Soul Venerable (Re-written)

After resurfacing, Mordred didn’t look for Annalise. He immediately went to work on a small room underneath the Gorod Krovi’s castle which had been prepared by Annalise under his prudent arrangement. The room is a workshop that would fulfill his need for refining technological tools or perform a limited amount of genetic engineering. In all, it was a well-prepared facility.

On an operating table, Mordred took out Erebus’ corpse which was preserved rather well. His rank 2 body was incapable of being fully frozen by liquid nitrogen since the quantity and concentration is equivalent to a rank 1 ice and snow-path method, but there’s little to no progression of rot.

In the first place, the typical human rank 2 Lords have a lifespan of two to four hundred years. For Erebus who’s a vampire lord, his lifespan could easily reach six to eight hundred years. Therefore, a few weeks wouldn’t be able to make the corpse rot.

With that said, the quality of the corpse has been preserved well. Mordred was quite content with his decision not to joke around by using Erebus' corpse as Annalise's replicant. He immediately went to work after double-checking the corpse.

“Lord Erebus has two brains, multiple hearts and a few other organs that couldn’t be found in humans. First of all, I need to extract both brains, one in the skull and the other in his back waist… Then, the second priority is his heart. Even though vampires are categorized as undead and lack the need to have a beating heart, he still has multiple of them… One or all of them must be wisdom hearts, capable of producing telepathic resources incessantly with every beat…”

With a durable scalpel specifically made so that it could handle extreme vibration, Mordred split open Erebus skull effortlessly. He then cut a few parts and literally disassembled the content of Erebus’s skull, storing his eyes, brain and a few other bloody materials into jars. He did the same with the Erebus’ torso. The two hearts just behind the lungs are extracted carefully, just as the other organs, including his rank 2 mana pool. They too, are stored within jars filled with preserving liquid.

After all of the organs had been removed, it was time for the next phase. Mordred left the body empty of internal organs for later. He wanted to refine a biocrystal processor from Erebus’ brains and mods from the remaining organs, but it was a slow process since the body parts of a rank 2 Lords have resistance to rank 1 methods. 

It was like trying to dissolve diamonds using spit. Yes, spit is sometimes acidic, but it was the extremely weak kind, not the type that can be used to melt diamonds. 

“Tsk. I really hate dealing with biology. My abilities in playing with bio is because of big brother. My knowledge on them is actually obsolete…” He complained to himself. 

Despite saying so, he is still a quasi-transcendent refinement-path expert. He had myriad methods of refinement, but the options in his hand are left with either refining with lightning or soul. 

In Morgen World, there’s a reason why elemental paths are the main trend. The nine elemental particles are the building blocks of this world, therefore elemental paths most often than not are core of most methods, or at least being incorporated in them. In fact, it was rather uncommon for cultivators or dual-cultivators to not have at least an elemental path in their arsenal. Almost every cultivator in the Morgen world has attainment in one or two elemental paths.

Thus, conceptual paths like refinement, enslavement or others are typically based on elements. Just having refinement-path attainment is oftentime insufficient. Fortunately, Mordred had one elemental path that went beyond apex, which was lightning. He also could use souls as refinement methods as his soul-path inheritance is beyond this world.

“Both options would take me a significant amount of energy. I can’t find an external source of electricity, it isn’t realistic to ask Annalise to supply them either…” Mordred shook his head. He has to use the last remaining supply of his souls as a substitute.

Even then, it wouldn’t be sufficient. His soul resources have been reduced significantly after his advancement and rank 2 materials require rank 2 methods to properly handle them. The energy expenditure would be too high. If Mordred waited for his natural recovery rate, then it’s going to take him a long time. The main world would’ve already reconnected with the micro-plane by then.

Shaking his head in disappointment, he began using souls as a source of energy. “My priority is turning his brains into a biocrystal processor. Although I hate to waste his precious hearts, I need them to support my rank 2 mortal shell…”

Mordred was still designing his mortal shell while working on them, making changes on the design as he goes. It couldn’t be helped as he is pressed by time and resources. The end result might not be ideal, but it is what he got.

Almost a day later, Erebus’ brain has completely solidified and refined into a biocrystal processor. Electricity would be able to seamlessly run through the circuit board-like processors which were as powerful as servers. The biocrystal processor made from the brain of an enslavement-path expert has an inherent architecture specialized in multitasking and micromanagement rather than pure computation. After installing the necessary operating system, Mordred put them back on the skull and began filling it with more electronic parts. 

Erebus possessed two hearts, one of them is blood-path and the other one wisdom-path. The blood heart is capable of supporting Erebus with energy and blood circulation, while the wisdom heart produces copious amounts of telepathic thoughts like a tertiary brain that allowed him to micro-manage his thousands of slaves. Nevertheless, his hearts are being recycled and turned into a biochemical organ. 

Then, the biochemical heart is put back in where a human heart should be. 

Since it would need electricity to jumpstart the biochemical organs and to support the other systems, Mordred dismantled his current mortal shell, specifically, the insides of his torso where the core reactor is located. 

Mordred’s mortal shell is currently running on battery, with minimum mods necessary to keep it functional.

After he extracted all the important mods and mechanical body parts, he began modifying them because they can still be used until Mordred gets better materials later. Then, he put them inside Erebus corpse. He went all out with the modification of the corpse, not even forgetting to treat the blood veins into a blood circulatory system that could pulsate by itself despite having a heart.

Naturally, the blood of Erebus can no longer be used as blood despite being rich in minerals and energy. And so, Mordred also recycles the blood into blood-strain nanomachines that he meticulously assembles through telepathic refinement, which was derived from his Dark Mist. The nanomachines would work better than actual blood in this desecrated corpse. 

After that, he completely recycles the rest of his rank 1 mortal shell and merges them inside Erebus’ corpse with the assistance of Ymir. He didn’t forget to put the Soul Phylactery into one of the spine segments. After all is finished, Mordred begins treating the corpse with his soul-path methods so it can be used to host his soul. This part is the most resource-extensive. He wasted around 50k-man worth of souls, leaving less than a thousand-man worth of souls in his phylactery for emergency.

He had truly turned from a nouveau riche into a beggar overnight.

However, the end result was satisfactory, considering the circumstances.

Biocrystal processor as brain, a biochemical heart next to a core reactor in exchange of true heart, no lung-equivalent whatsoever, biofurnace as stomach replacement, nanomachines as blood, tubes as veins and other various mods that he originally had... When the first jolts electricity from the core reactor runs through the biochemical heart, the organs are slowly being resurrected. The mechanical system and the biological organs are slowly being synced.

Now that the body lost its pure mechanical nature, Mordred couldn’t simply dislocate his arms or alter his body shape freely. 

All of these extra steps are done because Mordred’s truesoul is no longer a typical human soul. As an Armored Soul Tribe with Chaldean Soul, he can no longer possess corpses directly. It’ll take time and more resources to alter his soul, so the easy way is not to modify his soul but the mortal shell instead.

“Are you feeling uncomfortable, main soul?” Ymir inquired as he scrutinized Mordred’s movement of grasping the air with his hand.

“Minute errors are being readjusted in real-time. Rank 2 combat is impossible since the nanomachines are currently recalibrating the internals and altering this corpse from a blood-path one into a soul-path one under the support of my soul radiation, but it should be ready in a few days.” Mordred answered absentmindedly as his telepathic thoughts are being consumed to modify the OS.

Honestly, Mordred felt like complaining. This mortal shell… is an abomination of biological and machines. The most bothersome thing about this mortal shell is the fact that he couldn’t casually use sound-path methods with his body because the body is specifically treated to cater soul-path, not sound-path. The vibration of any sound-path methods beyond rank 1 would make the mechanical parts shatter, and the biochemical organs ruptured or even worse, explode.

Perhaps, the inhabitants of Morgen World would praise Mordred for his innovation, because no Rank 2 Converts has better craftsmanship than this one. To Magi of Holy Terra however, specifically, his big brother, this would be garbage, trash that he would put in the recycling queue. He could pinpoint hundreds, or even thousands of flaws in his refinement process and the end result, but a beggar couldn’t be a chooser.

Mordred has no other option other than using Erebus’ corpse like this. It was either this Corpse-Convert, or forcefully suppress his cultivation base so that during daily activities, his rank 1 mortal shell wouldn’t suddenly crumble due to being incapable of accommodating his rank 2 truesoul. 

Ymir wanted to argue that recycling some of the mods of the old mortal shell into the new one wouldn’t do much because they are essentially the same thing. Those mods wouldn’t be able to endure Mordred’s soul radiation. The truth was, his argument was true. Putting them into the new body doesn’t automatically raise their rank because the original material used to refine them is rank 1.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Mordred beckons Ymir to return to his shadow. “Those rank 1 mods would eventually break down, but it takes time. With Erebus’ flesh enduring most of the burden of my soul, the process will be slowed down further, giving me time to find materials to upgrade them.”

“It seems like you’re already well prepared for everything.” Ymir commented before turning into a lump of darkness under his shadow, undetectable unless through special means.

“Former Great Archmage.” Mordred simply answered. “Mages depend on their knowledge and preparations to avoid assassinations. I am simply an assassin who turned into an archmage, I am well versed in both perspectives. In any case-”

Mordred suddenly shut his mouth as his Myriad Synesthesia picked up something from the echoes of time. “Hahah. Just in time. Ymir, quickly destroys all traces of Mordred's existence. Ensure my ‘identity’ is solid.”

“Split soul of the former Great Archmage.” Ymir smiled. As an information-path lifeform, information manipulation is his expertise. “It was already done when you were still underground.”

 

….

 

Five minutes later.

“Master Erebus! I sensed a fluctuation of space just now.” Annalise’s replicant, the Longma lizardman, met Mordred while hurriedly trying to look for him. 

The replicant is no longer naked, her body is draped under a red, thin and skimpy flexible scale armor that reveals her pale skin. In this cold world, her fire-path radiation is extremely eye-catching, like a lighthouse in cloudless night skies. Even if one ignores her blazing body temperature, her 2 meter tall figure alone warrants attention from passersby.

“I noticed. The experts in the Mage Tower are close in reconnecting this plane with the main world.” Mordred nudged his chin. “Lead the way.”

While Annalise’s replicant led Mordred to the source of fluctuation, Mordred asked for the situation update.

“The 16th batch of replicants has successfully been born. The staggering 80% success rate is unheard of… unless of course, in Galatreon where the Great Archmage resides...” Annalise’ replicant’s amber eyes are revealing a sharp glint.

Being accused, Mordred merely chuckles. The Sovereign's daughter is truly intelligent, she must’ve deduced a significant amount of information from her interaction with Mordred all this time, but there’s no correlation of Mordred and the Great Archmage. Even if she’s the daughter of a wisdom-path sovereign, it’ll be difficult to correlate between Mordred and the Great Archmage. Of course, Reinhardt is not a wisdom-path Sovereign, so it’s impossible for her to deduce Mordred’s real identity. “Last time I heard, the success rate of refining replicants in Galatreon is already 100%...” He shrugged it off. “Their research now is directed at breeding twins to increase their efficiency.”

In Mordred’s calculations, she must’ve deduced that Mordred is a resurrected old monster, probably a Legend, who is out there seeking revenge or some shit. He naturally wouldn’t wipe away the clues that he purposely showed her. In fact, he would reinforce those ideas further. 

After all, for Sovereigns, the weaknesses that they reveal are no real weakness. They are opportunities that can be made use of.

“Twins? That’s old news.” The Longma lizardman shook her head. “They are wasting time and resources. Perhaps, if the Great Archmage is still alive, the research would go well, but with his death, there’s nobody that could pioneer that path.”

“Who knows.” Mordred shrugged. 

As far as his memories goes, the inheritor of his refinement-path true inheritance is a Richtofen clansman. They were originally the servants of Annalise Jaeger’s family in Kaiserreich before he brought them from away, their situation is quite similar to the Murasaki clan of Hartina Kingdom. ‘Shakuras, the deep space supercarrier which was based on Alistair, designed as a spearhead for extradimensional warfare... I wonder if Ulbert Richtofen will be able to refine her before the time’s up…’ Mordred didn’t worry too much about his inheritor as he is one of the most competent men he had ever thought even if he’s not a sovereign.

Ulbert Richtofen was the son of Mordred’s disciple, Karax Richtofen. He is so effective and efficient as a person that his nature was frighteningly similar to a troublesome German woman of Holy Terra that Mordred knew and quite personally despises, Intelligent Metal. Unfortunately, Ulbert was restricted by his talent and luck, therefore unable to reach the rank of sovereigns.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. ‘Time’s up? What the fuck is going on…  my memories are incomplete, what is making me arrange Ulbert to refine Shakuras? Weren’t there other more pressing projects other than a mere ship that can sail the Boundless Astral Plane? Why am I trying to develop star-path in Morgen World through Galatreon as a proxy?’

When Mordred noticed his gap of memory regarding Shakuras, he suddenly felt an intense sense of urgency that he couldn’t simply shake off. 

‘‘Seven Spear’ Lamost’s divine ascension, was it?’ Mordred shook his head while Annalise’ replicant tried to pry him deeper but eventually being ignored. ‘A mere Spear God is nothing in the grand scheme of things… Perhaps, the next Otherworldly invader is an Astral Beast? Fuck, I really need to recover my soul-path attainment and regain my indestructible soul.’

After being distracted for a few seconds, Mordred threw those thoughts away into the back of his mind. Since he can accomplish nothing by being frustrated with his lack of memories, he decided to focus on what’s in front of him. He reset his priority back into Project: Wild Hunt. But first, he needed his Lord Inquisitor Identity to be recognized. 

At this moment, the replicant has led Mordred on top of an elevated castle gate of the Gorod Krovi. Annalise’ true body has been waiting for him, surrounded by a few immature girls that served her like maids.

“Master Erebus!” The girl stood up from her comfortable chair in the presence of Mordred. “Please sit, I’ve warmed the seat for you.” She did not notice that Mordred had advanced to rank 2 and switched his mortal shell despite being a Biologis Explorator specialized in investigative methods.

Mordred rolled his eyes, but sat at the only seat. “Report.”

“Exactly fourteen minutes twelve seconds earlier, I sensed a fluctuation of space on these coordinates.” Annalise picked up an information-path tablet from one of her semi-naked replicants and showed Mordred a rough map of this micro-plane.

Mordred was too lazy to listen to her reports. He immediately hacked the tablet and extracted all the information within, starting from the situation of the micro-plane, her replicants, and the progress of the other projects that he tasked her to accomplish. His actions were subtle, even Annalise couldn’t even detect the stream of information exchange.

“I’ve sent a few replicants to greet-”

“Got it.” Her words were cut off by Mordred. “Greeting, or rather, fooling the agents from Hartina Kingdom wouldn’t be too hard since both of us have resistance against time-path investigative methods. Still, your true body needs to be prepared for anything.”

Mordred paused and glanced at Annalise’ replicant before her true body could reply. “That replicant with Longma bloodline, have you given her a name?”

Annalise nodded. “Yes, my name is Ella.” Her replicant was the one who announced her name.

“So Anna and Ella. I was half expecting you to split your name into Anna and Lisa.” Mordred shrugged.

Annalise faked a cough and blushed. “Why would anyone do that, that’s dumb.”

Mordred ignored her reaction. “Depending on my understanding of their dimensional gate, they would be able to open up a portal anywhere in this micro-plane because the dimensional gate’s settings on our side have been reset.” Just as he said that, there was a spatial fluctuation twenty meters away from their location, proving his point. “Don’t say anything unless I told you to, they cannot investigate us through the axis of time.”

Mordred then stood up from his chair, his mannerism suddenly changed from a lax person into someone that Annalise recognized even if he died: the real Lord Erebus. “Let me handle this.”

Crack! Space ruptured, and a portal was made. Several figures led by a woman in a mechanical skull mask passed through. From their mannerism, even a layman can recognize they are from the military.

“Lord Inquisitor Erebus!” The woman saluted.