After Jin left, Adam did not rest but instead took out the shawl from his clothes.
Once the shawl was draped and the clasp secured, Adam felt as if the entire outfit had fused into one.
"Silk thread magic?" Adam recalled Anthony's words, beginning to observe the entire magical model through the button on the shawl.
Mental power possesses a solidifying nature, yet pure mental power cannot persist indefinitely.
For example, semi-solidification techniques embed spells within the soul's mental power operating mode. Similarly, a knight's merits require the knight to first release their vitality into the surrounding environment, with the spiritual power from that release solidifying the merit.
Therefore, most arcanist rituals rely on finding a suitable medium.
In the case of silk thread magic, the medium is undoubtedly the button and the silk threads woven into the garment.
Adam carefully sensed every detail of the silk thread magic, gradually grasping its essence. Though the shawl and the rest of the outfit were separate, there was still an invisible thread binding them together.
"Mental silk threads."
"The button serves as the core, with the silk thread extending outward, yet it encompasses the entirety of the garment."
"Truly thoughtful," Adam reflected. He understood Anthony's intention—Adam's life modification technique had once relied solely on a scalpel, and he had no idea when he would be able to complete it.
So, when Anthony gifted Adam the shawl, he had purposefully placed a complementary technique before him.
"By converting mental power into silk threads, connecting the vitality of living beings, and using the scalpel for cutting, some basic life modification procedures could already be performed."
Adam looked up at the sky, still dark before dawn, and turned his gaze back to the cat.
With the Dustless Shield clearing the area, the Paralysis Curse dulled the cat's awareness of its body, and the Invisible Blade effortlessly opened the wound. Over the past few days, he had imagined the surgery countless times.
He cut the vitality, then linked it with the silk threads, simultaneously modifying the cat's reproductive abilities and digestive system.
In an ideal scenario, after the surgery, the cat's appetite would greatly increase, its digestion would improve drastically, and with ample food, its physical condition would rapidly enhance.
Just as he was about to stitch the wound, Adam paused and performed another spell.
By the time the morning sun streamed through the window, Adam had cleaned everything, and he was now conducting the post-surgery procedures while making eye contact with the cat.
The placebo effect—Adam knew from his past life that the mind had power over the body. Some people, after falling ill, could take nothing more than flour balls but believe them to be potent medicine, and afterward, their condition would improve.
The mind could influence the body, and now, with Adam's exposure to arcanists and the direct manipulation of mental power, he was acutely aware of how deeply mental power could affect the body.
There were even techniques in the arcanist's field similar to divine strikes, using mental power to forcibly interfere with the body, making it invulnerable and exceedingly strong.
What Adam was doing now was similar: using his own charm as a conduit to channel mental power through his eyes, gradually hypnotizing the cat.
Though Adam's life modification technique was based on using external forces to help animals directly obtain cultivation-like conditions, bypassing the need for self-practice, this didn't mean the animals were exempt from all effort. After all, the mind and life force were deeply connected. If the animal's mind cooperated, the results of the procedure would likely be far better.
At the very least, the cat's recovery speed was noticeably faster than the last time, a testament to the technique's effectiveness.
After replenishing the cat's food with more meat and pouring some goat's milk Adam had brought from the Mirror Tower, he was confident that, with the digestive system altered, the cat wouldn't suffer from any digestive issues.
Sure enough, the cat ate happily, devouring the food at a visibly fast pace.
Adam stood by, sensing the cat's vitality changing rapidly.
"Next, I'll need to perform a second-phase modification to strengthen the heart's endurance." Adam listened intently for a while before deciding on the next procedure.
However, there was no rush. The cat needed more rest to allow its vitality to fully recover.
"And then there's that inspiration," Adam thought, watching the cat eat, considering the additional step he had added to the surgery.
Within the cat's body, Adam had integrated a Dustless Shield mental power model, using the cat's own vitality operating mode as a carrier.
While vitality could carry mental power, the interference with the mental power model was significant.
Therefore, arcanists had once briefly experimented with tattoo-like magical models carved into their own bodies, though after the rise of spellbooks, these practices had largely been overshadowed and, it seemed, almost lost to history.
Even embedding one's own mental energy, with its mental attributes, into their own spiritual power operation model could cause distortions, rendering the spell model unworkable.
Let alone embedding another's mental power model into a living being, Adam's action was likely to create a defective spell model, possibly even affecting the success of the life modification procedure.
Nevertheless, after completing the procedure, Adam had cautiously observed the cat's vitality operation model and found that, in certain areas, it coincidentally aligned with the Dustless Shield spell model. Inspiration began to spark within him.
Patting the cat's head, Adam stood, leaving the room. After breakfast, he would head to the Mirror Tower.
There, more test subjects awaited his modifications.
"It's still far from enough. I need more knowledge," Adam thought, tightening his coat and adjusting the gold coin hanging from his waist.
The gold coin, representing his access to the Mirror Tower, now had only a few coils of thin iron chain wrapped around it.
Once the chain fell away entirely, it would symbolize Adam's complete access to the tower's privileges.
"First floor: Reception. Second floor: Storage. Fifth floor: Livestock garden. Sixth floor: Source energy flame. Seventh floor: Laboratory. Tenth floor: Library. Eleventh floor: Selene's residence. Twelfth floor: Anthony's residence."
"I only lack access to the third, fourth, eighth, and ninth floors." Adam had learned the functions of these floors from Anthony.
"The third floor is the summon chamber, where Anthony stores summoned entities."
"The fourth floor is the containment level, holding dangerous creatures within various force fields."
"The eighth floor is the critical-layer experimental site, said to be where time-space experiments are conducted."
"The ninth floor remains unknown. Anthony has kept it shrouded in mystery. According to him, it contains his most powerful spell."
Turning the coin in his hand, Adam entered the Mirror Tower. Unexpectedly, Anthony was on the fifth floor.
He was observing the goats Adam had modified.
"It's close to the end," Anthony said with a somber expression, pointing to the first goat Adam had modified.
After a full castration, the goat had been in a state of heightened excitement for days. This morning, it suddenly collapsed, its eyes bloodshot, its limbs still twitching despite being unable to stand.
"The life cycle can't connect anymore," Adam quickly diagnosed.
Vitality doesn't increase spontaneously. Adam had removed its reproductive functions, temporarily providing the goat with extra vitality. However, this surplus energy didn't enter its life cycle properly; instead, it was merely overstimulating the body, causing it to deplete more vitality.
Once the extra vitality ran out, the goat's body collapsed instantly.
"Also, the vitality fluctuation has affected its mental energy," Adam noted. The mind can influence the body, and the body can, in turn, affect the mind.
The goat's false vitality surge caused it to enter a state of frenzy, and its spirit became equally agitated.
Even though the body was failing, the mental excitement hadn't ceased, further depleting the mental energy.
"It's beyond saving," Adam concluded. With both the spirit and vitality in crisis, reviving it was almost impossible. Even if Anthony intervened, it would require a considerable price.
"Life is fragile, yet so expensive."
"This is your experiment. You should know what to do," Anthony said calmly.
Adam nodded and, with a swift motion, thrust the Invisible Blade into the goat's head, ending its life.