Epic Of The Demonic Sage

Over time, the gate had rusted and even the stone ramp that came all the way to the basement was weathered. Since the building was in bad condition for a long time, the basement had been all but abandoned.

Had it not been for the fact that the entire building was made from stone and bricks, the water leaking in from the walls would have probably rotted any wood that may have been used back then, leading to the collapse of the entire building.

Lucius had to thank the great grandfather for having the smarts to think for the future and not using something like wood for foundation and flooring. This had now allowed him to have an almost perfect place to do his experiments.

The secondary entrance to the basement is what Lucius will be using to leave the place secretly and also to transport any… 'out of commission' subjects and broken samples. Plus other valuable things he did not want too many people to see.

The current exit was in disrepair and had not been opened for a long time, causing it to get jammed. Though Lucius reckoned he might be able to get opened soon enough now that he had some new 'tools'.

"Let's get this man on the table first," Lucius said before turning to the statue like Lost on the side. "Doyle, pick this man up and put him on the table." He ordered.

"Eng!" Doyle woke up in a second and proceeded to carry out the orders he had just been given. 

Lucius nodded at the responsiveness and went to stand beside the table.

"Good, now go stand back there." Lucius ordered before working on the restraints.

Kiana tied the restraints on the prisoner from the other side and together, they quickly prepared the man for the transformation.

"Alright, here we go." Lucius said before placing his hand on the head of the man and injecting hell energy.

He injected the same quantity as before and let it be fully absorbed. Lucius then took a seat while observing the transformation of the man. Overall, it was the same as before, but Lucius could tell that this transformation was leaning more towards the 'style' that Doyle had.

Once the first stage was done, Lucius injected the second dose of Hell energy and watched it transform further. At this point it was confirmed that this man will become a Lost similar to that of Doyle, bulky and tough.

"Time to check the Corrupted gift," Lucius muttered to himself before using Nexus again.

Hell Energy Corruption: Lesser

Info: The creature will have increased physical strength that can be increased further with the use of hell energy. The creature will also have slightly higher intelligence than before and can understand commands.

Corruption level: Lesser

Corrupted Gift: Locked

(Corrupted Gift: Thorned Scales)

Surprising the gift was locked even though the rest of the conditions that had been taken were the same as before.

"Hmm… intriguing. Perhaps it's something to do with its rank." Lucius muttered to himself before continuing his work.

The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent in this and Lucius eventually finished the third stage as well when the former man woke up.

"Break your restraints Dustin." Lucius ordered.

"Hnggg!" The Lost, who was named Dustin, struggled and eventually managed to break all of the restraints.

"Hmm… he took slightly longer than what Doyle and Baza too. Still, it should be fine." Lucius said before standing up as well.

He carried out the same tests he did with the previous two Lost before getting this one to bind with him as well. Once that was done, Lucius sat down and closed his eyes to check the condition of his Soul space.

"I'll take a little nap, Kiana." Lucius said before heading to the bedroom.

He wanted to see if the changes had already taken place or not.

'Just from the surface I could not feel any change in hell energy, perhaps it takes longer than this and it is delayed.' Lucius thought to himself as he soon appeared in the soul space.

He could see his soul floating there along with the hell imprint and nexus on it calmly. Lucius let his gaze wander and sensed the two gates that led to the first two Lost he had made.

"The gates are the same as before… now where's the third one?" Lucius wondered to himself as he searched for the third gate.

He ended up spending an hour in the soul space before he detected the first signs of the gate. At the side of the second gate that led to Baza, Lucius saw the outline of the third gate appear.

It was very faint, and it was slowly forming bit by bit. Observing the rate at which it was forming, Lucius estimated the amount of time it will take it to form completely.

"Hmm… so it should take about six hours to form completely." Lucius estimated. "The increase in the hell energy capacity should also take a similar amount of time, since the storage extends to the lost." He added.

Having obtained a satisfactory answer to himself, Lucius left the soul space and opened his eyes. Kiana who had been cleaning up the lab, saw that Lucius had woken up again.

"Did you have a nice rest?" Kiana asked with a smile.

"Yes, it was nice. I feel better." Lucius said casually before standing up and heading back to the lab.

He saw the new Lost, Dustin standing at the side as well, just as he had left him. It was now close to the evening and the sky was already turning dark. Since the winter was coming closer and closer, the daylight had reduced by an hour now.

"Let's head out and see hour our new members function," Lucius spoke.

"Outside? But won't that be a bit too revealing?" Kiana asked.

"We won't be going out from the front. We'll be taking the secondary exit." Lucius said with a smile as he pointed towards the other corridor.