High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2907: Chapter 1126: Mid-Stage Treatment Plan

”Me?”

”Illusion?”

Chewing over these words, Zheng Qing felt a bit at a loss.

Of course, hanging in mid-air, he was indeed clueless.

The voice echoing above the altar did not pause due to the boy’s astonishment, continuing to explain in its mechanical and dull tone: ”—You are very special, this was something I realized after you entered my laboratory in your freshman year. But at that time, I had no other thoughts, only an intention to establish good relations with the Moon Council because you came to my lab with an introduction letter from Su Councilor. Of course, I did not realize your relationship with Su Councilor was so complex...”

”And then?” Zheng Qing had to interrupt the professor’s somewhat off-track explanation.

”And then you went to the Black Prison.”

Professor Montreya calmly recounted his thoughts, as if narrating someone else’s story: ”—When you walked out of the Black Prison, I realized you were more important than I had imagined. So we need you. Coincidentally, due to some extra help, our experiment made significant progress. We developed an inhibitor that can curb the symptoms of physical collapse caused by the invasion of Demon Bloodline. Gan Ning knew my thoughts and was aware of my hesitation. So he helped me make up my mind by planting a spirit seed on you during that banquet.

His idea was simple. After you become our experimental subject, you will have to achieve a certain degree of cooperation with us to obtain the inhibitor to save your life... Perhaps at the beginning, there might be some unpleasantness, but eventually, this matter will develop in a ’mutually beneficial’ direction. Because that spirit seed will greatly enhance your physical strength and magic affinity, even helping you smoothly pass through the advancement risk period.”

”But I don’t need the inhibitor.”

Zheng Qing slowly followed the professor’s train of thought, speculating with some realization: ”...And then you think that the reason I didn’t encounter any loss of control or physical collapse is because your experimental plan is correct?”

The mechanical voice above the altar went silent.

At the center of the altar.

The witch, who had remained motionless throughout, nodded slightly but still did not speak.

”It’s really... a sad answer.”

Zheng Qing continued analyzing with a mix of empathy and schadenfreude: ”So, you believe your experiment succeeded, then started to promote the transformation plan internally on a large scale? Gan Ning? Thomas? Who else underwent modification?”

This time, the professor denied the boy’s speculation.

”No, none of them did.”

The echoing voice in the cave remained as calm as ever: ”In the past, we always experimented on sub-intelligent races, and this time was no different. However, the ogres modified according to the new plan, although improved significantly over the past, still could not avoid the result of physical collapse. The internal discussion concluded that the greatest possibility was that the materials of the experimental subjects were too inferior to meet the minimum requirement for stability. In other words, for the new plan’s experimental subjects, at least a wizard of your level is required to have the potential for success.”

”Wow... ’Material’ like me is hard to find.”

The boy’s tone carried a touch of sympathy—not mockery—because he knew exactly his own situation—this was no longer a matter of ’hard to find,’ but a situation where there is no second exception.

The ravens naturally did not know the boy’s true circumstances.

But adhering to the strategy of ’expect the enemy to be more formidable,’ they still proposed a series of conditions for experimental subjects that met the modification requirements: for example, young, with high talent (consecutive years as cost students), male, and so on.

However, after filtering, very few ravens met the requirements, and none were anything less than the most outstanding juniors in the organization.

”—Although everyone believed the experiment’s success rate was high, using the organization’s future to experiment was still too risky.”

Professor Montreya calmly repeated the previous story: ”So, ultimately, I chose myself. This was not a mad gamble, but a carefully considered result. As a senior registered wizard with extensive experience and knowledge, as the highest person in charge of the entire experimental project, I am more clear about the experiment’s details and taboos than anyone, and compared to those juniors, I have stronger mastery of magic power, even if something goes wrong, there is room for remedy... The only shortcoming is I am no longer young. This can be temporarily maintained by using certain magic potions to sustain a young and healthy physique.”

The boy hanging in mid-air mouthed but eventually couldn’t utter any words.

Unconsciously, he suddenly thought of Professor Montreya’s other identity—the Vice Dean of Edge Academy—even with rigorous consideration, sacrifice is still sacrifice, which is probably why he fits the edge’s underlying characteristics.

The subsequent development was within Zheng Qing’s expectations.

”—The result of the modification was not as good as imagined, but it was not particularly bad either.”

The voice echoing above the altar maintained its usual mechanical feeling, but now it seemed much more comforting: ”With the help of Demon Flesh, I successfully broke through the shackles to advance to Big Wizard. At first, everything was so smooth, my state after advancing was excellent, from the quality of magic power to spiritual metamorphosis, no signs of corruption appeared. But this perfect state lasted only a few weeks... my physical body began to age rapidly. Doesn’t it sound a bit like the side effect of ’Edge Type One’? Yes, many technologies from our lab were applied in Edge Type One. The young people in the lab wanted to solve this problem by uniting the entire school’s power through this method—of course, this is a long-term plan.

As for the short-term solution, I first tried various magic potions and magic rituals, including the realm of Black Magic. None were satisfactory. The collapse of the body continued. Until finally, through trading, we obtained magic regarding life force extraction from the Man-made Philosopher’s Stone... Using this method can maintain a certain degree of stability in the physical body.

Then there were those frightening incidents you often heard about in the Silent Forest this semester.”

”What does this have to do with me...” the boy murmured, though he already knew the answer in his heart.

”You are their ’mid-term solution’ for me.”

In Professor Montreya’s mechanical voice seemed to be a touch of tenderness, or perhaps it was just Zheng Qing’s illusion: ”—Because you are the only ’completely successful’ experimental subject in the entire transformation project. Therefore, the lab inferred that there might be some special substances in you that could counteract the erosion of Demon Bloodline. So, we tried various ways to obtain your blood and flesh. This was difficult and very dangerous... It could easily alert the school.”