Chapter 168: Aberrant Creatures

As they walked into the ancient castle.

Gunie felt as if he had entered a grand academy of the extraordinary.

Everywhere, extraordinary beings in blue scholar robes could be seen carrying books through the corridors, either in groups of three or five, or walking alone, coming and going in an endless stream.

At the same time, by the corridor windows, on garden benches, and on stair steps, students wearing glasses and reading books were visible everywhere.

"Here? Why are there so many students?"

Gunie asked, quite puzzled as he walked along.

"Of course, because as the Star Observation Tower, this place itself is the site of an advanced academy."

"Although the number is not large, every student has considerable talent and has passed strict tests. There's no need to worry about spies among them."

"Moreover, if anyone did manage to sneak in, they would have been discovered long ago. This place is not one where those evil gods can easily send people." Muland Elkerly said with certainty.

"I see." Gunie nodded.

Back then, after completing the regular academy courses in the Sugg Ruins City, Gunie could have also pursued further studies at a more advanced academy like this.

"That's precisely why we brought you here to train; there's no doubt about safety."

The two talked as they walked, and before they knew it, they had followed the castle corridor to a vast area of extraordinary research and academic buildings.

As soon as they arrived, two grandmasters of the extraordinary approached from the entrance.

"Professor Muland Elkerly."

Among the two, a grandmaster wearing an orange scholar robe, with white hair and beard, bowed to Muland Elkerly.

"This is Gunie Lawrence." Muland Elkerly introduced.

"Gunie Lawrence." Upon hearing this, the two grandmasters immediately looked at Gunie.

"Great creator of the Soul Dawn, Master Alchemist Gunie Lawrence, greetings." Both grandmasters bowed to Gunie simultaneously.

As grandmasters, they were naturally very familiar with the power of the Secret Pattern Soul Potion.

In fact, they themselves urgently needed this potion.

It could help them possess a stronger soul.

An ordinary soul and a Secret Pattern soul were completely two different concepts.

"Good afternoon, Masters." Gunie also slightly bowed in return.

"This is Master Kemon, specializing in biological research, currently studying those peculiar creatures from the Aberrant Land."

"This is Master Aidora, also a grandmaster studying aberrant creatures, but his research focuses more on their weaknesses."

Muland Elkerly gave a brief introduction of the two grandmasters.

"This time, Gunie has come to you to learn about the characteristics and abilities of the creatures from the Aberrant Land, and also to take a look at these aberrant creatures."

Then Muland Elkerly stated Gunie's purpose.

"Since you wish to understand those aberrant creatures, please follow us, Lord Gunie!" Kemon said with a warm smile.

"Mm!" Gunie nodded.

The two led the way, and Gunie followed behind.

Soon.

The group of four arrived at an extraordinary research lab with a small number of staff.

As soon as he entered this extraordinary research lab, Gunie saw many glass containers of various sizes, containing all kinds of strange creatures.

"This time, the most common peculiar creature from the Aberrant Land is this one, which we have named the Wailing Stitchfiend."

"It is a composite peculiar creature."

"Its general appearance is like this." Kemon pointed to a large glass container about three meters tall and two meters in diameter.

The glass container was filled with some clear liquid, emitting a faint blue light.

In the faint blue liquid.

A black-gray corpse with a slight metallic luster came into Gunie's view.

This was a very bizarre aberrant creature.

It had a massive head, with four eyes that seemed to contain a sense of deathly wailing.

Its upper torso had four thick arms, with sharp claws making even their bare hands lethal.

On its back, it had a pair of large fleshy wings and a pair of small fleshy wings.

Its lower body had over ten tentacle-like limbs resembling octopus tentacles.

But the problem was that this aberrant creature was clearly not a complete, whole organism.

Its arms, head, torso, and lower body showed obvious signs of forced stitching and fusion.

Even the two wings were not the same, also showing signs of forced stitching and fusion.

No wonder the researcher Kemon had named it the "Wailing Stitchfiend."

After Gunie had a look, Kemon continued to explain.

"The Wailing Stitchfiend is just a common aberrant creature. We named it the Wailing Stitchfiend because of its powerful wailing shock ability. Besides this, there are several other aberrant monsters."

As they walked forward, Kemon introduced them.

"For example, this one, the Shadow Stitchfiend."

"Part of its body is made of peculiar shadows. It has the strange ability to merge into the bodies of other creatures and is not easily detected."

"During battle, it will suddenly burst out and deliver a fatal blow to the enemy."

"There is also a Mother Hive Stitchfiend, which can breed many palm-sized aberrant bees inside its body."

"These aberrant bees have a long-range projection ability, with very strong corrosive power, especially against various powerful shields and extraordinary equipment."

"Another example is this very eerie Flesh Stitcher, which collects dead body parts, stitches them together, and grants them life."

"Or another one that is very difficult to deal with, and currently the most powerful aberrant creature encountered—the Flesh Devourer!"

"They can continuously grow stronger by devouring, and there is no limit to that."

"They can even grow into a massive mountain of flesh through devouring."

"In fact, we have already seen many such massive mountains of flesh up in the stars."

"Wailing Stitchfiend, Shadow Stitchfiend, Mother Hive Stitchfiend, Flesh Stitcher, Flesh Devourer."

Gunie noted down all this information.

"There are quite a few types of these aberrant creatures."

Looking at the many aberrant creatures in the glass containers, Gunie thought to himself as he walked.

"If it were just that, it would be fine."

Kemon continued softly.

"The main thing is that these aberrant creatures seem to have no souls; they are pure flesh consciousness entities."

"Oh?" Gunie raised an eyebrow slightly. "Pure flesh consciousness entities?"

"What about their intelligence?"

"When their numbers are small, their intelligence is low, with only simple self-awareness and high combat instincts."

"But as their numbers gradually increase, their intelligence noticeably improves."

"A social tribal creature?" Gunie asked.

"That seems to be the case." Kemon nodded.

"At the same time, those powerful aberrant creatures, the Flesh Devourers, generally have very high intelligence, not inferior to humans at all."

"As flesh consciousness entities, how strong is their flesh?" Gunie inquired softly.

"Very strong, even more durable and resistant than the bodies of Plate Armor Knights of the same rank, with very high damage tolerance." Kemon said.

Upon hearing this, Gunie felt not the slightest worry but rather a bit amused.

"Durable, resistant, high damage tolerance—this is practically living, writhing intelligent flesh!"

"I'm not afraid of you being strong; I'm afraid you're not strong enough."

For Gunie, the stronger the flesh, the better the effect when digested in the Blood Sea.

"Senior Kemon, may I obtain some of this aberrant flesh for simple study and understanding?" After some thought, Gunie asked.

"No problem." Kemon nodded lightly.