MEMELAND

The room fell silent.

Only the ticking of a mana regulator could be heard.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

Kai lay motionless on the operating table.

Restrained.

Unable to move.

Dr. Z stood over him.

He adjusted his glasses.

Then took one final look at the notes scattered across the room.

Subject 46.

Kai's fragmented memories.

His own years of research.

Dozens of incomplete theories.

"..."

"...Let's see which one of us was right."

He picked up the mana scalpel.

A soft blue light ran along its edge.

Kai's breathing quickened.

"Mmph..."

The doctor ignored him.

A magic circle appeared beneath the operating table.

Several mechanical arms unfolded from the ceiling.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Each held a different instrument.

Scalpels.

Needles.

Mana injectors.

Crystal clamps.

Tiny articulated tools powered by mana cores.

Dr. Z smiled.

"...Beautiful."

The first incision was made.

The scalpel sliced through skin with impossible precision.

Blood immediately flowed.

Not much.

Just enough.

The mechanical arms reacted instantly.

Cotton.

Pressure.

Mana sterilization.

Kai's body tensed violently.

"MMPH!!"

His entire chest spasmed.

Dr. Z didn't even look up.

"Heart rate increasing."

Another magic circle appeared.

Blue light washed over Kai's chest.

The blood vessels became visible beneath his skin.

Dr. Z muttered to himself.

"Good."

"So far..."

"...normal."

Crystal needles pierced around Kai's heart.

One after another.

Mana began circulating through the needles.

Kai's body arched upward.

The restraints groaned.

"MMPHAAAAAH!"

The cloth muffled most of it.

Most.

The doctor calmly continued working.

Mana pathways...

Veins...

Nerves...

He compared everything against his notes.

"...Wrong."

He erased one formula.

"...Wrong again."

Another.

"...There."

He adjusted a crystal.

The mechanical arms immediately repositioned.

Minutes passed.

Then—

BEEEEEEEEEEP.

Every mana instrument flashed crimson.

Dr. Z looked up.

"...Heart stopped."

Silence.

Kai's chest no longer moved.

The doctor didn't panic.

"...Good."

He immediately slammed both palms onto Kai's chest.

A crimson magic circle erupted.

"Restart."

Nothing.

"...Again."

Another pulse.

Nothing.

"...Again!"

The third pulse struck.

Kai suddenly inhaled violently.

Blood sprayed from his mouth.

The heartbeat returned.

Dr. Z smiled.

"...Excellent."

He wrote something down.

Subject capable of recovering after induced cardiac failure.

He continued.

More incisions.

More needles.

More blood.

Hours passed.

The room slowly transformed into organized chaos.

Discarded tools.

Blood-soaked cloth.

Stacks of notes.

Broken crystal injectors.

Failed formulas crossed out dozens of times.

Dr. Z never stopped.

Every failure became another calculation.

Every mistake—

A correction.

Then—

CRACK.

One of the implanted mana channels shattered.

The faintly glowing pathway collapsed.

Kai's body convulsed.

The restraints bent.

Blood erupted from the incision.

The mana inside him exploded wildly.

The operating room shook.

"...Too much pressure."

Dr. Z immediately altered three magic circles.

Crystal clamps locked into place.

Mana reversed direction.

"...There."

The surge stabilized.

Barely.

Kai slowly opened one eye.

His vision blurred.

Everything spun.

He saw the ceiling.

The lights.

The doctor.

"..."

Then pain.

Real pain.

The cloth slipped from his mouth.

"AAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

His scream echoed through the house.

Outside—

Several birds immediately flew away.

Inside—

The scream continued.

Dr. Z didn't react.

"...Good."

"You aren't dead."

Kai couldn't even hear him.

Pain consumed everything.

His nerves felt like molten metal.

His veins burned.

Every heartbeat felt like knives.

He screamed until his voice disappeared.

Then darkness took him again.

...

Hours later.

Another crisis.

BEEEEEEP.

Dr. Z glanced sideways.

"...Lungs."

Kai had stopped breathing.

Mana overload.

His diaphragm refused to move.

The doctor immediately inserted two long crystal tubes into Kai's chest.

Mana flowed.

Artificial respiration.

One...

Two...

Three...

Kai coughed violently.

Air finally returned.

"...Interesting."

Another note.

Circuit resonance temporarily paralyzes respiratory muscles.

He continued.

...

Another hour.

Another failure.

This time—

The mana pathways rejected the foreign circuits.

Blue light burst from Kai's skin.

Every implanted line began dissolving.

"...Rejection."

Dr. Z frowned.

"...No."

He quickly remembered Kai's fragment.

Pressure.

Collapse.

Restart.

"...Let's test it."

He intentionally overloaded every unstable pathway.

The room shook violently.

Then—

All mana disappeared.

Complete silence.

One second.

Two.

Three.

Tiny glowing lines slowly reappeared.

One after another.

Settling naturally.

Dr. Z slowly smiled.

"...It worked."

Another note.

Forced collapse successful.

He laughed quietly.

"Hahaha..."

"Brilliant..."

...

Night arrived.

Then passed.

Morning light entered through the window.

Neither noticed.

Kai drifted in and out of consciousness countless times.

Sometimes he saw Dr. Z.

Sometimes only lights.

Sometimes—

Nothing.

At one point—

He genuinely believed he had died.

Then another heartbeat brought him back.

Again.

And again.

And again.

Four separate times.

Each one should have killed him.

Each one somehow...

Didn't.

...

Many hours later—

Silence finally returned.

The operating room looked like a battlefield.

Broken instruments covered the floor.

Pages of calculations lay everywhere.

Blood stained the stone tiles.

Crystal fragments glittered beneath the lantern light.

Kai lay completely unconscious.

His breathing...

Weak.

But steady.

Beneath the skin of his chest—

Faint lines glowed.

Almost invisible.

Magic Circuits.

Complete.

Dr. Z slowly stepped backward.

His legs finally gave out.

He slid down the wall until he sat on the floor.

His hands trembled.

Blood covered his gloves.

His glasses had cracked.

He stared at Kai.

Then...

At the glowing circuits.

Silence.

Then—

"...Hehehe..."

A tired laugh escaped him.

"...Heh..."

"...Hahahaha..."

His laughter slowly grew louder.

Not loud.

Not manic.

Just...

Satisfied.

"...A blessing..."

"...in disguise."

He wiped blood from his forehead.

Still laughing.

"...The first successful implementation..."

"...using my own modifications."

His eyes gleamed.

"...Imagine..."

"...what I can do..."

"...with future test subjects."

He leaned his head back against the wall.

"Hahahaha..."

Outside—

The quiet house stood among countless ordinary buildings.

Nothing about it suggested what had just happened inside.

The morning sun slowly rose above Muscle City.

And beneath that peaceful sky—

A mad doctor celebrated the birth...

Of something entirely new.

End of Chapter 144