When the last inch of land was planted with the flag bearing the "White Bone Red Cross," the outer region of the entire Eternal Night Peninsula was officially declared to have changed hands.
In Victor’s ears, a series of heavenly system prompts finally rang out.
【Ding!】
【Phase Task "Regional Overlord" Completed!】
【Task Evaluation: S-rank (Integrated surrounding forces with thunderous momentum, establishing a preliminary ruling order).】
【Calculating task rewards...】
【Congratulations! You have received: 10,000 clinic points!】
【Congratulations! You have received: 5,000 territory construction funds (can be used to offset debts).】
【Congratulations! You have received: Special building blueprint 【Plague Research Institute】.】
【Congratulations! The host's personal level has increased!】
Boom—!!!
A massive and pure surge of energy gushed out from the system space without warning, instantly flooding into Victor’s limbs and bones.
It wasn't just an increase in magic power.
It was a... transition in the level of life itself.
Victor felt every one of his cells cheering and evolving.
His spirit, which had been somewhat exhausted from consecutive nights of experiments, instantly became incredibly clear.
The vision of his 【True Sight Eye】 expanded, and he could even clearly see magic particles floating in the air.
"So good..."
Victor let out a comfortable moan, feeling as if he were soaking in a hot spring, a sense of ease permeating him from the inside out.
The light screen unfolded, and his character panel had undergone earth-shaking changes.
【Name: Victor Corvinus】
【Title: Eternal Night Lord】
【Profession: Chief Physician (Pseudo-Demigod)】
【Level: LV30 (Experience required for next level: 100,000/1,000,000)】
【Attributes: Strength 300, Agility 280, Constitution 400, Spirit 800 (Human limits exceeded)】
【...】
"Chief physician?"
Victor looked at the brand-new professional title, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.
From "intern surgeon" to "attending physician," and now to "chief physician."
This promotion speed, if placed in any hospital on Earth, would be enough to make those old experts who had spent decades without reaching such a title cough up blood on the spot.
And the "Pseudo-Demigod" suffix in the parentheses behind it made his heart race even more.
Although it was only a "pseudo" title, it meant that the essence of his life had begun to align with the top existences of this world.
"Not bad, not bad. I finally have a bit of a sense of security."
Victor nodded with satisfaction.
However, before he could finish celebrating...
【Ding!】
【Detected that the host has completed the "primitive accumulation" phase and has preliminarily mastered the forbidden knowledge of "flesh modification."】
【Hidden conditions met.】
【Special Skill Tree—【Old Ones】 unlocked!】
A dark-gold light filled with an ancient, chaotic, and indescribable aura suddenly exploded in Victor’s vision!
That light was so domineering, so full of aggression.
Even the usually calm system interface was flashing red warning prompts frantically.
【Warning! Warning! High-dimensional information stream intrusion detected!】
【System firewall is being... cracked!】
【Cracking successful.】
【Loading... "indescribable knowledge."】
Victor felt as if his brain had been struck hard by an invisible sledgehammer.
Countless distorted, bizarre, and blasphemous images and knowledge rushed into his mind like a flood breaking through a dam.
It was the ultimate secret regarding "flesh."
How to assemble different species like building blocks.
How to twist the forms of life to create monsters that defied the laws of nature.
How to...
Transform a planet into a massive, self-aware aggregate of flesh.
Madness!
Chaos!
Blasphemy!
If it were any ordinary person, the moment they came into contact with this knowledge, they would have gone completely insane as their Sanity hit zero, turning into a drooling idiot.
But Victor didn't.
After his promotion to "chief physician," his mental strength had reached an inconceivable level.
More importantly...
As a "top-tier surgeon" who had dissected over a thousand corpses, modified countless monsters with his own hands, and even performed hair transplants on skeletons...
His Sanity...
had long since run out.
Or rather, his "reasoning" had long since ceased to be on the same frequency as that of ordinary people.
In the eyes of others, this was forbidden knowledge capable of driving gods insane.
But in Victor’s eyes...
it was merely...
a more advanced, more profound, and more interesting...
《Surgical Operation Manual (Cosmic Edition)》.
"So... it can be done like this?"
Victor muttered to himself, his eyes flashing with the light of a seeker of knowledge.
"Grafting the soul and neurons together can achieve remote control?"
"Using the principles of multi-dimensional spatial folding, a storage space can be opened inside a biological body?"
"As long as there is enough energy, entirely new organs can even be created out of thin air?"
"Wonderful... this is what true 'medicine' is!"
Like a child who had discovered a new continent, Victor greedily absorbed this knowledge.
A few minutes later, when the information stream stopped pouring in, the light screen before Victor had completely changed.
On the originally simple system interface, a dark-gold skill tree composed of countless distorted tentacles and eyeballs had appeared, dripping with Lovecraftian style.
【Old Ones · Flesh Branch】.
That was its name.
The entire skill tree was massive, divided into countless branches, each representing an inconceivable, worldview-shattering horror ability.
【Gene Editing】, 【Flesh Shaping】, 【Soul Grafting】, 【Plague Spreading】...
But currently, these branches were all in a gray, "unactivated" state.
Only one most basic and core initial skill was flashing with golden light.
【Initial Skill Draw (One Free Use)】
【Description: You will randomly draw one basic ability from the countless options of the Flesh Branch as your core skill. This skill will determine your primary evolutionary direction in the future.】
"A random draw?"
Victor raised an eyebrow.
"I like it."
This feeling of opening a blind box was the most exciting.
He looked at that constantly flashing golden button and even went to the sink to wash his hands with disinfectant for good measure.
"Alice, Elizabeth, Mia!"
He called out to the outside.
"Everyone, come here! The moment for a miracle has arrived!"
The three girls, each with their own distinct styles, immediately ran over, looking curiously at the light screen in front of Victor that only he could see.
"Director, are you drawing cards?"
Alice tilted her head, her red eyes full of curiosity.
"Something like that."
Victor took a deep breath.
"Come, Mia, as our clinic's mascot, you press it for me."
He grabbed Mia’s claw, which was still stained with bone fragments, and pressed her finger onto the golden button.
"I hope it gives me a good skill."
"Preferably the kind that's... both cool and powerful."
Buzz—
As the button was pressed, all the icons on the skill tree lit up instantly, then began to spin rapidly like a carousel.
Countless runes representing various abilities flashed before Victor’s eyes.
【Flesh Armor】
【Bone Hyperplasia】
【Acidic Spit】
【Cellular Devour】
...
'Stop!'
Victor chanted in his mind.
The rotating wheel slowed down gradually. Finally, with a heart-pounding "click," the pointer stopped steadily on a...
highly eerie-looking icon.
It was an icon composed of countless slimy, distorted tentacles covered in suckers.
【Ding!】
【Congratulations to the host!】
【You have obtained a God-tier initial skill—】
【Abyssal Tentacles (LV1)】
【Quality: Mythic】
【Description: You have mastered the ability to tear through space and summon chaotic constructs from the abyss. These tentacles are an extension of your will, the most basic and powerful weapon of the Flesh Branch.】
【Current Effect: Can simultaneously summon 8 tentacles. Each tentacle is 10 meters long and possesses basic traits such as "Toughness," "Regeneration," and "Strangle."】
【Evolutionary Path: Can evolve into higher forms such as "Thousand Hands," "Void Grip," "Chaos Seedbed," etc.】
"Ten... tentacles?"
Victor looked at the description of this skill, his expression becoming a bit strange.
Although it sounded very impressive—mythic quality and capable of evolution—this style...
Wasn't it a bit too much like a villain?
He was a doctor who saved the dying and healed the wounded!
In the future, when he fought someone, if a dozen slimy tentacles suddenly sprouted from his back mid-fight...
That scene looked like a pervert no matter how you sliced it!
"Forget it, a villain is a villain."
Victor quickly accepted this setup. After all, not a single one of his employees looked like a normal person.
"I just wonder... if this thing is actually useful."
With a thought, he tentatively activated the newly acquired skill.
"Come forth! My... little darlings?"
Swish—!
There were no earth-shattering special effects, nor was there the loud sound of space tearing.
Victor only felt an itch on his back. Immediately following that, eight massive tentacles—like octopus legs, pitch black, their surfaces covered in purple suckers and their ends tipped with barbs—extended silently from his back.
They moved fluidly in the air as if they had lives of their own, even tapping against each other curiously.
"Whoa!"
Alice and Mia’s eyes lit up instantly. They looked as if they had seen a novel toy, each grabbing a tentacle and happily swinging on them.
Only Elizabeth remained still. She looked at those eight tentacles radiating an indescribable aura, then at Victor’s calm face, and a flash of deep...
fear and awe appeared in her red eyes.
If the previous Victor was merely a perverted human who mastered bizarre medical techniques in her eyes, then now...
This man with eight tentacles on his back...
Was practically...
the Great Old One himself, stepped right out of the Cthulhu Mythos!
"Hmm, the feel isn't bad."
Victor controlled one of the tentacles to coil around a dumbbell on the floor, testing its strength. It was strong—very strong. Moreover, controlling them was as easy as using his own fingers, as if he had grown eight extra arms.
"In the future, when performing surgery, I can pass scissors with one, tweezers with another, and hold the light with a third..."
Victor rubbed his chin, instantly coming up with the correct way to use this God-tier skill.
"It’s simply a surgeon's ultimate dream!"
He looked at the tentacles being used as toys by Alice and Mia and nodded with satisfaction.
"I just don't know..."
"Aside from massaging and passing things..."
"How effective this thing is for fighting?"
He turned his head, looking toward the depths of the forest outside that had just been occupied by the "Red Cross Guards," a place full of the unknown and danger. The corners of his mouth curled into an ominously kind smile filled with the spirit of experimentation.
"It seems... I should go find some unlucky bastard who doesn't know any better..."
"To test my blade."
Rate on N.U.
