Lu Yuan had no idea how long he had slept.
He had woken up once in the middle of it, his throat parched.
He fumbled for the flask by his bedside and gulped down a few mouthfuls; the water was a bit cold, carrying the distinct astringent taste of a copper container.
Then Lu Yuan collapsed back onto the bed.
This sleep was deep.
Undisturbed, his consciousness felt as if it had sunk into a deep well—utterly void.
When he opened his eyes again, the angle of the light filtering through the gaps in the curtains was already low.
It was afternoon.
And it wasn't the same afternoon he had gone to sleep on.
Lu Yuan stared at that beam of light for a couple of seconds, gauging the state of his body.
His mind was much clearer; the chaotic haze that followed a period of continuous high pressure had finally receded.
The greyish-white text at the edge of his vision was clear and stable, the patterns on the copper walls no longer writhed, and there were no superfluous hallucinations.
【Sanity: 79/120】
Looking at his Sanity value, Lu Yuan instantly realized he must have slept for two days.
‘Much better.’
Lu Yuan sat up and stretched. The window faced north, offering a view of the branch's inner courtyard.
The courtyard was quiet. In the distance, two Nightwatchers were on routine patrol, their footsteps steady and unhurried, no different from usual.
No one had come to knock on his door.
It seemed Kraus had given orders.
Lu Yuan was just about to get out of bed to wash his face.
The symbiotic connection suddenly twitched.
It wasn't a faint restlessness.
It was a very clear, direct urging.
Like someone had yanked on a specific thread inside Lu Yuan's mind.
The Knowledge Worm was awake.
And it hadn't just woken up.
The signal from the symbiotic connection told Lu Yuan that this little thing had likely woken up long before him.
It had been waiting.
Waiting for him to open his eyes.
And right now, the little fellow was hungry.
Very hungry.
The emotion of hunger flooded through the symbiotic connection; it wasn't intense, but it was stubborn, like a cat crouching by your feet—not meowing, just staring at you.
Lu Yuan rubbed his eyes.
He could vaguely feel the little thing curled up deep within his left eye, the colors of its body shifting much faster than usual.
‘Last time it gorged itself into a coma; this time it's quite spirited.’
Thinking this, Lu Yuan walked over to the experimental table on the second floor.
The toolbox was still in its place.
He opened the bottom layer and took out the sampling bottle wrapped in two layers of cloth.
The moment the cloth was unwrapped, a faint light—an intertwined greyish-green and dark gold—shone through the glass walls.
The consciousness crystal.
Its pulsation remained, brightening and dimming. Judging by its appearance, the knowledge contained within was likely vast beyond measure.
The symbiotic connection instantly exploded the moment the crystal appeared.
The hunger signal spiked several orders of magnitude higher.
The Knowledge Worm shot out from the depths of his eye socket, a semi-transparent body the size of a grain of rice spiraling rapidly through the air, circling the sampling bottle several times.
Its entire body was a composite of shifting hues, the various colors flashing so quickly they almost merged into one.
It was looking at Lu Yuan.
More accurately, it was "requesting."
The reckless urge to slam into the bottle cap from last time was gone.
It had remembered the rules.
Lu Yuan stared at it for a few seconds.
‘Last time you ate until you passed out and slept for days.’
‘If you had been awake in the pipe network...’
Lu Yuan recalled the two members of the Grey Covenant who had ambushed him.
The shimmering skin, the invisibility and liquefaction abilities granted by the Glazed Water.
Those abilities themselves were a form of knowledge carrier.
If the Knowledge Worm had been awake then, the density of the mutated knowledge within those two rank 3 members would have been nothing more than two ready-made snacks in its eyes.
It would have devoured them clean in minutes.
Of course, while Bolen was present, he wouldn't have revealed this card.
But in the future...
Lu Yuan pulled his thoughts back.
The problem now was how to feed it.
The lesson from last time was clear: if he let it eat freely, it would gorge itself into a coma and be unusable for days.
This time, he had to control it.
Lu Yuan transmitted an intention through the symbiotic connection.
‘Just one small bite. Stop immediately after.’
The Knowledge Worm received the intent.
It hovered in mid-air, the shifting colors of its body suddenly slowing down.
Then, a clear emotion came through.
Dissatisfaction.
Pure, simple displeasure.
A protest of "why only one bite?"
Lu Yuan did not back down.
‘Just one small bite.’
The Knowledge Worm froze in the air for two seconds.
Then, its body began to tremble.
The color flow accelerated, its outline blurring and expanding.
Pop.
It split into three.
Three grain-sized worm bodies emerged from the original one, hovering above the sampling bottle.
They all stared at the crystal in unison.
From three different directions, they prepared to strike at once.
One bite became three.
Lu Yuan: "..."
Within the symbiotic connection, the three split lines simultaneously transmitted the same emotion.
Righteous confidence.
‘You said one bite. We each take one bite. Three bites in total. No problem.’
Lu Yuan watched these three little things, remaining silent for several seconds.
‘It had learned to be clever.’
He transmitted a firmer command through the symbiotic connection.
‘Each of you is only allowed one tiny bite. Merge back immediately after eating. Do not overeat.’
The colors of the three worms dimmed slightly.
They hesitated for a moment.
Then, one of them was the first to fly toward the sampling bottle.
Lu Yuan unscrewed the cap.
The three worm bodies plunged into the surface of the crystal almost simultaneously.
The frequency of the consciousness crystal's faint pulsation instantly quickened, the intertwining of greyish-green and dark gold becoming violent.
Lu Yuan watched closely.
After two seconds.
The three worms detached from the surface of the crystal.
This time, they didn't fall down dizzily.
They flew out on their own.
Though their colors had clearly become richer, their bodies covered in a faint greyish-green luster, their movements were not sluggish.
The three worms converged in the air, their boundaries dissolving and colors merging back into a single entity.
Grain-sized and composite-hued, it retracted into Lu Yuan's left eye.
A wave of satisfied warmth flowed through the symbiotic connection.
It was full.
But not stuffed.
At the edge of his vision, greyish-white text flickered.
【Forbidden Lore: Knowledge Seeker: +1.2...36.6/100】
【Inscription (Advanced - Pending): +0.5...2.4/50】
【Sanity: -3...76/120】
The experience points granted this time were much less than before.
However, the Knowledge Worm hadn't fallen into a coma. Most importantly, he didn't need to personally research this crystal for now; he still remembered that flash of green light that had entered his body when he touched it.
Stable and controllable—this was good.
Lu Yuan re-wrapped the sampling bottle and placed it back in the bottom of the toolbox.
This feeding method seemed sound.
In the future, he could provide small, regular feedings to keep the Knowledge Worm active while steadily gaining purified feedback experience.
‘Next time, I'll try feeding it once every other day and see the effect.’
Lu Yuan closed the toolbox.
He washed his face and changed into clean clothes.
He pushed open the door and headed out.
His destination this time was the Supply Exchange.
He had a large batch of points in his possession again; it was time to exchange them for some useful items.
At the side wing of the main branch building, the Supply Exchange.
The last time Lu Yuan had been here was shortly after he first arrived in Bronze City.
That time, he had spent 825 points to exchange for a set of professional alchemical equipment and a Nightwatchers Promise.
The person in charge of the exchange was the same man.
A middle-aged man with glasses, his chair behind the counter had a noticeable indentation, making him look quite idle.
Seeing Lu Yuan enter, his expression wasn't as exaggerated as last time.
After all, having seen the number 937 before, his psychological threshold had been raised.
"Captain Lu," he stood up, his attitude polite. "Looking to make an exchange?"
"Yeah. Check for me how many points I have left."
As Lu Yuan spoke, he placed his Nightwatchers badge on the metal tray.
"Certainly, please wait a moment."
As the runes lit up briefly.
A string of numbers emerged.
The middle-aged man took a look and spoke.
"A new batch of points has been credited to your account. The authorization was personally signed by Vice Director Kraus."
He looked at the mission numbers appearing after the points and flipped through a thick ledger by his side.
"Pipe network exploration, assistance in the discovery of the copper pillar, special combat assistance... a total of 289 points were authorized. Combined with your previous remaining 112 points."
Lu Yuan didn't ask further.
Kraus always acted decisively; he gave exactly what was owed without delay or deficit.
"Give me the supply catalog."
The middle-aged man immediately pushed the thick exchange catalog over.
Lu Yuan flipped it open.
This time, he didn't start from the beginning; he flipped directly to the weapon customization page.
【Imperial Master Customization】.
This was the high-level weapon customization channel within the Nightwatchers.
Exchanging for ordinary weapons meant getting ready-made, standard goods—whatever was in the warehouse was what you got.
But customization was different.
You placed an order, specified your requirements, and the inscription scholars and blacksmiths on the Imperial side would craft it to your specifications before shipping the finished product to the designated branch.
He only needed to fill in his requirements in the dedicated column, and the branch would report it separately to the Imperial Master Customization.
Lu Yuan first chose firearms, then wrote three points in the requirements column.
First, a large caliber.
The "Flame" at his waist had been used for too long.
Duo Hawke had evaluated it once: "A defective product, low-end mass-produced junk. There's a gap in the rune connections; it'll degrade after a dozen uses."
The Dwarf had been proven right.
After several high-intensity battles at the North Ward position, the pipe network, and against the Grey Covenant, the effect of the Flame enchantment had noticeably degraded.
Furthermore, the caliber wasn't enough.
It was sufficient for ordinary ghouls, but when facing the keratinous layer of something like a greater ghoul, its penetration was completely inadequate.
Second, it must have a clear suppression effect against the eerie and pollution sources.
Whether through material or enchantment, any method would do.
Third, it should preferably have some form of area-of-effect damage or other forms of enchanted chaining effects.
A revolver cylinder only held six rounds.
Facing group targets like ghouls, which often numbered in the dozens or hundreds, he had to reload after six shots.
If every shot could only kill one, the efficiency was too low.
Lu Yuan handed the requirement sheet over.
The middle-aged man took it, looked at it, and didn't reply immediately, instead walking into the back room.
About a few minutes later.
The sound of footsteps returned.
"The Imperial Master Customization side has replied," the middle-aged man sat back down. "All three of your requirements can be met. The customization fee is 120 points."
"The production time is about ten days. Once completed, it will be sent directly to the Bronze City branch."
"Acceptable."
120 points were deducted.
Remaining: 281.
Lu Yuan flipped to the ammunition page.
Silver-plated bullets went without saying—he topped them off.
These were cheap and consumed in large quantities; the more, the better.
He also replenished two boxes of copper-cased incendiary rounds.
Then, his gaze stopped on a new entry.
【Gold-plated enchanted bullets】.
12 rounds per box.
12 points.
The remarks column read: "The warhead contains trace amounts of refined holy gold. Triggers a holy light cauterization effect upon hitting an eerie target, lasting approximately 3 seconds."
"Only effective against eerie entities below rank 3."
12 rounds for 12 points.
One point per bullet.
Expensive.
Rate on N.U.
