Kael took out the mithril box containing the fla crystals.
Just opening the lid released a wave of scorching heat. The crystals inside radiated extre temperatures like red-hot gemstones, turning the interior into a furnace where even the air shimred and warped.
Feeling the laboratory heat rapidly, Kael quickly closed the box again.
Thank the Valar the mithril had proven incredibly heat-resistant after forging. Any other tal or stone would have lted long ago.
Before sealing it, however, he extracted one small crystal, no bigger than his fist. It released heat of several thousand degrees, turning the spacious laboratory into high sumr.
He tried placing it on an iron block. The tal burned through instantly.
On thick stone bricks, they cracked and lted to lava.
Finally, he set it on the Balrog's corpse, and it held steady.
To his surprise, the demon's body had beco stone-hard after death, especially once the magic crystal was removed. But when the fla crystal touched it, the contact areas gradually softened. This wasn't lting from heat but restoration of vitality. The corpse regained elasticity.
Kael's eyes lit. This change made the body far more valuable for study.
Unable to contain his curiosity, he opened the mithril box again, expanded its space with his wand, and then stuffed the Balrog's corpse inside.
The crystals released temperatures that could lt the hardest tals instantly, yet the demon wasn't destroyed. Instead, its entire form regained vitality, flas erupting around it as if it had returned to life.
Kael startled, but after confirming it hadn't truly revived, he relaxed.
Balrogs were bodies of fla and shadow. The longer they stayed dead, the more their fire elents would scatter, eventually becoming worthless stone. Preserving it in fla crystals delighted him.
The revitalized corpse began bleeding lava-like Balrog blood from its chest wound. Kael collected this in another mithril vial, adding a rice-grain-sized crystal to prevent solidification.
He stared at the blood with curiosity. Divine blood, essentially. What effects might it have?
Acting on impulse, he went out to find test subjects: ordinary birds, reptiles, lizards, and snakes, plus several Orcs, wargs, and a troll.
He tried injecting Balrog blood into each, observing the results.
They either incinerated to ash imdiately or exploded outright.
Clearly, none could withstand the molten-lava temperatures.
Then Kael rembered his vial of Balrog heart fragnts. He began new experints.
He tried implanting a dust-speck-sized crystal fragnt into a lizard's heart, then watched carefully.
At first, the lizard showed no reaction. As ti passed and Kael wondered if the fragnt was too small, the lizard began turning red-hot. Despite being cold-blooded, its entire body beca scorching.
He injected a drop of Balrog blood.
The lizard thrashed in pain, struggling until it seed near death. Then it burst into flas.
Just as Kael expected it to burn to ash, the lizard leaped from the test table, racing toward a nearby fireplace and diving headfirst into the fire.
It wasn't burned. Instead, it underwent tamorphosis in the flas, becoming multicolored and wreathed in fire. It remained contentedly in the blaze, radiating the emanations of a magical creature.
Such an unexpected result thrilled him. The ordinary lizard had transford into a magical creature after receiving Balrog heart fragnt and blood.
He approached the fireplace, observing the lizard curiously.
It clearly rembered him and tensed warily, spitting a small spark.
Kael waved the fla away with amusent. "Oh, seems you hold a grudge, little fellow."
He gestured to levitate the fire lizard from the flas for study.
But once away from the fire, it beca listless, its flas gradually dying as it weakened.
Surprised, Kael returned it to the fire. It imdiately revived, becoming lively again.
After several tests, he confird it truly couldn't leave flas. The longer away, the weaker it grew, eventually dying.
He summoned a fla to envelop the lizard and moved it to the test table, preventing death from weakness. Testing with his wand confird it had transford into a magical lizard that could only live in fire.
Its attack power wasn't high. The fla spurts were small clusters even ordinary people could pat out. But creating a new magical creature accidentally was cause for celebration.
He drew so blood with a syringe, then returned it to the fireplace.
Seeing only one fire lizard, he decided to find it a companion. Using the sa thod, he transford another lizard.
Watching the two begin courting after initial contact left him sowhat dumbfounded, then expectant. If they could reproduce, his efforts wouldn't be wasted.
He stopped watching them make offspring and continued experinting.
Since fire lizards died outside flas anyway, he needn't worry about escape or accidental fires.
Next, he targeted a venomous snake.
It tensed under his gaze, coiling defensively while hissing in Parseltongue, "Human, don't co closer! I'm scared! I'm very venomous, you know! Don't force !"
Kael was amused, responding in kind. "Little fellow, I'm giving you a chance. You're just an ordinary snake with a short lifespan. Wouldn't you like to beco powerful and live longer? Look at those lizards now, living in fire!"
The small-brained snake was confused, rembering only "becoming stronger," and sohow nodded agreent.
Then, seeing the human approach with clear intent, it was too late to change its mind.
For the larger snake, Kael selected a bigger crystal fragnt. He implanted it in the heart, injected Balrog blood, then waited.
The snake writhed in agony, its body swelling with fine cracks that revealed fiery red coloration, as if containing magma.
"Fire, I need fire!" it called in Parseltongue like a person dying of thirst.
Hearing this, Kael released flas at the snake.
Engulfed, it absorbed the fire eagerly like heavenly rain. Then it transford, shedding its burning skin while new gray-white scales erged, eyes glowing red as if flas burned within.
"What abilities do you have?" Kael asked curiously.
The snake examined itself with wonder, saying hesitantly, "I think I can make my body explode, generating trendous heat to burn enemies?"
Kael was montarily speechless. "Disagree and I'll self-destruct" as an ability?
"My venom also seems different," the snake added uncertainly.
"How different?"
It bit a nearby rat, injecting venom. After a shriek, the rat spontaneously combusted from within, quickly burning to ash.
Kael's eyes brightened. The abilities weren't entirely useless.
"There's one more thing," the snake continued.
"What?" He grew expectant.
The snake said bashfully, "I think I'm about to give birth."
"What?!" Kael thought he'd misheard.
"I'm going to lay eggs!"
"You were pregnant before?"
"It's my first ti, so I have no idea what I'm doing. I just happened to et a handso male snake once—who knew I'd get pregnant?" The snake said, twisting shyly.
What were the odds of catching a pregnant snake?
Like fire lizards, fire snakes needed flas to survive. But unlike lizards that couldn't leave fire for even a minute, snakes could survive about an hour away.
The pregnant snake quickly crawled to a dark corner and laboriously laid seven red eggs that radiated intense heat.
Fire snakes couldn't lay eggs in flas. They would explode like firebombs. So they had to find cool, dark corners to lay, then return to the fire within an hour to avoid dying.
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