It was so soft that Lu Yuan almost thought the man was talking to himself.
But Lu Yuan had indeed heard it.
He didn't pick up the topic.
Kraus knew far more about him than he let on.
Lu Yuan had always been aware of this.
But he chose to pretend he hadn't heard.
"By the way."
Lu Yuan shifted the conversation.
"How about giving me a batch of ghoul materials?"
Kraus paused just as he was about to take a sip of tea.
"...You need that stuff for medicine?"
Lu Yuan let out a sigh.
He took three ghoul brain cores from his pocket and lined them up on Kraus's desk.
Three small greyish-white stones, each about the size of a fingernail.
The Eerie Inscription symbols on the surface were clearly visible, the lines smooth, and the engravings reflected a faint, dull red underlight in the brightness.
The two inscription pathways connecting the three brain cores were embedded between the stones like tiny blood vessels.
"I've reached Entry in Inscription."
Lu Yuan's tone was flat.
"These are just some trinkets I made by accident."
Kraus's gaze shifted from his teacup to the desk.
He stared at the three brain cores for two seconds.
Then he reached out and picked them up.
He rolled them in his palm, turned them over, and leaned in to inspect the engraved marks.
"Eerie Inscription?"
Kraus's voice carried a hint of disbelief.
"You carved these yourself?"
"Yes."
Kraus didn't ask how he had learned.
Instead, he did something immediately.
A flash of teal light flickered from his body.
The three brain cores in his palm lit up.
A faint crimson glow seeped from the engravings, spreading along the lines of Kraus's palm.
Almost in the same instant...
A layer of pale teal keratin began to spread upward from Kraus's wrist.
It covered the back of his hand.
It covered his forearm.
It spread along his neck.
Densely packed keratinous scales emerged on the surface of Kraus's skin, their color the characteristic greyish-white of a ghoul but with a faint teal tint.
His facial features also underwent a subtle change.
His cheekbones grew higher, and his eye sockets deepened.
The aura he radiated was almost indistinguishable from that of a ghoul.
【Target Detected: Kraus (Eerie Pathway) (Pseudo-ghoulification)】
【Clearly a human, so why radiate the aura of a ghoul? Is this some new race? (Just kidding)】
Lu Yuan ignored the greyish-white text and watched Kraus's transformation.
'It seems to work.'
Indeed.
After about a minute, the keratin layer began to crack.
The pale teal scales fell off piece by piece, turning into greyish-white powder that drifted into the air.
At the same time, a crack appeared on the surface of the leftmost of the three brain cores in Kraus's hand.
Snap.
It shattered.
The brain core broke in half, and the engravings went completely dark.
Greyish-white powder seeped from the break, fluttering onto the desk.
The remaining two were intact.
However, the faint crimson underlight on them had also completely extinguished, turning them back into two ordinary greyish-white stones.
Kraus's aura returned to normal.
He looked down at his hand.
A few fragments of keratin that hadn't completely shattered still clung to the back of his hand.
He brushed them off with his other hand, and the grey powder fell onto the desk.
Then he looked up.
He looked at Lu Yuan.
Silence lasted for two seconds.
"Take them!"
Kraus slapped the table.
"The warehouse currently has over a thousand brain cores. I'll authorize half for you!"
His voice suddenly grew much louder.
"Do you want ghoul bones and teeth too? I can give you a few hundred of those as well?"
"I do."
Lu Yuan didn't stand on ceremony; he took what was offered.
"Five hundred brain cores. Two hundred each of bones and teeth. Is that enough?"
"It is."
Kraus pulled a blank shipping manifest from his drawer, scribbled the numbers, signed it, stamped it, and pushed it toward Lu Yuan.
"Take this to logistics and collect them."
Lu Yuan took the manifest, folded it, and tucked it into his pocket.
He stood up, preparing to leave.
He paused at the door.
"How is Bolen doing?"
Kraus's voice came from behind him.
"He hasn't woken up yet. The medical bay says the mental resonance was more severe than expected, but it hasn't worsened."
He paused.
"He'll wake up."
Lu Yuan nodded.
He pushed the door open and left.
The door closed behind him.
Walking through the branch office corridors, sunlight cut in through the windows at an angle, casting grid-like shadows on the floor.
Lu Yuan pulled the manifest from his pocket and glanced at it.
Five hundred brain cores, two hundred ghoul bones, two hundred ghoul teeth.
'This will last a long time.'
Lu Yuan tucked the manifest away and headed toward the logistics warehouse.
The door to the logistics warehouse was wood wrapped in sheet metal; it let out a dull thud when pushed open.
Lu Yuan walked inside and nearly collided with a logistics worker carrying a box.
"Oh... Sorry, sorry, Captain Lu!"
The man stepped aside, clutching a waist-high wooden box, his forehead drenched in sweat.
The warehouse was much busier than Lu Yuan had expected.
At least seven or eight logistics personnel were moving supplies back and forth.
Wooden boxes, iron drums, and cloth bags were piled on both sides of the aisles. Some people were checking off items on lists, while others were stacking goods onto flatbed carts.
At the end of the aisle, two hand-pushed carts were already full, waiting to be moved out.
Lu Yuan found the logistics window amidst the busy crowd and handed over his manifest.
A man in his forties sat behind the window, his face sallow, with a pair of copper-framed glasses perched on his nose.
He took the manifest, glanced at the numbers, and his eyes widened slightly behind his lenses. After double-checking several times, he finally nodded.
"Five hundred brain cores, two hundred ghoul bones, and two hundred ghoul teeth?"
He looked up at Lu Yuan, then down at the signature and stamp at the bottom right of the manifest.
"Signed by Vice Director Kraus... Fine, wait a moment. I'll have someone count them out."
He leaned halfway out of the window and shouted toward the back.
"Old Tom! Five hundred brain cores, two hundred bones, and two hundred teeth! Priority!"
A muffled response came from inside.
Lu Yuan stepped back a couple of paces and waited against a pillar.
People moving cargo passed him constantly. Someone pushed a cart that creaked over the threshold; another pair carried a large iron drum out together.
Lu Yuan asked casually.
"Why are there so many people today?"
A young logistics worker nearby, who was checking a list, glanced at him.
"Orders from Vice Director Kraus. Branch supplies need to be redistributed for future use."
Lu Yuan didn't press further.
But he understood in his heart—this was an advance transfer of supplies. It seemed a group of people would soon be heading to Twilight Town. Kraus had mentioned this last time.
He waited for about twenty minutes.
Old Tom emerged from the depths of the warehouse leading three logistics workers, each carrying a box, with two more boxes on a cart.
There were five boxes in total, reinforced with sheet metal and marked with black paint numbers on the sides.
"Here, check them."
Old Tom opened the first box.
It was the brain cores.
Fingernail-sized greyish-white stones were packed densely in straw filler, about a hundred of them, neatly arranged.
Lu Yuan scanned them without counting each one.
"Good."
"Then these guys will help you carry them back." Old Tom patted the shoulder of a young man behind him. "Xiao Kai, take two men and go with Captain Lu."
Xiao Kai gave an affirmative and called the others to lift the boxes.
They couldn't move it all in one trip.
Five boxes—five hundred brain cores plus four hundred bones and teeth—were quite heavy.
Xiao Kai and his team took three boxes first, then doubled back for the remaining two.
Lu Yuan waited in his quarters, watching the three young men, drenched in sweat, stack the last two boxes by his table.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome, Captain Lu."
Xiao Kai wiped his sweat and left with his team.
The door closed.
The room fell silent.
Lu Yuan knelt down and opened the five boxes one by one.
Five boxes of brain cores; the greyish-white stones were dull under the sunlight, piled in the straw.
Two boxes of ghoul bones, greyish-black, each about the length of a finger, with faint traces of corrosion at the breaks.
One box of ghoul teeth—sharp, slightly curved, and yellowish. These were clearly the sharpest teeth of the ghouls.
'This many materials is enough.'
Lu Yuan straightened up and cleared his experimental table.
He opened his toolkit and took out the necessary instruments.
Then he picked out a brain core, held it between his thumb and index finger, and placed it in the fixing slot of the experimental table.
He took a deep breath.
He picked up the copper needle.
The first one.
When the copper needle touched the surface of the brain core, the stone actually trembled slightly.
He had noticed this during his last engraving session—the moment the copper needle touched the core, the Eerie Inscription symbols would spontaneously "float" up from inside.
The copper needle was merely a guide.
What was truly doing the carving was the residual eerie aura within the brain core.
As his concentration deepened, the first symbol soon took shape.
It was still crude, without much improvement.
As the engraving of this core was completed, a series of grey text emerged.
【Inscription (Advanced · Eerie Inscription): +0.4... 5.8/50】
【Sanity: -1... 81/120】
【Basic Eerie Inscription: Ghoul Brain Core (Crude)】
Lu Yuan set the completed brain core aside and picked up a second one.
The process was the same.
The speed was about a dozen seconds faster than the first, and Lu Yuan's feel for it had significantly improved.
【Inscription (Advanced · Eerie Inscription): +0.3... 6.1/50】
【Sanity: -1... 80/120】
The third one...
This time Lu Yuan didn't pause. The angle of the copper needle was more precise, and the crimson lines emerged even faster—it was as if the brain core was cooperating with him.
【Inscription (Advanced · Eerie Inscription): +0.3... 6.4/50】
【Sanity: -1... 79/120】
The fourth one. +0.2...
The grey text continued to jump, but the increment grew smaller each time.
The experience gained from repeating the same symbol was diminishing; this seemed to be a rule for all experience bars.
Lu Yuan was in no hurry.
He hadn't expected to grind much experience from single carvings anyway.
By the twelfth one, the gain for Inscription had dropped to a flat +0.1. Every single one was +0.1.
'That's enough.'
Lu Yuan set down the copper needle and stretched his fingers.
Twelve engraved brain cores were lined up on the table.
The crimson symbols on their surfaces glowed faintly warm in the afternoon light.
The engravings on each were clearer than the one before; the progress was visible to the naked eye.
But that was all.
Single carving had hit a bottleneck.
'Time to try linking them together.'
Lu Yuan picked out the three with the clearest engravings from the twelve.
After all, making the brain cores resonate wasn't as simple as just putting them together.
The three brain cores needed to be arranged according to the "flow" of the symbols, allowing the crimson lines to connect with each other.
Like a puzzle.
Lu Yuan arranged the three brain cores in a straight line according to the flow of the symbols.
The spacing was about two fingers wide.
Then he took the copper needle and drew connecting lines in the gaps between the three cores.
The moment the connecting lines were finished...
The three brain cores emitted a faint ripple simultaneously.
Then, light began to appear on the cores, stabilizing after a moment.
【Inscription (Advanced · Eerie Inscription): +0.8... 8.0/50】
【Forbidden Lore: Knowledge Seeker: +0.2... 39.1/100】
【Sanity: -2... 77/120】
Forbidden Lore had also increased.
Lu Yuan took a deep breath.
'A set of three. The experience for linking three is two to three times that of a single one, and it triggers Forbidden Lore.'
Without hesitation, Lu Yuan immediately picked out another three to continue his experience-grinding mission.
The feel for this set was even better, the curves of the connecting lines smoother.
By the time he finished five sets, a thin layer of sweat had broken out on Lu Yuan's forehead.
Fifteen brain cores sat on the table—the twelve completed single carvings plus three extras he had pulled to supplement.
Those fifteen were divided into five sets, three cores per set.
Lu Yuan looked at the grey text before him. He still had 72 Sanity points left, enough to continue, so he buried his head back into his work.
He worked until the sky began to darken.
The light outside the window turned from warm yellow to a dark orange.
Lu Yuan finally set down the copper needle and leaned back against his chair.
Sanity: 58 points.
That was enough for today. If it went any lower, hallucinations might start appearing again.
Lu Yuan stood up and walked to the window.
It was completely dark now.
Outside was the branch office courtyard.
A few gas lamps were lit, their dim yellow light illuminating small patches of gravel ground.
In the distance, he could faintly hear the footsteps of the patrol teams changing shifts.
Farther away in the inner city, dreamlike colors surged slowly in the night sky, but they were clearly no longer violent.
Lu Yuan watched for a while.
Then he closed the curtains, grabbed a piece of bread that had been delivered and took a few bites. After a quick wash, he went to bed.
Before he closed his eyes, the grey text flickered again.
【Sanity: 56/120】
'An extra 2 points deducted during the night??'
Lu Yuan frowned. What was going on? He quickly checked his previous prompts, but everything seemed normal.
'Is it because of the Sea of Knowledge??'
Lu Yuan had no clue. There was nothing he could do; he would have to keep trying tomorrow. He put the thought aside for now.
The next morning.
When Lu Yuan opened his eyes, light was already peeking through the gaps in the curtains.
【Sanity: +12... 68/120】
Lu Yuan looked at the value, thought for a moment, and took a bottle of Excellent Sanity potion from his nightstand, draining it in one go.
A few seconds later, the grey text jumped.
【Sanity: +7... 75/120】
'This should barely be enough.'
Lu Yuan got dressed, went downstairs to wash up, ate a little something, and returned to the second floor.
He sat at the experimental table.
The surface was exactly as it had been yesterday.
Over twenty engraved brain cores were lined up, but the crimson glow on them had mostly faded, leaving only a few traces.
'No rush to engrave new ones.'
Lu Yuan prepared to rearrange nine brain cores according to the direction of the symbols.
He wasn't sure if nine could be linked together.
But he wanted to try.
He arranged the nine brain cores into a structure resembling a triangle.
Lu Yuan picked up the copper needle.
At the intersection of the three series lines, he drew a connecting rune.
The moment the copper needle touched down...
All nine brain cores throbbed simultaneously.
Crimson light surged from the starting point of the first core, racing along the series lines several times faster than before.
The table began to vibrate slightly.
'Stay steady.'
Lu Yuan pressed down on the copper needle.
The vibration lasted for several seconds.
Then...
All the beams of light began to contract.
The crimson turned into a deep scarlet.
The symbols on all nine brain cores were glowing as if nine hearts were beating in sync.
A long string of grey text emerged at that moment.
【Inscription (Advanced · Eerie Inscription): +2.0... 13.1/50】
【Forbidden Lore: Knowledge Seeker: +0.5... 40.4/100】
【Sanity: -3... 72/120】
【Greater Ghoulification (1/1)】
【An eerie item created with nine ghoul brain cores. This is not any known structure in the human inscription system. You have replicated the natural ability of an eerie species using human Eerie Inscription methods.】
【Note: From quantitative change to qualitative change, you have found a path no one has walked before.】
Lu Yuan stared at that string of grey text for a long time.
Nine brain cores could constitute Greater Ghoulification.
What if it were ninety or a hundred? Could he obtain even more abilities?
But then he reconsidered, thinking it sounded a bit like a fantasy. It likely wasn't possible.
Ghoul brain cores weren't exactly rare treasures.
He was only at the Entry level of Eerie Inscription and had only managed this by luck with the help of the Knowledge Worm.
The Eerie Inscription transcendents of the past must have experimented with far more materials than he had. If unlimited evolution were truly possible, Eerie Inscription wouldn't be just a sub-branch of Inscription.
Furthermore, the usage count for Greater Ghoulification had gone from three to one.
Lu Yuan suppressed the urge to keep stacking.
He needed to solidify his foundation first.
Just as Lu Yuan was about to continue engraving, a ripple suddenly came through the symbiotic link.
Lu Yuan's body stiffened.
Because the Knowledge Worm, which had been somewhat tired from the previous assistance, suddenly became fully alert as if it had seen something.
The little thing squirmed violently deep in his eye socket, its entire body tensing up.
Immediately following that, a warm light emerged from the edge of his vision.
It was an orange aura.
This aura looked very soft.
Lu Yuan stood up instinctively.
'Has the Sea of Knowledge leaked?'
Lu Yuan's first reaction was that something had gone wrong at the Polymath Tower.
The river of light was still flowing in the sky, and those fragments and auras had been seeping through.
But that wasn't it.
Lu Yuan froze.
The direction wasn't the Polymath Tower.
The direction from the symbiotic link was very clear—the wing of the logistics department.
C-District.
That aura was extremely faint, but the Knowledge Worm had caught it.
The little thing almost wanted to poke its head out from his eye socket.
'The Seed?'
Lu Yuan realized something instantly and didn't hesitate.
He pulled the copper key from his inner pocket.
He headed out.
He walked through the main branch building corridor and turned into the logistics wing.
C-District was at the very end of the logistics department. The corridor was empty, the wall lamps were lit, and the light was dim.
Room No. 7.
Dark red copper inscription patterns were embedded around the doorframe; the isolation inscriptions were still active.
The light from the inscription patterns was slightly dimmer than the last time he had visited.
He inserted the copper key and turned it twice. With a creak, Lu Yuan pushed the door open.
In the storage room of about ten square meters, with its four copper walls and dense inscription patterns, stood the copper experimental table in the center.
In one corner of the table sat that sealed copper box.
The lid was pried open slightly.
Lu Yuan walked over.
There were no signs of the copper box being opened by external force; it had been pushed open from the inside.
Lu Yuan reached out and lifted the lid.
The Seed was still there.
But it had changed.
The fist-sized grey stone had a crack running through its surface.
A main crack ran from the top down to the side.
The edges were neat, clearly forced open from the inside.
And from within the crack...
Several orange tentacles had reached out.
The thin ones were only as thick as toothpicks, while the longest was about the length of a pinky. They were a translucent orange, their surfaces covered in extremely fine, hair-like patterns.
They looked like coral.
In the windless, sealed storage room, those tentacles swayed slightly.
Deeper in the crack, there were more—shorter, softer feelers crowded against the inner walls of the opening, squirming slowly.
The surface of the Seed radiated a very faint, warm orange light.
Lu Yuan knelt down, bringing his gaze level with the copper box.
'What is going on?'
'The Seed sprouted on its own?'
When he had come last time, this thing had been a lifeless grey stone.
'Didn't they say it was related to Wish? Where did the Wish come from?'
Within the symbiotic link, the Knowledge Worm was completely awake, but it became quiet after Lu Yuan approached, curling up deep in his eye socket, motionless.
Lu Yuan composed himself.
Grey text jumped out.
【Target Detected: ? (Special Existence)】
【A newborn special existence, seemingly having accepted an extremely heavy Wish.】
【Note: During its larval stage, it cannot temporarily leave Bronze City.】
'Accepted a Wish.'
Lu Yuan stood up and quickly scanned the storage room.
Four copper walls, inscription patterns, a sealed iron door, isolation inscriptions.
This room was completely sealed, and there was no external damage, meaning no one had come in and triggered it.
Could someone's Wish penetrate all this?
Lu Yuan looked back at the Seed.
There was a layer of extremely faint aura residue on those orange tentacles, something that had come in from the outside.
Lu Yuan closed his eyes, using the symbiotic link to amplify his perception.
The source of the aura...
It was everywhere.
Lu Yuan snapped his eyes open.
He felt it—the people lighting lamps in the outer city, the pedestrians hurrying through the night with their heads down, the stall owners tending their stoves and adding coal cakes.
Fear, unease, and the will to live.
Something indefinable was gathering from every corner of this city, passing through everything here, and finally converging right here.
The Wish the Seed had accepted belonged to the residents of Bronze City.
There were no rituals, no prayers, no conscious actions—it was the very will to live of the people in this city.
And their 'Wish' was being absorbed by this Seed.
Lu Yuan stared at the swaying tentacles for a few seconds and finally fell silent.
For a moment, he didn't know if this was good or bad.
But this thing could not leave Bronze City for the time being. A storm might be coming.
Lu Yuan didn't think he was the only one who could see the aura overflowing from this Seed.
He replaced the lid of the copper box, not pressing it down tight but leaving a gap so the tentacles wouldn't be crushed.
He locked the door.
Lu Yuan headed straight for Kraus's office.
Rate on N.U.
