“Senior, why would we need to remove a heart? Why not just add the core to the body as is? Doesn’t it just seem...easier?”

“You young ones never learn!”

*whack*

The junior wretched back as he was slapped on the head with a stick.

“Where did you even get that!?”

“What? This stick? I always have an extra for you and the other juniors. A dumb question deserves a stick to the head!”

“But how is it dumb!?”

The senior sighed and lifted up the core he was working on. While not large, roughly the size of a human fist, it was, in fact, his most valuable work. Shining bright red, the core had a sense of power emanating from it. He couldn’t help but feel a huge wave of accomplishment flow over him.

“Let me explain this only once, so listen up! There are four ways to kill a human. One, damage the brain. Two, drain them of blood. Three, cut off their air. Four, damage the heart. Which of these four would have the least likely chance of damaging the brain?”

The junior shifted lightly on his feet. He was unsure of how to answer. The only one to research human biology and anatomy in the city was his senior. None of them were human, how would he know without researching things himself?

“I guess-”

“Say number one and I will feed you to the worm!”

“...three?”

“Wrong!”

*whack whack*

The senior sent another two hits with his stick, pounding the info into the head of the junior.

“That’s the second to worst choice!”

“...two?”

*whack*

“...three?”

*whack whack whack*

“Ow! Please stop senior!”

“Quite! Both two and four are just as likely to damage the brain, but they are both better than one and three!”

“But...you said to pick ‘one’! Not give a whole explanation!”

“It was a trick question, and you failed! What are we doing? Why are we working with this core? Why all the testing? Because we want to make some systemless, pink, puffy human into a full-blown dungeon monster! How do we do that? We trick the system! He ‘dies’ and is reborn as a new entity! But he has to ‘live’ after we kill him? … HEY! Are you listening!?”

*whack*

“Ow! I'm listening!”

“Listen harder! He needs to live after we kill him! That means we can’t hurt his brain. Cutting off his air will affect his brain more than the body, so that’s a no. He also still needs blood to function, so that a no. So what's the best way to kill him?”

“Take his heart?”

“Exactly! Take his heart! I designed this core to leak mana straight into the veins. Keeping the blood moving and healthy, and even increasing health regeneration! Genius! I'm a genius! Do you understand, you fool?”

“I suppos-”

“GOOD! Now I’m off to try and find this boy, it’s about time to get this experiment started! Do me a favor and clean this place up!”

The senior promptly made his way out of the large ‘lab’. The lab was more like a bunker. From wall to wall there were no shelves or tables, just a large, open space. The walls themselves were thick enough to stop a worm in its tracks. Looking around the junior couldn’t help but sigh. There were hundreds of dead, human bodies scattered around the floor. Some had holes in their skulls, some were hanging and drained of blood, some had their hearts removed. It was a grizzly sight. While the junior was terrified of what he was seeing, but not from the gore.

“This is going to take so long to clean…”