[The only way to gain knowledge quickly is either through rewards or passing the Trials of the exact subject set by the System].
Niko paused, he expressed his thoughts to the System, "Why would you even have that?" He was utterly confused on why a System that had asked him to destroy and conquer worlds; would have scientific and medical knowledge stored in its database awaiting for a Host to obtain it.
[Because you Hosts do dumb sh*t, the System's job is to delegate missions and then grant rewards, but as of the last few hundred years, my Hosts have lost their lives due to their incompetence. The reason being, they lack any means or knowledge on survival, having relying on modern conveniences and have disregarded the primitive ways of their ancestors]. Niko was speechless, he had never heard the System be this upset before.
In the short time they were together, this was the first time he had ever witnessed the System swearing and exhibit anger towards its previous Hosts.
He bit his lower lip, feeling awkward about his situation, "Okay. So how shall we do this then?"
He felt that undergoing a Trial was too time consuming and may take longer than he would expect, not to mention that the Grimoire specifically stated that the operation required the body to have died within an hour to fully achieve optimal results.
Thanks to the preservation abilities of the System he did not need to worry about such a matter, but he was a little impulsive as he wanted to get it over with and then hit the sack.
Acting on such a behavior, he requested help from the System, "System. I require your assistance in helping me with this operation. As such if you could, please do everything that you can currently do with my measly authority."
Of course faced with such a humble appeal, the System had to accept otherwise as this Host showed sincerity in his words.
[Very well. As the World System- Chaos, I hereby dub thee; 'Master Surgeon' and 'Black Arts Practitioner']. In the midst of its words, a screen glitched into existence.
[World System- Chaos has created two Titles. Titles are now available for use]. After Niko's titles were established two new windows simultaneously appeared before him.
[Master Surgeon.
One who plays with life and death. The body is yours to control, all within your 'theatre' are deemed as patients that shall be operated on.
Grants Title Skills- {Biological Manipulation}, {Surgeon's Theatre}.
Title Talents- {Basic Anatomy Knowledge}, {Basic Genetics Knowledge}, {Basic Biology Knowledge}.
Permanently grants 2x in all physical Stats and improves own physique over time. Affinity over all Martial Arts and Life based Magic increased]. Double the physical Stats?! Niko wasn't much of a gamer but even he realized that doubled permanent Stats were a crazy cheat for early players.
If his current life was a game, he'd be tremendously broken, he had a bunch of high level skills but a weak body so it was definitely an imbalanced character.
But with the Stats that accounted for his total physical strength as well as his speed and stamina permanently doubled, as long as he kept it up and put it to good use he would become a superbly made character.
Swiping to the next screen Niko was even more ecstatic.
[Black Arts Practitioner.
A being that deals with the dark side of power, whether one is a magician or a martial artist, no one can completely resist against the temptation of tasting the forbidden fruit.
Grants Title Skills- {Forbidden Arts Creation}, {Basic Necromancy}, {Bloodlust}, {Entity Creation-Summoning}.
Title Talents- {Basic Black Arts Knowledge}, {Sacrificial Ritual Knowledge}, {Basic Forbidden Arts Knowledge}.
Affinity towards Dark, Shadow and Forbidden Magic is increased. Warning! There will be changes to the Host on a genetic level. Mutation is highly possible].
Niko was joyfully dancing around, he had an interest in 'Forbidden' Arts and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Now that he had a chance to practice them himself, he was absolutely elated.
"And Necromancy skills? Hope I don't become an edgelord right after." Although he was seemingly joking, Niko was actually looking forward to those cringeworthy days and the thrill of looking cool in front of his peers.
After all nowadays Necromancers were all the rage among the web novels and comics he had read, all more edgy than the last.
Then he had a brainstorm, why couldn't he use his Necromancy on the corpse? "Haha! System, you're a genius!" Seeing the different skills he had, Niko had seen through the System's ruse.
It was helping him by granting him the necessary skills to create something beyond that of a typical undead, no what they wanted him to do was to create a creature that exceeded human capacity.
A being born through an amalgam of other creatures, a horrific beast that answers to no one but their creator; a Chimera.
Technically speaking, a chimera was a single organism that was made up of cells from two or more organisms- that is to say that they contain (x) sets of DNA, which were the code to make (x) separate organisms yet were somehow were crammed into one organism.
His Biological Manipulation skill had the ability to control all aspects that made up a living being's biological makeup.
With his knowledge of anatomy and genetics, all he had to do was replace all the lost fluids in the body and transplant an entirely new head, inject hormones and enzymes that stimulates the circulation of blood and by using a defibrillator he could jumpstart the heart.
Messing around with the physiology of the corpse and using the iron sand-like material that changed the molecular makeup of anything it came into contact with, Niko altered its decaying genes vastly.
"System, give me the genetic sequencing of an Axolotl." The reason for this was due to the Axolotl's complex regeneration ability, unlike humans who could only regenerate their skin cells and livers, the Mexican walking fish could regrow entire limbs and their spine, and to an extent, parts of their brains.
What Niko needed was a new head, but to do so the spinal cord had to be fully intact. And that was where the Axolotl's DNA came in.
By modifying the sequence and adding on the codes of the amphibian's unique ability, he could save time and energy by letting nature take its course.
Of course there was a chance that the modification would fail due to incompatibility, that was highly unlikely for him due to the System helping out.
He was highly confident that as long as the System said that it was possible, he could do so with ease. His confidence stemmed not from the fact that it was almighty, but the fact that it never lied and was always truthful, it did however leave some details out purposely, but that was due to never having been asked about it.
The corpse now looked slightly different as there was a small wisp forming around its body, its life energy was minimal and could be barely seen at all, but Niko still recognized it instantly.
Pieces of flesh squirmed around the neck area as the muscles contracted itself. The tissues were taut and rigid, heralding the arrival of a small bone protruding from the middle of where the head would be.
The basis for the new head had regrown perfectly. Although he could have used a flatworm's DNA to regenerate the head completely, problem was that the mind would most likely be in a fragile state forming a sort of identity crisis with their previous self.
So in order to combat such a weakness Niko decided to use an Artificial Soul, (which he discovered through the Golem page of the book).
Souls were the identity of a living being, they were synonymous to life and strength and was the source of Auras.
Souls were considered as a mysterious force of nature that were spoken of ambiguously, yet were defined in a simple manner.
They acted as a form of identification for a creature, as unique as a fingerprint and very distinctive.
Artificial Souls were an imitation of real Souls, they were created with one purpose in mind; immortality. The mage who invented the method of creating Artificial Souls was obsessed with living forever as he feared death greatly.
He theorized that by absorbing Mana and Aura from a person simultaneously, one could draw out the Soul and then assimilate it into his own Soul he could potentially live forever.
However his peers were appalled by this and was henceforth ignored as well as harassed by them for his dangerous line of thinking as it went against their moral upstanding.
Eventually he had had enough and researched Necromancy, finally figuring out the ingenious method of creating Artificial Souls.
They were practical and easy to use, most Golems and Soulless Corpses relied on such means to live.
The creation process was simple, "First, release Mana into the air, by regulating the amount of impurity within the Mana one can easily control the quality of the Artificial Soul." The first step was something that all mages learnt during their magic training early on, but for a new initiate like Niko, it was a completely new concept.
Straining his mind, Niko tried to stimulate the magical energy in his own body, he had a vague visual image of what it felt like.
In his mind Niko stared at a pool of pure energy, its surface rippling like waves as he drew his fingers on it.
Cupping both hands, he dipped them right in and scooped a handful of magical energy. Pure white and unadulterated, warmth surged throughout his body, easing the stress on his shoulders.
Niko's eyes were closed, yet he could still feel the changes in his body, he whispered to himself softly, "Ah... So this is Mana." Opening his eyes, a massive burst of energy erupted, causing the air to distort and compress heavily.
"Edelweiss."