"Proceed with the assessment. Start collecting specimens." The lead researcher, Dr. Mara, ordered the others around her.

The researchers hesitated for a moment, staring at Rhys's body on the cold table, not sure if he could endure the routine examination they were about to start.

What he needed now was to avoid being examined like an experimental rat. He needed proper healing.

Fortunately, Dr. Mara was thinking the same. "Are Ms. Clara and Ms. Nora around?"

The names belonged to 2 Players whose builds focused on healing and support.

The body in front of them was something their advanced technology could not fix, so they needed Spark skills to keep him alive.

But the problem was that the Players were always busy outside of the city. They were usually hunting new Sparks or training during their free time, so no one knew if they would spare time to come and help one man.

One of the assistants scanned the data tablet in his hand and answered immediately, tension tightening his expression as he read. "Unfortunately, it looks like they left the city a few hours ago."

Dr. Mara's face tightened into a frown.

Although she was a significant figure among the Humans, she lacked the authority or right to call 2 of Humanity's essential members back from their mission, even if someone with the rank of an army commander, like Rhys, was in danger.

Then one name came to Mara's mind, one of the few people who could move Players with orders. "Call Sir Bates. Tell him the situation," she ordered, hoping he would pull something for this emergency situation.

Meanwhile, she watched the other white-coated researchers around Rhys hook him up to different machines with cables, the monitors beeping in a steady rhythm that echoed through the room.

They were also taking samples from his inflamed, peeling flesh, his blood that had begun to darken, and his exposed bones that looked rusted. It was all important data for their mutation serum research.

She kept watching every process with full attention when the assistant beside her spoke in a grave tone.

"Dr. Mara, the answer has been received. Sir Bates said it is not possible to call them back right now from their expedition mission."

Hearing this, Mara's face fell, her frown deepening. "Did you tell him that the situation is extremely time-sensitive? That Commander Rhys's life is in danger?"

The assistant nodded heavily. "I did. He still refused."

Her brows drew tighter as the words came out like a whisper. "I thought he and Mr. Rhys were close friends?"

Henry's failure to use his authority to save his friend made her consider two possibilities. Either the Players were truly on a mission that could not be recalled, or Henry was simply ignoring him.

But it was not too late for her to understand that both assumptions were wrong.

The assistant waited with the tablet in his hand when the screen suddenly lit up with a notification. When he looked at it, surprise flashed across his face.

"What is it?" Dr. Mara asked with curiosity after seeing his reaction.

"It's Sir Bates. He says someone is on the way to take a look."

"Who?" Just after Dr. Mara asked, her wrist device suddenly vibrated. A call came in with a red notification, marking it as an emergency line.

Not knowing what could be more urgent than the current situation, she touched the screen once, and a voice rose from the wrist device.

"Dr. Mara, we have an important guest in the building, currently on the way to the genetic mutation laboratory."

After hearing the voice, all the researchers around suddenly froze, their eyes visibly shining.

They did not even need to hear the name to guess who was coming.

There was no one else in the current Human city who had the authority to come to this floor while being addressed as an important guest at the same time.

It was the man the researchers admired the most and were most eager to examine from head to toe.

—

"This way, Mr. Adyr." A white-coated researcher politely showed the way from the opened elevator, stepping out first with quick, hurried steps.

Adyr walked through the corridor, following him while checking every Spark contained inside the glass compartments from the corner of his eye.

As he moved deeper down the hall, more researchers stepped out and gathered along the sides, staring at him with the same clinical interest he had just given the Sparks behind the glass, as if he belonged in one of those compartments too.

It was not only the lead researcher, Dr. Mara, who received the call as soon as Adyr arrived at the building. Every member of the personnel with sufficient authority received the same message they had been waiting for so long.

To human researchers, Adyr was more than a ruler of Humanity or a torch of hope. In their eyes, he was the Holy Grail of science.

Every cell of his body carried the data of Humanity's highest evolution.

Every part of him was more valuable than anything they believed they could find elsewhere. So when he walked through the underground laboratory's corridors, they watched him like a walking treasure.

Seeing the way they were watching him, Adyr chuckled. "Looks like I'm popular down here."

Hearing his words, the researcher accompanying him forced a smile. "Of course. In the end, you always bring us something new we can work on."

"Is that so?" Adyr laughed again, pretending to be convinced that it was the only reason.

While he continued down the corridor, he saw the cut bodies of Umbraens and the five Lunari ancestors inside large glass jars, preserved like pickles, giving him a faint nostalgia from his past life.

He had once tried to collect body parts like these from his victims as reminders, trophies. Later, he stopped the habit, though not by choice. The police found his hiding place and took everything. He barely avoided being caught at the last moment.

Once, people called him a monster, a lunatic, and a psychopath for doing such things. Now, seeing something similar here, he found it ironic.

Of course, the researchers were not the ones who killed them, and they were using the bodies for research purposes, but Adyr still found a dark similarity.

He wondered about something simple. If they were offered a valuable body, but obtaining it meant killing the person, would they refuse?

In the end, they were not refusing bodies someone else had killed for them, so the answer was not difficult to guess.

Adyr was sure that if he lost his life one day, his body would end up in one of those glass jars for research purposes, for 'humanity's future.'

He kept walking until he reached a closed room, then stopped for a moment.

"Mr. Adyr?" The researcher asked in surprise, wondering why he had suddenly stopped.

Adyr looked at him and asked curiously, pointing at the room, "You can't see it?"

The man looked where he was pointing with a confused expression. "See what?" There was nothing there except the room.

Adyr said nothing and continued walking toward the room. It was surrounded by an aura where red and black colors seemed to mix together, clinging to the space like a stain.

This sight felt very familiar to him. It had not been long since he had seen something similar.

Though this aura was far weaker in feeling and appearance than the last time he saw it coming from the five Lunari Ancestors' bodies, it was without a doubt the same.

It was the same aura Zephan called the curse of the Blood Path.

After the researcher opened the door with his card, they stepped inside to a scene filled with many white-coated researchers, all looking at a body lying in the middle of the room.

"Mr. Adyr." As soon as they saw the person entering, all their eyes shone, almost instantly shifting their focus.

While the researchers examined his newly changed messy red hair, fair white skin, and eyes that looked like an endless crimson sea, it was as if they had already started cutting his body piece by piece in their minds and checking every cell to see what secrets lay within.

Adyr entirely ignored their feverish gazes and moved straight to Rhys, taking in the damage up close. He inspected him closely; his skin and flesh looked corrupted and melted, exposing many bones beneath that looked rusted.

The aura was unmistakably coming from his body, indicating that he was now truly undergoing the Blood Path awakening.

The only difference from the Lunari ancestors was that, as a mortal, Rhys's body was so fragile that it was unable to endure it. It was rapidly corrupting and breaking down.

"If you wanted to commit suicide, there were many other ways with less pain," Adyr said calmly.

Rhys, who had not yet lost consciousness, slowly opened his eyes, revealing his gray eyes gradually turning red.

His eyes swept the room first, trying to locate the source of the voice, and finally they found it. "Like what? Blowing myself up into pieces?"

His voice came out hoarse and rough through his deteriorating vocal cords, in a mocking manner.

Adyr laughed softly. Even in this condition, he was still making fun of him.

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