A Scientific Urban Detective.

Chapter 1171 Special Stones

In order to purify the world, the "golden arm" summoned by the Right Flame was spread all over the world, so its remains are not particularly rare.

However, because it looks very much like "gold" and is directly related to the special circumstances at the time, even after being destroyed, these remains have become an important resource that various forces are vying for.

For ordinary private collectors, without special channels, it would be really difficult to obtain a sample of the wreckage.

Furthermore, not a single "golden arm" has appeared in Academy City and its surrounding areas, let alone any remains.

So after learning about this special mineral from the forums she frequented, Saten Ruiko became even more interested and tried every means to buy a piece from outside at a high price and smuggle it in.

After playing with and observing it for a while, Saten Ruiko finally confirmed that the stone was indeed not "gold," and it was even quite different from "metal" in the usual sense.

This left Saten Ruiko somewhat disappointed, but she quickly recovered—if it really was gold, she wouldn't have been able to buy it so easily.

"But it looks kind of familiar." Saten Ruiko turned on the light and examined it closely with a magnifying glass.

The more I looked at it, the more familiar it seemed, but I couldn't remember where I had seen something similar before.

Saten Ruiko pinched her chin and thought carefully. Her hobby was urban legends, not collecting stones. The two might occasionally overlap, but it was definitely not a frequent occurrence.

—The stone I encountered most recently…

“Oh right,” Saten Ruiko slammed her fist down, “‘Not in metal’!”

During the Daihasei Festival, she collected "non-metals" more than once, and now she still has two samples at home.

Thinking of this, she quickly took out the "non-metal" and compared it with the remains of the "golden arm". Saten Ruiko found that the two were indeed very similar.

Apart from one being golden yellow and glowing, and the other being metallic silver-white, they are almost identical in every other respect!
Rather than being "metals," they are more like crystals, with a fairly regular structure.

"Could this be the 'non-metal' from the magic side?" Saten Ruiko guessed.

……

"This stone is a crystallization of magic, a 'non-metal' from the magical side." In the laboratory, Theristina observed the small sample soaking in a test tube and made her assessment.

Beside her, senior researcher Hirata Koto shook her head: "What a pity, this is useless to us."

Unlike the "non-metallic" fragments, which can be used to develop specialized equipment within the superpower system, the remains of the "Golden Arm" are of no use whatsoever to the superpower system.

After verifying one point through experiments, Hirata Koto lost interest in it.

While it's not impossible to use the "Golden Arm" to create equipment suitable for mages if he wanted to, why would he need to do such a thing?

Rather than that, he prefers to focus his attention on topics that he is truly interested in.

“A pure esper should draw a clear line between themselves and magic,” Hirata Koto said. “An esper’s path to becoming a Level 6 Absolute Ability User should not be limited to ‘angelization’.”

Unfortunately, the "superpower" system is flawed from the start, so some things were predetermined from the beginning.

This is why several Level 5 individuals, upon reaching an even higher level, have all exhibited a tendency towards "angelicization."

Lin Wuming, however, was the only one who explicitly refused to be "angelized" at the time, instead embarking on a unique path of advancement for a superpowered individual. Or rather, it was precisely because Lin Wuming's superpower contained the "bullet time," an "impurity" that is not a superpower, that he was able to break free from the constraints of "angelization."

He is not a superpowered person in the usual sense, nor is he a Stone Power user like Xiaoban Junba. This is a path that belongs exclusively to Lin Wuming.

This also makes Lin Wuming the only person who has the potential to break through the existing "superpower" system.

As a researcher—even though he was no longer "Kihara"—Hirata Koto was full of curiosity and placed high hopes on Hayashi Mumei.

“I am no longer a member of the Kihara clan, so I will not do anything unnecessary,” Hirata Koto said. “I will only observe from the sidelines, rather than actively intervene.”

Theristina rolled her eyes: "Yeah, right."

Faced with her undisguised skepticism, Hirata Koto didn't take it to heart and simply smiled.

She didn't offer any further explanation, because even if she did, Theristina probably wouldn't believe her anyway.
—In fact, the experiment that Lin Wuming and Misaki Shokuhou were planning was even more radical and extreme than they had originally imagined!

After all, it was a real experiment that risked lives, and the lives of Level 5 superhumans at that.

……

After finishing all the activities for "today", it was already 3 a.m.

If I make the most of my time to rest, I can get four hours of sleep before going to school.

The signal was finally saved, and the 10,000 Misaka Sisters outside Academy City returned to their family. The issues that the "nameless forces" cared about most were resolved satisfactorily, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Once you relax, fatigue immediately sets in.

Therefore, everyone decided to disperse and go home.

After Misaki Shokuhou and Junko Hokaze took a private car to send Kazari Uiharu back to her apartment, they did not return to Gakusha no Sono.

“It’s a bit late, but let’s go to Ellie’s place,” Misaki Shokuhou said. “Time is of the essence, and we can’t delay any longer.”

"Is the experiment prepared for the nameless senior about to begin?" Junko Hokaze knew a little about it, but she didn't know the specific details—Misaki Shokuhou kept it a secret from her as well, refusing to reveal a single word.

However, considering that it was an important experiment for the nameless senior to advance to level 6, it was not surprising that the level of secrecy was high. In addition, it was the Queen's order, so Junko Hokaze did not have too many complaints.

Upon arriving at their destination, after delivering Misaki Shokuhou to Ellie's apartment, Junko Hokaze stood guard outside the apartment door like a sentry.

"Thank you for your hard work, Junko-nee." Misaki Shokuhou said softly before closing the door.

Although I felt a little sorry for Junko Hokkaido, there were some things I just couldn't let her know.

For example...the other side of yourself—

"Ellie, I'm sorry to bother you~" Misaki Shokuhou smiled perfectly and walked towards the pale-faced girl.

Ellie calls this kind of smile "the devil's smile," and it's been the source of her nightmares for the past few days.

(End of this chapter)