The dark copper key was significantly heavier than the previous one.
Lu Yuan took it and inserted the old key into the lock.
The new lock turned twice, and the door opened.
A wave of warmth surged out from the gap in the door, like stepping into a room with a lit fireplace in winter.
Lu Yuan walked in.
The original copper-topped experimental table had been pushed into the corner.
In the center stood a half-person-tall glass cover. Its base was a thick copper plate, surrounded by densely packed isolation inscriptions.
The copper box that had originally held the seed sat in the corner of the wall.
Its lid was open, and it was empty.
Lu Yuan walked to the glass cover.
Inside, the seed lay quietly.
But it was completely different from a few days ago.
Its shell was no longer grey; the rough, stone-like surface had shed, replaced by a layer of pale gold luster like polished amber.
The tentacles—or rather, sprouts—protruding from the cracks were much taller than when he had last seen them.
They were a warm orange with a slightly translucent texture, swaying slowly in the windless room.
It was as if it were breathing.
The entire room was filled with a warm aura.
In Lu Yuan's perception, that warmth spread outward from the seed's location in layers, rippling like waves.
It was a kind of pure 'warmth' that Lu Yuan had never seen before.
At that moment, the symbiotic link suddenly pulsed.
Deep in his left eye, the Knowledge Worm moved.
The little thing swam out from his eye socket.
It wasn't the "drooling" excitement it had shown when devouring Baron von Linde's core, but rather a sense of 'contentment.'
The Knowledge Worm stretched its body slowly within the aura emitted by the seed, its shifting colors turning soft.
It was like soaking in a hot spring.
The emotion transmitted through the symbiotic link was simple.
Comfortable.
Very comfortable.
It simply felt good.
Lu Yuan watched the Knowledge Worm swim leisurely through the air for two circles before it retracted back into the depths of his left eye.
At the edge of his vision, greyish-white text surfaced.
【Target Detected: ? (Hope)】
【A ? that has absorbed human longing. The first existence to use this kind of Wish as nourishment.】
Clearly, this thing was far beyond Lu Yuan's current understanding, to the point where the description couldn't even identify it.
However, the word "Hope" was clear.
Lu Yuan stood before the glass cover for a while.
There was nothing abnormal about the seed.
Its growth rate was accelerating, and the direction of its growth had not deviated.
Its aura remained warm, unlike its 'brother,' which had become what it was after accepting some unknown Wish.
Lu Yuan then turned and walked out of Room 7, locking the door.
The Nightwatcher on duty watched him leave without asking any questions.
He returned to his residence.
Someone had been to the first floor. A copper tray sat on the table, holding two pieces of bread and a bowl of steaming mushroom soup.
A small note was pinned beside it.
"Breakfast ordered by Vice Director Kraus. — Logistics Department"
Lu Yuan recalled the multigrain rice he had been eating the past few days; he really did need a change of pace. He picked up the mushroom soup and took a few sips.
The soup was decent, but the bread was a bit hard.
After finishing his meal, Lu Yuan went to the second floor and sat at his workbench.
He took the ghoul brain cores out of the storage cabinet.
He lined them up on the table one by one. Since he had nothing to do this morning, Lu Yuan planned to continue his grand task of developing his eerie inscriptions.
Copper needle. Fixing slot. The symbiotic link pulsed gently.
Hand raised. Needle fell.
Dark red inscription patterns surfaced on the surface of the brain cores.
One by one, he quickly entered a familiar rhythm.
He no longer needed to consciously perceive the assistance of the Knowledge Worm; it simply gave a gentle nudge at the moment any stroke began to deviate.
Soon, twelve cores were finished.
Lu Yuan put down the copper needle and flexed his fingers.
【Inscription (Advanced · Eerie Inscription): +1.0… 21.1/50】
Only one line of greyish-white text appeared. His Sanity hadn't dropped?
Lu Yuan was slightly stunned.
Previously, when engraving brain cores, his Sanity would drop by a point or two for every few he completed. Now, he had engraved twelve in a row without losing a single point.
He thought about it.
From the time he started engraving ghoul brain cores until now, he had finished sixty or seventy of them.
Using the same materials and the same inscriptions so many times, his body seemed to have developed some kind of adaptation.
He wasn't sure if there was such a thing as "eerie resistance" in this world.
But the result was right in front of him. At least for low-level materials like ghoul brain cores, he would no longer suffer backlash.
This meant he could go all out in the future.
And not just with brain cores.
Ghoul bones, keratin layers, and even teeth—logistics had piles of that stuff that no one used.
If his resistance was indeed improving, he could definitely try more materials later.
Lu Yuan kept this thought in mind.
He took inventory of his stock.
Including the previous stock in the storage cabinet, he now had sixty or seventy ghoul brain cores. Although he wasn't sure how many he would need for Greater Ghoulification later, it was better to have more.
Lu Yuan didn't plan to continue because, outside the window, the sun was already starting to tilt westward.
It was time to go to the branch.
Lu Yuan packed his things and went downstairs, heading toward the main branch building.
The afternoon sunlight shifted from warm yellow to dark orange, casting long shadows.
When he reached the branch, three carriages were already parked in the courtyard.
The horses lowered their heads to drink at the troughs, their horseshoes making sporadic clicking sounds on the gravel ground.
He pushed open the side door of the main building and entered the assembly room.
Ten Nightwatchers were already standing in two rows.
All were wearing grey coats with blades at their waists, their Nightwatchers team badges glinting in the afternoon light.
Lu Yuan scanned them.
They were all unfamiliar faces, likely drawn temporarily from other squads.
Their ages ranged from early twenties to late thirties. Their expressions varied, but they shared one thing in common: a look of tension in their eyes.
They knew what they were about to do. Or at least part of it.
Kraus stood at the front of the assembly room.
He wore a dark grey shirt, looking no different than usual.
An open wooden box sat on the table in front of him.
Inside the box were eleven metal rings.
"Everyone's here."
Kraus's voice wasn't loud, but the assembly room quieted down immediately.
He looked around.
"This mission is related to the Polymath Tower. It's related to that river of light above your heads."
No one spoke, but Lu Yuan noticed the gazes of two people in the front row unconsciously drift upward.
Everyone had seen that river of light.
Everyone knew in their hearts that it wasn't anything good.
"The mission is extremely dangerous."
Kraus's tone took on a hint of gravity.
"But according to the Nightwatchers code, 'refusal' is not an option for us."
He took a metal ring from the wooden box and held it in his palm.
The surface of the ring was engraved with complex patterns, a silver gleam flashing within the copper color.
"The pathfinders call this a Sanity Ring."
The moment Lu Yuan saw the ring, an image flashed in his mind.
In Sandworm Town, Morris had handed him an identical metal ring.
"It allows you to borrow the other person's Sanity to a certain extent."
It was the same thing.
Lu Yuan didn't say anything.
Kraus continued.
"Once worn and activated, everyone's Sanity will form a shared whole. You can draw on others' Sanity, and they can draw on yours."
He put the ring back in the box.
"Near the Sea of Knowledge, Sanity is your shield. Sharing it can extend the duration of the barrier and save lives in an emergency."
He paused.
"But one thing: anyone whose Sanity is drained will immediately lose the ability to move. So do not use it recklessly, and be sure to follow orders."
An older Nightwatcher in the back row muttered under his breath, "Lose the ability to move on the spot... how is that any different from being dead?"
The person next to him nudged him with an elbow.
He shut his mouth.
Kraus clearly heard him, but he wasn't angry. He simply added a few more words.
"Don't worry, the Sanity Ring will preserve your last shred of Sanity, and the connection will automatically break if that happens."
"You weren't supposed to be involved in this incident, but the matter at the Polymath Tower is of great importance. We can only deploy those of you below rank 3."
After Kraus finished speaking, he took the Sanity Rings out of the box one by one and distributed them.
Each Nightwatcher looked down at the ring as they received it before sliding it onto their wrist.
When it was Lu Yuan's turn.
He took the ring and slid it onto his left wrist.
On his right wrist, the one from Morris was still there.
Two rings, one on each side, hidden by his sleeves.
No one noticed.
Once Kraus finished the distribution, his gaze swept over everyone's faces.
"This mission will be led by Captain Lu Yuan."
Several gazes in the assembly room shifted toward him.
The youngest Nightwatcher in the front row was clearly stunned, his lips twitching. He had obviously heard of Lu Yuan's reputation.
"Follow Lu Yuan's orders in everything. Understood?"
The right hands of the ten Nightwatchers simultaneously landed on their left shoulders.
Their movements were synchronized.
"Understood."
Kraus nodded.
He looked at Lu Yuan.
He didn't say anything more.
He simply tilted his chin slightly—go on.
Three carriages drove out of the branch gates.
The wheels rolled over the stone road, making a rhythmic clattering sound.
Lu Yuan sat in the first carriage.
There were three other Nightwatchers in the compartment. The closest one sat across from him, about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, looking somewhat uneasy.
After the carriage had traveled for a while, he suddenly looked up.
"Captain Lu, will we be entering the tower directly once we arrive?"
"We'll follow the arrangements once we're there," Lu Yuan said.
The square-faced Nightwatcher nodded and didn't ask anything else.
Outside the window were the streets of the inner city.
The buildings were much taller than those in the outer city, with frosted glass in the windows and copper lanterns hanging from the porches.
The gas lamps had already been lit.
Twilight was falling.
The river of light overhead was brighter than it had been during the day.
A pale purple glow covered the sky, dreamlike colors flowing slowly, with occasional glowing fragments breaking off from the river and dissipating.
The Nightwatchers in the carriage peeked up through the gaps in the curtains before quickly withdrawing their gazes.
Lu Yuan didn't look at the river of light.
In his mind, he silently reviewed the positioning diagram Kraus had given him.
The entrance. Sanity Barrier. Two lines of defense.
Gatekeepers.
The carriage gradually slowed down.
The silhouette of a building ahead emerged in the twilight.
The Polymath Tower.
Its greyish-white stone body shimmered with a faint purple aura under the reflection of the river of light. The domed structure at the top of the tower was faintly visible, with the dim glow of alchemical patterns slowly circulating upon it.
The entire tower was vibrating slightly, emitting a constant low hum, like the beating of a giant heart.
The carriages stopped in the plaza in front of the Polymath Tower's main entrance.
The eleven men stepped out one by one.
Someone was already waiting on the plaza.
Calvin Morton stood before the main entrance steps.
His monocle reflected the twilight coldly.
Beside him stood Selena Winter, the female mentor who hadn't said a word during last night's meeting.
Her features were regular, her brows sharp, and her expression remained indifferent.
Calvin's gaze swept from the front of the team.
It landed on Lu Yuan.
It paused for an instant.
He hadn't expected Kraus to send Lu Yuan.
But he immediately began evaluating what this meant.
A moment later, Calvin's expression returned to normal.
As if nothing had happened.
He gave a slight bow to Lu Yuan.
"Captain Lu."
His monocle flashed in the last rays of twilight.
"Please follow me."
Rate on N.U.
