Chapter 1305: Phase Three Experiments, [Negative Energy Control]

If Xia Duo were to recruit people himself, he might not necessarily find volunteers who were at least High Mages; people were living perfectly fine lives, so why would they want to participate in such dangerous research?

And to be the lab rats being researched at that!

Even if someone were willing to come, what would the cost be?

To buy out the future life, or even the existence, of a High Mage—what a massive price that would require!

Furthermore, how could it be possible that only one volunteer would be needed!

Dean Bernie's willingness to provide volunteers was undoubtedly the best possible news for Xia Duo, and the good news continued to follow one after another.

Unlimited, unrestricted special energy supply lines, experimental facilities that could be added at will, and experimental materials approved for immediate distribution.

Such convenient conditions made Xia Duo once again harbor the idea of creating a Spell Chip, though the experimental materials were mostly things like Purification Potions and Healing Potions.

There was Mithril, but it was primarily used as maintenance material for the Laboratory's facilities and equipment; trying to scrape out enough from that to conduct chip experiments was truly no easy task.

However, Xia Duo had other methods; he could achieve this goal by establishing multiple related projects that had a higher demand for Mithril.

He still needed to carefully ponder the specific details, but he already had the idea.

……

Dean Bernie's efficiency was very high; by the very next day, the venue, personnel, and materials needed for the "Negative Energy Downgrade" project were all in place.

The first batch of volunteers were not living people, but five corpses.

The goal for the first stage of the project was to let negative energy flow through these five corpses without causing more serious consequences, such as flesh atrophy, bone mutation, or undead transformation.

This required changing the manifest form of the negative energy, or precisely controlling its scope of effect.

The difficulty was still quite high, but with a nearly unlimited supply of corpses, the fifteen Researchers could realize every idea in their minds one by one.

Thus, in less than ten days, the project team completed the goal of the first stage.

The 5th Circle Spell 【Negative Energy Control】 was the most significant achievement of this stage; this spell could both change the manifest form of negative energy and precisely control its scope of effect.

It was just a pity that negative energy was negative energy after all; no matter how it changed or how it was controlled, for life—even for a corpse—the negative effects were still hard to eliminate.

Although the goal of the first stage of the project was not completed perfectly, it could still proceed to the second stage—living people, and all of them High Mages at that!

When Xia Duo first saw that the volunteers were corpses, he had thought that even if the second stage involved living people, it wouldn't immediately use High Mages, but he hadn't expected Dean Bernie to be so generous.

Perhaps having seen the results of the first stage, the second stage went straight to using High Mages.

However, upon seeing the first batch of five volunteers for the second stage, Xia Duo couldn't help but sigh that he was still too young.

The first batch of volunteers for the second stage were indeed five High Mages, but they were High Mages who were in a dying state due to the influence of the Elf 【Negative Energy Erosion】.

High Mages in this state had already lost consciousness and could no longer cast Spells; even if they died, there was no way to resurrect them.

Perhaps Dean Bernie wanted to make use of waste, or perhaps he was treating a dead horse as if it were alive; in any case, the five volunteers sent this time were all in this state.

Although the excess negative energy on their bodies had long since been cleared away, the influence left by the Negative Energy Erosion was very difficult to eliminate, and correspondingly—

They also possessed a rather special state with high resistance to negative energy.

This allowed the experiment to be conducted in a rather bold manner, but thanks to the results of the first stage, the states of these five High Mages who had long since lost consciousness did not deteriorate at all.

Actually, thinking about it, it was quite normal.

Compared to the unstable state of corpses, living people were, at the very least, in a relatively stable state of elemental balance, even if that balance was deformed.

Thus, the second stage was completed at a flying speed; the five volunteers had just been sent over in the morning, and by the afternoon, Xia Duo had notified Dean Bernie's students to send people to pick them up.

The third stage was the real highlight of the entire project; this required High Mages in good condition, or Archmages, to participate in the experiment.

This also put immense pressure on Xia Duo and the others; after all, these were living, breathing people—one second they might be talking to you normally, and the next second they might suddenly drop dead.

"Everyone has been busy for nearly ten days; let's rest for a day first, recover our spirits, and adjust our states before continuing the experiment the day after tomorrow.

"Although the deaths that might occur during the experiment are difficult to avoid and are permitted, I still hope everyone will have more reverence for life; if possible, prioritize preserving the volunteers' lives rather than letting your imaginations run wild."

When the experiment reached the living subject stage, Xia Duo had noticed this tendency; he wasn't sure if it was the influence of negative energy on the experimenters, or if such experiments had triggered evil thoughts in the experimenters themselves that they hadn't yet realized.

But he found it necessary to remind everyone that disregarding life was also equivalent to not respecting oneself; at the same time, this was also his own warning to himself.

The Projection Plane was certainly a dreamlike illusion to him, but the experiences and sensations within it were real and true; if he indulged himself here, how could he continue to hold onto his bottom line once he returned to the Main Plane?

The so-called "caution when alone" probably referred to this kind of situation.

Of course, using the project as cover to fish for some benefits for himself from the Research Institute was still far from touching Xia Duo's bottom line.

At least in his view, the contributions he made were fully worthy of the Research Institute's investment.

Equivalent exchange was not about literal numerical equality, but about value equivalence judged by each party's own standards of value.

For some values that were difficult to quantify, it entirely depended on one's own heart.

If Xia Duo believed it was equivalent, then it was equivalent; if he believed it was not equivalent, then it was not equivalent.

……

The trial production of the chip ultimately could not continue; there was no other reason, he was simply too busy.

Even if he could scrape together the Mithril needed for the experiment, Xia Duo didn't have the time or energy to busy himself with that.

Out of concern for the Time Loop, he needed to check the progress of various projects in the collaborative Laboratory every day to avoid suddenly encountering a Time Loop and thereby missing some key information.

Now there was the "Negative Energy Downgrade" project, which took up even more of his time.

Even on this day of rest, he had to think about the direction of the upcoming experiments and related details, and from time to time, he had to exchange ideas with the Assistant Researchers under him.

There was also Samuel, who would also contact Xia Duo from time to time.

Xia Duo felt that this day of rest was more tiring than not resting; of course, he was also happy in it and never tired of it.

Late at night, he finally jotted down some inspirations on paper that he might use tomorrow, drank another bottle of Purification Potion, and only then hurriedly tidied up and went to rest.