My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 241: Risky Operation

"Hm, my grandfather thinks you're well enough to go through with the 'purge'? What's that about?" Lilly asked with a confused but serene voice.

"Oh, it's nothing." Kace coughed to cover up his embarrassment. Due to his being entranced by Lilly, he had completely forgotten about his original objective that landed him in this mess in the first place. Seeing that Elderbeard had not informed her himself, Kace believed it was appropriate to keep his mouth shut about the matter.

"Really?" Lilly narrowed her eyes at him. She could tell he was evasive with his answer, but she decided not to pursue the matter. "Well, he says he'll be by shortly to discuss the matter with you."

Kace felt a sense of excitement swelling up in his chest. Elderbeard had never told him how to perform a purge or his class advancement. From the sounds of it, the elderly Treant had a solution for how to go about removing a DNA chain. Which made sense now that he knew Lilly's backstory. Since the Treant race manipulated DNA when creating offspring, then they would obviously have a viable method.

His good mood was shattered when he suddenly realised that Lilly had left without saying another word to him. 'Was she offended that I didn't share the details about the purge with her?' Kace silently hoped this was not the case. He imagined that it would be quite difficult to see her again if she did not want to see him.

Kace's mind shifted to another dilemma. Although Vaskra was a solid no, Sophia would have been a viable contender if it had not been for her disastrous first impression. Despite that, he still felt as if he had been getting closer to her recently. Maybe in time, he would be able to look at her as a love interest, instead of just enjoying the view.

However, Lilly was basically the proverbial spanner in the works. She was gorgeous, easy to talk to, had a bright personality, and he felt at ease around her. 'I have a feeling that if I were still human, I would have already confessed to her.' Kace sighed as he thought about the problem he was facing. Since there were women in this world that he actually found attractive, he had no intentions of being celibate for his whole life here.

'It's still too soon to consider these things. There's still a lot to do, and I don't know their customs. One wrong move and I could be saddled with someone for life. Unless I'm certain about the woman, I choose I need to avoid letting that from ever happening.' He suddenly baulked when he remembered how close he came to being 'hitched' to Vaskra without realising.

"You're awake. Good." Elderbeard's ancient voice echoed in the hollowed-out chamber as his face occupied the hole used as the door.

"Thanks. For everything that you've done." Kace replied respectfully. This was the first time that he had seen Elderbeard since he regained full consciousness. He would definitely be thankful to the one responsible for his recovery! The eye candy had nothing to do with his attitude. Not at all!

"It's but a small matter." Elderbeard smiled warmly at the young Chimera. "Now, we need to discuss your operation."

"What operation?" Kace yelped. He imagined his body cut open to deal with some complication that he was not aware of. "I thought you told Lilly that I had basically recovered!"

Elderbeard's eyes went wide at suddenly being rebuked by the youth. However, barely a minute passed before he started laughing!

"It's a misunderstanding!" Elderbeard continued to laugh. "I was referring to your purge!"

Kace relaxed a bit when he heard that, but he was still slightly on guard. He did not like the term operation being used. It implied there would be risks. Kace had assumed that he would be able to perform a purge through some magical means.

"So, how do we do it then?" 

"Ah, right. Forgive me." Elderbeard settled himself down to appear dignified. "I must warn you, even though you've probably already guessed, this will be dangerous."

Kace stared at him for a long moment. It got to the point that Elderbeard wondered if Kace was having second thoughts. He was just about to reassure him when Kace cut him short.

"No matter what, I have to do this. Just explain the procedure to me so that I know what I'm getting into."

Elderbeard studied him for a moment. Kace's voice and stare were resolute. The ancient Treant nodded his head in satisfaction. This was the mindset he would need for the purge to be successful. He had to be ready to die to gain more power!

"Much of the success of this purge will rely on how strong your mind is. It will be painful, beyond anything you can imagine. So you have to stay strong, don't let it break you mentally." Elderbeard warned him with a severe tone.

Kace's face grew even more solemn. He had experienced some pretty painful things, so that was nothing new to him. However, he had a feeling he was grossly underestimating the pain that Elderbeard was talking about. So he could not afford to be casual about it. He nodded his head to signal for him to continue.

"While you were unconscious Lilly drained a blood sample from you for me to study it. After absorbing it into my own body through my roots, I was able to detect the different chains that make up your body. After experimenting a bit, I came up with a solution."

Kace felt as if this sounded familiar. If he was right then, he did not like the sound of it at all.

"Here's what I propose. I'll directly pierce your skin with my roots and filter your blood into my body. From there, I'll remove the undesired chain and eject it from a different root into the earth. Meanwhile, I'll pump the now 'clean' blood back into your system. It will obviously take some time to fully remove all traces of it. What are your thoughts?"

Kace silently swore to himself. It was exactly what he was afraid of. 'Blood transfusion.' This was the closest term he could use. Since technically, the blood that would re-enter would not strictly be the same. In his mind, the term 'clean' that Elderbeard used was inappropriate. With a stoic expression, he gave his answer.

"When do we begin?"