Chapter 73: Ellie’s Linen

Before we started to rack our brains, I informed all of my subordinates that the announcement of roles and the official establishment of the state would be delayed for at least a week, according to [Guide], that is the longest time we can consume to create a material that can alter genes, well, of course, I was doubtful at first, but thinking how is a general theory was already set up and most probably some changes here in there to the overall structure of the theory and combing it thoroughly is the only thing needed, we can more or less proceed with the conceptualization of the design and how did it work and how will it be utilized. I can see that such an estimation is proficient.

[Besides, your pride won't let the combined project of you three take a long time, even though you are not that good in magecraft.]

[Guide] has that type of comment as I asked about the concept of magecraft for me to know how science and magic meet eye to eye, after all, I was just exposed to science and not even sure if magic exists on Earth, so I have to ask.

Anyway, after a little bit of rundown, we started to make the concept of Eleanor a reality, first we completed the last part of the thesis and then started to read all of it from the start using a quill and ink and another bunch of goatskin scrolls to revise the paper according to the peer review we three did, that lasted an entire day and Eleanor has to use her magic to heal herself from hunger and exhaustion, she is really eager to finish this invention as fast as possible.

Of course, I and Arachne were eager too, Arachne because a new breed of spider would be under her control soon and me because I could hasten the building of the cities I wanted to create as the initial governing bodies of my territory, I wanted the first innovation of my nation to be a very successful one, so double the excitement for me.

Night of the first day, we started to conceptualize the design of the gene alterer, the concept behind it was based on my cocoon when I was evolving, which means the alterer would have the best results when it was a type of cloth, so, in the end, we decided for it to be a linen, the moment we recognized the design Eleanor immediately took out the revised thesis that now has a proper theory on why the gene modification fails, normally, given Arachne's expertise, it shall never fail, but because every living being has a limit, it's effectiveness is bound to end.

Arachne immediately recognized it and wrote the most plausible guess she had, which Eleanor and I agreed with, the reason why the spiders who got modified to their ends exploded was most probably because the mana of  Arachne was seen as an "antibody" by the immune system of the spider because it is coming from outside like how the immune system will fight anything that enters the body, well for lack of analogy, vaccine works by injecting a dead virus in the body and letting the immune system create antibodies against that particular virus.

That's it, however, because the immune system cannot fight magic it just blows the body up to destroy the antibody, and again, if you don't understand, it's like how fever works, it wants to fight a viral infection by making our temperature higher, good thing y'all did not exploded huh?

But in any case, the reason why the mana was treated as a virus of some sort is like I said, it came from outside so what we did is to create a spell that tracks the nucleus of the cells in which the DNA is located and then directly cast the spell that alters the DNA, I am the one responsible formulating the spell because I can read (but not speak) Brahmic scripts, specifically the baybayin alphabet. Afterward, Arachne took charge and made a microscopic copy of the 100 + symbol spell I created alongside Eleanor.

One thing I am bad at is handwriting and I can't exactly write with my mana because it will be considered an invasive force, the goal is to make mana appear right in the nucleus and make the immune system think that it was already there in the first place.

At midnight, effectively the second day, the cloth was complete and Arachne summoned a spider that was not yet modified and put it in the cloth as Arachne injected mana whilst looking at the microscope, suddenly she muttered: "Ah..."

And then the spider exploded, but we did not falter as we saw the spider swiftly getting bigger before it exploded, surely the coordinates in which the mana should appear are just off, thus I replaced Arachne to rewrite the spell in a microscopic level, this time I cut my pinky for the test subject to be just a single flesh, it grew right back as I put it on the microscope and used magic to write all the words in the air as I looked for the navigating symbols and started to reposition the target as Arachne said:

"0.05 millimeters away from the nucleus."

That word alone was enough for me as I recalibrated the symbol and changed the target, the pinky that was used to look at the cells was grabbed by me as I tossed it into the floating symbol because my flesh is stronger, it would not explode and I just have to see if the target was spot on, the pinky did not even develop a fever, it just enlarged at a fast pace and grew a mouth.

Ḑ̶̨̘̞̬̬̟̼͔̞̪̩̟̣̱̩̖̻̻̰̱̤̙̤̤̋̊̓̽̂̎̀̕̚͝ở̶̛̳͚͈̣͉͕̮̺̦̺͙̩̲͍̘͉̙̯̯̯̬̝̻̫̠̓͂̐̏͊͌̾̿̾̈́͗́̒̽́̾̈́̈́͜͝͝ͅ ̷̛̛̣͕͕̫̠̟̓̎̀́͒̑̈́̿̾̈́̔̏́̆͘͜͠͝ͅy̵̧̧̢̛̰͕̜̪̝̰̪̮̖̦̺͖͙̩̤̹͎͔͓͇̙̯̹̤̪̮̬͒̋͒̎͑̀͛̍̿͊̾́͒́́͐̿̾̍͛̏̿̈́̑̎̔́̐̋͗͘͜͜͝ơ̸̧̡̯̦̱̩̥̳̜̪̟̤͇̲͈̜͚̰̱̗̘̯͓̞͙̻̭̩̳̻̤͚̏̐̅̄̂̐̄̈́̑̈͋͑̿̎̏̊̀̐̿̓̾̽́́͆̈́̐͛͋̽̓̍͘̚͝͠ͅu̴̢̡̢̡͍̞͚̯̮̟̬̱͍̼̼̪̐̓̉̍̋͜ ̴̧̛̪͓̬̟̭͖̳͈͕̱̞͎̐͊͋̌̑̇̅̀̇͑̃͌͆̈́̍͒̍̉̀͌̊̐̅̒͂͐̌̄̾̈́̎͐̇͋̚͝d̵̡̛̪̯̥̗̫̯͚̲͍̤̲̤̲̜̝̞̂̀̎̚͝͝ḛ̶̛̛͉̩̯̹̫̘͓̼̦̘̬̓̄̅͑̃̆̋͂̋͐̎́̔̿̾̈́͌͂̂̂̒̆́͐̎̓͗͐̔͂͘͘͝͝͝s̷̨̧͍̼̘͖͈͍̝̳̜̤̣̲̟̥͍̦̗̱̲̏͐͐̔̀̿͒̂̈̃̄̒̈̌͐̐̔̏̍̏̐̕͘͜͝͠͝ȋ̷͇͔̼̱̙̗͎̺͕̮̊͑̋̾̈́̏́̿͗̿̎̒͂͐̚̕̚͜͜͠ͅr̶̡͕͓͈̤͙͍̠̣̩̫̲̳̪͖̱̝̠̙͚̣͍͈̍̒̑̽̏͌̾̾̐̇̽̈̂̐̎̈́̾̿̏̃̃̌̾͒̈́͜͜͝͝͝͝ͅȩ̴̧̢̩͙̣̩̖͚̺̯̼̻̗̺͕̩̟̳̭̬̗͚̦͉̟̱̻̱̟̦̺͔̜̙̩͆̊͋̓͜͜͜ͅ ̵̨̧̧̛̛̝̝͉̦͈͇̗̝̞̞͚͇̦̜͚͙̦̟̜͓͉̅̋͆͑͑͆͐͋̎̾̍̚͝p̴̧̡̡̧̨̛͙̫̞̣̮̦̖̱̘͈͉̠͉̝̤̦̤̞͓̹̰̲̥̗͙̠͚̻̠̦̮͖̘̘̟̰̠̣̲̋̊̊̓̓͌̈̎̑̔̌͌͑͗̆̎͌̋̈́́̓͑̓͐̀͂̐̉̕͘̚ͅợ̸͔̺̘͓̠̜̈́͑̑̿̌͗̾̎̊͑̎̒̊̋͋͆͌͌̀́̄̒̋̀̓̽̌̈́͆̒́̔̀͑̅̽̚͘̕̚̕͝͝͝͠͝w̷̨̨̢̳̙̠͕̩̻̱̺͇͖͔̰͓̳̰͈̼̳͒̅̅̂͊͊́̌͌͂̂͐̾̐̒̀̍̂̃͗͑͐̎̾̽̎̏̈́͋͑̈́̐͑͒̀́̚͠͝͝ͅͅë̵̡̨̢̡̧̧̛͍̤̻̦̤̙̙̤̭͙̻͖͖̙̰̱̲͚̰̥̣͇̯̦̫̦̠̯̫̞̬͍̬̹́̓̑̿̉͋͋̌̆͊̂̈́̐̅͛̑̍̀̒̉̌̊̐̈́̓͂̍̋̓̓̌̓̐̉̍́̋̌́̒̃̾͘͜͜͜͝͝͝͠͠͝ͅͅŗ̴̨̧̡̛̛̣̻̹̙̟̩͈͙̪̲̘͍̲͇͚͔̗̭̳̥̻̠̫̖̞̯̳͍͚̦̗̦̫̤̠͔̳̘̩͖̤̬͇̳͇̃́͊͒̄͗̀͋̂̏̋̍̍̉͂̇̽̈́͑̄̓̊̇̊̏̑̈̾̈́̃̅͛̒̏̃̋̚͘̕͜͝͝͝?̷̨̢̡̧̛̙͓͖̖͚̮̗̤̻͇̠̗͇̜͍͍̜̝̝͚̂́̅̇̔̈́͑́͗̈̄̍͑̽͜͜͠͝ͅͅ (Do you desire power?)

The mouth of the pinky spoke but was immediately impaled by a thousand thorny rocks that sprouted from the ground, Arachne and I looked at Eleanor at the same time, she got a pale face and looked at me as if she was wronged.

"Sorry."

I was kind of joking around at that time, but anyway, the target of the spell this time was spot on, so the two restarted to engrave the right coordinates of the spell, and when they were done, we started testing the cloth.

In the initial tests, all of them were successful as we made the modification more complicated, and when all of the checkboxes of the initial test were marked with a check, we proceeded for mass testing, we took one thousand of each of Arachne's spiders and then coated them with the linen, the creation of guidelines when to say the spider passed the test until every single individual test lasted for another three days, then, the polishing and the drawing of conclusion to the successful thesis lasted for two days, we persevered and persevered, not minding the exhaustion or all the grimes in our body as we finally finished the final product.

It was a white linen sewn with threads of a textile spider made by Arachne, it was pure white at first but some subtle marks that overlap each other will be visible if you observed the cloth closer, Eleanor looked at her effective first project and also first successful invention as a researcher, she held on it and did not even mutter a word, however, Arachne who was in human form the whole time exclaimed.

"WE DID IT!"

She targeted me because Eleanor was preoccupied, she hugged me and using her two hands, plunged my head into her breast, at first I wanted to dodge but the exhaustion seemed to catch up to me because I couldn't move my body when she approached, I was helplessly buried in her warm embrace as [Guide] spoke

[That was as I expected.]

I can feel that in his tone, he is quite proud,

Yup, thanks by the way.

[Guide] replied immediately he said.

[Well no problem, but I was still surprised that with your generational mind, who would have thought that you could be on par with the two magecraft experts of your nation with the theoretical science of your world and my introduction to magecraft, I can see now how unfortunate your death is.]

I sighed in my heart as get my face out of Arachne's cleavage who was snuggling her head into my hair.

Well, you can't be too sure about that, but in any case, I was surprised when I could mostly apply bachelor's degree in science in magecraft because like I said, I was just exposed to theoretical science and not practical, mostly by choice, but still because "chess player", in short strategist will be the first thing to appear in my resume, this is a first for me, I built the industrial district in the capital city with the hopes of learning by experience, but I think I don't need to invest as much time as I thought I would need.

[By the way, when will you release yourself from her embrace?]

I immediately realized that I was still looking at my lover who was also looking at me with wide eyes, I immediately pushed Arachne out of my body, but Eleanor started to shed tears, Arachne and I flinched at the same time, and we dashed in front of her as we try to comfort her, but she continued to cry as snot started to come out of her nose, she then said while chocking on her own cries.

"...Ah... I am finally a researcher sniff... an inventor... sniff... sniff thank you, thank you, thank you two for making my dream come true... waaahhh..."

She then proceeded to hug the two of us, and continued to cry, we patted her head as we let her wail her tears of joy, after all, we, as people who have confidence in ourselves will never understand someone who has inferiority complex achieve something that she pursued with reckless abandon even though she feels like she is not good enough.

I suddenly remembered how we met, she, on purpose, separated herself from her party and then met me to study my cocoon and I did not even know that she was making a thesis that could help my nation in leaping on top of the world.

_I feel strangely proud._

I just smiled as I continuously patted her head, and after about a minute of crying, she finally stopped and it was my cue to inquire about something that had been bothering me.

"What would we name the linen?"

The two of them looked at me and seemingly realized the direness of the matter, ok name is for the recognition of the author of the invention, so we know how important it is, we sat down on the large crafting table which we used to create the linen as we pondered, Arachne suddenly pondered.

"Our names will not really fit together... hmm..."

Eleanor replied both of them had serious looks on their face.

"R-right..."

[Well, because it was the name of an invention and I am yet to understand all of your naming sense, I shall stay neutral.]

[Guide] dismissed his involvement, what a lazy jerk, as I was saying that, Arachne suddenly exclaimed.

"AH! Since Eleanor is the one who wrote the initial theory and it is a linen we should name it after her!"

Eleanor tried to refute, emphasizing that somehow, our names should appear in the invention's name, but we insisted on making it only hers, actually when she did all the thesis by herself, she already did like half of the work, and Arachne and I just helped her finish the other fifty, thus she deserved it.

"Oh then, how about Ellie's Linen? It is suitable, after all, she just stained them when we fu-" I was about to finish my sentence, But Eleanor shut my mouth immediately, surprisingly, she agreed with the name.

"Y-YES! I think given that you two insist on naming it after me, and the cloth looks like a linen, it is an appropriate name!"

She was still covering my mouth as she blushed while doing so, I, with minimal effort took it out of my mouth as I nodded.

"It is appropriate for that reason too of course, what do you think Arachne?"

I looked at my subordinate who had pondering eyes as her hands were crossed over her chest, making it bulge out even more, after a while, she also nodded.

"Hmm. Hmm. Then Ellie's Linen shall be its name."

She smiled as she said.

"Now then, I will give birth, so get out."

Both Eleanor and I flinched.

"Really, here?"

We tilted our heads in confusion, indeed, can't she choose another room and not just casually shoo the two of us away? But she replied.

"Yes, here, I have to create these things as much as possible and help the nation and my curiosity."

She then grabbed both of us by the collar and tossed us like a cat, after which, she waved with a: "Bye-bye." as she started to revert to her half-spider form, what a rude fellow. I just patted my skirt with a shake of my head and offered my hand to help Eleanor.

However, five seconds had already passed but she still did not grab it.

"Eleano- omph!"

Just as I was about to ask if she was okay, she suddenly pulled me close to her and shoved my face in her gigantic breasts, she then spoke to my ears.

"You already have this for your enjoyment, don't use Arachne's."

_Oh..._

So she's jealous after all, I sighed in my heart as I gave out a thumbs up without lifting my head and then started to cup a feel at the two mountains pressing in my face.

______

Side story:

[Guide] Probably: In front of Arachne's lab?

No, but seriously, this kind of scenes, just tolerate them because believe me or not, they are for the plot.