157 Monkey Experiment – Part 2

Each of the eight remaining monkey mutants had seven drops of Water Nightmare flesh fused into their bodies. They writhed and struggled in agony for several minutes before slowly calming down. Interestingly, their brown fur took on a very slight tint of blue.

Haru poked one of the monkey's stomachs. "Doesn't seem like it changed much." He commented.

"Maybe..." Ed half-agreed. "The true effects of chimera transformations are difficult to quantify. Various factors affect it, such as the type of mutant flesh used, the host, and the percentage of transformation. Also, the changes usually aren't obvious unless the host transforms, which typically requires higher percentages of mutant flesh transfusion."

Haru nodded, showing that he understood.

Ed activated his powers, creating two tiny blades between his fingers. One was made of ice, and the other from minerals found in the dirt. He reached forward with the ice knife, making a tiny incision along one of the monkey's arms. He managed to successfully cut through the flesh, but nearly half of the ice knife was destroyed in the process. He repeated the test with the mineral knife, which was nearly equal in durability and strength to the earlier ice knife. However, the mineral knife didn't break at all. "Seems that they've gotten an increased resistance to water." Ed commented while creating a small flame along the tip of the mineral knife. The flame burned the monkey's bicep, causing it to whimper in pain. However, the flame quickly vanished even when he tried to forcefully maintain it. "Increased resistance to fire as well." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a tiny notebook. A tiny jar of ink was attached to the notebook, and he used his powers to directly reform the ink into words on the pages.

"Do you think it's resistance to mana has increased across the board?" Haru questioned curiously.

"Probably." Ed nodded. "If it had equal resistance across all of the elements, then my mineral knife likely would have broken as well though. It should mostly have increased fire and water mana resistances. Other element resistance improvements will likely be minor. But that's only because this is the first round of infusion. The more mana something has, the more resistant to mana it becomes. That's why espers with powers that only work on living things are usually at a huge disadvantage. Their peers will often be able to resist their attacks with ease. I suppose the exception would be if the law they start with is particularly powerful. Of course, none of this applies to cultivators since they start from the bottom and work their way up."

"Oh." Haru nodded.

Ed continued to poke and prod the monkey for nearly an hour as he added notes to his journal. He hadn't conducted such detailed experiments for a very long time, and he was very much enjoying himself. Finally feeling satisfied with his tests, he was ready to move to the next step. He glanced at Haru before beginning. 'Is it worth spending my time teaching him?' He wondered. 'His powers aren't suited to these types of experiments... but he does seem to hold an interest in them' He rubbed his chin. 'Well, I guess it's fine. He could end up with a law that allows him to do something similar someday.'

Haru noticed Ed staring at him. "What?" He asked in confusion.

"Haru." Ed smiled. "What do you think will happen if I add 10 drops of Water Nightmare flesh to each the heart, lungs, kidneys, skin, muscles, bones, and the blood and cells for the next experiment?

"Uhh..." Haru frowned. "It seemed to have a hard time with just a single drop each, so it'll probably die from a heart attack or something?" He guessed.

"Mm." Ed agreed. "Let's assume it does and survives just fine with everything else. I then increase the ratio to 100 drops per area with the exception of the heart. What happens next?"

"It won't be able to breath very well?" He hesitantly answered.

"Alright." Ed nodded. "And what of the remaining areas? The kidneys, muscles, skin, bones, and blood and cells are far less sensitive than the heart, brain, and lungs. What will their respective limits be?"

Haru thought for a moment before answering. "I don't know." He honestly shook his head.

"Neither do I." Ed grinned. "But we can make certain guesses. In humans, the percentages vary based on various factors, but we can pick numbers that are relatively close for our assumptions." He pointed at the monkey's heart. "The human heart is roughly 73 to 75 percent water in most humans. These monkeys aren't too far off from our own ratios. This means we should be able to replace a relatively large amount of the heart with Water Nightmare flesh. However, that's under the assumption that the heart can handle it. A gradual infusion will likely help reduce the stress placed on the heart, allowing for us to reach far higher percentages."

He moved his finger to point at the monkey's lungs. "Human lungs are usually around 83 percent water. Again, we should be able to reach a relatively high transfusion amount. Especially as the lungs are less sensitive than the heart and brain." He pinched the monkey's skin. "Skin is only around 64 percent water. Still, we'll likely be able to replace more of it than the earlier organs due to how easy it is for me to fix if I mess up." He let go of the monkey's skin. "Other than that, the kidneys are 79 percent water. They're more sensitive than the skin but should be able to handle a relatively high replacement. Muscles also sit at around 79 percent water. Surprisingly, even bones are roughly 31 percent water. I'll need to be especially careful with the bone marrow when doing the transfusions."

"And the blood?" Haru asked.

"Blood is roughly 55 percent plasma, and plasma is roughly 92 percent water. So, roughly half of blood is made up of water. Cells are about 70 percent water on average, but they're also too small and numerous for me to focus on individually. At best, I can do wide-scale transfusions on the cells making up the various flesh while trying to minimize the damage done. If all goes well, then it'll eventually heal on its own."

"Complicated." Haru sighed.

"It is." Ed agreed. "I always preferred engineering, but my powers are far too suited to this to ignore. Especially since my original powers aren't useful in combat." He activated his powers, causing 560 drops of water to float out from the jar of Water Nightmare flesh. The jar was nearly a sixth empty now, meaning it still contained a bit over 80 percent of the Water Mutant flesh collected earlier. "Let's begin." He said.

70 drops of water floated towards each monkey and melted into their flesh. It seemed this was the straw that broke the camel's back, as the monkeys screamed and hollered in pain. Small plumes of snow shot in the air as they raged and clawed at the ground. Fortunately, the Water Nightmare didn't seem to notice the disturbance at all.

Ed kept close watch with his powers as the transformations occurred. The monkeys' hearts beat strong and fast, so loud as to nearly be hearable. Their breathing quickened as they rapidly took shallow breaths. Their fur turned slightly bluer than before, and their claws became covered in blood as they took to attacking nearby trees.

It took nearly ten minutes for the monkeys to calm down. Surprisingly, not a single one died. Even more surprisingly, their wounds were already beginning to heal. Not only did the bloody wounds on their claws quickly close, but the incisions Ed had made earlier closed as well.

"Interesting." Ed smiled as he transcribed his notes. "Since they're healing, we can speed up the process." His powers activated, again infusing 70 drops of Water Nightmare flesh into each monkey's body. The process from before repeated itself, with the monkeys raging upon their surroundings, followed by their skin and fur turning bluer and their wounds rapidly healing.

"Again." He said nonchalantly while sending another 70 drops to each monkey. He repeated the process until the jar of Water Nightmare flesh was completely empty, and yet, not a single monkey had died! "About 60 drops per heart..." He muttered as he continued focusing on his notebook. "The monkey heart is roughly a fifth the size of a humans, putting it at about two ounces big. An ounce holds roughly 600 drops of water... We've replaced about five percent of each hearts total volume with Water Nightmare flesh. Not bad." He nodded while smiling. "That means there's about 68 percent ordinary water left in each of their hearts. I wonder how long they'll last."

Ed stood up while holding the jar that previously held the Water Nightmare flesh. He looked towards Haru. "I'm going to go collect more. Keep a close eye on the monkeys. They're a bit more lively than before." As he said that, his powers snaked into the ground. Mineral chains slowly rose from the earth and secured each of the monkey's limbs and tails, forcefully binding them to the ground.

'Here we go again.' He thought as he slowly returned to the Water Nightmare. However, he was far less nervous than before. He was far too absorbed in the experiment to stop now, and there was even a slight hind of madness in his eyes. 'The healing abilities I'll obtain from a successful transfusion...' He greedily thought. 'Will I become comparable to Mordy's black acidic form?' He had long been envious of the invulnerable form espers. Especially when considering his tendency to leave behind an arm or leg in every damn state or country he ever passed through. It was practically tradition at this point! A tradition he was more than happy to break.

He placed the jar on the ground and created a new purple water trowel. He dug the Water Nightmare's flesh slow and steady, concentrating his full attention on the process as he did so. If one didn't know about the Water Nightmare, then he might be viewed as a crazy man or special arts performer. If one did know about the Water Nightmare, then labeling him only as crazy might just be a compliment.

Soon, he finished scooping another jar of Water Nightmare flesh. However, he was not satisfied. He would need much more for his experiments, not to mention his later transfusions on himself and Haru. His powers shot into the nearby ground, creating dozens of identical metal-like jars. He filled them up one at a time, taking things very slowly. By the time he was finished, an entire hour had passed. 'Tsk.' He silently clicked his tongue. 'Didn't even put a dent in it after all of that.' The Water Nightmare still looked exactly the same as when he had arrived. Whenever he did remove a small amount of flesh, it just immediately grew back.

As Ed walked away, he rubbed his chin. 'Maybe I can bring my forces here in the future and create an entire army of Water Nightmare chimeras?' He chuckled at the tempting idea. The only reason he wasn't willing to harvest a ton of the material now is that it likely wouldn't hold up all the way until he returned to America. He had a lot of traveling and growing to do before he was ready to return, and when he finally did return, it was likely that America would soon find itself devolving into war.

Returning to Haru and the monkeys, he began the experiments again. One wave after another was infused into the monkeys' flesh. As the monkeys' reactions grew more extreme, he began staggering the experiments. He always kept one monkey a full round ahead of the others, thus allowing the experiments to continue once one finally died. And soon, one finally did die.

"Heart attack." Ed grinned while hurriedly writing down his notes. "Not bad. Not bad at all." He excitedly exclaimed. "To think 33 percent of the heart could be transfused with the Water Nightmare flesh. That leaves just 40 percent of the heart as ordinary water. It's quite a bit above my initial expectations when considering that it's nightmare flesh were transfusing."

Haru poked the dead monkey a few times curiously. He seemed slightly disappointed about its death, though he still seemed highly interested in the experiment. 'Well, he's still young.' Ed thought as he watched. 'It wasn't that long ago I trembled from just holding a gun.' He chuckled when recalling his time in Reef City. 'How naive was I back then? To even trust Sinless?' He shook his head, returning his thoughts to the experiment.

"Let's keep going." He said as he prepared the next wave of flesh. The transfusions continued for hours, and he took notes the entire time. "Lung limit is 40 percent water transfusion, leaving 43 percent as ordinary water." He mumbled as another monkey died. "Kidney limit is 60 percent out of 79 percent. Not bad." He smiled, another monkey lying dead at his feet. "Bone limit is only 10 percent out of 31 percent. A bit disappointing." He sighed while placing the dead monkey next to the other dead.

Haru actually stopped observing the experiments partway through, going so far as to dig a grave for the deceased monkeys. Perhaps he felt a common bond with them. Was he not someone that had also almost died at the whims of those far more powerful than himself? Someone that was used for others to gain power?

'He'll have to learn the cruelty of the world of espers eventually.' Ed sighed while shaking his head. However, his thoughts were only distracted for a brief moment before he excitedly returned to the experiment. "Muscles. Limit likely varies based on muscle mass and density." He glanced down at a dead monkey which easily held the least amount of muscle out of all the surviving monkeys. "30 percent transfusion out of 79 percent is a fairly safe ratio."

By now, there were only three lucky monkeys remaining, and there were only two major areas of study remaining. One lucky monkey might even survive! Their fur was dark blue in color, which contrasted heavily with their fiery red eyes. Though they remained the same size, it was clear their strength had increased considerably. However, that was in part due to them being so weak to begin with. Regardless, their affinity for water and their high-tier self-healing abilities alone were enough to put them high on the mutant chain. If the entire horde of monkeys had been like these three survivors, then even Ed would have hauled ass in the opposite direction to escape.

As Ed was transfusing Water Nightmare flesh into one of the remaining monkeys, a blood cell suddenly burst. It was like a chain reaction, setting the other blood cells off like various fireworks. The cell reactions quickly spread to the cells in the surrounding flesh, acting like a cancer and causing similar explosions. The monkey quite literally blew up in Ed's face, nearly covering him in blood. Fortunately, he had managed to activate his powers in time to block the gore from covering him.

Haru stared wide-eyed in surprise after hearing the explosion, though he didn't comment on the matter.

"Heh." Ed chuckled at the ridiculous monkey explosion. 'Didn't European explorers get HIV from chopping up monkeys in the past?' He thought. 'I wonder if these monkeys are carriers as well? Well, not like it matters.' He had blocked the attack regardless, and even if he hadn't, he had never heard of an esper being struck down by ordinary disease. Not to mention the Water Nightmare transfusions would likely clear up any diseases anyways with the amazing healing abilities they granted.

"That places blood at 40 percent transfusion out of 50 percent and cells at 62 percent out of 70 percent. Easily the highest percentages so far." He grinned. "That just leaves skin."

Contrary to what many might think, skin is the largest organ for humans. It took up a lot of a typical person's weight. "Well, we should nearly be there." He commented as he continued the experiment. It was only a few waves later when the next monkey started to shriek in pain as its skin melting off its body in a horrific manner. Lucky for it, Ed managed to reverse the transfusion and save it at the last moment "Hmm. 55 percent transfusion out of 65 percent. Almost as high as the blood and cell transfusions."

"Is the experiment finished?" Haru asked as he walked over.

"Almost." Ed nodded. "Now that we've finished transforming two monkeys, I want to repeat the test of transfusing flesh into their brains. They should be far more resistant by now, so they might be able to handle a small amount."