Mind Demon's Path of Domination

One interesting thing to note happened in the lab while Mark hadn’t noticed, and for that, Yuri was rather pissed off.

When Mark absorbed Reol’ran’s ice-buried body into his Soul Space, the natural Dungeon that had been around this laboratory had vanished.

The natural Dungeon that had been around here even while there was no Dungeon Demon around was due to a single matter—Reol’ran’s existence. Heaven Soul Race members all had such a natural Dungeon surrounding them and Reol’ran was no different.

But when Mark took her into his Soul Space, her connection to the real world was broken and the Laboratory Dungeon became a normal high-end laboratory. As a result, the demon corpses that Yuri had stored hidden in a mortuary-like room had all become ash.

The Will of the Hunter World had burned them when the corpses were no longer hidden inside the Dungeon. And Yuri had lost a lot of her research materials. She didn’t know anything about Reol’ran but she guessed it was Mark’s fault that her research materials were lost and her expression had been rather sour since his return this time.

She really liked her research.

When Choi Sung moved the truck into the basement parking lot of the lab—which Yuri had found out existed only recently—and Mark opened a truck full of resources that she could spend on her lab, her expression brightened slightly.

"This is not enough for the demon corpses though, I could have sold one and got just as much money," she said. "Well, it’s you who got me the corpses in the first place so no point being mad at you. But still, you could have warned me."

Mark rubbed his nose. "I’ll get you some more—it’s a mistake."

They watched from the side as Choi Sung helped them shift things into the lab.

Dona was wrapped in a white curtain as she did circles beside them—enjoying her new clothes. Yuri looked at Dona’s bigger form with raised eyebrows.

"I have a lot of money but getting this much gold is a headache even for me," she said, sighing. "The Solar Gang was indeed a good target. And way faster and more straightforward than the drug business. Well, how did the fight go? Are B-Rank Hunters hard for you?"

"They were easy pickings. The fat woman had an interesting defensive ability, but nothing else of interest. One of them was an exaggerated flash grenade—he had light explosion ability—and the other had the power to squeeze air but it was not that strong."

"Ah, that Light Explosion guy is the leader."

"Whatever, they are all dead anyway."

The dead don’t matter unless they left something impactful before dying. The Solar gang left behind nothing that could impact him.

"True, true," Yuri nodded. "But maybe you shouldn’t stop the killing with one and kill some more."

She put her hand into her lab robe and took out a lollipop before putting it in her mouth. She took another one from her side pocket and pointed it towards Mark. Dona looked at her intensely and Yuri smirked as she threw another one at the demoness—Dona caught it.

Mark blinked and took the lolipo with interest. Against his rather huge palm, it looked like a small thing. He threw the whole thing into his mouth, and that made her look funnily at him.

"So, I need a bit of your help in something," he said.

"Hm?" Her eyes really brightened this time. "Something scientific?"

"You could say that," he said.

"Sure, but Mark, are you sure about what you are doing? Angels might come any day and you are just waiting. Don’t you have any plans of escape or making a backdoor for yourself?" She shrugged. "Things seem to be near a boiling point. I’d run."

"Don’t worry about that, I have my plans."

...

A day passed.

Mark was flanked by the figures of a curious Yuri and a silent Dona.

They were currently in an obscure room in the laboratory and it was full of docile animals.

After the hunt yesterday, Mark had ordered Choi Sung to bring the animals that the Hunter had left behind on that old mountain days ago. These animals were the 98 animals that Mark had planted the Dungeon Heart Seeds on—he had a limit of 100 and the rest of the two Seeds were planted inside Dona and the hamster.

Since all the animals were in the vast white room, there was a nice perk to it. This room had essentially turned into a dungeon where Mark didn’t have to worry too much about the World Will finding him by accident.

"So, what are you trying that you wanted me to help with?" Yuri asked.

Mark walked towards a pig and said, "Dona, give me cover when necessary."

He calmly touched the pig with his palm and activated one of his demonic tricks. Activating a demonic trick was like pulling the trigger in a gun—it was a very clicky feeling.

The pig’s body began to morph and disfigure and it squealed. The surrounding docile animals were alerted and they all distanced themselves with fear—most had been instilled with loyalty using Mark’s methods but they were still somewhat fearful.

Alchemic Shapeshifting!

Soon, the pig looked like a humanoid pig—its color was still the same but it had a humanoid shape. As soon as it became that, blood began to ooze out of it and Dona immediately cast a Fire Shield dome around it. Blood exploded inside the dome but it melted in seconds.

Even Mark himself could feel the heatwaves tickle. Dona’s fire was no child’s play; it could even burn him. The ground of the lab was charred and Yuri had closed her eyes in pain and her face was red.

Breathing heavily, Yuri said, "Damn, collateral damage Mark. Ask her to stop this or I’d die breathing this hot air."

The fire vanished.

Face sweaty and head swimming slightly, Yuri coughed.

She subconsciously leaned against Mark. "That was... out of nowhere."

Mark blinked apologetically. "Sorry, I didn’t expect this—I just didn’t want the blood of the pig to get all over us when it explodes..."

Reol’ran laughed in his mind. "This is why I tell you are so loose around the edges. And this is just one example. Be self-aware. If you can’t do that, don’t mingle with creatures who are so much weaker than you—you will just end up hurting them."

"You could have warned me if you knew!"

"Why would I?" Reol’ran snorted. "This is a good lesson for you and her. I am not your warning bell, I am your fiance and I have no obligation to save this woman."

Dona threw a black bottle at her mate. Mark looked back and Dona looked away from him with a pout.

"Thanks, Don!" he said.

He made Yuri drink it and the girl’s complexion slowly normalized. She chuckled wryly.

"You guys are monsters. Luckily I closed my eyes quickly or I might have been blinded," she said. "And thanks Dona, I owe you one."

Dona didn’t look at them at all and had already laid down on the floor. She even had a chip packet in her hand. Mark looked at Dona’s figure and felt a smile grow on his face, but then, he felt equally annoyed with Reol’ran.

Yuri looked at the slightly charred, humanoid corpse of the once-pig.

"The Hunter ability of that kid Shiden?" Yuri said, looking at him. "You got control of it."

"I did," he said.

"So you want to try and use it on living things?" Yuri guessed, a finger on her chin. "What is it like to use it on non-living things?"

Mark didn’t speak and squatted down to touch the ground instead. The ground started to shift and a small mountain started to poke out of it. The mountain made of concrete rippled like water and transformed into a small statue of Yuri herself.

"Amazing, how does this even work?" Yuri touched the statue with an awed expression.

"It costs a lot of Mindpower. In fact, this statue and that pig alone have nearly emptied me. But it’s a very relaxing power to use. Whatever I touch with my palm, I can turn its shape into anything I desire. I can touch walls and create a door, I can touch grass and turn it into blades."

"Does the original mass change?" She asked with a heavy frown.

"No. If something was 1 kilogram before I changed its shape, it will still be a kilogram after I change it."

"Or else you could have touched a rock and turned it into a planet—as much energy as that would take. No, no, this is already an incredible ability. The potential is so crazy for use one could call himself a god."

Reol’ran said, her enchanting voice seeming somewhat small. "I won’t dare call myself God, that’s a holy word for Angels and they kill anyone who misuses it. Even that ’Ice God’ Hanmo would have been killed at sight—so little yet dare to use words so big. Many don’t like that."

Mark ignored her.

Yuri continued, biting her nails. "Mark, if you are strong enough, you could use your ability to create terrain that is always to your advantage. And damn, the uses are so endless. You could even craft things that people like me could only dream of—like my old failed Mecha experiment."

She turned to him with crystal clear eyes. She hadn’t even worn her goggles—Mark felt lucky she hadn’t been really harmed.

"Mark, this ability is the most ridiculous thing, right?" She seemed to be laughing without doing that.

Mark stroked her head as she leaned against his side. "Of course, it’s pretty good."

"It’s amazing!" She laughed.

"So, why do you think I can’t use it on animals as I do on inanimate stuff?"

"Of course." She looked up at him. "That’s because biological ’stuff’ and inanimate ’stuff’ are not the same. In fact, the question is so simple I’d think you yourself would come up with the answer."

Mark nodded. "I do have guesses that I am fairly certain about."

She nodded and removed his hand from on top of her head. Then walked towards the pig. "Basically, living beings are not one object like the inanimate objects. A human has a brain, a stomach, a penis, and an anus. And more. They are a system and you are turning it abruptly. Maybe, if you do it slowly, the creature might not die—for one, organs are averse to sudden shifts."

"Hm, I see?"

"Wait a second, I am not finished," she stayed away from the burnt ground—that place was still hot. "Look at this corpse. You can touch it and probably change its shape, too. It’s not alive and dead that matters—it’s the function. Your actual goal is to change the shape of a living thing without hurting any of its functions."

"For that?"

"You need to know and understand the biology of the thing you are changing. If you want to turn a pig into a human, you need to know what a pig is like inside out and also what a human is like inside out. From the genetic level if possible. Then, you won’t face any issues."

Reol’ran nodded. "She is correct."

Mark ignored her.

"So then if I have to change my body size and shape to a human level without being worried about anything..."

Yuri strolled towards him and looked up at his face. She drew a finger across his chest. "If you want that, you should know inside out about human biology and your biology. Then, turn everything that must be changed from the nervous system to the genetics in one go. Then, instead of breaking the system while you change the form of a living being, you will change it from one system of existence to another."

He groaned. "How long does it even take to study such a thing?"

Yuri shrugged. "Or else you could try it out again and again and maybe, you might start getting the hang of it and could barely start doing it."

"That’s stupid," Reol’ran muttered. "Half-assed training is not your goal. Do whatever you do in the right, honest path or you will never become an elite of what you are trying to be. A warrior doesn’t look for shortcuts due to laziness."

Mark ignored her.

"Don’t ignore me, alright?" Reol’ran sighed. "I am sorry, I will warn you from here on. And I really did feel apologetic when Dona threw the water. I was a bit... anyway, I am sorry."

Mark smiled slightly.

Yuri asked, "I have books on the human anatomy and such, want them? If you can memorize everything within the ten books I give you, you should be pretty close to having as good a knowledge of the human body as anyone in this world. As for your anatomy, I have written things on that too."

Mark rubbed his nose. "This is more complicated than I thought."

He hadn’t expected that learning a single ability to its most capable level would require him to study science. That was...

"It’s just memorizing books, don’t moan about it and just do it, it’s going to be very useful for you," Reol’ran said. "And well, consider it your first attempt at training."

Mark nodded, finally not ignoring her. Since she apologized, that was enough.

He didn’t mind her talking down on him in areas of her expertise but Mark had no plans of acting meakly to all her actions.

He wouldn’t really mind if her actions had not much consequence but if it did, she would—must—respect him as an equal.

That was his baseline.