Chapter 272: The Red-Crystal

And due to all of these, Virus was absolutely elated. Because now, he had something new to discover as he was going to walk an uncharted territory.

He was very thrilled with the idea of having many things to uncover regarding the red-crystals and their source, which might change the course of history entirely! And thrilled about being at the epicenter of this world-defying phenomena!

So, grinning from ear to ear, with an intense light of enthusiasm and elation shooting off his eyes, he deliberated his first course of action, 'First, I should place the red-crystal within the microscope…'

As this notion went through his head, he reached his hand and placed the Red-Crystal within the entry that was a bit bigger than the size of the Red-Crystal itself.

"Master, why are you trying to study the Red-Crystals? Don't you already know what they are?" Voiced the golden beauty at this time.

"Not really… like I said before, there are many things even I don't know or understand in this limitless world." Replied Virus, not taking his eyes off the Red-Crystal at all.

Listening to his response though, the golden beauty was a bit astonished because she had almost never seen her master not know the answer to anything!

After placing the Red-Crystal in its right spot, he thought, 'Hmm, now, scan.' Meanwhile, his mind directly connected to the microscope and gave it the command of scanning the crystal.

Immediately, for a few seconds, an intense light covered the entire inner part of the microscope before turning off.

'Done!'

Afterward, staring at another device as small as a phone, he sent it the findings of the microscope. Then, a 3D image became apparent above the phone-like device.

Immediately, a gigantic 3D image of numerous molecules appeared before him.

Looking at the way atoms came to be held together by the chemical bonds as they created the molecules, Virus was quite amazed because he realized he was looking at a new type of structure.

The image was the molecular structure of the crystal.

"It's amazing how such a crystal was created within a living biological being…" He wondered to himself.

Next, doing a sliding motion in the air, Virus changed the view to another part of the crystal, as he tried to find the molecular structure of the red flame-like gas. But unfortunately, no matter how he looked, he couldn't find it anywhere!

"What's going on?" He whispered in confusion as sent a new command to the microscope, 'Analyze.'

Instantly, in a matter of single second, tens of thousands of formulas, etc. momentarily blinked on the 3D image before it disappeared entirely. This was the process of the crystal being analyzed by the microscope which was also shown on the 3D screen.

'Analysis' was another feature of the [Microscope 1.0]. The function of the 'Analysis' was to analyze everything related to the material placed within the microscope and to state all of the characteristics and features of the said material.

Now, as the analysis was finished, a few words were displayed on the 3D screen.

『Degree of hardness: Its hardness is around half a diamond's, substantially different than a diamond in structure.』

『Unique characteristic of the crystal: Capable of storing [Unknown] in [Unknown] conditions. 』

『Influences on Humans: Lethal, poisonous, and indigestible to the stomach.』

『Melting point: 1500 °C of temperature. 』

『Other characteristics of the crystal: Unidentifiable with the current version of the microscope. 』

Gazing at the list of features, a deep frown showed up on Virus' forehead. This happened because he realized there was no mention of the red flame-like gas anywhere within the analysis or the list of characteristics, even the last section which stated that the other characteristics were unidentifiable by the current microscope was only pointing at the crystal itself, not the red flame-like gas!

'It's as if the microscope can't see the red flame-like substance within the crystal…' As this notion passed through his mind, Virus brought his two hands upward before his face as he slid his two fingers toward each other in the air. Currently, he was zooming out as the molecular structure got smaller and smaller until the molecules were no longer visible.

After a few times of zooming out, finally, the 3D image of an enormous Red-Crystal was floating in front of him.

'Hmm… the red flame-like substance is clearly there…' As he thought this, he started to zoom in once more.

Unfortunately, after once again zooming in to the molecular level, he could find nothing related to red flame-like substance anywhere within the structure!

'It's as if it is there, but not there at the same time… it's as if I'm looking at a… GHOST!' The light within his eyes began to brighten at this moment as a shimmer of enlightenment passed through them.

'One of the few things that acts this way just like a ghost under technology is… soul!'

'And now, this flame-like substance is acting the same way…'

'The Traits originate from the soul itself, their source is the very soul…'

'And the flame-like substance strengthens the traits…'

Putting one hand under his chin, Virus began to contemplate, 'Which means since the flame-like gas behaves just like a soul and enhances the Trait which originates from the soul itself… then, this flame-like substance must somehow affect or perhaps empower the soul of the Abnormal user… thus enhancing his Trait…'

"It's simple math to be honest. So, my conclusion is probably correct." He murmured under his breath.

"Did you unearth the mysteries of the red-crystal, master?" Seeing him mumbling something in a low voice, curious, the golden beauty inquired.

"Hmm… not even close. I now understand a bit only." He replied, full of dissatisfaction.

"I only realized that the crystal itself is poisonous to human beings and the flame-like substance behaves similar to a soul, and since it empowers traits which also originates from the soul of a person, then it must somehow affect an Abnormal's soul and result in his trait getting stronger." He explained in the most simple way he could.

"Wait, what? Traits originate from the soul?" Shocked, the golden beauty asked since this was the first time she was hearing about this.

"Yeah…"

Just getting the confirmation without any further delineation on the subject, slightly frustrated, she could only throw another question at him, "I see… um, but anyway, now that you understand the flame-like thingy a bit… what now?"

Hearing this, Virus could only respond in a helpless tone, "Even in my previous life in the future, mankind had a hard time studying things related to the soul… so now at this time, it's even more impossible to try to study anymore regarding the flame-like gas through technology…"

Not stopping there, he continued, "Which means, the only way to even have the slightest chance of unearthing anything related to the flame-like substance is through doing trials and errors on human beings themselves."

"But for that, I need to find a way so it would be possible for them to consume the flame-like substance without facing any dangers." He stated before saying, "Like that, without me needing to lift a finger, the humans themselves will begin finding and discovering everything I want to know about the Red-Crystals."