Chapter 294: Chapter 67: Too Coincidental, Sends Shivers
Down the Spine_l
“Squeak Squeak…”
Three rainforest fairies, starved for nearly a half month, lay weakly in their metal cage fitted with a separator.
Since being captured by the Wizard Army, they have had no food or water, and have been left to starve.
If not for the strong vitality of the extraordinary creatures, they would have surely died of hunger and thirst by now.
How could they still be barely alive?
Regardless of their weakness, upon seeing Link, the three rainforest fairies bared their teeth and squealed. It was unclear whether they were trying to intimidate him or if they were afraid.
Witnessing this, Link couldn’ t help but be suspicious.
According to the information available, the Fairy World is an extraordinary world with a limit of five tiers.
Fairies are a typical intelligent race, possessing their own language, literature, culture and civilisation.
Even when starving and in deteriorated conditions, they should not be behaving in such a dreadful and beast-like manner.
Could it be that these three Rainforest Fairies are infected with the plague and are evolving towards mutation?
With this thought, Link immediately heightened his surveillance and caution levels.
In event of an abnormality, he would immediately initiate an extermination procedure.
The initial plan was to dissect a normal rainforest fairy for a comparison, to explore how a mutation retains and enhances the fairy’s innate special power. Now, the plan had to be adjusted. In addition to exploring the strengthening mechanism, additional research must be done regarding the diseases and the mutation itself.
After deliberating, Link made a decision.
He first separated two of the rainforest fairies for detention and isolation.
He would provide regular food and water to one and continue to starve the other, while closely observing the changes in both.
The third rainforest fairy was taken to the dissection room to be studied.
“Those not of us certainly think differently.”
Link reassured himself with this phrase and then pushed himself into extreme rationality with the Mind Closure Technique.
In the blink of an eye, the writhing rainforest fairy fastened to the dissection table, in Link’s eyes, was no longer an intelligent being but merely experimental material.
Extreme rationality translated into cold indifference.
A sphere gagged the rainforest fairy, not allowing it to make a much noise.
With a dissecting knife in his hand, Link ignored the fear, pleas and various complex emotions that the fairy’s eyes conveyed. He made his first incision.
The bloody, cruel dissection began, progressing in the midst of initially strong and then progressively lowering wails till they finally ceased.
Several hovering cameras around the dissection table captured every detail of the proceedings.
They even recorded the whimpering and struggling of the rainforest fairy. Even though Link wore gloves and his palms were actually clean, they gave the impression as though they were smeared with blood.
“As expected, it has already begun mutating.”
During the dissection of an organ similar to the liver, Link discovered the first trace of mutation.
It wasn’t a drastic change. If you didn’t look carefully, you would miss it. Link, with his keen observation, extreme focus and strong memory, detected this change almost immediately.
An ordinary person probably would have needed to use equipment to magnify the image and compare it carefully in order to notice such a change.
There’s a connection between the liver and the eyes.
Upon discovering this, Link halted the dissection of other organs. He switched to another knife, and started examining the eyes of the Rainforest Fairy.
He wanted to see if he could discern from the external appearance, whether a fairy has been infected with the disease or not.
He hoped to find a way to identify the condition without having to wait for the disease to develop, or perform a detailed dissection.
After a detailed examination and comparison, Link observed a minor detail. The mutated individuals’ eyes appeared the same as those of the Rainforest fairies in the initial stage of mutation.
But there was a noticeable change in sight nerves. The nerve fibers were more developed.
This allowed for faster and more efficient transmission of visual signals.
The Rainforest fairies in the initial stages of mutation also showed changes in their sight nerves, but as the change was too minute, it could be ignored.
Link marked this observation for future reference, then continued examining their eyes.
The pupils of the mutated fairies had three prominent points arranged in a spiral, similar to the Shatingan.
Upon close inspection, the pupils of the Rainforest fairies in the initial stage of mutation also had three tiny points visible.
Perhaps the disease infection in Rainforest fairies and indeed, all kinds of fairies, can be discerned by their pupils.
What?
Are there other more viable and accurate methods?
For instance, bioassays.
Link was certainly aware of this and would also explore more in this direction. For now, he was occupied with dissection, which was yet to reach that stage. Upon completing the eye dissection, Link changed the knife and reverted his focus back to dissecting the internal organs.
With the continued advances in the dissection, more and more signs of mutation were found.
Furthurmore, these mutation traces seemed to intensify gradually. It appeared as if death did not hinder the development of mutations.
No, there’s an effect!
While death does not obstruct the development of mutations, there are indications that it subtly accelerates the mutation process.
With this discovery, Link immediately intensified the restrictions and adjust the security level of the dissection room.
He was anticipating an unforeseeable but unlikely abrupt mutation.
Inside the “Seed”, Franda, who was constructing various laboratories as per Link’s requirement, was prepared to activate the “Armor Orchid Battle Armor” at any time on receiving the instruction.
This is the outcome of the “Talent for Spellcasting” being upgraded to “wizardry specialisation”.
Franda could invoke Link’s Destiny Witchcraft with his permission! Being a “spirit”, Franda did not need to eat, drink, defecate or sleep.