The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 609: Elemental Refinement Formula

”...” I quickly scratch magic formulas onto the bedroom floor, using my own blood to conduct the magic.

”Pandora, what are you doing? I could teach you.”

”No!!! I want us to create something new! I won’t be satisfied with anything less than five hundred times the efficiency!!!” I tell her, determined to make something good. Thirty to a hundred times more efficiency isn’t enough when I know I can do better.

”Look, if we formulate the Doom element using a basis similar to Chaos magic, we can see a pattern. See?” I show her the drawings I made with blood, scattered all over the room, channeling magic.

The Doom element is so intense that the blood is ”pulsing” as if it were alive. My sister looks at the drawings around us—various symbols that help the magic follow a stable pattern.

”It looks well-made, but this doesn’t even come close to what I achieved in terms of efficiency.”

”...I can improve it. I just need some time. But as a base model, does it look good to you?” I ask, getting up from the floor while sucking the blood off my finger to clean it.

”Yes, for a base, it’s great. But it’ll need several modifications. Also, with this type of formula, if you make a change, you can’t erase it.”

”As you know, elements are something that get ’etched’ into existence. The moment you create an efficiency formula for the element and it’s wrong at any point, you have to start over from scratch. You can’t just erase the wrong part or follow a similar path at the beginning.”

’She’s right.’ This formula I put together on the floor is the ”base” that was born when the element was born. But from the moment I create branches off the base, I’ll never be able to modify them again. So if it goes wrong, I’ll have to restart from the base.

The base increased the element’s efficiency by five times. And now comes the important part—the branches. I can’t branch it carelessly, or I’ll just end up wasting time.

”Sister, what’s the best way to create branches?”

”How much do you want to improve and refine the element?”

”At least five hundred times. And for a comfortable margin, anywhere from seven hundred fifty to a thousand times improvement and refinement.”

”Hmmm... that’s quite an exaggerated amount... Normally, elements are refined up to two hundred times, and then later people make small refinements that add another one or two.”

”But doing five hundred all at once—or more—is going to take a lot of effort. The more refined an element is, the harder it becomes to make any improvement or adaptation.”

”I don’t care, sister! You were right, and I want to give this my absolute all!!! So I set a heavy goal to prove I’m capable!!”

”I know I can do this, but I also know it’ll be hard! And that’s exactly what I need. I really have to struggle to make this happen, to show that the power I have right now isn’t enough!!”

”If I can’t even refine my element five hundred times, then how can I expect to kill the goddesses? Using what I’ve learned from the fundamentals of creation, if I analyze the sacred element, it has a refinement of eight thousand times compared to its base.”

”Pandora, the goddess Elysia, who owns that element, has lived a very long time, you know? Obviously, eight thousand is an exaggerated number that only older elements have. Besides, some elements go past eight thousand, but that’s because they’re old.” She speaks patiently.

”I know, sister! But that’s exactly why I need to surpass the goal I set!!! It’s not impossible, right? And even if it is impossible, I’ll still do it!”

”...Hahaha. You seem really focused on this. Alright then, do what you want. But I won’t be able to help much. The formula I developed is neutral, and it only reaches two hundred for certain elements.”

”If used on the Doom element, it would probably bring it to a hundred and fifty times the refinement and efficiency. But my formula is a branch that can’t grow any further without collapsing.”

”Then I’ll create something from scratch, sister! Just help me by telling me what’s wrong...” What shapes the use and progress of every existing element is a ”formula,” and that formula can be ”expanded.” When you expand the formula, you simplify the equation, increasing efficiency.

In other words, raw element is like something incomprehensible. We start by creating a ”base,” which is what I did—the direct ”mathematical” formula of the element that we can alter.

But the base is a giant, complex formula that never really shrinks. The branches are like lines that partially cut through the main equation, reducing its size without changing the final result of the element.

If I had to put it into words, the base formula is like a calculation the size of an entire planet. And each branch and ramification I create within the base formula slightly reduces how spread out that calculation is.

And each reduction makes the answer reach the final result faster, thus increasing the efficiency and refinement of the Element.

”I think if I do it like this—”

BOOM

For a moment, the air distorts, and space itself cracks as I flinch back by reflex.

”Pandora?” Azraelith looks at the drawing that exploded when I tried to change something. I wipe the dust off my face and see some kind of saline stone on the floor, formed from the failure.

”...” I stare at it in frustration, realizing something I had overlooked.

”Pandora, the more effects an element has, the more chaotic the failures become when branching off the base formula... That’s why the Chaos element doesn’t have much refinement—it generates too many dangerous effects.”

”Your element also focuses on generating infinite effects randomly, based on what you need... So every wrong change will create something unpredictable. You should be more careful. One wrong line could take your life. Do you still want to try for five hundred?”

”I will. I don’t care if it’s risky. I know I can survive. I just need to take countermeasures against anything dangerous while I work on the formula.” I use darkness to devour the ”dirt” staining the base formula.

”Pandora, be more patient. Don’t start with the formula’s effects. Start with its practical application instead.”

”Which would be?” I stare at her, unsure where to begin.

”The way you use it. In this case, saying what you want to sacrifice to the element and what you want in return.”

”Oh... okay. That part does seem easier... Well... Doom balances things through the weight the universe assigns to both sides.”

”For example, if I want to destroy a planet and I ask Doom for that, the Doom element will simplify it, saying the planet has a value of ten, and I need to give something worth ten for the Doom element to generate the effect I want.”

”Doom also makes it clear to the user’s mind whether that something has the same value or not, so you don’t have to test things by luck or sacrifice something of greater value. You just think of something, and the element sends a signal confirming that thing has the right value.”

”But there’s another variable too. The Doom element generates an effect that I tell it to generate, and the effect adds another value. For example, I could say I want the planet erased from existence. Existential erasure might have a value of five, so the exchange value becomes fifteen, and I’d need something worth fifteen.”

”So either I let Doom choose the method of destruction and pay a cheaper price, or I choose the destruction method myself and pay a little more.” I explain to my sister exactly how Doom really works.

”That’s a good way to define things, Pandora, but I believe we can improve it. Maybe a branch to reduce costs. If destroying a planet is worth ten, we could reduce the cost in exchange for more mana, lowering the value from ten to five, or maybe even one. And if we can improve it a lot, maybe we could even reach 0.01.”

”And the more we increase the efficiency of this part, the lower the cost will become. That would be really good. Actually, we should focus on this part—your element costs way too much.”

”It’s incredible, but its cost is enormous. Besides that, we could also make the value of what we sacrifice much higher. For example, suppose you sacrificed one of your eyes, and that’s worth twenty because it holds a lot of magic.”

”If we increase the efficiency and refinement enough, we could raise that to a hundred, two hundred, two thousand, or even ten thousand. That would make small sacrifices have much higher value while the cost of power becomes much lower.” She explains it very clearly.

’She’s absolutely right. Increasing the value the Doom element sees in the sacrifice and reducing the cost—those are two things that would make this element far more powerful. And they’re easier branches to make because failures won’t blow everything up in my face.’ I begin analyzing the base formula to do what she said.

”Easy... your hand is shaking.” She sits down behind me, grabbing my arms as I take a deep breath and sigh, calming my somewhat jittery movements. I’m really tense about this.

”I’m just nervous. I don’t want to fail, but I also shouldn’t rush. I just want to ride the peak of determination your words gave me...”

”That’s fine, Pandora. We’ll just take it slow. Creating this formula will take some time, and we can always refine it little by little. After all, we’ll need many branches to get the efficiency and refinement to five hundred times the base value.”

”...Thanks for the help, big sis.” I say it sweetly, turning around and giving her a soft little kiss on the lips, then turning my full attention and focus back to the Doom element—my weapon against the goddesses.