Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

"Flesh and blood are everything! Flesh and blood are the foundation of life, the nurture of all forms and phenomena of life today. Flesh and blood do not need bones for support, nor do they need a soul for guidance. They only need to follow the instincts engraved in the organization to evolve continuously, and flesh and blood will eventually reach a higher level, surpassing you fragile and insignificant empty shells."

Arno, who had been indignant, suddenly calmed down.

"But this is ultimately a difficult goal to achieve. Even now, I am dominated by something called the soul, so how can I expect you to understand?"

"The independence and transformation of flesh and blood. This is the corresponding knowledge you need to master. I don't expect you to understand the inner meaning, but some things will arise with change. One day, you will experience the true meaning of transcendence, if you have not yet perished."

Arnoin took a brown jar from the shelf beside him, and reached inside with his arm. A sharp squeaking sound came from it, like the screech of a rodent. What Arnoin held in his hand was an amorphous mass of flesh wriggling and waving three tentacles. From the scattered dark gray fur on its surface, you could see traces of rats.

"The first step to achieving transcendence is transformation. Living flesh and blood are extremely malleable; every growth is a change, and I hold the key to growth."

"Flesh and blood transformation—this is the knowledge you need to understand today. Other superficial fellows will limit this to the transformation of blood and bones or the harvesting of life. But in reality, flesh and blood can be transformed into any form of life."

"Bones, fur, keratin, scales, and even wood and spores."

With each word Arnoin uttered, the body of that pitiful creature twisted and contorted with the power it possessed, and its hoarse, piercing screams echoed in the ears of the indifferent lich.

"The initial transformation is full of unknowns and uncertainties. This randomness is a gift of flesh and blood. An uncertain path means infinite possibilities. But most life forms are not infinite. Their fragile bodies can only withstand a limited number of transformations."

"After exceeding this number, you will face..."

"disuse."

The creature in Arno's hand swelled into a sac, and as it grew larger, its cries diminished.

It shattered in Arnoin's hands, and a disgusting fragment splattered at Lyle's feet.

Chapter 276 Detecting the Undercurrents

“Lyle?” Nia’s tentacles brushed against Lyle’s cheek, her voice conveying her concern.

“I’m fine, Nia.” Suppressing the urge to vomit rising in his throat, Lyle moved his head and pressed it against Nia’s tentacles.

To watch a life slip away in such a distorted and morbid way is an insult to doctors. He is Arnoin, still that despicable man who treats life like dirt.

"If Lyle doesn't like it, we can run away! Nia can make Lyle run super fast!"

As he watched the dark, fleshy blood at his feet slowly congeal, Lyle took a deep breath.

“We must learn, Nia, so that we may become stronger, so that we may have the power to dominate other things.”

Nia's restless tentacles paused for a moment as she pressed herself close to Lyle's head, trying to hear his thoughts.

Do you feel happy when you dominate others?

“I don’t know, Nia. I don’t know what it feels like to be the ruler, because I’ve never done it. But we can imagine it first.”

"Nia is an evil god, and one day she will grant Lyle's wish!"

Lyle touched his head and stroked Nia, who was the mucous membrane.

"Then we all need to work hard now."

Arnoin's teaching continued, the incantations and magical manipulation techniques for flesh-transformation differing from the necromancy he had previously encountered. In fact, strictly speaking, it was no longer necromancy, a fact Lyle, as a living person, clearly recognized. This wasn't about altering corpses; it was about distorting life, desecrating its primal form. The liches, already dead, obviously lacked this sense of guilt. Although they didn't possess Lyle's biological knowledge, their inherent superiority allowed them to learn this spell.

"Professor Arnoin, where are our test subjects? The ones we'll practice our spells on?" A lich student who had mastered a new ability was eager to try it out.

Arno looked at everyone, his smile on his mask blending seamlessly with the smile behind it. He turned to the side and pointed to the reservoir behind him.

"In the water, gentlemen, your experimental subjects are underwater. You can experiment with any living creature, anything you see."

Lyle knew what was underwater; it was a school of fish in a sea area. His wonderful underwater adventures with mermaids had allowed him to see the creatures of those dark waters.

"Professor Arnoin, aren't those normal fish and sea creatures underwater? Is it really okay for us freshmen to handle these live creatures directly?"

"What you've done isn't some destructive species destruction. Gentlemen, evolution is accompanied by natural selection, and you are also an uncertain factor in it. Using some worthless fish to create more necromancy geniuses like the Plague Doctor is, in my opinion, a great deal of value. It's just a species selection process in evolution."

The Lich Academy accepted Arnoin's suggestion, and like a group of infants with axes on the execution ground, they went into the water and began their experiments.

“Mr. Plague Doctor, please begin your experiment. I eagerly await your results.” Arnoin offered a kind reminder, looking at Lyle who was still lingering on the shore.

Lyle dives underwater.

Underwater is deep and dark. The moment you leave the air, it's like someone turned off the lights, leaving only a thin layer of light on the surface.

They had to dive further down, but there weren't many creatures on the surface; even the roving sharks that used to roam the shallows had disappeared.

Lyle sensed the presence of the lich students; their soul fire glowed even underwater. Perhaps I should remove some of the students' skulls for illumination, which would reduce the fish losses.

This is not something that can be done just by talking about it.

They descended to a place where the light could no longer be found, where liches and schools of fish had already made contact. The way they fished was as skillful as water ghosts, so perhaps the previous surface cleaning work hadn't been in vain.

They held the fish in their palms, but the slippery mucus and scales did not free them from their grasp.

With each burst of magical light, the creatures changed their appearance. Some grew extra bones, some had scales that turned into hedgehog-like spikes, some bones softened and resembled octopuses, and some turned into writhing clumps of flesh.

But most of them shattered, the exploding flesh and blood blowing bubbles, those red-stained bubbles floating upwards, perhaps when they burst upon contact with air, the cries of life could still be heard from within.

“Who are we going to catch? Lyle.” Nia’s tentacles sprang out from her wet sleeves, the extended tentacles flapping in the water, making Lyle look like a giant squid.

Lyle watched the fish fleeing in panic. Perhaps they sensed something, for they avoided the human bones draped in cloth robes.

Perhaps it was Nia's disguise, but a small fish with blue-green stripes actually escaped to Lyle's side and was caught by the tentacles.

Lyle looked at the fish and finally made up his mind. He opened his arms, and the crimson runes slowly approached the small fish.

"Everyone's doing it, so I can do it too..."

Nia's black tentacles came into contact with the crimson incantation. The beautiful, resilient tentacles turned into blood foam within the incantation, and the small fish, now freed, swam back to the deep sea.

"Nia, are you alright? Does it hurt?" Lyle felt uneasy looking at the broken ends on Nia's tentacles caused by him.

"It doesn't hurt, it'll be fine soon!" Before Nia finished speaking, the flesh and blood surging on the tentacle had already healed up again, as if Lyle hadn't done anything.

“Nia can become Lyle’s experimental subject because Nia is alive! Nia can heal herself, she’s amazing! Lyle, you big idiot, can’t hurt Nia!” The end of the tentacle transformed into the shape of a fish, its lifelike body and scales just like a real fish.

"Do what you want to do, and don't do what you don't want to do. Lyle, Nia will help you."

Black tentacles expanded from Lyle's body, weaving a nest in the water. The huge fleshy ball extended its tentacles to capture schools of fish in the water, and after a period of time, it threw them out.

With Nia as the object of his spells, Lyle was keenly aware of the changes during the transformation of flesh and blood, and his knowledge grew at an extremely rapid pace.

"Thus...one can weave bones; thus...an insect exoskeleton; thus...gelatinous tentacles..."

Lyle learned new abilities while engrossed in his experiments.

A sea serpent coiled around his hand, its wild, surging eyes staring fiercely at him, its fangs now encased in flesh and blood.

This snake was originally a sardine.

Biotransformation, blood-bone transformation... Lyle has learned many things about creation and summarized a set of effective rules.

"Perhaps we could write down these learning experiences in notes and give them to others, which would reduce the loss."

Lyle, who was thinking like this, suddenly turned his gaze to his own body.

"I don't know how to do that yet, human modification..."

Having understood Lyle's intention, Nia reached out her tentacles to capture Lyle, wanting to construct a human model.

Strangely, some of the tentacles actually crossed Lyle and reached outside the Black Nest.

"That's strange. Could there be other humans or humanoid creatures here?"

The tentacles eventually reached into the coral reef of the droplet, one after another, stretching downwards and forming an underwater forest before Lyle. The Black Nest was breaking through, generating new tentacles to capture whatever was within the coral reef.

Lyle sensed it.

The white mask, resembling a giant clam, the enormous, withered branches hidden in the riverbed, the tentacles concealed in the crevices of the coral reefs—all lay beneath him.

Giants slumber here.

Fear struck suddenly.

Accompanied by a mocking smile on that white mask.

Chapter 277 Withered New Life

“I should have known…” Lyle murmured in the darkness, as if possessed, amidst the icy tide. Nia’s tentacles clung tightly to him, and even as they completely swallowed his vision, Lyle’s eyes remained fixed on the hollow center of the white bone mask at his feet.

“Even I, a necromancy apprentice, was able to learn advanced modification after witnessing the ominous signs, creating a flesh-and-blood mutant. How could Arnoin, that madman, that flesh-and-blood freak, be satisfied with simple imitation?”

Darkness is its cradle, and coral its throne. It slumbers at the bottom of the water, awaiting the day it awakens. It is incomplete, yet it will eventually become whole.

The Deep Sea Omen is a forbidden creation of Professor Arnoin, the chief professor of the Flesh and Blood faction.

Arnoin wanted to create a god.

Although it remains asleep, Lyle has seen the future in the revelation. It will eventually be called Him.

Even in mere slumber, the rising and falling breaths created whirlpools and undercurrents. What a magnificent life could exist in such an evil and filthy form. Like a gate to hell standing before him, Lyle could only watch in horror as the death knell tolled, witnessing the ominous sign become reality.

No, it can still be remedied.

Lyle ripped off Nia's tentacles from his face, his eyes became bloodshot, and his thoughts began to wander in an abnormal state.

“You said it yourself, Professor Arnoin, that we can distort and destroy everything in this body of water. Of course, that should include it…”

"Yes, that's how it should be..."

“Yes, this is normal operation…” Lyle stiffly moved his cold legs and swam toward the black tentacles below.

The broad, flattened tentacles were the size of a normal tiger shark's tip, and these dangerous creatures were currently slumbering alongside their master. Lyle was delighted by their almost completely exposed state, ignoring Nia's slapping of his arm, and began to unleash the red magic taught to him by Arnoin.

Lyle named it Flesh Liberation. Through his study of flesh and blood and extensive experimentation, combined with his dual-locking abilities, Lyle created a spell specifically targeting flesh and blood. Its incantation requires contact to activate, but its effects are far more terrifying.

Water is the source of life. Liberate flesh and blood, and let them return to the original form of life.

At first, just like taking off clothes, your skin and muscles will peel off piece by piece, and you won't feel pain because your nerve perception has also succumbed to decay.

Then, like rain, the red rainwater seeped into the cracks of your bones, and after the rain, your white skeleton shone brightly. Nothing more, nothing less; you leave nothing but bones.

Now, Lyle has cast the spell on the still-dormant Omen of the Deep Sea.

At first, it worked; the festering flesh scattered into black fragments in the seawater, much like the gloom gradually fading from Lyle's heart. In the now-cleansed, festering tendrils, on the fractured surface where debris was scattered, like a divine joke, flesh regenerated, twisting and reshaping. The intact flesh mocked Lyle, how ridiculous his obsession and petty cleverness were before true power.

Arnoin was a senior professor of séance, a master of the Flesh and Blood séance school. How could he possibly allow his masterpiece to be ruined by a student he considered inferior? Unless, of course, his masterpiece was beyond ruin.

Super-fast regeneration and frenzied healing are exactly what flesh and blood excel at.