Chapter 212 - 136: Successful Removal (2)
Next, several Cactus Heroes went to work, surgically removing the main bodies of the Eye Demons from the volunteers’ backs. This included the primary, visible tentacles that mimicked a nervous system.
Then, they were sterilized. A Death Devourer used its "Death Energy Diffusion" ability to purge any residual Eye Demon tentacles from within the hosts’ bodies.
Finally, a Healing Professional healed the bodies of the parasitized volunteers.
This yielded a collection of living Eye Demon specimens, still in their parasitic state, which could be stored within the territory.
They just had to wait for the invasion to begin tomorrow to get more Eye Demons for their experiments.
To prevent any accidents, the extracted Eye Demons were placed in a small, heavily secured storage unit inside an isolation laboratory.
With the Eye Demon removal surgeries complete, Lin Kong and Lin Haoyue turned their attention to the Lower Elves and Slimes.
A few Lower Elves and Slimes were brought into the operating room, where Lin Kong observed them by using the vision granted by his main body’s integration with the World Tree.
Through his unique perspective, he could see that the Eye Demons, Lower Elves, and Slimes were currently coexisting peacefully.
The Lower Elves and Slimes were moving about normally, while the Eye Demons seemed to be dormant and were completely motionless.
He checked the attributes of the Lower Elves and Slimes and found their stats had been enhanced. The boost was equivalent to what they would gain from advancing one tier in rank.
’Strange, have these Eye Demons had a change of heart or something?’
This harmonious coexistence between the parasitized Lower Elves and Slimes and the Eye Demons within them left Lin Kong baffled. He couldn’t understand why the Eye Demons, so malevolent when inhabiting flesh-and-blood creatures, were acting so peacefully inside the Lower Elves and Slimes.
Lin Kong was utterly stumped.
While Lin Kong was lost in thought, Lin Haoyue began running experiments on the parasitized Lower Elves and Slimes.
After running tests with various Spiritual Items and having the on-site research interns use their own abilities on the subjects, Lin Haoyue found nothing abnormal about the Lower Elves and Slimes.
Their stats were simply enhanced, making them elites among their kind, but they hadn’t gained any new abilities.
At this point, Lin Haoyue’s research also hit a bottleneck. Both she and Lin Kong racked their brains, unable to figure out what their next step should be.
Lin Kong began to ponder the connection between Lower Elves and Slimes, trying to understand why the Eye Demons found them so interesting.
’What’s the connection between Lower Elves and Slimes?’
’Slimes are a mutation of Lower Elves, but the two are now reproductively isolated. While Lower Elves can still be converted into Slimes through a certain process, Slimes cannot be converted back.’
’Furthermore, Slimes have now formed an independent species and can self-replicate.’
’In other words, the Eye Demon’s intense interest in Slimes has nothing to do with their origin.’
’Perhaps the Eye Demon is simply interested in energy-based life-forms?’
’Unfortunately, we don’t have any other energy-based life-forms in the territory, or else I could test that theory.’
’Let’s tentatively assume the Eye Demon is only interested in energy-based life-forms.’
’So, what do Lower Elves and Slimes have in common?’
’Lower Elves have the "Self-Destruct" ability and the production skill "Nature’s Grasp."’
’Self-Destruct is definitely not the reason for the Eye Demon’s interest. That only leaves the production skill, "Nature’s Grasp." But would an Eye Demon really be interested in that? It’s strange; it doesn’t seem like the kind of creature that cares about production.’
’Then what abilities do Slimes have?’
[Name]: Slime
[Rank]: Excellent
[Level]: 1
[Attack]: 10
[Spell Power]: 10
[Speed]: 10
[Defense]: 30
[HP]: 60
[Skills]: Corruptive Purification, Fission-Fusion
[Talent]: Adaptive Digestion
[Corruptive Purification]: The Slime can absorb and digest large quantities of decomposed organic matter to produce purified natural essence.
[Fission-Fusion]: When sensing danger, if multiple Slimes are present, they will merge into a single, powerful individual to confront the threat. If a lone Slime faces a problem, it can split into multiple smaller individuals, each capable of surviving on its own.
Fusion: Different Slimes can fuse with one another. The level of the resulting Slime will be the sum of all the individual Slimes’ levels.
Fission: A Slime can split equally, forming two Slimes of the same level with each split (the total combined level remains unchanged). Level 1 Slimes cannot split further.
[Adaptive Digestion]: The Slime can quickly adapt to and digest almost any substance, including poisonous flora and fauna, as well as inorganic materials. This allows it to survive in a wide variety of environments and makes it highly resistant to toxins.
There is a very small chance of acquiring a trait from the digested substance. For example, by consuming a substance with fire-based properties, it has a chance to gain fire resistance, a fire-based attack, or another fire-related ability.
Lin Kong reviewed the stats of a parasitized Slime, comparing them to what he recalled from memory.
He discovered that compared to the stats he’d seen when he first returned to the territory during the second phase, the Slimes had gained two new skills: Corruptive Purification and Fission-Fusion.
’When did the Slimes get two new skills?’
Lin Kong felt a deep sense of self-reproach for not having noticed this change in the Slimes sooner.
The main reason, he admitted, was that he had been extremely busy these past few months. In addition, the Slimes’ stats were so low and their skills so useless that they contributed little to the territory’s development. As a result, they had completely fallen off his radar.