Chapter 648: The Lively Underground City
Ka! Ka! Ka!
The faint clatter of bones echoed endlessly in their minds.
This was noise transmitted through bones and flesh—a disturbance that couldn't be shut out.
However, to the test subjects at this moment, they had already been drowned in endless pain and paid no attention to it.
After observing the effects of the Gold Body Potion on the test subjects, Matthew no longer experimented with ordinary ones.
Even if a lucky few succeeded by chance, this method of getting stronger couldn't be promoted. It wasn't the main focus of research in Bay Territory.
So, Matthew began using test subjects that had undergone Dragon Warrior modification.
The old swordsman was curious about his approach. Elio, specially recalled for this, calmly watched the Dragon Warrior undergoing surgery and said:
"Bay Territory does not engage in senseless killing. Even these test subjects will only die in service to Bay Territory."
"Restraint from killing and indulgence is also part of one's cultivation..."
Feeling the sharp and slightly familiar aura from Elio, the old swordsman faintly realized something as he looked at the test subject who had taken the potion, and couldn't help but feel expectant.
These days, the old swordsman had learned more about the Dragon Warriors.
They had strong bodies, resilient wills, excellent learning abilities, and astonishing regenerative powers.
Especially the Extraordinary Feat—Regeneration—mastered by the Dragon Warriors, which the old swordsman took particular interest in.
He was eager to see whether a Dragon Warrior with powerful regeneration could endure the transformation of the Gold Body Potion.
Elio, whose strength had already broken through to the Extraordinary tier, felt the old swordsman's unfathomable aura and started to understand the lord's intentions.
"Ah...!"
Piercing screams relentlessly assaulted Elio's ears.
She carefully observed the test subject's condition, silently sensing the changes in its aura.
Its muscles trembled and twitched uncontrollably. Even with the Dragon Warrior's physique, it was struggling to endure the torment of the Gold Body Potion.
The old swordsman furrowed his brows, closely watching the test subject's condition, his expression serious.
He could clearly sense the test subject's aura weakening.
If even a Dragon Warrior couldn't withstand it, then ordinary Professionals stood no chance of enduring the potion transformation.
It was only then that the old swordsman had a realization.
In the past, when they trained swordsmen, it was like gambling with their lives.
Even he had been through the same!
But the more they relied on luck, the harder it was for him to accept now.
The reason was simple!
Leaving it to luck meant that training swordsmen remained unstable and could never be scaled up.
Moreover, swordsmen who had personally experienced pain and despair never wished for their favored juniors to repeat their fate.
Such pain and destiny were beyond ordinary comprehension.
The old swordsman had seen people he protected showing fear and dread upon learning his identity as a swordsman.
He had also seen many hypocritical lords and nobles reveal their ugliness and baseness.
And yet, they had to fight dangerous and terrifying enemies—mutated monsters beyond description.
The stronger one became, the closer they got to "aberration," and the nearer they were to certain death and madness.
Not only must they fight internal enemies, but external ones too.
If that were all, these iron-hearted swordsmen could still endure it.
But even the ones they saved and the Professionals and soldiers who fought alongside them looked at them with wariness, sometimes even hostility.
Hostility from their own people—that hurt the most.
For this reason, when the Eastern Empire proposed that swordsmen should leave and take the fatal danger and "aberrations" far from the Empire,
Even though they were reluctant, most swordsmen still agreed.
After all, they were already disheartened, only wishing to imprison the "aberrations" with all their might and fulfill their final duty.
Of course, that was in the past.
Over the past few days, as he learned more about Bay Territory, the old swordsman saw their sincerity and investment in developing swordsmen and realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Hope rekindled in his heart. He longed to preserve the legacy of the swordsmen.
So much effort and sacrifice from their predecessors—he couldn't let it vanish into history.
Thus, the old swordsman agreed with Bay Territory's methods.
He hoped to develop a stable, safe, and efficient training method.
Elio noticed his urgency and observed that the modified test subject had lifted its bodily regeneration limits.
Sure enough, as its regeneration returned, the test subject barely managed to stabilize the damage caused by the Gold Body Potion.
"The potion induces transformation through simultaneous destruction and repair, finalizing the modification."
"So that's how it works. That's actually pretty interesting..."
"If we could establish communication, we might even import some special technologies..."
Matthew carefully observed the "transformation" happening in the test subject and was deeply intrigued by the unique effects of the Gold Body Potion.
While supplying the stabilized test subject with Life Essence, Matthew pondered over the potion's special properties.
Compared to the straightforward magic potions of the Northern Continent, Matthew could vaguely sense that—
The longer legacy and cooperative research of the Eastern Continent likely led to more refined techniques for brewing special potions.
Unfortunately, whether on land or sea, Bay Territory currently lacked the means to establish contact.
If they could establish trade—
It would greatly accelerate the research and production development of Bay Territory's technologies.
Even so, the Gold Body Potion's unique guidance effect had already greatly inspired Matthew.
He had long been researching magical machinery and specialized surgical tools to assist in Dragon Warrior modification.
But the requirements were simply too high.
The fine control and emergency response required for those devices exceeded what Bay Territory could currently produce or master.
Some prototype models, even after Matthew's inspection, fell far short of expectations.
Because of this, Matthew had to slowly teach people one step at a time, bringing more and more into the learning process.
Now, this special "guidance" potion had jolted Matthew awake.
He didn't need to insist on relying solely on golem machinery and magical equipment.
He could combine and adapt from multiple approaches.
Just like what the major factories in Bay Territory were doing now!
The highest-demand, most technically challenging tasks that advanced skills—
Were assigned to researchers and top-tier technicians.
The next level of tasks, which still had moderate production difficulty—
Went to semi-automated lines, working with senior craftsmen.
And mass production tasks that required stable quality—
Were assigned to fully automated lines and groups of beginner workers who could learn and grow.
For the critical Dragon Warrior modifications, Matthew was now intent on expanding their scale.
To reduce surgical difficulty, producing a batch of potions with the guiding effect was undoubtedly an excellent solution.
Thinking of this, Matthew rubbed his brow hard.
There were still too few top talents under his command.
They couldn't tackle these ultra-difficult problems from scratch.
But Matthew wasn't too worried.
Bay Territory's development had already laid a solid foundation.
As long as they kept training talent, supplying resources, and assigning guidance tasks—
Sooner or later, top talents would emerge.
As for now, wasn't it up to the capable lord to do more work?
The weakening screams delighted the old swordsman.
He sensed a very familiar faint trait from the test subject and said excitedly to Matthew:
"It's definitely working—it's already showing similar reactions. If it keeps going, there's a high chance of success."
Even so, the old swordsman was a bit anxious, worried something might go wrong next.
And sure enough, the thing he feared happened.
The test subject, which had just adapted, suddenly began convulsing. Its body fell into chaos, and its life force plummeted.
"-15!"
"-12!"
"-8!"
"-13!"
In just a dozen breaths, the test subject lost nearly a third of its HP.
Matthew gained a valuable opportunity to observe, clearly seeing the physical reactions.
"Energy consumption is too fast. Without maintaining a surplus, all organs and systems fall out of balance..."
Having identified the core issue, Matthew naturally began working on a solution.
Under the old swordsman's gaze, he reached out toward the test subject and directly activated Time Rewind.
The test subject, which had been in deep trouble, quickly reverted to its normal state from just over ten seconds ago.
Elio, already prepared, skillfully injected Life Essence into every part of its body.
For the test subject, it passed through a deadly crisis without any awareness.
But for the old swordsman watching all this, a deeper level of contemplation emerged in his eyes.
Bay Territory's "application methods" for various powers far exceeded his imagination.
Matthew carefully observed how long the test subject could endure the slow transformation process after absorbing the Life Essence.
500 milliliters of Life Essence could sustain it for about 7 minutes.
Matthew watched the test subject fall into another death crisis, saved it again, and recorded the time and early physical responses prior to its collapse.
Various crucial data points were meticulously recorded throughout the subject's repeated near-death experiences.
From these valuable records, Matthew was able to identify many key stages.
The approximate rate of Life Essence consumption during the transformation process.
Subtle changes and responses in organs and tissues before total collapse.
The evolving energy consumption rates as transformation intensity increased.
How to quickly analyze and address causes during sudden death situations—how to find critical steps and prevent them swiftly.
Every kind of issue that arose during the transformation process—
Matthew addressed and documented each one.
The power of Time Rewind was on full display at this moment.
In total, the slowed transformation process lasted approximately three hours.
After 200 brushes with death, the test subject miraculously—yet tragically—survived.
It became the first test subject to successfully complete a dual transformation.
For now, it could enjoy a relatively peaceful two-month reprieve.
After that, it would have to continue contributing to Bay Territory.
The old swordsman, who had observed and participated in the entire experiment, suppressed much of his malicious intent and the evil thoughts of the Arhat.
He looked excitedly at the test subject, now radiating a faint golden glow, and nodded to Matthew, who was still recording data:
"That's right, this is the effect achieved after the potion transformation—it has obtained the swordsman's—Gold Body!"
"Extraordinary Feat - Gold Body LV1: Constitution +2, Perception +1, Max HP +20, Tenacity +3, Resistance to Negative Conditions +5."
Matthew carefully examined the data of the Gold Body and was quite satisfied with this hard-won Extraordinary Feat.
The increase in Perception meant an enhancement in critical willpower.
Any improvement in base stats was extremely rare.
With steady progress and consistent enhancement of Extraordinary Feats,
Dragon Warriors could usually push 1–2 attributes to the Extraordinary tier's limit.
But for Perception, Intelligence, and Charisma, Matthew hadn't yet found suitable feats or transformations.
This unique Gold Body temporarily filled in the gap for Perception and gave Matthew further inspiration.
"Boosting these three stats will definitely require some special transformations and enhancements..."
"Tenacity and resistance to negative conditions—these must be the key foundation for swordsmen to resist the influence of evil..."
"The Gold Body's case is extremely special. It almost fuses most tissues and organs into a single unit, allowing overall enhancement."
"After obtaining the Gold Body Feat, the test subject's other organs and tissues also improved significantly and became more coordinated."
"Organs and tissues that had already been transformed—did they gain even more enhancement?"
"Does this mean the entire immune system was linked to other tissues and organs in a special way?"
"If that's the case, then the Gold Body Feat has a lot more potential to be tapped..."
Naturally, the old swordsman had no idea how much important intel and data Matthew had obtained in such a short time.
Now visibly excited, he asked in a somewhat hesitant tone:
"Can we replicate this transformation process on other trainees?"
The old swordsman had seen all the difficulties in the process, but this breakthrough from 0 to 1 changed everything.
It meant the transformation, once reliant on pure luck, now held the promise of becoming controllable.