Science/Magic

As of today, I have posted a total of seventy chapters in the last three weeks between Fourth Prince and Science/Magic, and with this, I finally posted all the chapters I owed.     

It was a bit tiring, to be honest, and I felt the quality of the chapters fell a bit in the last few days. In fact, I repeatedly made mistakes recently like confusing names and things like that. But all in all, it was a... Interesting experience.     

Anyways, with the chapters I owed gone, I'll take one day of rest tomorrow to watch some series on Netflix or perhaps play CoD with my friends, I don't know.     

Both Fourth Prince and Science/Magic will return on Tuesday.     

With love, Aidka :p     

...     

The reason Bloed could not use mana was very simple. His soul was unable to control it.     

According to Bloed's observations, the ability to use mana was a kind of ESP ability, and because his soul already housed two ESP abilities (One of them occupying too much space), it did not have enough space to house the ability to handle mana.     

Due to that, he could neither feel nor wield mana. It was like infrared light. It was there, but normal people could neither feel nor use it.     

Although such an explanation was not one hundred percent accurate, it was pretty much true.     

In other words, the problem was not in Bloed's body, but in his soul.     

Thus, what if he found a way to absorb and control mana without the need of the specific ESP ability?     

In theory, it could allow him to use mana and magic despite his lack of talent.     

Of course, such a thing was easier than done. The current Bloed was far from being able to do something like that.     

But if it was only to strengthen his body, then it was much easier.     

After all, the nature of mana itself was to strengthen and enhance objects and organisms, so Bloed only needed to find a way to absorb mana and send it to his body.     

And fortunately, he already knew of something that could resolve the absorbing part.     

Inside his laboratory, Bloed was observing carefully a beautiful glowing piece of crystal.     

It was a magic core belonging to a demigod-level beast. Bloed had received it from Chorius when he exited the exiled lands.     

Through his eyes, Bloed could see the blinding amount of energy contained inside the core. Moreover, each second, mana was being absorbed and released by the core, creating a beautiful balance between the core and the mana in the air.     

"… You are right, master." Beside Bloed, Regina nodded. "This core can certainly absorb mana. But how are you going to use it? Are you going to transplant it in your body? But even if you implant it in your body, controlling it will be a problem."     

"You are right. Even if I have twice the mana inside this core for my use, it will be a problem if I'm unable to control it the way I want. Plus, if I just transplant the core inside my body, the core will only be an external object. Eventually, I'll have to replace this core because it's unable to keep with my needs."     

"Then, what are you planning to do?" Regina asked.     

Bloed smiled. "You see, Regina, surprisingly, this core is made of organic material. Countless cells interacting with each other to create this marvel of nature."     

"Cells?"     

"Yes, cells. Thus, I thought of a crazy idea."     

Regina frowned. She did not like where this was going.     

"Master, you are not thinking of modifying your genetic makeup to make your body a giant magic core, right?"     

Bloed was stunned. "Is anything wrong with it?"     

"Master, I will not allow it!"     

"Wait, Regina–"     

"It's too dangerous! If something goes wrong and your genetic makeup collapses, you will die a horrible death!"     

Bloed smiled wryly. It seemed like Regina misunderstood him.     

"Please, hear me first. Don't worry, I will not play with my life like that."     

"… Tell me exactly what you are planning, master."     

Bloed nodded. "In fact, what I want to do is a bit different. Making my entire body a magic stone is suicidal and impractical. And although in theory, it can strengthen my body, it will also create a lot of troubles. Instead, what I want to do is to create is a kind of virus."     

"A virus?"     

"Yes, a virus. This virus will be a kind of bio-mechanical genome strand. Once it invades my body, it will modify my cells to create a miniature magic core in the cells' nucleus. At the same time, it will create a kind of biological receptor, allowing me to control the input and output of mana in the cores through my psychic power. Eventually, the virus will modify all the cells on my body, allowing me to use my own version of [Body Strengthening]. Plus, when my psychic power grows stronger, I'll be able to handle more mana and my body's strengthening will become stronger."     

Regina fell silent. No matter how she heard about it, it sounded like a crazy idea.     

There were millions of things that could go wrong with this.     

Bloed, however, was pretty confident.     

He had been learning bio-engineering recently. And among the things he learned, cell modification was just the basics of the basics.     

You would be surprised to know how many experiments were realized in humans to find a way to make them stronger. Especially during projects like the supersoldier project, where they created creatures that could not be even called humans.     

Bloed was very smart, and one of his ESPer abilities, [Enhanced Brain Capability], was very suited to learn new knowledge. Thus, his current bio-engineering abilities were already at a pretty high level.     

And although it was still not enough to create something like a Valkyrie, it was more than enough to create a virus with such functions. He could even custom the virus to only work on his DNA, avoiding some terrible consequences like a mortal virus appearing from his experiments.     

Bloed was confident he could make the first prototype in three days.     

Of course, that was just the first prototype. He still needed to experiment a lot before creating something he could use in himself. When you worked at a cellular level, even the slightest mistake could bring very serious consequences.     

But it was not as though Bloed was planning to use his body to experiment.     

Regina was still not completely convinced, but after Bloed promised her he would be extremely careful, she gave in.     

Thus, Bloed started his new project.     

He asked Eve for a lot of magic cores of different ranks and closed himself in his laboratory for the rest of the day, working in the bio-mechanical virus.     

Unfortunately, he was forced to pause his experiments soon.     

It was already time for the training to face the elves and the practitioners of the Sun Kingdom.