Liches.
Powerful spellcasters who dabbled in taboos, all in a vain attempt at gaining eternal life.
Though they technically did gain eternal life, they did not achieve eternal youth. As such, their skin and muscles decomposed while their skeleton kept moving, their souls trapped in a limbo between life and death.
Mitch still remembered that infamous lich. He was a pioneer in a certain game—the first to find the lich, as well as the first to defeat it. He also happened to be the last.
It was because of the requirements for slaying it that Mitch became known as the "Bloody Scientist."
One benefit liches had because of having eternal life was being able to regenerate their bodies. This lich, too, had an immortal body.
The only way to kill a lich was by destroying their soul cage or something called a phylactery. It was usually something material, like a book they used to read when they were alive or a picture they got from their children.
But this lich was much more insidious.
During his time as a normal human, he sired many children. He went around the continent and used any and all opportunities he could find to sleep with women.
And what came of his phylactery?
His bloodline.
His children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren all became bearers of his phylactery. They all became tethers, holding the lich alive.
But Mitch didn't care. His fascination with eternal life brought him to search for the lich. Although it was inside of a game, he would not exclude any theories that could result in living forever.
Unfortunately, he became disappointed. Finding that the lich was only alive because of game logic and not by some theory of immortality, he wanted to give up on the quest. But he couldn't.
His perfectionism didn't allow him to leave a quest half-finished. He had to finish the quest, no matter what. Though… that was just an excuse.
As the children of the continent's most successful wizard, they themselves were incredibly strong. Strong enough to distract Mitch from his otherwise monotonous life.
Even though Mitch did not mean for it to happen, the younger descendants became collateral damage in his fight against the true powerhouses. But Mitch felt like he was lucky for that to happen.
He wasn't sure if he could bring himself to finish the job otherwise.
Shaking his head in an attempt to regain clarity, Mitch focused on the task at hand.
"So? Can I bless something other than the believer?"
"... I don't know. If you have any idea about how you want to do it, then go ahead. Bear in mind, however. You only have about one and a half Mynt left. Is it really worth using what little Mynt you have left on something that you don't even know if it will work?"
"I have already done the rough calculations for it, Katherine. Even if the rats start giving more Mynt after their mutation, I will barely be able to make it. And that is if I get lucky. Additionally, I will have to personally train at least 10 000 rats for it to work. It's just unrealistic."
Mitch would rather take a more unconventional approach to the problem. He lifted one of the male rats out of their pit and opened the Gene Tree window.
He then focused. Closing his eyes, Mitch started thinking of dreams, of different hormones responsible for putting animals to sleep, and so on.
After doing this for a few minutes, he finally opened his eyes. The models of DNA had now rearranged themselves.
Innately, Mitch could understand what each sequence that was shown meant.
Some coded for hormones.
Others for cell receptors.
Then there were a few showing signal substances.
Finally, Mitch found what he was looking for.
[Acetylcholine Receptors (Pontine Nuclei)]
[Receptors that bind to acetylcholine, specifically in the pons. (...) Part of the regulation of arousal and REM sleep.]
This structure was part of the gyrification mutation Mitch wanted to induce. As such, there was no other mutation available for him to choose. But that didn't stop him.
He pointed his finger towards the region for these receptors and made an attempt at gauging how much Mynt it would consume for him to perform this little experiment of his.
The results soured his mood, but he knew that it was too soon to judge. He did the same thing, but this time pointing at the rat rather than the pop-up.
Once again he became displeased with the results. Alas, there was nothing else he could do. He was running out of time, and fast.
Mitch felt his brain starting to fry from all the calculations he was running, but he gritted his teeth and focused. He needed to find if it would be worth it or if he should just go with his first plan.
No doubt, the new plan he thought of would work better in the long run, especially if he wanted the rats to start a civilization.
Conversely, he would effectively cut the time he could stay alive in half.
Becoming liberated from his human body seemed to have boosted Mitch's intelligence. But the body of a legio could not keep up with the thousands of thoughts and calculations running through his head.
"Mitch! Your nose!"
Putting a hand up to his nose, he felt a sticky substance gushing in droves.
He hadn't even noticed his nose starting to bleed before Katherine warned him. That's how engrossed he was in calculating the pros and cons.
From his understanding, it would all come down to whether the rat he had in his hand survived long enough for his gamble to pay off. If it died before having completed its mission, then Mitch was screwed.
But Mitch knew that he had no other choice. The first plan sounded safer on paper, but he didn't have the time to train tens of thousands of rats. He needed the rats to become religious without him having to personally train each of them.
It was an all-or-nothing gamble.
He once more concentrated all his attention onto the gene for acetylcholine receptors.
Then, his Mynt started draining rapidly.