Softly whistling to myself, I moved the captured Sasquatch over to a slightly different part of the mountain, somewhat close to our shelter but not right next to it. I had no plans to take the Sasquatch home until I knew the others wouldn’t be able to track her somehow. I had seen multiple abilities connecting members of a community in unseen ways and had no desire to have a gang of them show up on our doorstep. Sure, we would almost certainly be able to kill them all, but killing these fairly interesting creatures just because I messed up didn’t sit right with me. It would be such a waste.

A few gestures to focus my Astral Power in the way I wanted and the rocky cliff I had chosen for this laboratory rippled, almost like water, and smoothly flowed away, allowing me to reshape it to my heart’s desire. In this case, that meant I shifted the stone away, forming a short hallway before turning the very stone I had just shifted into something resembling an automatic door, only that this one wasn’t operated by a sensor and some electric motors but by my magic. Then, I stepped into the opening I had just created and continued shifting stone aside, forming a short hallway and, at the end of it, a pair of rooms, each going in a different direction. One room was for my personal use and as a base to expand this place later, the other was to house my freshly acquired Sasquatch.

Because it was meant to house a potentially hostile creature, the second room was deliberately made incredibly sturdy, its thick walls lined with crystal formations to increase its durability by an order of magnitude. It wasn’t quite as strong as reinforced concrete, but given that the wall’s thickness was, at its thinnest point, measured in multiple metres, I doubted any creature without strong Earth Magic could break out. And even if the Sasquatch managed, I was fairly certain she would make enough noise to wake the dead, allowing me to either intercede with her attempt or retreat and just let her go if that seemed to be the better part of valour.

A few more flexes of my power, and I had a solid stone table sitting in the room meant to hold the Sasquatch on which I placed my latest acquisition with a bit of care, unwilling to damage her further. I already needed to heal her just to make sure she was in good shape for later experiments, so there was no need to make my job harder than necessary.

Once she was placed, I decided to take a closer look now that I had all the time in the world to study this specimen. First were the obvious physical traits, especially the alterations to what once was human anatomy. I had already known that Sasquatch had a somewhat awkward, hunched-over gait, using their long arms to aid with balance but now, I also knew that they deliberately walked on their knuckles, allowing them to keep their fingers folded back to protect some wicked-looking claws tipping their fingers, each about two centimetres in length. A few tests confirmed that they didn’t just look wicked; they were incredibly sharp and anchored to their bones, meaning these claws could readily tear through flesh, even if there was no magical enhancement, something I wasn’t willing to bet on.

Additionally, I noticed that the Sasquatch had a fair amount of muscles, not that these truly conveyed its strength. Still, the pronounced musculature gave the impression of physical power and prowess, something I had already noticed while observing them. A better indicator of the Sasquatch’s strength was her level, which an Observe told me was at forty-six. Nothing to write home about, though it would be interesting to see if other attributes of theirs were as overpowered as their Intuition had to be in order to give them the extraordinary senses they had demonstrated. To be able to detect both Lia and myself while we were trying to conceal ourselves, at least if we were too close, was a feat few beings could accomplish.

The Sasquatch’s eyes were also a curiosity. Before, while she had been awake, her eyes had held the flames indicative of Shattered and similar creatures, only with a different hue. Now, while she was unconscious, the flames were almost entirely gone, leaving only a darkened pit with a gleaming ember sitting in the middle. Looking through my Magical Sight revealed that the ember was leaking out trace amounts of Ice Magic, making me curious about the being’s actual magical affinities.

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Which moved the initial examination from the physical to the magical, or rather, from her body to her soul. Thanks to my Soul Sight, I could easily study her soul and quickly noticed the obvious similarities and differences between her and a usual Shattered.

Where a Shattered’s soul was, well, Shattered, that’s likely where they got their name. The Soul of this Sasquatch had obviously been shattered in the past but had partially reassembled into something that might be called a coherent whole. If one were honest, calling it a jumbled mess would likely be closer to the truth. Sure, the pieces mostly fit together, but I had a feeling that it was because they had morphed to fit, possibly discarding pieces that didn’t fit. This might be why these Sasquatch had demonstrated intelligence at the level of a simple primate. The morphing of their souls had regressed them to that point.

Just from looking at her Soul, I could tell that this Sasquatch had a strong affinity to Ice, alongside some affinity to Wind and Earth, making me quite curious about what she might be able to do with it. I also made a note to add some rune formations to her cell to prevent foreign magic from morphing them. Otherwise, she might be able to shift enough stone to open the door, something I wasn’t willing to risk. Not that I thought it likely, while she did have the affinity for Earth Magic, her overall magical potential was somewhat low.

Sure, there were ways to improve that potential, but some of the experiments performed by Luna and me did just that, as did a few traits I had come across. Those weren’t things I had to worry about in this context.

Finally, once I was happy that I had gathered enough information about the test subject and managed her injuries, Blood Magic wasn’t all that good at mending broken bones; I rearranged the room a little before walking out. I had no idea if the Sasquatch could recognise a bed or any of the simple accommodations I made from stone, but it would be interesting to see. Plus, with the furniture directly connected to the stone, I didn’t have to worry about it turning into an improvised weapon. Additionally, there were scrying constructs, for once not shaped into the form of Ravens, sitting in the four corners of the cell, allowing me to keep observing the creature with ease. Just in case something interesting happened here.

Once I was outside the cell, I lifted the magic, keeping the Sasquatch unconscious before walking back into the daylight. There, I once again made sure that I left no traces and kept moving, making my way back to the shelter where Luna was likely waiting for me.

As I was slowly floating through the air, I could see movement through my connection with the scrying constructs, allowing me to observe the Sasquatch as she woke up. The initial reaction was curiously slow, but then, all of a sudden, she started to move with startling alacrity. Despite my treatment of her injuries and the splints still in place, I couldn’t believe it was comfortable to almost leap across the room and into one of the corners, huddling against the wall, likely in an effort to protect her vulnerable back.

Then, maybe once the Sasquatch realised she was alone in the room, she began to check the splints and the cast on her leg, sniffing them, prodding them with her claws, but, curiously, she didn’t try to get them off, at least not at this point. Maybe the Sasquatch was more intelligent than I believed her to be.

Next, after prodding, sniffing and even licking the Hard Ice I used to make the splints, she started to carefully investigate the rest of her cell, moving with deliberate care to avoid worsening her injuries. The different pieces of furniture were sniffed, scratched and licked, just like the splints had been, and each wall was carefully investigated, too.

But, despite it looking like she recognised the door for what it was, she certainly spent a lot more time investigating that piece of stone; she didn’t try to break it, making me, once again, question her intelligence.

Finally, as the Sasquatch was back in one of the corners, sitting there in a somewhat comfortable position, I got back to the shelter.

“So, what did you find out?” Luna asked; the scrying pool she had been looking through now abandoned.

“Well, we have a new test subject. We’ll have to see just how intelligent that Sasquatch is, or maybe it’s Sasquatch in general. But either way, there’s science to be done,” I grinned widely, a grin mirrored on Luna’s face. Neither of us could wait to find out just what made a Sasquatch tick and, maybe more importantly, how they had come to be in the first place. What made them different from ordinary Shattered, and how did that difference come about in the first place?