Dudian looked at his left arm. It was tightly bandaged and there were no abnormalities. There were doubts in his heart. He used his right hand to pinch his left arm. Dudian felt very coldness penetrate his right hand the moment it touched the left arm. It felt as if he was touching a block of ice. He immediately retracted his fingers. He remember the first time when he had absorbed lots of cold crystals the same thing had happened. Coldness had infiltrated out from the pores of his arm.
He used a knife to cut off the bandage. After he unwrapped the gauze he almost fainted because of the scene. The surface os his skin had become light blue. There were faint silhouettes that looked like scales. Each of them were size of a thumb that spread from his should to elbow. However they didn't go down from there.
Dudian was startled. This light blue skin color seemed like ice.
Dudian was confused as he thought about the explanation. His left hand was in necrosis state. By absorbing the cold crystals through his right hand the essence of the crystals should have spread all over his body. Did it accumulate and crystallized because of the state of his left arm it wasn't dispersed properly?
His guess was that the coldness constantly penetrated his left arm and condensed into blue ice scales. His face had turned ugly because of the sight in front of his eyes. If the coldness continued to infiltrate all the way then the water in his arm would be turned into ice block. It would be very harmful for his body. The only hope of treatment would be to completely cut it off and replace with another arm.
"Damn!" Dudian clenched his teeth.: "Is prosthesis the only way out?"
The current technology had no way to change his arm into a prosthetic one unless they would transplant someone else's arm.
He grabbed the quilt next to him and covered his left arm. He hoped to reduce the degree of condensation of the coldness in his left arm. Maybe he would be able to melt the ice.
Dudian pressed the quilt onto the crystal scales and tried to move it up and down to create friction. He felt something wrong as the crystal scales didn't emit vapor after a long time. He checked them and they seemed like flesh. He pinched and pushed the scales. Although its flexibility was not on par with normal skin but it was completely different from ice.
"Is this not ice?" Dudian pinched again. It seemed that if he put strength onto his fingers then he could pierce out the scales. It seemed that his skin had changed to soft scales. Unfortunately his left arm had no perception of senses so he couldn't judge their reaction. However the end result was that this crystal scales were part of his body.
Dudian tried to bend his arm after he knew that these crystal scales were not ice blocks. Moreover he was able to bend his arm freely. It didn't seem like a frozen object.
"Did the accumulation of cold crystal's energy mutated my left arm? Are the scales result of this mutation?" Dudian's eyes flickered.: "Such a characteristics appears only on senior hunter's body. The magic marks goes through evolution and as a result the human cell's structure changes. In a sense it derives genetic information from the residual gene of the parasitic worms and reforms the human's cell. Glenn should have such a special tissue which is hidden from others."
"However, it is first time that my magic marks had gone through evolution. I have just become an intermediate hunter. Moreover the crystal scales does not have trace of a relationship to my magic marks. It is deeply related to cold crystals...There are too many unknown factors ..." Dudian was aware that he was very bold to consume them. However there was no meaning to regret it now. To kill Linda he had relied on cold crystals to enhance his strength. Because of such a risky move his body also went towards an unknown direction of mutation.
"I'm lucky that at present only my left hand appears abnormal but not the whole body."
Dudian continued to observe his left arm. He tried to gently move it. Although there was no perceptive capabilities but he was able to move it freely. His left arm seemed to recover a lot. The shape of the arm seemed close to the original shape. The previous bloated appearance after the surgery have disappeared too.
"The materials making up the crystal scales seems to be close to stratum corneum. But its more softer than stratum corneum. Is it biological result of the evolution?"Dudian touched his arm. He was anxious to dissect and open it to check. But in the end he still held back. There was a hope for full recovery now! However its possible that the crystallization of my left arm spreads to my body in the future. What should I do then? How will I be able to treat it?
Will I be regarded as a human at that time?
"If I had 'fountain of life' then my mind could be at peace." Dudian secretly made calculations. He pulled gauze from the drawer and wrapped around his arm. He decided to inform Old Fulin first thing in the morning so that he tells middle-aged doctor temporarily not to visit him for check-ups.
"Five thousand alchemy points ... According to dark church's pointing system and comparison to the prices outside then it is equivalent to twenty thousand golc coins. Moreover I will need an one star alchemist to acquire it. So I will need at least thirty thousand gold coins to be able to get 'fountain of life'." Dudian calculated the amount that he would need buy the potion.
He layed on bed and looked at ceiling. Dudian unwittingly fell asleep.
The next day.
Dudian ate his breakfast and was about to go to division of the dark church. Suddenly butler came in and told the Old Fulin.: "Master, the person from the 'Temple of Elements' have come again. Would you like to see him?"
Old Fulin put down the newspaper and looked at Dudian who was sitting opposite to him.: "Call him up. We are waiting for him."
"Yes." Butler respectfully replied.
Old Fulin looked at Dudian.: "This person is here to talk to you."
"He is looking for me?" Dudian was about to put his coat when he heard Old Fulin talk.