Karen

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

Karen is a refined young man whose polished presentation sharply contrasts with the brutality of the slave trade. He first appears in a silver robe marked with a golden Bauhinia emblem. 9

• Silver irises form a vortex-like pattern when he uses psychic power. 19
• Maintains an aristocratic, calm demeanor even when directing dangerous experiments or slave-catching operations. 10 11
• His outward hospitality—including lavish meals and red wine—often accompanies attempts to probe or influence others. 11 28
• During his final confrontation with Li Ziran, Karen uses the Transformation Spell but is himself transformed into a frog. Li later removes and preserves his head and black frog skin. 30 31

Personality

Karen is socially adept, perceptive, and relentlessly transactional. He flatters Li Ziran’s organ-transplant skills, offers resources tailored to Li’s ambitions, and frames recruitment as friendship and generosity. Behind that courtesy, he tests loyalty, withholds crucial information, and treats skilled people as assets to be cultivated or controlled. 11 12 13 18 28

He presents “absolute freedom” as his leadership philosophy, preferring to give subordinates responsibility without a detailed plan. In practice, his followers fear defying him, and his offers of freedom place enormous risk on those expected to produce results. 16 17

Karen is also exceptionally ambitious. His long-term pursuit of the dying Swamp Dragon’s power leads him to sacrifice allies, captives, necromantic resources, and eventually the Corpse Dragon itself. Once the Elemental Heart is within reach, his usual restraint gives way to obsession. 26 29

Even after his bodily defeat, Karen attempts to resist Li’s invasion of his consciousness. His memories reveal a frightened and vulnerable inner self beneath his cultivated composure, but his resistance collapses as Li removes pieces of his soul. 190 191

Abilities & Skills

Psychic Mage and Bauhinia Lineage

Karen can invade spiritual spaces, perceive thoughts, and manipulate another person’s understanding through psychic power.

• He forcibly enters Li Ziran’s Spirit World, dismantles Li’s elemental spiritual structure, and exposes him to the Corpse Dragon’s necromantic network. 19
• This intervention grants Li the practical foundation of an Undead Mage inheritance, making him an Undead Apprentice. 19
• Hogg identifies Karen’s Bauhinia Lineage as an ability that can seep into and observe a target’s thoughts; he claims Karen’s red wine helped facilitate this intrusion. 28
• Karen’s apparent ability to read or exploit Li’s thoughts lets him anticipate Li’s actions, including locating Li’s hidden captives. 28 29
• Li later detects an invisible mental thread linking Karen, the Corpse Witch Frog head, and Li’s spatial ring. This connection allows Karen’s consciousness to reach toward Li even after his physical defeat. 190

Memory Theft and the Memory Ghost

Karen’s memory-related powers are not entirely his own. He functions as an intermediary for the Memory Ghost, an entity tied to an ancient temple statue with living, bug-like eyes.

• Li finds that Karen’s memory theft uses flowing dark-memory threads and Memory Ghosts rather than a simple innate form of Mind Reading. 190
• Karen’s memories reveal a childhood connection to a witch skilled in transformation magic and an ancient temple that appears to be the true origin of his memory-related power. 191
• The ability to perceive Elemental Bugs belongs to the Memory Ghost rather than Karen himself. 191
• When Li forms an Offering Curse contract with the Memory Ghost, the entity extinguishes Karen’s soul before Li can extract further memories. 191

Transformation Spell and Devouring Curse

Karen possesses powerful transformation and soul-devouring techniques despite initially concealing them.

• He forms a Serpentine Magic Array, transforms Captain Cannon into a giant python, and devours Cannon’s soul. 26
• His transformation power is far stronger and more stable than Li Ziran’s early attempts; Captain Cannon cannot break free despite repeatedly changing forms. 26
• He uses Black Nightmare Power and transformation magic in his attempt to control the Swamp Dragon’s Elemental Heart. 29 30
• During his final clash with Li, Karen simultaneously casts the Transformation Spell against him, but Li transforms Karen into a frog instead. 30 31

Necromancy and Corpse Dragon Control

Karen understands undead energy networks and can direct large-scale necromantic operations.

• He explains and manipulates the Corpse Dragon’s necromantic energy flow, which is sustained by a summoning formation of inverted hexagrams. 19
• He helps convert a fully petrified Corpse Dragon tooth into the Black Nightmare Fang by combining Necromantic Power with Medusa petrification. 20
• He orchestrates the sacrifice of Fire Elephants, Fishmen, Snake Women, Rhine, Hogg, the necromancer Baturu, and the Corpse Dragon’s own body to capture the Swamp Dragon’s essence. 29
• He can manifest or operate through a Corpse Witch body, using it to attempt surgery on himself. 30
• The Corpse Witch associated with Karen remains significant after his defeat, serving as the vessel and medium through which his remaining consciousness reaches toward Li. 122 190

Anatomical Knowledge and Organ Modification

Karen has notable practical skill with anatomy, though he lacks Li Ziran’s surgical experience.

• He quickly extracts and knots exposed Corpse Dragon neural tissue during the tooth-modification operation. 18
• His psychic access to Li’s thoughts allows him to imitate portions of Li’s medical and magical knowledge. 19 30
• He designs an ingenious method to transplant the Elemental Heart into his own transformed body through a Corpse Witch. 30
• His self-transplant fails because he overlooks sterilization, clotting agents, and the threat of Elemental Bugs—details Li understands through practiced surgical work rather than stolen theory. 30

Relationships

• Li Ziran — Recruited Li for his organ-transplant expertise, offered him cultivation resources and a potion-master connection, then used psychic intrusion to study and manipulate him. Their partnership becomes open rivalry over the Swamp Dragon’s Elemental Heart. After Karen’s defeat, Li preserves his remains, later reverses Karen’s mental connection, and extracts his memories until the Memory Ghost destroys Karen’s soul. 11 12 13 19 28 29 30 31 190 191
• Hogg — Fire-mage subordinate. Hogg obeys Karen but resents being treated as expendable; Karen ultimately sacrifices Hogg’s soul to empower the Corpse Dragon. 10 11 12 28 29
• Annie — Medusa girl whose people were deceived and captured through Karen’s schemes. Annie fears Karen intensely and identifies him as a Psychic Mage. 15 19 23
• Captain Cannon — Rival slave-corps commander whose dragon-heart scheme Karen had manipulated from the beginning. Karen offers him slavery, then transforms and devours him when he refuses. 26
• The Medusas — Karen treats Medusas as strategic resources, concealing more than thirty enslaved adults for the Corpse Dragon tooth experiment. 20
• Memory Ghost — The higher-order entity underlying Karen’s memory-related powers and apparent Elemental Bug perception. Karen acts as its human intermediary until it extinguishes his soul after Li enters their connection. 190 191

Story Role / Major Arcs

Recruitment of Li Ziran

Karen’s slave-catching group ambushes Li Ziran’s hunt for Snake Women. Posing as Li’s rescuer, Karen expects compensation and quickly identifies Li’s organ-transplantation expertise as more valuable than the captives Li offers. 9

After Li successfully gives the fishman Guobu a functional Petrifying Eye, Karen hosts Li at a lavish dinner, probes his background, and repeatedly attempts to recruit him. He first offers a Devouring Curse, then access to a potion expert when Li resists organizational control. 11 12

Li eventually joins the Thornflower Slave-Trading Corps on a three-month probationary arrangement. Karen gives him a private workshop, warehouse access, and authority to select slaves and organs—an apparent show of trust that Li suspects is also a test. 13

Corpse Dragon Operation

Karen recruits Li as lead surgeon for an operation to modify a Bipedal Corpse Dragon so it can capture Crocodile Warriors without destroying their value as slaves. He expects a thirty-percent share of the eventual profits while providing Li almost no operational plan. 15 16

When Li cannot operate on dead neural tissue, Karen forcibly grants him undead knowledge through psychic intrusion. Together, they turn a failed Medusa petrification experiment into the Black Nightmare Fang, a transformed Corpse Dragon tooth recognized as legendary by the tusk appraiser. 19 20

Swamp Dragon Scheme and Defeat

Karen’s true objective is the dying Mud Dragon beneath the swamp. His faction has observed the dragon for fifty years, and the slave-catching campaign serves as a means to seize its condensed Elemental Heart. 26 29

He sacrifices nearly every resource involved in the operation to force the Corpse Dragon to consume the dragon’s essence. After obtaining the heart, he captures Li and attempts to transplant it into himself through a Corpse Witch body. 29 30

The surgery fails because Karen has copied Li’s knowledge without mastering the practical discipline behind it. Li transforms Karen into a frog, defeats him, decapitates and preserves his body for its valuable organs, and retains the Corpse Witch associated with his remaining consciousness. 30 31

Posthumous Influence and Soul Destruction

Karen’s preserved Corpse Witch and Frog head remain dangerous long after his defeat. Li fears that exposing the head may allow Karen to revive, while Karen’s consciousness maintains a hidden mental thread to Li’s spatial ring. 122 190

After Li’s mental force undergoes reformation, he follows the mental connection into Karen’s memories and discovers the Memory Ghost mechanism behind Karen’s theft-related abilities. 190

Li uses the Judgment Spell and Offering Curse to steadily extract portions of Karen’s soul and memories. When Li inadvertently contracts with the Memory Ghost, the entity extinguishes Karen’s soul, permanently ending his resistance while leaving Li with dangerous memory-theft power. 191

Notable Quotes

“The laws of survival tell us not to be cleverer than we should be, right?” 21