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"Moving on to Experiment Number Fifteen. Chance of success: ninety-nine percent," Raphael said.
After disposing of two more failed test subjects, she placed the next bandit onto the examination table and restrained him.
The bandit looked at her with pure horror in his eyes.
Ignoring his fear, Raphael placed her hand on his chest and began channeling mana into his body.
Carefully, she guided the energy toward the area near his heart.
There, she slowly created a ring of stabilized magical energy.
The process took several minutes.
When it was finally complete, Raphael withdrew her hand and silently observed.
The waiting began.
One minute passed.
Then another.
And another.
Unlike the previous subjects, whose hearts had burst apart during the process, this bandit remained alive.
"It worked," Ash said with a smile.
Raphael immediately shook her head.
"Not yet. We still need to test whether moving that energy can be done safely without damaging the body."
She turned her attention toward the bandit.
"Do this if you want to live."
The gagged bandit frantically nodded.
Using a Spirit Link, Raphael transmitted the necessary instructions directly into his mind.
Soon, his restraints were removed.
However, he made no attempt to escape.
Instead, he sat down cross-legged exactly as instructed.
'If I want to live, I have to listen to this monster,' he thought while swallowing nervously.
Following Raphael's instructions, he focused on the circular construct near his heart and attempted to move it.
At first, nothing happened.
Then the ring of energy slowly shifted.
The magical energy flowed through his body and into his arms.
Moments later, his entire right arm became engulfed in bright cyan flame-like energy.
The bandit stared at his arm in shock.
Ash's eyes widened.
"We did it!"
"We did it."
Ash and Raphael spoke at the same time, their voices overlapping.
However, Raphael remained focused.
The Eyes of Wisdom continued analyzing every change occurring inside the bandit's body.
The flow of mana.
The energy consumption.
The strain on the muscles.
The effects on the heart.
Everything was carefully recorded.
After several minutes of observation, Raphael finally spoke.
"No significant complications detected."
Ash immediately grinned.
After years of research and countless failures, they had finally succeeded.
They had created the first stable artificial Dragon Aura.
"Can I leave now?" the bandit asked nervously.
The power flowing through his body felt incredible.
Never in his life had he felt so strong.
For a brief moment, he felt as though he could punch through mountains.
Of course, he knew that wasn't actually true.
Even with this newfound power, he wouldn't dare challenge the teenager standing in front of him.
"Well, I am feeling happy today, so I will let you leave," Ash said with a smile.
The bandit's face immediately lit up with relief.
But in the next second, his neck was severed from his body.
His head rolled across the floor while the body collapsed to the ground.
Ash looked down at the corpse with a cold expression and finished his sentence.
"I will let you leave peacefully. Consider it a pardon."
Ash sighed quietly.
Only the worst criminals ended up in his prison.
Murderers.
Rapists.
Bandit leaders responsible for the deaths of countless innocent people.
He felt no sympathy for them.
As for how they had been captured, most of the credit belonged to Saber.
Thanks to his beast nature, Saber possessed an extraordinary sense of smell.
He could sense traces that normal humans would never notice.
More importantly, he seemed capable of instinctively recognizing those who had stained their hands with the blood of innocents.
Whenever Saber encountered such individuals, he would quietly mark them.
Later, Ash would investigate them personally.
Every single bandit currently imprisoned in the underwater laboratory had been captured through Saber's efforts.
And without exception, each of them had proven to be exactly as evil as Saber had sensed.
That was why Ash had no hesitation in using them as test subjects.
As far as he was concerned, death was already a mercy compared to the suffering they had inflicted upon others.
The idea of creating Aura Circles came from knowledge Ash had carried from his past life.
He had read countless magical stories where mages possessed magical cores while knights relied on Aura Cores or Aura Circles to strengthen themselves.
In this world, there was no such thing as an Aura Circle.
Magicians used Mana Cores to cast spells, while warriors simply trained their bodies and learned to manipulate aura through established techniques.
However, Ash and Raphael believed there was no reason an artificial Aura Circle couldn't exist.
Of course, knowing something in theory was very different from actually creating it.
For most of their research time, they had focused on recreating the Soul Corridor concept from the Slime world.
Only after repeated failures had they shifted their attention toward Aura Circles.
Ironically, this project had proven far more successful.
After only fifteen experiments, they had already achieved a breakthrough.
"Okay, Raphael. Let's create my own Aura Circle. I can't wait to use artificial Dragon Aura and blow Saber's mind," Ash muttered.
Raphael nodded.
Ash sat down cross-legged and relaxed his body.
Then he handed control over to Raphael.
Mana flowed out from his Mana Core.
Next, it was mixed with life force, transforming into cyan flame-like energy.
It wasn't true aura yet.
True aura also required spiritual energy as its final component.
For now, however, it was enough.
Under Raphael's guidance, the newly created energy flowed toward his heart.
There, she carefully began constructing a magical formation around it.
Lines of energy intertwined and connected with one another, forming a circular structure.
An Aura Circle.
Then she continued.
One circle became two.
Two became three.
Three became four.
More and more Aura Circles were layered around his heart until they reached the maximum amount his body could safely support.
Finally, Raphael stopped.
"We're at Tier Four already," Ash said in surprise.
The amount of energy stored inside the circles was far greater than he had expected.
Using his will, Ash activated the formation.
The Aura Circles immediately released their stored energy.