Suitable Test Subjects

Not bad. Wang Yuan carefully sorted through the emotions within, choosing to absorb those he deemed useful while doing his utmost to filter out the useless emotional garbage.

Among that emotional garbage, the most abundant was longing for family. Wang Yuan discarded what Jacques treasured as if it were worn-out shoes, though he was rather interested in the woman Isabella.

From Jacques's memories, Wang Yuan also learned quite a bit about Isabella.

This Isabella was not a Kexi person, but one of the Degen People from the Interkami Kingdom. She had also come from an aristocratic family, the Tagule Family, a branch of the Interkami Kingdom's royal family.

Back when the Interkami Kingdom's royal family had fallen into civil strife over the throne, the Tagule Family, as a royal branch, had been implicated as well. Isabella Tagule fled here to save her life, settled into seclusion, married Jacques Dacmi, and changed her name to Isabella Dacmi.

What interested Wang Yuan was that the Tagule Family was known as the "Dragon Child," and legend claimed that they possessed dragon blood.

Logically speaking, this low-magic world could not possibly support dragons. The so-called dragon bloodline was most likely fake, but according to Isabella, "Dragon Children" had once appeared in her family and possessed the power of dragons.

Most of this village is Kexi. These different test subjects can be kept. Wang Yuan considered his plan, especially since Isabella was now pregnant.

On the adaptability of fetuses to germs. Wang Yuan recalled some films and television shows from his previous life, such as Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Blade. With the mother's body as a buffer, the fetus could slowly adapt to those powers within the womb.

That was why Blade and Kunlan could become daywalkers, while Caesar had gained extremely high intelligence.

If I infect Isabella with the germs and continually suppress their large-scale reproduction, I wonder whether the newborn she gives birth to can become a suitable host for the germs. Wang Yuan silently thought, Perhaps this can be used to cultivate germs adapted to humans.

There are several other test subjects in the village as well. I wonder whether Isabella's different ethnicity will promote mutation in the germs.

Having absorbed many people's memories, Wang Yuan now had a much better understanding of this world.

In the ancient myths of the Kexi People, a vast white light capable of cutting apart everything had killed the progenitor of all things. The progenitor's corpse became the present world and gave birth to all things, while its will became the spirits of all things, bearing all manner of divine names.

Calling upon those divine names would earn the aid of the spirits of all things. Of course, the Kexi People gained nothing no matter how madly they shouted those names.

According to the Kexi People's accounts, the many races of the world all originated from different spirits. The Kexi People themselves represented the spirit, which was why they could sense the divine names of various spirits. Thus, Kexi also carried the meaning of spirit.

Trilansia, the nation of the Kexi People, had once possessed a glorious history, but it had now perished. Large numbers of Kexi People had scattered to other nations, while a small number formed villages like this one. It was said that Kexi restorationist organizations were actively working toward restoring their country, but they had achieved no results over the years.

From these myths and histories, Wang Yuan had gained quite a bit of information. Different races truly did possess differences, ones that revealed themselves even in daily life.

For example, the village's greatest enemies, the Kente People, were born bandits. Their instinct for invasion was etched into their bloodline, and some powerful Kente People could even undergo a strange transformation.

What an interesting world. Wang Yuan slowly absorbed the remaining white vapor from Jacques's corpse.

Under Komoro's instructions, the gathered villagers began carrying out Wang Yuan's orders. A new hunting party was formed, but its primary task was no longer hunting. Instead, they were to search for crows or crow eggs and bring them back to the village.

Watching the obedient people leave, Komoro felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction. Then he saw a middle-aged man standing not far away, his expression complicated.

When the middle-aged man noticed that Komoro had seen him, he turned and left. One of his legs was lame, so he did not walk very quickly.

Komoro's lips moved. Most of his earlier pride and satisfaction vanished in an instant, and he hurried after the lame middle-aged man.

"Father, why are you here?" Komoro asked, keeping himself calm.

"I am not your father. My son died in the hunting party," the lame man said furiously, continuing forward without stopping.

Komoro stopped, his expression turning extremely ugly. "I did this for the village. Why are you refusing to acknowledge me?"

"My son was a hero who hunted for the village, not a petty man who returned to slander and harm his companions," the lame man said. "You may have forgotten that Jacques helped you enter the hunting party, and Dax took great care of you. Yet you caused Jacques's death and slandered Dax. My son is not that kind of person."

"So you think I was wrong!" Komoro said, suppressing his anger. "Everything I did was for this village, for our family. Do you think I wanted to join the hunting party?"

"If it weren't for my unborn younger brother, would I have joined the hunting party? If it weren't to keep the plague from descending on this village, would I have killed Jacques?" Komoro snarled.

The middle-aged man halted but said nothing. He limped away again, though his back had become even more stooped.

Komoro was full of pent-up anger and did not return home. If he had, he would have discovered that the two messengers he served were hovering above his house. Wang Yuan floated inside, watching the pregnant middle-aged woman. From Dax's and Jacques's memories, Wang Yuan knew some basic information about Komoro.

Komoro's father had once been a member of the guard. After taking an arrow to the knee during a conflict with the Kente People, he had been forced to retire. Several months ago, however, Komoro's mother had become pregnant again.

Unwilling to give up the child, the not-so-well-off family needed a stable and substantial income. Thus, Komoro's father had sent him into the hunting party.

Using the Interference Force, Wang Yuan sent a certain amount of germs from the crow into Komoro's mother's respiratory tract. Only after confirming that she had been infected did Wang Yuan order the crow to fly away.

Controlling the germs' rate of reproduction, Wang Yuan drifted toward other homes. There were still many suitable candidates who needed to be infected. Over the coming period, he would need to focus on development. Of course, there was another problem.

According to the memories, winter was about to arrive. For food, those born bandits, the Kente People, would soon come.

The Kente People seem like pretty good test subjects too.