[I guess we made it into Tantal, at least.]
'Apparently, but not in one piece.'
Jane had used more than half his mana to conceal himself, and was walking around the city. The effects he was under were similar to that of his locket, but the latter had been lost for ages. Because of that, he was replicating the functions manually.
[Yes, it's here.]
In front of him, there was a grand tower looming above the landscape. It seemed like a miniature version of the Royal Capital, with high stone walls preventing travel in both directions. There was no signboard or label, but every citizen knew what it was.
'Magical Research Tower.'
Mages were not evil as a whole, but any mention of magical research was accompanied by horror stories of unethical experiments and endless torture. The Hortich and Predio families were not based in research, so Jane held no prejudice against them. However, the deep-seated grudge in Vanessa's heart was undoubtedly due to the experiments done by nobles.
Pouring even more mana into 'Concealment' runes, Jane waited for someone to open the door, and then trailed them in. His cover was not blown the moment he entered, so it didn't seem like there were traps set up inside the building. That didn't mean he could let his guard down, however.
[I will burn this entire place to the ground—]
'That's not what I'm here for right now.'
Jane forced himself to calm down as he toured the premises. The entire building was thick with the stench of blood, and pained moans could be heard from the upper floors. Bits of flesh were unceremoniously strewn across the ground, and bits of brain matter were being kept alive in special containers.
[Even though I made it out of here alive, that was purely due to luck. They wanted to use me as a proof of concept, you see.]
Organs of every shape and size were softly pulsating, sometimes arranged into a crude model of the human body. Jane held back his disgust as he looked around further.
[Despite everything, death was not a very common occurrence. That would have been too kind for us, after all.]
Two women were laying side by side on tables, held down by unbudging restraints. They were being kept alive while a mage cut them apart. Jane turned his eyes away, ignoring the unnerving sounds regularly coming from the tables.
[Of course, if an experiment failed, then nothing could be done about it's death.]
In a forgotten cell, a creature with two heads and four arms was rotting away. Maggots had already eaten away at it's chest, revealing the abnormal structure of the organs inside.
[No, I will admit it. They did manage to make humans with special traits and with better performance. However...]
In the next cell over, a child with no eyes, ears, nostrils, or mouth sat while shivering. Her body parts had been taken away to be modified, leaving her blind, deaf, and mute.
[The cost is simply too great.]
A line of human torsos laid on the wall, being kept alive using magic. There was also rows upon rows of limbs, organs, and skin. A messy pile of bones was constantly being taken from and used to create new skeletons. Jane closed his eyes, and kept walking. He understood why Vanessa held such a deep grudge against some mages. After ascending step after step, Jane finally reached an area that wasn't full of human parts.
Dozens of shelves of books lined the walls, detailing the results of certain experiments. Conjectures were made, and then either proven or disproven. For example: "If one were to mix the brains of two individuals, would both soul cores be under the resulting being's control?" The answer was that the two Manahearts would each operate at half the efficacy, rendering the experiment pointless.
'Where is it...'
There were also countless books on anatomy, physiology, kinetics, and magic. The last one was what Jane was the most interested in. By reading it, he would be able to get an idea of how Vanessa's eyes worked. Although he could simply find the record of the experiments done to her, he felt that would destabilize things.
Soon enough, he found a book whose spine implied it was full of runes. Jane opened it up, and began flipping through the pages. Most of the runes were familiar to him, but a trace number were new. After setting that book down, he went to find another. In the end, he learned the forms of five new runes.
---
Much to his disappointment, only three of the runes turned out to have an effect. The other two were of the kind his teacher described in the past, those whose effect no longer existed. That said, the possibilities of his magic had expanded significantly.
The first rune was similar to 'Condense'. It had a circle within it, and the effect of pulling things in. That was only when it was used on it's own, however. The rune placed inside the circle would determine what was pulled, but the most significant aspect was it's usage with 'Project'. Instead of simply pulling things in, it actually shortened the distance between them. This one was likely used to create Vanessa's eyes. He decided to call it 'Pinch'.
The second rune was only useful in very niche situations. Unlike any other runes, this one actively took mana to sustain. It's effect was to create mana, but the rate at which it was created was lesser than the rate at which it was consumed, unless the runes used were infinitesimally tiny. This one was rather unimaginatively named 'Mana'.
The third rune appeared to be a variant of 'Teleport', this time causing objects to rotate. However, it had to be used in tandem with the latter, as it did not cause any translational changes and thus the object would stay under the influence of the rune. This meant it would rotate incomprehensibly fast, achieving nothing. As Jane found out, merds worked perfectly fine to specify the angle rotated, and 'Project' provided an axis which the object would rotate about. This one was called 'Rotate'.
Jane stretched a little, then cleaned up the aftermath of his magical experiments. From what he saw, it would be completely possible to form a flawless disguise with his current knowledge. He could even fake the effect of engravings by using 'Mana' within 'Illusion'. All in all, he was quite satisfied.
'Time to get to work.'
In the shape of his entire skeleton, Jane cast 'Pinch'. Immediately, his bones began creaking violently against the extreme pressure. Ignoring the pain, Jane constantly used 'Grow' to prevent his bones from turning to dust, and periodically added more 'Pinch' runes in order to compensate for the increasing density of his skeleton. Soon enough, his bones turned as hard as titanium, becoming incredibly difficult to break or bend.
Similarly, while avoiding his bones and organs, Jane cast 'Grow' on himself, feeling his muscles balloon up in size. Once they got close to the point of hindering his movement, he stopped.
Jane formed a scalpel of ice, and cut his chest wide open. Operating solely off of touch, he sampled bits of his organs, then grew and reimplanted them at a slight offset. Punctures were added below his ribs to support an extra set of lungs. A second heart beat in tandem with the original. He wasn't too concerned about poison or health, so he didn't bother duplicating his digestive organs.
He closed up the gaping hole in his chest, and felt a surge of energy rush through him. He wasn't done yet, though. With his fingers, he reached into his socket and pulled an eye straight out.