Kal'tsit had lived for so long.
She had seen too many storms and tempests.
She thought she was calm enough, thought she had seen through the essence of all things in the world, that nothing and no one could move her anymore, that no matter what happened, it would not be outside her expectations.
Kal'tsit had even suspected that, aside from her ideals, there was nothing left in this world that could interest or move her—except for the one lying in the coffin; just seeing him made her blood pressure rise.
She never expected.
Coming to this newly opened pharmaceutical company, she had originally thought it would be a simple discussion about a partnership.
She never thought.
Kal'tsit's cat-like face, which had been stoic for decades, even centuries, cracked for the first time in this place, twice in a row.
Kal'tsit had seen rich people.
But she had never seen someone this rich. Even after living for so many years, this was the first time she had heard such an absurd excuse.
Or rather.
The wealth of Raythean Industries.
Even among the nations buried in the river of time that she had walked through over so many years, if not the first, it could definitely be ranked in the T0 echelon. And to be honest, even Kal'tsit sometimes felt she couldn't compare to that level of wealth, despite having lived for so long.
The casual words of the young lady Jessica left the entire office in silence for a long time.
Finally, Jessica seemed to notice the awkward atmosphere and took the initiative to break the silence, although she couldn't quite understand what was wrong with what she had just said.
What's wrong with spending a little money to help a friend?
When an ordinary person's friend is in trouble, they can lend them a hundred thousand. So when her friend is in trouble, can't she spend ten billion?
It's all just spending money...
The only difference is that hers has a few more zeros, no big deal.
"Ms. Kal'tsit, actually, it's not entirely because of Ceobe that I wanted to get into Oripathy research. It's mainly... the one... from my family also wanted to get into Oripathy research. It was under his encouragement that I decided to do it."
Lucas Reeve: "?"
*Swoosh!*
Jessica's face turned beet red. She wanted to cover her face, unable to believe she had just subconsciously blurted out something so embarrassing.
Ehehe... so embarrassing~~
Beside her.
Silence: "?"
Silence had been at Raythean Medica for some time, but because she was always holed up in the lab, she didn't know about Lucas Reeve's existence.
She was a little confused.
Jessica has a boyfriend?
She didn't remember ever seeing him.
And Kal'tsit understood immediately.
Although Kal'tsit had lived for tens of thousands of years and had never had a boyfriend.
However, what left her most speechless wasn't the boyfriend part, but... the reason was still absurd.
First, she said it was for her friend with Oripathy, then she said it was because her boyfriend wanted to do it.
After all this...
Was the original motivation really that ridiculous?
Kal'tsit was at a loss for words.
Or rather, she didn't even know what she should say.
At first, when she learned that someone else was also researching Oripathy, she had guessed that perhaps someone in Columbia also couldn't stand the plight of the Infected and had decided to contribute their own humble effort.
It's like this.
You're a veteran otaku, fighting for the most beautiful 2D world, scrimping and saving to buy official figures. In the face of others' misunderstanding, you forge ahead. Then you finally meet another person who watches anime, has a house full of expensive figures, even more than you. You think you've met a kindred spirit and go up to chat.
Then, the other person asks you with a puzzled look.
What's 2D?
I just bought this doll because I thought it looked nice. It wasn't expensive anyway... might as well buy them all. It's just some small change, no big deal.
Absurd!!
Beside them, Closure had completely turned into a chaos-enjoyer.
On her beautiful face, her pretty eyes curved into crescents from too much joy.
Holy crap!
Kal'tsit is flustered!!
Having known Kal'tsit for so long, she always had a cold face, as if everyone in the world owed her a hundred million, as if everything was under her control.
For Closure, there was nothing more joyful than seeing Kal'tsit flustered.
It could only be described in one word.
Awesome!
Sure enough!
I came to the right place.
Otherwise, I might have missed out on some major juicy intel.
And...
Strictly speaking, Closure had some connection with Jessica, though this connection was a bit of a stretch.
After all, Closure herself was a famous engineering expert even at Raythean Industries, while Jessica was the young lady of Raythean Industries.
Wait...
Why does this relationship strangely resemble that of a boss and a subordinate...
Kal'tsit thought for a moment and stated her purpose directly. She chose not to be cryptic anymore. She had been speechless for three out of the five minutes she'd been here.
And she had met an old monster whose antiquity was in no way inferior to her own... and... the old monster seemed to be in a conscious state, which meant that He was also watching her, just not speaking.
As a top-tier psychologist, Kal'tsit began to deduce again.
Since this old monster has been awake all this time, then... the "he" Jessica mentioned is probably this old monster. In other words, the old monster instructed Jessica to establish this Oripathy research institute. And... who is this old monster?
In Kal'tsit's memory, there were really not many old monsters as ancient as herself.
You could basically count them on one hand.
But this divinity was also incredibly unfamiliar to Kal'tsit; she had never seen it before.
It was not one of the old monsters she knew...
Originium is of little use to gods, and naturally, there's no such thing as Oripathy for gods. Theoretically, he has no reason...
And.
The divinity is actually not strong.
Which means.
This old monster is currently very weak, perhaps just a soul fragment. After all, old monsters are hard to kill. Even if they are ground to dust, as long as their soul is immortal, they will not be extinguished. Reforming a physical body is only a matter of time. Even if the soul perishes and the body is shattered, as long as a tiny soul fragment exists, the old monster will not die completely, but will become extremely weak.
In Kal'tsit's deduction, Lucas Reeve should be like this.
After all, Kal'tsit had never seen a god survive in its complete form. Almost all the gods had either completely fallen or been banished in the war of the gods many years ago.
The gods that still exist on the land of Terra today are either old, weak, sick, and disabled; or so weak that only dregs remain; or they survived by sheer luck because they were reclusive and weak enough.
And so, in Kal'tsit's mind, Lucas Reeve was labeled as old, weak, sick, and disabled~
Of course, this was all relative.
No matter how weak a god was, it was still a god. Its level of existence was completely different, so Kal'tsit dared not let her guard down in the slightest.
"Let me first introduce our Rhodes Island to Ms. Jessica."
Kal'tsit rarely adopted a slightly humbler posture, but although her words sounded a bit more modest, her tone remained icy.
"Our Rhodes Island is a new company that was just registered a few months ago. Our main purpose is to work for the Infected all over the world. Our company has also been trying to develop drugs that can effectively suppress Oripathy. By the time the company was officially registered, we already held several patents related to Oripathy."
In fact, Kal'tsit didn't need to take such a stance at all.
But... there was one point that Kal'tsit was very concerned about.
She had learned about the efficacy of this drug through her own means and was surprised to find that its effect was slightly better than the suppression drug she had spent countless years developing. This was a point that Kal'tsit found somewhat difficult to explain.
After all, this Raythean Medica, like Rhodes Island, had only been established for a few months.
And they were different from Rhodes Island.
Kal'tsit knew very well that Rhodes Island was just a company that had recently appeared in the public eye, but the predecessor of Rhodes Island... was completely different.
And, as the young lady of Raythean Industries, Jessica had never dealt with Oripathy before. And as she had said, she initially founded Raythean Medica for a friend who had contracted Oripathy. This friend definitely hadn't had Oripathy for long, which means...
In reality, Raythean Medica's research time was far less than a year, probably not even half a year.
And in that short time, they actually developed a medicine that was more effective than what she had researched for so many years...
This was the reason Kal'tsit had personally come to visit.
Kal'tsit didn't believe it was developed by Jessica and the young expert beside her. Kal'tsit was certain that the ingredients of this Oripathy-suppressing medicine came from the 'old geezer' inside Jessica's body...
There was no other explanation.
Lucas Reeve thought for a moment and whispered to Jessica.
"Jessica, ask her how she found out about the medicine, and how she knew it came from Raythean Medica."
"Okay!"
Jessica repeated Lucas Reeve's words.
And Kal'tsit had just caught some fluctuations.
She had already deduced that this question was likely prompted by the 'old monster' inside her.
The 'old monster' is probing?
Kal'tsit didn't hesitate and chose to tell the truth.
Since there was someone on the same level as her on the other side, Kal'tsit was much more direct with some of her words.
"General Hellagur is an old acquaintance of mine. I learned about it from him. However, Ms. Jessica, you can rest assured. Although I am Infected, Mr. Hellagur did not give me the medicine."
She seemed to be talking to Jessica, but in reality, Kal'tsit was speaking to Lucas Reeve.
She deliberately made it clear, even stating that she was Infected, to prevent the other party from deliberately causing trouble for Hellagur because of her later on. And since the other party chose to create a medicine to alleviate Oripathy, it also indirectly showed that they were not currently an enemy of the Infected, so there was no need to hide her identity for the time being.
And even if Kal'tsit didn't say it, Lucas Reeve knew it the moment she walked in the door.
However, stating it actively represented a kind of sincerity.
An old acquaintance of Mr. Hellagur?
It seems this Ms. Kal'tsit has enjoyed wandering around over the years, even being in Ursus decades ago, and now she's run off. But that's normal. If it were me, having lived freely for so many years, I would probably also wander the world as a "traveler," visiting various countries. The lifespan of a country might not even be as long as my own. Witnessing a nation from its prosperity to its decline and eventual demise—what a profound reflection on time that would be.
Wait a minute...
I've lived for so many years.
Why must I be a 'worker bee'? Wouldn't it be more comfortable to support my own forces and be the eternal mastermind behind the scenes?
The subsequent conversation was basically a game of wits between Lucas Reeve and Kal'tsit.
However, Lucas Reeve had only lived out these years in a void. When it came to a battle of words, how could he be a match for this true ten-thousand-year-old monster? So, Lucas Reeve decided to become a riddle master, speaking in half-sentences, saying little, and remaining silent often. Not only did this make him seem mysterious, but it also allowed Kal'tsit to guess and fill in the blanks herself.
Kal'tsit knew of Lucas Reeve's existence, but Closure and Silence did not.
From their perspective, it was a battle of wits between Kal'tsit and Jessica.
And Jessica liked to act as a riddle master, only speaking in half-sentences or being ambiguous.
Closure never would have thought that she would one day see the ultimate riddle master get riddled by another riddle master.
So moving!!
After a round of discussion, Kal'tsit's evaluation of Lucas Reeve was: Mysterious, profound.
Truly a powerful existence she had never seen before.
However, his attitude was somewhat ambiguous. He had no opinions or thoughts on her, or even on Rhodes Island. His helping the Infected was purely because he had Infected people around him.
The answer... if possible, they could cooperate, but the risk was a bit high. After all, the other party was an old monster... who knows what they are really thinking.
And Lucas Reeve's evaluation of Kal'tsit was: A true old antique, a riddle master who tried to speak in riddles but was forcefully interrupted by his own riddles. She once held a high position in Ursus and knew Hellagur and Patriot.
His evaluation was that she had a good heart, and... it seemed that besides medicine, she wasn't very knowledgeable about other areas, giving one the impression of having wasted ten thousand years. This kind of person could be cooperated with, but whether to cooperate deeply would depend on time and observation.
Under the conversation between two old antiques, filled with riddles and counter-riddles, the initial matters of cooperation were basically settled.
They would maintain a preliminary level of cooperation for now. If they wanted to go deeper, it would depend on future developments.
Kal'tsit very generously gifted a new type of medicine she had developed to Jessica, and Lucas Reeve also very generously gifted a bottle of the 1.0 version of his medicine to her.
As for copying...
Neither side was worried.
If it were really that simple to copy from a finished product, the market would have been flooded with counterfeit drug companies long ago. If you don't want to be studied by your rivals, the only way is to never go public.
This initial exchange was quite satisfactory.
Kal'tsit cautiously carried the medicine and left with Closure. Even after leaving, she was very careful to place the sample in a portable safe. Even though she knew the hope of reverse-engineering it was slim, Kal'tsit still decided to analyze the medicine's components as soon as she returned to Rhodes Island.
And Lucas Reeve directly gave the medicine Kal'tsit had given him to Silence, letting Ptilopsis analyze its components.
Even if the other party's effect is temporarily not as good as ours, the approach is very important.
Perhaps this approach will bring help to future research.