—–
After five hours of intensive surgical activity, I had finished my first target. The Fat proved to be the most resilient and the one with the biggest stamina. So, I decided to use him as our first test subject. I grabbed the largest Imp legs and arms I could find and stitched them to him. I didn’t merely do that, but I also connected nerves, infused blood inside the limbs, and more. Thanks to Blood Magic and Eleanora’s Blood Threads Skill, it wasn’t hard.
After that, we decided to go back home, have dinner, and then pretend to go to sleep, only to jump out of the window and go back to the underground hideout. It has already been two hours since then, so I was hoping for something to happen. Either be a negative reaction or not, it will be interesting.
When we reached the Fat man, he was groaning, gritting his teeth. The fat of his body had gone down incredibly quickly. We were slightly surprised at first, but suddenly realized something was happening.
“Grraarrggh…! H-Help! Milady!” He cried in desperation, feeling agony as the red-skinned limbs he had were sucking the life out of his human body.
Eleanora coldly ignored his agonizing cries, as we analyzed his changes pragmatically.
“It appears that the demon’s limbs have revived, but are instead trying to absorb the man’s life.” Said Eleanora.
“Hm, that’s really an interesting observation.” I said while rubbing my chin.
“Can he survive this transformation? Is there no other side effect?” Wondered Eleanora.
“I have no idea, but let’s try by giving him some more blood and leave him alone in the night.” I said, feeding the man some more of my blood and then walking away.
We decided to call it a day and sleep until tomorrow to see what would happen. The transplant was a success, but it depended on the man if he would survive or not.
The next morning, before even having breakfast, we moved underground once more, and the scene this time had changed.
The man’s torso had grown skinnier until his bones, and in exchange, the demonic limbs grew larger and more muscular. However, the man’s body had slightly mutated, gaining red skin near the area where the limbs were transplanted and also a small black horn in his forehead.
But he was no longer alive.
“It seems he was unable to survive the demonic power flowing through his body. Shouldn’t you had helped him at circulating it?” Sighed Eleanora.
“Oh, my bad. I suppose I could has assisted him. However, my plan was to see the raw reactions without further intervention. The second guinea pig will now receive some assistance.” I nodded, looking at the man’s corpse. These demonic limbs were still alive.
“Hmmm… I have an idea, let’s stick these new limbs into the second guinea pig.”
“What? But wouldn’t that only make them stronger?”
“I had a sudden inspiration… these limbs might actually be more satiated now. Perhaps a second host would be enough for them.”
“Oh… Well, let’s try.”
After the second translation of limbs, I helped Scrawny to circulate his Ki and Demonic Energy alongiside his Mana. I also realized what happens to Spirit Orbs when someone transforms into a Vampiric species. It turned completely red in color and the spirit inside had suffered some sort of transformation that made it red and black in color, similar to my own familiars.
Spirits from humans cannot be taken away. When the master dies, their spirits also die, usually. This is why when someone dies, their spirit orbs end up empty, or simply having a lot of spiritual energy inside. I’ve heard that bandits still sometimes capture people, especially us serfs, and kill them for their spirit orbs, which can still fetch a good price in the black market.
Perhaps using spirit orbs from humans could be a good way to grow stronger, seeing how I can absorb them. But I wonder if Spirit Orbs from Vampiric species would have some sort of new and special effect…
While leaving Scrawny surviving his transplant of limbs, we began to dissect the body of the former Fat, now looking like a mummy. I opened his chest and quickly took his Spirit Orb, unlike that of monsters, this one seemed devoid of life, but emanated a strong aura of darkness and blood.
“How amusing. It is as if you had cultivated a Blood and Darkness Attribute Cultivation Material… Maybe we could use this for Alchemy and make some special pills or potions to let you increase stats?” Wondered Eleanora.
“It does seem like a promising material. This horn as well… It emanates both vampiric and demonic energy, we’ll use it as materials as well.” I analyzed. The rest of the body couldn’t be wasted either, it had been completely infused with vampiric and demonic essence, so even when he was so useless while being alive, now dead, he’s a treasure trove of alchemic materials.
“Making humans into Vampires and then using them as materials does sound interesting, perhaps this could be a way for you to further cultivate your Physique.” Eleanora said while analyzing things.
“Exactly, that’s what I was thinking myself.” I said with a nod. “However, I am not interested in going to hunt innocents, especially just normal people that will be found disappeared in due time. I might be chased down if I do something so foolish and reckless. Instead, we’ll simply target the scum that even the adventurer guild is paying other people to kill.”
“Bandits?” Wondered Eleanora.
“A nearby mountain has a large hideout of them, which had been a pain for nobles and merchants for several months now… Maybe we could go pay them a visit?” I said with a smile.
“Ohhh! Indeed, scum that is wanted and wont be missed are perfect guinea pigs!” Laughed Eleanora.
However, before we could move out, a sudden message emerged in my Grimoire.
[Spirit Orb with a large quantity of energy has been detected]
[Absorb?]
<Yes> <No>
“Oh? I can absorb this directly? I don’t remember this being possible with Cassandra’s Spirit Orb… I had to slowly consume her Spirit Orb through making it into potions to strengthen my demonic energy manipulation. This is convenient!”
—–