Chapter 107: Changing Fate Another Day

"Source Energy Transplantation: Novice Level."

A newly emerged skill sat brightly displayed next to his Totem Drawing skill. When he focused his mind upon it, its description appeared.

"Effect: Utilizes source energy to eliminate rejection reactions during fusion, allowing foreign organs to become an integral part of the host and function normally. It has a weak effect on non-related species, but yields remarkable results on those with bloodline connections."

To reach the novice level in ten days was already considered genius; the other three in the lab, handpicked from tens of thousands in the academy, possessed talent that was barely comparable.

But Charles would not stop there. Mere learning was nothing; for him, once a skill icon formed, all it took was a single tap.

Let’s begin. One evolution point vanished instantly.

"Source Energy Transplantation: Proficient Level."

Charles felt a warmth spreading through his body, various energies coursing within him. A surge of inexplicable information flooded his mind, allowing him to instantly grasp the powerful potential of this composite spirit art.

Continuing, three more evolution points vanished instantly!

"Source Energy Transplantation: Master Level."

This time, the energy surging within Charles nearly boiled. A massive influx of information poured into his brain, evidently reaching a critical threshold that he could only just manage with his current condition.

However, it was still not enough!

"Source Energy Transplantation: Grandmaster Level."

As a full eighteen evolution points flowed away, the information in Charles’s mind erupted like a volcano about to blow.

Yet, this time he had the experience to handle it. Moreover, these were mostly pure insights and understanding, causing almost no physical changes, which made it easy for him to endure.

Now, he dared to say that when it came to the mastery of this composite spirit art, even Garfield, the original creator, might not necessarily be better than him.

Having made full preparations, Charles began the transplantation experiment.

On Water Blue Star, organ transplantation was usually a last resort for patients with failing or diseased organs. However, every transplant was accompanied by various sequelae, and the mortality rate from post-operative complications remained stubbornly high. Not to mention that rejection reactions between organs from different individuals left patients suffering for a lifetime, requiring long-term use of immunosuppressants, which in turn brought about complications like diabetes and drastically shortened their lifespans.

But in this world, it was completely different. The application of various magical spirit arts allowed such surgeries to easily resolve rejection reactions. Furthermore, it allowed organs to fuse perfectly, or even enabled the organs of powerful creatures to be integrated into weaker hosts, thereby strengthening the host itself.

The experiment he was about to perform was exactly this: he needed to fuse a type of tough thread from a peculiar marine vine creature into an octopus, giving it greatly increased tenacity and higher attack power.

Charles held a sharp scalpel, his hands moving with machine-like precision. He cut open a nodule on the pale red vine, extracted a small sphere, and then carefully retrieved the connected threads, submerging them into the pale green nutrient solution nearby.

He then sliced through the octopus's skin and sutured the thread-sphere into its body. Now, all that remained was to perform the spirit art.

A pale red radiance from the spirit art shone, falling onto the octopus like flowing water. It seeped in silently, causing the creature's body to tremble incessantly.

Garfield's eyes were full of astonishment—no, it could already be called shock. He hadn't expected that this little guy, whom Leslie had pulled strings to get in, would possess such monstrous talent in transplantation experiments and the mastery of spirit arts.

Compared to him, the other three were like babbling infants; there was absolutely no comparison.

Source Energy Transplantation was one of his three core abilities, a composite spirit art he had constructed after more than ten years of dedicated research using a series of runes. A so-called composite spirit art involved combining two or more spirit arts to create a complex superposition, achieving a 1+1=3 effect, or even higher. There were countless people in the outside world who wanted to learn it, but this was his signature skill, poured over with his heart and soul—how could he teach it to those people so easily?

It seemed he had struck gold. It was worth considering...

After consuming three source crystals in succession, Charles ceased the spirit art’s glow. The octopus below him woke up and began to writhe its tentacles frantically, trying to escape, but it remained trapped within the source energy barrier, unable to flee.

"Verify it," Garfield said in a calm tone.

"Understood," Charles replied respectfully. He had always respected those who genuinely taught him.

He tossed an irregular spherical object in front of the octopus. Its eight tentacles quickly wrapped around it, binding it tightly and squeezing it repeatedly. Then, a flash of purple light from Firefly’s eyes prompted it to release the sphere.

Charles reached out, grabbed the creature, and placed it into a stretching machine. Two steel arms gripped one of its tentacles and began to pull until it finally snapped.

After collecting the data, Charles summarized his report: "Teacher, this transplant and fusion were very successful. Strength has increased by 30%, and tensile toughness has increased by 50%..."

"Not bad. Next, you will learn from me how to amplify the strengths of a specific organ—what is known as targeted cultivation." Garfield nodded and turned to walk into his private laboratory.

Charles hurried to follow, his eyes filled with joy. All his hard work over these past few days had been worth it.

The laboratory was not much different from the public one, but it was shrouded in staggering, massive fluctuations of source energy. Beams of spirit art light enveloped the entire room like a cage. Clearly, this was a defense system implemented by the other man’s formidable power.

The spirit arts of a Spirit Master were not inherently powerful; most required totems to function. As Charles glanced around, he realized that a potted plant nearby was clearly no ordinary object. It contained a hidden, massive energy, and a formidable mental fluctuation emanated from it, causing Firefly, perched on his shoulder, to arch its back and stare at it defensively.

"Charles, why do you want to learn this?" Garfield asked, staring at him.

He was stunned for a moment, then replied without hesitation, "It’s simple, Teacher. Don't you think that being able to recombine and modify various creatures, creating what you need, is a power comparable to that of a Creator?"

"This feeling of creating new life is truly fascinating to me. I want to devote all my energy to it and, bit by bit, change the entire world!"

"A Creator..." Garfield fell silent for a moment. "I didn't expect you to have the same thoughts I did back then."

"When I first studied biological knowledge, I saw that many creatures had various flaws. That gave rise to the idea of wanting to modify them, to combine their many advantages and create the perfect forms that only existed in imagination."

"The world gave us life, but it also gave us many shortcomings. What we Spirit Masters must do is exactly that: change these destined flaws."

"That is to say, to defy the heavens and change fate!"