I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 84

“If the nature of the test was to survive an assassination attempt, the scenario would already be finished.” I analyzed our current situation.

“I’ve healed quite quickly. I don’t think I was supposed to heal so quickly.” Erika was checking her wound to find it little more than a patch of red skin.

“I healed you, uh… a technique.” I was being a bit too frank.

Just because she knew I was at a higher level than I originally let on did not mean that she could even guess the truth of my origins. Still, the less she knew, the better.

She smiled and nodded. “Then, I owe you. Either way, we need to figure out the goal here quickly. I have a feeling that this trial is occurring for Lord Maxwell and his son. Legacies can only be given once. After that, the magic behind them goes dormant for a time. It could be decades before it could hand out another legacy. Given that, the current state of this subspace… it will likely collapse before that is even possible.”

“In other words, if they complete the scenarios before we do, we’ll be kicked back out into a collapsing subspace,” I said, taking the train of thought to its end.

She gave a nod. “Worse, we may be placed right next to them, and he may be willing to kill us off just to hide that he had come here. The strongest blade is a concealed one. I know that you’re a prestiged, but he is a lord. He would be able to defeat us both with ease no matter how hard we fought, especially since your vestigial weakness.”

“My what?”

“Vestigial, it’s a degenerated or atrophied trait from evolution.”

“I know what… never mind, what does it mean in this context?”

I was a bit surprised she used such a word. In biology, it typically referred to a trait that, evolutionarily speaking, wasn’t needed anymore. Bit by bit, the body got rid of it, but it still had some form left over for scientists to notice. Humans had tailbones but no tails. Their tail was vestigial. Wings on flightless birds or pelvic bones on hipless snakes would be other examples. However, I realized that she must be using it in the context of evolution in this world, so I quickly bit my tongue and asked.

“You are unfamiliar with this stuff?” She seemed a bit surprised. “Well, I figured your deficient mana, that you must also have a mutation. Mutations can be good or bad. When you have a good mutation, it’s called a natural mutation, but when you have a bad mutation it’s called a vestigial mutation.  My mutation increases my mana by ten-fold for my respective evolution level, but the opposite could also happen, a mutation that decreases your mana. For you to have such little mana, you most likely encountered a nonsense mutation.”

“Okay, I’ll bite, what is a nonsense mutation? Does it have any connection to a missense?”

Nonsense mutations in biology are mutations that effectively break a gene. If DNA was a language, and every word had three letters, the removal or addition of a single letter would cause something called a frameshift. If ‘ABA BAB CAC’ lost its first B, then it’d become “AAB ABC AC. Every word would change, or become nonsense. Missense only changed one word, so it was less likely to affect everything. “

Erika’s eyes brightened at my question. “So, you do know a bit! There are all kinds of mutations. Nonsense mutation is considered the worst you’ll be stunted in whatever status you have the mutation in, and it will never rise no matter how many times you evolve. Missense only affects a single evolution level. By the way, what Mara and I have is called a point mutation, where one status is abnormally high. Until we reach our next evolution though, we won’t know if that evolution has a repeating mutation. That’s not all, there are insertion mutations, substitution mutations, and inverted mutations, although these have to do with the skills you unlock… ah… I’m droning on, aren’t I?”

She started speaking in a teaching voice not dissimilar to what she had used when she spoke to Mara before about magic. It was clear that she particularly enjoyed education. I had learned enough to understand that simple evolution wasn’t the limit. Countless mutations kept the process more interesting. Any evolved I met could have their unique mutations, so I couldn’t assume that two people of the same level would share the same capacity.

It also helped me understand the support skill Mutation. That skill allowed me to control the process a bit, altering my skills to create new effects when I wanted. However, the process was random and I always ended up having to select which skill I wanted after mutating it. I wondered how an artificially selected mutated skill would compare to the naturally selected mutations that the people of this world had.

I shook my head. “Alright, so I have a nonsense mutation in magic. It is what it is… however, I wonder how Lord Maxwell will complete such a romantic trial with his son.”

When Erika realized what I meant, including the condition needed for entering this space, her face turned slightly red. “That… well, there was the girl from earlier. If they brought her, the scenario could be the pair of them. Unfortunately, we don’t know enough.”

[You have been poisoned. -10 HP]

I made a face. “Do you think curing the poison is the condition?”

Erika bit her lip as she watched me, a worried look on her face. “I believe it’s part of it, but remember, this is a test for a couple. Both of us will need to be tested.”

At that moment, there was some loud banging on the doors. “My lord and lady, I pardon the interruption, but there is important news.”

“Come,” I spoke, trying to sound like the king I was pretending to be.

The servant from earlier came in with a scroll in his hands. He came up to me and kneeled. I hesitated only for a second before I took it and opened it up. Thankfully, Translation kicked in and I had no trouble reading it.

“What does it say?” Erika asked, trying to get a peek.

I handed it to her. “It says the Wildmen have gathered an army. They plan to attack us.”

“Haven’t they been informed this was a trap?” she cried out.

“My queen…” The servant looked at her hesitantly until she nodded. “The Wildmen have refused to listen. We’ve sent a delegate, and they sent back his head. They really can’t be reasoned with, little more than barbarians.”

“That’s enough…” I nodded to him. “Gather some men, I’ll be going out by the end of the day.”

His eyes widened. “To the Wildmen?”

“No.” I shook my head. “To the mountains, to find a cure.”

“I…I… see… is that wise, my lord?”

“I’ll be here.” Erika’s eyes widened as she finally caught the same thing I did. “I will protect the kingdom while my husband finds the cure to the poison.”

“We aren’t asking, this is an order,” I told him when it looked like he wanted to argue more.

He nodded and then walked out wordlessly. I turned back to Erika.

“I think the trial likely had things the other way,” Erika admitted.

“The King stayed to protect the kingdom and his queen left to find the cure for her dying husband.” I raised an eyebrow.

Her face flushed. “I’m the reason you were poisoned, correct? If you hadn’t needed to save me, you wouldn’t have been poisoned.”

I couldn’t help but blink in surprise. She was shockingly clever.

“Are you suggesting it’s your responsibility to save me?” I asked.

“You will only grow weaker.” She spoke quietly. “Even as a prestiged, your time is limited… and probably shorter than the time the original king had. They might be able to do something to slow it down. At least, it won’t be exacerbated.”

“And what about the kingdom? If it falls, I believe that will count as a failure.”

“You are… stronger than me…”

“That’s why I should go the mountain,” I told her. “I’m only a few evolutions from a king, but you’re much farther than that.”

She winced. “I-I am useless, huh?”

I shook my head. “Not at all. The scenario shouldn’t be harder than we’re capable of completing, or why would they even bother accepting anyone below a king or queen in the first place? Although my nonsense mutation might be a joke to some, it does have some benefits. Few people can tell what my true ability is at a glance.”

“That’s true!” her eyes brightened.

“Your talent also lies with formations, right? If you spend the next week or two preparing this castle, you could make it impenetrable.”

“Weeks!” her eyes widened.

“Don’t worry… I have a feeling this trial doesn’t follow natural time. I suspect the trial will have us in and out in less than a day no matter how much time we spend in these scenarios.”

“In that case… I’ll keep the castle safe, and you get the antidote to the poison!”

I gave her a nod. As long as we both stuck to our strengths, this trial would be over quickly.