Chapter 83: Green Caterpillar II

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Green Caterpillar II

Before impulsively raiding the storage shelves or drafting an experimental paper, Eric sat upright at the central terminal of Room 508, his fingers dancing across the backlit keys.

He understood the cardinal rule of elite academic institutions: paperwork dictated legitimacy.

The Central Research Institution granted its matriculated students wide latitude and subsidized their experimental burn rates through departmental grants, but the automated auditing algorithms monitored every requisition down to the last milligram. If a freshman started pulling rare reagents without a formally declared project on file, the system would flag the transaction as academic embezzlement before he could even uncork a flask.

On his institutional dashboard, Eric clicked into his empty project ledger and entered his inaugural filing:

[PROJECT REGISTRATION: INITIATED]

Lead Researcher: Eric (Undergraduate Student #8841-E)

Department: Beast Evolution Research

Faculty Supervisor of Record: Professor Sonia Wane

Project Designation: Green Caterpillar (Order: Insectile) — Exploratory Analysis of Latent Elemental Receptivity & Novel Metamorphic Vectors

Status: Active / Phase I

With the project officially stamped into the academy’s central nexus, the requisition portal unlocked its supply chain parameters.

"Now comes the sleight of hand," Eric murmured, his dark eyes glittering with cool calculation.

If he requisitioned only the exact components for the Quadrallis Butterfly, three vials of Moonlight Lily extract alongside the four basic elemental stones, any sharp-eyed review board could reverse-engineer his formula purely from his inventory audit trail. Worse still, it would look suspiciously targeted for a freshman who was supposed to be conducting exploratory trial-and-error research.

To obscure his true recipe, Eric requested the three vials of Moonlight Lily Extract tucked discreetly within an assortment of nine other common botanical solvents, including Silverleaf Dew, Starlight Fern Distillate, and Glacial Lotus Resin.

Next, he took full advantage of the auxiliary biological nutrition grant. He requisitioned an assortment of foundational tonic herbs, Bloodline Nourishing Grass, Dark Marrow Vines, and Ironbark Ginseng. Officially, they were designated as dietary stabilizing supplements for the test specimens; in reality, any surplus would go straight into Coal’s feeding dish to temper the crow’s cultivation.

For his biological test subjects, he requisitioned a batch of twenty living Green Caterpillars. Because the species was practically a common roadside pest across the lowland scrub of Valoria, the automated logistics system approved the specimen crate with zero administrative friction.

Then came the true gamble.

Eric navigated to the mineral requisition catalog, his gaze locking onto the high-tier elemental ore tab. He input requests for three specialized items: a High-Purity Shadow Crystal, a High-Purity Light Crystal, and a High-Purity Dark Crystal.

Across the continent of Valoria, the hierarchy of power sources was strictly defined:

*Mana Stones* were biological cores harvested from slain beasts, rift monsters, and abyssal entities.

*Elemental Stones* were naturally mined minerals carrying elemental charges, abundant, steady, and common enough to be used as household heating fuels or streetlamp conduits.

*Elemental Crystals*, however, were condensed geological treasures born in deep, extreme elemental nodes. Rare, volatile, and astronomically expensive, an authentic high-purity crystal could anchor an entire defensive ward array or serve as the core catalyst to trigger a high-order beast’s bloodline ascension.

Room 508’s rear vault was already stocked with basic elemental stones and an impressive collection of raw mana stones up to the Captain rank, but true elemental crystals were locked away in the central institutional depository.

Procuring a high-purity Shadow Crystal through legitimate retail channels would require thousands of merit points or months of grueling mercenary commissions that a freshman couldn’t even accept. Piggybacking the item onto an approved institutional research grant was Eric’s sole viable route to secure the primary catalyst for Coal’s evolution without spending a single credit.

Eric took a steadying breath, his finger hovering over the glowing slate.

"Let’s see if the automated grant lets this slide..."

*CLICK.*

The requisition packet uploaded into the central institutional pipeline.

For two agonizing minutes, the terminal displayed a spinning amber prism as the automated logistics module cross-referenced his first-place theoretical exam credentials against the department’s initial funding threshold.

*PING.*

[REQUISITION REVIEW: CONDITIONAL CLEARANCE]

- Biological Specimens (Green Caterpillar x20):

APPROVED.

- Botanical Solvents & Baseline Extracts:

APPROVED.

- Supplementary Alchemical Herbs:

APPROVED.

- High-Purity Elemental Crystal Requisition:

RESTRICTION APPLIED.

Administrative Notice: Tier-1 Undergraduate Research. Grants high-purity rare-earth crystals to a single (1) allocation per experimental cycle.

Select ONE (1) crystal unit to complete dispatch.

Eric let out a long breath through his teeth, a fierce grin splitting his face. "They actually approved it!"

Without a second of hesitation, he tapped the screen, discarding the Light and Dark decoys and locking in the solitary prize that mattered:

`[Selected Allocation: High-Purity Shadow Crystal x1]`

`[Status: Dispatched via Pneumatic Courier. Estimated Arrival: 30 Minutes.]`

"Thirty minutes," Eric leaned back in his swivel chair, letting out a soft laugh. "CRI’s internal logistics network is terrifyingly efficient."

While waiting, Eric prepped the sterile examination bay. He wiped down the glass containment terrariums with antiseptic, set the environmental dials to standard grassland humidity, and arranged a row of labeled porcelain test dishes along the central examination counter.

Coal fluttered down from the brass coat rack, landing lightly on the back of Eric’s chair. The crow tilted his sleek head, his sharp, bead-like black eyes studying the pristine laboratory equipment with curious, low trills.

"Patience, buddy," Eric smiled, reaching up to scratch the bird beneath his bone-white beak. "Your main course is already on the way."

*PSSSHT—CLANK.*

Barely twenty-four minutes had elapsed when the reinforced brass hatch of the room’s pneumatic delivery chute hissed open. A heavy, hydraulic platform rose from the floor, bearing a stack of sealed institutional supply crates stamped with the CRI crimson seal.

Eric unlatched the containers with practiced speed.

The first crate was a climate-regulated acrylic habitat housing twenty plump, vibrant-green caterpillars, happily munching away on fresh clover sprigs.

Beside it sat two cushioned cases containing the row of labeled alchemical solvents, including the three slender, luminous vials of Moonlight Lily Extract glowing with a faint, silvery-blue sheen and the bundle of dark, nutrient-rich cultivation herbs.

Finally, Eric reached into the smallest crate and lifted out a heavy, velvet-lined lead alloy lockbox.

He flipped the brass clasp.

*HUMMM.*

A chilling, ethereal wave rolled across the workstation.

Resting inside the black satin lining was an uncut, jagged crystalline spire roughly the size of a dagger hilt. Deep, translucent violet-black facets trapped the ambient light of the room, weeping faint, smoking wisps of pure, unadulterated shadow mana that chilled the surrounding air by several degrees.

Coal’s feathers puffed up instantly. His dark eyes flared with ravenous hunger, his iron beak clicking open in an eager, sharp hiss.

Eric snapped the box shut, sealing the heavy aura back within the lead shielding, and tucked the lockbox securely into his personal spatial inventory.

"Soon, Coal," Eric whispered, his dark eyes gleaming with focused, academic ambition as he turned toward the acrylic habitat of caterpillars. "First, we give the academy the breakthrough they paid for."

Rolling up his sleeves, Eric pulled on a pair of sterile alchemical gloves and set the first vial of Moonlight Lily extract onto the testing rack.

"Alright. Let’s get to work."