Chapter 1423: Soul-Locking Test, Collateral Damage

Early the next morning, Xia Duo sent a message to Aiwa to prepare a batch of cattle and sheep within the manor, and he himself, after briefly planning the progress of the upcoming tests, quickly threw himself into work.

Since the opening of the second battlefield at Amalinda, the underground Drow War had gradually stabilized, with both sides having developed into a war of attrition and a tug-of-war.

Drow Priests and Mages rarely appeared on the front lines anymore to avoid being targeted by the Alliance, and the demon army, lacking command, was already much easier to deal with than before.

It was just that the enmity between the two sides had now developed to a point difficult to resolve; on top of the old grudges between the Drow and the Elves, new hatred toward the Dwarves had been added.

For humans who had never encountered the Drow War, this somewhat fostered a "watching a fire from the other side of the river" mentality; aside from the supplies that had to be provided within the Alliance, there were only some Adventurers who volunteered to join the battlefield.

During this period, apart from the busyness at the beginning of the Alliance's establishment, the Arcane Union had now gradually returned to its previous leisurely state.

Being in the midst of it, Xia Duo could very intuitively feel the state of the Arcane Union's staff; of course, a more intuitive point was that Iolum had more free time.

He had even learned to accumulate official business over a period of time and then process it all at once, so as to free up more time for experiments.

Near noon, the two had just finished a morning of testing, and Xia Duo was preparing to leave the Laboratory to eat lunch as usual, but was called down by Iolum:

"I had the Chef prepare lunch for you as well; let's settle it here. It just so happens that I also want to talk to you about the upcoming progress plan."

"Teacher, you are too impatient!"

Although he said that, Xia Duo still stayed behind, but after he showed his progress plan to Iolum, Iolum was once again greatly surprised:

"You are much more organized than Buluode, and more forward-looking. If you could have joined this research earlier, perhaps a practical Arcane Fire Device would have succeeded long ago!"

"Teacher, don't forget the Daiwei String. If not for the Daiwei String, the project might have been shelved long ago."

"No, the Daiwei String is merely a necessary material for the physical route of the Independent Arcane Fire Device; if it were made using a real Magic Net String, then it wouldn't be needed."

Regarding this, Xia Duo shook his head. Theoretically, making it with a real Magic Net String was indeed the most rational plan, but the Arcane Fire created that way could not exist independently. As long as this problem could not be solved, this ideal plan could never be implemented.

The reason Iolum chose the physical device route was perhaps because the ideal plan was too difficult to realize.

The research ideas and experience Xia Duo brought from his hometown could certainly accelerate current research, but they could not conjure inspiration out of thin air.

In fact, without the Daiwei String and Yinuosen's Conductive Crystal, he might not have been able to think of any feasible plan for an Independent Arcane Fire Device, let alone participate in the design and research.

Xia Duo had always considered himself to be of average ability, a point he was very self-aware about, but as long as he stuck to scientific—or in this world, "magical"—methodology, he could always move in the right direction.

At most, it was just a matter of being faster or slower, which was why he had such a strong craving for a stable environment.

Of course, looking at the actual situation at this stage, he had effectively reached the forefront of the magical Domain in Netheril and even the Northland.

This made him even less willing to see the emergence of a chaotic situation.

……

After lunch, the two continued a series of tests on the new Arcane Fire plan until late at night, when Xia Duo finally had time to return to Azure Manor to continue the test of the 【Soul-Hosting Amulet】 that he had failed to complete yesterday.

"My Lord, as you ordered, a total of four sheep, four sheep, and some chickens and ducks have been prepared."

"Very good, call two people over to help."

After speaking, Xia Duo walked toward a temporary fence near the outer woods on the west side of the manor, where the experimental samples he needed were temporarily kept.

Before long, Aiwa brought two sturdy manor servants, "My Lord, what needs to be done?"

"First, pull out one sheep, and put a few chickens and ducks next to it."

As he spoke, Xia Duo cast a Spell to draw a glowing circle on the grass next to the fence, and the two manor servants, one holding a lasso, skillfully tied up a sheep and carried it into the circle.

The other person carried a wicker chicken coop, grabbed a few chickens and ducks, stuffed them inside, and also placed them within the circle Xia Duo had drawn.

Perhaps sensing the breath of death, the animals, whether inside the fence or in the experimental area, began to scream desperately; the chaotic and noisy sounds seemed particularly harsh in this quiet night.

Xia Duo did not care about this at all; if one was going to take someone's life, how could one forbid them from crying out?

However, no matter how shrill or miserable the cries were, they could not change reality, nor could they change Xia Duo's mind. He ordered Aiwa and the others to step back, and he himself walked into the light circle and put the experimental 【Soul-Hosting Amulet】 onto the sheep's neck.

There were differences between a sheep's body and a human body; Xia Duo did not know much about Transmutation Spells, but what he did know was enough for him to attune the 【Soul-Hosting Amulet】 to this experimental sheep.

After everything was ready, Xia Duo stepped out of the circle and controlled a Flying Sword from a distance to pierce the sample's head. He then counted silently for a few seconds, and the Soul-Hosting Amulet suddenly shone brightly.

Immediately after, the chickens and ducks around the sample that had been screaming desperately instantly lost their voices.

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo could not help but frown. The Soul-Hosting Amulet did indeed exert its intended effect—collecting souls—but the effect of the Soul-Locking Technique seemed a bit too good, as the souls of the surrounding chickens and ducks were also plundered along with it.

If this were used on a person, perhaps one would die and a whole row would fall.

Of course, this might also be because the souls of chickens and ducks were too weak, making them more susceptible to the Soul-Locking Technique, but Xia Duo was not so insane as to experiment on living people.

As long as the problem of the chickens' and ducks' souls being affected was solved, there should be no problem for humans; it was just like using white mice for toxicology tests on Earth—as long as the white mice were fine, humans would likely have no problems either.

……

Retrieving the Soul-Hosting Amulet, Xia Duo told Aiwa that the dead experimental subjects could be used to provide an extra meal for the manor staff, and then he returned to the Arcane Union.

Tonight, he had originally wanted to test the soul-collecting function of the Soul-Hosting Amulet; he had thought about the collateral effect before, but had not taken it to heart. After all, the target of the Soul-Locking Technique was the individual attuned to the Soul-Hosting Amulet, not a certain range.

The reason he prepared chickens and ducks was just out of rigorous consideration; now it seemed that he had indeed prepared correctly.

Of course, this also added a lot of trouble to his subsequent improvements, but for the safety of the Soul-Hosting Amulet, these were truly indispensable.