Tear A Path 200 Study

Holding the oldman's body down, he continued to send a constant stream of paralysis toxin into the man's system while continuously generating more with his mana. Thirteen could only pace back and forth as she watched in frustration.

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After some time, Zhao Wei wiped the sweat from his forehead which he immediately regretted, smearing his own face with more blood in the process. He added the same powder he used against Jormugandr in small doses on Jeff's wounds which lit up like firecrackers when he flicked the flint.

The smell of cooked meat filled the closed s.p.a.ce as the wound was cauterized by the heat. He watched Jeff who laid there unresponsive, thinking how lucky he was to be unconscious for the procedure, before he contemplated why these procedures had to be conducted at all.

Why did he mutilate his own hands? He thought to himself. Obviously he wasn't the only one, as Thirteen moved over towards the pair of hands on the floor.

"I wouldn't get to close to it if I were you." Grendolyn called from behind them.

"Why not?" an exhausted Zhao Wei asked.

Grendolyn picked up a stone and threw it hard towards the hand, right on the wrist. Immediately the flesh around the wrist began to glow a dim pink from beneath skin, making a full circle around. The color gradually intensified to a bright orange that emanated heat they could feel, even from this distance.

It turns out that Domor had no jails or capital punishments whatsoever, in the first place it consisted of a mostly nonviolent population. But in the case that someone did break the law, they were fitted with one of these.

What it was, in an explanation that Zhao Wei and Thirteen could understand after Grendolyn had explained it six times, was a small little element infused with dormant mana which would activate upon trigger by a person in authority, or if it is tampered with. The process of application being fairly permanent.

These were always fitted into the wrists of the offender, nothing worse for an inventor than to lose their hands. "Great motivation to stay out of trouble and no loss of work force..." Grendolyn summarized awkwardly as she watched her two distant listeners.

Thirteen was sharpening her blades over and over. Grendolyn was pretty sure that those daggers had a few inches shaved off from all the times she grinded them against a whetstone, but with that cold detached look in her eyes as she went about her activity, Grendolyn really didn't want to be the one to snap her back to attention.

Zhao Wei on the other hand was in a trance like state as he watched over Jeff's body. He seemed calmer and less murdery but the aura he gave off made her uneasy as she felt his eyes follow her as if he could see into the very fibers of her being, so much so that she'd rather take her chances with the killer child. Every few seconds, he'd mumble under his breath but it was always incoherent and never connected to each other.

Within him there was a slow stirring, it was unlike the anger he felt when Solith and his wife were killed. That was an explosion of just pure fiery anger that burned in him. This, it was soft like a current in the ocean, just ever moving, slowly building it's momentum. Waiting, flowing until such a point where it would swallow up everything.

In his mind, he was channeling four processes at once. One of which was a review of his work on Jeff's body. He ran the procedure again and again, every pierce of the needle, every pull of the thread. His fingers twitching ever so slightly in response, his face turning grimmer with every pa.s.sing moment.

The second was building both his mana and tantra. If Jeff found them it was a matter of time before whoever sent him would follow. Zhao Wei didn't know the layout of this place, he'd need as many supplies and backups as possible to move forward from here.

The next was definitely a new kind of trap. So far everything he had was pretty much useless against them due to their regenerative capacity and strength, he could neither restrain them properly or hurt them permanently.

The final item on the list was of course study his prey in and out, and what better specimen to study than the mother of his prey standing right in front of him.