Chapter 200: The beginning of the experiment

I fought back against the sudden urge to sigh as I glanced at the group of men and women standing in front of me with almost fanatic expressions. There were about fifteen of them. Eight men and seven women of different ages. The youngest was a boy that couldn't have passed his sixteenth birthday. While the oldest was an old lady with a hunched back.

Her body looked weak, but her eyes were incomparably clear. The bald priest looked at all of them with a proud expression as he lightly nodded to himself before he turned to face me.

"My lord, all of the ones gathered here are prepared to lay their lives for the noble future you're aiming to build! Please, don't hesitate to use them as you see fit."

The second he said that the group of people suddenly fell to their knees with a loud thud. To my surprise, even the old grandma did so without so much as a complaint.

'Is everyone in here crazy, or are these guys a special exception,' I inwardly wondered. Lana who was standing by my side scanned the group with a small frown, and it looked like she had something to say, but the second her eye caught that of the bald priest, the girl simply lowered her head and clicked her tongue.

"All of you, rise," I said, following which the group stood up and eagerly faced me.

"I'm sure you must have already heard about the general details of what we will be attempting. I say this because no one knows what could really happen, not even me. And so, this is your last chance to step back if you want. There will be no consequences to that, I promise." I said and eyed each one of them carefully.

None of them so much as flinched. Instead, it seemed like my words only further ignited their fighting spirit.

"You might die a gruesome death, who knows you might suffer a fate worst than even that, even so, are you still willing to continue?" I added. I had to be sure they knew what they were signing up for.

"We are ready, my lord!" They all shouted in a unified voice.

Seeing as that there was no changing their minds, I nodded and respected their decision. Their braveness, or should I call it foolishness earned them my respect.

"Well then, let's get this over with."

****

Standing in front of me was the first 'test subject '. A middle-aged man with greying brown hair and kind eyes. He looked at me as if he couldn't believe this was actually happening to him.

"What is your name?" I asked.

His eyes lit up at my question before he answered;

"My name is Walric Isa, my lord!"

I nodded and spoke; "Walric, I'll remember that." His face beamed as he smiled.

"Now, Walric. I'm going to try to inject a small amount of my mana inside your body. You should try to calm down, and not fight it, instead just let it move unobstructed, okay?" I asked to which he quickly answered.

"Yes sir!"

"Good."

And with that, I called out to the water mana in our surroundings for help. I gently guided a tiny whisp to move inside the man's body. At first, nothing really happened, a lot of surrounding mana particles interacted with him with no problem whatsoever. The problem started when I tried to keep it there.

At first, the water mana that was always obedient to me started to struggle for a bit. It was as if it did not want to stay there any longer. It was simply a passerby in his body and forcing it to stay was against its nature.

I used my spiritual vision to watch the whole process go down. Walric's face slowly turned pale as a growl escaped his mouth. The water mana began to trash inside his body damaging his internal organs.

I had never seen water mana act so aggressively before. 'Could it be because I'm using the surrounding's mana and not my own?' I wondered and released control over the whisp of mana inside the man's body.

He quickly fell to his knees and began to throw up as the whisp left him. His internal injuries were serious, but he did not complain.

"Well done, Walric," I said, to which a smile subconsciously drew on his pale face.

"T-Thank you, my lord!"

Seeing that the man wouldn't survive without treatment, I hurriedly used my water mana to heal his injuries and carefully watched the process to understand how it worked.

It first entered his body, this time since the mana already had a command, it moved with a clear goal in mind, swiftly dealing with his injured organs. Once that was done, however, it once again began to disappear as if its work was done. If had no reason to stay there any longer.

"Interesting," I number as Walric's face regained its color.

"I-I can still go on, my lord!"

I shook my head and answered:

"You will, but not now. For now, go back and get some rest."

He seemed a little bit unwilling but did not dare argue and so he gave me a deep bow and walked downstairs to stand with the rest of the volunteers.

The bald priest was standing beside them with two other priests, both of whom held two large books in their hands and were constantly recording what was happening. He had asked me if it was okay with me to document such a momentous point in history, and I didn't care much so I gave him the Ok.

After Walric, the next one to come up was a relatively young lady, perhaps in her late twenties. She had long dark hair and sharp brown eyes. Her steps were steady as she walked up to me.

"What is your name?" I asked again.

"My name is Odenne Reef, my lord."

"En, Odenne. I'll remember that."

"Thank you, my lord!"

"Now, stand still and try not to fight against the mana."

"Understood." She quickly nodded.

There was something I wanted to try. Since it seemed as if I gave the mana a purpose before sending it to their bodies, it would have no problem staying there until its purpose was completed. The problems usually happened after the mana completes its task and tries to leave.