The creak of the wooden stairs faded as Caspian reached the bottom, the greasy aroma of takoyaki repced by the sterile bite of aic.

  He rouhe er and paused. I hardly reize it from when I came down here for the first time.

  The basement stretched wider than the shop above, its ft ceiling lined with glowing pahat cast an icy blue sheehe room. Holographic ss flickered midair above a rge desk, dispying scrolling data streams and rotating schematics of biomeical parts. Maes of unknown purpose hummed along the walls — some drical and pulsing with t, others bristling with probes and wires. Padded surgical tables domihe ter, their surfaces cluttered with tools and syringes filled with iridest fluids.

  Mosquito Girl y unscious on the tral most padded surgical table, her bosomy form still and unblemished. Her skin held its usual pallor, smooth and fwless, save for a metallic patch the size of a embedded just beh her colrbohe device glinted uhe ceiling lights, its surface etched with intricate circuitry that pulsed like a heartbeat. A transparent tube ran from the metallic patch to a sleek mae beside the table. A radiant green liquid flowed through the tube into her.

  Another aspeosquitrabbed his attention that being that her nipples and vagina had disappeared. Reverting to their inal smoothed over, ent appearance.

  Hmm? So, she trol whether they appear, or maybe it’s based on arousal. No clue…

  Caspian made his presenown as he stepped forward. “Hey, what exactly is all this?”

  Dr. Genus, who stood o the table, turned back.

  “Ah, Caspian. You didn’t waste a momeing here.” Dr. Genus’ fingers danced across the mae’s s. “Here, let me show you what I believe to be one of my greatest aplishments to date.”

  As Dr. Genus’ hand moved away from the s, a 3D model of Mosquito Girl’s body materialized in the air. Surrounding the 3D model were various bels floating above the spot they marked. Two of which were titled ‘Hemodynamic Adaptation‘ and ‘Symbiotitegration.’

  Caspian hadn’t an idea what he was , but hell if he’d show it.

  Dr. Genus broke the silence as he stepped to the side, revealing behind him a tray which held three gss vials. One held a viscous red liquid. Another shimmered like molteal. The st was a crystalline liquid that crackled with tiny arcs of gray electricity.

  “I discovered a method to synthesize unlimited quantities of blood.” He gestured to the tray of vials. “anic, syic, even the blood of Mysterious Beings. All replicable.”

  This man’s a bit too smart…

  Dr. Genus tinued. “This metal chip I’ve embedded in her is merging with her biology. Ohe process pletes, she will asd to the level of the Mysterious Being whose blood the chip tinuously produces. Of course, the blood repced eventually with aronger Mysterious Being’s allowio reach greater heights.”

  “I must say I’m impressed. But does this mean she’ll ge appearances based on the monster?”

  “Not at all.” Dr. Genus tapped the hologram, and the model shifted fluidly into a bat stance, sparks of crimson light arg around its fists. “She will assimite all attributes—strength, durability, intelligence, speed, senses, even cellur regeion—without altering her form. There is far more I could list off, but in short there will be no crude shapeshifting rotesque mutations.”

  Obnoxiously perfect.

  “What type of blood is flowing from that tube into her?”

  Dr. Genus’ lips curled into an odd smile as he answered, “You should know it well… age Kabuto’s blood. After you left the bat experimentation room, I collected as many vials as I could off the floor. Fortunately, filtering out impurities aalizing his blood proved simple.”

  The sheer number of surprises today had far exceeded Caspian’s expectations. It seemed as if Dr. Genus had removed the limiter on his mind, pushing the boundaries of sce with ease. He may have discarded moral restraints long ago, but with results like these, why should Caspian care?

  “You’re telling me she’ll have age Kabuto’s might as soon as she awakens?”

  Dr. Genus nodded. “In fact, she will be greater.” He raised a hand to the mae’s s, tapped a single i, and the 3D model vanished. “However, she’ll ime to adjust to her newfound capabilities.

  Moreover, with her humanoid robotic arms and legs, her stature now closely resembles that of a human female of average height. It may be beneficial for her to learn how to wield a on. Or better yet, train in martial arts.”

  “I have some ideas in mind in regards to that. And If I didn’t thank you before, I am now,” Caspian said as he moved closer, stopping beside the lying Mosquito Girl.

  Dr. Genus’ stern expression thawed, a spark of fervniting in his eyes. “With your tinued support,” he said, voice low and deliberate, “imagine what we might achieve.”

  Hmm… Genos’ rent money won’t st forever, and I’ll need a bigger pce eventually too. Not to mention my six future wives and the rge number of children I’ll have with each of them… Damn. I need a lot of money!

  Caspian waved his hand. “o sell me on it. We work well together a along. No reason to stop that. In fact, I’ve been thinking we should find a way to create a sustainable ine source. Don’t worry about the legality of it. If there are any issues, I’ll hahem.”

  “I admit, the House of Takoyaki only affords us to live iive fort. With the Hero Associatiohing down my neck, I had to abandon nearly everything from the House of Evolution’s underground facilities. It took the rest of the wealth I had salvaged to get this basement fully operational. As I said, with your support, I implement several methods to gee more capital than we could possibly spend.”

  “Perfect. I’ll send you a list of names. Make sure none of them are ively affected by your methods. By the way, how much longer will Mosquito Girl’s treatment take?”

  “Uood. Given this is the first time, and the siderable gap between her current capabilities and age Kabuto’s, I would estimate a few days to up to a week.” Dr. Genus adjusted his gsses. “But you will be the first to know when her metamorphosis cludes. You have my word.”

  Caspian smiled as he took out his phone and said, “Great. Here is Genos’ number. If you ’t get in touch with me, you tact him instead.”

  After giving Dr. Genus the number and casting another affeate g Mosquito Girl, her medium-length silver hair glistening uhe overhead lights, he said his farewells and headed toward the stairway.

  When he reached the stairway, he stopped. “By the way, where is Armoril?”

  “He’s out handling the troublesome task of getting supplies for the shop.”

  “Troublesome?”

  Dr. Genus frowned. “Armoril has had to resort to wearing a hooded sweatshirt whenever he goes into the city.”

  “Because he’s a goril?”

  “No. Because people keep acg him of being a monster apologist when they see him.”

  “…”