Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 253 Tower of General Knowledge
Afterwards, Oler led the way and guided Luo Xiu and Pamier into the "Square Monument Courtyard".

Inside the Fangbei Courtyard, there are a number of small stone houses with simple decorations.

They are hidden among the lush trees, with one side of the ancient stone gate exposed to the road. The door, full of vicissitudes, is carved with exquisite reliefs, most of which are patterns composed of standard geometric figures, giving people a neat beauty in the mathematical sense.

——That is the “Researcher’s House” in Fangbeiyuan.

Each "Researcher's House" conducts research in at least one field, and under wartime conditions, the scholars within have become visibly busier.

A circular road paved with bluestone connects all the "Researcher's Houses" in Fangbei Courtyard. Scholars are walking through it. They walk out of the door of a "Researcher's House" and soon disappear behind another door.

Luo Xiu looked around at the scene inside the "Fangbei Courtyard". The style of this place was completely different from that of the "Alchemy College" in Sina City, but it was more in line with his inherent impression of an academy similar to the "Ancient Scholars" academy.

This is like the difference between a century-old prestigious school and a newly built school... but Fangbeiyuan is obviously the newly built one... Luo Xiu was thinking about this divergently, and at the same time he saw a dozen scholars walking towards him.

They all had gloomy expressions, as if they were immersed in thought about something. When Luo Xiu passed by them, they acted as if they didn't hear anything.

"Excuse me, dear guest."

Oleil explained to Luo Xiu, "They are not ignoring you, they are just wandering in the ocean of truth."

"I understand." Luo Xiu responded with a smile, "Rather, this is the attitude that scholars should have in their pursuit of knowledge."

The church's "high priest" seemed milder than expected, which surprised Oleile.

He nodded in agreement, a smile appeared on his face, and said:

"It's great that you think so. After all, even as scholars of Fangbei Academy, we feel that we lack some etiquette in entertaining guests."

Afterwards, Luo Xiu asked Oleile some more questions about Fangbeiyuan, such as why the architectural style of Fangbeiyuan adopted the ancient system, what was the focus of recent research, whether there were any outstanding research results, etc. Oleile answered them one by one in detail.

From this, Luo Xiu learned that the "Fangbei Academy" was not a newly built academy using local materials, but was moved directly from the main academy "Tower of Sages" in Songyuan City. They were originally part of the "Alchemy Academy" of the main academy.

——It was just like a certain college of a certain university being separated and established as a new university... Luo Xiu understood it quickly, and with the technical capabilities of the Sage Tower, it was not a difficult task to move the entire building.

Luo Xiu and Oleil chatted as they walked, and soon they arrived in front of the dome-shaped spire where the "acting dean" Elfan was.

"This is the 'Tower of General Knowledge'. Lord Irfan is in the tower, distinguished guests."

Oler bowed slightly to Luo Xiu and Pamier and said, "After that, please go in on your own. Master Erfan is on the third floor of the tower."

"Well, thank you for your hard work, Lord Oler." Luo Xiu nodded and responded to him.

After that, Oler turned and left. Luo Xiu and Pamier did not stay for long, but walked straight into the dome-shaped tower in front of them.

……

Fangbeiyuan, the tower of general knowledge.

From the outside of the tower, it didn't feel like there was a lot of space inside. But until he actually entered the tower, Luo Xiu realized that the range of movement was much larger than he had imagined.

In front of Luo Xiu at this moment was a space with a wide view and an interior decoration designed purely by geometry.

It is comparable to a small courtyard, and the interior decoration is completely different from the overall "Fangbei Courtyard".

On the wall inside the Tower of General Knowledge, there are circular window panes with white edges hanging at a certain distance; under the window panes are long rectangular inner grooves, inside which are unfinished puppets.

In addition, some tables, chairs, and ornaments were neatly arranged in a simple style. Luo Xiu looked around and was reminded of the scene of the "Alchemy Academy" in the former Sina City.

The decoration style here is quite similar to that of the Alchemy Institute in Sina City. Luo Xiu gradually went deeper into the Tower of General Knowledge and came to the stairs leading to the upper level.

As he walked up the spiral staircase and was about to reach the second floor of the Tower of General Knowledge, Luo Xiu gradually smelled a strong smell of blood.

It came from behind the door on the second floor, and when Luo Xiu arrived in front of the door, the door surface suddenly flashed with a deep blue mottled luster, and the creaking sound of the mechanism turning came from both sides, and the door was slowly pulled open to both sides.

The scene that was completely different from the first floor of the tower immediately caught Luo Xiu's eyes.

——Those were all corpses! They were the corpses of the abyssal beasts “blood corpse hyenas” that had emerged from the forest earlier!

The abdomens of these bloody hyena corpses have been cut open and their internal organs have been taken out. The remaining parts of the bodies are hung in front of the walls on both sides with special metal chains, and below them are blood vats that are large enough to hold an adult bull.

Drop by drop, deep red to black blood flowed down the cross-section of the hyena's body, spread to the tip of their nose, and then dripped into the blood vat.

"..." Luo Xiu noticed that Pamier's armor behind him seemed to tremble slightly, and she seemed not to be used to such a scene.

Although Pamier was accustomed to judging pagans and the chaotic and bloody scenes on the battlefield, he still found it difficult to accept the slaughterhouse-like scene before him... Luo Xiu thought to himself that he also had a similar feeling of nausea, but it was only mild and not serious.

He and Pamier then walked into the second floor, and walked quickly to the end despite the smell of blood, and came to the door leading to the third floor.

"——Creaky...creaky..." Just like before, long, sticky sounds came from both sides of the door, and the door was slowly pulled open to both sides.

The entrance to the suspended staircase appeared in front of Luo Xiu again. He stepped onto the first step without hesitation and reached the third floor of the Tower of General Knowledge.

……

The scene on the third floor is completely different from that on the first and second floors.

This place is more like a clean and tidy research room, with various alchemy and rune-related equipment placed in prominent locations on the third floor.

Luo Xiu walked deeper into the room, and from time to time he heard the sound of "puff, puff" in his ears.

Just as he turned a corner, Luo Xiu suddenly saw an entire wall filled with glassware.

On the three rows of display cabinets in the middle are placed transparent glass jars of various sizes.

The glass jars were filled with dark green transparent liquid, in which various organs were soaked - those were the organs dissected from the corpses of the bloody hyenas, and the labels on the walls of the jars were a good proof of this.

"Puchi, puchi", the rhythmic sound, as if made by squeezing cotton, came from the room on the other side.

Luo Xiu did not stop and walked towards the room.

He then saw the figure of Alvan, the "acting dean" and "great alchemist" of Fangbei Academy.

He was bending over a long blue table. When he heard the footsteps of someone coming in, Alvan raised his head and glanced at his guest. "Ah, you're here, Mr. Luo Xiu."

Alvan greeted Luo Xiu with a kind face.

An apologetic expression immediately appeared on his face, and he said, "Sorry, I'm still busy studying those hyena monsters, so I may not be able to receive you for a while."

"It's okay, I can wait." Luo Xiu responded calmly, looked around, found a clean chair and sat down.

After that, Alvan bent down again, and the "puff, puff" sound came from behind the long table again and reached Luo Xiu's ears.

The same bloody smell that he smelled on the second floor was now filling the entire room, which made Luo Xiu couldn't help but have some guesses.

But he did not stand up to observe, but waited calmly for Irfan to finish the work in his hands.

About three minutes later, Irfan suddenly straightened his back and said excitedly:

“I think I succeeded!”

Then he stood up and raised his hands.

Unlike his clean and tidy upper body, the hem of Erfan's lower body and his hands were covered in blood!

In his hand, he even held a short knife carved from crystal stone, with finely chopped meat stuck to the blade!
"..." Luo Xiu felt that Pamier behind him seemed to tremble slightly again.

As if he noticed that the atmosphere at the scene was a little strange, Alvan suddenly smiled and said:

"Ah, please don't worry about it, Lord Luo Xiu. I just finished an experiment."

"Now, it's time to test the results."

As he spoke, Alvan walked out from behind the long table and went to the center of the room.

At the same time, he raised the crystal knife in his hand. The translucent blade exuded a faint pyroxene luster, and several light blue lines spread on it like blood vessels, gradually spreading to Alvan's arm.

"--In the name of Diouf," Irfan chanted softly, "obey my orders."

"——Roar..." A low roar came from behind the long table where Alvan was sitting before.

Then, a two-headed hyena covered in blood and without skin staggered out from behind the table.

Right on its chest, a deep blue crystal was inlaid on it, with several blue curved lines spreading outward from the crystal as the origin.

The azure crystal was flashing with mottled light and squeezing the flesh inside, making a "puff, puff" sound, just like a heart pumping blood.

"——Roar…" The blood hyena's throat rolled, and the scarlet light in its eyes flickered. It was walking towards Alvan - or to be more precise, towards the crystal knife in his hand.

"Look, Mr. Luo Xiu, this is the experiment I am doing."

Elvan smiled and said, "Using alchemical techniques to refine the azure crystal, assisted by the loop of runes, it can replace the hearts of these monsters."

"I want to name it 'Lihuan Fake Heart'."

"Its manufacturing process is not complicated, and the way to install it on these blood hyenas is also very simple. In this way, if we encounter this kind of monster again, we may be able to control some of them..."

"--Roar!!!"

Suddenly, the bloody hyena that had been installed with the "slave ring false heart" let out a violent roar, and its originally dim eyes suddenly turned scarlet. It showed its claws and fangs and pounced towards Alvan.

"...Tsk."

Alvan frowned, and swung the crystal dagger in his hand, leaving two intersecting marks in the air. The mottled fragments of light stopped in mid-air and slowly poured down like flowing hemp.

At the same time, an "×" mark also appeared on the surface of the "Lihuan Fake Heart" in the chest of the Blood Corpse Hyena.

The next moment, the color of the azure crystal quickly changed to deep red. A "sizzling" sound came out of it, and the crystal seemed to have become extremely hot, burning the flesh of the blood corpse hyena.

--boom! ! !

When the color of the crystal stone completely turned into deep red, cracks began to appear on the surface like spider silk, and then there was a violent explosion with a bang!
The roar of the bloody hyena was drowned out by the deafening explosion, and its flesh and blood were shattered by the blast, leaving no trace of residue.

Elvan quickly opened a light blue shield barrier to protect himself, Luo Xiu and Pamier. The aftermath of the crystal explosion hit the barrier, creating waves of light.

It was not until the smoke from the explosion cleared that Alvan put away his shield and said to Luo Xiu a little embarrassedly:
"…It seems that the experiment has failed, Lord Luo Xiu. I am so sorry to have embarrassed you."

"Well, this failure is not completely worthless. At least I have learned that the inner spiritual power of the 'Lihuan Fake Heart' is not stable enough..."

"It needs further improvement. Hmm... You can try using the Sky Pine Crystal or the Dragon Spine Crystal... And the engraved Toles rune ring can be replaced with the Alando rune... Oh, sorry, I started talking to myself again."

...In the short hour since he came to Fangbeiyuan to receive the puppet, Luo Xiu has witnessed two "failed experiments".

"It's okay, I understand." He looked at Irfan in front of him who was not discouraged, and just nodded with a smile.

"Let me change my clothes first, Lord Luo Xiu. This outfit is really not in accordance with etiquette."

As Alvan spoke, he walked into the small room on the other side and soon changed into a clean robe of a commoner.

"Well, Mr. Luo Xiu, as I promised you before, I will give you a 'Madness Grade' puppet as a gift."

Alvan clapped his hands, and the wall on one side of the room suddenly opened, and a tall and thin puppet walked out.

It has four arms, and its bionic palms hold four pendants inlaid with different crystals.

——Those were all "magic puppet pendants"! Luo Xiu, who had seen similar scenes before, quickly knew what they were.

"These are all magic crystals that seal spirituality. Inside each of them is a third-level magic puppet 'sleeping'."

Elvan said: "You can choose one of the Ghost Falcon, Mountain Giant, Oak Healer and Vibrator to take away."

……

(End of this chapter)