Mind Demon's Path of Domination

The lab was set by midnight.

By then, Yuri had been perfecting her little schticks on Mark's Puppet—Seo Ran Hun—for hours. She had been focusing solely on that.

Blue light illuminated the entire laboratory.

There were more than twenty rooms in this place, and one of them had become the morgue for all the demonling corpses. Most of the other rooms were empty, but the whole place looked organized by now.

Choi Sung left early—he knew he wasn't part of Mark's inner gang and wouldn't be allowed to see the Hunter Awakening Method. He didn't embarrass himself by requesting to see it, either. That would be top secret.

Indeed, Mark would not allow the information on how to awaken a Hunter to be out. He didn't trust Choi Sung that much.

Yuri was in the middle of the main laboratory room, amidst a plethora of monitor screens. The screens displayed random graphs or scenes from throughout this city. Indeed, she had gotten her surveillance network into this city, too.

Now, they had a Dungeon laboratory, and if anyone noteworthy approached, they would be notified.

Indeed.

The surveillance drones Yuri developed were nice, but Mark's focus was on the Scientist herself. She had tied her hair in a tight ponytail. Her goggles were clean and shiny, and her lab robes were new and clean.

Yuri even had a good smell, unlike her usual scent of oil, metals, or chemicals.

Moreover, she seemed to be… in her spot.

Yes, she somehow seemed shining. Her focus was so intense, so passionate, so terribly professional, one had to give it to her that she was a potent gem in her own element.

Yes, strength-wise, Mark could kill her with a slap of his wings, but she was not just strength.

Yuri was very capable.

She breathed out a wad of cool air.

The whole lab had been cooled with air conditioning of the highest class, and even though Mark didn't feel that cold due to his strong body, looking at Dona, who was wrapped in blankets on the couch, he could tell it was cold.

Or maybe Dona just hated the cold.

Yet, Yuri didn't seem to mind.

For now, all that mattered to her was the Hunter Awakening Project.

"Mark, it's ready," she said. But this is indeed more powerful than what I expected. It kind of creeps me out, but it's also interesting. Even though I just added less than a milliliter of demon blood to the Puppet, it's already having a severe transformation in its genetic structure."

"Is that good or bad?" Mark asked.

"It's good for now," she mused for a while. Then, continued, "The next goal should be to wait until this newer genetic structure solidifies. Maybe we might see mutations." Her eyes shined, and she clicked a button on a nearby keyboard.

A projection blitzed into the room and projected a giagantified image of Mark's puppet. The puppet was inside a glass vessel. Surrounded by liquid and pinned by tens of needles. It also had an incredibly clean oxygen supply on its face.

Mark looked at it coolly. If the Puppet died while the Dream Gamble was ongoing, he, too, would die.

But Mark was rather assured that the Puppet wouldn't die. Just in case all this failed, Yuri had put some black water bottles to the side. It could be used to cure all sorts of poisons, and demon blood infusion was poisonous for humans.

Human to a Hunter, huh? Mark pondered. Kinda melancholic.

His gaze was incredibly sharp, and his Soul Sense was already keeping an eye on Seo Ran Hun's body. He could indeed see some… reactions. The puppet's skin was convulsing ever so slightly, and its fair whiteness was a bit duller.

At the same time, its hair was less shiny.

Yuri also focused on these parts with her projection and noted them down with her eyes.

Her focus intensified. "One more drop," she smirked.

The puppet's convulsion increased, and Mark felt his head swim. As he could feel things that the Puppet felt, all the sensations of weirdness began to hit him. Finally it hit him.

Cold sweat streaked down his forehead.

He keeled over to a bucket Yuri had left by his side and… puked.

"Don't mind the weird sensations, Mark," Yuri chuckled. "It's only starting. It will get ten times worse."

Mark felt like he was floating atop clouds made of rainbows.

Yuri's form blurred in his sight. Both his and the puppet's senses became one.

He wished he could pass out.

Yuri smirked at his waving but gigantic form and gave another last click. "Done. The genetic structure is so chaotic that the puppet before us is no longer Human or Demon, but it is similar to that Demon more than anything in this world. When we feed the demon to the Hunter World's Will, it will surely choose your puppet as the worthy user of the demon's demonic trick as your Hunter Ability."

Mark's demonic form began to waver and whine. He even giggled. Rainbow ducks. Oh…

Why was Yuri so big? She seemed like an elastic band about to be stretched taut. That seemed… weird, right?

Burp.

It must have been hours before he woke up. When he did, he lay on the cold floor, looking up at the blue lighting. Yuri snapped her tender fingers above him.

"Calm now?" she asked.

"...Somewhat. Warn me about something like this beforehand, you crazy freak…"

She stifled a smile. "I kinda wanted to see the effect of the dizziness. You share both the senses of your true body and your puppet—which is weird. I am sure this level of 'genetic poison' can't hurt your main body like this, but even hurting a puppet do you so bad, huh? Well, take it as training."

"I became too dizzy. So what's going on?" he asked, rubbing his head. It felt somewhat light yet heavy. Rainbow ducks. Fuck, his thoughts were unclear too.

Yuri curiously touched his horns. He was sitting, and she was standing, but even then, he was as tall as her. "Well, the genetic structure and modification part is done. Now, we have to bring both your puppet and the demon outside this Dungeon and let the World Will do its wonders. Ready?"

Mark looked at his Puppet, and he became speechless.

It was no longer so human. It had greenish skin, a face filled with freckles, and a slim body that seemed to lack flesh.

Yuri clicked a button in her hand, and the glass vessel keeping the puppet opened up.

The chemical water inside had already been drained inside the vessel itself—great lab and all—and the puppet was released to stand on the ground with the help of iron arms.

Yuri had a remote control in her hand. She poked his horns with it, "Wake the puppet up."

Mark held her hand in irritation. "Don't poke my horns or I will poke you with something else." Still, he tried to wake his puppet up, and the goblin-like creature opened its eyes wide.

Indeed, he smirked.

His vision of the lab expanded. He had four pairs of eyes—one mind.

The puppet stood up groggily, and its incredibly lean body plodded towards Mark.

Mark stood up and, from the side room, he dragged out a demon. It was bleeding, and there was a fried smell around it. It was the Vine Centipede. Mark dragged it towards the back entrance of the lab, and it whimpered.

Dona opened her eyes and looked towards them. "Mark.."

Mark smiled at her and opened the door. The puppet was breathing heavily but it moved outside the Dungeon and faced the midnight moon's silence calmly.

"Let's do it," the Puppet said hoarsely.

Mark threw the fearful, exhausted centipede out into the open world, outside the protection of a Dungeon. Dona's fire seal had weakened it, and it could not resist. When it reached outside, it didn't even have the chance to scream.

Tztzz.

Lightning seemed to have flashed midair before ashes spread out into the world. The World Will had killed the Vine Demon. Mark waited in anticipation.

Vine Storage. Vine Manipulation, Parasite, Sap of Sleepiness, Barrier of Non-Escape.

Which of them would he get?