Second Order Modification

After finishing her conversation with the Lord of Radiance, Fran, as usual, went to the Spirit Realm Market, a habit she had developed over a long time.

After all, the Adventurers Guild is very slow in accepting second-tier and higher commissions; second-tier commissions alone take months to complete.

The later the level, the longer the time required for each commission, which reflects the Adventurers Guild's lack of manpower at higher levels.

After all, they've reached the third tier; if it weren't for their interest, few people would be willing to become Adventurer.

A Tier 3 individual is considered extremely powerful on the continent. Even the Alliance wouldn't refuse Profession at this Order, and would offer them certain favorable conditions.

Fran went to the Adventurers Guild again, as usual, to inquire about the status of her orders.

Unlike usual, the receptionist searched through the records for a while before exclaiming with great surprise.

"Sir, the materials for that Deep Sea Merman you requested are now in stock."

"Murloc?"

Fran placed this order for the modification of the Song of the Deep Sea Sequence 6. Once this modification is completed, her Transmutation School mage Order will reach the second tier.

"Tell me the details about that Murloc material."

"Okay, please wait a moment while I go find the information."

The receptionist quickly went behind a door that read 'No Entry Without Permission,' and just half a minute later, she rushed out carrying a stack of documents.

"Guest, the material for this Deep Sea Merman was obtained a week ago near Como Island."

"This Murloc is about 73 years old, 2.12 meters long, and has two-finger-wide, dark blue, blade-shaped scales all over its body, including its limbs and neck..."

"Beneath the hair is rough, black skin covered in mucus..."

"The vertebrae on the back are covered with a large number of thick, transverse bone layers..."

Fran is now going through a different process than when she accepted orders before; she is verifying the identity of this Deep Sea Merman.

It's important to know that there are many different types of Murloc; they are defined as humanoid Magic Creature, at least that's how the Alliance defines them.

She only wants Murloc from the deep sea; she doesn't want Murloc from shallow seas or lakes.

This is because the preceding Deep Sea sequence in the Song of the Deep Sea requires this; at least at this stage, the materials she selects must be from deep-sea species.

"Very common deep-sea Murloc characteristics... I can provide this material and the Spirit Crystal to transport it to the Spirit Realm. How long will it take to get it up here?"

The receptionist glanced through the documents and provided the answer.

"After about an hour, the consignor authorized us not to confirm with him again, so we just needed to go through the process to bring it up."

"Very good, bring it up."

Fran had no reason to miss this hard-won opportunity.

Murloc materials are always in high demand; very few materials will remain listed in the Adventurers Guild for a month.

She was able to get the order because she had already completed many orders, and in the eyes of the Adventurers Guild, she was already a major client.

There's also the issue of species among Deep Sea Merman. In this world, shallow-sea and deep-sea ecosystems are completely different, so naturally, the same type of Magic Creature will vary greatly in these two environments.

Fran only waited for half an hour before seeing a group of the Association staff wearing yellow masks walk in through the Association's entrance carrying a large black box.

"Guest, this is the material for that Deep Sea Merman..."

"We hope our guests can understand that this box can only be opened for a maximum of ten minutes, otherwise the measures to preserve its vitality will fail."

Fran nodded, indicating that the box should be opened.

The staff members wearing yellow masks opened the box and made room for Fran to come forward and take a look.

"Um?"

Fran glanced at the contents of the box and quickly identified it as the corpse of a Deep Sea Merman. The features on the body were quite distinctive, but...

"Why are there so many traces of magic on it?"

Fran could find numerous traces of magic on the corpse.

There was a sword wound on his chest, the cut looking as if it had been blown open by something, with flesh and blood rotting away. This was a common trick used by the Sword Chant School to increase damage.

Large bruises covered his neck and shoulders, as if he had been tightly bound by something resembling vines. But could ordinary vines really bind a second-tier... Magic Creature?

The wound on its forehead was the real cause of this Murloc's death.

The Murloc's forehead was dented in several places, and dark red blood and shriveled flesh could be faintly seen in those dents, with a transparent crystal in the middle.

That was ice element, Fran recognized it.

A mage used ice elemental magic, freezing the Murloc's brain with ice. Then, the mage simply shattered a few blocks of ice, killing the Murloc instantly.

When she stood a meter in front of the box, she could still feel the Cold Air emanating from inside.

"I'm sorry, sir, we are not affiliated with the Alliance, and this item was not taken from the Alliance's warehouse."

There's nothing inherently wrong with a few the Alliance mages killing a Murloc and then selling it to the Adventurers Guild.

The problem is that Fran is currently in the Spirit Realm Spirit Realm, and the Alliance doesn't have a very good reputation there.

Furthermore, there's another possibility with this kind of cargo: the Alliance killed the Murloc and stored them in their warehouse for years before recently remembering to sell them...

These Magic Creature materials, stored for many years, may very well have some unclear or unexplained issues.

"This is on the Gray Mist Sea. For some reason, a large number of mages flocked there, which is why there are so many traces of magic on this surface."

"The Gray Mist Sea ..." Fran knew exactly where this place was; her strongest impression of the Gray Mist Sea was that it was the territory of the Goddess of Ocean Currents.

A gray fog often rises over the sea, reducing visibility to no more than three meters at its worst. Only by having a follower of the Goddess of Ocean Currents accompany the ship can it find its way.

Of course, the mages have their own methods, but the key question now is, what are all those mages doing there?

Fran already knew the answer in her heart.

"It's normal for the Alliance to know that the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents is related to that matter. Are they already making arrangements?"

"When will the Alliance attack the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents?"

Fran thought for a moment, then raised her head again.

"But there are traces left by a sorcerer on it, am I right?"

The receptionist could only sigh and speak earnestly to Fran.

"Excuse me, sir, how about this: we'd like to offer a 10% discount on the price? What do you think?"

Fran decided to quit while she was ahead, and besides, she wasn't actually short of money.

"Okay, let's hold the ceremony."

Fran returned to Antir's Royal Capital with the enormous black box. She opened the box again and stared at the Murloc corpse inside.

When this Murloc, it seemed somewhat surprised, as if it couldn't understand why so many Murloc were coming after it.

Fran recalled the contents of Sequence 6 in the [Song of the Deep Sea] modification sequence.

[Sequence 6: Requires imbuing oneself with the aura of the deep sea. Any organ from a second-tier deep-sea fish can be used. Note that this does not require replacing a specific organ; as long as one possesses the deep-sea aura, two organs or even one organ are acceptable, but one organ is generally insufficient.]

Fran observed the Murloc for a long time before finally deciding on the modification plan.

She flipped the Murloc's corpse over and saw its spine protruding almost out of its body.

On both sides of the middle of the back, something seems to be protruding from the spine, and these protrude from the skin of the back.

Fran pressed her Telekinetic Hand, only to feel a hard, unyielding sensation, as if it were bone that couldn't be pressed down at all.

These are the special back bones of Murloc. Unlike humans, these special back bones help Murloc move their bodies quickly underwater.

Fran wanted to use the Murloc's back bones to complete the Sequence 6 modification.

She began to make the cut, a very difficult process, because the flesh of a second-tier creature was incredibly hard, while the opponent's bones were not much harder than its flesh.

Fran carefully breathed some Dragon Flame at herself first, then began to dissect the wound with a small knife.

The bone was stuck between flesh and blood. It took Fran two hours to remove the large spinal bone from his back.

Due to her body shape, the width of this layer of spine was almost more than one and a half times the width of Fran's shoulders.

Upon arriving here, Fran encountered a problem that Transmutation Mage often face.

That means the organ size is wrong. If the organ is small, it's not a big problem; you can just find a place to put it. But if it's large, it's more difficult.

If it were the heart of a troll, it would be almost half the height of a person, making it impossible to replace the original heart. It simply wouldn't fit, so there's no question of a transplant.

Moreover, bone transplantation like this is a huge undertaking; just wrapping it up again with flesh and blood is a significant challenge.

However, Fran is no ordinary Transmutation Mage; she possesses the [Blurry Shell] trait, which she stole from a god.

Fran imbued her club with Sunflame and slammed it hard against the Murloc skeleton on the table, smashing it into more than a dozen pieces.

Then, she made an incision in her back and stuffed the small bones inside. Her body shape remained unchanged until all the bones were in place.

"The original structure has been damaged; it will take at least three months to reclaim the attached Mental Power."

Her body trembled, and then she felt as if she could activate some new trigger points on her back.

This is the spine bone she transplanted into her body using a simple method.

Although according to the normal procedure of the Transmutation School, the inserted spine bone should be able to regain its Mental Power in just one month, Fran really lacks the knowledge and practical experience of replacing bones.

She was afraid that if she did it for a day or two, she would be in excruciating pain, so she decided to use a simpler method.

Although Fran's operation was rather rough, the effect was good. Fran looked at the Panel.

[Profession: Transmutation Mage (Two Stars)...]