156 Monkey Experimen

Ed and Haru returned the old man to Oymyakon village and then set out on their mutant hunt. This time they flew southeast from the village towards the ocean. After flying for several hours, the climate grew warmer, and they reached the Sea of Okhotsk. If they were to continue heading south, then they would eventually reach Japan. This was something neither of them wished for after their previous experiences with the country. So, they opted to hunt for mutants in the sea.

The water was relatively gentle today, reflecting glimmering light from the sun. Haru pulled his shirt off. "Leave it to me, Sensei!" He shouted as a blue light covered his body. He was little more than a blue blur as he dived into the water, leaving a big splash behind him as he entered the sea.

Just a few minutes later, Haru resurfaced while dragging something behind him. A single fin that was barely as large as his arm surfaced. A moment later, he reached the beach and dragged a giant fish-like mutant onto it. It was black and white, radiating weak mana. "Will this work?" He asked.

"I don't think so." Ed frowned. "I could probably carry it over there, but it looks like it's already struggling to breathe."

Haru turned back to the fish, which was now floundering around on the ground and seemingly struggling to breathe. "Oh." His face appeared dejected as he punted the fish back into the ocean much like how a kid would kick a football.

"We should try to find a mammal of some sort." Ed said. "It's okay if they're semi-aquatic, but we need something relatively similar to ourselves to get a good reading."

"How about that?" Haru asked as he pointed behind Ed.

"Hmm?" He turned around and saw a pair of red eyes staring at him from within a tree. "Go catch it." He ordered.

"On it!" Haru assented as he rushed forward. A brief instant later, he was atop the tree and reaching for the creature. A high-pitched shriek echoed throughout the forest as he grabbed ahold of it. "Sensei!" He shouted. "It's a monkey mutant!"

"Perfect." Ed smiled.

Haru returned while forcefully holding the small monkey still. He held it out towards Ed. "What do you think?" He asked.

"Hmm." Ed rubbed his chin with his left hand as he reached out with his right hand. He lifted the monkey's lip, revealing its fangs to be normal in size. Its fur was an ordinary brownish color. It was no bigger than an ordinary small monkey one might find further south in various Asian countries. The only mutant-like thing about it was its red eyes and slightly higher than normal body temperature. "Such a weak mutant. I wonder how it survived until now." He muttered.

Suddenly, a chorus of high-pitched shrieks echoed throughout the forest. Ed and Haru looked towards it, and their eyes widened in shock. Thousands of identical monkeys were making themselves known within the trees while shrieking.

"Ah, so that's why." Ed nodded in understanding. "Reliance on numbers can certainly do the trick." He glanced at Haru. "Go catch a few more to bring with us. I'll hold the one you caught already."

"Sensei..." Haru frowned. "You want me to face all of them all alone?"

"Should be fine." He shrugged while grabbing ahold of the monkey they had already captured. "They're so weak that it isn't even challenging. You should get used to facing large numbers. The war will be far worse than this."

"Alright." Haru gulped while nodding, his eyes growing resolute. "I'll do it!" His body glowed yellow as he slowly walked forward. He was like a slow-and-steady mech, taking a single heavy step at a time.

The monkeys didn't seem intimidated by Haru's show of force. However, they didn't charge out of the forest either. It seemed they were fairly territorial. When Haru finally reached the forest, several dozen monkeys jumped down towards him. Their claws swiped at him from all directions.

Haru calmly stood still, and the attacks didn't even manage to scratch him. When a monkey got too close, he hurriedly reached out and grabbed it by the tail. Then he tossed it backwards like a ball towards Ed.

Ed lazily caught the monkey, seemingly bored with the lack of challenge. His powers snaked out towards a nearby rock and turned it into a crude cage. He tossed the two monkeys he held into it and waited for the next one.

After several minutes, Haru had managed to catch seven additional moneys, for an overall total of nine. "Is that enough?" He shouted as he continued fending off attacks.

"Probably." Ed replied. There was a limit to what they would be able to carry anyways, so they might as well not go overboard. In the worst-case scenario, they could always just come back for more.

Haru sighed in relief as he began walking backwards. Fortunately, the monkeys didn't follow him out of the forest. Perhaps they didn't wish to risk leaving their home territory. Or maybe the aura of the Water Nightmare was strong enough to keep weaker mutants at bay even at this far distance, allowing only stronger mutants to move deeper within its territory.

Ed melted a nearby tree, turning its fibers into something similar to a rope. The rope automatically formed around the crude stone cage. "Let's go." He said as silver flames carried him into the air. The cage swung back-and-forth below him, acting similar to a pendulum.

Several hours later, they returned to the Water Nightmare's resting place. Ed set the cage down several hundred meters away. He turned to Haru. "Stay here and be prepared to run at any time." He ordered in a serious tone.

Haru nodded while remaining quiet. If one looked closely, you could see he was actually quite nervous despite his earlier bravado.

Ed grabbed a monkey from the cage. He didn't need to bind it nor attempt to stop it from shrieking. Clearly the presence of the Water Nightmare was known to it, as it was frozen completely stiff from fear. 'Is there a term for being so afraid that you can't even tremble in fear?' Ed wondered as he continued walking forward.

Soon, he was right in front of the Water Nightmare. The permafrost had returned in part, covering nearly half of what Ed and the others had worked to expose. Perhaps the Water Nightmare subconsciously wished to cover itself. Or maybe it was natural for the region. As someone that grew up in Florida, his knowledge about such regions was always somewhat lacking.

'Let's see...' Ed rubbed his chin. 'Humans vary between 50 percent to 70 percent water. In the case of adult men, that number drops to an average of 60 percent. Lean humans tend to have a higher percentage when compared to fatter people. In my case, I'm a bit above average at roughly 63 percent water.' He glanced behind himself to look at Haru. 'Haru's a bit younger. He's probably around the 65 percent mark since he's pretty lean as well, but I'll need to check later to make sure.' He looked back to the monkey. 'This monkey seems relatively similar to a newborn human. Roughly 75 percent water. How much should I replace? Well, I have plenty of subjects. Let's just start small and work our way up.'

Ed's powers activated, creating a small metallic-like bottle from the minerals in the dirt beneath the ice. He held the bottle in his left hand and sent his powers towards the nightmare, but they bounced right off with no affect. 'Figures.' He frowned. 'My powers have never been good against living things that contain a lot of mana, let alone a freaken nightmare. I'll need to extract the material first.'

His chest rose as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes to calm down his beating hearts. He set the monkey in his right hand down on the ground. His powers activated again, creating a purple swirl of water in his now free right hand. The water reformed into a shovel-like shape, looking similar to a gardening trowel. He slowly reached forward, pushing it against the Water Nightmare's body.

Suddenly, the ground started to shake so heavily that snow shifted back-and-forth, creating plumes of snow that blocked vision everywhere. Ed hurriedly stopped his motion and stood perfectly still. Bu-bump! Bu-bump! Bu-bump! His three hearts beat so loudly that his ears rang. Blood rushed to his head, causing his face to flush. It had been a long time since his body had had such an extreme reaction to any event.

Slowly, the shaking stopped, and things returned to a peaceful calm. When the snow cleared, Ed's purple water trowel was still partially inserted into the Water Nightmare's body. He pushed forward slightly, digging it deeper. The ground quaked once again, though not as strongly as before. It seemed he would be fine if he went slow and steady. It almost looked like he wasn't moving at all as he dug deeper and deeper. He might move only a centimeter deeper over several minutes.

After a long and tense digging, he finally finished. He lifted his purple water trowel from the Water Nightmare, bringing a scoop of its flesh with it. He had expected to lose some of the flesh upon lifting it, but surprisingly it stuck together. The flesh acted quite similar to gelatin even after being removed from the Water Nightmare's body.

He held the trowel over the jar he had created. The flesh slowly poured in, like a thick and chunky liquid. He was slightly worried the jar wouldn't be able to hold the flesh, thus forcing him to constantly hold onto it with his purple water, but fortunately that was not the case. The flesh was perfectly fine after being placed in the jar, not seeming to share the same distaste for mortal tools as the nightmare itself.

'Finished.' He sighed in relief. He held onto the jar and released his purple water trowel. He grabbed the monkey and slowly backed away from the Water Nightmare. 'Ah, guess I didn't really need to bring the monkey with me...' He forcefully held back his laughter while ridiculing himself for being so nervous as to not even think ahead on his plans. It was only when he reached Haru that he realized his back was covered in cold sweat.

"Let's begin." He said after calming down. Fortunately, the monkey's body was small, meaning the amount of Water Nightmare flesh he gathered was easily enough for several experiments depending on how much water he replaced. He focused his powers on the jar of flesh, slowly working to remove the native mana from the flesh. It was a difficult process. Even with his improved abilities from opening his water storage meridian and mastering the blue path of water, it still took him nearly two hours to clear the flesh of all native mana. Not only that, but he used up half of his mana in the process! "Tsk." He clicked his tongue. 'How long would it take me if the flesh was still attached to the body? Well, not like my powers could break through its defenses anyways.'

Ed's powers carried eight individual drops of water from the jar. They still had the consistency of gelatin even after having mana removed. Yet the material was clearly still water no matter how he looked at it. 'Perhaps it's some form of heavy water?' He wondered. 'Or it could be another unique water composition undiscovered until now...' Deciding not to worry about it, he set to work.

The eight drops of water flew towards the monkey. One drop went through its head, fusing into the brain. Another went towards the heart. The next drop was shared between the lungs. Yet another was shared between the kidneys. The next three drops went to the bones, skin, and muscles. Finally, the last drop was shared between blood and other cells throughout the body. The eight areas he targeted all had various levels of water in their composition. Finished, he now watched expectantly for any changes.

The once quiet monkey suddenly began shaking and whimpering. The pupils of its eyes grew extremely wide. Its tail whipped back-and-forth violently as its back arched. It seemed to be in extreme pain, though it was seemingly still too afraid to scream.

Ed used his powers to keep a close eye on the changes. The skin, bones, muscles, kidneys, lungs, and blood and other cells all seemed to handle the infusion just fine. Even when the monkey's native mana entered the newly introduced water, at worst the monkey felt some pain. This was normal, as the flesh was a newly introduced foreign tissue that easily overpowered the existing flesh. The heart reacted more strongly, beating much faster than before and rushing blood throughout the body. This actually sped up the other transformations to the monkey's body. Overall, things seemed to be going well. However, the exception to this rule was the brain. Much like the mana-core infusions Ed had attempted in the past, it seemed the brain was as sensitive an area as always. The Water Nightmare's flesh quickly killed off all of the monkey's brain cells, making it brain dead in just seconds.

Haru made a disappointed face as he watched the monkey die.

"Don't give that look." Ed commented. "The experiment was a success."

"A success?" Haru's face grew confused as he looked at Ed. "How? The monkey died?"

"Exactly." Ed nodded, acting like an actual teacher for once. "It died, and I learned some of what does and doesn't work in the process. Is that not a success?" He asked.

"I guess..." Haru nodded.

"Remember." Ed looked Haru in the eyes. "Failure is the key to success. Each failure brings you closer to the finish line, and even if you veer completely off track, you'll simply pass different finish lines that you originally planned on. Perhaps those finish lines will be even better than what you first expected."

"Haru's eyes went wide. "Did you come up with that yourself, Sensei?"

Ed frowned before shaking his head. "It's something my father liked to tell me when I was young." He grabbed the dead monkey and moved it aside. "Now, let's move onto the next round of testing. First, we'll meld seven drops of water with each monkey's flesh, copying the successful portions of what we just accomplished." He set to work as he explained his thoughts behind each step of his process to Haru.