patience and effort, with one billion percent certainty, we'll arrive at our cure-all."
Chrome already knew what his and Kohaku's answer is gonna be as he made his decision, "If that's so, then the answer is already clear!"
"So you get it now, do you, Chrome?" Ana asked, the male nodded his head yes. She turned to Kohaku, who nodded her head determinedly in respond.
The two smirked confidently, this actually the first time ever Ana felt confidence bubbled up in her chest, "We're not gods or natural geniuses. Step by step, we made it this far by struggling on our own." Senkuu draw on the dirt again, finishing it up, "We'll take the stone route! This leads towards a cure-all... it's a road map of science...!!!"
Kohaku is surprised at amount of ingredients they need and how Senkuu drew them easily, "WOOOOOAH...???" Chrome is not far off, "Seriously? Awesome!"
Senkuu stared at them, still holding the stick he used to draw, "It's a time-warp through two million years of scientific history. We can't take the scenic route."
Chrome suddenly beamed at them, "Oh, then I guess we've got to start with that 'iron' thing! What is it, anyway? Teach me everything about it!" Senkuu tensed up, "That's not exactly easy, etiher."
Kohaku already knows where this is going, "This will be Senkuu and Ana-sensei's sorcery... science class? Even if I listen, I don't think I'll understand."
Ana smirked, 'It was worth memorizing all of what he said. It's also thanks to it that I was able to stay conscious all through the time I was petrified.' She chuckled lowly and Senkuu heard her, "Hey, what are you thinking?"
Ana looked up at all of them with a smile and called out to Senkuu, "Senkuu-kun, how about let's tell them the history fo the entire world? You know? That one...?"
Senkuu smirked in affirmation, "Of course, it will probably take us a lot of hours because we need to add details for them to understand." He put a hand on her shoulder, "You know this right? Did you memorized all of it?"
"Yes to both of your question." She threw her hands up enthusiastically, "I can finally make use of the thing that kept me conscious throughout the whole time I was petrified."
They decided to move to a different location, Ana knocked on the bamboo wood to where Lalaine is, "Bro, we just gonna go to a different location. I'll leave William to you."
"Yeah yeah." Lalaine replied dismissively, not actually registering what Ana said last. So it wasn't a surprise that Ginrou heard Lalaine's scream from where he is.
[Different location but not too far]
They all sat down on the rocks, Ana didn't hesitate to immediately start.
"Hi. You're on a rock floating in space. Pretty cool, huh? Some of it's water. Fuck it, actually most of it's water. I can't even get from here to there without buying a boat. It's sad. I'm sad. I miss you. How did this happen? A long time ago, actually never, and also now, nothing is nowhere. When? Never. Makes sense, right? Like I said, it didn't happen. Nothing was never anywhere. That's why it's been everywhere. It's been so everywhere you don't need a where. You don't even need a when. That's how every it gets..." Ana continued on with Senkuu adding needed details.
[Night time]
"TO- TA- LLY- AWESOME!!" Chrome said, starry eyed.
Senkuu and Ana both fell on the ground on their backs, gasping for breath with their limbs spread out. That was one long hell recitation of the history of the entire world. Chrome isn't done yet, "THE EARTH IS SPINNING!? AMAZING!"
Senkuu confirmed it lazily, "Yep~ that's right~ Isn't this enough?" He asked both his self and Ana.
The answer is no because Kohaku is the one to ask this time, who is currently standing on top of a tree branch, "That's so weird. Then why am I not thrown off this branch right now?"
Ana answered this time, inhaling, "Because of the gravity of the Earth," There's something she's forgetting though, something that she's been meaning to tell Senkuu but forgot. Hmm...
Chrome looked up at the night sky, "I've always thought it was strange how that star never moves."
Senkuu pointed a finger at the star he was referring to, "The North star, right? That bright one. It's one billion percent likely to be in the true North, so it's hella useful. You better remember it."
Chrome got a basin from out of nowhere, looking down at it, "Is that so?" Kohaku lookled at the Northern Star too, "True North seems slightly off, if you ask me..."
Senkuu started cleaning his ear again, "That's not possible, the margin of error is..." He cut his self off as he realized something, Ana finally remember what she was supposed to say, "Did the Earth's axis tilt?!" He looked up at the night sky too, "Little by little, over the course of 3700 years, the Earth has shifted entirely. In this time, the year 5739, the North star has moved...!!"
Ana clapped her ahnd one time, "AH! Senkuu-kun! I was supposed to tell you that during our journey to Hakone!" She stood up and bow in front of him, "I'M SORRY!!! I FORGOT TO TELL YOU!" She felt horrible, really. Would he hate her now? Hopefully, not.
Senkuu tried his best to tell her that it's okay, he panicked when she started crying and laid back down on the ground, facing up the sky, "Ana! It's okay, a lot has been going on during that time. Even I didn't noticed it! I'm not mad or anything." That ceased her crying, thankfully. Senkuu thought back when he used the sextant, 'No wonder my navigation was so off on the way to Hakone.'
He put a hand over his lower face while smirking, "Kukuku, this Science-er is astonished to hear this. Overlooking something like this is because of my preconceived notions, isn't it? These three are a hell of a lot more observant than me, huh? What a useless guy I am..." Ana interjected, "I'M USELESS TOO, SINCE I WASN'T ABLE TO TELL YOU!" There goes her earlier confidence being thrown out the window.
Kohaku was silent for a moment before speaking, "Ha! Looking at you two, Senkuu and Ana, I don't see someone useless."
Senkuu smirked at that, "Yeah, I'm not trying to beat myself up over it. After calming down, I can see that it's the scale of things. It's just that I'm not entirely in sync with it yet. Don't beat yourself over it too, Ana."
The girl didn't answer him as she kept looking at the night sky, not even blinking. Chrome has been meaning to ask, "I've been meaning to ask, Why does Ana keep looking at the night sky? Even during your story of the history of the entire world. It's almost as if she's looking at something we can't see."
Senkuu crossed his arms, looking over at Ana and then to the glittering night sky, "That's because you're probably right. Considering all the stars visible in all directions around Earth, the upper end on the estimates seems to be about 10,000 visible stars. Other estimates place the number of stars visible to the eye alone - surrounding the entire Earth - at more like 5,000. At any given time, half of Earth is in daylight. So only half the estimated number - say, between 5,000 and 2,500 stars - would be visible from Earth's night side. The number of stars that you can see on a clear moonless night in a dark area, far away from city lights, is about 2000. Basically, the darker the sky, the more stars you can see. Moonlight brightens the night sky and reduces the number of stars you can see."
Senkuu truned to their awe-struck faces, "And since Ana always had a better eyesight than any human I've ever seen, including Kohaku, she can easily see 2,000 stars in an urban area, In a rural area, twice of it. And now? With not even one bit of electricity? I have no doubt that she can easily see all the stars in this side of night sky." If you look closely, you can see the Milky Way galaxy and the stars' reflection in Ana's eyes.
"Betelguese..." Senkuu hummed as Ana spoke again, she stood back up with a big smile on her face while looking at the Orion constellation, "Betelguese finally went supernova over the past thousand of years! And those two stars in Cygnus finally collided and there's a new visible addition to the night sky now!"
Kohaku looked back up again to where Ana is looking, she can only see the faint outline of it, but it's there, "This is included in the history that you told us earlier, right?"
"Yeah, at the beginning. Yes!"
Senkuu is relieved that she's back at being herself again as he smirked, "It may be late, but what an incredible time to be in~"
His expression turn into a sour one though as he realized a new thing, "...... Huh?" He looked at Chrome, "Just now. How did you know that the original North star was shifted?"
Chrome laughed as he had a crazy look in his face, "OHH!? It seems even our Senkuu and Ana doesn't recognize this stone! I happened across it on a barren mountain! It's a super amazing stone!! if you suspend it or float it, somehow, it always manage to point perfectly North. Isn't it amazing?!" He held up the basin in front of Senkuu and Ana, who stared at it, sweating a bit. The only thing that always point at North is a...
"It's a magnet."
Chrome was taken aback by their response, "IT'S CALLED A MAGNET!? Then you two did know what it is! Damn it!"
Senkuu picked up the magnet, "Kukuku, aren't you a busy boy, Chrome! With just a magnet-"
[Next day, in a river]
Lalaine doesn't want to go, simply because she doesn't want to strip off to her underwear just to go gather magnets. Ana replied with, "It's okay, I'll just add it up to your future training." She picked up William from her neck, setting him on the floor in front of Lalaine,"Since you'll be doing nothing here, I'm giving you the luxury to bond with William. Have fun." She left it at that. William immediately jumped back and forth when he was left alone with Lalaine. Lalaine? She's having a panic attack.
Ana dipped the magnet underwater and held it back up, a lot of iron sand stuck to it. Kohaku looked at the amount Ana collected, "Whoa, so much is stuck to it! This strange black sand is...?!"
Ana answered her question with a smile on her face, "It's iron sand. It's actually pretty funny how I discovered this when I was a child. I unknowingly collected a bunch of it and when I was holding a magnet and accidentally put it over the sand, everything stuck to it and I cried because I didn't know how to remove it."
Acquired Iron sand!!
Ana gazed at Kohaku's face, which looks similarly to someone who's dear to her. She continue collecting, not looking at Kohaku's eyes. Not looking at those familiar blue eyes, "You know what, Kohaku-chan? You really look like my godmother."
Crome and Senkuu are collecting too, "At last, the fist step on the Kingdom of Science's roadmap- The curtain lifts on the Iron Age!" He held up the magnet he had from the water, a lot of iron sand on it, "Isn't it thrilling...?!"
On to the next stage!!!
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(A/N): I'm SO excited to get to the part with Gen's first appearance! UWAH!!!