By the time Victor emerged from the formalin-scented underground laboratory, the sky was already beginning to pale with the first light of dawn.
After a busy night, he had not only successfully installed "loyalty chips" (an alchemical creation that could be remotely detonated) into over a dozen knights but had also collected a large number of Holy Light blood samples, making it a very productive endeavor.
The battlefield outside the clinic had already been cleaned spotless.
"Boing!"
Bobo, the slime girl, rolled over from a corner of the yard like a green bouncy ball, happily hugging Victor's leg and rubbing against it.
She let out a satisfied burp, her body visibly rounder than it had been yesterday.
Clearly, the "organic waste" left behind by last night's battle had provided her with a feast.
On the ground, aside from a few large craters and some indigestible metal fragments, there was hardly a trace of blood to be seen.
As expected of the "Chief Janitor," her professional skills were top-notch.
"Good job."
Victor patted her springy head as a reward.
"Just try not to swallow armor plates next time. They don't digest well and they're hard on your teeth."
He walked to the center of the yard.
There, a mountain-like pile of "spoils of war" had been stacked.
It was all the equipment stripped from those unfortunate knights.
Shining refined steel armor, sharp longswords, and dozens of leather pouches filled with gold coins and miscellaneous items.
"Time to divide the spoils... cough, I mean, take inventory of the loot."
Victor cleared his throat and spoke to the three women standing around the pile with glowing eyes.
"Elizabeth, you're in charge of counting the gold coins and jewelry and registering them into the warehouse."
"As you wish, Director. This is my favorite kind of work."
Elizabeth gave an elegant bow, her red eyes shimmering with the light of greed as she dove straight toward the pile of glittering gold pouches.
"Alice, go cut those damaged armors and weapons into small pieces and send them to the recycling furnace to see how many materials we can decompose."
"Understood, Director! I'll make sure they're cut nice and neat!"
Alice also raised her great scissors with excitement.
"As for Mia..."
Victor looked at the beast girl who was currently holding a knight's femur—which was taller than she was—and gnawing on it with great relish. He shook his head helplessly.
"Never mind, just keep eating. Just remember to sweep up the bone fragments when you're done."
"Mmm! (Okay!)"
Mia gave a muffled response and continued her hard work.
The tasks were clearly assigned, with everyone performing their duties.
Victor put on his gloves and began rummaging through the pile of miscellaneous items like a scavenger hunting for treasure in a junkyard.
It had to be said.
This elite force of the Corvinus family was truly filthy rich.
Just the gold coins Elizabeth had counted exceeded thirty thousand. This huge sum was enough to buy a luxury manor in the Royal Capital.
As for the armor and weapons, although most had been damaged to varying degrees during the battle, the materials were all high-quality refined steel. After recycling them through the system, they were exchanged for a massive amount of 【Basic Metal Materials】.
"Hmm? What's this?"
Victor pulled a seemingly ancient parchment scroll from a leather pouch.
He unfurled it, and his eyes lit up.
【Magic Scroll: Mass Heal】
【Quality: Excellent】
【Effect: Instantly heals non-fatal injuries within a small area.】
"Good stuff."
Victor pocketed it without hesitation.
Although this thing was useless to him (his medical skills were far more advanced), it could be given to the skeleton security brigade as a "field first-aid kit" to greatly increase their survival rate.
"Oh? There's this too?"
He pulled a thick, leather-bound book from another bag.
【Skill Book: Holy Judgment】
【Description: The signature battle qi skill of the Black Iron Knight Order. It condenses the power of Holy Light onto the blade, dealing double damage to the undead and dark creatures.】
"Doesn't seem useful to me."
Victor curled his lip.
He wasn't a knight himself, and his subordinates were all dark creatures. Wouldn't learning this be the same as backstabbing his own people?
"However... I can give it to Zoe to research and see if she can reverse-engineer the 'energy conversion' principle inside."
After thinking it over, he put the book away.
Just as he was about to rummage through the next "trash pile."
His gaze was drawn to an inconspicuous object that had rolled out of a dead army mage's robes.
It was a crystal the size of a pigeon's egg, crystal clear and emitting a soft blue light.
Inside the crystal, it looked as if a starry sky was contained within, with countless tiny points of light slowly flowing through it, filled with mysterious and immense energy.
With just one look, Victor felt the system energy within his body start to become active.
He carefully picked up the crystal.
【Ding!】
【High-value energy core detected!】
【Item Name: Intermediate Mana Crystal】
【Quality: Rare】
【Description: A crystal naturally condensed from high-purity magic energy. It is the core energy source for driving large magic circles and alchemical puppets.】
【Detected that this item is highly compatible with the system energy module...】
【Absorb?】
【After absorption, there is an 80% chance to unlock a new system function module.】
Unlock a new module?!
As Victor looked at this system prompt, his breathing quickened.
Since the last major clinic upgrade, the system had been quiet for a long time.
He had always thought he needed more points to unlock new functions; who would have thought he could achieve it by absorbing external energy?
"I'm rich! This time I'm really rich!"
Victor was so excited he almost jumped up.
A new function!
That could mean more powerful medical equipment, more insane modification techniques, or even more outrageous black-tech weapons!
No matter which one it was, for him—who was about to become enemies with his entire family and even the Church—it was exactly what he needed!
"Absorb! Absorb it now!"
Victor gave the command without a moment's hesitation.
He held the blue-glowing crystal, feeling as if he were holding a Pandora's box.
Buzz—
The mana crystal in his hand suddenly flared, bursting with blinding light.
Immense, pure magic energy flooded into the system terminal in Victor's hand (which was actually his palm) like a broken dam.
Victor felt his arm go numb, as if tens of thousands of volts were passing through it.
The entire clinic castle let out a low rumble due to the injection of this massive energy.
The bone cross on the roof lit up once again with an eerie glow.
In the energy furnace in the basement, that ball of Netherworld Divine Fire also jumped excitedly.
【Energy absorbing... 10%... 30%... 70%...】
【Energy absorption complete!】
【System energy reserves increased to 150%!】
【Performing system module self-check...】
【Redundant energy detected... starting to unlock a new function tree...】
【Unlock successful!】
The light screen before Victor's eyes flashed frantically.
Next to the original three simple sections of 【Medical】, 【Construction】, and 【Mall】.
A brand-new icon emitting a dark-gold light slowly emerged with a dominating presence.
The design of the icon was very strange.
It looked like a disassembled human body, yet also like a precision machine.
Flesh and gears were intertwined, filled with an eerie yet harmonious aesthetic.
And below the icon were three gilded words that inspired infinite imagination—
【Biological Modification】.
Victor watched this brand-new interface, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.
He felt as if a door leading to a new world...
or rather, a door leading to the realm of the "Creator," was slowly opening to him.
"Now... things are getting interesting."
He reached out a finger and, with a hint of pilgrimage-like excitement, lightly tapped that brand-new icon.
The light screen flickered.
A new interface filled with infinite possibilities expanded before his vision...
With a boom!
"Director! Something's wrong!"
Just then, Alice suddenly ran over from the backyard, her face looking a bit solemn.
"What happened?"
"The recycling furnace... it's stuck."
Alice pointed toward the backyard.
"There's a corpse in golden armor that's... too hard. It won't decompose."
"Oh?"
Victor raised an eyebrow.
"I'll go take a look."
He closed the system interface and followed Alice to the backyard.
Sure enough.
At the entrance of the recycling furnace, a corpse clad in magnificent golden battle armor was stuck there, neither going in nor coming out.
That was...
Knight Captain Gareth's adjutant, a powerhouse who had also reached the gold-rank.
He had clearly been accidentally swatted to death by Mia during the chaotic battle just now.
"A gold-rank body is indeed different."
Victor looked at the corpse, which still emitted a powerful aura even in death, a flash of regret in his eyes.
"It would be a waste to just recycle such good material."
He rubbed his chin and opened that brand-new 【Biological Modification】 interface again.
Looking at the tempting options listed there:
【Beginner Abomination Suture Modification Plan】
【Death Knight Transformation Plan】
【Flesh Golem Creation Process】
...
A bold, one might even say crazy, idea suddenly formed in his mind.
"Since the living can be treated..."
Victor looked at that gold-rank corpse, the corners of his mouth slowly curling up into a smile that would make even a devil feel afraid.
"Then the dead... should be 'treatable' too, right?"
Rate on N.U.
