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His body remained in a state where the soul brimmed, his brain wracked with stabbing pains as if poked by needles, fingers twitching as though electrocuted. Even so, situated within the blood-splattered Hive room, Lyle was intently controlling Nia, guiding her through the creation of flesh.

From the Lich Crown atop Lyle’s head, ominous dark grey motes of light descended. It was an enhanced spell, the Mind of the Dead. The ability to reject all negative state interferences.

Mr. Crimson wandered not far behind, offering a series of suggestions towards the flesh creation in the center of Nia’s hands.

"Ah, I see, I understand. Plague Doctor, perhaps here you could try increasing the organ capacity, as well as the magic power capacity."

Lyle merely nodded numbly, his movements unchanged.

Mr. Crimson did not get angry. He shifted his gaze to another part of the tentacled work.

"Hey, dear Plague Doctor, why not try a springy muscle structure? It could enhance mobility."

"Mr. Crimson, we just need to create taste buds and a series of digestive organs," Lyle replied.

Mr. Crimson patted Lyle’s shoulder pleasingly and bent down to look at his student.

"My most outstanding student, you are excellent, but there are areas to be strengthened. I hope you can become more well-rounded."

Lyle turned his bird-beak mask, and due to the body’s twitching, this simple action was like a broken doll in a horror movie, filled with ominous presence.

Even the word he spat out wasn’t any better.

"Roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll, roll..." (Why a string of them, you ask? Because the muscles were still trembling.)

Why would the respectful Plague Doctor, who always honored his teacher and the way of teaching, speak so rudely? Why would Mr. Crimson, the professor of Flesh Summoning Studies, treat him with flattery?

Could it be that Lyle was finally rising?

Mr. Crimson gazed at the crown flickering strange sheens above Lyle’s head, his face undisguised with greed.

"The Lich Crown that is utterly submissive, Plague Doctor, do you know what this means? Rules and order no longer bind you; your actions represent the power amassed by Andrey. What miraculous power this is, why not take this excellent opportunity to gather more data? We have so many impossibilities to make possible. We’ve already created ’that thing’!"

Lyle rolled his eyes, looking at Mr. Crimson’s flushed face, which was already quite red to begin with.

"It’s because ’that thing’ has been created that I don’t want to waste more time, for your ideas and concepts are endless, teacher. Wouldn’t it be better to simply accomplish our goals?"

"Time? Does that mean anything to us? More possibilities are our goal, Plague Doctor. You care too much about time; impatience will not nurture a Spirit Summoning Master. We have plenty of time."

Sorry, but my lifespan isn’t that long.

At first, Lyle was in no way opposed to Mr. Crimson’s suggestions, even agreeable to a fault. Knowledge was crammed into him until he phased out, and by the time Lyle came back to his senses, the creature created with all of Mr. Crimson’s suggestions stood before them.

That Thing.

A sausage-shaped body with keratinous skin covered in mucus, two muscular hind legs sporting hook claws more akin to those of a velociraptor than a human’s. A tail filled solely with muscles for balance, the developed musculature even able to deliver an uppercut with a tail-whip. No forelimbs, and aside from the gaping maw, other sensory organs and a potentially fatal flaw of a neck were nonexistent. There were no teeth, but the inner walls of the mouth, including the entire digestive system, had hard, raised ridges that could crush food like a blender. Feelers at the front of the mouth acted as a tongue, rich with sensory cells, serving as an important organ for searching enemies. The tail could also sense vibrations.

That Thing was a deliberately designed war machine, with strength only at the third lock, but undoubtedly a nightmare for enemies of the same tier. Its mouth could expand to one hundred eighty degrees like the lid of a flip-top trash can, swallowing enemies up to twice its volume. Specialized saliva rapidly digested those foods and transformed the remnants into a highly acidic biochemical weapon discharged in a spray.

It was so bizarre that there was no suitable term for its scientific name, so it was called "that thing." (The term biped was already exclusive to humans.)

When Lyle saw "that thing," he was also stunned, exchanging dumbfounded looks with Nia, while only Mr. Scarlet cheered beside them.

"Is this what Andrey Lich intends to use as a disguise?"

Nia tapped that thing’s scalp with her tentacles, hearing a clunking sound.

So strange! How could such a creature exist!

This anti-biological design shouldn’t even exist. Mr. Scarlet had already excitedly conducted experiments himself, attempting to imitate the creation of that thing, only for it to explode.

"Amazing, Plague Doctor! With the power of the Lich Crown, you have created a being that should not exist! This is! This is a miracle!"

Ugh, that thing vomited the blood and flesh it had secretly consumed onto the table, emitting a pungent acid smell and a hissing sound.

"Amazing, it’s alive! A new life!"

No, that thing was a desecration of life itself, a direct mockery of the laws of nature.

"Mr. Scarlet, what use is that thing to you? As you can see, you can’t replicate it; at most it can become part of your collection."

"No, dear Plague Doctor. While I cannot create that thing, the Blood Nest Great Tree can. My forbidden creation has already recorded your experimental process and has etched it into a skill."

"Biological Creation: that thing."

"We might not understand the principle, but we can now produce them en masse without any idea how. There are already twenty of that thing frolicking beneath the Great Tree. Cheer, Plague Doctor, we have created a miracle lifeform!"

Sorry, I can’t get excited at all. Just the thought of such a bizarre thing being my creation makes me uncomfortable all over.

Lyle returned to his flesh creation and crossed out all of Mr. Scarlet’s suggestions.

Under Mr. Scarlet’s relentless interference, a new flesh disguise was completed.

A human-like exterior, complete with features. Most importantly, the mouth and nose were no longer for show.

However, the digestive system and taste buds were indeed magically modified.

It was still a creation driven by magic power and wild fantasy. The tongue and nose were only similar in appearance to human organs, with functions that were even more outstanding. When the tongue made contact, the stimulus would be transmitted to the flesh conduits hidden above, delivering a direct stimulation to the soul touched, similar to the previous knowledge inheritance ceremony.

As for the digestive tract, it was much shorter than that of a normal human being. As this flesh creation was a living being with a certain degree of digestive capability, it was now only enhancing the efficiency of the active flesh’s digestion process.

Thus, the Hungering Flesh Disguise, completed.

Lyle bid farewell to Mr. Scarlet.

Before leaving the Blood Nest Great Tree, Lyle noticed a large patch of corroded ground and some sudden screams from the Liches in the distant forest.

"Holy shit, what the hell is that!"