(Byakuya’s POV)
I stand in front of the vat, looking to the creature floating inside the blue water that glows lightly. It has a humanoid shape, however. The skin is completely transparent, as well the muscles, revealing the organs perfectly.
This is one of the homunculi that I created to test experimental potions and even some poisons. This homunculus, although expensive to make, I can reproduce3 en masse as much as I want. After all, we produce the materials here.
The first thing that I’ll do is test some healing potions. I don’t have to worry about the feeling of pain of the homunculus. It’s just a piece of meat, kept alive artificially, without any life at all. It’s just a body working like a machine, and it doesn’t feel pain.
I start to operate the panel in front of the vat as I say to Gehenna that is following me silently.
(Byakuya): “Gehenna, fetch me one flask of potion from lesser to divine. I also want a flask of Spring of Life Water.”
I operate the buttons, and several tubes rose from the base, staying right in front of the panel with tubes connecting the bottom to the vat. This will allow me to put the potions in so I can use them in the homunculus inside the vat.
Gehenna returns with a tray with nine flasks. Eight of the nine are filled with a red liquid while the last one is fairly decorated with water inside that glows a bit with white light. Following my order, Gehenna pours the content of each flask in a bottle in separated tubes.
In the panel that I’m operating, there is a red bar that indicates the health of the homunculus. With a few buttons pressed, wounds appeared in the artificial body, and blood flowed out in the blue liquid. The health of the homunculus only fell slightly, as the wounds weren’t deep at all.
After all, I’m testing the weaker potion. I activated the first tube, and the potion was drained, quickly refilled by Gehenna. The lowest rank potion dyed the blue liquid red, and the wounds started to close quickly. I nodded to myself, taking out a book with soft leather cover, a diary. I have hundreds of these, this is just the newest one and has few notes.
I’m using it to register the stuff that is happening here. I write down the effects of the potion and proceed to keep making tests. It is really interesting, the potions don’t just rise the natural regeneration of the body, they also provide the energy for the regeneration themselves.
When your body regenerates, it needs energy from food and water. However, this potion also gives you that, charged with energy so that your cells regenerate immediately. Of course, the better the potion, the more grievous the wound they can regenerate.
However, something interesting happened when I gave the Spring of Life Water to the homunculus. His wounds healed completely, as it is the strongest healing item in the game, and his life bar on the panel turned golden.
I frowned. This was… unexpected. Although the effect of the spring water was as expected, it reconnected the body cut in half, as well closed all the deep and gashing wounds, able to save as long there was a thread of life in the body, the change in the panel wasn’t expected.
For now, let’s try to make another wound. The wound does appear, a deep gash on the abdomen area. However, although the blood did indeed flow out, the bar didn’t budge, and the wound regenerated quickly, closing perfectly. I take a flask of the spring water that Gehenna brought to me.
As far as I remember, this is water that was taken from the lake at the roots of the World Tree, Yggdrasil. We grow a small replica in the underground, since I acquired a seed in a quest on Asgard with the help with an old friend. He was going mad collecting all the stuff for his raid, and I decided to help with some quests.
He even hired me to design the reform of his castle. Well, I did swindle him for some dragon eggs for my most recent project, so I guess he wouldn’t like to see me that much. I try creating more wounds, grievous wounds, cutting off the limbs and even splitting the body is several parts.
However, this was interesting. The wounds regenerated, while the homunculus grew new arms and legs. However, the head merely regenerated. It didn’t grow new parts, the brain always tried regenerated no matter the damage.
Even if I cut half of the body and destroyed the part without the head, the body chose to regrow those parts. However, if the head was crushed and destroyed, it chose to regenerate to the previous state. Not only that, the bar on the panel didn’t go down at all, as if it weren’t taking any damage.
This is… interesting. If I’m not wrong, it was the strongest healing consumable in the game, and the backstory is that it should grant immortality to the one that drinks it. unfortunately, it didn’t work the same to the players, as we are considered a semi-divine race of high humans.
But this is the interesting part, the homunculus certainly turned into a immortal, but it was made with my DNA as base, so you can say that it’s a clone of me. And according to the game lore, even as a clone, they should also be considered semi-divine. So in theory, it shouldn’t be considered immortal.
I order Gehenna to give me one of the flasks of spring water and drink it in one go, opening my stats. As expected, the bar representing my hp is gone. I take off my glove, pull back my sleeve and take out my pistol, the bayonet ready to stab and cut.
(Gehenna): “Master?!”
(Byakuya): “Don’t worry Gehenna. This just an experiment.”
She seemed to calm down a bit. Using the bayonet with my left hand, I pierced through my hand. The pain was sharp, and Gehenna protested, but I ignored both. My blood drips to the ground. I took care to aim between the bones and not to damage the tendons if my theory is wrong.
The wound is still open while the bayonet is inside my hand. I pull it out strongly, making blood fly off. I take a look at the wound… it’s gone. Even before I could even see it, it healed. The pain is also completely gone!
This…. Is amazing! time for the next trial! I put the blade on my wrist, and without hesitation, cut off my right hand. The pain assaults my brain, but I ignore it completely. Gehenna screams and take the hand before it falls to the ground while screaming something.
However, I can’t hear her as I’m amazed about what is happening before my eyes. First, my bones and joints grow back in a second. The blood vessels grow together with the muscles, and the skin soon grows, as well the nails. Gehenna, that is holding my severed hand, has her previously worried expression changed to a shocked one.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
I smile looking at her.
(Byakuya): “Gehenna, take your sword and we will go to the Testing Room. Today is an amazing day to learn!”
(3° person POV)
Iona, rather, Cassidy Evergreen, is a half-Japanese girl, born from an affair of her father with a Japanese woman. As her father is a famous businessman that inherited fa great company, famous in the whole world, it turned into quite a scandal.
The woman that her father was married with blamed her father for the cheating, but she took in the girl that was left behind by her real mother. Still, the scandal was big, as the Japanese woman was a celebrity. Nobody ever forgot, and Cassidy’s life wasn’t easy.
As a start, she was beautiful. Her father was handsome, and mother a world beauty, and she inherited the best traits of each one of them. The perfect face, flawless white jade skin, soft and melodious voice.
She attracted many jealous eyes. The girls of her age isolated her, and boys sometimes harassed her. At the house, the only ally that she had was the adoptive mother, as the servants of the house looked at her as the result of an affair, and even her father didn’t like to see her at all, reminding him of his mistake.
Her body was also weak, she got sick easily, her appetite was never great, and she was a frail flower that got hurt easily. Eventually, she couldn’t handle going to school anymore, and she stopped trusting people and developed a fear of man due several incidents that almost claimed her life.
At the age of 17, she never left her home. Her adoptive mother decided to take care of her, moving with her to an isolated place with the money of her wealthy family, enough to sustain a luxurious lifestyle for ten lifetimes. She then caught a disease, and even after recovering, she couldn’t walk anymore. Eventually, she came across the virtual world of Mechanica Fantasy Online.
She wasn’t interested at all on the mechanic aspect of the game. However, she could walk once again. That was something that she enjoyed once again. However, she still didn’t trust other people, and wanted to play alone.
So she chose the class that could fill the roles of a party for her, summoner. Eventually, she started to enjoy the game. Walking around the beautiful scenery, summoning monsters, fighting creatures, delivering quests…
She grew to enjoy the new places, the taste for adventure. Cassidy started to spend more time in the virtual world than in the real one. Her mother, seeing her daughter happy for the first time in years, supported her fully. Eventually, she started to meet other people.
She made friends, and enjoyed her five years playing the game. But still, she was afraid. Afraid of them knowing who she was, afraid of them ostracizing her. Because of that, she couldn’t make a deep, true friendship.
She felt that her friendships were fragile and could break at any time. she eventually drifted apart from her friends, made new friends and drifted apart form them. She felt alone and sad. However, that changed one day.
It was an average day where her newest circle of friends called her for a dungeon raid. Apparently, the group should be of five, but the group of three lacked two spots, and one was reserved for her.
She was fine with it, since she was a bit bored now. Meeting at the entrance of the Ghost Labyrinth, a famous horror dungeon and difficult for someone at Cassidy’s level at the time. when she arrived, she was met with the three that she knew, and someone that she didn’t.
Tall, light brown skin and white hair with golden eyes, dressed in a leather overcoat with a belt full of tools and a simple satchel hanging from his shoulders. The leader of the party took a step forward and introduced them.
(leader): “Yo, Iona! This guy is Alva, and he’s our support for today. We’ll leave the healing to you and your water elemental, is that ok?”
(Iona): “Sure. Nice to meet you.”
She said, bowing lightly to Alva. He looked down at her and said with a stoic face.
(Alva): “Nice to meet you too.”
He said, his voice deep. Her impression of him was lukewarm at the time. the thing that took her attention the most was the dungeon that she has never been to, and barely heard anything about. After a few seconds discussing strategy, the entered the dungeon. And she immediately regretted accepting the call.
One thing that Cassidy is weak with, is horror. As a sheltered princess, she barely came about anything besides romance and adventure, and horror was simply too much for her frail constitution in real life, reflecting on the digital body.
And the worst thing? The labyrinth was filled with traps, and their group fell in one of them, getting separated in the worst outcome possible. The two of them, Cassidy and Alva, the supports of the group with lowest attack power, ended up separated from the rest.
(Cassidy): “Dammit! What we are going to do now?”
She asked, her legs shaking a bit. Alva looked around, to the gloomy stone corridors filled with spiderwebs.
(Alva): “It’s the first time I do this dungeon on hard, so the trap on the start surprised me, but the layout should be the same. Follow me, I will get us out to the safe area where we can regroup.”
Cassidy nodded, with tears in her eyes. Alva proceeded to take a steam assault rifle from his satchel.
(Alva): “The enemies here are mostly undead, so we need to be wary of that. I can set up turrets, do you want to do baiting?”
He asked, using the usual term for baiting monsters into traps, fairly famous in dungeons. She nodded, a bit more confident due her companion’s calm.
(Alva): “I heard you are a summoner, do you have a combo already?”
(Cassidy): “Y-yes, I have the c-combo S-spirit Summoner from S-spirit Seer and S-summoner. Level 25…”
(Alva): “I don’t have a combo, but I have engineering and mechanic, both level 85 and 87. Can you give mild curse?”
He asked, as being cursed is the only way of harming ghosts. She nodded, and Alva said:
(Alva): “Well then, shall we go?”
(Iona’s POV)
I sat on the white bench of the garden that my husband created, the beautiful birds that don’t exist in earth sing with their melodious chirps, fitting the otherworldly sight of the colorful garden. A maid stands nearby, waiting to attend my wishes.
On the way here, I remembered the day that I met my husband. It wasn’t love at first sight at all, in fact, I didn’t though much of him like I did with all the others that I met. I’m still weak with horror things, and I’ll never go back to that dungeon without my husband.
However, that is a place that is dear to me, as where I met the man that I love. I’m happy that he is an actual men as I met him, but even if he was a girl, she would be my bride. I am very aware that we met in a game, and that my love would never reach him.
Although my heart yearned for his affection, I simply couldn’t have it. I know it is silly and childish, I understand that very well. But I simply couldn’t get that out of my mind. As I spent time with him, I couldn’t help to fall even in more love with him, and when he asked me in marriage, and even though it was a game, I felt so happy that I could die.
And now, me dreams seemed to come true. Yes, I will miss my mother, not the woman that gave birth to me, but the one that was a mother for me. She is the only thing that I will miss, but this world is a new chance for me.
A body that is healthy, legs that can walk and a love that my hands can reach. For me, it’s everything I need.
(Alva’s POV)
I put back my coat, looking down to the blood splashes on the ground. Gehenna is sitting on a corner of my personal training area, hugging her knees, depressed for attacking me even under my orders.
The blood on the ground is mine, by the way. The last few minutes were tests to see the limits of my newfound regeneration. On the corner, a pile of extra limbs is down, including a whole body without head. When I asked Gehenna to decapitate me, she refused, so I had to do it myself.
It was an interesting experience besides the pain, but that could be ignored. Of course, I regenerated a new body instead of a new head. I decided not to cut my head in half, I’d rather not go through that experience, as I don’t know if it can damage my brain, and being a bodyless head was already uncomfortable enough.
Also, have to put my clothes back on was a bother. I look at Gehenna, who has a shadow over her eyes that are empty, looking at the ground. She’s crouching, hugging her knees. I don’t think she has developed a trauma, as she has seen worse in her time.
I take out my gun and take out one of the bullets, loading a special, red bullet. I point it to the pile of spare limbs and full body, pulling the hammer, loading the red bullet for shooting. This bullet is called Dragon’s Breath, as for why is it called that…
I pull the trigger, and a powerful burst of flames comes out of the barrel, instantly incinerating the spare flesh. Soon, a dis slides through the ground, it’s a cleaner robot that I developed to deal with the aftermath of training.
It starts cleaning the blood and the ashes. I feel refreshed, really. The pain was momentary, though acute, and the body doesn’t have any problem in moving after regenerating, as if nothing ever happened.
Alright, I think I’m done with these tests, and I’m quite satisfied with the results. From my satchel, I pull a handbook with soft, leather cover and a steampunkish fountain pen and start to write with my cursive, classic style writing. I’m used to it since I also do most of my notes with my fountain pen in real life. I can’t even count the times that I ran out of ink in the middle of a research and had to use my spare.
I close the handbook and put it back into the satchel together with the pen. Alright, it seems that my abilities also work properly, although I used a low level Dragon’s Breath. Alright, now that most of the essential stuff is over, I need to consider the future. I still have the dragon eggs that I scammed from a friend…