Since other than the rabbit we skipped lunch I make a fire and start cooking some drake steaks. This action instantly gets me the full attention of both Lizzy and Asuna. As soon as the steaks are over the fire the two of them start drooling as they stare intently.

It is funny watching how the two of them flinch every time a drop of fat falls into the fire. I can't really blame them, nothing I have found in this world can compare to the taste of drake meat. That is why I have been being stingy with it, so that it will last longer.

As soon as the drake meat is cooked I dish it out and we all happily dig in. Lizzy and Asuna are happy with just the meat, but I pull out some side dishes for myself. After devouring every scrap of food we all sit around being lazy, mainly because we are too full to move.

In the end we end up sleeping without moving from where we are, but it is still pleasant. In the morning I only prepare a light breakfast before we move out. Lizzy takes off at top speed as soon as I am mounted and Asuna has hold of her tail.

Since we are heading for Illium instead of the tower we have a much easier path ahead of us. It is mostly plains with only the occasional hill in the way, meaning Lizzy can stay at top speed. Since Lizzy has everything under control I spend my time planning out the procedure to use on Myria.

The hardest part is going to be keeping her alive as I replace her heart. Using resurrection on her is going to be a last ditch option because I am not sure if it will undo everything. It might just restore her to how she is supposed to be, meaning no core and her original heart.

While that is better than her being dead, it means having to start over with the procedure. At that point I would have to use the simpler procedure, I am not sure I can reproduce what happened with Myria. So I am going to do everything I can to keep from having to start over.

Between the strange core and this new heart it is entirely possible that Myria will end up much stronger than normal beastmen. Even those going through the other procedure might not be able to compete with Myria. I am pretty sure that result would be exactly what Myria is hoping for.

With Lizzy moving at top speed and only taking a short break for lunch we cover a huge amount of ground. By the time we stop to camp for the night I estimate that we are only a few hours away from Illium. As long as nothing strange happens we should be there by lunch time.

As soon as I think that, I worry that I just jinxed myself, but luckily that doesn't end up being the case. We arrive in Illium with no problems, about an hour before lunch. Asuna is excited beyond description at being in Illium for the first time.

So, instead of going straight to the inn, I have Lizzy wander around the city so that Asuna can see everything. Then we return to the inn and after settling Lizzy in her stable I take Asuna inside. Before heading upstairs I introduce Asuna to Sarah and request lunch to be sent up.

Asuna and I have a nice quiet lunch together before using the portal to return to the tower. As soon as she recovers from the teleporter Asuna runs off to find Kechara and tell her about her adventures. Meanwhile I head straight to the experiment room to check on Myria.

Yui says "Welcome back, Ash. Were you successful?"

"Yes, I have the heart!"

Yui says "That's great! Are you going to perform the transplant now?"

"Yes, after I have a word with Seronia."

Yui says "Understood! Is there anything you need?"

"I will need the scan and image again. Other than that, no."

Yui says "Alright, everything is ready then!"

"Seronia, is there a way you can unfreeze just her heart and the area around it?"

Seronia says "Not with this spell, it is only on or off."

"Okay, what I need is a way to keep her alive while I replace her heart. Any ideas?"

Seronia says "Well, there is a way I can do that, but she would be awake."

"Yeah, I don't want to do that. I don't want Myria to be able to feel me cutting into her and removing her heart."

Nived says "Maybe I can be of assistance?"

"Nived! I haven't seen you in a while!"

Nived says "Yeah, sorry. I was in a mage trial when you returned to the tower."

"Oh? How are your studies going?"

Nived says "Great! Yui now acknowledges me as a proper mage!"

"Already? Good going!"

Nived says "Thank you!"

"So, you say you can help?"

Nived says "If Seronia will release control of her spell to me, yes. I can manually unfreeze one area while holding the rest of the spell stable."

"Seronia, are you okay with this?"

Seronia says "Sure, I'm curious to see what he is going to do!"

"Seronia agrees."

Nived says "Then, when do we start?"

"Right now!"

Nived follows me into the experiment room where Myria is still completely frozen. Yui puts up the image showing the inside of Myria's body and at my request zooms in on the heart. Then at my request Seronia gives control of her stasis spell over to Nived.

Nived says "Where should we start?"

"First, can you shrink the spell to just her body?"

Nived says "Sure, give me a second. What's next?"

"Hold on, I need to lay her down and take her clothes off."

Yui says "If you take her clothes off I will tell her!"

"Go ahead, she will probably be happy that I saw her naked, again."

Core says "He is right, Yui."

Yui says "Fine! Continue."

Once Nived modifies the spell I lay Myria down, she was sitting up, and take her top off. Then I have Nived unfreeze the area of her chest and then I carefully cut it open using my claw. In order to get to her heart I have to do a lot of damage, including going through her rib cage.

Luckily my claws are sharp enough to go through bone, but it is still a messy process. As I work I insert my sacred power into Myria's body around the heart to keep it stable. Once I have the heart exposed I carefully sever the veins and arteries.

Then I carefully remove Myria's heart and set it aside, then I take the new heart out of my pouch. As soon as I do I breathe a sigh of relief, the rabbit's life force hasn't decreased at all! However, there is a slight problem, the hearts are not identical, I am going to have to modify some things.