Chapter 170 – Experiment

The youth named “Test Subject One” by Punk lay quietly on the experiment table. Complex magical patterns were carved across his body, and a metal helmet resembling those brain-reading machines from sci-fi movies was connected to his head.

Though it appeared somewhat sci-fi in style, this set of “equipment” was actually a device for collecting negative emotions.

Ultimately, no matter how intense negative emotions might be, they remained merely emotions—strictly speaking, conceptual existences within the soul. Therefore, this set of magical patterns was created by referencing the spell model of manifestation magic, capable of manifesting concepts like emotions into reality, allowing them to exist stably as energy.

Punk stood firmly beside the test subject. He used a small knife to cut open Test Subject One’s intestinal area, then cast a hemostasis spell to prevent excessive blood loss. Finally, he pried open the slightly trembling wound with his hand and inserted the desperately wriggling shadow maggot into it.

The test subject hadn’t been in deep unconsciousness to begin with. The moment Punk sliced open his abdomen and intestines, the pain immediately woke him. However, his body was tightly bound by arcane energy—he couldn’t move a single finger. Moreover, his vocal cords were immobilized, so even as he felt a slippery, cold thing entering his body with immense terror, Test Subject One could only convulse and spasm continuously on the experiment table, unable to make a single sound.

Punk paid no attention to Test Subject One’s reactions. With alchemical life-support equipment and healing spells in place, he didn’t need to worry about the test subject’s physical safety. As for whether the poor fellow might go mad… well, all Punk needed was a substantial output of negative emotions anyway—a madman’s negative emotions might even be more plentiful.

Right now, Punk was more concerned about the trouble he encountered right from the start—the shadow maggot’s rejection of its host.

In fact, the shadow maggot forcibly shoved into the test subject’s intestines was extremely unwilling to be imprisoned within a mass of flesh and blood. It wasn’t a parasitic creature by nature, and shadow maggots preferred cold environments while strongly disliking warmth.

Thus, this shadow maggot kept burrowing and searching for an exit within the test subject’s abdomen, refusing to settle down and initiate parasitism.

Watching the constantly squirming, darting bulge in the test subject’s abdomen, Punk slightly furrowed his brow. For the negative emotions of parasite and host to merge, a physical connection through flesh and blood was necessary. However, such connection couldn’t be achieved through spells alone—the parasite’s consumption of flesh was an essential prerequisite. If the shadow maggot refused to establish itself within the host’s body, forcibly confining it inside the test subject would be meaningless. Therefore, he had to make the shadow maggot comply with parasitism.

Punk began to tempt the large insect, first attempting to influence the shadow maggot’s mind with psychic magic.

“Apprentice-Level Psychic Spell—Mental Suggestion”

This spell could hypnotically suggest creatures below the Apprentice-Level, even modifying their subconscious.After completing the spell, a slender silver thread appeared at Punk’s fingertips. He gently extended his pale fingers to connect the thread to the Shadow Grub’s body (Shadow Grubs lack thinking organs).

According to Punk’s reasoning, since Shadow Grubs disliked the internal environment of human bodies, he could simply alter their consciousness to force them to accept it. After all, such conditions wouldn’t kill the grubs—just as many people dislike hot weather, discomfort doesn’t equate to being unable to survive in it!

But Punk’s plan failed.

The moment the silver thread connected to the Shadow Grub’s body, he discovered its low-intellect mind was fundamentally unmodifiable. Strictly speaking, the grub’s instincts, memories, and consciousness were fused into one entity: instincts were consciousness, and consciousness was directly linked to memory. After Punk altered its senses, the grub’s motor functions seemed to become disordered because its innate control over the body had been corrupted.

Left with no alternative, Punk could only discard this crippled Shadow Grub and select a new one.

Though this experiment didn’t deepen his understanding of the creatures significantly, Punk realized their thought processes resembled Earth’s animals and beasts more closely.

This raised a question: besides necessary “enticement,” what else is required to domesticate animals or beasts?

The answer was “coercion”!

All living beings possess an instinct to seek benefit and avoid harm—including the ability to make correct choices between “discomfort” and “harm.” Thus, Punk decided to adopt a cruder method: engraving minute electric shock runes across the test subject’s skin. This way, every time the Shadow Grub attempted to escape the host’s body, it would experience pain. After learning that escape meant pain, the grub would have no choice but to remain parasitizing the host.

Punk was fortunate—this experiment succeeded. Although Shadow Grubs were low-intellect creatures, their memory capacity surpassed even Earth’s gorillas. After just a few electric shocks, the creature resigned itself to its fate and began devouring the host’s flesh to grow.

Under magical influence, the Shadow Grub’s metabolism and growth rate accelerated hundreds of times over. In less than a week, it would consume most of the host’s flesh.

“Finally resolved. At least the fusion shouldn’t encounter issues now.”

Punk nodded, sensing the vigorous vitality of both the Shadow Grub and Test Subject One.

The cultivation of Wraith Moths would require more time. Meanwhile, Punk planned to capture more “test subjects,” as they were essential for both experiments during the research of the “Superior Focus Potion” and the potion-brewing process after success. Thus, he decided to periodically “harvest” batches of starving refugees. Since this was an overlooked slum, maintaining the overall refugee population would prevent suspicion from the Church.

Having settled on this plan, Punk carefully considered his approach. As a mage preoccupied with experiments, he had no time for personal “hunting,” so summoning servants to handle the task was indispensable.

He meticulously reviewed Apprentice-Level summoning spells and ultimately settled on a relatively obscure one.”Though it has quite a few flaws, this is already the most cost-effective and safest option. But somehow, this spell feels more suited for those child-eating witches hiding deep in the mountains,” Punk thought with amusement as he read the spell’s description.

Meanwhile, within just a few milliseconds, the Apprentice-Level spell model had already been constructed.

“Apprentice-Level Summoning Magic – Summon Dark Fairy: Summons a dark fairy with five Stalker levels to fight for you. Duration: ten hours!”

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(End of Chapter)