Arcanum: Chaos Path

Chapter 382 The Terrifying Strength of the Mushroom King

"Your Highness Lucifer!" Frank looked at Rolin, his eyes shining, and asked, "Your Highness Bethel told me that you plan to use the god Niesiah as a research subject in your laboratory, is that true?"

“I do have this plan.” Rowling nodded without hesitation and looked at Frank, saying, “Bethel should have already told you about the situation of the god Nie Si'a. He is a very dangerous person. Although I will impose sufficient restrictions on him, his very existence is enough to cause you harm. So at this stage, I will not allow you to study him directly. I will only provide you with some samples of him for your research.”

Although he had enough confidence in the Mushroom King, Frank was not even a demigod at this stage, so Rowling still chose to act cautiously.

Upon hearing this, Frank first showed a somewhat regretful expression, then nodded and said, "That's right. Angels are indeed too powerful for me. Just a little bit of their flesh and blood is enough for me to study for a long time."

“I look forward to seeing what you can learn from Him. If you can advance to a sufficient level later, I may allow you to study Him directly.”

Rowling smiled at Frank and said, "I will also be staying here to conduct research for the time being. If I determine that it is safe enough, I can allow you to observe."

When Rowling said he wanted to study the power of the Outer Gods, he wasn't just saying it casually; he genuinely intended to do so.

Upon hearing this, Frank looked so excited he was almost fainting. He was truly a pure researcher, and it could be said that the god Searsea itself had sufficient research value for Frank.

Rowling was not surprised by this, and he then chatted with Frank about the research he had been doing recently.

The biological laboratory's current research focuses on two main areas: solving the problem of food production and studying the mysteries of life itself, attempting to unlock the potential of genetic advancement.

Currently, due to a lack of sufficient experimental materials, there has been insufficient progress in the first aspect. However, the arrival of the god Siea this time may bring some turning point.

As for the second aspect... it's hard to say whether there has been any progress at all.

At least Rowling fell silent after showing Frank the results of his research over this period.

Despite the fact that the laboratory has only been established for a short time, Frank has come up with a lot of ingenious ideas during this period because the monster materials in the Forsaken Land are so abundant, resulting in a whole bunch of wonderful creations.

For example, a winged fish—the kind that has more than a dozen pairs of wings all over its body—frankly speaking, looks really awful.

For example, there are roses with hundreds of eyes, flowers that make the sound of a baby crying, venomous snakes with eight heads, and purple cabbages that chase and bite people's buttocks.

"They weren't actually created by me; I just used the monsters' inherent characteristics to perform some surgical grafts," Frank explained, without any intention of boasting about his own contribution, but rather with some excitement:

"Because they are monsters, their vitality is much stronger than that of ordinary creatures, which makes many of my experiments much simpler. My current idea is to graft different monsters together to see if they will fuse their abilities. Theoretically, it should be possible, after all, monsters themselves are not lacking in composite abilities..."

"Very creative." Rollin didn't know what to say for a moment, so he could only offer this compliment. It was the truth; Frank's creations were truly full of creativity, possessing a Cthulhu-esque beauty.

Bethel, who had also visited these strange creations, looked at Frank with a mixture of hesitation and longing.

Bethel had never understood why Rowling's attitude toward Frank was so strange, but now he felt he did.

This is perhaps a terrifying existence, not in terms of strength, but in a different sense.

Frank was clearly in a better mood after receiving the praise, and he continued to introduce his various ideas to Rowling and Bethel. In addition to the grafting method, he had many other wonderful ideas, some of which made Rowling gasp in astonishment.

"...Actually, I originally wanted to study vengeful spirits and evil spirits. I was very curious about why they could survive without a physical body. If we could unravel the secrets, could humans also abandon their physical bodies and live longer in the future..." Frank gave an embarrassed smile as he said this, which made him even seem somewhat simple and honest.
"However, I feel that this is not worthwhile. The human body itself is a huge treasure. It is not worth it to give up the physical body just to live a little longer. It would be better to study how to combine the human body with plants. Many plants have a longer lifespan than humans."

“…You did the right thing.” Rowling looked at Frank, who had a simple smile and was covered in dirt, looking like an old farmer, and nodded. Then he said, “Current research is still mainly focused on the human body itself. The soul can be studied, but it is best to leave that as a topic for later.”

The two chatted for a few more minutes, and then Rowling obtained some samples from the god Seara, allowing the impatient Frank to study them on his own.

After Frank left, Bethel watched his retreating figure disappear from sight before saying, "Are you really sure it's reliable to entrust the future of humanity to him?"

“I’m not sure, but this is a crazy world in itself, so it can naturally accommodate a crazy human being.” Roland smiled at Bethel and said, “Only such madness can possibly lead humanity to a new path in the future.”

Upon hearing this, Bethel pursed his lips, offering no rebuttal, but instead sighed and said, "Perhaps you are right."

"Of course, if one day in the future this world welcomes World Mushroom Day..." Rowling continued, as if catching his breath, "then it might not be bad if everyone becomes a mushroom person."

Bethel recalled the strange mushrooms he had just seen in the lab. After a three-second silence, he said tactfully, "Then I might choose to die as a human."

"Didn't expect you to be a fundamentalist?" Roland glanced at Bethel, then suddenly said, "Well, you're not human anymore either! To be fair, aren't the Star Worms more sinister than the Mushroom People?"

Bethel choked for a moment, even He had to admit that the Star Worm's form was indeed not much better than the Mushroom Man's.

In fact, most mythical creatures in this world are rather strange.

"So, the facts have proven that the evil is the underlying logic of this world!" Roland shrugged and said, "In that case, don't look down on the mushroom people. As long as their consciousness can be preserved, it doesn't matter."

(End of this chapter)