Drawing Closer

Adam, invigorated, made an incision on the goat and began another life-altering surgery.

Large-scale life cycle modifications inevitably carry risks.

Upon realizing this, Adam immediately cast the Breath of Life spell.

His face turned slightly pale, but the goat's life was preserved.

Elsewhere, the golem sat in the carriage, head bowed as if in sleep. Adam adjusted the balance, speeding up the surgery.

He cut away unnecessary cycles and used the thread spell, connecting various parts with mental energy.

Gradually, he constructed a humanoid life cycle, modeled after the enemy he faced today.

This time, Adam did not incorporate a spell model.

The extensive life cycle modifications would leave the goat in a weakened state. It didn't have enough life force to adapt to a spell model.

Once the new life cycle was complete, Adam quickly sutured the wound.

Now it was up to the goat's life force.

"It looks like you need to cast that spell less often," Antony commented from the side.

"Draining your own life force isn't good for your body. It might affect your development."

"I understand. I will further improve this spell," Adam replied, feeling unusually weak.

To avoid revealing more issues, Adam didn't use his ability to convert mental energy into life force.

There were more modifications needed for the goat.

For instance, the hind limbs needed to be enlarged and strengthened, and the forelimbs needed to be more flexible.

"The key problem is that a hand cannot be surgically created," Adam observed the goat's hooves. Most other changes were manageable with the internal life cycle already altered. Adjusting the limbs wouldn't be too difficult.

However, creating hands without a skeletal structure was impossible.

Would the humanoid goat end up with hooves instead of hands?

That would negate the biggest advantage of transforming it into a humanoid.

"No, no, no. Perhaps I was thinking too narrowly," Adam reconsidered and found the solution.

"What's the current advantage of the humanoid goat?"

"The ability to mass-produce provisional-stage knights through surgery."

"And being easily influenced by charm, making it convenient for various modifications."

"Human thoughts are too complex. No matter how much someone reveres another person, they cannot align mentally and physically with them."

"Unless the target is a god."

"I was limited by the term 'surgery,' a relic from my past life. Modifications aren't just surgical." Adam had an epiphany and quickly grabbed the book on the tattoo flow technique.

This technique involved inscribing spell models onto oneself, embedding them into the life cycle, and using mental power to solidify them to achieve various effects.

Most of these spells didn't require ongoing mental energy, such as those enhancing physical strength, making tattoo flow practitioners powerful even without actively casting spells.

However, after the advent of spellbooks, this technique was abandoned. In close combat, it was inferior to knights, and in spellcasting speed, it lagged behind other mages with spellbooks.

Even with spellbooks, tattoo flow practitioners were hampered by the mental power consumed by their tattoos, making them less effective overall.

"The goat's hooves can be inscribed with spell models. This spell is perfect," Adam quickly found a suitable model.

"Invisible Blade," Adam's most familiar spell. By layering it, Adam was confident he could inscribe three to five persistent Invisible Blades on the goat's hooves.

"A bladed goat or a bladed demon?"

With this breakthrough, Adam's creativity surged.

"If I use the clay golem technique to create limbs with small life cycles and graft them onto the goat…"

"Could it control these clay limbs as extensions?"

Most surgeries needed to consider rejection reactions. However, using charm to homogenize the subject naturally resolved this issue.

"Many forgotten techniques aren't worthless; they just don't fit their era. New technologies can revive these old techniques."

Like the solidification technique, which fell out of favor after spellbooks but became popular again with semi-solidification improvements.

"Although it consumes a lot of mental power, it's a major issue for mages but solves some life modification problems. It might be useful for mental modifications."

Although Antony had adjusted Alpha's internal spell models for energy efficiency, they still required Adam to supplement their mental power.

Adam thought if he could turn the tattoo flow's drawbacks into a technology, he could solve this issue by linking the animal's own mental power to its spell models.

"Do I need to use spell materials as ink for tattoos?" Studying the tattoo flow further, Adam found another advantage.

These spells required various spell materials, which often caused infections when tattooed. Thus, tattoo flow practitioners had to be careful in selecting spells.

They also never trimmed their nails, as nails were connected to the life cycle but less prone to infection.

In comparison, goat hooves were much larger.

"And the goat's horns," Adam said, fetching some nightshade flowers and earth marrow stones, getting busy again.

On the operating table, the goat ate the food Adam fed it, recovering faster.

Its life cycle, modeled after Matthew's, already showed some features of a provisional-stage knight.

Although Matthew appeared severely injured, except for the stab to the heart, the other wounds were not serious. With some rest, he could have recovered quickly.

The goat was in a similar state, with an excellent life cycle speeding its recovery.

Adam didn't wait long, quickly performing a series of minor surgeries.

Then, using spells, he created a frame like a child's walker to help the goat adapt to walking.

As for solidifying spells on its forelimbs, Adam needed more research.

Meanwhile, in his study, Mansra sat with a grim expression. Matthew had recently reported Rupert's meeting with an important figure from the hybrid organization, then went missing.

This led Mansra to some unpleasant conclusions.

"Useless, all useless!" Mansra fumed. He had paid a high price to acquire Matthew from the organization, only for him to be exposed so easily.

"Should we adjust tomorrow night's plan?" his old butler asked softly.

"No, no more changes," Mansra responded quickly. His family couldn't afford more disruptions. Large-scale adjustments would only worsen the situation.

"Just make some minor adjustments," Mansra added. "What about Jin? Has he been in contact with anyone recently?"

"No anomalies detected, but we know too little about him," the butler said worriedly.

He had opposed Mansra's dealings with the hybrids from the start, too dangerous. But the Mansra family was in dire straits and desperate measures were needed to avoid extinction.

"It seems we'll have to act ourselves tomorrow night," Mansra said, revealing an emblem on his hand. His expression was uncertain.

The once-bright emblem was dimming, a sign that his ancestors' accomplishments were fading. Without intervention, his baron title could degrade to knight or collapse entirely, turning him into a commoner.

He couldn't let that happen, no matter the cost.