The God-Tier Beast Architect

Chapter 7 The Workshop of Forbidden Evolution

The smell of scrap metal and ozone permeated the long-abandoned subway station. In the corner of the platform, Kenzo Julian did not look like a fugitive who had been moments away from death just hours ago; he looked like a maestro composing a symphony of death. The dilapidated wooden table in front of him was covered in illicit medical equipment, mana-infused wires, and the remains of beast parts he had salvaged from the lab.

Kenzo hunched forward, cold sweat beading on his temples. Under the erratic flicker of a neon light, his hands moved with surgical agility, stitching the massive tears in the muscle tissue of the silver wolf he had named Fenris. Kenzo’s left eye, the Eye of Origin, pulsed wildly, projecting strands of genetic code into the air, dissecting the atomic structure of Fenris’s wounds with robotic precision.

"System, integrate energy into the central nerve cluster," Kenzo commanded. His voice was hoarse, reflecting the mental exhaustion that was beginning to gnaw at him.

"Warning : 45% risk of cellular rejection. If the Void energy provided is excessive, the subject’s body will disintegrate from within," the mechanical voice chimed in his head.

Kenzo snorted. "Better to disintegrate than die a slave to their experiments. Do it!"

A thin stream of black energy flowed from Kenzo’s fingertips into Fenris’s wounds. The wolf let out a small whine, its muscles tensed violently, and then its body slowly began to emit a black vapor. Kenzo remained focused, guiding the flow of Void energy to act as molecular cement. He was not merely healing; he was reconfiguring Fenris’s genetic framework to house mana in a form the Empire had never conceived of.

Suddenly, Fenris’s body convulsed once. The fur that was once dull silver now slowly turned jet black, hardening into a layer resembling liquid carbon. The wolf’s fangs elongated, and two sharp, mist-shrouded bone spurs erupted from either side of its shoulders.

Fenris opened its eyes. They were no longer a pale blue, but a burning red, mirroring Kenzo’s own. It rose to its feet with the grace of an apex predator, then looked at Kenzo and released a low growl that shook the dust from the station floor.

"Awake already, huh?" Kenzo smirked, dropping the syringe in his hand and collapsing onto a rickety old chair. "Congratulations, you just became a Shadow-Stalker Wolf. You don’t need those filthy mana crystals anymore. From now on, darkness is your sustenance."

Fenris trotted over, nuzzling its head against Kenzo’s hand with intimate respect. Kenzo stroked the wolf’s black fur. At the same time, Nihilus, the small dragon, emerged from the folds of Kenzo’s cloak, dancing in the air as if congratulating his new companion.

Kenzo took a deep breath, scanning the room. The armory and workshop he had built himself from the scraps of noble-clan technology were beginning to fill up. There were several incubation capsules containing small eggs he was working on in the corner rack.

Suddenly, a long beep from his old communication device broke the silence. A dull holographic screen flickered to life, projecting an encrypted message from his black-market informant.

"Don't forget, Aethelgard Evaluation tomorrow. This isn't just a test; it's a forced recruitment process. Make sure you're there. A golden opportunity to crash the elite's party."

Kenzo shut off the hologram with a sharp flick. He stood up and approached the scattered pile of scrap metal. His eyes no longer saw a pile of trash, he saw components. Components to transform his Zero body into something equal to those of high caste.

"Nihilus," Kenzo whispered, staring at the dragon. "If I repair myself using the same logic I used on Fenris, what would the result be?"

"System Suggestion : Total neural synchronization with the remaining Genesis Core is required. Risk : Loss of partial human emotional memory for the sake of Void form stability."

Kenzo fell silent. Losing emotional memory? He thought of Old Marcus, the old man who had protected him to the death. If he lost his humanity, would his grudge against the Goldenthorn clan still burn as bright?

"I don't need a soft side to kill them," Kenzo asserted.

He looked at his rough hands, tracing the nerve endings. With singular determination, Kenzo directed his Eye of Origin to scan his own body internally. He found a void area around his heart, a genetic hole intentionally planted by the government to stifle the flow of mana within him.

"This is the key," Kenzo whispered. "The Zero key."

He began connecting the mana current from his massive battery reserve directly into his heart. It felt like being burned alive from the inside. His scream tore through the silent station, but no one was there to hear it. Fenris and Nihilus stood guard nearby, emitting an aura of intimidation that sent the subway rats scurrying away.

Kenzo continued to rearrange atoms, shift genes, and break the seal that held him back. He was no longer just an operator for his beasts; he was Project Zero himself.

Minutes later, silence returned. Kenzo lay sprawled on the concrete floor. He opened his eyes. His perspective of the world had changed completely. Everything now appeared as streams of numbers, energy vectors, and statistical probabilities.

He felt different. Lighter, and deadlier.

He stood up without feeling even a hint of exhaustion. Kenzo looked at his reflection in the cracked station window. His face remained the same, but his gaze was sharper, almost like steel. He was ready for tomorrow.

"Tomorrow is the stage," Kenzo said as he put his jacket back on. Fenris and Nihilus were already in position, one as a shadow, one as a physical guardian.

Kenzo no longer felt fear toward Aethelgard's aura detection machines. Instead, he felt invigorated. What would the faces of Valerius and his friends look like when they saw the person they called trash arrive with power that even their holy dragons couldn't contend with?

"Don't get cocky, Kenzo," he told himself while turning off all the equipment in his makeshift workshop.

He slipped a small reserve of pure energy crystals into his pocket and stepped toward the station exit. Beyond that door, the path to the Aethelgard Academy awaited. A path he would drench in blood, not devotion.

In the midst of the darkness, Kenzo Julian, the Genetic Architect, had finally truly awakened from his long slumber. He had repaired the engine of his own world. Now, it was his turn to dissect their false world down to its roots.

Morning slowly began to touch the city skyline, but behind the shadows of Aethelgard, dark clouds were just beginning to gather. The monthly evaluation was merely the beginning of the massacre of the old order, and for Kenzo, every second from now on was time for the Empire to pray before he arrived to deliver judgment upon those who once deemed the low-born as nothing but waste.