Improvements

Isaiah got to cleaning the gory room while Farida was in the corner, trying her best to memorize the formation instructions. Hygiene was pretty important, and lack of it could result in some serious illnesses that he obviously wanted to avoid.

Because of the sheer amount of blood, he had to clean the mop multiple times. He lifted the now red sheet from the floor and folded it, putting it aside. "A rare piece," he mused.

He put a fresh sheet under a new table. He had requested a new set of tables as he didn't want to throw away the old patient's organs and skeleton, and he had received them.

Right as he finished, he felt a gentle finger nudge at his back. It was Farida's finger. "I have finished remembering the formation instructions."

"Alright, let's try again," they went next to the formation once more. Farida knelt down while Isaiah observed from above her. Her hands touched the formation pattern; this time, she was using two of her hands.

Mana leaked into the patterns like water filling canal routes. Each mana route moved at a different speed and connected at different times and sections. Once they all connected, the formation activated, and a small light formed in its middle. Yes, this was just a simple light formation, but it still required this much effort.

When Farida stopped channeling her mana into the formation, the light stopped illuminating the environment and dissipated. Seeing this, Isaiah nodded. "Not bad."

Farida thought that it required too much effort to get just a simple light out of it, but Isaiah didn't agree. "While a bit subpar at the moment, it has so much potential," coming from a technologically advanced civilization, Isaiah's perspective was wider when it came to formations and their potential uses.

Isaiah took a pen and paper and started designing a new formation. He called it "Light v2". It was supposed to be the improved version of the formation Farida had just powered. He called Farida near him. "Here, memorize this." Farida was ready for another multi-hour memorization session but got surprised when she saw the few lines of instructions. "Here, channel your mana," Isaiah said. He had already finished drawing the new design in the time it took for her to memorize it. The new design was much more efficient.

Farida knelt once more and channeled her mana. The light lit up once more, and the mana tunnels were a lot fewer in number and also required less input, which made it easier to power it on. While it might look like Isaiah had improved a design that an entire empire couldn't just by himself, he knew that the truth was probably different. "It seems the government gives businesses purposely degraded formations under the guise of 'basic versions'."

Isaiah understood why; keeping valuable information from the people you govern was an efficient way of having more power over them. He also used to employ this tactic in his first life.

Isaiah couldn't hold his curiosity and grabbed a scalpel. He started carving the formation on the body of a convict. The more he carved, the more blood leaked. He simply wiped the wound with a piece of cloth until it was suitable for the continuation of his work. After 20 minutes, the carving was completed. There were chunks missing from the patient's body that created the formation. It took a lot longer than carving it on the floor due to all the bleeding, but he managed.

Farida watched the entire scene while she didn't show it, but it was clear it was a bit too much for her, so she busied herself with other stuff after a while into the carving.

After Isaiah finished, he called her, "Farida, try channeling your mana," he said while pointing towards the formation created on the patient's body.

Farida nodded, coming in slow steps. She put her hands on the missing chunks of flesh and channeled her mana through them. Light appeared, illuminating the entire room in a weak light. Isaiah nodded, seeing this. "It seems you can even carve the formations on living vessels." Isaiah also noticed the light was weaker, most likely due to the already existing mana of the patient interfering with Farida's mana. However, since the subject was unconscious, the subject's mana couldn't affect her mana too much to disturb the formation to the point of failure.

Seeing the unsettled look on Farida's face, Isaiah decided to pardon her for the day. "Farida, go home and rest. I'm expecting you once more tomorrow." Hearing this, Farida sighed in relief and pardoned herself with a gentle bow. "It was a pleasure working with you, Isaiah. See you tomorrow." With that, she left the tent.

While it might seem like Isaiah was going too far, he wanted to do all the research he could now that he had legal permission, and it was under the guise of being a government-assisted project. He cleaned the bloodied room once more and got to taking notes. He was finally ready to create a formation that would help slow down the mana deteriorating the flesh while undergoing the "Mana Boost Method". While what he wanted to achieve wasn't anything complex, he just wanted the mana to act more gently. It was still difficult as he didn't have any similar formation that altered mana's behavior that he could reference.

After going through many versions, modifying and improving the formation, he decided to call it the "Mana Control Formation". He called it a day. He went into the second compartment of the tent, where he would sleep for the night. He got changed into more comfortable clothes he had brought with him and laid on the bed. The smell that penetrated his nose due to the corpses present in the other room made it hard to sleep. "I should make an AC formation or something. I wonder if I can power it with a mana gem, just like the sink?" he mused and soon fell asleep.