The next morning.
The first thing Lin Ling felt when she woke up was that someone was watching her.
And it wasn't just one person.
With her eyes closed and her body still buried under the covers, her brain had already sounded the alarm.
Something was wrong.
This feeling was familiar.
Very familiar.
Yesterday, she had been carried to the experimental field along with her blanket while she was still dreaming.
That terrifying experience of opening her eyes only to find she had changed maps was something Lin Ling felt she would never forget in her life.
So, she snapped her eyes open.
Then she froze on the spot.
A circle of people stood by the bed.
Ivelia, Aliviel, Baroque, Phelan...
There were even a few demon guards whose names she didn't know.
Everyone was looking at her quietly.
Lin Ling: “...”
She slowly looked down.
She saw that she was still in bed.
The blanket was still on her.
The room was still her own room.
The curtains were half-open, and the morning light streamed in from outside, shining on her platinum-blonde hair.
She hadn't appeared in the experimental field.
She wasn't being held aloft by magic.
Lin Ling was silent for three seconds.
Then she slowly let out a sigh of relief.
“Good.”
“I'm still at the save point.”
Everyone: “...”
Aliviel couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
“Save point? That's a strange way to put it.”
Lin Ling pulled the blanket tighter and looked at them very seriously.
“This is a very important matter.”
“When a person wakes up, they must confirm whether they've been respawned on a strange map.”
Baroque snorted coldly.
“Yesterday was a special case.”
Lin Ling looked at him.
“Lord Baroque.”
“Those words sound very unconvincing coming from you.”
Baroque: “...”
Lin Ling then looked at the circle of people in the room, her expression growing wary.
“So...”
“What are you all doing standing around my bed so early in the morning?”
She paused, then suddenly hugged the blanket tightly.
“Let me state this first.”
“If you're planning to carry me away with my blanket again today, I will protest.”
Phelan said calmly:
“There is no transport plan.”
Lin Ling looked at him suspiciously.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Is there a gentle transport plan?”
Phelan was silent for a moment.
“Not for the time being.”
Lin Ling: “...”
“The phrase 'for the time being' is very dangerous!”
Niya quickly stepped forward and said in a small voice:
“It's not like that, Miss Saintess.”
“Everyone just wanted to come and see you.”
Lin Ling blinked.
“See me?”
Niya nodded.
She clasped her hands in front of her, her voice very soft.
“You did something amazing yesterday.”
“Food actually grew in the experimental field.”
“Another batch matured last night.”
“Lord Phelan said the Holy Light Stasis is still stable and there's nothing wrong with the slow-release domain ore.”
“Everyone wanted to tell you sooner.”
“But...”
Niya looked at Lin Ling's messy hair, then at the way she was still huddled under the covers.
Her voice grew even softer.
“But you must have been very tired yesterday.”
“No one had the heart to wake you up.”
The room fell silent for a moment.
Lin Ling's grip on the blanket slowly loosened a little.
She blinked.
“So you all just stood here watching me sleep?”
Cecil said with a smile:
“To be precise, we were confirming that Miss Saintess hadn't entered a strange state because of yesterday's experiment.”
Lin Ling became alert.
“What kind of strange state?”
Cecil drawled:
“Like leaves growing out of your head.”
Lin Ling: “...”
She looked at Phelan expressionlessly.
“Lord Phelan, doesn't a statement like that need to be recorded?”
Phelan said indifferently:
“Cecil's daily remarks have no recording value.”
Cecil: “Hey.”
Lin Ling was immediately moved.
“Lord Phelan, you've finally started using your recording power correctly.”
Phelan looked down and wrote a line on his recording board.
——Lin Ling's mental state is good after waking; she still possesses her normal capacity for snark.
Lin Ling: “...”
She regretted her words very quickly.
Ivelia stood not far from the bed, looking at her.
“Do you feel unwell anywhere?”
Lin Ling was taken aback.
She carefully checked her own condition.
No headache.
Her limbs weren't weak.
The bloated feeling from having too much magic yesterday had disappeared.
Aside from being a bit dazed from just waking up and having a slightly empty stomach, she was basically fine.
So she shook her head.
“No.”
“I'm just a bit hungry. I haven't had breakfast yet, hehe.”
Everyone: “...”
Aliviel laughed.
“That's the same as always.”
Lin Ling scratched her cheek sheepishly.
Ivelia watched her for a while, as if finally confirming she was truly alright, before nodding slightly.
“Wash up first.”
“The kitchen has prepared breakfast for you.”
Lin Ling's eyes lit up.
“Is it soft bread?”
Niya nodded with a smile.
“Yes.”
“The experimental field harvested a bit more grain last night, so there is soft bread this morning.”
Lin Ling slowly covered her chest.
“To wake up to such news.”
“Is this what happiness feels like?”
Cecil laughed.
“Miss Saintess's happiness is so easily satisfied.”
Lin Ling looked at him seriously.
“No.”
“You don't understand.”
“This is the salvation of the morning.”
Baroque's temple throbbed.
“Didn't you just say yesterday that minced meat soup was a milestone of civilization?”
“Civilization can have many milestones,” Lin Ling said without hesitation.
“Soft bread is agricultural civilization.”
“Minced meat soup is spiritual civilization.”
Everyone: “...”
Phelan looked down to record.
Lin Ling was immediately alert.
“What are you writing?”
“Agricultural civilization and spiritual civilization.”
“Don't record that!”
After washing up, Lin Ling sat at the table eating breakfast.
There was indeed soft bread for breakfast.
Though it was only a small piece.
But it was enough to make her radiate an aura of “the world is worth it.”
She nibbled on the bread while looking at Phelan.
The ideas she had thought of last night were still swirling in her head.
Holy Light Stasis device.
Automatic operation.
Mass-producing domain cores.
Expanding the experimental fields.
Low-mana cultivation zones.
These terms spun around in her mind, making it hard for her to even focus on savoring the soft bread.
This was serious.
For Lin Ling, anything that could distract her from eating soft bread was definitely a big deal.
So she swallowed the bread and looked at Phelan.
“Lord Phelan.”
Phelan looked up.
“What is it?”
Lin Ling put down the bread, her expression unusually serious.
“I thought about it last night.”
“If I have to personally crouch at every experimental field to maintain the Holy Light Stasis, the efficiency is too low.”
The atmosphere in the room changed slightly.
Phelan put down his recording board.
“Continue.”
Lin Ling raised her hand and drew a circle on the table with her fingertip.
“Holy Light Stasis has several characteristics now.”
“First, it can restrict magic flow.”
“Second, it won't be crushed by a high-mana environment; instead, it absorbs external magic to reinforce itself.”
“Third, when compressed to a very small area and infused with a large amount of magic, it can form a materialized domain core.”
“Fourth, the domain core can store magic and also slowly release it through structural adjustments.”
Phelan did not interrupt her.
His gaze grew more and more focused.
Lin Ling continued:
“So, is it possible for us to make the Holy Light Stasis maintain itself?”
“Let it automatically absorb the excess surrounding magic to maintain the Holy Light Stasis, and then release that absorbed magic to the plants bit by bit through the slow-release domain ore.”
She thought for a moment and added:
“Simply put, a low-mana cultivation device.”
Phelan looked down at the words he had just recorded and was silent for a moment.
Then he said:
“Theoretically, it is feasible.”
Lin Ling's eyes widened immediately.
“Really?”
Phelan nodded.
“The fact that Holy Light Stasis can absorb external magic to reinforce itself is extremely critical.”
“The biggest problem in the demon territories is the excess of magic.”
“If the Holy Light Stasis structure can use that excess magic to maintain itself, then it won't require a large amount of additional magic stones.”
“It could even, in turn, become the first layer of the structure for purifying the land.”
Lin Ling nodded quickly.
“Yes!”
“That's exactly it!”
Phelan continued:
“But the problems are also obvious.”
Lin Ling's body stiffened.
“Like what?”
Phelan held up one finger.
“First, the domain core is unstable.”
“When you were making the domain core yesterday, there was a risk of a critical explosion.”
He held up a second finger.
“Second, if domain cores are mass-produced, any structural imbalance in even one could trigger an explosion.”
Third finger.
“Third, there is currently no evidence that the domain core can remain stable for long periods once it leaves your direct control.”
Fourth finger.
“Fourth, Holy Light Stasis has holy light properties; whether demon magic circles can be compatible still needs to be tested.”
Fifth finger.
“Fifth, after large-scale deployment, if multiple Holy Light Stasis structures interfere with each other, it could cause the magic flow to become unbalanced.”
Lin Ling's face grew stiffer as she listened.
“That's a lot of problems.”
Phelan nodded calmly.
“It is.”
Then he paused.
“But it is worth testing.”
Lin Ling's eyes lit up again.
“Then let's go try?”
Baroque immediately frowned.
“Now?”
Lin Ling looked at him.
“I've finished my breakfast.”
Baroque: “...”
Ivelia looked at Lin Ling.
“Are you sure your body is fine?”
Lin Ling nodded.
“It's fine.”
“I was only mentally tired yesterday.”
“I feel much better after a night's sleep.”
Aliviel narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Are you sure it's not just so you can expand the experimental fields sooner and eat more soft bread?”
Lin Ling paused.
“Well...”
Cecil laughed:
“She went silent.”
Niya let out a small giggle.
Lin Ling cleared her throat.
“The soft bread is just a bonus.”
She paused, then added:
“Of course, it's a very important bonus.”
Ivelia watched her for a moment.
Finally, she said, “To the experimental field.”
Rate on N.U.
