Chapter 726: Flesh Transformation, Time Traveler

After giving instructions to Jiabasi, Xia Duo sent a message to Jiefu, the Supervisor of the Territory Development Department, asking him to meet Jiabasi's staffing needs as much as possible, provided that the current pace of development was not reduced.

Fortunately, there were only a few days left in this month. If nothing went wrong, the fleet organized by Hans, Shanjin, and several other merchant guilds would be returning soon, and there would be at least 500 new territory residents, which would be enough for Jiabasi to use.

……

Hurrying back to the Tower of Time, Xia Duo dove straight into the Spell Laboratory.

Once here, no matter what tricks this Statue had up its sleeve, he didn't need to worry; however, Xia Duo had a vague premonition that perhaps the miraculous nature of the Statue had ceased to exist after that mysterious entity exploded.

Taking the Statue out of his Personal Space, he stood it firmly in the center of the Spell Laboratory, almost touching the ceiling. In the limited space, this tall, ferocious Statue appeared exceptionally oppressive.

After Jiabasi and the others dug this Statue out and transported it to the Military Camp, they did not perform a thorough cleaning, merely brushing off the loose dirt from the surface.

Now, what Xia Duo needed to do was to give this Statue a thorough cleaning first; perhaps the details were hidden beneath the mud and grime!

The cleaning process was unremarkable, amounting to nothing more than Xia Duo using his Bloodline Awakening ability, 【Water Control】, to perform a detailed cleaning of the entire Statue.

As Xia Duo had expected, the real surprise was indeed hidden after the cleaning!

Previously, it had been covered in layers of mud, and although one could tell the Statue was made of stone, there was still a question as to what kind of stone it was!

After the cleaning, even though Xia Duo was not a geology expert, he could clearly see that the scaled creature with a human body and snake tail was not made of the same material as the stone pillar serving as the base.

The scaled creature was a color approaching ink-black with a faint blue tint, while the stone pillar was pure black, with certain smooth areas clearly refracting white light.

Xia Duo carefully inspected the connection between the scaled creature and the stone pillar it was coiled around; to describe it as having a clear boundary might be an exaggeration, but that was indeed the case.

At the very least, from the perspective of an ordinary person looking at the surface, one could clearly see a dividing line at the connection point that followed the contours of the scaled creature's form.

"It seems, it seems this scaled creature and the base pillar were not made in the same batch!"

This was the simplest conclusion Xia Duo reached based on the phenomena he had observed so far; perhaps there really were perfectly suited stones that created this Statue with a body and base of different materials.

"Right, there is still that broken tail!"

Xia Duo thought of that broken tail. This Statue looked quite valuable, and although it had already been "sucked" by the Personal Space, he preferred not to damage it if he didn't have to.

After all, this was the only Statue of its kind for the time being.

……

After the broken tail was cleaned, it was the same as the main body of the scaled creature—an ink-black color with a faint blue tint; even the fractured cross-section was that same color.

It was just that—

There was an indescribable feeling about that fracture surface; could it be—

Xia Duo couldn't help but be startled by his own thought. He stepped back a few paces to carefully examine the Statue: human body, snake tail, covered from head to toe in scales. The snake tail went without saying, but even the arms, which appeared similar to a human's, were no exception.

Other areas, such as the chest, back, and head, also had fine scales present.

The more he examined it, the more alarmed Xia Duo became. Although he had never seen the real body of such a scaled creature, this Statue truly gave him the feeling of a living thing, baring fangs and brandishing claws, as if it were just about to throw the weapon in its hand.

Of course, all these feelings might just be psychological suggestion, stemming from some strange features he had discovered on the fracture surface of the broken tail, but since he already had this idea, he had to verify it.

……

Carrying the broken tail, Xia Duo went to the General Laboratory nearby. Although it hadn't been equipped with an Alchemy Array yet, having an experimental table was enough.

Securing the broken tail, Xia Duo opened his right hand, and an Adamantine Knife glowing with a faint blue luster appeared silently in his hand.

"Ding, ding, ding—"

The Adamantine Knife and the broken tail collided lightly, producing a crisp sound. Xia Duo applied a little force, and soon a small fragment chipped off the cross-section of the broken tail.

Seeing this, Xia Duo observed the new fracture surface and continued to tap and chisel at the cross-section of the broken tail. Just looking at his movements, he was like a clumsy stonemason, but he didn't care; his eyes were only on that cross-section, and on the—

Muscle texture!

A moment later, the experimental table was a mess, covered in ink-black, blue-tinted stone chips, both large and small, while Xia Duo continued to tap and chisel.

It wasn't until he had chiseled a cylindrical hole into the cross-section of the broken tail that he stopped.

Tossing the Adamantine Knife onto the experimental table, Xia Duo couldn't help but mutter, "If there really were stone that perfectly matched bone, muscle, skin, and scales, then it would be a ghost!"

He had seen muscle texture on the cross-section of the broken tail earlier, and as he continued to chisel, the fragments that flew off all broke along the lines of that muscle texture.

If this were all a coincidence, then how could he, a novice with absolutely no experience in carving, have chiseled a thin-walled cylinder out of stone? Could that also be a coincidence!

Xia Duo reached out and pried at the wall of the cylinder he had chiseled into the broken tail, and a scale slightly larger than his fingernail was pried right off.

Tossing the scale aside, Xia Duo revealed a wry smile, "It really is!"

He no longer wanted to continue verifying it. If nothing went wrong, as long as he chiseled open the Statue of the scaled creature, he would be able to see the internal organs of that creature inside.

Xia Duo didn't believe anyone would be so bored as to use the same material to replicate a creature with such extreme precision, even going deep into the internal body.

In this world of Magic, it was more likely that this Statue was transformed from the creature's actual body.

Not long ago, hadn't Jiabasi and his son been turned to stone!

Especially Jiabasi, who had been completely petrified. If Xia Duo had given up on him and buried him directly, would someone digging up Jiabasi many years later also feel amazed by such a statue?

As for why the material of Jiabasi after petrification was different from this Statue, perhaps it was due to the different Magic used during the transformation.

……

"An ancient time traveler, a prisoner subjected to punishment, or an ordinary 'person' who met with an accident, or perhaps simply some kind of decorative statue made from a 'real person'?"

Xia Duo had already concluded that this Statue was transformed from a real creature. Looking at the Statue again, his feelings were completely different; he had a sense of crossing time and space to converse with this creature.

Looking at the Magic Aura again, it was the same as what he had observed in the Military Camp: there was no obvious aura reaction, no different from ordinary stone.

However, this Statue had been "sucked" by the Personal Space, so it must have undergone some kind of change in the process, though Xia Duo couldn't figure it out for the time being.

The only thing he could be sure of was that this Statue seemed to have "degenerated," and he needed more such statues!

Whether he fed them directly to the Personal Space or continued to study them, they would be excellent samples!