The First Stage of Selim's Ambition Experiment Concludes

Serim Zolgen's Research Notes:

April 11, 1794. Weather unknown.

The fourth artificial human specimen died yesterday. Died beyond any doubt.

The technique of engraving Magic Circuits while they remained alive had become relatively proficient. The three assistants were now capable of working independently, but—

It was too difficult. Completing the engraving while preserving the subject's life was simply too difficult.

For life itself, it was akin to turning itself into a device that could be freely controlled. Life itself seemed to resist it, and the result of that resistance was death.

Every time an experiment was fully concluded, the observed result was collapse at the cellular level. In the end, all that remained was a pile of rotten flesh.

I needed to change my approach.

"Hey, you three. Who wants to come out for a walk with me?" Serim sat on a stool, set down the records in his hand, and turned to look at his three assistants.

They had been conducting experiments at the secondary estate for two months now, and the four of them had already worked on four artificial humans.

The first artificial human had died in less than a week because the living engraving technique had been too crude. The next two had not lasted half a month either, becoming two heaps of rotten flesh.

The last artificial human had lasted somewhat longer, but it still could not escape death.

While they were modifying the third-to-last Magic Circuit through living engraving, the artificial human's life underwent an unimaginably violent collapse. In less than five minutes, it had turned into something like a puddle of pus, with only its skeleton left on the examination table.

Though having all their previous work come to nothing was frustrating, the experience they gained from it did not truly dishearten those