Divine Path System

"This is the new batch, huh." Clad in a long purple coat, black shirt and white trousters, a skinny old woman with goat horns looked at them with a scrutinizing gaze.

The students felt as if they were not people but specimen to be sliced and studied.

"Yes, madam." Zara Woz answered in a respectful tone, going as far to bow her head.

"…Err? You're being so polite, even though I'm just a junior researcher here! " She said with a smile. "Oh, I'm Gera by the way."

Zara paused and checked the woman's path.

Rank 6.

A mere rank 6!

The ex-department head clenched her fist behind her back and took a deep breath. Had she fallen so low that she'd now bow to nobodies?

"Lead the way." Her voice was far less polite.

"Yes, yes." The old woman turned around and led them in. "Everyone is so busy. So, I'm the one assigned for this job, haha. I'll give you a tour of the places here. Of course, the space here is actually expanded. So, unless you plant to spend weeks, it's impossible to see everything.

We'll do a tour for two hours. But if there is an area of interst, you will be allowed to explore it.

And then we'll go to the Origin Lab and get you tested to figure out the plan most suitable for you that'd increase your divine rank ascension."

Despite Gera's casual tone, her words caused the students to gulp their saliva in anticipation.

Varian wasn't interested. Why the hell would be so crazy to let someone scan him? If he did, he'd be the test subject.

Miss Calamity, on the other hand, clicked her tongue. Despite their boastful words, the amount of help this so-called laboratory could give was extremely limited.

It'd increase the chance of reaching divine rank by 1%-2%. That's it. But given that divine rank was so difficult to achieve, even that tiny percentage held incredible significance.

The tour proceeded smoothly for the first hour.

As Gera said, the space was expanded greatly. In just a few minutes, they crossed the land area that'd equal a dozen earths. And there was no end to be seen.

The first place: Aviation Block — a vast mountain range where creatures of all sorts were either artifically given the ability to fly.

For example, a feline creature spewed compressed aura out of its tail and managed to gain the ability of flight. For an onlooker, it looked like the cat was a rocket spewing beautiful white gas.

"This creature is created by an intern student." Gera scratched the cat's chin and looked at them with a smile. "This is the most basic step. But the more you can manipulate a creature, the deeper the changes."

"The highest changes would be in the Origin, right?" Prince Samatv asked.

"Yes." Gera responded. "That's how Hybrids came about. But the downsides are obvious. There are a few experienced researchers who dedicated their lives for working on it. Like everyone in the field, they dream of a perfect hybrid."

"But isn't this going on for a looong time?" Miss Calamity interjected with a disinterested expression.

"It is." Gera sighed. "It was there before I was born, it is there throughout my 1500 year life and I think the research will keep going even after I die."

"Why bother?" Varian muttered.

Gera shrugged.

This lab participated when the alliance worked hard to build a perfect hybrid. We made big contributions but came out of it.

And then the lab was destroyed by the God Emperor. Since then, even the Alliance didn't try it for a second time.

Whatever we are doing here, we're just a kingdom afterall. It's a fool's delusion, but hey, the fellows still working on this project are all too insane to listen to others."

Varian's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Enigma used to tell him that she had a vague idea of where she was born. But it turned out it was where Isadora first lived.

Even Isadora didn't know where she was born. She was the perfect hybrid, not a normal human. So, she should have some memories of her birth. But they were blank, as if someone deliberately erased them.

Hearing the tone of this woman, it seemed like no one knew about the Perfect Hybrid. It's not public knowledge, sure. But would even the laboratory who contributed greatly to the Alliance project not know?

'But it's also reasonable to assume it's a top secret privy only to a few individuals.'

Regardless, Varian felt a strong compulsion to learn the truth about his wives' birth.

Sia was created by the Alliance. They must've paid a big price for her creation. So, it didn't make any sense for them to just let her go.

'The God Emperor attacked. She survived nonetheless. But why would the divine rankers fail to find her later?'

Instead of being answered, the questions only piled up.

Unaware of the turmoil a particular imposter was in, Gera took them to the next block.

A river with millions upon millions of turqoise colored marbles floating on it.

Miss Calamity's face immediately crumpled.

"This is the 352AX1 river farm. We soak these compressed embryos in rich visara, err, roughly water that's infused with the essence of herbs that support regeneration of a creature."

"Embryos?" A student said with an uncertain and uncomfortable expression.

"Yes. They're taken from the wombs." Gera nodded as if it wasn't a big deal.

An awkward silence filled the place.

As a few minutes passed, one of the 'marble' broke and a small humanoid creature came out of it.

Perhaps the water was special, the humanoid newborn which was only the size of a thumb, didn't drown. Then, aura flooded its body.

Like a balloon that's inflated, the baby's body began to expand. From a finger size to a fist size and finally it reached a forearm size.

"Oh, looks like aura flow stabi—"

The baby exploded.

Varian glared at the woman with a chilling gaze before he turned away.

The students didn't react too well to that barbaric display. Even though they knew the kingdom's best lab wasn't particularly kind when it came to research, they didn't think they'd go this far.

What's worse, they didn't think they'd witness such a scene.

Perhaps for that reason, the students were somewhat disturbed.

And when they recalled that there millions and millions of such 'marbles' floating on the river, some of them felt sick in their stomach.

"Can we move onto the next block already?"

Prince Samatv, the man who Varian saw as a ruthless manipulator, was surprisingly the man who showed the most emotions.

The corner of his eyes were watery and his fists were clenched tight. But he didn't cross the line by yelling at the woman or giving in to his rage.

He was wise enough to understand that he couldn't change the situation now. And there were things he must do at all costs.

Maybe in the not so distant future, he might gain the power and influence to shut down this department.

"Next block already? But you see, this block's research is very important for our army. I know you're disturbed by the sight. In the beginning, I was like you guys as well." Gera said in a casual tone with a completely normal expression.

If someone only saw her without knowing the situation, they'd think she's a mature adult teaching kids how to be mentally resilient.

But this only made the situation all the more weird.

"I was crying, actually. I even vomitted a lot. But hey, 30 years go by and I got used to it." The old woman shrugged nonchalantly.

But Varian realized something else.

This woman wasn't carefree. Her heart was just broken so badly by staying in this place that she couldn't even feel any emotion.

She didn't get used to it. She entirely lost that emotion of 'kindness' in the process. So, now, she didn't feel any repulsion towards the act.

"So the next block…"

For the next hour, they kept moving from one place to another. Sometimes on flying animals, sometimes on special vehicles but mostly on their own feet. Everyone here was a strong person after all.

Not too long after, the tour came to a close.

In the last block, Gera took them to a giant forest, the kind made Varian feel like he's in the pre-historic era, when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

And here, giant, powerful beasts moved freely. They resembled dinosaurs, mammoths and other weird creatures.

The scary part, however, was that all of these creatures were rank 6 or above. The strongest even reached rank 8.

"This is a famous zoo that's broadcasted in last decade's festival, right?" Prince Samatv, who was silent since the river block asked.

"Oh yeah! We use these beasts for some tourism as well, haha."

Prince Samatv smiled politely and said, "I heard there are even rank 9 beasts in the lab. Is that really true?" 

"Of course. From the beginner rank 9s to even the strongest. We have them all." She said with pride. 

Prince Samatv asked a few more questions about before thanking her.

"Alright, follow the map and visit a few places you like. We'll meet in an hour at the Conference Hall." 

Prince Samatv and Varian looked at the map with intense gazes before they parted, not knowing their actions would affect each other and everyone else.