Saul's plastic bones and Ralph’s fleshcrafting magic were both dark-elent-based body modification techniques.
If not for Gorsa’s reminder, Saul wouldn’t have thought of combining the two.
Over a month after being locked in the second storeroom, he finally finished preparing all the raw materials.
Instead of starting the modification right away, Saul returned to his coffin for a proper rest.
Only by confirming that his ntal state was stable and his magic flowing smoothly could he begin adjusting the final potion.
The next day, Saul didn’t even bother eating—he dove straight into his lab.
Today, he will finally test his theory in full.
First, he re-electrolyzed and softened the Soul Resin that had long since been separated from his arm. After several rounds of filtration, he ticulously removed every trace of contaminant.
He even extracted all the soul fragnts the resin had absorbed, reverting it to its most primitive state.
He placed a small amount of the resin into a crucible, activated a weak current to keep it in a flowing state, then added a neutralizer and a supporting reagent from the fleshcrafting magic.
The mont the three solution combined, a violent tearing noise rang out—they imdiately began "battling" each other.
Saul quickly leaned back and crouched, keeping his eyes just above the crucible's rim.
Gray-white, translucent, and bright red—the three colors intertwined, each infiltrating the other in turn, yet stubbornly refusing to rge.
They looked like a tricolored rope—entangled, but never truly one.
“The neutralizer isn’t working?” Saul frowned.
According to his calculations, the neutralizer should have been the first to blend with the other two solution, acting as a bridge that slowly brought the gray and red into harmony.
But in reality, there was no sign of fusion.
“Why isn’t there even a hint of reaction?”
Saul closed his eyes and retraced every step of the experint in his mind.
He had calculated and simulated every part of the process. He couldn’t find an error in logic.
If logic didn’t help, then he’d examine reality.
Opening his eyes again, he stood and directed his ntal energy into the tangled solution in the crucible.
It was a risky move.
Wizard solution weren’t always inert substances—especially in fleshcrafting, where so components carried consciousness-devouring traits and could pose a real danger.
But the diary didn’t stop him this ti.
Bit by bit, Saul’s ntal power reached into the crucible.
Although his ntal energy couldn’t yet influence the outside world directly, after several enhancents, he could now observe subtle details from a spiritual perspective.
In that deeper view, he saw the issue: the neutralizer, which was supposed to catalyze the fusion, had beco inert.
This inertia prevented it from actively blending with the other solution.
“Just as I thought—magic experints are incredibly complex. This one’s probably going to fail.”
Saul was a little disappointed, but not discouraged. This experint was already beyond his level; failing a dozen tis wouldn’t be unusual.
But then, sothing unexpected happened.
Perhaps recognizing Saul’s familiar ntal energy, the Soul Resin suddenly cald. Its aggression dropped significantly, and the red reagent began to penetrate its surface tension, dragging the transparent reagent along.
“Is it changing?” Saul’s eyes lit up. Any change was better than a deadlock.
He continued watching.
The gray resin was now completely invaded by the red reagent, which behaved like rats storming a grain store.
Small gray particles were devoured, and the red reagent’s absorption rate kept accelerating.
The neutralizer, too, began to react properly—part of it entered the red reagent, while another part slowly accepted the gray resin.
It looked like the fusion was finally underway, though not in the way Saul had expected.
But then, sothing even stranger occurred—within the red reagent, gray solution started to appear. It quickly spread, covering all the red liquid in seconds.
The gray solution then actively entered the neutralizer, using its fusion properties to join with the residual Soul Resin.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much resin left, and the solution stopped reacting after absorbing a small amount.
Seeing this, Saul quickly added a bit more resin—after confirming the diary didn’t object.
As soon as the new resin entered, the gray solution resud its fusion, but again, it only absorbed a little before halting.
“This new gray solution has a very low solubility in the Soul Resin…”
Rather than add more, Saul chose to continue observing the internal reactions with his ntal energy.
What he saw made him suck in a breath.
The new solution exhibited intense activity—completely invisible from the outside, but inside, it surged like an undercurrent.
Saul took a drop and placed a life-bearing seed into it.
Five minutes passed. Nothing seed to happen.
He plucked the seed out with tweezers and planted it in a small pot with shallow soil.
Then he chanted a spell, infusing the pot with light and water. He also sprinkled so fertilizer made by the Wizard Tower near the seed.
Finally, he cast a growth-accelerating spell.
A green stream flowed into the pot. The soil stirred slightly.
Then, a pale yellow sprout pushed out and began growing at an astonishing rate.
Soon, the green plant had grown half a ter tall—but then, sothing eerie happened. A gray liquid began to seep from its surface, spreading until the entire plant turned gray.
More alarmingly, the soil also began to shift color.
By the end, the entire pot—the plant, the soil—had turned a strange black.
Even the pot itself began to gray.
“Such strong contamination? It can even cross species and elental types?”
Was this really the reagent he planned to use for body modification?
Saul swallowed hard.
“I can’t let this thing keep reacting.”
He imdiately cast the Zero Tier spell Tremor Shock on the plant. It took three full blasts before the gray infection finally stopped spreading.
“Its weakness is still electricity, but its resistance has increased several fold.” Saul laughed. “Well, that solves one of the Soul Resin’s weaknesses by accident. Once it absorbs more soul fragnts, its strength will rise again. It might beco fully immune to Zero Tier electric spells, but anything higher would kill outright, resin or not. So… yeah, still a win.”
He lifted the pot to toss it in the trash.
But a shadow suddenly flashed by.
Like a mad dog lunging for food, it snatched the whole thing—plant and pot—and swallowed it in one bite.
Saul’s mouth twitched. He looked at the wobbly Little Algae, swaying its tendrils like it was drunk.
“If you keep eating random crap, I swear I’ll carve you up!”
Algae shuddered—whether in fear or due to a bad reaction, Saul couldn’t tell.
He quickly grabbed the creature and inspected it thoroughly.
Once he was sure nothing seed wrong, Saul let out a breath.
“I know you’re an earth-elent magical beast, but that doesn’t an you can eat everything, okay? Didn’t you see that the soil turned gray? If that new solution’s activity wasn’t fully neutralized, you wanna beco a new color variant or sothing?”
Saul: Spit it out. SPIT IT OUT RIGHT NOW.
(End of Chapter)
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