- Anima Body

Kingdom of Grimley, Grussiva Mansion...

Zex entered the room where Dhana was resting. Edge was sitting on a chair beside her bed.

"How is she?" Zex asked as he observed Dhana's peaceful breathing.

Edge shook his head. "She still hasn't woken up."

Zex frowned. Troy and Shea already woke up. He visited them earlier and had serious conversations about their future, revealing that he was not Drago and that he could let them undergo the [Demonic Reconstruction].

"I need to talk to you in private." Zex said as he went out of the room.

...

"No! I won't allow it!" Edge slammed the table in anger.

Zex maintained a serious expression. "I understand. I learned spells from Arissef that could have a chance in restoring Dhana's condition but because of my alignment, I cannot use them."

"Surely, the church can heal her!" Edge protested.

Zex frowned. "Do you really believe that?"

Edge could not retort. While the church did have ways of restoring the physical body, those methods were reserved for key people in the kingdom. They also need a hefty amount of mana and personnel to perform. Else, Troy, who was a hero having multiple achievements in the kingdom, would have had his leg restored decades ago.

Even the [Blood Reincarnation] technique has sparingly been used unless the king approved it. Not every hero would even be allowed to undergo it. Much less Dhana, a commoner who didn't have her blood in the repository.

"Will there be any side effects?" Edge asked after much hesitation.

Zex took a deep breath. "She will no longer be human. Her physiology will change and may affect her day-to-day life... But she can at least live a full life and have enough strength to protect herself."

Edge glared at Zex. "When she wakes up, I will ask her. If she agrees, I need your word that you will not perform a soul contract with her!"

Zex nodded in silence.

The two maintained eye contact for a while before Edge sighed, stood up, and walked towards the door.

Right after he opened the door, he paused for a while and glanced at Zex. "Thank you."

As Edge left the room, Zex buried himself in his Mind Space for days, trying to enhance the [Demonic Reconstruction] blueprints.

He did not wish to use it as it is while he also did not wish for there to be any problems when he performed them on the three.

After a day in real-time, Zex arrived at a configuration that combined the 3 Major Systems of Power. However, there were still a few problems he could not solve on his own. While it was difficult to design the various flows of power, he once worked at a petroleum depot before, being well versed in piping designs, valve placement, pumps, and various types of machinery. He was able to account for every flow issue the design encountered.

In contrast, humans have the respiratory system, the cardiovascular system, and the digestive system perform different operations under the management of the nervous system to allow the body to perform its basic needs to survive.

While a normal human would have their body naturally produce hormones or cells to adapt to certain situations, very few humans could use these functions at will.

An even fewer number of people could use these systems and functions to accomplish extraordinary feats like muscle hardening, bolstering strength, holding a breath for hours, or enhance the senses.

Races such as dragons and demons have been known to utilize the power of blood in many more ways such as rapid healing, body transformation, bestowing of power, etc.

Such was the case with Drago's [Draconic Manifestation]. This was a bloodline technique that has no relation to mana or Qi. The technique rouses the user's heart to signal the blood into performing a temporary evolution of sorts, activating a dormant code in the user's DNA. It was like getting a steroid boost.

However, just like how he lost the ability to use [True Name Liberation] once he swapped bodies with Drago, if he lost the dragon blood within his body, he would never be able to use the [Draconian Manifestation] nor utilize the effects of the [Dragon Knight] class.

Since Drago had such a low purity of dragon blood in his veins, and probably due to the ritual being interrupted decades ago, his system structure was too close to that of a human.

Fortunately, Zex could extrapolate a bit of the full structure of a pure dragon by using the differences between Drago's structure to a normal human and mixing in the insights he got from the difference between a human structure to that of a pure-blood demon.

After refining his designs, the ones that remained had a few common problems.

First, storage and transportation. He has already found a way to centralize the flow of the 3 Major powers by fusing blood, Qi, and mana to a fine degree. He called this mixture, Anima. [1] In comparison, demons have their blood and mana completely fused while their Qi has a separate system. This was why the heart of the demon is both the strongest part of their body as well as their weakness.

Because of the intense power of their mana-infused blood, their hearts needed to survive the load but also because their heart is the center of their energy, losing it would render them powerless and unable to regenerate. In exchange, with their blood naturally infused with mana, they have large capacities of mana and have easier control over it.

Zex believed that for dragons, their blood, mana, and Qi are fused just like what he was trying to achieve with Anima.

The problem was he could not create a heart that could handle such a powerful medium flowing in and out of it.

It is like trying to use liquid with a very high temperature in a system but the only material you have to contain it is plastic.

Without the skill to refine flesh at a high enough durability that it could hold the Anima while being flexible enough that it would not hinder movement, he could not follow through with these designs

The second problem was that the one being transformed must learn to control their power as soon as possible to avoid an outburst. With him there, he could isolate them as they transform. However, if he wanted to transform himself, he needed someone stronger to watch over him.

He was thinking if it was a good idea to invite his master over for that.

The third and final problem was the amount of blood, mana, and qi needed to complete the transformation. For himself, he believed that he had enough experience points to make up for it.

For his own design, he already considered his dragon blood as well as when it becomes purified.

Having makeshift solutions for the second and third problems, the only one he needed to solve was the first.

For days, he invited the best alchemists in the kingdom to visit his mansion and discussed some theories regarding the refining of flesh while using his black flames to learn their skills and gain their classes.

After making a lot of calculations and researching various methods, he finally came up with a way to refine the heart and blood vessels to be able to carry the load of Anima.

He purchased a large amount of dragonthorn root, thousand-year blood ginseng, and wyvern hide.

Mixing them together, he was able to brew enough potions for the four of them to drink for the reconstruction process.

He also refashioned the chamber once used for the Ritual of the Dragon to become the area for the reconstruction process.

After a few days, Alzeius arrived in the mansion secretly and proceeded to the underground chamber to where Zex and Edge were.

Edge was still uncomfortable in front of the demon lord as he was partially the reason why Dhana fell into such a situation in the first place.

However, he was also his savior and Zex's master. Edge was not stupid to be unable to know gratitude.

"You are prepared?" Alzeius asked Zex who was wearing a robe and kneeling.

"Yes, master." Zex said solemnly. He could not hide his nervousness.

Alzeius remained silent as he observed Zex for a while.

"You may proceed." He said without changing his expression.

Zex nodded. He stood up, removed his robes, and proceeded to the platform, where a bottle was prepared beforehand.

He took a deep breath, picked up the bottle, drank all of it, and threw the bottle away.

Directing the essence of the potion towards his heart and blood vessels with his Qi, the refining process began.

A few hours later, everything that his blood passes through has been refined to the ideal durability and flexibility.

It was time to begin the reconstruction process.

Focusing on the blueprint that he created, he manifested his black flames and began the melding of his heart, Dantian, and Mana Core.

To do this, he cut off the Dantian from his Meridian Pathways and his Mana Core from his Mana Circuits, basically making him unable to use Qi or Mana Breathing.

This meant that he had to do it quickly or else if the black flames he manifested were to run out, he had no way of replenishing them, making him unable to continue with the reconfiguration.

In his design, he optimized the lungs to also conjoin the breathing processes of Qi and Mana, as well as the refining process, transferring the refined oxygen, mana, and Qi towards the heart while breathing out the impurities.

Now, he could replenish his Qi and mana as long as he literally breathes.

Continuing to assimilate the three cores, the heart is now becoming the center of all his power as its functions were enhanced to include the processes of the other two systems.

After he was finished giving his heart these new abilities, he reconfigured his nervous system and his brain processes to include them in their signal network.

Finally, he began to trace and reconstruct his blood vessels to act as the meridian pathways and mana circuits as well. To do so, he had to open holes and create tendrils to allow Qi and mana to flow in and out of the body.

This was the process that took the longest time. It was also the most nerve-wracking as a tiny mistake could result in insufferable consequences.

When the final strand was set up, it was time to let the Anima flow throughout his body.

However, a complication occurred when the three mixed.

The black flames were suddenly turning haywire.

[1] Anima is a Latin word that was originally used to describe ideas such as breath, soul, spirit, or vital force.