A new day on Fort Spearhead is another day closer to Karl’s goal. He got up early even though he slept a bit late that night since he was on a video call with his scientist friends back on Earth. He could tell that all of them were green with envy, yet at the same time congratulated him for this new opportunity. They even joked about his name being written in the history books once he finds anything substantial in his research. One even declared that this event is the prelude to the creation of the “Hoffman magio physics”.

“Hoffman magio physics huh? I’d prefer if it would just be called Hoffman Physics” Karl joked to himself

Karl then got up, brushed his teeth and took a quick shower before heading to the mess hall for breakfast.

On his way there he managed to catch up to Steven who was busing reading something on his tablet. Steven had a completely serious looking face far from his usual happy and excited demeanor. Steven was so focused on his tablet that he didn’t notice Karl was already beside him. Karl then decided to lightly tap Steven’s shoulder.

“Hey, what are you reading so early in the morning?” Karl asked

“Oh good morning Karl” Steven snapping out of this trance

“I was just looking through the data I gathered from the Maticore corpses, at least what was left of them” Steven continued

“So you spend yesterday dissecting them?”

“Yes, the specimens were badly damaged both from the battle and the looting but I still got some good data on their physiological builds” Steven declared.

“Then why the serious face?”

“Because the data I got was weird.”

“Now I’m curious, do tell.” Karl declared as his curiosity took over.

“Well aside from a few new organs I found, the whole creature is very strange.” Steven then paused

“You see, it looked like someone took a bat’s wings and just strapped it on to a lion” Steven exclaimed seemingly a bit irritated

“What do you mean?”

“I mean it in a literal sense. The wings were completely identical to a bat’s. From muscle groups to even bone ratios. It literally is just a giant bat wing” Steven then began his explanation

“And the body, it was also just a giant lion with a few additional organs whose functions I have yet to discover. But you know what the strangest thing is?” Steven then stopped to look at Karl

“What?”

Steven then started fiddling with his tablet and then showed it to Karl. Steven showed Karl an image of what looked like three different DNA sequences. Obviously Karl didn’t know what to think with this data

“What’s this? Please explain”

“Don’t you see? The Manticore’s DNA is literally just a Bat and a Lion’s DNA mashed together.”

“What?” Karl was now shocked as well

“Yes what! The Manticore had a 99% similarity to the Lion’s DNA, and the wings were literally just the same as a Bat’s as if it was copy pasted, but that’s not all” Steven once again put a serious expression on his face

“Hurling fireballs aside, this animal is too heavy to fly. Its wings shouldn’t be able to generate enough lift. The atmosphere of Nelithea is almost the same as Earth therefore it should also be subjected to the same rules. Yet it is completely ignoring it” Steven clarified.

“It’s probably using magic” Karl then declared

“Yes I arrived at the same conclusion as you” Steve agreed.

“You know the whole fire breathing should have clued you on this at the beginning” Karl said shrugging his arms

“Well I did think that, but I wanted to see if there was another explanation, a more logical one” Steven the sighed

“At first I theorized that the Manticore had some kind of gas storage organ that contained highly flammable gasses, then in order to ignite it I thought that it probably had an organ that can induce electricity similar to an electric eel and produce a spark. But I found no such organ.” Steven declared in defeat

“What about those unknown organs you found” Karl asked

“Well aside from the fact I don’t recognize them at all, one of them was like another stomach that only contained crystals or rocks” Steven explained

“Rocks? Crystals?” Karl replied with a confused voice

“Yes, it’s an organ connected to the stomach via an extra intestine like organ and it was filled with nothing but rocks” Steven described as he shook his head.

“What were those rocks then?”

“I already gave them to Engr. Yamato for analysis but he came up empty handed. Even he doesn’t know what these rocks are” Steven once again shook his head

“You think those rocks were magical?” Karl asked

“Maybe, but we don’t have any sort of instrument to test them”

“Then I suppose my work will be very important to you as well” Karl declared

“Oh right you’re going to stay at Dawnward aren’t you” Steven replied

“That’s great, please hurry with your research since it looks like even my understanding of biology will still hinge on your work” Steven declared as he lightly tapped Karl’s back

“I appreciate your enthusiasm but please don’t put any unnecessary pressure on me” Karl said while laughing.

A little while longer Steven and Karl reached the mess hall. When they arrived at their dining area they found no one else present. It seems that everyone else woke up earlier than them and left already. Karl was afraid that he was going to eat the disgusting food paste again. Thankfully that didn’t happen.

Even as they ate Karl and Steven’s discussion didn’t stop.

“I’m gonna have to ask adventurer’s to go fetch me a live specimen one day” Steven declared

“You know that’s going to be difficult right? Even though the military easily destroyed them, the adventurers won’t exactly do the same”

“Yeah you’re right, plus they apparently live on the deep parts of the mystic forest and most of that place remains unexplored” Steven said with a sigh.

Suddenly Yamato came into their dining area as if he was looking for someone. He then saw Karl and immediately walked up to him.

“Why didn’t you answer my call?” Yamato asked

“What?” Karl then tapped his pockets

“Oh sorry, I left my phone back at my room” Karl explained

“Well it doesn’t matter now.” Yamato continued

“I wanted to tell you that the items you requested have arrived” Yamato declared

“Really? Can I go check them out?” Karl replied with a huge smile on his face

“Well of course” Yamato said as he smiled

“Hey can I come too?” Steven chimed in

“Sure. Why not?” Yamato approved.

“Alright. Lead the way Engineer” Karl said as all three of them left the mess hall.