Chapter 77: An Intriguing Soul Infusion

Before Saul could even try to explain, Nick turned to the female apprentice on the sensory chair and said, “Alright, you can leave now. Come back for a check-up at least once within the month. If you feel anything unusual, return early.”

As the sensory chair shut down, all the restraints automatically released.

The female apprentice pushed herself up using the chair’s armrests, her steps a little unsteady. She nodded silently at Nick, her expression unreadable—was she happy or disappointed?

Only after she left the lab and shut the door behind her did Nick speak to Saul again. “Now do you know what we’re doing here?”

“I saw a mental entity on her that didn’t belong to her. Was she… invaded by a spirit?” Saul ventured.

“Her situation can’t be called an invasion. Actually, it’s more accurate for you to refer to her as him. After all, the soul of a man is the current owner of that body.”

Saul’s eyes widened instantly.

A man’s soul? The current owner?

What did that mean? Soul possession? Or had he changed bodies?

“Our experiment is actually the Mentor’s project. Its full title is A Study on the Feasibility and Adaptability of Transferring Souls into Other Corpses. But the name’s too long, so we just call it ‘Soul Infusion.’”

Nick handed a folder of documents to Saul.

“You can skip the parts that make you uncomfortable—it’s beyond your current knowledge level anyway.”

Saul looked down and began flipping through the file.

As expected, most of the contents were either incomprehensible or made his head spin.

All he could gather was that this was a set of experimental observation records. The first few pages detailed the subject’s identity, followed by dates, experimental procedures, and more.

From the records, he could tell that the soul came from a First Rank apprentice within the tower, while the body belonged to a Second Rank apprentice who had died—under various circumstances—but whose corpse remained in good condition.

First Rank apprentices were typically older apprentices in their twenties who had yet to advance. Before the experiment, they would sign a contract to voluntarily give up their original body and accept all risks of soul infusion.

Of course, how “voluntary” that was… remained debatable.

Further along, there were records of different reactions to using the control panel—he merely skimmed those.

Too much he couldn’t understand.

Things like the soul’s major attributes, body response indices, flesh freshness, soul cohesion levels, and a whole slew of rune calculations…

After reading the file, Saul became sharply aware of how lacking his knowledge was.

He had once thought he could learn everything on his own, but now realized that had been arrogant.

Still, he used to have Sid constantly looming behind him, forcing him down a risky path just to survive. Now, he could finally study in peace and catch up.

Oh, but first—he had to deal with the vengeful spirit haunting him.

“Senior, is transferring a soul into someone else’s body an easy thing to do?”

“Of course not. First, the soul must remain rational and intact. Vengeful spirit or wraith possessing bodies do nothing to advance our research.”

“Then comes the infusion step, which is painful for both the experimenter and the recipient. After all, it’s not the soul’s original body. And at this step, we’ve hit a major obstacle.” Nick glanced up at Saul’s head, his tone slightly probing. “If you end up working in this field, maybe we can tackle it together.”

He flipped the record back to the first page and pointed to the soul and body’s genders.

“So far, we’ve only succeeded in infusing male souls into female bodies, or vice versa. We can’t infuse male souls into male bodies, or female souls into female bodies. Not even the Mentor knows why.”

Saul reread the file and confirmed that was indeed the case.

What was this? Opposites attract, same repels? But do souls even have genders? Or is it based on the soul’s self-perceived identity?

Seeing that Saul seemed to be deep in thought, already getting drawn into the topic, Nick felt the time was right to continue his explanation.

“The last step is prolonged maintenance and observation. Many souls collapse shortly after entering the body. Figuring out how to sustain them long-term is another major challenge of this research.

“As for observation—that was the experiment we just did. You saw it yourself. The body and soul have almost completely opposite feedback to the sensory chair’s stimulation. That’s why their behavior is so odd. But solving that… is the Mentor’s problem. For now, we just record the data.”

Nick retrieved the notebook from Saul’s hands. “I think you now have a basic understanding of soul infusion. Next, let’s call in Subject Two. We’ve only got two people today.”

Subject Two was a man.

Also someone Saul had seen before in Mentor Rum’s class—a Second Rank apprentice.

Only two people? Then that female Second Rank apprentice—the one whose back once burst out with a face—hadn’t come?

Something happened to her?

Subject Two’s testing process was nearly identical to Subject One’s. Saul helped record the data, and with that, their tasks for the day were done. He wouldn’t be involved in the next stages of experimentation.

So, while Nick was packing up, Saul made his request.

“Hm?” Nick paused, setting down the notes, and looked Saul up and down. “You’ve got a vengeful spirit on you? Corpses in the tower are specially treated. It’s rare for vengeful spirits or wraiths to escape. Besides, for a vengeful spirit to cling to someone, there needs to be some emotional entanglement. Why would… Wait, it’s Sid, isn’t it? Why does he hate you that much? Even in death he won’t let go?”

That question wasn’t easy for Saul to answer. He could only scratch the back of his head innocently.

“I’m not entirely sure either. Mentor Rum was the one who noticed the vengeful spirit and told me to come find you.”

“Mentor… told you to come to me?” Nick’s expression turned a bit odd, though he was extremely good at hiding his emotions—nothing showed on the surface.

“Y-yeah…” Saul began to feel nervous under Nick’s gaze.

“I see.” After a moment, Nick slowly lifted his chin and nodded at the sensory chair in front of them. “Then hop on.”

Saul: “?!!!!”

“Me? Get on that thing?” Saul pointed at himself, then at the sensory chair across from him.

“Yeah. What, you think a mere Second Rank apprentice like me is better at dealing with vengeful spirit than the Mentor?” Nick picked up the control panel again and started tapping, “Obviously, it’s because this chair is the best tool for tormenting spirits.”

“It can remove a vengeful spirit?”

“Not one that’s too powerful. But if the one on you were that strong, you’d already be dead.”

Nick finished adjusting the controls and noticed Saul still frozen in place.

“Scared? Don’t worry—it feels real good.”

Nick deliberately borrowed Saul’s earlier phrase.

Saul’s mouth twitched. “Alright, I’m getting on.”

Nick nodded.

“I’m really getting on?”

Nick looked at him oddly. “Go… ahead?”

Seeing his diary gave no warnings, Saul figured this wasn’t an assassination plot from Nick.

He remembered the expression on the male subject’s face earlier and decided he had to keep a straight face once it was his turn.

Saul climbed into the high-backed chair and flipped himself into place.

The sensory chair instantly adjusted to his size and customized a set of “restraints.”

Nick then came up and inserted the fine threads into Saul’s skin. The tips were thin and didn’t hurt—just a little itchy.

Nick only inserted threads at Saul’s wrists and ankles, carefully avoiding the left hand and neck.

“Senior Nick?” Saul asked, puzzled.

“No need to insert so many if we’re not tracking your emotions. We just need to deal with the vengeful spirit.”

Nick returned to the console and picked up the control panel.

Saul’s heart immediately tensed.

He gritted his teeth and clutched the armrests tightly.

“Hold on… hold on…” Saul braced himself.

Then, he saw Nick tap a few buttons on the panel.

(End of Chapter)

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