Chapter 311: E in Experimentation (1/2)
[So...there are definitely some limitations to this.] Mike thought to himself while the summoned lizard's remains slowly disintegrated into motes of light.
After nearly an hour of experimentation, he decided to cap off his investigations with an attempt to invest as much mana as possible into the creature's tissues. The result was...messy.
He first noticed there was a problem when the lizard began to twitch uncontrollably. Immediately, he halted the flow of power and tried to determine the source of the disturbance. It quickly became apparent that the more fragile cells in its body had begun to rupture, releasing their stored mana in torrents of energy, which resulted in more cells breaking down.
Pretty soon the lizard started to disintegrate into a reddish fluid. He used the healing function of his Life Magic, doing his best to reverse the damage, but that only seemed to make it worse as the energy he tried to apply caused more rampant destruction. So, there was little he could do but watch as the summoned creature was reduced to a pile of goo. Thankfully, it began to disappear shortly thereafter.
[Well...that was horrifying. Note to self, be careful when using this on people.]
Despite this final setback, he nevertheless managed to determine several important things about his newfound enhancement ability. First and foremost, he discovered it could be applied to more than just Endurance. While he didn't have much luck on the Willpower front, he found that he could at least improve the lizard's strength and agility at the same time, simply by directing his mana into different parts of the animal's anatomy.
The second thing he learned was that, while it was technically possible to enhance multiple attributes, doing so required exponentially more mana for some reason. It almost felt like the energy already layered into the target's tissues was somehow resisting the intrusion of more of its kind. While it was still possible, he would need to think carefully before he used this on anyone.
Third, he determined that, even though he was limited in the amount of mana he could use to reinforce a living creature's tissues, he could manipulate the existing cells using Life Magic in order to get a similar result. So far, he'd tried to keep these experiments limited to some extent, since he figured that he would need a larger pool of subjects to determine how applicable this method was.
Despite that, he was able to use what little he remembered about biology to increase the lizard's overall strength by encouraging it's muscle fibers to break down and repair themselves repeatedly in a short period of time with bits of mana somehow playing the role of protein molecules in the process.
Of course, he soon noticed that the results were less than ideal, as the quickly developed muscles lacked flexibility and severely limited the creature's movement. Nevertheless, it did open a number of possibilities that he intended to explore in the future.
[I bet I can eventually use this to copy the natural abilities of one creature and give them to another. Perhaps I could even transplant body parts or reshape existing ones to increase their existing functionality. Hell, if I take some time to determine exactly how it works, I can probably even give the others my regeneration ability.]
He felt a small smile forming on his lips as he contemplated the various possibilities, before he came to the sudden realization that this might not exactly be the best path.
[It feels like I just entered mad scientist territory. I suppose this is basically just a magical form of bioengineering, and it's hard to say exactly what kind of long term effects this method might have on someone. Or worse, how it might affect any children they might have in the future...I might need to do some more serious experimentation before I try anything too extreme.]
Sighing, he added building a laboratory and filling it with experimental subjects to his list of priorities. Unfortunately, the unique nature of the demi-realm made any kind of long-term experiment difficult.
[Hmm...I wonder if there isn't some way of altering that setting…]
He was still lost in thought when a soft impact on his shoulder interrupted him. Glancing over, he almost cringed, but managed to keep his face neutral.
An exhausted and decidedly singed Sera was standing there while using the hero bow as a crutch, her face a mask of fury. ”What, in the name of all that is holy, was that?! Are you trying to kill me?!”
Mike glanced around the makeshift combat site and noted that she'd finally managed to defeat all of his summoned monsters. By the looks of it, she'd managed to do so without taking too much damage.
[Did I make it too easy on her?]
”Finished already? I have to say I'm impressed. I figured it would take you twice as long.”
”No! We are not talking about that right now! I want to know what in the hells was that thing you summoned.”
”Not sure, really. I'm guessing some kind of fire spider, but I can't be certain.”
Her left eye started twitching and she began to laugh a bit maniacally. ”Hahahaha...hah...Not sure? Not sure?! Do you have any idea what kind of monstrosities you oh so casually let loose on me?!”
”Umm…”
”At first I thought the same. Clearly they were some kind of fire spider, so when they began throwing webs of liquid flame at me, I wasn't too surprised. However, it got even worse when I managed to kill one of them with a lucky shot.”
”Worse?”
”It exploded! Like into a literal ball of fire! But not just any fire! No, that would be much too easy. No, it also created hundreds of smaller flame spiders that promptly began chasing me too. Can you imagine what it felt like to have the momentary satisfaction of successfully eliminating one of the monsters chasing you ripped away by the appearance of a literal swarm of flaming arachnids that want to devour you alive?”
”I don't-”
”And! And, do you have any idea how difficult it is to kill something smaller than you palm with a bow and arrow? Well, I'll tell you! It's practically impossible! Eventually, I had to beat them to death with a rock. A rock! Mind you, there aren't any rocks in this god forsaken realm, so I had to chip one away from that wall you made to trap me here!”
[I'm surprised I missed all this. I must have been really focused.]
”But you've gotten stronger, right?”
She glared at him as if to say that if she had the energy, she'd be attacking him right now. ”Admittedly, a few of my skills have increased in rank…”