Chapter 67: Autopsy of the Second Realm
Dahlia stepped out of the God Gym, stretching her arms.
She quickly spotted Garion standing a few meters away near an open field.
He already cleared the ground, creating a vast flat space.
Dahlia quickly went to him.
"Okay, Master. I’m here. What are we going to do now?"
Garion looked up with a grin.
"Good timing."
He lifted his hand and pulled out four massive bags from his system storage.
Dahlia frowned.
"What’s in those?"
Garion smirked.
"Take a look."
She raised an eyebrow and leaned closer, opening one bag. Her eyes widened immediately.
"Wait... are these...?
Inside the bags lay the cold corpses of Feron, Dario, Bria, and Alonzo, the elders Garion had killed days earlier.
Dahlia blinked a few times, turning toward Garion.
"Master... you didn’t drag their bodies all the way here, did you?"
Garion chuckled.
"Of course I did. You can’t just throw away valuable specimens like these."
She folded her arms, eyes narrowing, and a small smile appeared on her face.
"Could it be... You plan to turn them into cadavers and study them?"
Garion grinned wider.
"Exactly. That’s why I want to do this outside. Things might get messy."
Dahlia gave a short laugh, her earlier exhaustion fading.
"Messy, huh? Then this might be fun. I’ve always wanted to see what a Second Realm cultivator’s body looks like from the inside."
Garion nodded approvingly.
"Good. Then let’s start with Alonzo’s body."
He crouched next to the corpse, pulling out a sharp knife.
With practised precision, he began cutting through he man’s chest.
Dahlia leaned closer, keeping a bit of distance, and watched with curiosity.
Garion muttered while working.
"Hm... not as tough as I thought."
Dahlia nodded.
"That’s normal. Reaching the Second Realm only refines their mana and control. It doesn’t change the body itself that much."
"True," Garion said, slicing through another layer.
"Still, this Alonzo had a stone-type mana trait. It basically transformed his attack into a stone-type. I thought maybe his body would show traces of it."
Dahlia shook her head.
"It’s just a mana trait, Master. It doesn’t reshape the body unless the cultivator reaches a higher stage."
Garion stopped for a moment, thinking.
"Right. He was just a Stabilization stage cultivator."
He tapped his knife against the ground lightly.
"Stabilization stage means being able to use the mana trait. Awakening stage strengthens it and makes it easier to control. And Integration stage..."
"...began to fuse with the body," Dahlia finished, nodding.
Garion smiled slightly.
"Exactly."
They continued their examination. Dahlia began to conclude after inspecting some organs.
"The organs seem normal. They are slightly tougher, but still human. So it can be said there is not much change."
Garion nodded, but then he noticed something. He leaned closer and frowned.
"Wait. What’s this?"
At the lower abdomen, he spotted something small. It was hard and faintly glowing grey.
He carefully removed it and rolled it in his palm.
"Is this... the mana core?"
Dahlia crouched beside him, shaking her head.
"Not quite, Master. These people were only at the Stabilization Stage, remember? This should be the mana seed."
"Mana seed, huh?" Garion turned it under the moonlight.
"Strange. It’s more like a tiny stone. And nothing seemed to be connected with it."
Dahlia smiled faintly.
"That’s because these cultivators use virtual meridians. Their energy flow isn’t bound by physical veins like ours."
Garion nodded.
"Right, I almost forgot about that. Make sense."
He placed the small grey seed onto a cloth.
"Still, interesting. Let’s keep this one for study. A seed like this probably acts as a mana container."
"Agreed," Dahlia said, moving toward the next body.
"Let’s check the others."
Garion stood, wiped his hands, and walked over.
He opened Dario’s bag next. The smell wasn’t pleasant, but both of them had long since gotten used to worse.
With a few quick cuts, Garion opened the chest.
Inside, everything looked the same as others, but with slightly firmer tissue and stronger bone structure.
But the seed this time glowed faint green.
They then moved directly to Bria next.
Garion sliced carefully along the torso, exposing the same organs.
When he found her mana seed, it shimmered faintly with a metallic sheen.
And now, in front of them, were three different types with varying shapes, sizes, and colours.
Alonzo’s pale grey, Dario’s glowing green, and Bria’s metallic silver mana seeds.
Garion crossed his arms, studying them closely.
"So it’s confirmed. The mana seed changes depending on the cultivator’s trait and their affinity."
Dahlia nodded.
"And maybe their strength, too. The stronger the mana, the better the seed becomes."
Garion smiled faintly.
"Interesting..."
His eyes shifted toward Feron’s corpse.
"Now then... let’s see the difference between them and this one. Feron was at the Awakening Stage. His body should show something new."
He crouched beside the corpse and began making careful incisions.
The inside was similar to the other three, but denser and stronger.
"Hm. The body’s definitely stronger," Garion muttered.
"But still not much different in structure."
Dahlia folded her arms.
"It seems that true transformation only starts at the Integration Stage, Master. That’s when the mana trait begins merging with the body."
Garion nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. I was thinking the same."
He moved his knife lower, reaching toward the abdomen, and sometimes quickly caught his eyes.
"Wait... what’s this?"
He reached in and pulled out an object that pulsed faintly red. Unlike the other rough and hard gem...
This one was a bit rounder, smoother and had a deep blood red colour.
Garion’s eyes widened.
"Well, would you look at that... definitely not a mana seed."
He held it up, amazed by what he saw.
"If the other three were like rough stone, then this one’s like jade... solid and smooth."
Dahlia leaned closer, fascinated.
"So this must be a mana core. It’s different from the seeds, and you can feel it from the mana coming from it."
Garion nodded, still staring at it.
"Indeed. I can feel the density, the pressure. It is leagues above the other three. The difference is bigger than I thought."
He then put it with the other three mana seeds.
"We’ve learned a lot tonight."
Dahlia nodded quietly.
"We have. Master."
Garion stood and looked down at the bodies one last time.
"Now, I understand why reaching higher realms made them even stronger."