Chapter 363: Devouring the Architecture
Inside the small wooden cabin at the Valley Base, Kaito was staring blankly at a
planar map.
Specifically, he was staring at the sector designated as the Eldritch Realm.
Skele-Greed had just submitted a report. The second phase of the Eldritch
Realm's reconstruction was on track. The "Entertainment-focused Transformation"
of the Rule-Based Scenarios was sixty percent complete, and the infrastructure
projects in the major cities were advancing steadily.
Everything was in perfect order. Logistics: Optimal.
Yet, Kaito felt a nagging sensation—a missing variable in his calculations.
His bony finger tapped the map as his soul-fire flickered. Then, it clicked.
Bochi.
The blue ball of Tier-7 calamity.
Evernight Academy's "Visiting Professor." Ever since he had assigned Lloyd and
Lawson to oversee Bochi's "re-education" through teaching, Kaito hadn't actually
checked on the little guy.
"Calculating the timeline… Bochi has been under house arrest for nearly two
months," Kaito murmured, rolling up the map and standing. "I wonder if he's
actually been conducting his lectures or if he's just hunting for cheesecake."
He initialized a Soul Link, contacting one of the Undead Teachers stationed near
Lloyd.
Status report: How is Bochi performing?
There was a three-second delay on the other end of the link.
In the Empire, a three-second delay from a subordinate usually indicated a
"Logic Error" or an impending headache. Kaito's soul-fire pulsed with a hint of
wariness.
"Reporting to the Sovereign… Overall, the subject is stable," the Skeleton
Teacher replied cautiously.
Define 'Overall.'
"Well… his teaching metrics are within acceptable parameters. The students seem
to find him engaging. It's just that…" The teacher's voice trailed off into a
dry rattle.
It's just what?
"It's just that yesterday, he consumed half of the classroom's load-bearing
wall."
Kaito's soul-fire froze for a micro-second.
He devoured it?
"He devoured it."
Reasoning?
"The subject claimed that… the stone smelled like it had high sugar content."
Kaito went silent. Variable Error: I've literally starved the child into
madness.
He suddenly recalled that back in the Eldritch Realm, Bochi had once mistaken a
twenty-five-ton industrial steel coil for a giant doughnut and eaten the entire
thing.
Is his carrot-based ration plan still being enforced?
"Yes, My Lord. Not a single meal has been missed."
Then why is he eating the infrastructure?
The Skeleton Teacher hesitated again. "Director Lawson suggests that… perhaps
after eating carrots for sixty consecutive days, the subject is experiencing
'Oral Loneliness.'"
Kaito pinched the bridge of his nose—or where a nose would be if he weren't a
skeleton. The gesture carried the weight of a thousand years of exhaustion.
Stand by. I am manifesting on-site.
"By your command!"
Evernight Academy – Gomoku Lecture Hall
When Kaito arrived, Bochi was standing on the podium, facing a phalanx of
students sitting in perfect, disciplined rows.
The blackboard was covered in bizarre, jagged tactical diagrams. Some looked
like briefs, some like doughnuts, and one… looked like a doughnut that had been
bitten in half.
"Students!" Bochi shouted, waving a piece of chalk with his small pseudopod. His
black-bead eyes were shining with manic intensity. "Today, I shall impart a
forbidden formation!"
"I have dubbed this: The Half-Eaten Territory Formation!"
"The logic is simple! You devour half of your defensive wall, then use the
remaining half to pivot your defense! This allows you to replenish your mineral
intake while maintaining tactical integrity!"
"It is the pinnacle of Offensive-Defensive-Digestive integration!"
The students exchanged glances. A Skeleton student raised a hand.
"Professor Bochi, how does this relate to last week's Ultimate Briefs
Formation?"
"An excellent inquiry!" Bochi excitedly drew a line connecting the 'Briefs' to
the 'Half-Eaten Wall.' "You see, if you graft the left hemisphere of the Briefs
Formation onto the right hemisphere of the Half-Eaten Territory..."
"It manifests as a brand-new strategy! I call it: The One-Legged Hop in Shredded
Briefs!"
The classroom fell into a silence so profound it was almost clinical.
At that moment, the door creaked open.
Bochi turned his head and saw a familiar figure standing in the doorway. A plain
black robe. An unremarkable skeletal frame. An aura that screamed Absolute
Sovereign.
Bochi's chalk hit the floor with a soft thud.
"Ma… Master?!" Bochi's voice jumped three octaves.
Kaito's soul-fire scanned the room: the chaotic blackboard, the giant, jagged
hole in the right-hand wall, and the stunned expressions of the students.
"The One-Legged Hop in Shredded Briefs?" Kaito repeated the name, his voice flat
and detached.
Bochi's body began to shrink at a rate visible to the naked eye. "That… Master…
I can explain the variables..."
Explain the wall first.
Bochi shrank further, now no larger than a clenched fist. His voice became as
faint as a mosquito's buzz. "I… I just… I wanted a taste..."
Was the stone satisfactory?
"...No."
Then why did you consume half of it?
"...Because I wanted to verify if the back half tasted better than the front
half."
Kaito stared at Bochi for five seconds. Bochi had now condensed himself into the
size of a marble.
"Don't be angry, Master!" the Marble-Bochi squeaked. "I've been a model employee
lately! Mr. Lloyd and Mr. Lawson both said that if I performed well, Master
would grant me a pardon!"
"That you'd return my allowance!"
"That I could eat cheesecake again!"
Kaito's soul-fire pulsed. He opened a private link to the undead standing near
the Directors. Check: What did Lloyd and Lawson tell the Slime?
The reply was instantaneous: "Reporting to the Sovereign, Director Lloyd
referred to it as a 'Benevolent Logic Error'—or, in human terms, a white lie."
Kaito didn't press the matter. He looked down at the marble vibrating near his
feet and sighed.
"Expand back to your standard parameters."
"Master isn't angry?"
"The repair costs for the wall will be deducted from your wages."
"I have a wage?!"
"You do now. After the deduction, the balance is exactly zero."
Bochi froze for a second, then rapidly popped back to his original size,
bouncing up to Kaito's boots. "So, Master, did you come here for something
important? A secret mission? A planar war?"
"Nothing major. I just came to check on you."
Bochi's black-bead eyes instantly welled up with moisture. "Master… came all
this way… just for me..."
"Uwaaaaaah! Master truly does love me after all!"
"I never said the word 'love.'"
"But Master came to see me! In the Slime Kingdom, that is the definition of
love!" Bochi leaped into the air, bouncing onto Kaito's shoulder and plastering
his gelatinous body against Kaito's skull.
Kaito reached up and peeled him off. "Cease this behavior."
"Master! Master!" Bochi, held at arm's length, gripped Kaito's bony hand with
his tiny tentacles. "Since you're here, can you take me out to play? Please?"
Out to play?
"Mhm! Mhm!" Bochi nodded vigorously. "I've been stuck in the Academy for an
eternity! Every day is carrots! Carrots and logic! I want to see the outside
world!"
"I want to eat new things! I want an adventure!"
Kaito narrowed his eye sockets. "The last time I let you out, the 'Property
Damage' variable hit a terminal threshold."
"That was the Old Bochi!" Bochi puffed out his nonexistent chest. "The current
me is Professor Bochi! I am a mature, refined slime who has survived the trials
of pedagogy! I shall manifest zero Logic Errors! I promise!"
Kaito looked at him. Bochi's eyes were tilted upward at a pathetic, pleading
angle.
"Please, Master… just once..."
"A tiny excursion..."
Kaito's soul-fire flickered. He considered the situation. He actually needed to
conduct a personal audit of the Eldritch Realm anyway. While Greed's data was
impeccable, some nuances required a first-hand observation.
Taking Bochi along...
Fine. The Eldritch Realm is already a vassal plane. Even if Bochi causes a minor
anomaly, it won't trigger a planar collapse.
"Agreed."
"REALLY?!" Bochi launched himself into the air, spinning three times in
mid-flight. "Master said yes! Master is the greatest! I love Master!"
"There are protocols to follow."
Bochi hit the floor and snapped into a rigid military salute. "State your
parameters, My Sovereign!"
"First: No unauthorized consumption."
"Understood!"
"Second: You do not leave my line of sight."
"Understood!"
"Third: You are prohibited from labeling any object a 'doughnut'."
Bochi hesitated for exactly 0.5 seconds. "...Understood."
Kaito nodded. "Then let us manifest. We're going to the Eldritch Realm."
"HOORAY!!"
The students watched in stunned silence as Bochi went bouncing out of the room
behind the terrifying skeleton.
The Skeleton student turned to his classmate. "So… is class over?"
"Looks like it."
"But he didn't finish explaining the One-Legged Hop in Shredded Briefs
formation..."
"...You actually wanted to learn that nonsense?"
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you