Chapter 412: Testing Behavior

Chapter 412: Testing Behavior

“Huff… it truly lives up to a world with magic, this is far more spectacular than the Great Wall on Earth,” Zheng Yichen said softly as he gazed at the distant Border Great Wall. The Great Wall was built upon mountains, but the Border Great Wall had built itself into a mountain… As for the environment, this place was not particularly harsh—in fact, it was quite pleasant, with clear waters and green mountains.

However, this thought vanished completely once Zheng Yichen actually arrived at the Border Great Wall. The inside and outside of the Border Great Wall were two extremes. The outside was beautiful and scenic, while the inside was a desolate wasteland. The barren land had no grass growing, the ground was cracked and parched, and the air shimmered slightly, giving the whole environment an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

This desolation, however, stopped spreading about one kilometer from the interior of the Border Great Wall. These two extreme worlds existed because of the influence from the Abyss Entrance. Even though the Containment Barrier was power ful enough to prevent creatures inside from breaking out, some “radiation” could not disappear. It was like hot water in a sealed bottle—no matter how much you shake it, the water won’t spill out, but the heat from the water will still escape.

A thermos? That’s just a bottle, not a thermos!

If heat escapes, then so be it. As long as the water doesn’t spill, it’s fine… Even now, the personnel stationed inside the Border Great Wall would go and inspect the barren areas, checking if the desolation had expanded. This was a very important task. Even an expansion of one centimeter had to be reported immediately without any delay.

Observing changes in the desolation provided a direct understanding of the Containment Barrier’s condition. If the barren area suddenly expanded over a large area in a single day, it meant something was wrong with the Containment Barrier!

The Border Great Wall, which had never been very calm to begin with, now became even more lively. Although Zheng Yichen was received when he arrived here, the reception was extremely brief. He was only led to an assigned residence, and the rest was his free time. This was considered good treatment. As for the members of the Sanctuary Church who came here together, they didn’t even get a reception—they had to find their own assigned positions.

There was no time for leisure here now. Everyone inside the Border Great Wall was busy preparing for the possible crisis brought by the Undying Witch.

“Well, not bad,” Zheng Yichen glanced around the room he was in. It was much worse than the house in Kaja, but the Border Great Wall itself was a structure built to seal the Abyss Entrance. It was impossible to make the residences here extremely luxurious and meaningful. Basically, as long as it was usable, that was enough. There was no need to think too much about anything else.

Having made some preparations before coming, Zheng Yichen understood that his living quarters were actually considered quite good. Others didn’t even have such a place to stay.

As for what to do next, the person who received him had already told Zheng Yichen. Afterwards, he could go to the Potion Department of the Border Great Wall if he wanted, or he could do his own research. After all, Zheng Yichen was only willing to come here and hadn’t directly stated that he intended to fully assist or even join the garrison of the Border Great Wall. His presence here was merely friendly assistance; he wasn’t even considered an external personnel.

Therefore, it was impossible to directly assign Zheng Yichen to any specific position. However, the people at the Border Great Wall didn’t completely treat Zheng Yichen as an outsider either. The fact that he could go to the Potion Department was a privilege. But Zheng Yichen understood that this was also a form of testing by the Border Great Wall—they wanted to see what his attitude was, whether he came here to contribute or to avoid the troubles he had recently encountered…

If it was the latter, even if someone really caused trouble, the garrison responsible for the Border Great Wall wouldn’t interfere much. The purpose of the Border Great Wall’s existence was to deal with the Abyss Entrance, not to be used as a place for people to scheme against each other… Of course, if it could strengthen that purpose, the Border Great Wall wouldn’t mind intervening a little.

As an extremely independent entity, as long as the original purpose remained unchanged, the forces within the range of the Border Great Wall held significant power.

After tidying up the room a bit, Zheng Yichen glanced out the window at the gradually darkening sky. Understanding the situation with the Undying Witch didn’t hold much meaning for him now. In the eyes of others, his identity was merely a Magic Pharmacist. No matter what kind of battle it was, it wouldn’t be his turn to fight. It was better to just fulfill his “role.”

Lying on the bed, Zheng Yichen closed his eyes. To others, it looked like he was sleeping, but in reality, his attention had shifted to his main body. Zheng Yichen returned to his Laboratory and picked up a book to read. This book was obtained from Annie. He had already started actively preparing for when his identity might be exposed. By then, there definitely wouldn’t be such peaceful development time.

In any case, having his identity exposed wasn’t a big problem… After all, his current identity was that of a dragon. With the backing of the Dragon Clan, as long as he didn’t do anything heinous, who would dare openly attack him for no reason? As for heinous acts, were there any now?

Absolutely none. Even if Zheng Yichen saved Loris, so what? It was just taboo. Afterwards, Loris didn’t go on any city-destroying or nation-eliminating rampages; she remained quite low-key. Others couldn’t find any reason to target Zheng Yichen.

What followed was simply making the necessary preparations. First of all, the Alchemical Avatar definitely couldn’t be missing. This thing was too important. Without it, Zheng Yichen felt he would be very uncomfortable moving around outside in the future. As for research in the Life Domain, that remained the most headache-inducing for Zheng Yichen so far. Compared to Potionology, Engineering, or Alchemy, the difficulty of research in this area was really much higher. Of course, with higher difficulty came the greatest potential.

At least those were studies based on inanimate objects, while the Life Domain involved living things… The levels involved were different, and it was impossible to achieve major results in a short time. Don’t be fooled by how easily Annie could create clones or bodies almost identical to humans—it seemed as simple as eating or drinking to her. But how many years of accumulation did she have?

Zheng Yichen’s current limit was research and creation at the organ level. Anything higher was basically impossible right now. Creating bodies, for instance, was still at the stage of piecing things together. To keep such a body stable, Fixation Potions were needed for reinforcement. It couldn’t be like Annie, who could directly cultivate and create seamless parts where rejection or changes over time didn’t exist.

That was the skill one should have after fully mastering the Life Domain. Zheng Yichen wasn’t even at the beginner level yet… Well, compared to Life Domain researchers among Humans, the knowledge Zheng Yichen possessed was already impressive. But in Annie’s eyes, he was still a novice… a novice who always managed to surprise her.

“Hmm… okay, there’s nothing much to do for now. Alchemy can be set aside, Engineering can be set aside too, and Potionology, which started the latest, is almost done. Alright, from now on, I’ll focus on studying knowledge in the Life Domain.” However, Zheng Yichen now had quite a few Secondary Professions, so he couldn’t concentrate on specializing in one area as single-mindedly as before. Even if he set some aside, maintaining proficiency in them couldn’t be neglected.

Looking at the book full of substantial content in his hands, a bold new idea emerged in Zheng Yichen’s mind… All of this would have to wait until he had researched the Life Domain knowledge to a certain level before he could put it into practice. For now, he would take it slowly. He didn’t want to create something flawed.

The next day, Zheng Yichen shifted his attention back to the Alchemical Avatar at the Border Great Wall. He pulled out an input tube resembling a data cable from his ear and replenished some Fixation Potion into the storage within this Alchemical Avatar to prevent the body from deteriorating and deforming due to daily use.

“This kind of thing only feels fine when done with an Alchemical Avatar. If it were directly applied to a real body, it would be quite frightening,” Zheng Yichen muttered to himself as he stuffed the input tube back in. He picked his ear with his pinky finger, made sure there were no flaws, then left his room and headed towards the Potion Department inside the Border Great Wall. The interior of the Border Great Wall was equipped with many Teleportation Magic Arrays. Because these were short-distance teleportations, and due to the connection with the Containment Barrier—which was maintained by a large number of Element Hearts—

That energy not only kept the Containment Barrier running but also powered some of the Magic Rune Arrays inside the Border Great Wall. Among them, the Teleportation Magic Arrays were one of the most important. The Border Great Wall was vast. If an emergency occurred, relying on foot speed alone would make it impossible to provide immediate support. Using Teleportation Magic Arrays, however, was different. If an emergency happened somewhere and support was needed, they could arrive quickly.

Moreover, the consumption for short-distance teleportation wasn’t too high. Over half of the Teleportation Magic Arrays inside the Border Great Wall could be activated simultaneously!

One could imagine how efficient the garrison’s support speed was here. After all… this was the Continent’s most important defensive fortress, everything was of the highest standard.

The Potion Department was very far from where Zheng Yichen lived. Using the Teleportation Magic Arrays, Zheng Yichen arrived at his destination in less than five minutes. Two minutes of that was walking time, and another two minutes was spent waiting in line. Outside of combat or emergencies, those teleportation arrays were kept in a low-power state, mainly to reduce unnecessary consumption. After all, the energy consumption related to the Magic Rune Arrays inside the Border Great Wall all came from the Element Hearts maintaining the Containment Barrier.