Chapter 289: Inferior Transmutation

Uhtred cursed, a look of disgust on his face as he quickly squatted down to take a closer look at the grotesque figure lying before them.

Across the Prime Sapien’s chest, a crisscross of clearly different body parts could be made out. There were no stitch marks or anything of the sort, but that didn’t lessen how unnerving it was to see. If anything, it made it worse.

Instead of stitch marks, the different body parts were connected seamlessly — most definitely as a result of some healing magic. It created a clear, abrupt difference where each separate body part met, which in turn made the Prime Sapien’s chest look like a grotesque Frankenstein artwork.

For starters, his right hand was a clearly different shade than the rest of his chest, and so was his left. Even the hair covering both was of a different kind.

Now that Uhtred was looking at both hands this close, he could even tell that their sizes were different. The Prime Sapien had clearly tried to build his left arm to match the size of his right, but there was still a slight difference between them, like they belonged to two totally different strains of man.

The Prime Sapien’s arms were not the only thing, either. The skin covering vital areas — like his heart, his liver, and even some major blood vessels — was all wildly different.

There’s got to be at least ten Transmutations across this guy’s body, Uhtred thought, frowning as he scanned the patchwork that was the Prime Sapien’s chest. All of these Transmutations and he still got done in by Diya in one move...

"Seems there’s levels to this Transmutation thing then," Uhtred muttered, comparing the Prime Sapien’s many Transmutations to his own single one. If this was all the Prime Sapien’s Transmutations amounted to, then calling it a ’Transmutation’ was simply a joke. It couldn’t even be spoken of in the same breath as his Gnostic Eye.

"What was that?" Diya asked, picking up on what Uhtred had muttered.

"Huh? Did I say something?"

"You said something about a ’Transmutation.’ What does that mean? Is that what this is?" Diya pressed, not buying Uhtred’s attempt to play it off.

"Ahem." Uhtred cleared his throat, then dragged out his next response, carefully choosing his words. He didn’t want to have to explain where he found out about Transmutations. "I also don’t know much about it, only that it involves replacing a body part with a superior version."

"And that works?" Diya’s face scrunched up in confusion. "I mean, I guess the body part will function. Any decent Healer Mage can make that work. But I’m guessing whoever is doing this isn’t just looking for a one-for-one replacement, right? They’re looking for an upgrade."

"Yeah. And apparently it actually works. I mean, why wouldn’t it? The System allows it," Uhtred said with a shrug, then looked down at the Prime Sapien again. "And based on the clear signs on this guy, their Prime Sapien Project is definitely based on Transmutations."

"Hmm," Diya hummed, looking back down at the Prime Sapien. "Then I guess this guy is a failed version. Either that or this is truly the level of every Prime Sapien, in which case I’d say we’re in luck. Because that would mean this is the best the Ancient Variants can create right now."

"Eh, probably," Uhtred said, standing up. He had seen the Prime Sapien’s level and codename with his Gnostic Eye, and he leaned more toward Diya’s second theory. "In any case, let’s bag him and get a move on. Isolde, Hassan, and the others should be done with Stormcaller by now. I just hope they haven’t killed the fucker. I’d like to ask some questions of my own."

As Uhtred spoke, his eyes locked onto the surrounding trees, just as dozens of fully black-clad ascenders stepped out into the open.

The figure leading them stepped forward and pulled off the mask covering her head, revealing the face of a young, fierce-looking woman with dark skin.

"Captain," she nodded in greeting to Uhtred, who returned the nod in kind.

"Adora. There’s been a change of plans," he said curtly. "We have a high-value package we need to bring along with us to the Capitol. It’ll be your squad’s job to ensure the package is delivered without any hiccups."

The squad leader, Adora, locked her eyes onto the Prime Sapien’s misshapen head and patchworked bare chest. If she was surprised, she showed none of it on her face.

"Understood, Captain," she replied sharply. "Will Miss Diya be joining us this time too?"

"Yes. But for the meantime, you are to rendezvous with Antony at the jet and hold position. Diya’s coming with me to deal with something first," Uhtred said.

He didn’t wait for Adora’s response, and Adora didn’t ask any more questions. She immediately signaled to the rest of her squad — who had already spread out across the area in vigilance — to begin bagging the Prime Sapien.

Uhtred, on the other hand, flashed over to Diya and scooped her off her feet out of nowhere. Needless to say, his action thoroughly shocked the poor girl, and her mind short-circuited for a moment.

Behind Uhtred, even Adora’s squad, despite their professionalism, paused slightly in surprise at Uhtred’s seemingly out-of-place action. But then, in a sudden burst, his actions finally made sense.

He sped away in an instant, leaving behind nothing but an imperceptible blur and a loud shockwave in his wake.

He charged straight for the city with Slipstream Stride, and within a minute of travel, he was back — except now, the city he’d left was totally different.

Without thinking much about it, he dropped Diya back on her feet, noncommittally asking whether she was alright. His focus was mainly on the carnage of battle that had torn through the city.

Diya, beside him, didn’t really know how to feel. On one hand, she was visibly shaken from moving at such intense speeds. Her legs trembled visibly and she was having a hard time standing properly — though whether all of that was just from the speed alone and not something else couldn’t clearly be discerned.

And on the other hand, she, just like Uhtred, stared at the city — or what used to be the city — that lay before them, visible shock written in her eyes. She hadn’t been here before, but even she could tell the wreckage and carnage were the result of a very fresh battle.

A fair distance in front of them, Isolde Castiglione, Hassan Al-Malik, Golden Eagle Vance, and the other forces could be seen arguing heatedly and pointing at an utterly battered figure slumped on the ground in their midst.

"Is that... Stormcaller?" Diya asked, raising a brow. She had heard a short rundown of what Uhtred and the others had met upon arriving here in Stormcaller’s territory — the fact that he had switched to the side of the Ancient Variants. But even then, she hadn’t expected that Stormcaller would be beaten to such a near-dead state.

It seemed every major faction understood the importance of thoroughly crushing this kind of person to dissuade anyone else harboring similar thoughts.

"Yeah, that’s him," Uhtred replied after a beat. "Good thing I chose to bring you along. I knew something like this might happen."