Viltz and Rita continued exploring the place and lighting the various torches along the way to get a better view.
They came across some traps that could kill a normal person if they didn't pay enough attention but they were child's play for the two of them.
After a while, they came to a crossroads, with two paths, one continuing forward and the other to the right.
"Let's go right." Viltz said before turning and walking on said path.
The two kept walking for a while before noticing that the stairs were destroyed so they simply took a jump and went down.
Walking for a while, the two walked into a trap of sorts when two red colored ghostly panthers appeared in front of them.
Viltz simply drew his saber and waved it in the air, causing a blast of green wind to come out of it, cutting the panther in two.
Rita summoned a fireball and reduced the second panther to ashes.
"How rude! I at least left its corpse intact!" Viltz exclaimed exaggeratedly as Rita rolled her eyes at him as she watched the panther Viltz killed also reduced to ashes before those too disappeared.
"Whoops?" Viltz scratched his cheek awkwardly before laughing and continuing on his way.
The two arrived in front of a hole, walking down it and into a underground channel.
Viltz looked at the two paths in front of him and turned to the one on the left.
After a while, they arrived in front of a stone ball the size of a person and climbed up it, arriving at a room with a statue of a panther in the center.
The statue glowed red and was about to activate its defense mechanism when a blast of green wind cut the statue's head, causing its glow to dissipate.
Viltz put away his saber and continued exploring.
Stopping in front of a seemingly normal wall, Viltz activated a spell that cut through the wall's mechanism and simply destroyed it, revealing the passageway on the other side.
Exiting the passageway, the pair came to a room with a huge statue of the prophet Levioda at its center with gargoyles in the shape of fat demons surrounding the walls.
Viltz stood in front of the statue for a few seconds before one of the gargoyles began to move.
Viltz ran like the wind and drew his silver sword, cutting off the gargoyle's head before it could even finish activating.
"Sigh, how I like this killing enemies before they start attacking me, I think I'll end up getting addicted to this." Viltz began to ramble as he slashed one of the horns of the gargoyle.
Putting away his sword, Viltz placed the horn on the altar of offerings in front of the statue of Levioda.
A noise was heard and the altar dipped to the ground before a few portals opened.
Viltz looked at the levioda statue's hand and saw that it was pointing in one direction.
"Come on, it's this way." Viltz said to Rita as she dove into the portal.
When they came out, they found a room similar to the previous one, only this time, there was no gargoyle and the hand on Levioda's statue was pointing in a different direction.
Viltz re-entered another portal and appeared in another similar room, where he went back through another portal, where the damned laboratory finally appeared.
"I thought we'd have to go through even more portals." Rita said with relief.
"Yeah, I don't think any person's stomach could handle the stress of going through so many portals."
Viltz surveyed the surroundings for a while before saying, "Well, first let's put all the books and notes we can find on that table over there."
"Okay."
Viltz opened a cabinet full of books and notes and took them all out, placing them on the table, where he noticed a green colored gem.
"Right, I have to look for these things."
Viltz placed the gem on a cushion on which three similar gems were placed before continuing to search.
"Rita, if you find some colored gems, keep them with you, we'll need them later."
"Fine, I just found one, I'll put it in my pocket for now." Rita replied before continuing to rummage through the lab.
After a while of searching, Viltz called Rita and told her to put her gem in a strange machine.
The machine released a gray light and a 3D hologram of an older man appeared before them.
The man began to speak as soon as he appeared:
"18th of Yule, year 1102. Today I begin one of the most important undertakings of my life, greater and more significant than any other I have ever undertaken, as it involves me personally. Myself and my son.
Fifteen years ago, when a forest beast attacked me, a witcher came to my aid and saved my life. At the time, I could not foresee that, in exchange for my salvation, I would end up giving up any decision about my son's future.
Sigh, if only I could go back in time, I would have preferred death to giving my only son to the witchers. But as it was, the day they took Jerome, I swore on my honor that I would get my son back.
Today, after years of research and preparation, I have finally devised a device that allows me to study mutations. If the gods, in their generosity, grant me their favor, I will find a way to reverse those mutations and return my son to normal vids."
After finishing his words, the man's hologram dissipated.
"So this man studied mutations so he could reverse his son's? I wonder if he succeeded."
"Let's continue looking at the records of the other gems."
Viltz removed the first gem from the device and placed another.
"Observation number 22: Despite applying toxic substances in excess, considerably more than normal, the subject has shown no symptoms of intoxication or overdose.
I consider that this may be an effect of the mutations. Therefore, a minor success: This mutation should grant Jerome an increased tolerance to toxicity."
The hologram dissipated again and Viltz replaced another one.
"Observation number 30: Mutations do not settle down immediately. Interestingly, over a period, they do not develop. Rather, for a mutation to come to term, the appropriate mutagen must be applied continuously.
The subject does not tolerate it well, but I have found a way to make the mutations less strenuous and invasive. I have added albumin from a mutated giant centipede egg to the base mutagen. If stored in a glass terrarium, the eggs do not develop, they stay small.
The eggs themselves are a real spectacle. Being mutated, they are luminescent and emit an amazing glow. I just hope adding the albumin doesn't produce significant side effects."
Rita was the one who made the change this time, while Viltz sat in a chair and wrote down everything the hologram said.
"Observation number 58: On some occasions, failure is the catalyst for success. I have discovered a method by which one type of mutagen can be transmuted to another through the addition of certain ingredients.Today is a great day for science!
In addition, I have observed that today's dose of mutagens brought the subject to the brink of death. Then he woke up suddenly, revived, with renewed strength. Not completely, obviously, but in a way he came back from the threshold of death.
Whether this fact is attributable to their mutations or to pure chance cannot be determined. I must conduct further experiments."
Finally, Rita set the last gem and this time, the man in the hologram was not standing as usual, but lay on the ground, looking defeated as he shook his head.
"Years of experiments, research, sacrifices, all for nothing! I have failed to reach my ultimate goal.
Every mutation I have applied to subjects has proven ineffective when applied to Jerome.
What I did to "cure" him of his witcher transformation, to give him back a normal life, only intensified his mutations. It increased his speed and strength even more, turning him into an even more inhuman being.
It seems that my son will be a witcher forever. I have failed. The time has come for me to leave this place, to return home to Lydia. She may yet deign to take me in.
I will leave the formulas and the mutagens here. Let them wither and crumble, just like my dreams of getting my son back."
"Sigh, who would think that a man who became obsessed with reversing his son's mutations would end up enhancing them. What a pitiful man."
Rita sighed.
Viltz couldn't give a shit about old man Moreau's problems, what mattered most to him was his research on mutations and the method of enhancing them.
Passing his gaze over the various machines in the lab, Viltz asked Rita, "If you want we can set up a portal to come to this lab to do research."
Rita just shook her head.
"I'm not very interested in the witchers mutations, I'll just keep a copy of the notes and journals we've gathered."
"Well, then I have no use for this place."
Viltz opened a portal and transported all the lab machinery into his temporary lab.
When they finished exploring the lab, Viltz and Rita went down a cave where they encountered a pair of giant white centipedes that took a little while to defeat because they hid underground whenever they felt threatened.
When they finished killing the centipedes, Viltz collected a few eggs from the nest and gave half to Rita.
"I don't need them, I'm not interested in insects."
"As you wish." Viltz shrugged and opened a portal to her room and tossed the eggs on her bed.
"Fine, since there's nothing interesting left around here, let's go back."
Opening a portal to the outskirts of Beauclair, the two kissed goodbye and each opened a portal to their respective homes.