âYes, pâMaster,â Herman forced his mouth open with great effort.
âYou canât even speak properly?â Saul took two steps back and looked at the corpse that had started moving again. âWhat do you feel like right now?â
âItâs like⊠my limbs are numb.â
Saul thought for a moment. âLike youâve been hit by a spell?â
Herman gave a slow nod.
Saul grabbed Herman by the collar and carried him toward the lab table.
âIf you canât even bend your tongue and your movements are sluggish, then Iâll take the lead for now. You need to keep working on controlling your body better.â
He propped Herman upright on one side of the table, like a plastic mannequin on display.
âIâve gone through the experiment logs on soul infusion. None of the containers in those records had control issues like yours. I need to look into whatâs going wrong here. If you notice anythingâgood or badâyou need to tell me right away.â
âYes, pâMaster.â
Saul rubbed his forehead. âWell, this is just one of my trial runs. Itâs normal for it to fall short compared to Mentor Rumâs years of research. No headaches⊠no headachesâŠâ
The next day, when Hayden showed up at Saulâs second storage room dragging her battered body, the first thing she saw was the tall man standing behind him.
âMaster, whoâs he?â Hayden immediately tensed up. She didnât know who this person was, or whether Saul had told him about her situation.
After a night of intense adaptation, Herman could already walk on his own, without Saul having to drag him around.
His tongue, however, was still not cooperating.
His face covered in black cloth, Herman turned his head toward Hayden. Her way of addressing Saul made his vision go black for a moment.
âMaster,â he repeated as well.
Clear and unambiguous!
Saul glanced sideways at Herman and silently accepted the form of address.
Then he waved Hayden inside and casually said, âHeâs in a similar situation as you. You can call him⊠Herl.â
Calling him Herman directly wasnât appropriate, so Saul swiftly cut off one syllable.
âHerl?â Though Haydenâs face remained impassive, the wariness in her eyes softened when she looked at Herman.
She even leaned in, a gesture that could be called friendly. âSo weâre in the same boat. Are you newly transferred into this vessel? Your movements still seem a bit off.â
Herman lowered his head and stared at Haydenâs beautiful face, immediately realizing that this was Saulâs assistant in his wizard experiments.
He hadnât expected the assistant to be this prettyâŠ
âYes.â Herman slowed his pace, trying to avoid walking side by side with her.
To his surprise, Hayden slowed down as well, seemingly trying to accommodate the less agile âHerl.â
She even seemed unusually friendly.
âWhen did you enter the vessel?â
Herman glanced at Saul walking ahead. It seemed the master didnât mind them talking, so he responded as naturally as he could.
âYesterday.â
âWhat?â Hayden was taken aback. âYou adapted that fast? For the first three days after I entered my vessel, I couldnât even move.â
Upon hearing this, Saul immediately stopped and turned to Hayden. âYou couldnât move at all for the first three days?â
Heâd focused more on post-transfer responses of soul bodies and had overlooked the initial stage after entering the vessel.
And in the experiment notes, that stage was often glossed over as well.
Hayden nodded.
Saul turned to Herman again, thinking, So the soul originally belonging to a body really is different. The compatibility is much higher.
Once inside the storage room, Saul immediately began recording the states of both subjects.
He found that while Hayden was better than Herman in nearly every respect, she had been in her body for nearly a month, whereas it was only Hermanâs second day. By comparison, Herman had actually surpassed her in several areas.
âSo, even though itâs technically a corpse now, the flesh still has strong compatibility with its original soul. And⊠the original body doesnât necessarily require the soul to be of the opposite sex.â
As Saul watched the two continue testing their responses in the lab, he pondered.
Then he noticed something odd.
Hayden kept subtly looking after Herman.
Like a cold beauty suddenly pampering a blank-faced paraplegic.
Saul suddenly understood and chuckled quietly. âSo our reclusive Hayden, always holed up in the corpse chamber, reacts like this around the opposite sex?â
But Saul had misunderstood her.
Haydenâs quiet attention toward Herman wasnât just due to mistaking âHerlâ for a woman. There was another crucial reason: she thought they shared the same burden.
She believed she could relate to âHerlâsâ awkwardness. But instead of pointing it out, she chose to quietly offer comfort through her actions.
âSee, I know you were originally a woman. Actually, Iâm not really a woman either.â
What she didnât know wasâHerman really was a man.
Hopefully, sheâd never find out.
On the fifth day after Herman returned to his own body, Hayden took a day off to return to Mentor Rum for a re-stabilization of her vessel-body connection.
So Saul decided it was time for Hermanâs next experimentâtransferring into another corpse vessel.
After making all the necessary preparations, Saul warned Herman carefully, âWhen you enter a body thatâs not your own, youâll likely feel strong rejection. Donât resist it. But if you sense signs of contamination or mutation, report immediately.â
âYes,â Herman replied instantly. Then, after a pause, he added in a soft voice, ââŠMaster.â
Saul chuckled lightly and began taking notes. âRoughly seven days before the tongueâbeing a distal organâcan be flexibly controlled.â
Then began the soul transfer experiment.
Saul used a magic formation designed for soul-locking and energy containment to trap himself, Herman, and two other corpses within it.
Then, using his own armâcapable of absorbing and expelling soul matterâhe first extracted Hermanâs soul into his arm.
During this process, he noticed the vessel hadnât developed any adhesive traits.
Is it only me who experiences a powerful suction force when entering other containers? Corpses seem to have no desire to retain their original soul. Why, then, do they prevent my soul from leaving them?
Researching his own soul would have to be put on the agenda soonâbut Saul feared his soulâs special properties came entirely from his transmigration or the diaryâs influence.
Compared to that, researching resurrection seemed almost simple.
Hermanâs soul was successfully extracted, but it failed to enter the first male corpse.
The rejection was intense, almost magnetic. The closer he got, the stronger the repulsion.
Saul could have forced itâbut under the pressure of both forces, Hermanâs soul showed signs of disintegration.
Saul immediately stopped.
âLuckily, Iâve got a backup corpse.â Saul turned to the nearby female body. âLetâs try this one.â
He gently guided Hermanâs spirit into the female corpse.
This time, the repulsion was much weakerâstill present, but nothing like what Saul himself faced.
Thanks to the lesser pushback, Herman barely withstood the pressure and fully entered the female corpse.
âThis situation is much closer to a standard soul infusion,â Saul muttered. He didnât look pleased, thoughâjust flipped over a sandglass heâd prepared earlier to start timing.
(End of Chapter)
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