Chapter 3995

The new room was not large, and the dirty, bloody stench was not as strong as in the "Blood Collection Workshop." The room layout was very simple: in the center sat a filthy long table, about the same size as the dining table in Xia De's home, surrounded by four benches, and there were simple metal storage lockers against the wall.

Dried blood seeped out from the gaps in some of the lockers; Xia De forced himself not to be curious about what was stored inside.

"Is this a worker's lounge in the factory?"

He thought to himself and was about to approach the "Shelter" built under the long table, but Ms. Gustav immediately spoke up to stop him:

"Please wait a moment, Mr. Willamute, we must first verify your identity."

"It's Hamilton, Xia De Suren Hamilton."

Xia De corrected her. He did not doubt the witches; he had already verified last time that the *Manual of Destiny*'s ability to detect races was still effective here.

The old witch nodded. The question asked this time was quite simple:

"Before you left last time, what was the last form you turned into?"

"A dragon. Since Gina saw me at that time, she should know that although the skin surface was silver, it was not a silver dragon, let alone a white dragon. I generally refer to that form as a 'Moonlight Dragon'."

Seeing that Xia De spoke so specifically, Mrs. Gustav breathed a sigh of relief. She was the eldest person here with the highest rank, the young ladies trusted her, and she also believed she had the responsibility to lead everyone out:

"No problem. Then welcome back, Mr. Hamilton, we were just talking about you."

The act of everyone building a "Shelter" under the table was very much like children playing house, but at least it looked very warm. Xia De then bent down, passed through that layer of invisible bubbles, and also entered inside, still choosing to sit beside Gina. The pink dragon young lady with the big tail looked very happy.

The witches' conditions also seemed fine. After all, the 【Filthy Blood Factory】 environment was special, and vitality could be recovered continuously; the main danger here was still the erosion of flesh mutations.

Just like last time, Xia De first treated everyone for the abnormal changes that had appeared on their bodies, and during this period, he learned about what had happened after he left.

"After you left, we thought that since the most important 【All-Things Blood Essence】 had already been found, it would be better to ignite that furnace after finding all the furnace materials, and then wait for you on the road to the next furnace."

The halfling young lady said. Because she was the shortest and had the least contact area with the surrounding environment, her flesh mutation situation was the mildest.

And this time, the situation was most severe for Gina. As a pure-blooded gemstone dragon, she was always at the very front in battle, fighting for spellcasting time for everyone, so she had the most contact with the flesh deformities in the factory.

When Xia De was treating her, she blushed and told Xia De that her tail also needed treatment this time.

So Xia De placed Gina's tail on his lap, dug out the mutated flesh, and then used mud to fill it in. During this process, Gina's face was red, but she still said:

"When we completed the second furnace, I hid my bubbles in every piece of flesh material that was to be stuffed into the furnace. After the furnace forging ended, I could sense that a very small number of bubbles still existed and were transported to a deeper area of this factory.

Although there is no way to track the specific location of those bubbles, I think they should be able to play a big role in the end."

And when the first furnace was being forged, it was Mrs. Gustav who sealed the "Great Dissociation Technique" into the eyeball that was needed at the time. The third furnace they were about to face was the one that required the 【Active Metal】 Xia De brought.

Gina's tail was heavier than Xia De had imagined. This was probably because Little Mia, who often appeared on his lap, was simply too light. And the tail of the dragon witch who had turned into human form actually had scales, but very few. Xia De had already learned this from Fiona long ago.

The condition of Gina's tail was somewhat severe; Xia De discovered a full seven areas of flesh deformity. He had to peel them off one by one and treat them, which was much more time-consuming than treating the others.

"So now, we are on the way to the third furnace, right?"

Xia De asked after Gina finished speaking:

"How long have you been on the road?"

Time had no meaning here, so "how long" was determined by the number of rooms passed.

Mrs. Gustav gave Xia De the answer:

"According to the experience of the first two times, we should have actually reached the next furnace area long ago. The three of us took turns sleeping and listening to the crying sounds, and we have already done 3 rounds, but we still haven't found the source of that sound."

"Perhaps, we need to find an existence like the 'Skeleton Tailor' from last time."

Miss Bladey said with some discouragement. Having been unable to find the target for so long, they were all wondering if other situations had occurred.

At this moment, 【Dark Moon Grace】 had already been released by Xia De to help the witches recover their spirits. While he was treating them, the witches also checked the supplies he brought, and Mrs. Gustav was very satisfied with the spellcasting materials Xia De brought.

The 【Active Metal】 had also been given to Miss Bladey by Xia De. After the latter opened the box and saw that it was a bone container for containing relics, she was slightly surprised, but then she began to professionally check the quantity of that relic.

Mrs. Gustav also asked Xia De if the treatment method she provided last time was effective for Xia De's friends. Xia De gave an affirmative answer, and then, while continuing to treat the big tail on his lap, he asked again:

"I have a very important question I want to ask."

So the thoughtful old witch, the halfling young lady checking the relic, and the somewhat shy dragon maid all looked at him.

"Do you know about the Life Spark?"

When he came last time, it was Wednesday, and Xia De's first contact with a spark was on Friday at the Tower of Mechanics, so he didn't mention this last time. The three witches had different expressions, and to Xia De's surprise, all three nodded:

"We know a little."

The witches were also very surprised that everyone actually knew this mysterious and ancient term. So Gina, whose tail was being touched by Xia De, spoke first. Xia De had originally thought she was the least likely to know.

"This term appeared in the book *Dragon Book: Breeding and Growth* that Maid Fiona brought back. I remember that in some chapters, this book directly used 'Life Spark' to replace 'Life Intensity'.

When talking about those dragon eggs that are extremely difficult to hatch, the book mentioned a very complex ritual. By infusing the Life Spark, dying dragon eggs can regain the possibility of hatching."

Gina thought for a moment, her tail twitching unconsciously, and the tip of her tail accidentally hit Xia De's arm. She immediately wanted to apologize, but then realized that Xia De didn't care at all.

So the pink dragon young lady concentrated her spirit to control her tail:

"In the very obscure chapters of that book, it mentioned that one can extract the Life Spark from dragon eggs that have already died, but this ritual is very, very complex, and the extracted spark can only be infused into dragon eggs of the same species.

Miss Olanod evaluated that ritual; she said this ritual was violating the taboos of life and told me not to look at it, let alone learn it."

The ancient era indeed also had means similar to Xia De's spell to convert life force into a "spark," it just seemed that the ancient dragons' methods were not as convenient as Xia De's.

Mrs. Gustav nodded:

"The librarian of Saint Byrons is right; extracting life by turning it into a spark is indeed a very great taboo. Life should appear attached to a form, and life in its natural form should not ingest the life force of other lives through means other than eating.

I have also seen the term 'Life Spark' in certain books in the Vatican library that recorded stories from ancient times. Only in those ancient texts of the Second Era are there records of it.

According to the records in ancient texts, the very first and oldest Creator used the 'Life Spark' to endow creations with life when creating many races. Therefore, the predecessors of the 【Church of Creation】 believed that using the Life Spark is the authority of God, and mortals touching this special conceptual energy would be regarded as blasphemy."

What Gina and Mrs. Gustav were talking about were normal sparks. Xia De even thought because of Gina's words that he could try to use a normal spark to hatch that moon egg. He planned to go find Danister on Saturday morning to try it out.

And Miss Bladey's information was different from theirs:

"I have also read some ancient books, and the ancient books mentioned that a disaster called 'Mechanical Plague' was caused by an abnormal Life Spark."

Xia De looked at her:

"Then, did that ancient book say how to deal with this kind of abnormal Life Spark?"

Xia De originally thought the other party would say she didn't know, or mention information about a "container." He didn't expect the halfling young lady to think for a moment again:

"It seems it was mentioned... sealing? No... Life Withering! Yes, Life Withering."

She said to Xia De:

"'Withering' is not a power related to death, but the opposite of life. The original God of Life was actually that ancient God of Creation, and creation and destruction are two sides of the same coin."

This sounded like the 【Twilight Creator】 and the 【Ancient Death God】 had an overlap in functions.

Xia De hesitated:

"Then Life Withering is..."

"It can be called 'Anti-Life.' 'Withering' is also a form of expression of life force, and the power of 'Withering' can suppress the activity of an 'abnormal Life Spark' to the greatest extent. Although it cannot completely erase it, the suppressed abnormal spark can then be easily sealed."

Miss Bladey nodded:

"That's what the book says."

But Mrs. Gustav immediately warned:

"I also know about the 'Withering' power you mentioned, but this is not a power that can be easily touched. If death and life are the relationship between fire and water, then the relationship between life and withering is the relationship between water and 'water that can annihilate water.'

Although Withering also belongs to life power, this is classified as a heretical power in the 【Church of Creation】. Since the end of the Mythological Era, there have been very few existences in the material world capable of using the power of 'Withering.' The monsters that manipulate 'Withering' are much trickier to deal with than the undead."