Abyssal Awakening

Chapter 221: Becoming Arunya's Assistant

Glancing up at the girl in front of her every now and again, Arunya couldn't help but wonder in silence.

She had posted her commission to get some help with her studies so she could be better prepared for the exams. The Department Head, for unknown reasons, has locked herself up in her lab and refused to come out.

Therefore, she could only request help from the Guild.

'She's fast…' Arunya thought to herself, seeing the efficiency of Alice. How she was able to pick the right tools and hand it to her. How she was able to deduct what needed to be done next and even make preemptive moves on the body in front of her.

'Where did she come from? Who did she study under?'

Even without saying what she needed at times, Alice had it prepared. To Arunya, it felt like she was working with someone who was extremely experienced with the physiology of an Abyss Beast.

It wasn't just blind luck either. There was an air of confidence and expertise about her that revealed more than what she was letting on.

As they continued their work, their speed slowly increased over time as Alice familiarized herself with Arunya's workflow and pacing.

What would've taken her a while to finish was done in just over two hours.

Walking over to the other table, Arunya started to document her findings and results before giving Alice a brief glance.

"When you said you had never been an assistant, were you the operator instead?" Arunya asked curiously but Alice shook her head.

"I was neither the assistant nor the operator. You can just think of me as a spectator."

It wasn't wrong. She was spectating her own operation after all.

"?" Tilting her head, Arunya wondered how a spectator could obtain such skills. But it didn't seem like Alice was lying either.

"So did I pass?"

"You have. Take this watch. It will inform you of the schedule. It'll also serve as an identification so you don't need to spend time getting a temporary pass from the office. We'll be doing 8 hours per day, maybe longer depending on the experiments but I doubt we'll be going into overtime.

If anything, we may finish earlier but I will pay you the promised 30 gold per day." Arunya explained, placing a watch next to her while scribbling down some notes.

"Are there any questions? If not, we're done for today… Since you did well, I'll pay you an extra 20 gold for today."

Taking the watch and small pouch of gold, Alice was about to shake her head when she remembered something.

"On the sheet, it said that I'll be able to use the equipment provided by the Academy. How would I go about doing that?" Alice asked curiously as she wanted to see the transformation of her blood during the one Sigil Resonance along with other changes in her body.

"Ah… you can use anything from my lab. Just put it back when you're done with it. Though… if you're looking for equipment outside of my lab, you'll need to let me know what you need it for so I can borrow it from the Academy." Arunya replied after a brief pause.

"Here's one set of keys to my lab. Once I finish noting down my findings for today, I need to go visit the Department Head. Just remember to lock the door when you leave."

Handing a set of keys to Alice, Arunya focused on writing down her notes and indicated that there was nothing else she needed to talk about unless Alice had any questions.

Seeing this, Alice simply nodded and started to browse through the lab. She was familiar with a lot of the equipment here but there were a few she wasn't sure about.

'I'll focus on the stuff I know. That way she doesn't know what I'm doing with the tools. If I ask for a specific tool, she might become curious.' Alice mused to herself. From what she's seen thus far, Arunya was someone who was deeply intrigued by Abyss Blood and how it affected the body.

Alice knew that if Arunya was to find out details about what she was planning to test, there would be questions.

'There are… three? No, four tools I need if I want to examine the changes in my body. Seems like she's already got two of them…' Alice thought to herself as she continued to look around the lab.

After a while, Arunya closed her notebook.

"Remember to lock the door when you're done. I'll take my leave." She reminded before making her way out.

Looking towards the opposite mountain, she sighed and made her way down before taking the train.

As Elara's assistant, she needed to check up on the Department Head often as she would forget to eat. Naturally, she wouldn't die from not eating but doing so would cause damage to her body due to the Sigils and Abyss Blood side effects.

Elara doesn't mind it much but the same couldn't be said for Arunya.

Her thought process was simple.

It would be annoying to redo everything if the Department Head was to die. She'll lose her role as an assistant.

Stopping by the food court, she picked up a few dishes before taking the final train to Elara's lab.

Upon arriving, she knocked on the door.

"Professor. I'm here with some food. You haven't eaten yet right?" Arunya called out with the same monotonous tone as usual.

Not hearing a response, Arunya sighed and pulled out a set of keys.

"Ah! Just give me a moment Runi~ Surely you won't intrude when I'm not even ready right?~" Elara's voice rang out from within.

Frowning slightly, Arunya could hear that Elara was struggling to catch her breath as though she was doing some intense exercises.

*Sigh…

"Did you find a new Abyss Beast that caught your attention? You didn't even respond to me last time I came to check." Arunya asked as she could hear the door behind unlocked.

Entering the room, Arunya was hit by a wave of humidity, causing her to take a step back.

". . .Professor, please at least ventilate your room properly if you're going to explore your body rather than an Abyss beast." Arunya sighed as she closed the door behind her and opened every window in the lab.

"Ara~ It wouldn't do if people heard such vulgar noises come out of my room. I know I may be like this but I still have a reputation to uphold Runi~" Elara's voice rang out as she leaned against her door frame.

She was only wearing her bloodied lab coat with nothing underneath. Her bandages were loose and covered with her sweat while Arunya didn't even bat an eye to Elara's condition since she's done this before.

She may have been surprised the first few times but due to her side effects, she was unable to express such emotions.

"So what's got you excited like this? Ah… Also here's some food before your body starts to eat itself." Arunya asked, placing the food on the table.

"Fufu~ Thank you~ Runi is always so thoughtful of me. Ah and it's not a beast that's caught my attention this time." Elara chuckled, hopping over to the table. Her wet footsteps echoed through the lab with each step she took.

"Not a beast? Then is it a special kind of Abyss Blood?" Arunya tilted her head.

She couldn't fathom the thought of anything other than Abyss Beasts or blood getting the professor into a mood like this.

"Nope~ It's a person this time. Someone's stolen my maiden heart ahaha~ Just thinking about it makes me excited again~" Elara narrowed her eyes while Arunya chopping down against Elara's head with her hand.

"Please not while I'm here."

"Boo~ You're not the least bit curious about who it is?" Elara asked curiously but Arunya shook her head.

"Whoever made you like this must be rather abnormal. I'd rather not interact with them if I can avoid it."

"Well that's fine. I'm sure you'll run into them eventually since they'll be taking the exams to enrol in the Academy. They're quite the cutie too~" Elara laughed as she started to eat her dinner to replenish her energy.

"How are your preparations? I'll be a little… busy these days so I won't be supervising. Not that you need it to begin with."

"Going well. I got a new assistant today, she works fast and efficiently. Doesn't talk much thankfully. She seems extremely experienced for someone who claims she was never the operator nor an assistant to these kinds of experiments." Arunya shrugged while walking into Elara's room.

Looking at her clothes that were strewn around the room, Arunya sighed as she bent down and picked up the pieces of clothing.

Pausing momentarily, she could still feel the moisture on some of her underwear before tossing it into the basket.

"Heh~ Do you have enough funds for them? A good assistant doesn't come cheap."

"I do. And that is also why you should increase my pocket money. If it wasn't for me saving over the course of several months, I wouldn't even be able to hire someone decent to help. Plus… 30 gold per session is still low for the risks in the lab." Arunya replied as she cleaned up Elara's room and put everything in the basket.

"You know our department is spread pretty thin on funding already even with some of my discoveries." Elara coughed lightly on the mention of increasing Arunya's funds.

"Only because of how much research material you go through professor." Arunya replied when suddenly, she felt a weight on her back.

Elara hugged Arunya from behind as she wrapped her arms around her neck while resting her head against her shoulder.

"Runi~ Should I pay you with my body~" Elara whispered, biting Arunya's ear.

*Flick!

Flicking Elara's forehead and forcing her to hop off her back, Arunya simply shook her head and walked away.

"Getting entangled with you on a physical level causes more troubles than whatever pleasure you may offer in the moment. Between momentary pleasure and funding for my research, I'll choose the latter thank you. Only the results of my experiments will grant lasting happiness.

If there's nothing else professor, I'll go wash these and return them to you later." Arunya replied, causing Elara to sigh and shrug her shoulders.

"Okay~ I'm here if you need a break from your experiments~"

Nodding her head, Arunya left the building, leaving Elara to finish her food before resuming her… activities.