As my mana flooded Jingles cells, I channeled flesh attribute mana to strip each sequence of the protein blocked mana absorption. This would buy me enough time to start altering the cells.
I started looking through my mental archive of lysdale scripts for animals, which has grown quite extensive at this point. In order for me to swap the lion and eagle DNA with other animals, they had to be of the same family and of similar size. Of all the feline scripts I had, the only ones that fit the bill were the mountain lion, Siberian tiger, and sabertoothed tiger. I recognized the eagle she used as being from a steppe eagle. I had that lysdale script memorized as well. The only avian scripts I had that would work for that were bald eagle, golden eagle, and crowned eagle.
As I quickly thought over my choices, two combinations stood out. The sabertoothed tiger with the bald eagle. While not the most compatible as a combination the original size of both animals were the closest to that of a lion and Steppe eagle, though they would leave a lot of gaps that I would have to shore up with possible two other animals. While I was also still worried about what happened with the primordial, I was writing that off as a one-off occurrence.
The other match was of a mountain lion and a crowned eagle. The most stable looking of the bunch I had concerns about is using mountain lion DNA. It was a well-known fact that mountain lion DNA had a special quality to it that made it more difficult to splice with. A slight resistance to mana was amplified when used in an evo. The Ca'coons that dominated from the rocky mountains to the upper most tip of the Aztecan empire was a prime example. If I used mountain lion DNA there was a very high chance that if Jingles ever lost control no one would be able to control him again.
In the end I took a risk and chose to use sabertoothed tiger and bald eagle DNA. In the short amount of time it took to make that decision, about five minutes, the proteins that I had destroyed in Jingles cells were already propagating. I sent another wave of mana through Jingles body and destroyed the proteins then focused on all sequences that made up Jingles body except for his brain and tore them open.
That had no visible effect on Jingles other than a slight wince and growl, which I assumed was from the pain. I looked Jingles in the eye then petted his nose.
"This next part is going to hurt. Possibly more than you've ever felt in your whole life." I said honestly.
[I am…ready…] Jingles breathed heavily. Nodding, I then took a deep breath and began.
There was no pain scream or tortured roar like I was expecting. On moment it was as if his eyes beamed with light and the next they dimmed and grew lifeless. Choking back my worry that I had already messed up I pressed on, isolating the genetic sequences for both eagle and Lion DNA I started replacing them with sabertoothed tiger and bald eagle DNA at the same time. It wasn't ideal to do it that way but if I tried to alter the sequences for each individual animal there was a possibility that Jingles whole genetic structure would collapse.
I gritted my teeth as I felt the worst headache I had ever felt in my life pound against my head. I stayed calm and continued my work, the pain felt in the now was nothing compared to the pain Jingles felt every day of his life. When I got to the point that more than half of his sequences were swapped his body started to shimmer and become transparent.
As I continued changing around the sequences his body became increasingly transparent until it finally evaporated into swirling vortex of mana that was centered around his brain, which I was leaving intact for the moment.
After what felt like an eternity I had successfully swapped all the sequences in Jingles body with Sabertoothed tiger and bald eagle DNA sequences. All thar was left was to deal with the brain.
I chose to leave the brain intact because it was another monster entirely. It wasn't just a collection of cells like the rest of the body, it was the nexus. Everything that made Jingles, Jingles was located inside his brain. Inside his memories. In order to safely swapped the sequences in his brain I had to back up all the memories inside it first or risk losing then.
Luckily I had some experience in moving memories from one being to the next and I would need all of it. My brain was not large enough to store even half of his memories, at least not without damaging my psyche.
Luckily I had access to not only my brain but the brains of all my evos as well as Iris, Bo, Turak'Kahn, and Viola.
Tempering my focus to a razors edge I linked my consciousness with everyone's before letting Jingles memories flow through me and into everyone else's minds. I probably should have warned everyone what I had planned but by the tike I thought of it I had already started and it was too late. It was a odd sensation seeing Jingles memories. While not as expansive as Alpa'nagia's there was a lot there. Three years worth, not all of them were happy either. Especially the earlier ones.
Jane put a lot of stress on him to be strong, noble, and regal. There were days where she forced him to train for over seventeen hours straight with no break. Fighting through the constant pain of his existence and his inability to gain relied from Jane's mana all just to please her. There were moments of pride and accomplishment when he achieved her goal and shame when he fell short. She never outright abused him like I had seen with a lot of my evos she tortured him mentally, abused his trust and need for acceptance and love. She used him to achieve status and prestige.
Despite all that she put him through Jingles genuinely cared for her and thought that she felt the same for him. After the duel with Viola I no longer sensed those emotions. He was angry, felt betrayed, abandoned, and used, with good reason.
With the last of Jingles memories collected I quickly swapped the sequences in Jingles brain. As I finished his brain was absorbed by the vortex of mana. I could feel my the headache I was feeling starting to make my brain go fuzzy but I shook my head and pressed on.
I was still getting a steady supply of mana from the others and now that the most difficult part was over I could focus on the easy part. Designing his new body. Since his genetic sequences no longer had the lion and Steppe eagle DNA his appearance would change however if I left that up to fate there was a high chance that he could end up looking like a malformed abomination.
I pieced together his sequences, for the most part keeping true to the spirit of a Lyon. His body was that of a Sabertoothed tiger with massive eagle wings sprouting from its back. It stood at a whopping nine and a half feet tall and looked like a certified badass at least on the lysdale script. As I feared there were too many gaps in his sequences from me swapping his DNA for me to allow the swirling vortex of mana to take shape.
I looked hastily looked through my mental archive of lysdale scripts to find a animal that I could use to shore up the gaps. While anything could have worked for that end I didn't want to be hasty in my choice and end up doing more harm than good. I unexpectedly found one that would suit the task greatly, at least in my mind. The jaguar, I used its genetic sequences for coat color, water resistant oil coating, and bite force.
Sadly there were still some sequences that were left unfilled. It was a tough choice but I filled the last of them in with blue-ringed octopus DNA on a whim. I took the sequences that generated its deadly toxin and altered them, making a fully lethal version and a paralyzing version and plugged them into the lysdale script. I also took several sequences for their arms and suction cups and broke them apart to use later. I also took the blue hue of the rings and kept it as well.
I then finally fully wrote out my lysdale script for Jingles. He now stood at seven and a half feet tall, had the broad body of a sabertoothed tiger that was slightly lengthened. His coat was a dark black with the blue-ringed octopuses near cobalt blue rings outlining the shapes of each spot. He had two broad and powerful wings that I modified to be able to fold in a curious fashion, this was so they could fit in a hollowed out section of his back that was close to the spine, so when not in use they could be put away.
Instead of the stubby tail of a sabertoothed tiger I gave him four long tails of a jaguar with a twist, I removed all the bones in the tails and replaced it with the muscle that mimicked the muscle of a octopus tentacle. Only more dense, I added tiny hooked suckered on the underside of the end of each tail. Capable of deliver either highly lethal toxin or a slight paralyzing toxin. Those same suckered were on the pads of his feet only much nearly microscopic in size.
The final change was to his head. I made it broader to make room for a second set of eyes that sat just below his ears and were covered by fur until opened. His Saber teeth were serrated and had small channels that allowed the same toxin in to pads to flow to the tips to allow a paralyzing bite.
With every change I wanted to make done I checked to make sure I didn't leave any redundancies or errors in his sequences. Seeing none I channeled flesh and crystal attribute mana in order to make a mana crystal core, also imprinting the lysdale script into it. A mana crystal formed in the center of the mana vortex and soon after the mana shifted and condemned taking shape as the mana crystal dictated. It only took a few minutes before Jingles new body was standing before me. My job was not finished however.
I quickly reached out and placed a hand on Jingles head and channeled mana into it. Hos mind was blank, like a empty chalkboard. I quickly gathered all hos memories that I stored inside me and the others and flooded them back into his brain, careful to keep the flow of events in sequence. Once the last of the memories were returned I took a step back.
At first nothing happened, Jingles stood still as a statue but then a twitch of a whisker, the flicker of his ears, his muscles tensed before he slowly opened his eyes. I held my breath as he stared down at me, his gaze cloudy and confused but then a spark of recognition.
"S-Savior?" He spoke.
"Jingles?" I replied tentatively. His eyes widened and his second set blinked open.
"Savior! I'm alive…I…I feel…peace…no pain!" He exclaimed. He suddenly tackled Mr and started locking my face like a happy puppy. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
"HEY! PAWS OFF!" Bone-lasher and Alpa'nagia roared and quickly clambered onto the raised platform.
"It's alright guys! He's happy! He's happy to be alive!" I quickly told them before they ripped Jingles to shreds. Bone-lasher and Alpa'nagia both stopped in their tracks and made noises that I could only equate to pouts. Jingles got off me and spun around to look at himself.
"This new form its…different." He said. He flexed the muscles on his back and the wings that were folded into their hollowed space snapped out and open. He gasped then took a running start and jumped into the air, flapping his wings hard and flying into the air.
I stood up with Alpa'nagia's help and watched with a smile on my face as he flew around temple biome. Now looking pristine and brand new now that he was no longer on the brink of death.
"Amazing!" Viola exclaimed. I looked over my shoulder and saw everyone staring up at the new and improved Jingles.
"Thank the gods!" Iris exclaimed.
"….MAJESTY!....YOUR MAJESTY WAKE UP!" A voice echoed throughout the biome.
"Is that…dad?" Iris asked.
"Probably…by the sounds of it he's really panicked. We all better head back now that Jingles is safe." I said.
"Oh come on! I never got to visit other splicers crystals!" Bo groaned.
"Do I need to remind you how much trouble you are still in?" I asked as I narrowed my eyes at him. He shook his head.
"Nope! Let's go!" Bo exclaimed then ran towads the exit of the biome. I shook my head then looked up at Jingles, he was still frolicking through the air, relishing in his pain free body.
'Enjoy Jingles. You earned it.' I thought.
[HUTEXA_THE_DJINN HERE! This is the second of the two chapters I promised! I'll try to have another one ready for Wednesday and an extra one to be released with the normal one on Friday. If you enjoy the novel, please leave a like and a comment! Thank you!]