Wizards begin with Occlumency.

Chapter 219 Snake Man

"Jasmine, please entertain Christina."

When inspiration strikes, Link forgets all about politeness and formalities.

I believe Christina will not only not be offended, but will also fully understand his actions.

She came to Link seeking a solution to her problem; why would she care about those unnecessary pleasantries?

Sure enough, Christina immediately left the underground biochemical laboratory with Jasmine without the slightest reluctance.

Link continued to carefully read the biochemical modification data brought by Christina, occasionally pulling up some data to compare with the data from the many autopsies and live studies he had conducted in the fairy world.

Look for the commonalities, and also look for the differences.

Information about the Shadow Serpent was not limited to the records of Shadow City; records from the Rivosos Academy were also accessed through a personal smart device.

Compare the two sides and don't be biased or believe only one side.

After reviewing all the materials, Link had a general understanding of the biochemical modifications Christina underwent—a cross-species gene transplant.

After some thought, Link listed three research projects as high priorities:

The first priority is to protect the pregnancy.

Christina's baby is reportedly three months along, so at the genetic level, there is a high possibility of a conflict between human genes and the Shadow Serpent's genes.

Morphological abnormalities and deformities are all considered good results.

The most serious result is that the genes break down directly, leading to stillbirth.

Christina's demands were threefold: first, to save the baby's life and allow it to be born normally; second, to keep the baby in a human form rather than a deformed one; and third, to have the highest possible aptitude for witchcraft.

This part is still very difficult.

Link found it quite troublesome.

Secondly, we need to thoroughly understand the Shadow City's biochemical modification ideas and plans, especially the point about cross-species gene transplantation.

For some reason, when looking at the relevant research data, Link felt that it was quite similar to the biochemical modification and enhancement schemes that the Fairy King obtained from the Abyss Demons.

If a specific connection could be found, that would be even better.

Finally, we can learn from others' experiences and improve our own by conducting this research to further enhance the effects of the "Fairy" potion.

The conventional route of cultivating loyal followers should, of course, be followed.

This is the core of the core.

For example, the Sage Paro meticulously managed the "New Blood Mutual Aid Society" for decades before he was able to build a main force at the level three wizard stage.

After being promoted to Sage, one can lead their direct descendants into the reorganized legion of miscellaneous troops allocated by the academy, thus achieving substantial control.

We cannot abandon the unconventional approach to training enforcers.

Those five thugs who hung out in the West District are an example.

Although it hasn't been of much use yet, it can still be of some help as an informant and outsider for "Doing Anything Freely" and Grand Pharmacy.

At least in terms of gathering information on the movements of various factions in the West District and the flow of goods in and out of the black market, it can transmit intelligence in a timely manner.

The moment Link saw the latest Hummingbird-class starship that the Academy had "compensated" him with, he had a premonition:

He won't be at peace for long before heading to the front lines to conquer the heavens.

Therefore, it is essential to prepare early.

When the time is right, we can directly train a group of henchmen and cannon fodder to overcome difficulties.

After listing these three major research projects, Link decided to start with one at a time, beginning with ensuring the pregnancy was maintained.

After some thought, considering that the wizard Celine might be interested in these studies, and that her extensive knowledge and experience would be beneficial to the research, he decided to send her an invitation.

The wizard Celine soon arrived at Link's villa in the North District.

Upon entering the castle, she gestured to Jasmine, who had risen to greet her, that there was no need for further hospitality, and headed straight for the biochemical laboratory on the third basement level.

"Where's the document? Let me see."

After putting on protective clothing and entering the laboratory, the wizard Celine immediately began to speak.

Judging from her expression and demeanor, she was clearly very interested in the biochemical research direction of Shadow City.

Maintaining a strong sense of curiosity and a pursuit of new knowledge is a key to a wizard's continued progress.

The pursuit of truth means continuous learning, research, and experimentation, and then transforming the results into one's own power.

"here."

Link raised his hand and called out, while simultaneously bringing up all the data, arranging it in order, and projecting it holographically.

For the convenience of the witch Celine to view.

"Well……"

The wizard Celine crossed her left arm over her chest, rested her right elbow on her left palm, and unconsciously tapped her dimple with her right index finger as she pondered the detailed information.

After a while, the wizard Celine said:

"The typical Shadow City approach of cross-species transplantation and cross-species hybridization."

However, it is rather crude, and the researchers' knowledge and abilities are not sufficient, resulting in many omissions.

If live experiments are conducted at this level, many problems will inevitably arise in the subjects.

Your fellow villager is incredibly lucky to have survived on the lab table; he even managed to benefit from it.

Not only did it improve his wizarding aptitude, but by chance, he also gained the racial abilities of the Shadow Serpent.

That's...so lucky.

This case is interesting and worth studying in depth.

After a pause, the witch Celine asked, "Would your fellow countryman mind undergoing examinations, in every aspect, including his soul?"

Link replied, "She doesn't mind these things as long as her problem is solved. However..."

Changing the subject, Link said seriously, "She has already provided a blood and flesh sample, so let's start from there and conduct targeted examinations later if there are specific needs."

"Alright."

The witch Celine readily agreed.

For a formal wizard, the soul is of paramount importance; they dare not damage it lightly, much less expose it completely.

If someone with ulterior motives were to learn the specific details of the soul and use a medium to curse and kill it, causing it to die an unexplained and shameful death, wouldn't that be extremely pathetic?

So Jasmine undergoes a check-up every week, from her body to her soul, without shying away from any aspect or concealing any detail, which truly shows her immense trust in Link.

There's just one downside: before each examination, I always blush and fidget for a while, wasting time. ┑(￣Д￣)┍

Celine's knowledge base is clearly far beyond what Link can match at present.

She only read it once, but she almost completely grasped the essence of the Shadow City's biochemical modification plan.

They quickly became proficient at the operation, conducting various tests and examinations on Christina's flesh and blood samples.

Link still had many questions, and he took this opportunity to ask them one by one.

The wizard Celine didn't mind the trouble, explaining as she went.

The morning was spent on continuous testing, inspection, and answering questions.

The matter was temporarily dropped when Jasmine came down and called the two of them upstairs for a meal.

The witch Celine is also a huge foodie.

Even at the third-level wizard stage, when they can survive without relying on food, they still maintain the habit of eating three or even four meals a day.

I especially enjoy having a hot drink in the morning before starting work.

Link was tired of wasting time on washing up, so after becoming a full wizard, he immediately learned the magical techniques for cleansing himself.

However, when it comes to food, they never treat themselves harshly.

Early on, when we first moved into the lakeside villa at the college, we gave the smart butler Hamid a lot of food descriptions so that he could figure out the recipes.

Through continuous iterations, the intelligent butler Hamid has combined Link's description with various local culinary styles to launch a unique and delicious new cuisine.

The wizard Celine had dined at the lakeside villa at the college several times and was very impressed.

I'm also full of anticipation today, eager to see what new and exciting dishes I'll be eating.

The result did not disappoint the witch Celine.

From the appetizers to the soup, side dishes, main courses, salads, desserts, and hot drinks, every dish was a carefully prepared delicacy.

The dishes are presented in a French dining order that better suits the wizard Celine's eating habits, featuring classic Chinese and Western dishes from her previous life, combined with the characteristics of the West Coast cuisine of the wizarding world in this life, resulting in a creative fusion cuisine.

The guests and hosts enjoyed the meal immensely.

The witch Celine was particularly pleased with the hot drink.

"When will you finish developing your tea beverage series and launch it to the market? I need to stock up on more."

After finishing her meal and taking a short rest, the wizard Celine suddenly asked.

"It'll be soon, it'll be soon."

Link is also quite troubled by this, as it is really hard to find a suitable substitute for tea, which has seriously slowed down the development of the tea beverage series.

"Hurry up."

The wizard Celine urged them on their progress again, then asked, "How do you plan to spend the next few years? Will you stay in the homeland and develop your career peacefully, or will you seek another path and go to the front lines? After Cody completes his promotion, he may recruit you into his legion."

Link knew that the wizard Celine was asking for his opinion on behalf of the Sage Paro.

Once Wizard Cody successfully ascends to the sage level, the once closely-knit Cody Wizard-Paro Sage faction will definitely split into two factions.

Although their relationship will not sour, they will even continue to work closely together.

However, disputes are bound to arise regarding the attribution of personnel.

We have no shortage of manpower; we can recruit enough people no matter what. What we lack are people who can work independently!

Link Grand, who excels in biochemical research, drug development, individual combat skills, team training and command, is definitely a candidate to recruit.

Without any hesitation, Link immediately declared, "I am ready to answer the Sage of Paro's call at any time."

Having to make a choice, and considering that he wasn't very familiar with the wizard Cody, Link naturally chose to follow the sage Paro.

Wavering between jobs or changing jobs midway through a career is not good.

What we need is a firm stance.

"Um."

Celine the Wizard nodded, said nothing more about the topic, and got up to walk towards the biochemical laboratory on the third basement level.

Link immediately followed.

The two spent another afternoon in the lab, working until they had completed all the tests and obtained the results before finally stopping.

After reviewing all the test results, the witch Celine said in a pessimistic tone:

"It's simple to keep your fellow villager's fetus in human form: just remove the Shadow Serpent gene."

This eliminates the risk of gene breakdown and allows for successful production.

However, maintaining a human form while also possessing high wizarding aptitude is no easy feat.

Your fellow villager herself doesn't have high wizarding aptitude. Even if the fetus's wizarding aptitude is somewhat influenced by the Shadow Serpent's genes, resulting in a certain degree of shadow affinity, it still won't be very high.

As Link listened to Celine's assessment and looked at the complex data from various tests and examinations, a sudden inspiration struck him.

It reminds me of Spider-Man, the talkative neighbor of the people of New York.

He activated his "brain shut-in technique" to the fullest extent, putting himself into a state of extreme rationality and indifference.

This then triggers a "multi-threaded thinking" state, transforming the user into a humanoid supercomputer.

I started to consider the feasibility of that flash of inspiration.

After a moment, Link said, "Witch Celine, if we separate the fetus's soul from its body, keeping the soul pure and severing the bestial influence of the Shadow Serpent; and view the body as a shell and a core, the shell being humanoid and the core being the Shadow Serpent, would that be feasible?"

Upon hearing this, the sorceress Celine's expression shifted slightly. After a moment of contemplation, she replied, "It's feasible, but during the subsequent development, the inherent nature represented by the Shadow Serpent race's abilities will still influence the fetus's soul. Wouldn't all the previous efforts be in vain?"

After a pause, the wizard Celine emphasized, "The humanoid shadow serpent is no different from the serpentine human!"

Link didn't answer Celine the Wizard's question immediately, but instead started operating the office AI.

He pulled up all his research records from the fairy world, as well as the development records of various versions of the "fairy" potion, and projected them one by one.

After the wizard Celine finished reading the materials, Link explained:

"The racial abilities of the Shadow Serpent are regarded as the innate abilities of fairies. Through the transformation of the potion, they are integrated into the physical body and transformed into physical innate abilities, rather than soul-level witchcraft-like abilities."

In this way, the impact on the soul should be minimized as much as possible.

If handled properly, it can even provide some enhancement.

"Interspecies hybridization?"

"Cross-species hybridization".

"Autologous transplant?"

"Autologous transplantation."

The witch Celine spoke with Link twice, then fell into deep thought.

It must be said that Link's idea is quite unique, yet also logical.

If this idea is refined and all the details are handled properly, it might actually work.

The only problem is...

Wizard Celine voiced her concern: "Doing this will greatly increase the chances of the fetus dying, and it might even result in stillbirth!"

"That's true."

Link has to admit that.

How can I give an example?

Even the phrase "a small ox pulling a large cart" is insufficient to describe the contrast in strength between the fetus's soul and its enhanced physical body.

Perhaps it can be seen as using the avionics system of a second-generation fighter jet to control a sixth-generation fighter jet.

Let alone soaring through the sky, there will be big problems even at the very beginning.

"I do have a preliminary idea."

Then, the wizard Celine suddenly spoke up again, though her tone was not firm: "Could we learn from the cultivation methods of the omnic wizards and cultivate the soul and the body separately? But we must be careful not to sever their connection and prevent the body from giving birth to a non-soul-like intelligence."

After listening, Link felt that it made a lot of sense.

According to Link's understanding, so-called Omnic Wizards are cyberpunk wizards who are physically weak but mechanically ascended.

They specialize in the study of the soul and alchemy, gradually replacing their original physical bodies with mechanical limbs and organs of various functions.

They continued to iterate and upgrade until finally only the pure human soul remained, while the body was completely replaced by a mechanical body that was entirely controlled by the soul.

In addition, mechanic wizards have a unique advantage in controlling intelligent machinery and intelligent puppets.

A powerful mechanic wizard, who is an entire legion in himself.

Omnic wizards have always fought in groups.

The history of the Wizarding World records that there was once a sixth-level sage-level omnic wizard who single-handedly wiped out the undead army known as the Cataclysm.

What Celine the wizard claimed to be borrowing from the cultivation methods of the omnic wizards was actually treating the enhanced physical body of the fetus as an intelligent puppet.

After a quick thought, Link felt it was entirely feasible.

But if we do it this way, I wonder if Christina can accept it.

Speculation was pointless, so Link immediately called Christina down and explained in detail the problems they had encountered, their proposed solutions, and the risks involved.

After listening, Christina fell into deep thought.

There are certainly risks, and they are significant.

But what in this world is guaranteed to succeed?

As long as the expected return is sufficient.

We have to take the risk.

Just like when she risked her life to take advantage of her enemy's unpreparedness, she transformed into a shadowy serpent and swallowed him whole, completing her revenge in a thrilling manner.

Snake-shaped black smoke appeared, outlining the shape of the characters.

"Let's do it this way. I'll cooperate with anything you need me to do."

"Give it a shot!"

(End of this chapter)