Inside the circular room, all the alchemical inscriptions on the vault were lit.
Multi-colored light interlaced on the ceiling, flowing slowly. Every detail of the room was illuminated with startling clarity.
The round table was covered with blueprints and instruments.
Copper pipes connected to several dials, their needles trembling slightly.
Arthur Heinz stood behind the round table.
His hair was greyish-white, his face stern, and his deep grey robes were of an exquisite cut.
The golden badge on his collar reflected cold light under the illumination from the vault.
A soaring eagle, its talons clutching an unfurled scroll.
He watched the eight people enter, his gaze sweeping over Klaus, lingering for a moment on the Guardian, and then he slowly straightened his posture.
“Please, have a seat.”
Arthur gestured toward the chairs around the round table, his tone neither humble nor arrogant.
No one sat.
Klaus stood opposite the round table, hands in his pockets, expressionless.
Lake stood to Klaus’s right rear.
With short brown hair and a thin face, he was quite a bit shorter now, only reaching Klaus’s chest; he remained quiet, not saying a word.
The two hooded Nightwatchers stood on either side.
Their robes reached the floor and their hoods were pulled low, hiding their faces.
If not for the occasional faint rustle of fabric, one might almost forget their existence.
The Guardian stood the furthest away.
With a full head of white hair, a pitch-black aura enveloped his entire body. The black eyeballs that constantly surfaced and dissipated across him reflected the light from the vault, eerie and silent.
Kame stood by Arthur’s side.
The Vice Dean’s face was much calmer than it had been at the gate, but the muscles in the back of his neck were still pulled taut.
Calvin Morton and the female mentor stood further back.
The cold light on Calvin’s monocle flickered, his lips pressed into a thin line; the female mentor was expressionless and remained silent.
Arthur looked at everyone’s positioning but did not press the matter.
He bowed slightly.
“Allow me to introduce myself.”
“Special Inspector from the imperial headquarters, Arthur Heinz. All experimental progress and protocols for this Polymath Tower project have passed through my hands.”
“In other words,” he adjusted the badge on his collar, “I bear full responsibility for everything that happens here.”
Klaus’s expression remained unchanged.
“And?”
Arthur showed no displeasure at being interrupted. He even offered a slight smile.
“And so, I am here to give you all an explanation.”
He leaned forward slightly, resting both hands on the edge of the round table.
“This experiment was, essentially, a success.”
No one in the room responded.
Arthur continued.
“The original objective was to open a gap and harvest specific knowledge samples from the Sea of Knowledge. That objective has been achieved.”
He paused.
“Beyond that, we have exceeded expectations. We have opened a branch channel in the Sea of Knowledge. Not a one-time gap, but a stable and sustainable channel.”
He pointed toward the ceiling.
Above the alchemical inscriptions of the vault, one could vaguely sense some massive power in operation.
The faint vibration of the entire main tower was transmitted from up there.
“The ‘river’ you saw tonight is the external manifestation of that branch channel. Currently, the channel and its containment measures are essentially stable and will not have a direct impact on the city.”
Klaus finally moved.
He pulled his right hand from his pocket and tapped a finger lightly on the tabletop.
“Essentially a success?”
He looked at Arthur.
“Are you certain it’s ‘essentially a success’?”
Arthur’s smile did not fade.
“You’ve caused the inscriptions on the Bronze City to overextend massively this time,” Klaus’s voice dropped low. “The inscriptions of the entire city wall running simultaneously, glowing so brightly that even the residents of the outer city could see it. Do you know what that means?”
He took a step forward.
“The panic we finally managed to suppress, you’re about to stir it all up again. How long has it been since the ghoul incident? Those people in the outer city finally stopped keeping their lights on all night, and now you’re telling me this is ‘essentially a success’?”
Klaus did not raise his voice.
But every word carried a heavy weight.
Arthur’s smile retracted slightly, but he did not back down.
“I completely understand Vice Director Klaus’s concerns.”
He straightened up and placed his hands behind his back.
“Regarding the overextension of the inscriptions, we did indeed utilize the Bronze City’s inscription reserves this time. To open the branch channel to the Sea of Knowledge, we needed to use the city’s inscription system as an auxiliary anchor. Thus, the commotion was a bit large.”
He paused briefly.
“But this was a one-time event. The channel is now stable, and subsequent operations will not require borrowing from the city’s inscriptions. The Bronze City is, after all, an extremely important asset of the empire; I will naturally pay extra attention to that.”
As Arthur spoke, his gaze inadvertently swept behind Klaus.
The Guardian stood there.
His aged body shrouded in a pitch-black aura.
The black eyeballs on him rose and sank, one or two occasionally turning slowly in indeterminate directions.
Arthur’s gaze lingered on the Guardian for an instant before he quickly retracted it.
He weighed his words and continued.
“As for the panic...”
Arthur’s tone relaxed by half.
“Rest assured, Nightwatchers. For the sake of this experiment, the empire has officially abolished Bronze City’s taxes.”
He spread his hands.
“So even if those residents continue to panic, no one will be held accountable.”
He pointed upward.
“Furthermore, that river above us—as you’ve seen—is a branch of the Sea of Knowledge. If utilized properly, the harvesting of knowledge fragments alone would be enough to multiply Bronze City’s academic output several times over.”
He smiled.
“How beautiful it is.”
As if in response to Arthur’s words.
Above the vault of the main tower, the rift in the sky seemed to expand slightly further.
Dreamlike colors seeped through the gaps in the tower’s inscriptions, making the light in the circular room even more variegated.
From time to time, glowing fragments of text drifted down from on high, swirling among the vault’s patterns before dissipating.
Arthur watched the drifting points of light, a flash of satisfaction in his eyes.
Klaus did not look at the light.
His gaze remained fixed on Arthur.
Arthur then turned toward the Guardian.
His voice grew more subdued.
“Moreover, the outside world is becoming dangerous. Eerie incidents are occurring frequently everywhere, and things are no longer peaceful beyond the empire’s borders. Reminding the residents of Bronze City of the dangers of the eerie in advance might not necessarily be a bad thing.”
He lowered his head slightly.
“Wouldn’t you agree, Lord Guardian?”
The Guardian did not speak.
That aged figure simply stood there.
Motionless.
The pitch-black aura flowed slowly around him, and those black eyeballs surfaced one by one, then sank one by one.
Several of them were currently looking at Arthur.
Their direction was very clear.
Arthur felt those gazes.
His brow furrowed involuntarily.
The stare of those eyeballs was extremely unsettling.
Arthur calmly withdrew his gaze and did not press further.
Silence lasted for several seconds.
He decided to play his trump card.
“You should all be aware,” Arthur’s voice lowered, his tone becoming solemn, “that the imperial center is experiencing some unrest lately.”
He did not explain the specifics of the “unrest.”
Everyone present knew exactly what he was talking about.
“This is the first task handed down by those lords. It is also the key mission to potentially reverse the empire’s current predicament.”
He looked at the Guardian.
“No place is more suitable than Bronze City. It has a complete inscription system, the facilities of the Polymath Tower, and the foundational conditions to anchor the Sea of Knowledge.”
“Everything for the empire.”
Hearing this, the Guardian finally moved.
He simply withdrew his raised gaze slowly.
Those black eyeballs shifted away from Arthur one by one, sinking back into the pitch-black aura.
Arthur felt the invisible pressure weighing on him suddenly vanish.
He secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Once this hurdle is passed, the rest will be easy.’
His shoulders relaxed slightly... a tiny change, but Klaus noticed it.
Klaus said nothing.
He simply watched Arthur’s momentary relaxation, the coldness in his eyes deepening.
“Are there still living students in the Polymath Tower?”
Klaus suddenly spoke.
“How many more people are you going to sacrifice?”
Klaus’s gaze swept over Kame and Calvin behind Arthur.
“And where is the Dean?”
Kame’s lips moved, but he didn’t speak out of turn.
Arthur answered quickly.
“There are still many living students. They are all in the outer dormitory area, safe.”
He paused.
“There is no need to sacrifice any more people; the most dangerous phase has passed. The Dean is currently participating in the final stage of the experiment and is in good condition.”
He looked at Klaus, his tone becoming a bit more candid.
“And since we have reached this stage, there is no longer any need for us to be secretive. We will notify the Nightwatchers in advance regarding the opening of subsequent channels and the progress of the knowledge harvesting plan.”
He extended a hand in an open gesture.
“In fact, if necessary, we might even request the assistance of the Nightwatchers. Of course, all of this will follow formal procedures. What do you say?”
Klaus did not answer.
He turned around.
He took two steps.
Then he suddenly stopped.
He did not look back.
“Can you ensure the Sea of Knowledge will not leak?”
The voice wasn’t loud, but it was clearly heard in the quiet circular room.
Arthur wore a face of confidence.
“I can.”
His tone was certain.
“The facts speak for themselves.”
Klaus said no more.
He strode toward the door.
Lake followed silently.
The two hooded Nightwatchers followed silently.
The Guardian walked last. When the aged figure crossed the threshold, the alchemical inscriptions in the circular room all trembled simultaneously.
Arthur stood there, watching the five of them walk out one by one.
The copper door closed behind them.
The sound of footsteps gradually faded.
Only three people remained in the circular room.
Arthur looked at the closed copper door.
His smile was gone.
The expression on his face turned cold.
“Kame.”
“Yes.”
“Accelerate the plan.”
Arthur’s fingers tapped lightly on the edge of the round table.
“That fellow is harder to deal with than I imagined. He’s realized something.”
Kame walked to Arthur’s side, his voice kept very low.
“Yes. I didn’t expect the Nightwatchers to still have so many hidden cards. Two rank 4s aside, they even brought out the Guardian. Fortunately, this time we managed to lure them out.”
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