Chapter 318: Observing in Secret

Chapter 318: Observing in Secret

“How snobbish.” The change in Annie’s tone made Zheng Yichen purse his lips. It seemed that even a Witch couldn’t avoid such things. She had been angrily urging him moments ago, but after seeing something good, she immediately changed her tune. Zheng Yichen had already expected this when he showed her that experiment record, but still, this change made him feel a bit… well, probably a common flaw among researchers.

Anyway, it was fine as long as he got rid of her. It wasn’t that Zheng Yichen didn’t want to invest more effort into research in the Life Domain, but he had recently encountered a minor issue in his research and had temporarily slowed down the progress. He didn’t plan to start with the Stitched Abomination directly; instead, he intended to begin with something more basic and something he had more experience with… What was more basic? Eyes, of course!

Not long after Annie left, Zheng Yichen had just immersed himself in a new experiment when the Workshop door opened again. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly. Since it was a Workshop, it naturally had anti-theft measures. This door was specially reinforced. Yet now, in the hands of several Witches, this door wasn’t very effective. It was opened with ease, as if it were their own backyard, allowing them to come and go as they pleased…

“Uh, what’s the matter?” Zheng Yichen asked Irene. Coming one after the other like this, what were they planning?

“I heard you developed a new Magic Potion. Let me see the experiment record,” Irene said, getting straight to the point after glancing at Zheng Yichen.

“Oh, okay.” Zheng Yichen directly handed over the experiment record he hadn’t put away yet. The content wasn’t much, and even after Zheng Yichen had refined it, Irene finished reading it quickly.

“The formula. I want to invest.”

“Huh?” Zheng Yichen exclaimed in surprise. Invest? What was that about?

“This thing has good effects. I like it.”

“There isn’t a complete formula yet. You can take a look for reference.” Zheng Yichen thought for a moment and showed Irene the potion formula he would later have to adjust with great difficulty. She specialized in Magic, but her accumulation of other knowledge was also greater than his. Letting her take a look wouldn’t hurt. Anyway, since it wasn’t the complete formula, there was no risk of theft, and Irene wouldn’t stoop to stealing.

“…” After reading the Magic Potion formula Zheng Yichen presented, Irene looked at him expressionlessly. “I never thought your potion research was that special before. Now I know.”

“Not bad, I guess. At least you didn’t say what the last person who came here said.” Zheng Yichen shrugged. Irene’s words were quite fair. Research was generally private unless invited. Even when observing, whether it was Irene or anyone else, they only offered their opinions without delving too deeply. As for the research on the Stitched Abomination, it was just studying and summarizing something that already existed. Observing that was fine.

After all, those weren’t secrets; they weren’t innovative research. Annie had even done this before, flipping through Zheng Yichen’s research materials. Now that they were familiar, she rarely did that sort of thing. If she was really bored and wanted to see something, she would simply ask Zheng Yichen before doing so… Therefore, when Zheng Yichen researched potions, they rarely actively participated unless he invited them to help solve some difficult problems he encountered.

So this was the first time Irene had seen a Magic Potion formula Zheng Yichen was working on. It truly looked like a bunch of seemingly unrelated materials forcibly pieced together. She had good manners and didn’t say it was utter nonsense, but she expressed that meaning in a different way.

“Take a look and see what adjustments can be made here. If I try to figure it out slowly myself, it’ll take quite a while.”

“Tell me about the changes during the production process first. Without knowing the change process, I can’t accurately judge what needs adjustment.”

“Kids these days.” Carlin looked toward a classroom in the Academy. The sight of a bunch of young children each holding a Magic Weapon Summoning Book left him speechless. Others racked their brains to obtain a single Magic Weapon Contract, but here he could see a whole group. Even though he knew the Academy had gathered all the students with Magic Weapon Contracts, it was still quite shocking at first glance.

What made Carlin even more speechless was that these students were gathered specifically to study the new functions in the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. While that was indeed the academic style, Carlin felt it wasn’t very meaningful… Well, from a personal perspective, it really wasn’t. But for long-term research and studying changes that could affect future situations, Carlin didn’t have much objection.

He was the type who only had to feed himself, with no family to worry about. So changes in the overall situation barely affected him. No matter how things changed, he just had to protect himself. The convenient functions in the Magic Weapon Summoning Book could still be used as usual. That was the benefit of having no attachments.

“Tsk, I remember where this thing is a specialty… the Extreme North Ice Region. I never thought the Magic Weapon Summoning Book had spread to such a remote place.” Holding a small snack that would be shaved ice on Earth, Carlin clicked his tongue. It wasn’t pure ice, of course; most of it wasn’t ice at all. It was the juice from a special plant native to the Extreme North Ice Region. That juice was similar to cream. He didn’t know how to describe why such a special thing could exist in a place that was mostly ice besides ice.

But it didn’t affect his current enjoyment, right?

In the past, many specialties from the Extreme North Ice Region weren’t things people from the inland Continent could taste. After all, most things from there were related to ice and easily spoiled after leaving. What once belonged only to Nobles had now become common and popular. Otherwise, Carlin felt he probably wouldn’t have tasted this in his lifetime.

The Extreme North Ice Region was simply too far from the inland. The journey had many natural obstacles. Spellcasters could fly over some places, but others weren’t so simple; flying? You might get shot down by some powerful Magical Beast lurking there. While keeping an eye on the classroom where Lily was, Carlin browsed the Trading Zone of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. He didn’t search for Online Stores from inland areas; he specifically looked for those from particularly remote regions.

Most things from inland areas were already known and relatively easy to access. Remote regions were different. They always had some special things. At the same time, because their locations were so remote, the good things there were like dusty jewels—no one developed them, so they just remained there. Like the shaved ice he was eating now; probably many people in the past didn’t know the Extreme North Ice Region had such a special snack.

In short, Carlin really enjoyed this kind of ‘treasure hunting’ entertainment in the Trading Zone of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book when he had free time. Discovering some special, good things always cheered him up for a while, and it was also a great way to pass time.

“Huh?” While casually ‘treasure hunting,’ Carlin suddenly noticed several people who looked no different from nearby passersby. Their disguise skills were excellent; Carlin had misjudged them earlier. But unexpectedly, this group had turned back once. Even though the time difference meant their return wouldn’t attract much attention, Carlin asked himself: was he an ordinary person?

No. So even though these people timed it well and their disguises were superb, they still didn’t escape his notice. Once or twice could be overlooked, but you’re here a third time… if I still didn’t notice, I’d really be blind… Ahem. Carlin rubbed the tip of his nose. A third time? That was indeed a bit of a slip-up, or maybe he had been somewhat careless.

He put away the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. While there was an element of his own carelessness, the other party’s abilities weren’t bad either. Otherwise, even if he wasn’t fully focused, they couldn’t have fooled him this many times. In short, now that they were making trouble in the area under his watch, he really had to investigate them thoroughly. After getting serious, Carlin realized their target wasn’t elsewhere—it was precisely the Academy.

“This… is something going to happen on my second day on the job? Did the long-lost Goddess of Fate suddenly resurrect?” He didn’t care at all in his heart whether such thoughts might offend gods. Anyway, anything god-related had become just stories now, only seen in some knight tales or Legend novels. To put it plainly, it was like the myths on Earth.

You know about this god and that god, and you can even joke about them. That’s because you clearly know there’s no trace of these gods, so of course you’re not afraid. If one day, gods and buddhas suddenly appeared everywhere, forming teams to show off on Earth, see if those who joked about gods would dare continue or fear being struck by lightning for speaking carelessly!

This world was pretty much the same idea. Gods? Do Evil Gods count as gods?

In short, with true gods absent, gods that ordinary people once didn’t dare joke about had truly become something you could joke about. Regardless, Carlin just knew his chance to shine was coming. These sneaky people clearly weren’t up to any good. Even if their target wasn’t who he was protecting, if he managed to deal with them, he could later give Zheng Yichen an additional report. There was plenty of room for maneuvering in such reports, right?

Carlin didn’t care about these people’s goals. What he wanted to convey to Zheng Yichen was that he had eliminated a potential threat near Lily. So, these people with excellent disguise skills didn’t realize at all that a High-level Stalker had unknowingly followed them. Carlin had immense Talent in this area. Even tracking in broad daylight, the other party still failed to notice. Hmm… basics, basics. If an Infiltrator fell to relying on night conditions to use their skills, they weren’t a qualified Infiltrator…

Want to earn the widely recognized prefix ‘High-level’? Dream on. His recognition came from who knows how many special events and glorious deeds over time. No matter what you do, the most important thing is that your strength must be solid.

“…Demon Sword Cultists? Tsk, to encounter them here. What does this group plan to do?” After wandering around the Academy for a while, the people Carlin was following settled in a spot with a good view. Carlin naturally heard their conversation clearly. As for the capable Infiltrator among them conducting counter-surveillance?

With superior strength, you can truly overwhelm others. Their counter-surveillance was good, but each time they narrowly missed Carlin. It looked extremely risky, but actually, that was his confidence in his own abilities.

The Demon Sword Sect had developed so much that now, who knew how many Demon Sword Cultists were hidden in a big city? Maybe the farming civilian you meet is actually a Demon Sword Cultist. Why become a Demon Sword Cultist?

Huh? It’s convenient for having more strength when working the fields. With some power, you can also deal with beasts like Wild Boars that often damage crops. Isn’t that enough? Carlin thought Demon Sword Cultists were incredibly down-to-earth. Developing far beyond those cults that persisted for years but still had to hide like rats everywhere in less than a year wasn’t without reason.

Demon Sword Cultists were everywhere. Having this identity didn’t interfere with their surface lives. They could still run businesses as usual, still work the fields. For Demon Sword Cultists to grow stronger quickly, they had to constantly challenge stronger opponents. For ordinary growth, they also had to fight those not too much weaker than themselves. This prevented behavior like some Cultists or wealthy Demon Sword Cultists slaughtering ordinary people to gain strength?

Doing so was meaningless!

After learning the tenets of the Demon Sword Sect in detail back then, Carlin himself was tempted for a while. The power of a Demon Sword Cultist was just Blood Essence. Even people without any Mana aptitude or Battle Qi aptitude could master it. No aptitude, but don’t you have blood? Weak and sickly? No problem. As long as you could challenge beasts stronger than yourself and succeed, allowing your Blood Essence to gain enough enhancement to feedback into your body, then you could quickly improve your physical fitness.

So, as long as you had blood, as long as you obtained the power of the Demon Sword Sect, you essentially gained the qualification to grow stronger.

Thinking about this, Carlin felt a bit scared. Maybe in a few decades, even a random passerby might be a Demon Sword Cultist. However, the identity of a Cultist wasn’t good after all. Getting labeled with that meant a stain. People who cared about reputation definitely wouldn’t choose this power.

Enough of that. Carlin continued secretly observing these people’s movements. After listening for a while and only learning they were Demon Sword Cultists, his expression twitched. Damn? There was actually an isolation Barrier? These people were too cautious… No, their preparations were too thorough? Just for one conversation, they set up this thing? Carlin was sure there were no Spellcasters among them. What to do? Should he force his way in, subdue them, and interrogate them?