The meditation proved useful, as he was able to make a breakthrough in terms of the use of the fusing array. Hopefully through a series of tests, Willem could use the fusing rune with the complex runic symbols for magical weapon enhancement and the potions and create a magical weapon with one hundred percent efficacy.

When he finished his meditation, he awoke to the smell of bacon and cockatrice eggs. Normally for mages food was not necessary and was viewed as a delicacy due to the fact that magic could permeate their body so that they never starve. In this regards, mages ate because they could, not because they had to. If there was ever an instance where they had no food or water available, their magic power would keep them fed and hydrated.

Willem consumed his breakfast slowly and methodically, picking apart his favorite pieces of bacon and slowly eating them while watching Kinsey. Whatever had happened after he had fallen asleep, Kinsey was not the same this morning as she was last night. Attempting to deal with her change of emotions was very tiring indeed. Willem drew and took a quick bath while Kinsey finished up some of her apothecary experiments.

What he did not know was that when Kinsey had awoken, she found herself on top of Willem with her hand firmly grasping his penis. Still half asleep, she fumbled out of bed after letting him go and quickly took a bath. However no matter how much she tried not to think about it, the event would slowly creep back into her mind.

While he was in the bath, Archus had arrived at his Private Sanctum to speak with him. Archus quietly waited for him to remove himself from the bath while Kinsey made him some tea. Though it was not to the meticulous standards of his attendants, the tea was still not bad at all. Willem had felt the presence of Archus with magical sense and finished washing up. When he emerged, his hair was only slightly wet but all in all he looked ready to go.

Willem bowed first and offered his greetings. "Good morning Master."

"Good morning. Your request last night is pending approval by the One True King. Before he sends you out to investigate, he wants to know all of your magic to ensure there is no danger. I came to consult with you first since we both have a copy of all your abilities that we have tested. If you are okay with him knowing, we can give it to him and he can approve the expedition." Archus spoke quickly and to the point so as to not bother Willem's daily routine.

"Of course, Master. The sooner I get to investigate those chambers, the better." Willem drank the tea that Kinsey had prepared for him once he left the bath.

"Then I will take my leave and get the request approved. I will send someone to let you know when you are good to go." Archus finished his tea, cupped his hands and chanted a teleportation spell. The gravity around Archus intensified as his form began to warp, and he blinked away leaving a temporary spatial distortion. After five seconds, the spatial distortion crackled and finally unfolded, returning to its original unaltered form.

Willem thought about the implications of telling the One True King about his abilities. He does not owe his allegiance to the King, despite living in the Bastion of Hope and being a mage of the Magic Academy. Though he felt this way, he would never openly say such a thing as it would be considered blasphemous. The last thing he needs while studying is to be abducted as someone attempting to conspire against the King.

Willem went about his normal routine, teleporting to the entrance and going the separate way from Kinsey. No one dared hinder Kinsey while she was in the mountains as they saw she was the attendant of a Grand Mage and was quite brilliant in her own right.

Classes came and ended quickly, and Willem had yet to hear back from Archus. He went to the library and entered the restricted section to acquire more books.

At the Royal Palace.

Archus had just arrived at the Royal Palace and entered the royal chambers. The King had been waiting for his arrival and offered his greetings. When they began to talk, Archus had neglected to tell the King about Willem housing a demon within his body, but other than that elaborated about what he had found in the ruins. He explained about the fusing array and said "Willem would need to be sent down to further understand the runes. This is the information you had asked for."

Archus opened a tome that had multiple types of writing in it. Some parts were in the common tongue, others were in magical scripture and the most important parts detailing the abilities were written with a cipher only Archus and Willem knew. This was the best way for the information about his abilities not to get out in case of an accident.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Archus deciphered the code for The One True King and left him to his reading. He cupped his hands, gave a deep bow, and closed the doors behind himself.

The first of all the information was the experimental data. The experiments only ever had one subject, and the experiments done on this subject were borderline treasonous. Extensive torture, slicing and mutilation of body parts, drawing blood to mutate and re-injection into the body. Whomever the subject of the tests were, they had an ungodly ability to survive. Whatever monster could survive all this... Was not human. The King had asked for information on Grandia, and could not believe that this book was the correct one. A young boy of barely thirteen could not endure the torture that this book described in meticulous detail.

He continued to read. When his wife appeared to speak with him, he did not set down the tome. He kept it at his side while he delegated tasks, solved the problems only he could solve, and when he was done he went right back to reading. His children came and went, seemingly displeased with his lack of attention given to them, but he simply did not have the time to deal with their whims. Especially the young prince who had been asking nonstop about the identity of Grandia and his 'attendant'.

The King struggled with himself as he continued to read. He saw that the experiments were beginning to get incredibly more bizarre, replacing limbs with monsters body parts and blood transfusions of magical beasts. No matter what the subject went through, the results would always be the same, the host would adapt to the change and there would be no negative effect. The host perfectly accepts the foreign cells, body parts and treats them as their own. From his basic understanding of magical beings, there is only one creature that had this ability, and it was a changeling.

Changelings were strange creatures, small and tricky with the ability to morph into anything they see fit. Though they could not copy the abilities of anything they changed to, their size and mass could be altered to a certain point. They were a small part of the 'fairy' tribe of old legends. This was the first and only being the King had brought to mind when thinking about the data that was in the books. The King did not know how Archus and Willem had gotten a hold of a changeling, nor why he had only heard about it just now.

He continued to read, with the thought of the changeling being the test subject. The subject had the ability to not only fuse with the limbs of monsters, but also consume and absorb their abilities to use at a later time. Once the subject had absorbed a basilisk fang, it became immune to the magical beasts deadly venom and stone gaze. Upon consuming the flesh of a Red Bellied Wyvern, the subject became flame resistant and developed scales along its body that increased its hardness. The King did not know that changelings had this ability, and continued to read. The more he read, the more scary the subject became.

Broken fang of a vampire bat with the ability to drain full adults of their blood. Kelpie fur, with their ability to swim underwater, morph their bodies and resistance to water based magic. This ability to morph their bodies in particular was a strange one to document, as changelings already had the ability to alter their form. If the subject was not a changeling, then what was it? 

Gossamer of the arachne, said to be among the sturdiest of spider threads. A drop of griffin blood, which gave talons and a wingspan. Cockatrice beak, ability to turn flesh to stone. Thunderbird feather with the power to call lightning. From the kitsune came the ability to charm and confound foes with eye contact.

A clump of dirt from the body of an earth golem, allowing mastery of earth spells and resistance to earth based attacks. The eye of a cyclops gave the subject foresight of up to ten seconds and the ability to manipulate metals. The cloth of an exorcised wraith, granting the ability to touch ethereal creatures.

The King had read enough, he put down the book and rubbed the bridge of his nose as if some great difficulty had befallen him. Whatever this thing was, it could be considered the greatest threat to the humans. Each of these monsters could be considered difficult in their own right to the army, excluding the Grand Mages of the Magic Academy and himself. Now he has learned that an amalgamation of the worst horrors known to humankind has been in the Bastion of Hope under his nose for a while.

The King called for his retainers and sent a missive to be given to the Grand Mage Archus to be summoned to the Royal Palace at once.