"You..."
Gray looked at his lower body, covered by hard, dark tree bark, his tone more puzzled than surprised:
Who exactly are you?
"What's wrong?"
"I've heard that the unique abilities of the top experts in the Tree Worship Church include ' Creation '... but you're clearly only at Low Tier..."
"Let's not talk about whether it's low- Low Tier or not..."
Ed was speechless for a moment. Why did people in this world like to talk about High Tier and Low Tier so much?
For a fleeting moment, he thought the first words his patient, whom he had painstakingly saved, would utter upon waking were, "Hey, you lousy college graduate, you think you're qualified to perform surgery on me?" Only after confirming that Gray didn't mean it that way did Ed continue:
"Can this be considered Creation? At least in your consciousness, you are still the same person you were before."
Gray fell silent upon hearing this, clearly realizing the importance of the matter; for Authority like " Creation," both body and soul are indispensable.
I was indeed a bit too excited just now, which is why I used that word to describe the other party. But now it seems that even if the other party has the corresponding abilities, they must be a flawed version. Otherwise, not to mention that their body and consciousness still belong to me, the fact that I haven't been fully restored is enough to prove that.
He looked at the tree bark that stretched from the end of the hospital bed all the way to his sternum and asked in confusion:
"I can roughly feel my lower body, but the feeling is strange."
"Like I just said, your body is still in the process of remodeling, so you can think of this tree as giving birth to you right now."
The description "in the process of giving birth" was still a bit too advanced for Gray, but after spending so much time with Ed, his tolerance for such things had increased considerably.
"So, how much longer will it take before I can be born fully?"
Ed thought for a moment and gave a conservative answer:
"It will take about three days. By then, your entire lower body will be a completely human body, and a genuine original."
"As for your upper body... I replaced your arms and the parts inside your chest cavity with wood, also to help you survive."
"So you should now be considered a species somewhere between a half-tree being, a half-machine, and a human."
After processing the massive amount of information for a while, Gray quickly accepted his current situation.
As a carefully selected merchant from the Graycast Corridor, he may lack the ability to adapt to the environment, but at least he is very calm in his mindset.
So there's actually something else I wanted to ask you.
Ed looked at Gray and asked:
"Now that you've become like this, how will you be treated when you return to the Graycast Corridor?"
Gray pursed his lips and pondered for a few seconds, then gave a wry smile of relief:
"It's hard to say. There are many crazy people in the Graycast Corridor who are obsessed with combining machinery and all sorts of things, but most of them also respect human rights, and discrimination is not serious."
"So I think that if I can establish a solid connection with the Second Holy See, and even be designated by you as your exclusive collaborator, then my safety shouldn't be a problem, but..."
"Just what?"
Gray lowered his head, as if some bubble of dreams had been ruthlessly burst by reality.
"But now that things have turned out this way, even if he goes back, it will be difficult for him to continue participating in the selection of the Grand Foundry Master."
"Yes."
Ed nodded.
"That's a real shame... Wait, what were you talking about, the selection process?"
A sharp glint seemed to shoot from his single eye, locking onto Gray in front of him.
" The Grand Foundry Master... Oh, I didn't tell you about this."
Seeing Ed's thirst for knowledge, Gray chuckled awkwardly.
"It's just a fantasy, it's nothing."
"No, no, no, that's not the problem. The problem is... are you saying that the Grand Foundry Master Daye can be selected through a process?"
Gray nodded:
"That's true. We were quite surprised when we first heard it, after all, the current Grand Foundry Master is the first one, and everyone thought that the Grand Foundry Master would rule the Graycast Corridor forever. No one expected this to happen before he issued this proclamation."
"Yes..."
Ed muttered to himself:
"In a world like this, how could anyone hold such a selection process? Unless..."
One idea after another kept popping into Ed's mind, only to Passing as quickly as bubbles.
Some reasons were due to their incompatibility with this worldview, while others were simply too shocking. Ed for a while but couldn't come to a conclusion that fit, but his enthusiasm for the matter remained high. He looked at Gray, his tone a mixture of excitement and seriousness:
"I said, do you want to Grand Foundry Master?"
Gray's eyes widened as the mechanical finger, which he had just begun to adjust to, pointed at him:
Me? Me?
"Yes, it's you."
Ed reached out and put his hand on his shoulder:
"You once helped the Second Holy See, and we have always been very kind to our friends."
friendly?
Is it something that can be done simply by being friendly?
A surge of emotion welled up inside Gray, and his right hand instinctively clutched his chest.
He experienced heart palpitations once again, a feeling that came from intense emotion!
"Oh, you noticed."
Ed suddenly smiled:
"Consider this a small gift. Although your heart is still mechanical, your compatibility with plants has become much stronger than before, so many parts can function almost like real organs. If you'd like, I could even cover your robotic arm with a layer of simulated skin..."
Gray imagined himself with fake skin covering his arms and wearing mechanical boxing gloves... and quickly waved his hand:
"That won't be necessary... I was just a little too excited about your suggestion, and for a moment I..."
"Oh right, let's get back to the election."
Ed rubbed his hands together excitedly:
"You're a businessman, you should know what investment is... Of course, if you don't know, you can audit a few classes at some dragon-themed school."
"So I don't actually have any ill intentions towards you or the Graycast Corridor. I just want to learn more about the Grand Foundry Master. So if that Grand Foundry Master could be you, then many things would be much simpler."
Gray nodded. He didn't think Ed was a bad person. After observing him for a while, he could clearly feel that the members of the Tree Worship Church under Ed's rule were highly motivated in all aspects.
Those still-thin believers were even more outrageous than the commoners in the Graycast Corridor in some ways. Their arms were as thin as sticks, yet they dared to sign up for the militia. If he hadn't been rejected in the end, he would have thought they were all a bunch of lunatics.
So he cleared his throat and responded seriously:
"If you're not joking... I'd also appreciate your support."