The "Iron Maiden" used for the second mutation had already been transformed beyond recognition from the version Allen once saw in Tomas Moreau's laboratory.
Several iron tubes jutted out grotesquely from its back, like twisted tentacles sprouting from the ancient torture device, each one connected to jars and flasks filled with fluids of all manner of colors and clarity.
A bizarre contraption, cobbled together in just two days—could something like this really cure the Chief?
Not only Aristo, but others in the laboratory shared the same doubt, including Vesemir himself, despite his constant reassurance of "You can always trust Allen."
Yet no one voiced it aloud.
"Begin!"
The young yet steady voice suddenly rang out, making Aristo's breath quicken. His fists clenched reflexively.
Standing beside the monstrous device, Allen gave Jerome Moreau a nod. Together, the two opened the side valves.
"Hissss—"
A strange sound, like a viper's hiss, made everyone's teeth ache.
The iron tubes quivered violently as they sucked in the fluids from the jars, before compressing and converting them through rune arrays into a rush of green gas that flooded the Iron Maiden's chamber.
The view inside was obscured, only the faint shimmer of an eerie blue could be glimpsed.
Aristo swallowed hard, his right hand tightening on Vesemir's shoulder without realizing.
Vesemir, wholly focused on the experiment, seemed not to notice the increasing weight on him.
Time stretched.
"Fwoo—"
With a soft exhale, the green mist vented from the Iron Maiden's frontal gaps.
At that tense moment of anticipation—
"Hey! Aristo, relax!"
Vesemir's pained cry shattered the heavy atmosphere.
"Oh, sorry, Vesemir." Aristo flushed under the gazes of the others and quickly withdrew his hand.
Vesemir merely waved it off, turning his attention back to the Iron Maiden.
Click.
With the faint sound of a lock releasing, the Iron Maiden swung open. From the haze of green mist, a blue figure toppled forward, collapsing to its knees.
It was a Drowner. Yet under everyone's eyes, it felt less like a monster and more like a dragon egg just hatched.
"Gulp…" Aristo swallowed, unable to look away.
Finally—
"Gra… gra… graaaghh…"
The Drowner muttered as it crawled from the ground, crimson eyes flashing with cunning before it suddenly lunged at the nearest person—Jerome Moreau.
But Jerome hadn't even lifted his hand from the Iron Maiden's lever. Without drawing his sword or dodging, he simply brushed his left hand through the air as if swatting away dust.
Crack! Crack!
The Drowner's limbs twisted into unnatural angles as it crashed down, shrieking "Graaaaghh!"
"This is… success?" Aristo glanced at Vesemir, then back at the Drowner that looked utterly ordinary.
"It's success."
Jerome's expression wasn't dazed like Aristo's or Vesemir's. Instead, his face was filled with shock—it really worked.
Though not an expert, Jerome had more than a passing knowledge of second mutations. Enough to know what should be impossible.
He had witnessed Tomas Moreau spend decades of labor only to end with results utterly opposite his intent.
Allen had based his design on Tomas' work, yes—but this? Completed in just two days?
Yet somehow, impossibly, Allen had done it. It was inhuman.
"Uh…" Aristo looked from the struggling Drowner to Allen, his voice uncertain. "The results from a Drowner… can they really be replicated in the Chief?"
Allen did not answer. Instead, it was Aedirn's elven sage, Ida Emean, who spoke.
"Drowners are not the monsters most similar to humans. But their souls are far more fragile than an ordinary man's." Her voice was soft. "Vera and I replicated the majority of Sol's soul trauma onto this Drowner."
"In theory, if the Drowner can recover, then so too should Sol."
"And now, this Drowner—once broken and witless from soul damage, unresponsive to the world—has nearly perfectly recovered thanks to the second mutation."
"Of course…"
Before Aristo could exhale in relief, Ida added, "The dragon's curse cannot be replicated."
"Even though a Drowner's soul is weaker than Sol's, the influence of the dragon can never be ignored."
"And remember—it is only theory. And because time is pressing, we haven't observed the Drowner's long-term condition. So…"
She did not finish her sentence. But everyone in the chamber understood what she meant.
Aristo's heart sank once again.
"Allen, what do you think?" Vesemir turned his gaze to Allen, who had kept his eyes closed since the end of the experiment, not joining in the discussion, as if lost in thought.
Aristo, Danthe, Ida Emean, and Jerome Moreau also shifted their eyes toward him.
"There are still some shortcomings," Allen opened his tired azure eyes. "In the formula, we need to add three more grams of cyclops heart extract as a mutagenic catalyst, to slowly suppress the effects of the dragon's curse."
"Cyclops?" Jerome Moreau was taken aback. "Where did you learn that cyclops hearts can suppress the dragon's curse?"
After all, Allen had never worked with it before, and Tomas Moreau had never used such a material either.
"Instinct."
Allen fell silent for a few seconds, glanced at the flickering system prompt before his eyes, and spoke. Of course, it wasn't instinct at all.
[Ding! 50 experience orbs consumed. Your skill: Genetic Mutation Studies LV6 has been upgraded to Genetic Mutation Studies LV7 (0/100W).]
In truth, LV6 of Genetic Mutation Studies was already enough. Even two days ago, he understood secondary mutation better than Tomas Moreau.
The Drowner experiments had also been a success.
But after hearing Ida Emean's conjecture, he reconsidered and spent another fifty experience orbs to raise Genetic Mutation Studies to LV7.
Because once Sol formally began the mutation, there would be no way to make any adjustments…
It would be life or death.
Since he had enough orbs, spending them now was better than regretting later and letting all their efforts be wasted.
If he had enough orbs, he would have maxed out Genetic Mutation Studies entirely.
But counting carefully, in order to save Sol, he had already spent nearly 84 experience orbs. Now his pocket held fewer than 100, not enough to push Genetic Mutation Studies to LV8.
Still, those fifty orbs were well spent.
Knowledge-based skills like Alchemy, Ritual Studies, and Genetic Mutation Studies didn't have direct panels, but they followed the same "three-level thresholds" as ordinary skills.
If expressed in the form of a system panel, it would look like this:
[Name: Genetic Mutation Studies]
[Type: Knowledge]
[Level: LV7]
[Passive Effects:
LV1–LV3: Mutation traits of non-magical creatures; possible (benign/malignant) mutation paths without magic or elemental involvement.
LV4–LV6: Mutation traits of non-large magical creatures; possible (benign/malignant) mutation paths with magic and elemental involvement.
LV7: Mutation traits of certain large magical creatures; possible (benign/malignant) mutation paths with heavy magic and elemental involvement.]
It wasn't entirely accurate, because as Allen's level increased, he also developed an almost instinctive sense toward genes—an intuition that when two genes were combined in a certain way, a specific trait would inevitably emerge. And most of the time, his intuition was extremely precise.
Especially when judging gene mutations below his current level…
That was essentially the difference.
The knowledge about the function of a Cyclops heart was something he only gained after leveling up.
Though he wasn't sure why—perhaps related to the legend that giants were the natural enemies of dragons—the Cyclops heart could indeed suppress the malignant genetic expressions of dragons on the genetic level.
This was a small piece of knowledge unlocked at Gene Mutation Science LV7, and it happened to be useful now.
Fortunately, under the categorization in the Witcher's Journal, Cyclopes were considered among the lower tier of large monsters. Otherwise, knowledge about dragons wouldn't appear at LV7—it would be something only attainable at least at LV9.
"Intuition?" Jerome Moreau exchanged puzzled glances with Vesemir, Ida Emean, and the others. Clearly, that was not a convincing explanation.
The atmosphere grew heavy.
"Trust me," Allen took a deep breath and met the eyes of the silent Vesemir and the hesitant Aristo. "I want Chief Sol to survive just as much as you do."
"And we don't have time—the chief can't wait for slow and careful verification…"
The mutation effect of a Cyclops heart suppressing dragon genes couldn't possibly be tested on any monster that didn't contain dragon blood.
So…
Even if they had time, finding a suitable test subject would be nearly impossible. At the very least, the Drowners before them certainly wouldn't do.
And besides, Sol truly didn't have time. The reason Vera wasn't here wasn't because she didn't want to be, but because within just two days, Sol's condition had deteriorated to the point where he couldn't leave her side for even a moment.
There would be no "next two days" to research at leisure.
"Then I'll entrust this to you, Allen!"
The voice was not Vesemir's, but Aristo's—who, despite his restraint, had always found it difficult to hide his doubts and mistrust.
"Don't look at me like that," he took a deep breath, casting a glance at the shocked Vesemir and Danthe. "I've always had reservations, yes, but I've never doubted Allen's resolve."
"Since you all returned to Kaer Morhen, Allen hasn't rested for a moment. Ever since coming back from Tomas Moreau's laboratory, he's spent every waking hour buried in this lab…"
"I'm not blind."
"When it comes to saving the chief, Allen has done more than all of us combined."
Allen froze for a moment, caught off guard. "It's not just me…"
"We all have eyes, no need for false modesty," Aristo waved him off, cutting him short. "Go ahead and do it—without hesitation, without burden. We all believe in you!"
With that said—
The others were still stunned by Aristo's sudden shift in tone, but he didn't wait for their response. Turning his back to them, he strode directly toward the exit of the laboratory.
"Where are you going, Aristo?"
Vesemir and Danthe finally snapped out of it and called after him.
"I'm going to inform Lady Vera." Aristo paused for a moment but didn't look back. After saying that, he pushed open the door and left the laboratory.
The laboratory fell into silence for a moment.
"Shouldn't contacting Lady Vera be Lady Ida's responsibility?" Danthe asked uncertainly. "Aristo… Aristo… is he… crying?"
"Don't talk nonsense!" Vesemir shot Allen a glance and smacked Danthe on the head.
"Aristo is just too deeply bonded with the Chief…"
He paused, then looked at Allen: "Aristo is a war orphan.
The Chief saved him from the blades of a few blood-maddened deserters and brought him away.
He was already ten then—too old, outside the age range the Witcher Order accepted. So Aristo is different from us. He didn't become a witcher because of an accident, or because of a contract's reward. He chose it himself."
"Of course, Sol rejected him at the time, handing him over to the farmers at the foot of Mount Morgraig. But that very night, Aristo climbed the mountain on his own, reached Morgraig Castle, and met Alzur.
And then, miraculously, he passed the brutal trials despite being overage, becoming the Chief's very first traveling apprentice.
What followed was a long story — the Witcher Order's golden age, Cosimo and Alzur's departure, and finally the Order's collapse…
Later, Aristo followed the Chief to Kaedwen. Shared hardships, life-and-death bonds. Their connection is something we cannot even begin to imagine."
So he doesn't believe I can save Sol at all… Allen of course knew why Vesemir explained so much, and he sighed quietly in his heart: "Don't worry, Vesemir. I'm not that thoughtless."
Vesemir nodded in relief, then returned to the point: "The cyclops heart…"
"The cyclops heart — Vera definitely has one. I'll go to her now," Ida Emean picked up the thread, then turned to Allen. "Do you need any other materials, or should I pass along anything else to Vera?"
"No…" Allen was about to shake his head, then paused. "Once the cyclops heart arrives, we'll prepare the gene mutation solution. By noon today… we can begin the proce—treatment."
"I'll make sure she's ready." Ida Emean waved her hand, summoning a portal. Just before stepping through, she paused, turned back, and gave Allen a look that seemed almost pitying: "Be prepared for everything."
Then she stepped into the portal.
Clang~
Allen stared at the place where the portal had vanished, his gaze empty, lost in thought for a long time. Only when a gentle touch fell on his shoulder did he return to himself.
"You've already done your best."
Vesemir patted his right shoulder lightly, then pulled Danthe along toward the exit: "I'll ask Lumon to roast some beef and bread, and have it sent down shortly."
Creak~
Bang~
The laboratory door closed softly.
For a moment, the vast room was silent, broken only by the croaking cries of the drowners.
"Now it's just us." Jerome Moreau stepped forward, crushed a drowner's neck under his boot to silence it, and asked, "What now?"
"We prepare the gene mutation solution." Allen took a deep breath and walked to the alchemy table in the corner. "Before the cyclops heart arrives, we'll adjust the new formula. The previous mixture still has flaws to fix…"
"And then?" Jerome Moreau — the only witcher in the world to have survived a second mutation — naturally positioned himself as Allen's assistant.
Allen's hand, mid-scrub of a test tube, froze for a second.
"Then we stay in the lab. And we wait…"
"For noon to come."
And then—
Time slipped by in a blink, and noon arrived.
....
📢Advanced chapters on p@treaon📢
For advance chapters: [email protected]/Uchiha_Itachi007 (replace @ with a)
1. 20 advanced chapters of The Witcher: Wolf School's Hunting Notes.
2. 30 advanced chapters of What year is this? You're still writing a traditional diary?.