624 Sealed Time (2/2)

The room immediately fell quiet. Onore couldn't help but recall the uncanny qualities of the electron, which both undeniably behaved as particles and showed the familiar pattern of diffraction. According to Dieppe, protons and neutrons were the same. Then, would the elements, matter and even the world have dual qualities, too?

Looking at the platform, the chair, the floor and the lamp before him, Onore also shook his head. ”I don't know the real world anymore, either.”

Clark finally observed, ”The textbooks have to be changed again.”

Onore was amused and recalled what he saw when he took the College Entrance Exam of Advanced Magic. The textbook on the new alchemy that was determined in the morning had to be revised by the time the exam was over in the afternoon. Now, after only two months, the textbook had to be rectified yet again.

”This is truly a crazy and wonderful age…”

Inside his own laboratory, Dieppe looked at the diffraction pattern in disbelief and remarked in amazement.

After he finished the experiment, he felt the feedback of the real world, which improved his cognitive world. However, he murmured in confusion, ”Why is it much less than I anticipated? Did Mr. Evans take most of it because he completed the diffraction experiment?”

It could only be explained in such a way!

What he didn't know was that Lucien did the experiment in a hurry to stop the changes in his cognitive world and didn't finish the theoretical deduction at all. That was why he still received part of the feedback.

......

In the grey environment, Rhine's red coat was particularly eye-catching. However, Lucien did not ease his wariness. The Temple of Spirits was full of dangers, and Mr. Rhine had always been acting mysteriously.

”I almost attacked just now if I didn't sense my Origin of Blood in your body.” Rhine said so casually that he was more like attending a concern than having an adventure in the World of Souls.

Lucien also confirmed Rhine's identity with his scent and the reaction of the Origin of Blood. He asked in confusion, ”Mr. Rhine, why are you here? Are you trapped again?”

Rhine shook his head. ”When Sard died in the battle against Benedict II, a mysterious piece from his body escaped into the World of Souls. I traced it and reached this place.”

As he spoke, he pointed at the blood on his chest. ”However, I lost clues and encountered a transparent monster. I was heavily wounded and only beat it back with the strength of the Primordial Ancestor.”

”It was not destroyed? What's the level of the monster?” Asked Lucien in surprise. Rhine was at the peak of legendary when he borrowed the power of the Silver Moon, and yet the monster was not killed.

Rhine retained his easy smile. ”I found it quite odd, too. After being caged in the World of Souls, I have reached level three of legendary. When I fought the monster, it only showed the strength close to the peak. It could wound me but not kill me, but after I borrowed the strength of the Primordial Ancestor, it suddenly became stronger and reached the real peak of legendary. So, it was only temporarily beaten back.”

”It intentionally lured you to use the strength of Alterna?” Lucien analyzed. Rhine's skill was like Ivan's God's Grace. It would take a long time before he could use it again.

Rhine smiled. ”Probably, but it isn't so easy to kill a prince of vampires. Why are you here?”

Lucien introduced what happened earlier and described the residue of the magic circle and the grey piece with the word 'devil' on it.

Pondering for a moment, Rhine said, ”I met a similar residue before… Let's check it again. We may find something else.”

Therefore, he reopened the black gate that Lucien came from, but the grey hall behind it had changed. Appearing before the two of them was a grey secret chamber.

Time seemed to be sealed in the chamber. Everything was fresh and real. However, after the gate was opened, time began to flow, and the paper, the desk and the utensils decayed quickly.

Different from the grey hall, this secret chamber only had two black gates.

”An alchemical circle? Is this the remains of a magic laboratory?” Lucien was slightly behind Rhine. He was grasped by curiosity and the desire of exploration.

Two items were still intact in the mud. One of them was a broken notebook that had been processed by magic, and the other was the arm of a puppet with weird patterns.

Rhine picked up the arm of the puppet and examined it carefully. Lucien also opened the notebook with magic, turning the grey, broken pages making crisp sounds.

The beginning of the notebook was the conclusions of some alchemical experiments. They were perhaps very precious for the ancient sorcerers, but for the arcanists of the Congress today, those things had been simplified and modified far too many times and were not worth mentioning at all. However, Lucien was intrigued by a solution to craft 'stand-in puppet' on the notebook. He recorded it inside his spirit library.

He was about to finish reading the notebook. There were no clues about the current environment. Suddenly, two lines of deep grey words were reflected in his eyes before Lucien had the time to react: ”A ghost, an unimaginable ghost, wanders this place!”

”Quite a few partners have gone missing. Perhaps I will be next.”