Lu Yuan quickened his pace.
The corridor grew increasingly dark, and an indescribable sense of oppression permeated the air.
As they neared the exit, Lu Yuan suddenly came to a halt.
In the shadows ahead stood a figure.
Deep blue robes shimmered with a dull luster in the dim light.
It wasn't Calvin.
It was another Alchemy Department mentor.
A man in his forties with a gloomy face and deep-set eye sockets, his gaze fixed on them like a venomous snake.
At the edge of Lu Yuan's vision, greyish-white text slowly surfaced.
【Target Observed: Alchemy Department mentor (under eerie pollution)】
【Transcendent Pathway: Eerie Pathway】
【Status: A poor wretch eroded by the eerie; more than one soul lives in his body.】
Lu Yuan's gaze darkened slightly.
The Eerie Pathway.
"Miss Laurina."
The mentor spoke, his voice raspy.
"Your mentor is very worried about you. Come back with me."
Lu Yuan stepped in front of Laurina, presenting the silver medal.
"Authorization from the principal," he said calmly. "She does not need to return."
The mentor glanced at the medal, a cold sneer pulling at the corners of his mouth.
"I'm afraid not, Nightwatcher. Within the Polymath Tower, you have no authority to stop a mentor from recalling a student."
His gaze lingered on Lu Yuan for a moment, tinged with contempt.
"Besides... it's just you?"
The mentor shook his head as if mocking something.
"The Nightwatchers are as arrogant as ever. Sending a conscripted field doctor to escort a target? Aren't you afraid of something going wrong?"
Lu Yuan did not answer.
The mentor's gaze shifted to Laurina, his eyes becoming somewhat playful.
"Come back with me. There are things back there much more suited for you."
His voice was slow and deliberate, as if he were savoring a rare treasure.
"With your talent, it would be a colossal waste not to participate."
He paused, his tone becoming meaningful.
"If you stop here, you can still return with me. Your mentor won't make things difficult for you."
Laurina's body tensed slightly, but she remained silent.
Lu Yuan stood firm before her, raising the silver medal once more.
"Authorization from the principal."
"You really only know that one phrase."
The smile vanished from the mentor's face.
"That thing might work on Mentor Calvin, but with me..."
He spread his hands, his tone turning icy.
"Apologies, I don't recognize it."
In the next second, an abnormal aura began to surge from him.
A sickening ripple spread from within his body.
Something was writhing beneath his skin.
Then, eyeballs began to sprout from his arms, his neck, and even his cheeks.
Dense and numerous, they covered every inch of his exposed skin.
Those eyes snapped open simultaneously, all of them staring at Lu Yuan and Laurina.
The power of an eerie transcendent began to release.
"Oh, so this is an eerie intrusion into the Polymath Tower. The Nightwatchers have the right to kill."
"Heh, are you a fool?"
Just then, a small bottle flew out from behind him.
It was Laurina.
At some unknown point, she had pulled a glass bottle from her robes and hurled it at the mentor.
The bottle shattered in front of him, releasing a cloud of greyish-white gas.
The moment the gas spread, the eyeballs on the mentor's body all shuddered.
Then, they began to shrivel.
The mentor's transcendent release was instantly interrupted.
His expression changed drastically as he looked at Laurina in disbelief.
"You—"
"Eerie inhibitor," Laurina's voice came from behind Lu Yuan, carrying a hint of coldness. "Specially designed for the Eerie Pathway."
Then she whispered to Lu Yuan, "Run, quickly!"
However, Lu Yuan didn't move at all.
The mentor's expression twisted for a moment before returning to a dark gloom.
"Good, very good."
His voice dropped low, carrying suppressed fury.
"As expected of Miss Laurina, you truly live up to your reputation. To carry such a thing with you... it seems you've been on guard against us for a long time."
The shriveled eyeballs struggled under the pressure of the potion, and a few were already starting to reopen.
"A pity."
The mentor's mouth pulled into a gruesome arc.
"It's only an inhibitor!"
He was right.
The greyish-white gas was dissipating rapidly.
The trembling of the eyeballs grew less frequent, and several had already resumed turning, staring toward Lu Yuan and Laurina.
"Ten seconds? Fifteen?"
The mentor took a step forward, the eyes on his body opening wider and wider.
"Once this stuff wears off, I'll show you the consequences of provoking a transcendent of the Eerie Pathway."
He looked at Lu Yuan with nothing but disdain in his gaze.
"Especially you, Nightwatcher. A mere conscripted doctor dares to stand in my way?"
Lu Yuan didn't speak.
Because the Timekeeper at his chest had already begun to turn.
"I'll count to three. Get out of the way now!"
The mentor's voice became frigid.
"One..."
"For attacking a Nightwatcher, you can die."
Deprivation.
An invisible ripple spread from the pocket watch.
The air stagnated.
With the mentor at its center, a distorted domain quietly took shape.
The mentor's movements froze.
He felt it.
The world had changed.
The air became viscous, as if he were submerged in deep water.
His limbs felt impossibly heavy.
And in his chest, a sharp pain flared.
It was the sensation of a heart withering.
He looked down, staring at his chest in disbelief.
His heart was still beating.
But every pulse was a struggle, as if something were draining its life force.
Those eyeballs widened simultaneously, then quickly dimmed, like grapes being drained of moisture, shriveling one by one.
"How... is this... possible..."
The mentor's voice barely squeezed out of his throat.
He lifted his head, his gaze falling on Lu Yuan, his eyes filled with absolute disbelief.
"You're clearly just a..."
He didn't get to finish.
His hands clutched his chest, and his body suddenly stiffened.
The expression on his face froze.
It was a mask of terror, confusion, and a blankness that remained unresolved even in death.
Then, his body fell straight back.
A dull thud echoed through the empty corridor.
At the edge of Lu Yuan's vision, the greyish-white text jumped violently.
【Sanity: -80... 40/120】
Lu Yuan's body swayed slightly.
The world before him grew blurred, and a wave of dizziness surged from deep within his mind.
He took a deep breath, suppressing the rising discomfort, and turned to look at Laurina.
Laurina stood where she was, her gaze fixed on the corpse on the floor.
No wounds, no blood.
The mentor lay there quietly, as if he had simply dropped dead.
Lu Yuan had expected her to be afraid, to scream, or at least to turn pale.
But she didn't.
Her expression had changed.
It wasn't fear or panic.
It was a pure, irrepressible curiosity.
Her eyes sparked slightly as her gaze moved from the corpse to Lu Yuan.
Then it moved back to the corpse, scanning back and forth as if trying to analyze what had just happened.
Looking at her expression, a subtle feeling flashed through Lu Yuan's mind.
This girl...
"Let's go."
He didn't say more, turning to head for the exit.
Laurina withdrew her gaze and followed quickly.
The two crossed the final stretch of the corridor and reached the outer exit.
The night wind blew against them, carrying a damp scent.
It had begun to rain.
A pitter-patter of raindrops fell from the darkness, striking the stone pavement with a delicate sound.
Several carriages were parked at the exit.
No drivers, no guards—they just sat there silently, as if prepared specifically for certain people.
But not everyone was able to leave smoothly.
Not far away, Lu Yuan saw several figures blocked at a corner of the corridor.
A Nightwatcher was protecting two students, surrounded by three mentors in deep blue robes.
The two sides were in a standoff, the atmosphere thick with tension.
"We should hide..." Laurina whispered.
Lu Yuan gave Laurina a somewhat surprised look.
He had expected her to ask if they should help them.
Of course, they couldn't help them anyway.
With only 40 Sanity remaining, the world before him was already beginning to warp slightly.
He had to leave first.
"Let's go."
Lu Yuan's tone was calm but carried an air of absolute authority.
"We aren't hiding..."
Laurina glanced over there and bit her lip.
Then she decisively followed Lu Yuan toward the carriages.
The rain grew heavier.
Lu Yuan walked quickly to the nearest carriage and pulled open the door.
"Get in."
Laurina didn't hesitate, lifting her skirt and climbing into the cabin.
Lu Yuan closed the door, vaulted onto the driver's seat, and grabbed the reins.
The horse seemed to have been waiting for this moment; as soon as he gave the reins a light flick, it immediately set off, its hooves thundering forward.
The carriage sped through the rain.
The sound of raindrops drumming against the carriage roof was a steady rustle.
Behind them, the silhouette of the Polymath Tower gradually blurred in the rain curtain.
Lu Yuan held the reins, his eyes fixed ahead.
He only had 40 Sanity left.
He could feel a faint dizziness lingering in his mind.
Things that shouldn't exist began to appear at the edges of his vision.
He saw countless inexplicable words constantly rising from the main tower of the Polymath Tower.
As if drawn by some force, they flew toward the pitch-black sky and dissipated into the rain.
Those words twisted and deformed, struggling in the air like living things.
They're just hallucinations.
Lu Yuan told himself.
He took a deep breath, forcing his gaze back to the road ahead.
He reached into his robes and pulled out a small bottle.
This was a Sanity potion that the Nightwatchers had distributed to everyone two days ago.
Lu Yuan pulled the cork and tilted his head back to drink.
As the potion entered his mouth, a cool sensation slid down his throat and into his stomach.
His originally chaotic thoughts cleared slightly.
The distorted hallucinations at the edges of his vision began to fade.
While they didn't disappear completely, they were at least no longer so vivid.
【Sanity: +8... 48/120 (Total)】
Lu Yuan stretched his neck and tossed the empty bottle aside.
He felt much better.
Though it was still low, it was at least enough to hold out until he found a safe place to rest.
"I didn't realize you were so powerful."
Laurina's voice came from behind him.
Lu Yuan didn't look back, but he could hear the tone in her voice—it wasn't fear, but curiosity.
"What kind of ability did you use just now?"
Her voice drifted through the carriage curtain, carrying an irrepressible thirst for knowledge.
"That mentor... it was like he just suddenly died. No wounds, no blood, he just collapsed. Is it a time-elemental ability? Or some kind of curse?"
"Wait, no. A curse would be hard to use against the eerie, and time is even more impossible."
Lu Yuan remained silent for a few seconds.
"We'll talk about it later."
Laurina didn't press him.
But Lu Yuan knew she wouldn't give up.
Once that thirst for knowledge was ignited, it was hard to extinguish.
He was also curious about the formula for the bottle Laurina had thrown—that eerie inhibitor that could instantly suppress a transcendent release from the Eerie Pathway.
"That potion of yours, the eerie inhibitor—did you make it yourself?"
The carriage went silent for a moment.
Then Laurina's light laughter drifted out.
"In a way. The original formula belonged to my mentor, but I improved it."
"How much more do you have?"
"Enough."
Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow.
Laurina was no helpless young lady who knew nothing.
She was a student of the Alchemy Department, and a genius-level one at that.
Who knew how many strange alchemical products she had tucked away in her robes?
No wonder she had dared to come looking for him alone that night.
She had her own cards to play.
The carriage continued forward through the rainy night.
Rainwater streamed down the edges of the carriage roof, gathering into small rivulets on the ground.
The silhouette of the Polymath Tower had completely vanished into the darkness behind them.
Lu Yuan held the reins, his eyes fixed on the road ahead, blurred by the rain.
The business at the Polymath Tower was over for now.
But he knew this was only the beginning.
The people from the imperial headquarters would arrive tomorrow.
And he had killed an Alchemy Department mentor.
More trouble was coming.
Rate on N.U.
