Hank's Stuff

At the end of everything, Kai had collected a few useful books and items;

Books:

[Hank's Diary], [Hank's Experiment Log]

Spells:

Rank 0: [Healing Spring]

Rank 1: [Animate]

Items:

[Staff of Life Mana][Unknown Necklace][Stasis Magic Array][400 Mana crystals]

As Kai left the underground tunnels, he did not attempt to seal off the location from the outside, since it no longer held anything dangerous or of value. He had of course burnt the remains of the dead goop creature before leaving, just in case it had some sort of dormant creature inside of it.

Kai spent some time travelling to a nearby village and rented a carriage to take him to the Bluestone Sect's entrance.

Now that he thought about it, he still did not know where exactly the Bluestone Sect was, just knowing where the entry points were, allowing him to teleport into the Sect anytime.

In the carriage, Kai began to properly inspect the items he had.

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Hanks' Diary

1st month of arrival: I have successfully set myself up as a travelling vagabond, who lost his family in an attack on his village nearby. For now, my goal is to gain enough influence in this village to keep the nosy villagers away from my property and begin the experiments, while being able to suppress any complaints.

2nd month of arrival: I found what I had been looking for. The previous village chief is very old and feeble, and won't last a few more years. I should gain the trust of all the villagers for the next few years to become the village chief.

7th month of arrival: I now found out that I have a competitor who wants to become the Village chief. Should I just kill him? No! I have a better idea! I can make him take over my skin, while I take over his! No! This is a stupid idea. If I go through with this, I will lose the ability to cast magic, and also the ability to grow.

12th month of arrival: I will simply crush him with favourability. I still have a year or two at least. I can just destroy his reputation over time and improve my own.

Year 1: I successfully destroyed his reputation he had painstakingly built up over the past 29 years of his life within just a few months. Now, to improve my own…

Year 2: I have successfully become the village's youngest Village Chief. Now, to become research! I must first confirm that the experiment works the same way here as it did at the Tower. We first start with Rats!

Year 3: Yes! It works the same way! Onward towards larger creatures with larger brains.

Year 12: Now, I can finally begin human trials. The underground base is ready. For my first target, I will take Josh, my competitor from all those years ago! I will let you be reborn and shed that disgusting mortal flesh of yours!

Year 44: Some rat snuck into my lair! I had him disposed of, but I really should improve the security of my lair. He had somehow reached the treasure room!

Year 44: Today will be the last experiment I will be conducting. If this works out, I will finally be able to create a perfect puppet, and then I will be able to return to the Blackthorn Dutchy and back to Master's Tower!

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That was the entire diary. At the beginning of the diary, Hank; the village Chief Kai had killed had methodically detailed out his thoughts and recorded them each month, however over time, this changed to every year, and then every few years. Then, there was a sudden lapse of many decades until the final two entries.

The entire book was just over 50 pages, with almost 10 pages being taken up by the entries up to Year 12, and the last two entries written in eerily bendy handwriting and each taking up almost 5 pages!

Despite the oddities, Kai gleaned a lot from this diary.

'Hank was a Rank 1 mage from the start, and was undercover, either on a mission or more likely, thrown out of his Magic tower in Blackthorn Dutchy. Furthermore, he came here with the sole purpose of experimenting without being disturbed by others and had largely been successful if not for the variable that was Victor.

Kai picked up the next book and focused a lot more than before.

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Hank's Experiment Log

Aim: To create the perfect puppet for a Mage

Requirements: Rank 1 Life Mage, Living Being (Human), Flesh Secretion Potion, Stasis Magic Array

Methodology:

1. Activate the Stasis Magic Array using 40 Mana crystals. It should stay active for 4 hours.

2. Use the Flesh Secretion Potion to melt the flesh and other body parts of Living Being A, thus burning and getting rid of the soul.

3. Allow the remnants of living being A to invade and take over Living Being B

4. Wait a few hours for A and B to finish fighting. Due to the lack of a soul, A will likely win.

5. Just before A successfully corrodes all of B's soul and takes over its body, destroy A while sending a part of your soul into B's partially destroyed soul, and take over.

6. Timing must be perfect, else B might:

a. Perish

b. Turn into green biomass

c. Regain partial control while being a green biomass

7. You will feel an excruciating pain from inside your soul. However, this is in fact helpful to any mage as long as enough time is given to heal. If done correctly, your soul will grow back stronger and tougher than before, increasing your resistance to Soul attacks, not to be confused with Spiritual Energy Attacks.

8. B is now fully under your control while still being a complete human being. As long as B is given sustenance, it will live as long as a regular human.

9. B should be able to grow stronger physically, perhaps even as a knight, but not as a mage.

10. B will be a blank slate at first, and you must instruct it on the most basic of tasks like breathing and blinking. With time, it will learn, as all living creatures do, and will be able to do more and more complex tasks without your direct control, such as walking, talking, and even fighting.

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