Kael took out the mithril box containing the flame crystals.
Just opening the lid released a wave of scorching heat. The crystals inside radiated extreme temperatures like red-hot gemstones, turning the interior into a furnace where even the air shimmered 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 metal or stone would have melted 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 summer.
He tried placing it on an iron block. The metal burned through instantly.
On thick stone bricks, they cracked and melted to lava.
Finally, he set it on the Balrog's corpse, and it held steady.
To his surprise, the demon's body had become stone-hard after death, especially once the magic crystal was removed. But when the flame crystal touched it, the contact areas gradually softened. This wasn't melting 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 melt the hardest metals instantly, yet the demon wasn't destroyed. Instead, its entire form regained vitality, flames 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 flame and shadow. The longer they stayed dead, the more their fire elements would scatter, eventually becoming worthless stone. Preserving it in flame 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 immediately or exploded outright.
Clearly, none could withstand the molten-lava temperatures.
Then Kael remembered his vial of Balrog heart fragments. He began new experiments.
He tried implanting a dust-speck-sized crystal fragment into a lizard's heart, then watched carefully.
At first, the lizard showed no reaction. As time passed and Kael wondered if the fragment was too small, the lizard began turning red-hot. Despite being cold-blooded, its entire body became scorching.
He injected a drop of Balrog blood.
The lizard thrashed in pain, struggling until it seemed near death. Then it burst into flames.
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 metamorphosis in the flames, 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 transformed into a magical creature after receiving Balrog heart fragment and blood.
He approached the fireplace, observing the lizard curiously.
It clearly remembered him and tensed warily, spitting a small spark.
Kael waved the flame away with amusement. "Oh, seems you hold a grudge, little fellow."
He gestured to levitate the fire lizard from the flames for study.
But once away from the fire, it became listless, its flames gradually dying as it weakened.
Surprised, Kael returned it to the fire. It immediately revived, becoming lively again.
After several tests, he confirmed it truly couldn't leave flames. The longer away, the weaker it grew, eventually dying.
He summoned a flame to envelop the lizard and moved it to the test table, preventing death from weakness. Testing with his wand confirmed it had transformed into a magical lizard that could only live in fire.
Its attack power wasn't high. The flame spurts were small clusters even ordinary people could pat out. But creating a new magical creature accidentally was cause for celebration.
He drew some blood with a syringe, then returned it to the fireplace.
Seeing only one fire lizard, he decided to find it a companion. Using the same method, he transformed another lizard.
Watching the two begin courting after initial contact left him somewhat dumbfounded, then expectant. If they could reproduce, his efforts wouldn't be wasted.
He stopped watching them make offspring and continued experimenting.
Since fire lizards died outside flames 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 come closer! I'm scared! I'm very venomous, you know! Don't force me!"
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 become powerful and live longer? Look at those lizards now, living in fire!"
The small-brained snake was confused, remembering only "becoming stronger," and somehow nodded agreement.
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 fragment. 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 flames at the snake.
Engulfed, it absorbed the fire eagerly like heavenly rain. Then it transformed, shedding its burning skin while new gray-white scales emerged, eyes glowing red as if flames 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 tremendous heat to burn enemies?"
Kael was momentarily 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 time, so I have no idea what I'm doing. I just happened to meet a handsome 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 flames 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 flames. 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.