The class soon ended and Vael made his way out of the classroom.
All around him, he could hear the students chattering about, clearly excited about their first planar expedition.
Vael, however, couldn't care less; his mind was too occupied with a single thought.
Was it possible? To transplant meridians or neural implants in his body?
It was common knowledge that a person could only walk on a single path of progression, even gods weren't exempt from this rule, the goddess Elowen being a mage herself. The reason behind this was simple, a mortal vessel no matter whose couldn't take over the load of walking through multiple pathways of progression, even if one could take the load, following any path inherently changed the body at its core, a change that was fundamentally different from any other path, making it impossible for two paths to coexist together.
But he was different, right? Just last night, he remembered the thousands of prompts and instincts that had appeared in his mind while shaping up that chimera. From its flesh and organs to its mana circuit and core, everything had been under his control to shape as he saw fit. Who was to say that he couldn't do the same thing to himself?
No matter what, he had to try this out; the very potential behind this idea trumped even that of him being able to manufacture chimera's.
But how, he looked around in the hallway, by now, first years from other classes had also begun pouring out of their classroom into the hallways.
Should he kill one of them? No, that would be too risky; besides, going after someone for no reason would be plain psychopathic.
Then, how else, he needed a human corpse to test it after all.
Suddenly, another idea popped up in his mind.
Wait a second, that guy, didn't he used to have some connections with some necromancers in Alexandria?
Vael immediately pulled out his Neuroband and opened his banking page.
Normally, dealings with human corpses were banned throughout Vornak; however, that didn't mean it didn't happen. There were tons of necromancers and researchers who would secretly buy and sell them under the counter. One just needed to know where to find them.
Of course, as was the truth with anything illegal, these corpses too cost a pretty penny.
37,530 credits. Vael let out a sigh while looking at his years of savings in his bank account page. He didn't exactly have a brochure, but he was pretty sure that it was going to cost him way more if he wanted to get a corpse with decent talent.
This much will only get me one of the low-talent ones, wouldn't it?
Letting out another sigh, Vael closed the page and started walking, only for a familiar voice to halt him in his steps.
"There you are, you worthless scum." A shout resounded through the hallways, causing Vael to turn around and come face to face with a pair of eerily similar looking black haired boys and a girl walking out of one of the first-year classrooms.
Looking at the pair rushing towards him, Vael couldn't help but let out a smile.
"Where were you? We've been looking for you since yesterday. Why haven't you been picking up your calls?" The girl, her name was Lysarra, stepped forward and grabbed Vael's collar in anger.
"You piece of shit, do you know what you "
"Lysarra, stop." The guy standing behind her spoke, his voice cold and impassive.
"But Rhyden, you saw that "
"I know. But this is not the place for this." Rhyden subtly gestured toward the students standing around them, many of whom were already filming with their cameras out.
"Come with us," Rhyden commanded and began walking forward, with Lysarra trailing behind him. Vael, too, decided to obey and quietly followed them until they reached one of the campus gardens. There, Rhyden led them behind the large elder tree in the center.
"Why haven't you been picking up our calls?" Lysarra snapped the moment they were out of sight. "No, forget that. You tell me, how dare you sully the Ashmere name with your cowardice? That duel of yours has made our family a laughing stock. Not to mention, that video's already made its way to Father himself."
That's right. The pair of twins standing in front of him were the children of the current family head and Vael's older siblings.
"I… I had no other choice," Vael said, tears welling in his eyes as he lunged forward and grabbed Lysarra's hand. "I was in too much pain… not to mention my stomach. I apologize... I didn't know it would become such a big deal."
"You think your apology means anything?" Lysarra said, snatching her hand away. "This matter has reached Father, and they've decided to stop paying your monthly stipend for the next two months as punishment."
Hearing this, Vael's eyes slowly widened.
"No, please… without the stipend, how will I make ends meet?"
"Hmph." Lysarra snorted. "You should be glad that's all that's happening to you. If it were up to me,"
"We only came to give you the message," Rhyden suddenly cut her off and turned around. "Next time, pick up the call. I don't have time to waste looking for you."
Saying that, he started walking away, with Lysarra close behind. Watching their retreating figures, Vael let out a breath.
"Great. Just when I needed the money."
His eyes narrowed. Why did it change, though? Last time, they'd only cut off one month's stipend.
Was it the puke? Must be.
At least my immediate money problem is solved. Grinning, Vael pulled a golden-embroidered ring from his pocket.
Yep. This should get me a mid-grade corpse at least.
Vael smiled. He had swiped the ring moments ago while pretending to hold Lysarra's hand. He'd had his eye on it from the moment he saw her.
Lysarra had been bragging about it, the clan head had gifted it to her on her sixteenth birthday. It was a magical artifact capable of boosting a person's mana potency by 20%.
Thankfully, my hands haven't gotten rusty. Out of all the ideas he'd come up with to raise money, stealing from the twins had been at the top.
To think they'd just show up at the perfect time. Smiling to himself, he began walking out of the hallway, not toward class, but to buy himself a new corpse.
Walking out of the campus, he immediately got himself an automated cab and entered his destination.
Aetherion City was built like a fortress around the main campus, structured in three concentric districts. The inner district held the core: the Aetherion Institute, student housing, and faculty towers. The middle district housed employee housing, magitech research centers, and large, big-name corporations, interplanar merchants selling armors, potions, beast corpses, magitech, bloodlines, implants, and everything else. The outer district sprawled with civilian zones and small shops.
His current destination was the outer district.
Fifteen minutes later, the cab dropped him in front of a narrow, sand-blasted shop wedged between a half-collapsed rune forge and a mana battery recycler. The windows were dirty with grime, and behind them floated cloudy silhouettes of preserved monster parts bobbing in viscous yellow liquid.
Looking at the familiar building, Vael couldn't help but let out a grin.
Was he really so eager to meet that piece of shit again?
He pushed open the creaking door. A bell jingled, but no one acknowledged it. The interior was dim, lit only by the dull glow of containment glyphs etched onto glass tubes. Inside them floated half-rotten beasts, dissected ghouls, and stitched-up abominations.
Behind the counter sat a middle-aged man with a patch over one eye and a hand scribbling lazily in a diary.
The man looked up. "What can I do for you?"
Vael smiled. "I'm here for something special. Nina said I should come to you."
Listening to the word Nina, the man, whose name Koveric, suddenly sat up straight. His eyes narrowed as he stared at Vael, as if trying to pierce through him.
Of course, there was no Nina. Nina was simply a code word used when the buyer was looking for some 'special' service.
Koveric leaned back slowly in his chair, posture tightening. "Nina recommended me, huh?" A pause. "Funny. I don't recall her mentioning anyone new. Mister…?"
"Vael," he answered casually. "That makes sense, though we only met a little while ago. But she told me all about you."
Koveric's good eye narrowed. "Is that so? And what exactly is it that you're looking for?"
"A corpse."
"Plenty of those around. Be specific."
"Human cultivator. High meridian purity."
"And why," Koveric asked slowly, "would you want something like that?"
Vael smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"That's none of your concern."