Kihara, a great magnate… However, to evaluate Kihara Similar in such a way would truly be doing him an injustice.
In fact, as a 'Kihara', the obsession with science is ingrained in their instincts. No matter what achievements they make in other fields, it cannot change their essence as 'mad scientists'.
The main reason why Kihara Gensei and Kihara Similar, master and disciple, were evaluated as 'neglecting their proper duties' was actually that in the past two years, they failed to produce sufficiently convincing research results; but at the same time, they achieved quite remarkable accomplishments in other fields, and the contrast between the two led to this outcome.
Kihara Gensei won the internal competition and obtained the research qualification for Accelerator.
However, his luck was truly bad. Accelerator himself refused to cooperate with the research, and coupled with Lin Wuming, the 'hero', interfering, the 'Absolute Power Evolution Project' died in its infancy before it even had a chance to begin.
At the last moment, Kihara Gensei could only retreat in disarray, forced to abandon all research resources and push Amai Ao out as a scapegoat.
Strictly speaking, this failure cannot be entirely blamed on Kihara Gensei—the situation had already developed to an irreversible point long before he truly took over the project.
Kihara Gensei was just unlucky, inheriting a mess.
But others, especially other competitors within the Kihara, would not pay attention to these details… or rather, precisely because they knew the inside story, they would be even more gleeful.
Affected by that 'failure', it became very difficult for Kihara Gensei to secure research resources afterwards.
This ebb and flow made it seem as if he was more enthusiastic about operating as a 'Dark Side Organization leader'.
As for Kihara Similar, he was not implicated by his teacher; he could normally obtain research resources without being affected.
However, the current Kihara Similar no longer valued those resources—he earned more on his own.
The predicament Kihara Similar faced was essentially similar to his teacher Kihara Gensei's—the research subject would not cooperate.
Kihara Similar also had ambitions; his research direction was Level 5 esper ability, and even further, Level 6 Absolute Power.
In this regard, it can be said that he perfectly inherited from Kihara Gensei.
However, the personalities of the Level 5s are all very troublesome, and coupled with their considerable strength, strong-arm tactics cannot be used unless absolutely necessary.
The difficulty in obtaining 'experimental subjects' directly brought Kihara Similar's research to a halt at its root.
Accelerator goes without saying; Kihara Similar did not think he could achieve any results with a being even his teacher Kihara Gensei could not handle.
Kakine Teitoku and Mugino Shizuri are members of the Dark Side Organization; they should have been good collaborators as they typically work for money; but also based on his teacher Kihara Gensei's experience, their strong personalities and initiative made them unqualified experimental subjects—one careless mistake could instead harm himself.
Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki are from Tokiwadai; at least on the surface, even the Kihara cannot meddle in the sphere of influence of the Tokiwadai Group.
Not to mention, they are closely united around the newly promoted Level 5 Lin Wuming, having already formed a powerful force that cannot be ignored, which is troublesome in every sense of the word…
As for Sogiita Gunha, known as the world's greatest 'gemstone', his inexplicable ability is certainly powerful, but it has little value for research and development.
Thus, Kihara Similar was left with only two paths.
One was to try to 'persuade' a Level 5 to cooperate with his research through negotiation; the other was to cultivate new Level 5s among lower-level Ability Users.
The former was unlikely, and the latter was even more unrealistic.
No wonder Kihara Similar had been slow to produce results…
In this situation, a desperate Kihara Similar was forced to find an alternative, trying to find other breakthroughs to indirectly achieve his research goals.
Coincidentally, he was very good at this kind of operation.
In Kihara Similar's view, as long as the expected experimental goals could be achieved in the end, the process and methods were 'close enough'.
In fact, even the research objective was not entirely inflexible—likewise, 'close enough' would suffice.
For example, Kihara Similar's initial goal was to research Level 5 esper ability and ultimately develop Level 6 Absolute Power.
But now, he slightly relaxed the conditions—no longer demanding the development of a Level 6 Absolute Power User, but rather a powerful Ability User 'beyond Level 5's' standard.
Just like Accelerator, not a Level 6, but an existence stronger than a typical Level 5.
As a node in the process of reaching Level 6 Absolute Power, such a compromise was acceptable.
However, the difficulty of this plan has already been mentioned—the Level 5s would not cooperate obediently.
Moreover, wanting to further develop the current Level 5 esper ability… this was already a very difficult goal.
From a theoretical point of view, it was basically no different from developing a Level 6.
So, relax the requirements a bit more—simply pursue strength, strength beyond Level 5, but not limited to the category of 'esper ability'.
For example… 'Magic'.
Kihara Similar knew of the existence of 'Magic', and had even personally met some Alchemists.
Although his understanding was not particularly deep, Kihara Similar dared to assert that 'Magic', as another system with a complete framework, its upper limit should not be much weaker than Level 5 esper ability.
This is what is meant by finding an alternative path. Since he had hit a wall in the esper ability system and saw no possibility of a breakthrough within visible range, he could only switch tracks and try to find a breakthrough from other directions.
Of course, Kihara Similar had only recently come up with this idea.
To be precise, it was seventy-two hours ago.
Three days ago, Kihara Similar obtained detailed intelligence on the 'Misawa Cram School Incident' through internal channels of the 'Kihara'.
Because it was intelligence for 'Kihara's' own use, there was no evasion of the parts related to 'Magic' at all.
The culprit behind this incident was an Alchemist; the professional Alchemists from the British Puritan Church and the Roman Orthodox Church were invited as external aid to 'clean house'; including the 'orbital bombardment' that pierced the sky that day, it was also a type of Magic attack…
Such detailed information was clearly explained in the internal intelligence publications of the 'Kihara'.
Among these, one detail caught Kihara Similar's attention.
It was a few words from Victorio, the knight leader from the Roman Orthodox Church.
Victorio suspected that Lin Wuming was a 'secret weapon' jointly created by Academy City and the British Puritan Church, also known as a 'scientific magic dual cultivation' type of talent.
That was why Lin Wuming's strength was so great, his status so high, his influence so vast, and why his relationship with Chairman Aleister was so close, allowing him to brazenly intervene in Magic-related incidents.
