"If you don't slow down you might choke?" But Divyat was in no state to slow down, having to eat beast bats for days without a way to even make a fire and roast them was annoying. Even with his advanced cultivation, the last few days have been extremely hard on him, enough that by this point he was skin and bones. Not to mention his body's healing had to draw energy from somewhere, and with the absence of a Dantian having not reached the Qi condensation realm, it would draw the Qi from his body and his meridians which invariably were a part of his body. Cao Lin shook her head before unfurling a scroll, continuing to speak, As Divyat gorged himself on meat and stew.
"I've properly analyzed your situation, and while the equipment here is terrible, I've been able to come to some viable conclusion after running some tests on you. Fuck, what I wouldn't do for a lab right now." She cursed softly as her eyes took on glazed look, almost as if she was remembering times immemorial or something like that. It drew Divyat's attention to her face, the look she had on her visage was melancholic, Divyat could swear he was actually feeling her emotions. The sense of loss, anguish, tiredness, resolution yet despondence. Whatever she had gone through, just like himself, Divyat got the feeling that she had given up on life, she was just going through the motions now.
"Your human body is not just healing itself, taking vast amounts of Qi to do I might add, which honestly your body should not be able to produce due to your low cultivation level, and even more so since In the foundation establishment realm Qi can not be absorbed automatically. There's no cultivation technique capable of that, because the body would explode to pieces, building a foundation is a meticulous step. However I noticed, though I'm not sure… say Divyat, did you by any chance ingest a beast core?" Divyat paused, the food halfway to his mouth as the events of previous night? He wasn't sure how long it has been since his fight with the Queen Beast Bat. His silence was all the answer she needed.
"Fascinating! Your body is undergoing a metamorphosis, but even if you ate a beast core this should not have caused it. Rather the metamorphosis has already been happening before you ate the beast core. Your healing left a lot of questions in my head so I took some tissue samples and cross referenced it with some that I keep in my lab….which isn't much of a lab, but you have to make do when you're a prisoner to bandits ehh, Hehehehe." The joke wasn't funny, and the way her voice seemed to fade into a whisper of pain and sadness more than spoke volumes of exactly how she was feeling, and that was the first information Divyat got shot where he was; in the grasp of bandits.
"Either way your body is a literal treasure trove, it's almost as if you've awakened a physique. But the tell tale signs of physique awakening is completely absent. From what I can tell your Qi changed and is still changing, it's moving from an attribute less state to a trip attribute state of wind, water and their baby boy Ice. At least 35% of the Qi you utilize is of the ice attribute with more being converted by the second. I believe once you get to 65% and a 100% you would be able to control or rather at least have your qi adopt the wind or water element and finally use all three as you wish once you've reached a 100% transformation. At the rate you're going, as long as you keep exhausting your Qi and advancing your cultivation, it should take you at least two years.
But that's one half of the coin! Your entire body is similar to that of a beast, and I can't tell which one. All I know is that it's a predator. Your body is absorbing Qi almost unconsciously. And this is not the kind that goes to your meridian, even the beast Core you ate has been improving your strength. I literally observed your muscles expanding and contracting, lining itself layer upon layer to give you above average strength, speed, agility and defense. Then there's the bestial instincts and senses, for the entire week you've been out, you reacted to sounds almost 10 to 20 meters from us, and through meter thick walls for that matter. You're like a fledgling demon prince or something."
"I'm not a demon!" Divyat interrupted her with a fierce look in his eyes, she raised her hands up as if to say she gave up, before giggling weirdly and continuing.
"Your healing is insane, I can't imagine how valuable you would be to alchemists around the world should they ever find this out. They'd probably lock you in a lab somewhere and harvest everything they can possibly harvest from you. Can you imagine, a healing factor, this power if properly trained would make anybody invisible on a battlefield, now imagine if you had a thousand undying soldiers with an array that constantly pumped Qi into them as they fought… Astonishing Magnificent Marvelous Entertainment!"
"… … …"
The blank look on his face was all the look Divyat had to give her. She was eccentric, weird and it seemed as if she had a few screws loose in her head, and in light of that she perfectly fit into the bill of a mad scientist. And the whole talk about keeping him locked in a lab and harvested, until the secret of his healing is discovered put him on edge. It was a reminder that now more than ever he could absolutely not trust anybody. The origin of his change and his abilities was enough to raise eyebrows and peak interests of the most powerful in existence, it would not take too long for them to come knocking on his door and as Cao Lin just finished saying 'Harvest' him. Divyat did not want to be harvested.
"You don't have to worry, just let me run some more tests… at least if the Boss doesn't kill you at least. Nobody here pays me attention, they only come to me when they need healing or… well never mind. But the bottom line is they won't find out your secret, just let me study you please. I'm dying for a chance to have some proper scientific study in this damn gods forsaken mountains of cold and death. Besides this way, you can discover more about your abilities and master them. Please what do you say, I'll keep your secrets I promise!"
Divyat raised an eyebrow not so sure she could keep a promise with how loud she was, and the whole excitement that seems to be basis of her behavior. But even worse, she was a demon. History has never spoken well about that race, and the fact that they were almost all hunted to extinction in the last war showed just how far they had went to push all of the forces together in order to fight and hunt them to extinction. Simply put Divyat could not trust her, but with the way she was acting now, perhaps he could use her to his own advantage, he was not the naïve Kid he once was, that Divyat was dead.
"Perhaps we can help each other?" Divyat said to her, bringing up a small smile that felt extremely foreign on his face, yet he still tried, though considering the pensive look on Cao Lin's face, he probably didn't do well with the smile.
"Err-sure! What do you need from me?" she asked, smiling back and using her eyes, almost as if she was trying to act cute, and for a moment Divyat was caught off guard when he finally noticed, demon or not, just how beautiful the older woman looked. He turned his head to the side and cleared his throat. Then he said to her.
"I need information, new clothes, but above all and first of all…where the fuck am I and what's this thing about bandits and bandit bosses."