Chapter 49: The next mission.

"What exactly are these?" Arcos stared at the ’things’ that looked just like the rest of them. The doppelgangers that take their place when they aren’t around.

"They’re demonic beasts. Well, technically they are chimera." Beth was wearing glasses as she typed away on the magical display that was floating before her.

She was analysing them and updating them for the next time they’d be needed. Also, he had been to her lab so she knew this base did not only have a rainforest where they were trying to revive a world tree but also a library bigger than anything he had seen where Sammy stayed, a forge and weapon storage where Lily train, and a lab that was bigger than the Grand magiLab of the dwarven capital that he had only read about in books.

The things that he had seen in this place over the last few days was something he had never even known he would ever experience.

The strange ’clones’ that take their place in their absence, things as real as real human beings, were one of the most fascinating things that he had seen in this place.

It was more surprising how a creature or a thing could be so ’real’. He wanted to learn more about them so he was with Beth today.

"I was inspired by the works of a bunch of demonic humans a few years ago. Do you know about the massacre of Mayur Empire?" Of the three human powers of the Garud continent, Mayur was the largest empire of the continent.

Around a decade ago, an entire city of over seventy thousand people was massacred by the demonic humans. It wasn’t just one city either, the total death total crossed over two hundred thousand.

It was one of the worst fatality incidents that had been known to humans. And the incident is still talked about even to this day.

"We infiltrated the demonic humans at the request of the empire back then. We needed weeks to prove ourselves as parts of the demonic army. Do not ask me how we did it, it’s an ugly memory, but we succeeded.

All of us were assigned to different areas. That’s one of our craziest espionage missions.

Thankfully, we gathered enough evidence to plan a complete eradication plan. I personally killed a hundred and seventy two of those nasty bastards."

She took a deep breath and shook her head, not wanting to go back to that memory.

"Haaa. So, they were using the bodies of those people to condense the essence of the demonic beasts to create creatures that were much stronger. They called them Asurs, intelligent demonic beasts, a synthetic species far worse than demons."

She tapped something on her magical screen and a holographic image of creatures, strange creatures that were humanoids but unlike anything he had known before.

They did not look as bad as the things that they had seen in the space created by that divinity, but these things were not the typical demonic entities that were mentioned in the books.

Beyond that, there was something even worse about them. Their eyes had a strange light, and they were not something he wanted to come across.

The creature had tentacles coming out of their back, the creatures were all humanoid, and they had genitals like humans. It seemed like they had a functional reproductive system, something the demons nor the gods could have.

The only reason the demons had to descend into the human world in the way they do is because of their physical limitations of reproductions.

There are only half demons that are born to humans, and demonoid are a different kind of being entirely. Still, what the demonic humans at that time were creating was quite complex.

"These are what I call Artificial mind doubles, Pretas. They aren’t just clones that look like us, they share a part of our mind."

Arcos had seen them know what the clones knew and share what they had learned on their missions. It was strange when he saw it, but now he was starting to understand how unique these things actually were.

"The base of these beings is a demonic beast that’s called (Shadow). It’s a pretty common beast in the lower demon realms. Then I’ve made genetic modifications, incubated them with a spark of ’pure’ elements, and implanted Neutral elements to finish the Carving."

He didn’t really understand all of it, but he could tell this was a strange process at the end of which she was able to create something that’s much better than what the demonic humans wanted to create.

"Well, I have made actual clones as well." There was a sadness in her eyes when she said that. "But the four of us aren’t the best Cells to make a clone out of."

She sighed deeper than usual this time and looked at the boy, eyeing him up and down.

"We will have to make one of yours as well, you know?" she pressed a finger on her magic screen and from the ground, a human sized capsule with glass cover and mechanical insides descended from above.

He will have to go inside. The capsule will fill up with a fluid, and she will analyse his entire body, physical, spiritual, and mental one.

She will run a few tests while she’s at it as well, and while she’s doing it, she will call the others so that they run their tests as well.

They will push him to the limits while they are doing so as well so that they don’t have to waste too much time later on.

They had received some requests while they were at it as well. So, now they’d be taking on their next request. And while it’s going to be a complicated one, this will provide a good experience to their new recruit.

"Um... I’m not mentally prepared for this." Arcos took a step back when he saw the capsule out of the blue. He did not come here for something like this.

He just wanted to see the clones because he was interested in them. They were interesting... But, why were they interesting?

He thought about it for a moment. But when he thought a little deeply and did not find any actual reason behind his interest, he figured it out.

"Yup. You’ve been had, kiddo." Beth smiled at him as she produced a magical force that threw the prince inside the capsule.

This was one of the lessons he will have to learn: combat against psychological manipulation.

As long as he is around them, he will have to know what he is thinking, think what he wants, and question everything consciously. If he’s not doing at least that much, he will get caught by one of those divinities once again.

They can’t have him fall to those beings. Demons would be worse.

So, he’ll have to learn a lot of things on his own as well.

Just walking around them in this place won’t be nearly enough.