I had never liked biology classes. Even so, some classes were required for graduation and biology classes were among some of them. Though not always, dissection of organic sample was part of the class.

Either way, experienced or not, I wasn't going to literally dissect a demon or anything for that matter. This one had a physical body so it could get rather gruesome. Instead of a dissection of his physical body, I was keen on dissecting his soul to gain possibly some useful knowledge. Oortez was sure to help me with this critical and exhilarating task.

On a side note, I didn't even ask his name before taking him apart.

Since this demon was extremely dangerous, while he was still trapped, I carefully partitioned his soul into a hundred pieces such that it would never pose a threat to me. Once that was done, I grouped them into different categories.

The one with the most value to Oortez was the ones relating to knowledge and memories. Traits and abilities were kept with me to be recycled and absorbed. Contracts, self identity such as personality and whatnot were in another group also to be recycled. I had no need for dangerous personalities sitting around.

As for the last group and the largest group, they were a miscellaneous bunch that didn't strictly belong to any other groups because, well, I was still new to this workflow and couldn't separate them properly.

"Oortez, I'm offering you research opportunity, a free scholarship. Examine the knowledge and memories and let me know if there's anything useful such as De Planck's hideout and the number of minions. Ah yes, keep the information related to researches. I only care about the result."

I knew he was interested in the gruesome research from earlier so I let him have it. I wasn't interested in any of that. If he could summarize the results of any researches, I would greatly appreciate that.

"Thank you, milady." He bowed courteously while I could clearly see him trembling with excitement.

I briefly examined the contracts this demon had. De Planck was of course one of them. As for the rest, I didn't know any of the names. However, since they might come handy later, I copied them into a notepad using [creator] before recycling that soul energy.

The groups that interested me the most were the abilities and traits. With my current capabilities, I could insert them into myself. However, most of those traits and abilities were useless to me.

After reviewing them, I kept |faker|, |executioner| and |chaos|.

|Immortality| trait was not something I could gain because it had to do with my age. 

|Faker| and |executioner| were added to my traits only to be absorbed by the mysterious |creator| trait. In any case, whenever |creator| absorbed any traits, any undesirable effects were negated. |Faker| allowed me to fake my status. |Executioner| was a fairly useless trait for someone like me. It allowed user to deal rapidly reap a target's soul who had lower health than the user. Of course, that was after side effects were excluded.

Hey, there was nothing wrong with keeping an extra skill.

Speaking of which, my void barrier was more than enough. If I wished, I could also use void blades to sever souls and bodies instantly. It was just that barriers were more effective in nearly all situations.

There was one peculiar trait that I isolated for research purposes. |Devious| trait was directly linked to De Planck. Should Oortez not disclose De Planck's hideout, I would personally track him down using this trait. After all, each time De Planck used whatever skill he was hiding to influence people, a record would be left behind within the soul itself. Mine was lost but I wouldn't lose this one.

Strange... Why do I feel like the amount of soul energy there wasn't even close to his level? That wasn't a body double, was it...? Tch. It's too late. I'll deal with it later.

Several days would come and go within my subspace. Equivalently, only minutes had passed in the outside world. If it wasn't for that initial swap where time was synchronized, only seconds would have passed.

During those few days, Oortez was immersed in the task I had given him. I wasn't concerned that his personality might shift but I kept an watchful eye.

On my side of things, temporary housing was set up on my excessively huge lawn. Creating wood or timber was my forte hence inside wooden houses was where everyone lived in, or at least put into suspended state or stasis. The winged beasts were in one house and the others were in another. I had good reasons to transfer those unrelated to Haelley into my subspace. Some human guards and possibly researchers did also come along but they were properly returned to their stations without noticeable memory gaps.  

Anyhow, all of them were laid on soft beds in rows like old fashioned hospital wards.

There was only one of me, and so many of them. Nursing them all at once wasn't something I was willing to put myself through. Haelley was there too but I kind of wished for Smoothie to evolve first.

Since Smoothie had no choice but to evolve within her original body, I couldn't let her evolve in my bedroom.

I returned to my bedroom where Smoothie was.

"I'm sorry for taking so long."

I decided to put off dealing with demon's soul energy for later. Unless one could manipulate time, none could interfere with me within my subspace.

I removed the barrier and returned her state of consciousness. To ensure she didn't have permanent scars, I completely erased a portion of her memory. It was the least I could do for her. It might not seem fair but I had good reasons. When she was ready, I would explain myself. And then, if she could also explain herself, perhaps I could absolve myself of that promise we made at the beginning of our journey. For some reason, I disliked having anything tying me down.

"Where am I...?" She murmured while still in a daze.

"In our home." I smiled, warmly while holding her in my embrace.

"Our home? I was... Who are you?"

"Let me change my form."

I let her go, and immediately, I shape shifted into my appearance of that from when I was level 69. To make things more convincing, I replicated the status she would have seen back then.

"No but you just had no status before?"

Smoothie slowly shifted herself away from me towards the wall behind her. Her eyes were filled with fear and confusion. I had expected it to some degree but it still shocked me. The main reason was that her [soothsayer] ability was completely useless against me, likely unable to detect my presence. Since for the longest time, she had relied on that ability, rather, it was likely the one interacting with me. Because of that, my current existence was unfathomable.

"Smoothie, please, it is me. I have kept my abilities a secret. You're currently in my subspace. Your plant body is just outside of the house. You can evolve anytime you like."

"The... The transfer didn't work. You can't fool me!" She cried, tears flowing down, "You are a fake! Who are you?"

I had never seen her cry before. The sight of ached my heart but I still thought her reactions were overblown.

Ah, that permanent void barrier within me, that's why. I should have noticed sooner. Still, I mean... She should have known I have hidden abilities and that I was close to evolving? She doesn't seem like she's acting either. Haah...There's no point hiding it anymore. Let's this over with quickly.

I undid the void barrier within myself, allowing her to see my true status. In addition, I allowed my appearance to return to what it was just after I evolved into an upper celestial race. My three sets of majestic wings expanded. The contact lenses was removed, revealing my celestial eyes. My celestial gown returned back to its original form.

[Level 58 Celestial;
Species: Veraine;
Physical: 499/499;
<Health: 499>
<Force: 499 (enhanced)>
<Speed: 499 (enhanced)>
<Agility: 499 (enhanced)>
Spiritual: 820/820;
<Mana: 820>
<Mass: 790 (enhanced)>
<Mastery: 499 (enhanced)>
<Luck: 499 (enhanced)>
Traits: Bewitching, Cautious Tactician, Creator, Dedicated One, Void, Chaos, Limit Breaker, Enhanced Senses, Enhanced Spiritual, Enhanced Resistances, Enhanced Physical;
Abilities: Hypnosis, Subspace, Creation, Celestial Eyes;
Blessings: Enchanted Fate, Forced Destiny;
Description: A divine being.]

I didn't know when but one of my trait had changed for the better.

"Please Smoothie, give me one more chance." I extended my hand towards her. All she had to do was grab on, and I would share my memories with her. I had no wish to forcefully inject memories because I trusted that she would give me another chance, consciously.

Her face was full of shock and disbelief. Since I had displayed that I could alter my status at will, she was extremely hesitant.

I patient waited, though to no prevail.  

"Answer me, did you erase my memories?" She questioned me after recollecting her composure.

I underestimated that ability. I wonder how it transmigrated into this world? It probably didn't even have a soul core to begin with?

"Yes. I erased it permanently."

The only other way to retrieve those memories was to travel back in time. [Creator] certainly had such function built in, but at this moment, I had no such access to do so.

"Why?"

"Because I care about your wellbeing." Then I added, "I didn't erase any of your original memories because they seem precious to you. When you feel safe to do so, please tell me more about your past, okay?"

"Is she here?"

"You mean Haelley?"

She nodded.

"Yes, she and her group is in stasis. I was going to have you assist me after we cleared up some misunderstandings." I explained as a matter of fact.

"I want to see her."

"Alright then, let's go."

I secretly let out a sigh before leading her to Haelley outside of my house.

I guess she won't let me hug her anymore if I don't sort this out quickly. Such a hassle... I put in so much work without receiving a reward.

blanksphere

I don't know. Story is a mess and I've been trying to tidy things up to end it. Somehow it got messier but I'll try to close the story within 30 chapters... I think it's doable. Edit: maybe it'll take longer to end, who knows? It's far into the future where I'm concerned.