Engraving magic runes on a puppet life form is a rather gory process. It required Felix to slice open the skin of the experimental subject with a scalpel, then sprinkle on a high-adhesion dark gold material. This combined with the flesh in an elemental reaction, leaving magical rune scars in the process.
The ogre shaman's body was enormous, providing Felix with a vast canvas for rune adhesion.
After completing a series of tests, Felix took out a sheepskin scroll and began marking down measurements of the ogre's physique, such as its height, width, arm length, and the thickness of its thighs.
Then, based on these data, he recalled corresponding runes from his memory to engrave, imbuing various elemental powers for added strength!
It's worth mentioning that puppet life creation demands high-quality original materials. If a lower-grade subject dies during rune engraving, using a soul-summoning ritual to resurrect it as an undead or dark creature would destroy the magic rune effects under the erosion of dark forces. That would be a total waste of effort!
"Only life forms with strong vitality make the best experimental materials." This was Felix's observation recorded in his magical notes regarding live experiments.
After completing the measurements of the ogre's body, Felix began planning the magic rune patterns for different areas.
The arms, being smaller, were designated for a simplified version of elemental enhancement, while the larger legs were chosen for the power of fury.
Besides, considering defense, he grafted a stone skin spell and a magical shield over the chest, belly, and heart. Felix intended to engrave body-enhancing negative elemental amplification magic across the puppet.
Puppet lives are short-lived. Even without combat, an ogre battle servant like this could only survive up to three years before dying from vitality depletion. So, during creation, Felix disregarded other aspects, treating these puppet lives as expendable items for critical moments.
Using a silver scalpel, Felix cut open the ogre shaman's skin, then carved rune lines along the magical patterns. At this moment, he discovered a clever use for the power of blood – slowing down the bleeding.
Considering the half-hour or longer rune engraving process, continuous bleeding would be too much even for a robust dragon.
After tracing the runes with the scalpel, Felix began using corrosive dark gold casting materials to sear the wounds. While merging negative elements, he gradually infused his own magical power to activate the grafted rune marks.
In fact, rune engraving is somewhat like tattooing, except it involves infusing elemental power into flesh and blood.
After completing the magical power output and elemental force infusion, Felix left a magical mark at the final formation's central joining point – the heart lock. This would enable activation of the ogre shaman's inscribed rune marks into its most powerful berserk state during future battles, once Felix emitted elemental vibrations of matching frequency.
This was his seventeenth live experiment. Compared to his initial attempts, Felix now felt a fluidity in his movements, a result of experience accumulated over time. It was as if he could envision the trajectory of the runes even with his eyes closed.
Performing rune engraving on a live subject is a test of accumulated experience. The feel of the hand significantly impacts the efficiency of engraving and determines the success rate of the final product.
Time trickled away.
Half an hour had passed, and a fine layer of sweat had formed on Felix's forehead. A fragrant breeze wafted around him as the returned succubus sister, holding a towel, gently wiped away the sweat. A slight smile played on her lips, her eyes seemingly satisfied as she watched Felix's increasingly swift and pale hands wield the scalpel.
Indeed, he was a master who grew every day. The succubus's patience was not great, but that didn't mean she was completely impatient.
Vivian stood quietly behind Felix, observing. Having assisted a mysterious Gamma practitioner for over a hundred years, she knew Felix's rune engraving skills weren't perfect yet, even missing the full potential of the biological blueprint in many places.
However, she had no intention of guiding Felix. All these experiences were for her young master to accumulate and discover on his own. Only when he identified these shortcomings himself would his rune engraving truly reach a masterful level!
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An hour later, Felix let out a long sigh of relief.
The ogre shaman's vitality was stronger than he had imagined. After more than an hour of surgery, its heartbeat remained strong and forceful.
Felix had engraved sixteen medium and small magical arrays, including two defensive spells, with the rest being auxiliary enhancement spells to stimulate muscles and nerves.
"Master, it seems you've forgotten a very important corner," Vivian said with a flirtatious smile, hinting at something as she watched Felix.
"An important corner?" Felix was puzzled. Where else did he need to engrave magic? He had almost finished engraving runes on every suitable part of the ogre shaman's body. What could be left?
Vivian's gaze swept over the ogre shaman's head, then she said lightly, "A perfect puppet life should have a spell that can sacrifice itself for its master at any time."
Felix was taken aback, then asked in confusion, "Do you mean I should try engraving a terminal spell?"
The charming succubus rolled her eyes at Felix and chose to remain silent.
Terminal spells meant, in essence, a final frenzy.
Simply put, once this rune mark was activated, the puppet life was as good as done, having completed all its tasks.
Engraving terminal spells, generally attempted only by highly skilled puppet masters, carried a high risk of failure—over fifty percent! A failed attempt could lead to the original material exploding on the spot, threatening the puppet master's life.
There are two main types of terminal spells: elemental self-destruction, basically turning the activator into a humanoid bomb, and life-burning, which trades life force for explosive combat power.
Considering lethality, elemental self-destruction was more dangerous. Flesh bombs depended on all the elemental power inside the puppet life's body. Failure could lead to an explosion, endangering the puppet master's life.
The second type was relatively safer. Failure would most likely result in the death of the experimental subject or entering a frenzied state of no recognition, considered a higher safety factor.
To try or not to try?
Felix pondered for only a second before picking up the scalpel again. If he failed, he would simply buy another ogre. But if he succeeded, it meant he was ready to fully transform that demon corpse! Elemental self-destruction? No, too risky for a first experiment.
Regarding life-burning, overdrawn magic, Felix sorted through his memory. His memory was excellent, not quite photographic but not far off.
Magicians generally have strong memories, and alchemists even more so, as they have so much to remember. Magic spells are just a small part of it.
After some thought, Felix finally chose a relatively easy rune pattern.
This spell had a rather domineering name: Extreme Frenzy.
It was a dark mental stimulation spell, not high-level but very effective. Once activated, it would send combat power soaring, driving the subject into an uncontrollable killing frenzy, void of any recognition.
Even if the subject didn't die after using it, they would likely be driven mad, making it one of the most self-destructive mental spells.
"Next, I need your help," Felix said softly to Vivian behind him, picking up the smallest scalpel to carve a mini magic rune mark on the ogre shaman's forehead. After completing the first grafted rune, he looked up at her.
Engraving a mental magic rune requires stimulating the target's deep consciousness to make it enter a bloodthirsty frenzy upon activation.
Felix was still inexperienced. He needed the succubus to activate a psychic connection point. This way, he could plant the seed of madness into the ogre shaman's deep consciousness.
Carving the mental brand was simpler than Felix had imagined. Ogre-like creatures, being physically strong but mentally simple, offered minimal psychic resistance, akin to a thin, transparent film. With Felix's abnormal mental strength, penetrating it was like stabbing through butter.
What he overlooked was a trait of the ogre race: even without magical stimulation, they could enter a frenzy due to emotions like anger. Bloodthirst and madness were seeds buried deep in their souls, just like every ogre shaman naturally mastering bloodlust spells - an innate talent.
Carving the miniature rune mark was more troublesome than Felix anticipated, especially focusing his vision so intensely on one point even made him feel inexplicably dizzy. The continuous magical output for over an hour also constantly tested his mental resilience.
When he finally activated the last rune, Felix felt as though he'd been fished out of water. His thumb and forefinger, which had been gripping the scalpel handle for over an hour, felt glued together when he finally released them. Carving magic runes demanded absolute precision; his hand had to be steady without a single tremor.
Afterward, Felix dropped the scalpel, rubbing his temples to ease the pain from the sudden relaxation after intense concentration. It felt like his brain was being pricked with needles, a throbbing sensation in his temples.
"Water Ball."
Casually pulling off his sweat-soaked magic robe, Felix conjured a basketball-sized water orb and slapped it onto his body, wiping himself down haphazardly before considering it a bath.
"Take care of its wounds," he said, walking towards his room wearing only his underwear.
On the way upstairs, Felix summoned another water element to wash his face, then lay naked on his bed, quickly falling into a deep sleep.
The high intensity of magical experiments drained a considerable amount of mental energy. The full-hearted engraving of magic runes combined with maintaining stable magical output would have exhausted any typical puppet master. In fact, most puppet masters who hadn't reached the Golden Domain could only engrave one or two rune spells at a time. Felix's ability to simultaneously engrave sixteen interconnected spells was an anomaly, a once-in-a-century talent.
After casually treating the ogre shaman's wounds, the charming succubus sister entered Felix's room again without his permission.
This time, however, she made no other move. She just quietly watched Felix in his deep sleep. After a while, she curved her lips in a seductive smile, murmuring to herself:
"Alright. Vivian needs to personally cultivate an excellent master."
A strange, moan-like incantation echoed again in Felix's room. A pink mist spread over his large bed, slowly expanding. But this time, it was different.
The pink fog not only enveloped Felix but also shrouded the moaning succubus within it...
It seemed that Felix was destined to have a strange dream tonight...