Chapter 1023: Neris Tests

Frieren had been standing in front of Neris since early morning, holding a clipboard full of notes while observing every movement of the newly awakened girl. The laboratory had been reorganized for the tests, leaving an open area in the center while the other homunculi remained inside their containment capsules. Neris stood barefoot on the stone floor, wearing only a simple outfit Frieren had prepared for the first experiments, and waited for further instructions without showing any resistance. For Frieren, that was exactly what she needed: someone capable of testing the body in practical situations and telling her whenever something was wrong.

"Raise your right arm."

Neris obeyed.

"Now the left."

She repeated the movement.

"Close your hands."

Her fingers closed.

"Open them."

Neris opened them.

Frieren approached and held her wrist, observing the muscular response.

"Any pain?"

"No."

"Discomfort?"

"No."

"Weakness?"

"No."

Frieren made a note.

"Take a deep breath."

Neris inhaled.

"Hold it."

She held it.

"Release."

The air slowly left her lungs.

Frieren looked at the demonic core through a small magical instrument that projected a translucent image over the skin. The structure was functioning stably, distributing energy throughout the body without the spikes Frieren had recorded in the first prototypes. There were still differences between the core and a natural demonic organism, but at least that part seemed to have been solved.

"Run to that wall."

Neris ran.

"Come back."

She returned.

"Faster."

Neris increased her speed.

Frieren followed her movements without speaking. Neris reached the indicated point, turned, and returned almost immediately. The artificial body demonstrated excellent coordination, but Frieren noticed a slight loss of balance during the abrupt change of direction.

"Stop."

Neris stopped.

"Did you feel the loss of balance?"

"Yes."

Frieren raised her eyes.

"Why didn’t you say anything?"

"You didn’t ask."

Frieren remained silent for a moment.

"Fair. From now on, report any physical change without waiting for me to ask."

"Understood."

Frieren wrote down another observation.

On the other side of the room, Lithara was sitting on a table while Albedo leaned against a pillar. The two had been watching the tests for almost an hour and were already more interested in their own discussion than in the basic exercises. Lithara watched Neris run, jump, and lift weights while idly spinning a small sphere of mana between her fingers.

"Do you think they’ll all be like this?" she asked.

Albedo looked at the capsules.

"Not necessarily."

"Frieren made thirty-six complete bodies."

"Thirty-six."

"Plus twelve."

"In development."

"So, if they all need individual supervision..."

Albedo made a small grimace.

"...we’re going to have a problem."

Lithara nodded.

"A huge problem."

The two looked at Neris again.

Frieren had placed a series of metal weights in front of her.

"Lift the first one."

Neris grabbed the object with both hands and lifted it without difficulty.

"The second."

More weight.

She lifted it.

"Third."

Neris hesitated for the first time.

"I can do it."

"I didn’t say you couldn’t. Lift it."

She strained and managed to raise the weight above her head.

Frieren observed the muscles in her arms and the circulation of demonic energy.

"Now hold it for thirty seconds."

Neris remained still.

Ten seconds.

Twenty.

Thirty.

"Put it down."

The weight fell to the floor.

Neris rolled her shoulders.

"Any pain?"

"Light tension."

"In your arms?"

"Yes."

"That’s normal. The body isn’t supposed to eliminate every sensation of effort. That would be bad for training."

Frieren wrote another line.

Lithara rested her chin on her hand.

"Have you realized that you’re creating soldiers who will need to obey orders?"

Albedo nodded.

"That’s exactly what worries me."

"Not their strength?"

"Strength is manageable. Commanding them is another matter."

Lithara became thoughtful.

"If they have souls of their own, they’ll have personalities."

"Yes."

"So some will be disciplined, others won’t."

"Yes."

"Some may question orders."

"I hope they do."

Lithara turned her head.

"You hope they will?"

Albedo answered first.

"A soldier who never questions anything can easily be led into making a mistake. The problem isn’t obedience. It’s knowing when an order goes beyond the objective."

Lithara smiled.

"You’re starting to sound like Frieren."

"That’s insulting."

"It was a compliment."

"I know."

Frieren called Neris again.

"Now we’ll test reflexes."

She picked up three small wooden spheres and placed them on a table. Each one had a small crystal inside.

"When I throw them, catch them."

Neris nodded.

Frieren threw the first.

Neris caught it.

The second came immediately afterward.

Caught.

The third came on a sideways trajectory.

Neris turned and managed to catch it before it hit the floor.

Frieren increased the speed.

The spheres began crossing the space at different angles.

Neris managed to keep up for a few seconds, but one of the spheres struck her shoulder.

"Stop."

She stopped.

Frieren went over to her.

"Why did you miss?"

"I couldn’t follow the trajectory."

"Your reaction time was adequate. The problem was peripheral perception."

Neris nodded.

Frieren made a note.

"That’s important. A strong body is useless if it can’t perceive an attack coming from a blind spot."

She placed the spheres back on the table.

"Let’s test magic."

Neris fell silent.

"Can you use mana?"

"I don’t know."

"Then we’ll find out."

Frieren drew a small circle on the floor.

"Demonic core, release mana."

Neris tried.

Nothing happened.

She tried again.

A small amount of energy appeared in her hands.

Frieren immediately approached.

"Stop."

Neris interrupted the flow.

Frieren observed it.

"You can generate mana, but you can’t direct it."

"Is that a problem?"

"For a soldier who needs to use magic, yes."

Lithara got down from the table.

"I can help."

Frieren looked at her.

"How?"

"I’ll teach her."

Albedo also approached.

"I can teach basic control."

Frieren thought for a few seconds.

"Good. Neris, try again."

Lithara placed a small amount of energy in front of her.

"Don’t try to produce more force. Just touch that energy with your own."

Neris extended her hand.

Her demonic mana came into contact with Lithara’s.

The energy trembled.

Neris lost control.

The small sphere exploded.

Albedo immediately raised a barrier.

The impact caused no damage, but Frieren stared at the residue in the air.

"Interesting."

Lithara pointed at her.

"You spoke."

"I know."

"That’s never good."

Frieren ignored her.

"She has no difficulty producing mana. The problem is that the core is distributing energy too quickly when it receives an external command."

Albedo crossed her arms.

"Can that be fixed?"

"Probably."

"How long?"

"I don’t know."

Lithara looked at the other capsules.

"So we won’t have thirty-six soldiers tomorrow."

"No."

"Nor forty-eight."

"No."

"Good."

Frieren raised an eyebrow.

"Why would that be good?"

"Because we still need to figure out how to stop forty-eight newly created demons from destroying half of Asgard because someone gave them a stupid order."

Albedo agreed.

"That’s the most important point."

Frieren left the clipboard on a table.

"You two are worried about discipline."

"Yes," Albedo replied.

"Then let’s treat that as part of the creation process."

Lithara became more serious.

"How?"

"Training."

"That’s obvious."

"Not just physical training. They need to learn the chain of command, rules, limits, evaluation of orders, and consequences."

Albedo thought for a few seconds.

"And what if one of them refuses?"

"We need to find out why."

"And what if it’s simply insubordination?"

"Then it will be dealt with like any other soldier."

Lithara tilted her head.

"Are you planning to put all of them under Strax’s direct command?"

Frieren shook her head.

"No."

The two looked at her.

"If they all depend directly on him, we’ll have a bottleneck. Strax doesn’t have time to command dozens of soldiers individually."

Albedo nodded.

"Then we need officers."

"Exactly."

Lithara smiled.

"You’re already creating an army."

Frieren looked at Neris.

"No. I’m creating a structure."

She returned to the clipboard.

"The army comes later."

Neris remained still, waiting for the next instruction. Frieren looked at her again.

"Do you feel tired?"

"Yes."

Frieren immediately wrote it down.

"How much?"

"Moderately."

"Good."

Neris looked confused.

"Good?"

"It means your body recognizes its limits."

Frieren approached and examined her eyes, then the core through the magical instrument.

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes."

"Excellent."

"Is that good too?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Frieren stopped for a moment.

"Because it means your body is functioning like an organism and not merely a machine."

Neris seemed to accept the explanation.

Lithara watched the scene silently for a few seconds before speaking to Albedo.

"She’s starting to get attached."

Albedo looked at Frieren.

"To the creation?"

"Yes."

"Is that bad?"

"No."

Lithara smiled.

"Then we’ll have another problem."

Albedo sighed.

"What?"

"If Frieren starts treating every one of these girls like daughters, no one will be able to stop her from going three days without sleeping just to fix something."

Frieren turned her head.

"I heard that."

Lithara didn’t look concerned.

"I know."

Frieren picked up the clipboard again.

"You two should stop talking and help."

Lithara stood up.

"Finally."

Albedo approached Neris.

"Let’s start again."

Neris nodded.

This time, Frieren handed her a small sphere of mana.

"Control it without increasing its size."

Neris held the sphere.

The energy began to vibrate.

Lithara watched closely.

"Slowly."

Neris reduced the flow.

Albedo corrected her posture.

"Don’t force it with your arm. Use the core."

Neris closed her eyes.

The sphere stabilized.

Frieren smiled faintly and made another note.

"Better."

The test continued.

That morning, Neris did not learn how to fight, nor was she given a weapon or a rank. She only learned to run, control her own body, recognize fatigue, follow instructions, report problems, and begin manipulating the energy within her. To Frieren, that was far more important than making her look powerful too quickly. Before creating soldiers capable of facing monsters, demons, or gods, she needed to make sure those bodies were capable of surviving their own learning process.

And beside her, Lithara and Albedo were beginning to realize that the hardest part of the experiment would not be creating the forty-eight warriors.

It would be teaching forty-eight different individuals to live within the same chain of command without turning Asgard into a disaster.