Chapter 562: The Weight of the Soul

“Cough, cough, anyway, that’s not what I came to talk about. I came to talk business.”

After stopping his increasingly dangerous imaginings, Muen returned to the point:

“That so-called Source Blood......”

“The so-called Source Blood is the blood of the Beastmen’s First Ancestor, the place where, in legend, the source of all beasts resides.”

Mela snapped her fingers again.

The scene on the curtain changed once more, but this time even Muen could not make out the concrete «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» shape of the being impressed within the image.

Because it was only a massive, ferocious black shadow—blurred, indescribable—yet the terrifying pressure still rushed straight at one’s face.

“I haven’t seen that so-called Initial Beast either, because back when the Beastmen prospered, that could already be called a vague and untouchable legend. Whether the Initial Beast actually existed or not, many scholars of that era argued about it.

“However, a beast-nature bloodline atavizing back to the level of the Source Blood is indeed something that, within the Beastmen, has an extremely small probability of occurring. Powerful Source Blood grants a Beastman power and potential far beyond ordinary kin. Virtually every Source-Blood atavist would be cultivated with the Beastmen’s full support and become one of the continent’s few top powerhouses. That was one reason why, though few in number back then, the Beastmen remained ever strong.”

“But......”

Muen frowned and said in thought:

“That little girl, by the look of her...... should count as a human.”

The file was opened. Written upon it was the little girl’s hideous and terrifying appearance at the time, but setting aside those beast parts that had been artificially stitched on, she herself was still just an ordinary little girl. Don’t even mention Beastman features—she didn’t even have beast ears or a tail.

“That is where the problem lies.”

Mela’s unruffled sidelong glance skimmed the photo, and she folded her arms:

“The beast-nature bloodline in her body atavized to the level of the Source Blood, but I think that before that, her body hadn’t been strengthened much at all by the pitifully weak beast blood within her. Nowadays, with beast blood so diluted, most people who carry a beast-nature bloodline might never awaken it in their entire lives. Therefore this sort of sudden awakening, to her own frail flesh, is actually fatal.”

“Fatal......”

“Yes. While the Source Blood is incessantly remodeling her flesh, the beast nature attached to the Source Blood will ceaselessly erode her mind. A frail body and soul simply cannot bear such an excessively violent remodeling—she should have died quickly, in agony, within that conflict.”

Mela rubbed her chin. “However...... using externally stitched magical-beast limbs to reinforce the flesh, and by continually diluting and diverting, to slow the Source Blood’s erosion of the main body—the fellow who did all that has a bit of genius, the idea is rather decent.

“......It just looks a bit cruel. To stitch on so many magical-beast limbs—this little girl’s reason should have been nearly eaten away, right?”

“......Yeah, she looked completely irrational.”

Muen secretly clenched his fist and drew a deep breath.

The image in his head of the battle with that little girl surfaced again, making his mood involuntarily heavy.

“Oh?”

As if she had seen straight through Muen, Mela raised a brow:

“Looks like you lost badly this time? Well...... if it’s Source Blood, losing wouldn’t be any surprise.”

“Next time I won’t lose.”

“Really?”

“I absolutely won’t lose.”

“Oh my, I’d been thinking of patting my poor disciple’s head to comfort him, but it seems I don’t need to.”

Mela snapped her fingers again; the curtain vanished, and the whole sea of flowers returned to brightness.

“However...... what you want to ask about Source Blood shouldn’t be just this little bit.”

“That’s right.”

Muen nodded, his expression growing grave:

“Though it’s also about Source Blood, the other question is more important.”

“Ask.”

“It isn’t anything particularly special. It’s just...... since the Source Blood can let that little girl have so many magical-beast limbs stitched onto her without the slightest side effect, then this kind of blood......

“Could it also allow arbitrary stitching and transplanting of body parts, or organs, between different people?”

“Of course. From the fact that the Beastmen could fully integrate into humanity, you should have realized it—beast blood itself is a bloodline with particularly strong fusion, to say nothing of that Source Blood.”

Mela flickered to Muen’s back, tapped the place of the alchemical core in his body with a finger, and chuckled:

“If we had discovered earlier that a revert-to-ancestor Source Blood actually exists in this world, perhaps when you had rejection responses before, you wouldn’t have needed to run all the way to the Holy City. Well, going to the Holy City wasn’t only for eliminating the rejection, anyway.”

“......So you admit what I went through in Kantwell had something to do with you?”

When Muen heard that, a vein pulsed on his forehead.

“Oh my? What are you talking about? I never left this place from start to finish.”

The old loli stuck out her tongue, playing dumb.

“Who would believe that...... forget it...... back to business.”

Muen pulled the topic back and continued to ask:

“Since that can be done, then that means...... even something that sounds unbelievable like brain transplantation is also doable, right.”

“Brain transplantation?”

Mela blinked:

“I see. It certainly sounds very unbelievable, but in reality the Life Church has long since played that technique to death.”

“Life Church? Played to death?”

Muen’s eyes flew wide, shocked:

“Those guys are also conducting that kind of human experimentation in secret? I knew it. That bushy-browed old Pope—one look and he didn’t seem like a good person. Don’t tell me he’s lived so long because......”

“Calm down. Although I very much agree that old codger isn’t any good thing, the Life Church isn’t so tasteless as that. Have you forgotten the deity they serve?”

“Life Goddess?”

Muen froze for a moment, then reacted.

The Source Blood’s own fusion property is at best a lower replacement for a portion of the Life Goddess’s power. What the Source Blood can accomplish, there’s no reason the Life Goddess cannot.

“Yes. With that deity who governs life, the Church’s understanding of human life naturally surpasses anyone and any organization. After all, so long as the price paid is sufficient, with the soul intact, even remolding a body is doable. Merely replacing a certain human part is no difficult matter. As for why the Church doesn’t make this technology public, first is that this technique might drive some people mad—like the fellow who could make you ask such a question. Second, compared with the vast power of faith it consumes, what you get in return is completely disproportionate.”

“I see.”

Muen nodded in comprehension.

The madness of some people at the prospect of freely replacing organs needs no explanation.

And on the other hand, like himself—just to eliminate the alchemical core’s rejection response required a Baptism of Holy Light. I believe that even with the Life Church’s vast resources, a Baptism of Holy Light isn’t something one can get just because one wants it.

“As for what you just said—switching brains to live as long as that old Pope—that’s impossible.”

“Eh? Why?”

“The reason is simple. You’ve hacked down so many heretics with stubborn life force by now—haven’t you noticed? For humans, or rather for higher intelligent life with sapience, compared to the flesh, what’s more important is......”

“The soul.”

Muen murmured.

“Exactly. The soul. That is the barrier even the Life Church cannot breach.”

Mela casually flipped through that file again, then tossed it aside, looked at the pensive Muen, and said meaningfully:

“Given that you’re my adorable disciple, I’ll remind you one more thing. If someone really did such a stupid thing as transplanting a brain and actually succeeded, then it would certainly be a transplantation based on soul transfer.”

“Soul transfer......”

“Right. And the soul’s connection to its original flesh isn’t so easily severed—particularly when that original body is still in fairly good condition.”

Mela smiled oddly:

“Do you understand what that means?”

“Connection......”

Muen’s thoughts turned swiftly, beginning to quickly grasp the deeper meaning in Teacher Mela’s words.

If that Speaker truly underwent a brain transplant, that would mean his original body is actually still intact. This point can be confirmed through Celicia. As for......

“Alright!”

Mela suddenly clapped, cutting off Muen’s contemplation:

“That little question—you can think about it later. Right now there’s something even more important to do.”

“Even more important?”

Muen blinked. “What could be more important right now than......”

“Ta-da, look at this!”

Mela suddenly stepped aside, letting Muen see what she had been tinkering with just now.

Muen craned his neck to look, and then his expression froze at once. A bad premonition began to bounce frantically on his little heart like it were clubbing.

Because...... what Teacher Mela was showing him at this moment was a...... pot—one that at a glance looked extremely exquisite, extremely expensive, and extremely high-end.

“Since you finally made it back once, then the most important thing is, of course, the customary tempering of the flesh. The flesh isn’t as important as the soul, but for you it’s indispensable.”

Mela gave a thumbs-up.

“Relax. This time the pot...... no, the bath, after my all-around improvements, can boost medicinal absorption by a full thirty percent!”

“Thirty percent...... don’t tell me the side effect is to directly boil me alive.”

Looking at that pot whose base roamed with blinding magical luster—like a giant cauldron mounted on a planetary engine—Muen’s mouth twitched:

“Can I refuse?”

“Refuse?”

Mela drew back her thumb; with a creak, her five fingers clenched all at once, and she smiled:

“What do you think, my adorable disciple~”

“......”

......

......

“The connection between the soul and the original flesh...... is it.”

Looking at the letter just delivered to her, and ignoring the scrawled handwriting like that of someone at death’s door, Celicia also sank slightly into thought.

But she didn’t ponder long before she waved and called for Veil.

“Go at once to......”

Celicia turned her head and whispered in Veil’s ear.

“Oh, oh...... I understand. I’ll go...... huh?”

Veil had been nodding her agreement when she suddenly opened her big round eyes wide:

“Is this...... alright for the President to do? Isn’t it a bit lacking in martial virtue?”

“They’ve already resorted to that kind of method, and you’re still asking about martial virtue?”

Celicia’s face was expressionless. “Go, or don’t go—if you won’t, I’ll have someone else......”

“Go. Of course I’ll go!”

Veil thrust out her chest, speaking righteously: “So long as it’s the President’s order, I’ll climb blades and dive into fire without the slightest problem!”

“That’s good. You judge the timing yourself—safety first.”

“Understood!”

Veil gave a neither-here-nor-there military salute, then hurried out to make preparations.

Watching Veil’s back disappear, Celicia turned her head once more—toward a direction utterly opposite the Lower District.

“Alright. Next...... I’ll go again, and meet my Imperial Father who has kept his silence until now.”