Chapter 559 - 221: I’ll Eat You

This was the absolute limit of his endurance, having compressed his sleep down to just two hours a night. The main issue was that brewing Magic Potions was an incredibly tedious process that consumed a great deal of his time.

It was also worth noting that changing his Origin Power value every ninety minutes had become a habit. However, every night, a location ping from the forbidden object 0-38, the Bell of Truth, would appear on his panel. He didn’t know if the unknown entity was only free at night, or if his daytime changes to his Origin Power just happened to counteract the Bell’s guidance.

Whatever the case, Wei’en knew that over the past few days, those people still hadn’t given up.

’Any day now, a group of them might just show up out of nowhere, trying to force me to reveal the flaws in the Magic Runes, or maybe just wanting to make me pay a price...’

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ...

Just then, his black communicator began to buzz.

’Teresa and the others? I hope it’s good news...’

Wei’en answered the call, and an image of the Research Center appeared. "How’s the progress coming along?"

’Then again, that was probably a stupid question...’

The instant the image appeared, he saw Teresa and the others hanging their heads. Their eyes were dull as if they’d suffered a major blow. Even Adolph, the Mutated Mage, looked the same.

"All of today’s experiments failed. I’m sorry, Director..." Teresa said dejectedly, biting her lip.

"I failed on my end, too. Tell me the specific issues. Let’s try to run two more experiments today."

"Understood, Director. Using the improved special materials from yesterday, we activated the Earth Spirit Array. Under the effect of the Soul Fusion Rune, we could see the zombie’s Origin Core showing some effect, but it ultimately failed."

’The same problem?’

Wei’en looked thoughtfully to the next person. "Ausel?"

"Director, I encountered a slightly different problem. The zombie’s origin didn’t properly transfer into the mechanical arm. It didn’t cause an explosion, but..."

"So, a connection issue?"

"Sorry, I accidentally caused the mechanical arm to detach..." Ausel said, lowering his head in embarrassment.

"Next."

"I actually made a new discovery," Christa said, stepping forward with a sheet of parchment. "I tried delaying the activation of the Earth Spirit Array. To be precise, I activated the array fifteen seconds after the Soul Fusion Rune took effect."

"Oh?" Wei’en raised an eyebrow. "And what was the result?"

"I found that it increases the degree of fusion between the mechanical arm and the Undead Origin. After the array activated, the power of the Origin Core was able to occupy almost the entire mechanical arm. But in the end, it still failed."

"That’s a good discovery..."

Wei’en pondered for a few seconds. He understood the difference this made compared to simultaneous activation. Extending the duration of the Soul Fusion Rune’s effect would increase the degree of the mechanical arm’s ’soulification’, making it easier for it to accept the Origin Power.

The Earth Spirit Array, on the other hand, had an external effect, primarily making the mechanical arm more compatible with the Undying Body.

’So, from the inside out?’

’That would be consistent with the sequence of a power eruption.’

A smile spread across Christa’s face. "I plan to try delaying the array’s activation time even further in the next attempt."

"Everyone else, take notes. You can all try experimenting in this direction..."

After everyone had finished their reports, Wei’en looked over the notes he’d taken and said, "Aside from the activation delay, the material strength of the mechanical arm is still insufficient. At best, it can only withstand attacks from a Minister-rank opponent..."

"Adolph, you’re off the fusion experiments for now. Focus your energy on alloy research. The goal is to increase the alloy’s strength as much as possible while retaining its current properties."

"Understood."

"Teresa, request another batch of materials. We’ll need another fifty Captain-rank zombies..."

"Yes, Director."

"Everyone else, carry on as before, but try not to all pursue the same research direction. A modification like Christa’s is a great example to follow..."

After outlining the next steps for the experiments, Wei’en looked at the faces on the ethereal screen and chuckled. "Let’s talk about what’s happening with the Schools. Have there been any new discoveries regarding the flaws in those Magic Runes?"

"The number of perfected runes has increased; over six hundred have been completed so far. But..." Teresa hesitated, a strange look on her face. "They’re saying that it’s basically been confirmed... the Faceless Great Wizard isn’t from the Ghost Soul School."

"Hm?"

Wei’en blinked. ’What does she mean? If I’m not from the Ghost Soul School, then where am I from?’

"I only heard about it when I went to see Dean Josue earlier. He told me he got a definitive message from the Spiritual Mystery School. They’re claiming the Faceless Great Wizard is one of theirs. They even announced the third critical flaw."

’Well, this is...’

’All I did was sign a contract of equals with them, and now I’m one of them?’

"Anything else?" Wei’en asked, his expression unchanging.

It was true that he’d been busy recently, focusing on increasing his own power and the research project.

Aside from his daily correspondence with Nana Mage, he had barely made any inquiries with the Spiritual Mystery School about their progress on the Magic Rune flaws.

However, Nana Mage did give him daily progress reports—things like twelve more Magic Rune flaws being fixed today, or how several Elemental Mages proficient in those spells had seen a forty percent increase in power.

But she had never mentioned that the Spiritual Mystery School would take the initiative to claim him as one of their own Wizards...

"Also, this morning, the Shadow School contacted the Ice Castle, saying they plan to arrange for some of their Wizards to visit soon for an exchange on the topic of magic research."

"An exchange on research? Does that have anything to do with the Research Center?"

Wei’en raised an eyebrow. It sounded somewhat similar to the "academic conferences" he remembered from his past life. But he doubted the Wizards of this world would just sit around a table, drinking tea and having a polite discussion...