When she heard it was an allergic reaction, the Old Witch’s tightly furrowed brow finally relaxed a little.

“His body is too weak—it’s normal that he couldn’t withstand the modification,” she muttered while rubbing her bright red lips. “I’ll go bring the giant and the barbarian. Hopefully, their innately powerful physiques can withstand the allergy.”

After the Old Witch left for the second time, Oqili came over to help Saul move the dead wizard to the scrap zone.

But what he saw was Saul collecting skin, blood, and parts of the bones from the corpse.

“What are you doing?”

“I want to check for the allergen.”

Oqili grabbed Saul’s wrist and said in a low voice, “What, you really want to help her complete the experiment?”

Saul broke free from Oqili’s grip. “If we’re going to put on a show, we should play the part completely.”

Oqili was stunned. Suddenly, the Saul in front of him didn’t seem quite as naive as he had imagined.

A sudden surge of anger rose in Oqili’s heart. More than anything, it stemmed from the fact that he hadn’t thought things through as thoroughly as a child. But in the end, the one he took it out on was still this young wizard.

“You’d better worry about your own progress!” Oqili snorted coldly and stepped back.

Saul noticed he had walked away and turned to deal with the materials in the scrap zone himself.

Recently, Oqili hadn’t been very focused on experiments, but every time it came to cleaning up scraps, he was surprisingly enthusiastic.

Saul subtly adjusted the magic mirror, using the reflection to observe Oqili’s actions.

Moments later, a glint of understanding flashed in his eyes. He smiled faintly, then quickly hid it.

Soon, the Old Witch returned, bringing the giant and the barbarian with her.

As soon as they entered, they saw the corpse on the experiment table.

The giant’s first reaction was to turn around and run, but the Old Witch struck his ankle with her wooden staff.

This time, she hit with particular force. The giant’s ankle broke completely, with even a piece missing—it was as if the staff had devoured it.

Having lost a foot, and already weak, the giant collapsed to the ground, no longer able to run.

The Old Witch grabbed the giant by his remaining leg and dragged him into the lab.

Despite being over three meters tall, the giant was like a helpless infant in the Old Witch’s grip.

The barbarian, on the other hand, didn’t run. He remained dazed and vacant, as if he were completely mad.

When the giant was thrown onto the table, wailing, and then died from an allergic reaction, also wailing, the barbarian suddenly began to dance.

He lifted his legs high in alternating rhythm, clapped his hands above his head, beat his chest with his palms, and let out a series of strange “woo woo woo” noises.

It was then that Saul noticed—the barbarian no longer had a tongue.

Barbarians typically worship ancient gods. These gods weren’t the all-powerful beings of legend, but merely powerful figures from the previous epoch—or even earlier. Their true strength was now lost to time, and they had long since vanished from history.

Most likely, this barbarian had sacrificed his tongue to his god when he was captured by the Old Witch.

As the Old Witch approached again, the barbarian finished his dance and, with sheer force, tore off his right ear and hurled it skyward.

However, before the bloody ear even hit the ground, the Old Witch raised a finger and shattered it with sorcery.

The ritual failed.

Not that completing it would’ve helped, anyway.

The Old Witch tossed the now-deflated barbarian onto the experiment table like a burst balloon.

Saul looked at the patterns on the barbarian’s body—they felt familiar. He tried to memorize them, but the Old Witch was already impatiently tapping the table with her finger.

Thump, thump, thump.

“Hurry up! Continue!”

Saul said nothing and began infusing the “dough” into the barbarian’s body.

Soon, the barbarian also showed signs of an allergic reaction. But unlike the previous two, he didn’t die right away. After a severe rash reaction, he simply fell into a coma.

This change drew both the Old Witch and Oqili closer.

“Is this a success?” the Old Witch asked with a hint of excitement.

But Saul didn’t think so. “For now, it only shows the possibility of success. But it’s slim. Whether he survives in the end will determine that.”

For the first time, a smile appeared on the Old Witch’s face. “Observe him carefully. If he dies… then Oqili is next.”

Behind them, Oqili’s legs went weak—he nearly collapsed on the spot.

Since they needed to monitor and maintain the barbarian’s life signs, Saul and Oqili were once again permitted to stay outside after the experiment ended that day.

The Old Witch went next door to rest.

Oqili continued to process the waste.

But halfway through, he suddenly turned red-eyed toward Saul. “How much longer do you need?”

Saul was checking the rest of his culture dishes. He didn’t seem anxious at all, as if completely immersed in research—totally forgetting that if this one failed, he’d be next on the table.

“Three days, I think.”

Oqili lowered his head, his body trembling slightly. “You don’t have three days. I have even less.”

Saul held up a sample—the tissue that had shown the most severe allergic reaction on the barbarian. “No. We do have three days.”

By the time the Old Witch had rested, it was already the next day.

Her face was still as gloomy as ever, the severed finger at the back of her head twitching.

The moment she entered, she pointed her staff directly at Oqili. “You. Up.”

Oqili shuddered and turned to Saul.

If Saul hadn’t confidently promised last night that he could buy them three days, Oqili would’ve taken action then and there.

Fortunately, Saul kept his word.

He stepped forward and spoke up. “Old Witch, in the experiments on the previous three subjects, I discovered there’s still room for improvement in the perfect body…”

“Then improve it on Oqili. I don’t have time to let you research at a snail’s pace.”

A night had passed, and the Old Witch seemed even more anxious than before.

Saul raised a test tube and held it in front of him. “Repeating failed procedures is pointless. Multiple experiments help us correct mistakes, not increase the success rate.”

Just as the Old Witch was about to swing her staff at him, Saul added quickly, “I only need ten days to improve the procedure. Even if it’s Oqili and I on the table now, the one who’ll ultimately undergo body modification—isn’t it still you?”

As the Old Witch hesitated, Oqili quickly shrank back and pleaded, “We only need three days. Even if you don’t believe me, you should believe in Saul. He’s a genius in this field! He’ll absolutely be able to raise the success rate to a level you can accept!”

The Old Witch squinted at Saul, her face clouded. “What’s in your hand?”

“It’s the tissue sample from the barbarian’s most severe allergic reaction. Through analysis, I’ve already found a way to suppress the symptoms. But I still need several more experiments. If possible, I’d like to establish ten control groups to ensure the accuracy of the data.”

The room fell silent. For Oqili, every second dragged on like a year.

Three painfully long minutes later, the Old Witch finally spoke.

“You don’t get ten days. I’m giving you three. As for the control groups… five, at most. I’ll go catch more subjects now.”

She disappeared in a flash.

Oqili exhaled in relief and quickly gripped the table to steady himself—he had nearly collapsed for real.

Saul turned and patted Oqili on the shoulder. “It’s not time to relax yet. Let’s move on to the final experiment.”

(End of Chapter)

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