55: Chapter 55 Each Person's Preparations

The Battle of the Full Moon had concluded, and the tense atmosphere in Tingen City had relaxed slightly, but this brief calm was ultimately just a facade.

On the third day after the battle, a bizarre phenomenon suddenly emerged in the lower reaches of the Hoi River, completely shattering the stability of the town. Fishermen in the Dock District went out to work early in the morning and hauled up hundreds of dead fish in succession at the downstream river mouth. These river fish were physically intact, with no external injuries, but their bellies were turned white, and they were lifeless. A gentle touch with a fingertip caused the entire scales to fall off with a rustle, revealing a decay and deathly silence stemming from the spiritual level.

Old Neil collected samples of the river water and dead fish immediately, shutting himself in the Potion Room to analyze them for a full day. The final test report determined the root cause of the disaster—the remnants of the blood sacrifice pulse that erupted before Megose died had spread down the Hoi River system, contaminating the entire downstream basin.

At the end of the report, he wrote his conclusion in a steady hand: The entire Hoi River system would suffer from mild spiritual contamination for one week; consuming raw river produce and direct contact with raw water were prohibited.

While the river water hid contamination, the follow-up cleanup work on Iron Cross Street continued in an orderly manner.

The dark mold and residual filth in the underground drainage system were another hidden danger left behind by the full moon ritual. Leonard was ordered to pull a few logistics Nighthawks to station themselves in the underground pipe network to carry out cleanup work. Holding a handheld holy water sprayer, he meticulously performed a second round of disinfection on all the stone brick crevices and dark corners of the third section of the branch pipe, preventing any residual spiritual filth from breeding mutations.

Busy until dusk, the group finally withdrew. In the lounge, Leonard slumped on the sofa, sighing at a damp and wrinkled poetry collection, complaining that the damp mud and water in the underground pipes had rotted the cover and title page ink of the book, ruining his treasured poems.

But if one were to open his patrol log for the day, one could see a completely different picture. The line of record, "Personally destroyed the core rune of the Spirit Descent Ritual, cleared the foundation of the evil filth on Iron Cross Street," was written in neat, upright handwriting that pressed through the paper. It was the neatest and most concise page in the entire booklet, hiding the young man's unostentatious military exploits and obsession.

On the fifth day after the battle, the investigation notification for the Storm Cape sea area was updated again, bringing key clues about the remnants of the Aurora Order.

The maritime patrol team had once again captured traces of that bizarre black sail ship deep within a hidden reef group thirty nautical miles northwest of Storm Cape. The ship's hull was hidden in the shadows of the reefs and the mist of the waves, shrouded in a thick and obscure spiritual barrier that blocked all conventional detection methods, making it impossible for ordinary patrol ships to get even a fraction closer.

However, long-distance spiritual observation had confirmed that on the black sail ship, the evil spiritual fluctuations remained vivid, restless, and had not diminished.

Various signs pointed to one conclusion: the escaped Megose was still hiding on the ship and had not left the Tingen sea area.

On the other hand, the escaped Roy King remained untraceable, as if he had evaporated from the world.

Daly had cast her mediumship secret arts several times, scanning the three core areas of the Iron Cross Street battlefield ruins, the abandoned Textile Factory, and the Hoi Family secret room layer by layer, but she could never capture even a shred of spiritual residue or emotional lingering belonging to Roy.

She finally gave her verdict: the moment the ritual rune was stripped away and the grand array shattered, Roy King had decisively severed his connection with all backup runes and spiritual anchors, using some secret Beyonder method to completely conceal his own spiritual characteristics, thoroughly avoiding all mediumship tracking and source tracing.

The depth of this person's scheming and the ruthlessness of his decisiveness far exceeded everyone's expectations.

For the past few days, Klein had been shuttling back and forth between the Potion Room and the Archive Room, living a busy and steady life.

He assisted Old Neil in recalibrating a batch of portable compasses that were highly susceptible to abnormal spiritual interference, filling the inventory gaps, and rushed to prepare and replicate a large number of holy water copper bottles and purification powders, fully replenishing the combat supplies that had been nearly exhausted by the Battle of the Full Moon. That great battle had consumed more than 60% of the emergency consumables; if they encountered another evil ritual of the same level, the original inventory would not have lasted two rounds of confrontation.

In his spare time, he also compared the normal fluctuation data of the sealing nodes around the Chanis Gate to correct the compasses' deviations, increasing the instrument's spiritual perception sensitivity by a full 30%, enough to accurately capture subtle evil fluctuations.

When twilight saturated the lounge, Klein pushed the door open, holding the organized supply list, and happened to run into Leonard, who was boredly flipping through a poetry book.

Leonard glanced at him, his eyes carrying a hint of teasing doubt: "I haven't seen you on patrol duty for the past few days. You're either soaking in the Potion Room mixing potions or hiding in the Archive Room organizing files. You even asked Daly to sign your patrol logs. What kind of private business are you busy with?"

Klein pulled over a chair and sat down calmly, spreading the neat supply list on the coffee table, his tone as flat as usual: "Replenishing combat supplies. The consumption of materials in the Battle of the Full Moon was too high; the Nighthawks' reserves in Tingen have long bottomed out. Old Neil said that the Backlund diocese headquarters will have a batch of high-level spiritual materials arriving next week, and we can apply for an allocation to supplement them."

"And while you were at it, you took apart all of Old Neil's compasses?" Leonard raised an eyebrow and asked.

"It's calibration, not disassembly." Klein corrected him slightly, his tone serious. "The spiritual riot on the night of the full moon caused the magnetic field to be chaotic, and the compass needles shifted significantly. The data was already inaccurate, so it had to be readjusted to adapt to the seal fluctuations."

Leonard closed the book, placed it on his lap, and stared steadily at the steady and introverted companion in front of him. His tone became a bit more serious: "You've been busy with the team's trivial matters all this time. Have you never thought about preparing for your own affairs? That night you held the entrance to the branch pipe for half the night, and after the battle, you soaked in the Potion Room for a whole day mixing potions. Aren't you in the slightest bit anxious about your own promotion and accumulation?"

This sentence struck a chord in Klein's heart, making him fall silent instantly.

He naturally had private matters that were urgent and required careful preparation.

The exploration of the ancient palace above the gray fog had been interrupted for nearly two weeks, and the translation and interpretation of the Roselle Gustav diary were barely halfway through, having been shelved for a long time. What bothered him even more was that on the night of the Battle of the Full Moon, the frequency of the blood sacrifice pulse he captured at the entrance of the drainage branch pipe had a subtle match with the ancient fluctuations he had occasionally glimpsed above the gray fog.

The two were not of the same origin, but they were like two copyists spanning endless years, replicating from the same ancient template, hiding unknown secrets and truths.

He had intended to find some free time to ascend to the gray fog, re-search and compare, and dig deep into the connection. But now, the situation in Tingen was turbulent with undercurrents, hidden dangers had not been eliminated, the remnants of the Aurora Order were lurking outside, and the hidden crisis had never dissipated. During this critical period of full-member alert, he would never distract himself or risk touching the secrets of the gray fog.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Klein only said faintly: "Finish the official business at hand first, then talk about private matters."

Leonard understood the caution and firmness in his eyes and did not ask any more questions. He picked up the poetry book again, letting the lounge return to silence.

The same evening, Potion Room.

Lu Li stood in front of the testing bench, having completed Old Neil's final assessment of his [Prometheus] potion digestion progress.

Old Neil held the spiritual detection needle, which was glowing with a faint blue light, carefully checked the data jumping on the instrument, and after finishing the last page of observation records, his aged voice was steady and clear:

"Your Prometheus acting is already nearly complete."

"On the night of the full moon, when you precisely stripped away the blood sacrifice rune, your extremely fine control over the spiritual flame was already a high-level application of the Prometheus Sequence ability. That high-intensity combat acting is worth a month of dedicated grinding and accumulation in ordinary times."

He looked up at Lu Li, pointing out the threshold for the final step of digestion: "Now, there is only one last step left to completely digest the potion and stabilize your foundation. You need to steal a ball of Sealed Artifact fire from a Beyonder whose Sequence is higher than yours in an absolutely dark environment without any light."

Old Neil reached out and pointed to the sealed safe in the depths of the Potion Room: "The Grade 3 Sealed Artifact 'jiaowei' is right here. Its flame is your most suitable target."

Pausing, his expression became a bit more solemn as he added the risks involved: "The sealed fire of jiaowei is far hotter than ordinary alchemical fire, violent and sensitive. Stealing fire in total Darkness, silently and without sound, while avoiding its autonomous perception is extremely difficult. Back then, it took me six minutes to steal the Old Coppersmith's alchemical fire; the danger level of jiaowei far exceeds that."

"It's not just difficult; it's a fatal danger."

Old Neil took off his deerskin gloves stained with potion powder, leaned back against the chair, his expression becoming completely serious, and stated the most critical hidden danger: "jiaowei has a built-in top-tier automatic warning mechanism, and its spiritual perception is extremely sensitive. You saw it with your own eyes on the night of the full moon; it can actively capture special bloodline imprints and autonomously trigger guidance. Once you disturb the flame or trigger a warning while stealing fire, the erupting spiritual pulse will instantly light up all the sealing runes in the Potion Room, triggering an alert for the whole team, and may even cause the seal to backfire."

"Therefore, this place absolutely cannot be used as the venue."

"Go to the old file cabinet Area C on the second underground floor. That stone room has no windows or gaps, the double-layered stone walls isolate the spiritual flow between the inside and outside, there are very few sealing runes, and it is completely out of the sensing range of the Chanis Gate's outer seals. Even if jiaowei triggers a pulse, it won't cause a false alarm for the city-wide seals; it is the only safe venue."

After stating the venue requirements, Old Neil threw out the last hard condition: "You know the rules; the conclusion of the fire stealing must satisfy the condition of 'a high-Sequence holder being present.' You should have a suitable candidate in mind?"

Lu Li did not hesitate at all and replied: "Captain Dunn."

"Sequence 7: Nightmare is just above your Sequence level. You have followed him on missions for years and are extremely familiar with his spiritual fluctuations and aura characteristics, so the fault tolerance rate when stealing fire is the highest, and it is least likely to fail." Old Neil nodded, acknowledging this choice. "Go and communicate with him."

Dunn's office was simple and solemn, with the faint smell of ink and paper permeating the air.

After listening to Lu Li's complete request, Dunn, who was reviewing the logs, paused his pen and fell into a few seconds of silence. He gently placed his fountain pen on the dossier, leaned back against the chair, and calmly reviewed the entire process:

"You mean, in an environment of total Darkness without light, I hold the fully activated jiaowei, do not actively release spiritual detection, do not apply any seal suppression, remain absolutely still, and let you use your Marauder ability to strip and steal the flame?"

"Yes." Lu Li nodded. "Captain does not need any cooperation; just remain still throughout. The whole process will take at most a few minutes."

Dunn thought slightly, weighing the risks and pros and cons. After a moment, he nodded slowly: "I can cooperate. But I have one condition."

His gaze was sharp, and his tone allowed for no negotiation: "Old Neil must be present to monitor the spiritual fluctuations of jiaowei throughout the entire process. Once the pulse exceeds the safety threshold, the ritual must be forcibly terminated immediately. The warning mechanism of a Grade 3 Sealed Artifact is too sensitive; even in the C-area stone room, someone must monitor the instruments in real-time to eliminate the risk of loss of control."

The setting sun sank completely below the horizon, and twilight engulfed the entire Tingen City.

Second underground floor, old file cabinet Area C stone room.

The heavy stone door closed and locked, completely isolating all external light. The four walls of the stone room were rough and heavy raw stone walls; the double-layered stone structure was airtight, and the inside of the iron door was covered with dark sealing rune backing plates, silently isolating all spiritual leakage and external interference.

Old Neil set up the portable spiritual monitor in the corner, and the probe was precisely aimed at the lead sealing box in the center of the stone room. In the pitch-black space, only the faint blue light of the monitor screen was jumping, which was the only light source in the entire stone room.

Dunn stood in the very center of the stone room, his eyes slightly closed, his posture upright and steady. He held the fully activated jiaowei in his palm; inside the furnace, a ball of invisible flame lay quietly dormant.

An ordinary person would see nothing, but in Lu Li's Marauder spiritual perception, that silver-white flame was scorching, vivid, and pulsating endlessly, like a miniature star dormant in the Darkness. Every faint breath and rise and fall pushed warm spiritual ripples to spread out in layers, filling the entire dark space.

Lu Li discarded all distracting thoughts, his mind returned to silence, and he slowly extended his thread-like spiritual tentacles into the void.

The tentacles gently penetrated the spiritual barrier between the jiaowei furnace shell and the flame. He did not rashly touch the scorching flame core but followed the warm radiation layer on the outside, carefully exploring inch by inch, precisely locking onto the spiritual anchors connecting the flame to the Sealed Artifact carrier.

The slender silver-white light threads that maintained the flame's ownership and firmly imprisoned it in the furnace were hidden in the gaps of these anchors.

His task was to transfer all the ownership threads one by one steadily to his own spiritual tentacles, thoroughly stripping away jiaowei's carrier constraints, without disturbing the flame temperature, changing the flame shape, or triggering any warnings.

The stripping of the first ownership thread was the most cautious.

After three minutes of extreme focus on fine-tuning, pulling, and transferring, the slender light thread silently changed owners. The silver-white flame in the palm trembled slightly, emitting an imperceptible spiritual fluctuation, which immediately stabilized, and no warning was triggered throughout the process.

Dunn clearly sensed the fleeting warmth deviation in his palm, but he remained completely motionless, letting the Darkness and spiritual flow wrap around him.

At the fifth minute, the second thread was successfully transferred. The spiritual color of the flame quietly transformed, from pure silver-white, slightly tinged with a faint layer of gilt gold.

The most difficult to overcome was the third core thread.

This thread was firmly bound to the warning rune built into jiaowei, tightly wrapped by layers of sealing runes. Moving one would affect the whole, and the slightest abnormality would trigger a violent backlash.

Lu Li compressed his spiritual tentacles to be extremely thin, holding back all spiritual fluctuations, like a hunter sneaking in the dark night, slowly drawing out the core thread from the dense gaps of the runes, bit by bit, thread by thread.

After ten full minutes of extreme forbearance and precise control, this most dangerous core thread was finally successfully stripped and transferred steadily.

The moment the last ownership thread completely detached from the jiaowei carrier and belonged to Lu Li's spiritual tentacles, the silent silver-white flame trembled gently for an instant and then stabilized completely.

At this point, the entire ball of scorching and violent Sealed Artifact fire had completely detached from the jiaowei furnace in Dunn's hand and was floating steadily above Lu Li's spiritual tentacles.

On the monitor screen in the corner, the temperature and spiritual curves jumped and fluctuated briefly, then quickly fell back and returned to stability. Old Neil, who had been gripping his staff tightly and was always ready to terminate the ritual, slowly loosened his tense fingers, and his hanging heart finally landed.

In the dark stone room, Lu Li slightly closed his palm, condensing the stolen Sealed Artifact fire into a tiny, sparkling white spark. His movements were gentle and slow, slowly sending it back into the jiaowei furnace.

The flame returned, the spiritual fit was as it was, and the furnace temperature completely returned to normal. From start to finish, not a single rune on the warning rune backing plate on the inside of the iron door lit up, and the warning mechanism of jiaowei was never triggered at all.

The crisis was completely averted.

Dunn stepped forward, steadily placed jiaowei back into the lead sealing box, fastened the lid, and locked it for storage.

Old Neil stepped forward to remove the spiritual detection needle from Lu Li's fingertips, finished checking against the instrument data, and solemnly placed a neat checkmark in the last column of the thick observation record sheet.

His fingertips tapped lightly on the blank signature space in the lower right corner of the form, his aged voice carrying a trace of relief and affirmation:

"The Prometheus potion has been completely digested."

"You are ready; you can proceed to break through to Sequence 7 and prepare for the promotion ritual."