The first thing Elias Veyne felt was cold.
A biting, metallic chill seeped into his skin, pressing against his back like the unforgiving surface of a dissection table. His eyelids fluttered open, greeted not by the sterile white of a hospital but by the dim, flickering glow of bioluminescent fungi clinging to the stone walls of an unfamiliar chamber.
Where… am I?
Memories clashed in his skull—fragments of a past life, of a world without magic, of a man who had died in a lab accident. And then, the flood of another's memories: a boy, an orphan, a student of the Arcanum Genetica, a place where flesh and spell intertwined to birth monstrosities and wonders alike.
Elias groaned, pushing himself up. His fingers brushed against something wet—a sigil, freshly drawn in blood, still glistening under the eerie light. A summoning circle. No, a transmigration circle.
Did I… just get isekai'd into a mad scientist's world?
A chuckle escaped his lips, half-hysterical. Of all the possible fantasy worlds, he had to land in one where magic was less about fireballs and more about splicing dragon genes into house cats.
A rustling sound came from the shadows. Elias tensed as a pair of glowing, slit-pupiled eyes emerged, followed by a sinuous, scaled body—a serpentine creature with feathered wings, its maw lined with needle-thin fangs. It hissed, tasting the air.
Elias's borrowed memories supplied the name: A Zephyrix—a wind serpent hybrid. Basic familiar material.
But right now, it looked hungry.
The creature lunged.
Instinct took over. Elias rolled aside, his hand slamming onto the blood sigil. The moment his skin touched the drying liquid, warmth surged through his veins. A voice, ancient and resonant, echoed in his mind.
"Contract or death, Magus. Choose."
Elias didn't hesitate.
"Bind."
The sigil flared crimson. The Zephyrix shrieked as chains of light erupted from the circle, wrapping around its body. It thrashed, but the bonds tightened, searing into its scales until, at last, it stilled—its eyes now dull, obedient.
Panting, Elias stared at his first conquered beast.
Well. Guess I'm a Genetic Magus now.