From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 385 Solution to the Purgatory Engine

Pulling the axe blade off the head of the last gnoll, Kalak let out a shout of relief: "Ha! This makes me feel much better!"

"The flames on your body are terrifying, more frightening than the greatsword in my hand, soldier." Laizer put the Everburning Greatsword back on his back, "What's the matter with the flames on your chest?"

"Haha! I can burn all day long!" Kalak stood on the ground with the axe handle and beat her chest rhythmically. A roar of machinery came from her chest. "Did you hear it? My heart is equipped with a hell engine. It will make me burn as hot as hell. Since leaving Avernus, it seems to have been running at an overspeed."

"I won't be able to see my mechanic for a while anyway, so I'll put the extra heat to good use. Don't get too close to me until you figure out how to cool it down."

"Maybe you should ask Ivy to help you." Xie Nian was wiping the blood off her face with her palm, but she failed to make her pink face clean again. Instead, she spread the blood stains more evenly. She showed her severed hand to Kalak, "See? Our bard is also an inventor. He made this prosthetic hand for me."

"No wonder he noticed the Infernal Engine on my chest right away. It seems that besides having a good heart, he also has a pair of skillful hands!" Kalak approached Ivy, "Do you mind studying the creation of Hell? Maybe it will smell a bit of sulfur."

"I've long wanted to see the structure of the Purgatory Engine. I thought you would be unhappy before." Ivy has been studying artificial life, but the constructs he created often need to rely on external energy to move, or in places like Strixhaven where they can rely on the magic vortex function, otherwise the constructs' activity time is very limited.

But the purgatory engine in Kalak's heart seemed to have a special design. Not only could it run continuously, but it could also use souls as fuel to increase instantaneous energy supply. If Ivy could master the principle of this engine, perhaps he could create a construct creature that could refill infinitely.

"You're willing to help? Great! But be careful, if you get too close, your eyeballs might get melted!" Kalak let go of the giant axe in his hand and pulled open the leather outfit on his chest without hesitation.

On the orange-red skin of Kalak's chest and shoulders, Ivy saw many heat dissipation vents that were glowing red. On the upper edge of her left chest, a device similar to a gate opening was ugly clinging to the skin surface.

As you can imagine, the process of installing the Purgatory Engine was not comfortable. In addition to the flashes of fire, the skin on Kalak's chest also had a large number of scars left by high-temperature burns and surgical cuts. They bulged under the tiefling's skin, like some channels buried between muscles and bones.

In addition to the scars and the metal structure of the Infernal Engine, Kalak also has a large number of Infernal language tattoos on his body.

"Zariel really likes you, doesn't she?" Ivy stretched out her fingers and tried to touch the tattoos. "She tattooed her name on you more than once..."

"Hey! You'll get burned!" Kalak sucked her breast to avoid Ivy's touch, and goose bumps appeared on the orange-red mottled skin on her chest.

"I've seen hotter flames, don't worry." Ivy looked up and smiled, then slowly and firmly touched the skin on Kalak's chest with his fingers.

"Hiss—" When the flames on Kalak's body burned Ivy's fingers, the person who shouldn't have felt the heat gasped instead.

The tiefling's chest rose and fell violently, and the fire in his chest flickered. "Your fingers! They are warm!"

"They are the fingers of an adult human male. I'm sure they are normal." Ivy looked at Kalak, then slid her fingertips to feel the metal components under her skin and the vibrations coming from her chest.

"I... I just haven't seen a normal person for a long time... and no human has touched me for a long time... Oh my God, what am I talking about?" Kalak was a little incoherent, but she soon put that little bit of shame behind her and suddenly laughed, "Hahaha - you make me a little itchy! Can you be a little harder? It doesn't matter if it hurts me. I was seriously injured in the bloody battle, and it is not easy to endure the devil's transformation of your heart. So I am quite good at enduring pain... Hahaha! But this kind of pleasant itch really makes me want to laugh!"

While Kalak was laughing, Ivy remained calm and completed his diagnosis as if he were a machine.

"Its operating power is not normal. If I can determine the wear and tear it produces within a certain time interval, I can infer how long it can last... But if I want to make it more stable, a more intuitive inspection is required - do you mind if I open it and take a look?" Ivy pointed to the inspection port above Kalak's left chest.

"Of course I don't mind! Feel free to look around!" Kalak took off his leather suit completely, pointed in the direction of his ribs and said, "There's an inspection port here! My previous mechanic often used his wrench to tinker with it..."

When Kalak turned around, Ivy also saw the Infernal Language tattoo on her back, so he decided to ease Kalak's embarrassment with small talk, just like a doctor treating a patient: "'Demon's Bane', is that the nickname Zariel gave you?"

"Yes, because I am good at dealing with demons, and her liking for me is not normal." Kalak nodded and pointed to his only intact curled horn, "There is another line here!"

Ivy turned her eyes away and whispered, "'My warrior, the demon's calamity, my blood is her power'...ah, you are a rare Zariel Tiefling, and you can really say that her blood is flowing in your body. No wonder she values you so much..."

All tieflings have some connection with the lower planes of the Kingdom Sky. Perhaps they were born there, or perhaps they have an evil ancestor from the lower planes.

Different tiefling families represent connections with different levels of the Grand Dukes of Hell. Among them, Asmodeus, the Lord of the Nine Hells, has the most tieflings, followed by the Mephisto subspecies. Grand Dukes of Hell at other levels rarely have their own tieflings.

This is because Asmodeus, the Lord of the Nine Hells, once tried to inject his essence into every tiefling in the world and use it to ascend to godhood. Ivy didn't know whether the Nine Hells Lord's apotheosis spell was successful, because the book "The Devil You Know: Autobiography" found in the tiefling camp did not use the word "conclusive". Of course, there are very few people in this world who dare to make up high-level existences.

After Asmodeus's manipulation, there were very few tieflings who still retained the blood of other great devils. At least among the tiefling refugees in the Verdant Forest, Ivy did not see any tiefling who was not of the Asmodeus subspecies.

"Being favored by the great devil is not a blessing, it means endless torture and pain!"

Ivy heard the grinding sound of teeth, and taking this opportunity, he pressed his hand on the switch of the inspection port and quickly opened it.

The mechanical structure designed by the devil uses a metal that is only produced in Baator Hell. This metal can carry the heat from the hellfire very well and convert this heat into power for champion warriors like Kalak to use.

Yes, the first time Ivy saw the Inferno Engine, he determined the source of its energy - the hellfire that was constantly burning in the fuel chamber.

This kind of flame comes from the lower planes, so it will not automatically extinguish in the main material plane, and it will continue to absorb magic from the air to strengthen itself. Unless there is abnormal interference, the heat brought by the hellfire is likely to burn an entire mountain to the ground.

However, there are many gods on the continent of Faerun, so it can be said that every object has an owner. If the hellfire spreads without restraint, it will soon attract the intervention of the gods, the devout prayers of a team of priests, or a sudden rain of divine power. In short, if the hellfire burns in a place that does not belong to hell, it will soon turn into a disaster.

"The instability of your flames comes from the hellfire in the Infernal Engine. As long as you stay in Faerun, it will deteriorate uncontrollably. After half a year at most, it will burn through the hell-iron parts of the Infernal Engine and turn you into a ball of charcoal from the inside out." Ivy nodded and motioned for Kalak to put on his clothes.

"Then can you fix it?" Kalak asked impatiently, tying the leather straps on his chest.

"Making a heat-insulating component out of Hell Iron should alleviate the symptoms, but I don't recommend it." Ivy explained simply, "The Infernal Engine in your chest needs an upgrade and replacement. Repairs can only extend its lifespan. Even if you do your best, your maximum activity in Faerun is still half a year. I suggest that you completely replace the Infernal Engine with something else, using a more stable energy source. It may not be as good as the Infernal Engine in terms of instantaneous output and durability, but at least it will improve safety. In other words, you will no longer be at risk of getting burned."

"Sounds great! I want the latter one!" As Kalak's mood changed, the infernal engine in her chest started running rapidly again.

"I need raw materials, tools, and a period of design... and these things are very difficult for us to obtain." Ivy spread his hands helplessly, "Or... we can adopt a more unorthodox way - find a heart that is still alive and put it in your chest. Although you will lose the blazing flame that can burn others, you can also ensure a safe life."

"You mean... to remove the Infernal Engine in my chest and replace it with a beating heart?" Kalak asked incredulously, "Won't I die when you remove the Infernal Engine?"

"I will use necromancy to put you into a state of suspended animation temporarily, and then reactivate you after the operation is completed." This is the result of Ivy's research on cloned organisms in the underground laboratory of Strixhaven. The two deans of Mihua College also provided a lot of help. Although he has not yet put it into practice, at least all the theoretical basis is stored in his mind.

"Wait! What kind of bard would study necromancy?" Gale, who had been listening to the conversation, couldn't help but ask, "This is too unorthodox!"

"In the magic academy where I study, people have a more open view of necromancy. Although desecrating the bodies of the dead is still a taboo, the academy allows non-intelligent animals to be experimental subjects." Ivy revealed a little about Strixhaven's situation.

"I thought you were a bard... but you can make prosthetic arms, potions, and alchemical products, and you can even read Infernal language... and now you can do necromancy... Aren't you really an academic wizard?" Gail couldn't help but begin to doubt Ivy's identity.

"Strixhaven University welcomes all kinds of spellcasters to study. In addition to bards like me, there are also various types of warlocks, druids who communicate with nature, priests who swear to serve magic for life, and even warriors who know some combat magic. Of course, regular wizards are also indispensable. So the university is very tolerant of various schools of magic... If you want to study there, I can write you a letter of recommendation." Ivy's answer was absolutely true, but he didn't say that he was a professor at Strixhaven, nor did he tell them that his main occupation was wizard and warlock.

"Hehehe! Can't we talk about the recommendation letter later? This concerns my life and property!" Kalak spoke before Gale in dissatisfaction, "To get a heart...do I need to kill another bad guy? Why didn't you say it earlier? I think those lackeys of Zariel are suitable."

"It doesn't have to be limited to human hearts. All humanoid creatures can be used. Necromancer magic will suppress the rejection reaction. If your body cannot adapt, we can continue to replace the heart."

In Ivy's original idea, he hoped to sew some magical animals together alive to create artificial Chimaera monsters, but applying this organ replacement magic surgery to humans can also be used to treat some difficult and complicated diseases.

Although this technology is not particularly useful in a world with convenient healing magic, for a hell-transformed warrior like Kalak, it is a life-saving technology.

"Great! Let's go kill some bad guys!" Kalak's face was full of encouragement. "Does the heart replacement surgery also require special preparations?"

"All it takes is a scalpel that can withstand the temperature of your body. The decisive factor is actually my necromancy magic." Ivy answered easily, as if discussing how to spread jam on toast with a butter knife. "If there is a living heart material, the operation can start now."

(End of this chapter)