— — — — — —
A few hours later in Kaguya's Room
"Gene lock potential? Me? ME?!"
After listening to Veyron explain the purpose of the two tubes—one blue, one green—labeled "virus" and "serum," Houraisan Kaguya suddenly sat up straight in shock. "This is huge! Why didn't you say something earlier?!"
Fair question.
What do you think, Eirin?
Veyron gave a dry chuckle and answered honestly, "Because I'm kind of a pervert."
"…You didn't have to be that honest."
Kaguya pressed a hand to her forehead, half-exasperated.
She took the syringe and the blue tube—the T-Virus—and began assembling the two calmly. "So, all I have to do is inject this into myself, right?"
"Exactly."
Veyron nodded. He had already confirmed that without the T-Virus as a catalyst, no one could awaken the gene lock potential.
A few minutes later—
"How big is the difference between the first stage and your current fourth-stage gene lock?"
Feeling the power surge from the first unlock, Kaguya asked seriously.
"Hard to say, really."
Veyron gave it some thought before responding. "The gene lock is just a framework. Even if two people are at the same stage, what they can do with it varies based on their physical condition, mental strength, and other factors."
"It's kind of like how you'd categorize yokai."
"Above a certain level, they're all called 'Great Yokai.' But even within that group, there's a huge gap. A newly ascended Great Yokai with top-tier bloodline and talent could easily crush another who reached the same level by sheer longevity... Though, to be fair, even the weakest Great Yokai could still obliterate regular ones."
"Great Yokai, huh…"
Kaguya nodded slightly. She wasn't a yokai herself, but she had a decent grasp of what that power level meant.
And just like Veyron said, no matter how wide the gap was among Great Yokai, none of them were weak by normal standards.
She walked to the window and pushed it open.
Princess Kaguya looked up at the sky.
"So, if we go by that level… how wide is the gap between Gene Lock Tier Four and everything below it?"
"One hundred times."
Veyron didn't even hesitate. Based on his own journey from barely scratching the surface of Stage Four to actually mastering it, that was a clear enough estimate.
"One hundred times?!"
A radiant smile bloomed on Kaguya's face. "Sounds like it's time for me to remember what it's like to try again."
She hadn't been motivated in ages. Back when Veyron hadn't yet brought over game consoles and other gadgets from other worlds, she'd just hung around him, looking for random ways to pass the time.
But once those things arrived—video games, computers, entertainment tech from distant timelines—she'd happily lost herself in them.
Sure, the novelty and fun of those devices played a part.
But really, the truth was simpler: on Earth, she didn't have anything else to do.
Training?
Ever since becoming a Hourai immortal, her existence was locked at the moment she took the Hourai Elixir. Time stood still for her. Unless she found something that could override that frozen state, no amount of training would change anything.
Techniques? Power manipulation?
Even back on the Moon, she'd already hit a wall. Her spirit energy, her mastery, her natural ability—Eternal and Instantaneous—had all reached a limit she couldn't overcome by effort alone.
But this… this was different.
A hundredfold increase in power. At the very least. And that wasn't even the limit.
She recalled something Veyron had told her more than once: "The early fourth stage is just the beginning of real transformation. She can control her genes."
With that thought in mind, Kaguya gazed up at the moon with a complex expression—one part longing, one part defiance.
The Criminal of Eternity.
That was the name they branded her with when the Capital of the Moon decided to exile her after she took the Hourai Elixir.
She might have developed an interest in the world below, but that didn't mean she could just smile and accept being cast out as a criminal.
"Dad," she said softly, "if one day I have to stand face-to-face with the ruler of the Lunar Capital… would you still be by my side, like you are now?"
Veyron smiled, "Haven't I already been standing with you since nine years ago?"
"…Yeah."
For a moment, the princess was taken aback. Then she smiled and nodded.
From that day on, Houraisan Kaguya threw herself into gene lock training with the same passion she had when she first got hooked on gaming devices.
Training to deepen the gene lock was actually pretty straightforward—First, it required extreme mental focus.
Second, repeated use. The more often you unlocked it, the more your body adapted to the sensation.
Neither of those were a problem for her.
And during that time, Kaguya got an unexpected bonus—
Even though she didn't inject the matching serum, the T-Virus that had been injected into her was completely reset by her Hourai Immortal trait of "Eternity."
As expected, once the virus was purged from her body, the boosts it gave—like enhanced physical strength, stamina, and regeneration—vanished with it.
That much, she'd already anticipated.
But the psychokinesis? That stayed.
And as she kept practicing, its strength actually increased.
Veyron wasn't all that surprised.
After all, even though it's called "psychokinesis" or "Telekinesis" across different worlds, how it works—and what it actually represents—can vary wildly from one universe to another.
Some worlds treat it as a specialized form of spiritual energy. Others see it as the embodiment of sheer willpower.
And in some cases, it's just an offshoot of a unique, world-specific power system.
So the fact that Kaguya's psychokinesis wasn't erased by her Hourai immortality—and could still grow stronger with training just like the Gene Lock?
Yeah. That made perfect sense to Veyron.
.
.
.