Yaga and Lopi were two male Pro Hunters in their thirties. Their strength wasn't exceptional, but they weren't weak either. More importantly, they had become hunters ten years ago and possessed quite rich experience.
Among the ten Pro Hunters dispatched by the Hunter Association, Yaga and Lopi were fortunate, as they had survived that attack.
However, they were also unfortunate, as they became materials for the scholarly man.
Is it better to become food for artificial creatures or to become the material used to create them?
For those involved, neither option is favorable.
In the white laboratory, Yaga and Lopi were lying on the platform with dull eyes.
The scholarly man stood beside the platform, his white lab coat always stained with grease and dirt from pizza.
With his hands in his pockets and his head slightly tilted, he stared at Yaga and Lopi with an expression that suggested he was observing defective products.
In fact, the frontal lobes of Yaga and Lopi's brains had been removed. In a sense, they truly had become defective products.
"You guys... will continue to be useful in another way."
The scholarly man murmured to himself, then turned around and walked towards the table against the wall, where there was a box.
It was not very big, only about twice the size of an adult's head.
The magic box was square-shaped and adorned with vibrant colors. Each side bore a different pattern. There are abstract depictions of the moon, stars, and sun, blurry images of blue skies, white clouds and sea, a comically exaggerated question mark, and the most eye-catching one, the pattern of a clown's face with a sinister grin.
This brightly colored box had a name: the Surprise Box.
The scholarly man's name was Dove. Like other members of the Flower of Death, this is his code name and also his actual name.
Dove picked up the Surprise Box, turned around and walked towards Yaga and Lopi on the platform, and said to the air: "Release the materials."
His voice was transmitted through a receiver to the adjacent room.
After hearing the command, the personnel in the control room opened the room temporarily confining the two magical beasts.
Creak...
A crack suddenly appeared in the wall in front of the room. Then the wall split in two, opening to the left and right.
Inside, there were two magical beasts restrained by locks. A three-meter-long gray giant wolf with wings on its back, and a fat purple-blue giant boar covered with spikes.
Dove referred to these creatures as materials, just as Yaga and Lopi on the platform were materials.
Currently, there are one hundred artificial creatures in the prison, and now, there will be two more.
Though the two beasts were unconscious, they were still restrained by locks, which showed how dangerous they were.
Dove casually tossed the Surprise Box in his hand to the ground. The clown image on the magic box suddenly moved, its bright red sausage-like mouth opening and closing, emitting an eerie laugh.
Then, the box bounced around on the ground, heading toward the two magical beasts in the room. Its first target was the gray giant wolf.
Upon reaching the gray giant wolf's side, one side of the magic box suddenly opened and expanded, capturing the gray giant wolf along with its restraints inside the box.
Moments later, the Surprise Box moved slightly, throwing out all the restraints before heading toward Yaga and Lopi lying on the platform.
Using the same method, it took Yaga into the box and spat out his clothes.
After taking in two types of materials, the Surprise Box began assembly!
The box shook slightly from side to side. After about thirty seconds, the lid opened and spat out a three-meter-tall artificial creature.
This newly created artificial creature is very similar to the artificial creatures in the prison, with a human head and a beast-like body, with the size of the head disproportionate to the body.
The artificial creature with a human head and a wolf body stood in place, its expression still dull, but there was a little more color in its eyes, and they were constantly expanding.
After the Surprise Box assembled one artificial creature, it then proceeded to work on the purple-blue giant boar and Lopi. In a short time, it had assembled another artificial creature.
From the outside, although the combination of a human head and magical beast body looked incongruous, if one carefully observed them, they would see that there were no artificial marks at the junction where the head and body met.
After assembling two finished products on site, the laughing sound of the Surprise Box gradually ceased, and it became quiet.
Dove put placed the Surprise Box back on the table, then approached the two artificial creatures, his body surging with Aura.
"Zombie Mushroom."
Dove muttered to himself and slowly stretched out his hands. As his Aura surged, two red and white mushrooms rapidly formed in his palms. The caps were predominantly red with white protruding bumps, looking very much like pineapple buns.
After conjuring two mushrooms with his Aura, Dove moved in a flash, circling behind the two artificial creatures, and planted the mushrooms at the base of their skulls.
Rather than planting, it was more like implantation.
As soon as the mushrooms made contact with the artificial creatures' bodies, the fruiting bodies quickly disappeared into their flesh, leaving only the red and white caps visible.
Dove stepped back, withdrawing the Aura surrounding his body, and then walked toward the door.
After he had taken four or five steps, the two artificial creatures also began to move and followed behind him. At the same time, the gleam in their eyes became increasingly apparent.
Zombie Mushroom, this is Dove's Nen Ability. By planting the conjured zombie mushrooms at specific locations at the base of the target's skull, he could turn the target into a puppet completely under his control.
This Nen ability was developed with reference to real Zombie Mushrooms that exist in the natural world.
The so-called Zombie Mushroom is a strange fungal plant in nature with the ability to move. It actively seeks out the corpses of organisms, then parasitizes them, controlling them to wander aimlessly. And when the corpse completely decomposes, it would seek a new corpse.
The C Mushroom ability has obvious limitations and disadvantages. First, from a literal understanding, it can only control corpses. But since abilities inherently serve their users, Dove managed to overcome this limitation after making improvements.
Dove changed the limiting condition to... 'vegetables'.
Any human lacking memory, judgment, analysis, thinking, or operational functions could be his target for control. With their frontal lobes removed, Yaga and Lopi fell into this category.
As for the disadvantage, whenever Dove conjures a Zombie Mushroom, a portion of his Aura is depleted. Only when the Zombie Mushroom separates from its host can he recover that Aura.
With limitations and disadvantages come advantages.
The advantage of the Corpse Mushroom lies in its ability to evolve a simple command into complex actions.
Many Manipulation-Type Abilities can only issue simple commands. And implementing complex operational instructions would increase the difficulty of control. However, Dove doesn't have this concern.
He can even make his controlled targets use Nen Abilities through the command 'Use Nen Ability', without needing to know the target's Nen Ability or how to use it.
Not everyone is Law. Since the Zombie Mushroom is Dove's Nen Ability, what about the Surprise Box? And is the ability of the Surprise Box limited to assembly?
Judging from its bizarre ability to assemble humans and magical beasts, the Surprise Box is very likely a Conjuration Item. If this were Dove's ability, he could completely dismiss the Surprise Box rather than deliberately picking it up and placing it back on the table.
It's worth noting that it's not simple for Nen Users to conjure items, and once successfully conjured, they passively possess the characteristic of being able to summon and dismiss them at will.