Chapter 297 – Transplantation

“That… is it ready?”

Anya turned her flushed face toward Punk, her youthful body tinged pink with shame in the air. Though the room wasn’t cold, Anya felt extremely uncomfortable. Even though this mentor seemed completely uninterested in her body, it was the first time since childhood she had exposed herself before a man, leaving her with an indescribable sense of humiliation.

But when Anya clearly saw the various tools Punk had neatly arranged one by one, her flushed cheeks turned pale with terror.

The metal blades glinted coldly, an array of differently sized knives filled a metal tray. Moreover, Punk held a peculiarly shaped Square Instrument in his hand, with several translucent tubes channeling unknown viscous fluids into a cylindrical container.

During the preparations, Punk’s gaze upon Anya’s body was stern and focused, no different from looking at mere experimental material.

Anya knew all these things were going to be used on her.

Watching Punk pick up a syringe and approach her, Anya felt her headache intensifying. She suddenly had a strong urge to leap off the Experiment Table and run away, but her body was restrained by the magic circle on the table, unable to move even an inch.

Overwhelmed by immense fear, Anya finally tried to plead with Punk:

“Master Mentor, please, I… I don’t want to continue the experiment anymore.”

“Clearly, that’s not an option!”

As expected, Punk’s response was decisive and firm. Without waiting for Anya to say more, he directly inserted the needle into the blood vessel in her neck.

Within seconds, the translucent brownish-yellow solution was fully injected into Anya’s bloodstream. As the last drop merged with the girl’s blood, Anya slowly closed her eyes, as if falling into a peaceful slumber.

Before she could utter a second plea, Anya had already sunk into deep anesthesia.

“Excellent. The anesthetic effect of the Apprentice-Level ‘Anka Anesthetic Potion’ meets expectations. Estimated to last at least five hours—this girl shouldn’t feel any physical sensations. Hmm, that’s more than enough time.”

Punk muttered to himself calmly as he removed the syringe. Then, he placed another Square Instrument above Anya’s body.

Once released from Punk’s hand, the golden Alchemical Creation quickly began to hover and rotate around Anya on the Experiment Table. Simultaneously, the unconscious girl’s physiological data started streaming continuously to Punk.

“Heartbeat normal, blood pressure normal, respiration normal… Only brainwaves abnormal? But that’s to be expected. Even heavily diluted, the properties of the ‘Swirling Smoke’ potion aren’t easily absorbed.”

The examination results didn’t surprise Punk in the least.The “Swirling Smoke” potion was the pale green concoction Punk had initially administered to Anya. This Master-Level potion was originally designed to stimulate the latent potential of a creature’s soul. However, if used on a being below the Formal-Level, even in minuscule doses, it could inflict severe, nearly irreparable damage to the soul’s potential. As for the soul’s inherent talent and nature… Punk could guarantee that unless a Legendary Expert specialized in soul healing intervened, no matter how extraordinary Anya’s divination talent had been, she would now possess none of it.

The secret of the law fragment must never be discovered by anyone, especially not the host who would carry it for over a decade. To ensure this, Punk unhesitatingly acted to destroy Anya’s talent, leaving no chance for the once prodigious apprentice in divination.

After carefully verifying the potion’s effects, Punk took additional precautions by suppressing Anya’s subconscious. With no resistance from her own will, her soul would be completely defenseless against the potion’s ravages.

Good, the talent issue is now adequately resolved. Next… it’s time for the eyeball transplant.”

Fully prepared, Punk meticulously sterilized Anya’s entire body using spells, then activated the magical inscriptions surrounding her. These pre-arranged inscriptions served to shield against energy impacts and contain energy fluctuations, though Punk doubted their ability to confine Legendary-level negative emotions within the Laboratory.

Thus, he cautiously retrieved the Eerie Eyeball and opened a storage container filled with viscous fluid. Punk intended to fill the internal space of the Eerie Eyeball with this highly energy-inert liquid to suppress its external energy radiation. Despite all these measures, he remained uncertain of success but had done everything possible with available resources.

“Regardless, this level of protection is the limit with current resources. If it still fails… there’s truly nothing more to be done.”

Finally, gazing at the Eerie Eyeball floating in his hand that still observed its surroundings, Punk sighed helplessly in his heart.

After flexing his fingers slightly, Punk carefully picked up a slender surgical scalpel. The alchemically enhanced blade, infused with mana, was not only completely sterile and virus-free but also possessed incredible sharpness. With minimal pressure, the faintly glowing purple edge sliced through Anya’s skull as effortlessly as cutting through butter.

What followed for Punk was a painstakingly slow process requiring full concentration. He first detached Anya’s right eye along with its optic nerve, then placed the Eerie Eyeball as a replacement into her eye socket. However, since the Eerie Eyeball itself lacked visual capability, Punk had to etch light-receiving arrays on its surface and directly connect the information transmission lines to Anya’s brain’s neural center.The work was extremely intricate in its details. Even with the constant infusion of life force, if Punk made a single mistake in connecting a neural tissue, Anya—still just an ordinary person—would instantly meet her demise.

If it were merely complex, it wouldn’t have made Punk so tense, but the most troublesome issue was about to arise—the Eerie Eyeball itself began to stir.

Perhaps sensing that it had broken free from Punk’s alchemical restraints and was approaching a vulnerable soul that could be influenced, the moment Punk placed the eyeball into Anya’s eye socket, the negative emotional radiation from the Eerie Eyeball abruptly multiplied several times without warning. The seemingly weak, gasping for breath Legendary negative emotional energy ignited once again.

Fortunately, Punk had prepared for this.

The instant he detected the overflow of negative emotional energy, Punk quickly activated the magic circle inscribed on the Experiment Table.

In less than a tenth of a second, before the first wisp of eerie mist could reach Anya, numerous golden runes formed chains that wrapped around her body. Mysterious patterns swiftly spread across the entire Laboratory, the faint golden radiance highlighting the girl’s snow-white skin, making Anya, floating mid-air, appear like a holy angel, impervious to the invasion of the gray mist-like negative emotional energy.

“Master-Level Enchantment Magic—Golden Lock’s Protection” was activated!

Everyone, hurry and join the group～548859662

(End of Chapter)