The implication was one that was particularly dreadful for a group operating in the shadows, I could pick them out at a glance. In truth this wasn't entirely accurate as the Evilus no doubt had people who didn't participate in sinful activities directly and thus didn't get the taint from it but I wasn't going to point that out. No it was far better for me if I left this guy thinking I could easily spot any member of his faction, it would keep his mind focused so the pain doesn't drive him crazy.-
"Of course my version of the soul gaze is not nearly as powerful as Freya's since she's a god but that is only fair. Don't ask me why she wasn't eradicated you lot yet as I have no fucking clue. Still I suppose that's enough about that, time to see what you are made of." I said with a mad grin as I walked over to the guy.
My first experiment was to simply free a single one of his arms and see how strong he was at his base strength before increasing his muscle density to see if his strength increased.
I got him to cooperate with me for this experiment by simply flicking on all of his pain receptors simultaneously for the briefest moment with my cursed technique. This meant for that tiny window of time he experienced the absolute maximum amount of pain possible for his body. The best part was that I didn't so much as have to harm a single cell in his body to achieve this making it perfect since it didn't interfere with my experiment. I judged his raw strength to be about twelve hundred pounds which was about B rank in level three falna stats for a normal adventurer.-
This came as no surprise to me as he was obviously more of a stealth fighter than a front liner so strength wasn't his main priority to improve. I had to temporarily paralyze him from the neck down as he started thrashing when I started increasing the density of the muscles in his right arm. When I was done I noted that it made his arm much harder than normal as well but I suppose that made sense. It was kinda like I had turned his muscles from sand to glass so obviously it was harder to deform it.-
When I had him attempt to lift his previous record weight with that arm I frowned as his bones were crushed by his muscles and I had to repair and then further refine them to withstand the forces now on them. This time I got to see that indeed his strength showed a marked increase as he no longer struggled to lift his previous limit of weight and even adding another two hundred pounds to it only returned him to same level of struggle as before with his limit.-
"So increasing the density of the muscle fibers provided an increase in strength of about fifteen percent. Not bad at all, though I don't think the body will be able to build muscle as per normal after this operation unless it was performed shortly before one levels up. The falna makes it hard to predict." I mutter with a frown.
It was a possibility I had considered before I started this experiment but I couldn't know if the falna could balance out the modification I performed on the body so that it was all benefits or if performing this modification effectively cripples all future growth as far as muscle was concerned.-
The best test subject for this would be someone who hadn't received a falna yet but for moral reasons this was not something I could do. I could be a ruthless bastard sure but it was always a cost benefit type deal. Is the moral cost greater than the possible benefit? Yes? Avoid! No? Go for it! This experimental modification on someone who had no falna and might be permanently stunted because of it wasn't worth a fifteen percent increase in base strength for them if the falna didn't balance it out like I hoped.-
I had no issue performing the experiment on a willing participant though and might even specifically find someone down on their luck but of decent moral character to make the offer. The fact of the matter was that if the falna DID balance things out so the body now increased it's muscles in regards to the current density then this modification would give our familia a definite edge over other familias as our members would simply be built better from the start. An added bonus was that thanks to the extra weight that the extra density added as well as the reinforcement of the bones the modified person was considerably more durable than normal.-
I moved on to my next experiment after that which was to modify organs to see if it improved anything. To start out with I carefully altered the guy's lungs to have additional fleshy filaments modeled after gills on a fish to be able to take oxygen from water. I then put the dude in a hole in the ground before filling it with water and observing. He tried holding his breath but soon enough he was forced to gasp for air and suck in water that made him cough and take in more and more until his lungs were filled with water.-
The look on his face when he finally realized that he hadn't drowned was hilarious. I had of course removed his mask and could see his face clearly which was how I saw this.
"I altered your lungs to work both in and out of water. That was the plan anyways but in truth if it didn't work I'd have saved you before you drowned, can't waste precious test subjects after all." I said with a chuckle.
Pulling the guy out of the water I lifted him upside down so when he breathed out the water would drain out of his lungs and I could see if this could be a permanent modification or if it was destined to be temporary. At first the guy seemed fine but soon I started to see him becoming more and more uncomfortable looking as he inhaled deeper and deeper as panic set in. I checked his body with my technique and found that nothing was actually wrong with him, the opposite really as his blood was slightly richer than normal.-
"Ah I see! Your body adapted to having more oxygen than usual so being back in regular air has made it think it was suffocating. That's kinda annoying, can't have my people freaking out because their bodies were going back to normal after all." I said slightly irritated by the discovery.