Chapter 331

Luo En stared at the silver, mirror-like surface of the star watch.

His spiritual power, like a probe, cautiously touched its edge.

Suddenly, the mirror surface began to ripple, like a lake into which a stone had been thrown.

But this fluctuation was not regular; it was more like the unstable operation of some ancient machine.

A wave of chaotic and fragmented consciousness came through.

It was not a complete thought, but fragments of memory accumulated over countless eras:

Seeking the Dao... the price... the truth... blood and bone...

Eternal craving... the curse of knowledge...

Observing... recording... witnessing...

These fragments of consciousness struck Luo En's spirit like a tide, each piece carrying different emotions and memories.

Some came from ancient observers, some from devoured seekers, and others originated from souls lost in the process of pursuing truth.

This so-called "Scholar Star" was actually a massive memory repository, collecting fragments of consciousness from everyone who had touched it over millions of years.

And now, it was selectively pouring key parts of these fragments into him, according to Luo En's own memory bank.

The first clear image appeared.

Luo En found himself in a pristine laboratory.

The surrounding walls were made of pure white stone, and the air was filled with a faint scent of herbs.

This place looked more like a medical facility than a terrifying laboratory.

In the center of the room, a slender middle-aged man was carefully examining his right arm.

He was Alexander Jin, the legendary figure known as the "Benevolent Alchemist."

"Today is the seventy-third attempt." Alexander said calmly to a mirror, his voice devoid of pain, possessing only the focus unique to a scholar:

"The nerve conduction efficiency of the right arm has increased by twelve percent, but the activity of the muscle fibers has decreased. The potion ratio needs to be adjusted."

Luo En saw that the skin of Alexander's right arm was unnaturally translucent, with pale blue liquid flowing through his blood vessels.

Whenever he moved his fingers, the energy circuits inside could be clearly seen glowing.

"Pain is the price of progress." Alexander took out a syringe filled with green liquid and injected it into his carotid artery without hesitation:

"As long as the feasibility of this path can be proven, what does personal pain matter?"

After the injection, Alexander's entire head began to change.

The skin gradually became transparent, and the brain inside the skull was clearly visible.

Even more terrifying, certain areas of the brain were replaced by miniature alchemical devices, those metal tentacles burrowing deep into the brain tissue like parasites.

Seeing this, Luo En felt an instinctive nausea and fear.

It was an instinctive reaction as a human to the distortion of one's own form, a protective mechanism carved deep into the genes.

But he forced himself to continue observing, striving to analyze the principles of this modification from an academic perspective:

"Mechanical modification of the nervous system... this level of precision operation must have been an unprecedented breakthrough at the time. Although the price was heavy, the technical level is truly shocking."

The scene shifted, time flew by, and he arrived at the same laboratory hundreds of years later.

By this time, Alexander could no longer be recognized as having a human form.

His entire body had become translucent, and his internal organs had been replaced by various complex alchemical devices.

Most terrifyingly, he still maintained a completely clear consciousness.

"Success... it really is a success..." His voice had turned into a strange tone that was a mix of machine and biology:

"I am now a living alchemical factory... capable of directly synthesizing any potion I have mastered... along with various enchantments and alchemical manufacturing; this is the ultimate form of alchemy..."

Luo En noticed that although Alexander was cheering for his "success," there was absolutely no light of human emotion in his eyes.

That hollow gaze was like some highly complex machine simulating human reactions.

"Looking only at the results, it was indeed a success, but from the perspective of Alexander as an individual, it was a complete failure." Luo En evaluated in his heart:

"However, this technical route of self-modification is indeed worth studying. If the degree of modification could be controlled to avoid completely losing one's humanity..."

The memory fragments shifted again, and this scene dealt a greater blow to Luo En's psychological defenses.

He arrived at Lance Hewitt's private laboratory.

Unlike what was described in history books, the environment here was not dark and terrifying, but rather appeared orderly.

Exquisite art paintings hung on the walls, fresh flowers were placed on the desk, and even soothing music was playing softly.

But this warm environment made what happened next seem even more hair-raising.

Lance was talking to a boy about ten years old.

The child had wet, curly hair, and scales and fins on his body; he seemed to be a half-breed sea siren.

In his large blue eyes, there was full trust in this "uncle."

"Tell uncle, what is your dream?" Lance squatted down, his voice full of sincere care.

"I want to become a warlock like my father, to protect our city and drive away those abyss monsters."

The boy answered naively, his eyes sparkling with innocence.

"What a beautiful dream." Lance stroked the child's hair:

"You will contribute to making this dream come true for more children like you; your eternal sleep will save countless lives and make you a true hero."

The next scene gave Luo En a strong spiritual shock.

Lance took the hand of the siren boy, who trusted him completely, and led him to the operating table.

After using anesthetic runes to completely lock his movements, he began what he called "life research."

Throughout the process, Lance maintained a gentle smile, constantly comforting the terrified boy.

"Don't be afraid, this is just a short process.

You will soon enter an eternal sleep, where there is no pain, no fear, only endless peace."

Even more outrageous was that, in addition to those bloodline fusion experiments, Lance would also record every reaction of the other party in detail during the experiment.

Including the degree of fear, the expression of pain, and the entire process of consciousness dissipation.

He was like someone conducting some morbid artistic creation, pursuing a kind of twisted perfection.

Luo En felt a strong wave of nausea.

As a modern person, he could not understand this disregard for innocent life.

But at the same time, he also noticed the subtlety of Lance's experimental techniques.

That precise control over the flow of life energy and deep understanding of organ function truly represented the highest level of bloodline studies at the time.

"Cannot let emotions sway judgment." Luo En forced himself to calm down:

"I need to learn the technical principles from this, not get hung up on moral judgment.

History has already happened; what I can do is ensure that this knowledge is used in the right direction."

The memory fragments continued to flow, but the content became increasingly dark and twisted.

Elena Moonshine's emotional treasury appeared before Luo En.

It was a magnificent underground palace with a dome tens of meters high, and countless transparent containers embedded in the surrounding walls.

Each container held purified emotions that had been extracted; those concepts that should have been abstract had become tangible entities here.

Love appeared as a pink ball of light, gently pulsing in the container;

Hatred was a rolling black mist, constantly hitting the container wall;

Fear was like silver snakes, twisting crazily in the liquid.

What made him shudder the most was that these emotions still retained part of the original owner's consciousness.

Luo En could hear them crying, begging, and cursing:

"Please... let me return to my child... I want to feel the love for him again..."

"I want revenge! I want to kill that witch! She stole my anger, and now I can't even hate!"

"Fear... fear is everywhere... I no longer know what the feeling of safety is..."

Elena stood in the center of these painful containers with an intoxicated expression on her face.

She stroked each container as if admiring her own art collection:

"What pure emotion... what perfect extraction... each one is the essence of the human soul..."

She turned to a container filled with dark blue liquid, which contained a mother's love for her child:

"This maternal love is so intense, so selfless... I will craft it into the most perfect potion, allowing those who have lost their loved ones to feel the warmth of being loved again."

But what Elena did not realize was that her "charitable" act was built on the complete plunder of the original owner.

After losing the ability to love, that mother had become an emotionally indifferent shell.

Luo En had completely entered the perspective of a bystander, silently observing all of this.

If Lance's cruelty had some twisted logic.

Then Elena's behavior was madness built entirely on self-deception.

She thought she was doing good deeds, but in reality, she was creating greater pain.

Luo En had become accustomed to detaching himself and analyzing from a purely technical perspective:

"Materialization of emotions... if this technology could be improved, perhaps it could be used to treat mental trauma.

For example, extracting a patient's fear and pain without damaging other emotions..."

The content of the memory fragments became increasingly crazy. Luo En saw the fall of Ags Lakolu in the process of pursuing the Philosopher's Stone.

This once-respected grand wizard, in order to obtain eternal life, built a factory dedicated to collecting "innocent souls."

Tens of thousands of young children from different races were imprisoned in small cells.

Their innocence and hope were extracted bit by bit to refine that legendary stone.

Most terrifyingly, this process had to ensure that the children remained conscious during the extraction.

Because only innocence in a conscious state had sufficient activity.

Even more outrageous was Damian Puchi's laboratory.

This mad alchemist pushed living modification to the extreme.

His laboratory was like some surreal nightmare:

Some experimental subjects were modified into living organ culture dishes,

Their abdominal cavities were hollowed out, and various rare organs were planted inside, but the brain remained conscious, enduring unimaginable pain day and night;

Some were fused into multi-headed monsters, with the heads of three or four people forcibly spliced onto one body,

Their consciousnesses conflicted with each other, constantly undergoing spiritual tearing;

Others were made into tools with partial consciousness,

Such as talking tables, chairs that could think, weapons with human memories...

As he came into contact with these increasingly dark memories, Luo En felt his spiritual defenses constantly undergoing unprecedented shocks.

The screams of those victims echoed in his ears, and those twisted images flashed repeatedly before his eyes.

His empathy protested crazily, demanding that he stop this "learning."

But at the same time, reason also reminded him that this knowledge indeed contained extremely precious information.

"I am not a judge, nor a savior." Luo En repeatedly warned himself in his heart:

"I cannot change the past, but I can ensure that the knowledge I have learned can be used for a more clear and bright purpose."

As this psychological adjustment proceeded, Luo En found that his emotional reactions were gradually weakening.

Facing those horrific scenes, he no longer felt overly nauseated and angry, and began to observe with a more objective and calm attitude.

This change made him somewhat worried.

Was he losing the empathy that a human should have?

But reason told him that this convergence of emotions was necessary.

If he were swayed by emotions every time he came into contact with this kind of knowledge, he would not be able to conduct truly effective learning.

A true seeker of the Dao must be able to transcend personal emotional likes and dislikes and treat all knowledge with a purely objective attitude.

The last memory fragment was about an ancient alchemist named Victor Asmodeus.

In the process of pursuing "perfect artificial life," this person created an artificial body capable of simulating any biological characteristic.

To test the authenticity of these artificial bodies, Victor designed extremely cruel experiments:

He would have the artificial body absorb an individual and then have various intimate contacts with their relatives or lovers, observing whether the experimenter could detect the difference.

The subjects of the experiment included various human emotions such as family affection, friendship, and love.

The despair and pain when the real person discovered the truth were carefully recorded by him as "data."

Most outrageous was that Victor would also have the artificial body marry a real person and have children.

Then, after the child grew up, he would tell them that their "father" or "mother" was just an artificial product.

Finally, he would have the artificial product destroy itself in front of the child.

This kind of psychological trauma often completely destroyed a person's spiritual world.

Facing this madness now, Luo En's heart had become unusually calm.

In his eyes, these were just data points, samples used to understand the trajectory of ancient alchemy's development.

"Authenticity test of artificial life... this line of thinking indeed has its value.

If the experimental method could be improved, reading enough data without absorbing real people..."

【Advanced Potionology (Mastery) EXP +1】

【Material Transmutation (Proficient) EXP +1】

【Enchanting (Proficient) EXP +1】

【Bloodline Shaping (Proficient) EXP +1】

Almost all skills related to the Three-Phase Wizard techniques were slowly increasing in EXP.

These improvements were undoubtedly telling Luo En that his persistence in the spiritual trial had yielded fruitful results.

When all the memory fragments had finished playing, the broken consciousness of the Scholar Star sent out chaotic fluctuations again:

Observation complete... record updated... new observer confirmed...

Calm... rational... transcending constraints... meets criteria...

Along with these intermittent fragments of consciousness, the Scholar Star suddenly burst into a dazzling silver-white light.

That light surged toward Luo En's consciousness like a tide, bringing unprecedented knowledge integration capabilities.

He felt as if his brain had received a qualitative upgrade, with huge improvements in thinking speed and logical ability.

【Scholar Star has been lit, gained extra trait: Heart of Seeking the Dao】

【Heart of Seeking the Dao:

1. Learning speed increased

2. Knowledge integration ability significantly enhanced

3. Consciousness space capacity expanded

4. Can quickly master basic theories in related fields】

【Hermit Star and Scholar Star resonate, Wisdom Constellation activation progress: 66%】

【To fully activate the Wisdom Constellation, you still need to light up: Observer Star】

Immediately following, a breakthrough in Astrology also arrived:

【Astrology (Entry) EXP +1】

【Breakthrough! Astrology (Entry 50/50) → Astrology (Proficient 1/100)】

【Gained additional trait "Predictive Star"】

【Predictive Star: Can predict the possibility of the future by observing changes in celestial phenomena; prediction accuracy is related to the caster's level of Astrology】

When Luo En opened his eyes, he found that his perception of the world had undergone a fundamental change.

The stars in the sky were no longer just static points of light, but had become active sources of information, constantly conveying faint hints about the future.

The various changes related to him that were about to come were like comets gradually brightening in the night sky.

Although he could not yet make specific predictions, he could clearly feel a keen intuition for danger and opportunity.

And the most obvious perception recently was about Daier's awakening.

"Within two weeks, her transformation will be complete." He made an accurate judgment in his heart.

Besides this, the lighting of the two stars also brought brand-new inspiration.

Through the resonance of the Hermit Star and the Scholar Star, he gradually had some clues about his original rune construction.

It was not simple energy guidance, but a means of enhancement at the level of consciousness.

With the help of the "Heart of Seeking the Dao," Luo En began to think about how to transform it into practical rune technology.

The complete design concept of the "Starlight Rune" gradually took shape in his mind:

"If the characteristics of the stars could be solidified through runes, it would allow others to temporarily gain this ability enhancement."

He began to conceive the specific rune structure in his mind:

Hermit Star Rune—with deep purple as the main tone.

The core pattern is a vertical pupil surrounded by mist, with complex geometric figures surrounding the outside, capable of briefly enhancing the user's perception ability and intuitive judgment.

Scholar Star Rune—with silver-white as the main tone.

The core is a complex structure intertwined with book pages and star patterns, capable of temporarily increasing learning efficiency and comprehension ability.

The application prospects of this technology made Luo En feel excited.

Imagine, when his students use this kind of rune.

How much will Lisi's potion talent be improved?

To what height will Herman's theoretical deduction ability reach?

Of course, this was still just a preliminary concept.

True rune production requires a lot of experiments and debugging, and also needs to consider the adaptability issues of different individuals.

But at least, this technical path had already opened its doors to him.

Ailan noticed the change in his state, her emerald figure swaying gently in the moonlight:

"Master, your spiritual fluctuations... feel completely different from before."

"Indeed, I have gained some... new perspectives." Luo En responded briefly, without revealing specific details.

He could just bury those bloody experimental records from the ancient alchemists in his heart.

After tidying up the astrology equipment, Luo En returned to the workshop to continue handling other affairs.

Tomorrow, he would have to start preparing for the relevant arrangements to return to the Abyss Observation Station.

Including the compression and storage of the mobile workshop, as well as the final confirmation of course adjustments.

(End of chapter)