A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Chapter 293 Research on the Wall of the Heart
Why are you looking at me with such a lecherous gaze?

The next day, in the divination department office, Amamiya Nene asked with some dissatisfaction.

She seemed to have slept in her office last night; there was still a pillow on her desk. Her sleeping habits were quite strange. Most arcanists would use meditation to replace nighttime sleep, and she would meditate as well, but only for about an hour before falling asleep. It was as if meditation for Amamiya Nene only made her sleep more soundly.

Quinn said irritably, "I was squinting, not leering."

"What, did reading pornographic magazines ruin your eyes?"

The tone was quite unfriendly.

This was probably because she hadn't gone home and hadn't changed her clothes; the little witch was still wearing yesterday's cheongsam and black stockings. For someone with a slight case of mysophobia like her, not showering all night wouldn't make her dirty, and there was no way she would smell. But Quinn's gaze seemed to have a hidden meaning, as if he had seen an unclean colleague but was too embarrassed to criticize him, making Amamiya Nene inexplicably uncomfortable.

“You’ve become nearsighted,” Quinn sighed.

The system took away 95 percent of his vision.

If someone had normal eyes, doing this would turn them into a blind person, basically unable to see anything except light.

But perhaps because of the enhancements from his extraordinary abilities, Quinn can still barely see. He can manage to find his way, open doors, and go down stairs, but he can't distinguish people from a distance. He is considered to be severely nearsighted.

He wondered if, if he were destined to be an archer with exceptional eyesight, he would still be able to maintain a normal level of vision after losing so much of it.

Tests were conducted last night and this morning, and the thief's extraordinary abilities did not diminish with his weakened eyesight. He can still quickly distinguish everything in his field of vision, possessing a filtering ability comparable to a computer—provided he can see clearly.

Thanks to his exceptional memory, familiarity with the academy, and extraordinary hearing, becoming severely nearsighted didn't significantly impact his life; at worst, he still had the Demon King's Eye. The Demon King's Eye's vision was unaffected by eyesight, but his mental strength couldn't withstand such a drain. Activating the Demon King's Eye in a place like the academy, filled with advanced arcane artifacts, was practically self-inflicted torture; even the oil painting hanging on the wall made Quinn's forehead throb.

"You? Nearsighted?" Amamiya Nene clearly didn't believe it.

Nearsightedness is a relatively rare condition in Taymourne, and it's not easy to develop it without considerable wealth. After all, there are no electronic devices here, and books are extremely expensive. Only old scholars who study late into the night wear glasses, and glasses and canes are generally accessories symbolizing social class.

"I can't tell people from animals from ten meters away." Quinn described his symptoms: "From a hundred meters away, the sky and earth are the same color."

"What happened?"

"I got radiation from my neighbor's WiFi while playing Genshin Impact. Jack Ma ruined me. It's because I drank milk powder instead of rice and oil when I was a kid."

"?"

Quinn narrowed his eyes and then opened them again.

If there's one downside to being nearsighted...

That means it's not very convenient to admire black stockings in the office.

To be fair, Quinn thought that although Amamiya Nene had a bad personality, she did have a pair of top-notch legs that were quite pleasing to the eye when she propped them up on the table all the time. But now that he couldn't see that clearly, all that was left of her was her bad personality.

Quinn was working at his desk.

If there was anything he could clearly see, it was the stack of documents on the table.

The top of the document reads 'Grindelwald Research and Development Department - Top Secret - Ultimate General-Purpose Humanoid Decisive Weapon Experiment - Priority 0'.

Grindelwald's school documents all follow this format: the first part is the department, and the second part is the security classification. 'Top Secret' means that no one except those directly involved in the project should know about it, not even the department head or associate dean who are not involved.

In Amamiya Nene's eyes, the document on Quinn's desk was blurry; no matter what she tried, she couldn't decipher the words—a cognitive barrier imposed on her by the Nibelungen. Quinn, on the other hand, could read the document clearly no matter how far away he was—a testament to the power of arcane magic.

The 'Ultimate General-Purpose Humanoid Decisive Weapon Experiment' was a research and development project that Vice Dean Hermo asked him to participate in, in exchange for a black knife containing the characteristics of a Sequence 7 assassin.

The 'priority 0' is quite interesting.

At Grindelwald, daily tasks are prioritized, and this priority determines the allocation of resources. For example, the research conducted by each professor is 'priority 5', while teaching tasks are 'priority 4', meaning that teaching takes precedence over research in the use of human resources.

Priority 3 often represents urgent matters, such as the jewelry store massacre investigation earlier this year, in which the artificial arcane circuits involved were classified as priority 2 within the School Affairs Department, allowing Ankuya to mobilize almost all of the School Affairs Department's off-campus personnel for this purpose.

"Search Hero" has a priority of 1.

Priority 0 has only one recorded occurrence: when a natural disaster occurs or when the demons invade.

Priority 0 means that Grindelwald must mobilize all available resources in this matter, including contacting Grindelwald graduates around the world and requesting their help.

In a sense, priority 0 means half of the arcane world.

But the content was rather abstract, like a script that Hideaki Anno wrote when he had autism, something about creating large humanoid weapons. This part was not Quinn's business; it was handled by his R&D colleagues, whom he had only seen a few times in the half year since he joined the company. The project he needed to participate in was called "The Wall of Hearts".

This is a defensive magic.

It wasn't arcane magic, but true magic.

Arcane magic has an absolutely precise form, which means that there are traces to follow, which is why ancient arcane magic can be reverse-engineered.

However, magic is different. Magic is the manifestation of an arcanist's mind, a miracle of imagination. Human magic is not replicable, let alone developed.

This experiment is currently in the arcane theory stage. The research and development department's requirement is to "manifest the inner barrier and condense it in the outside world to form a protective shield that uses this barrier as the energy source to resist all attacks."

Putting aside the prerequisites, the claim of 'resisting all attacks' is absurd. Whether it's arcane or supernatural power, different forms of power have clear counter-relationships. For example, a shield in pure mana form can resist arcane magic, but it can be torn apart like paper by a physical attack like a katana, and vice versa. Even arcane magic has its own counter-relationships.
The only arcane arts capable of 'resisting all attacks' are the forbidden spells of legend. However, more than one demon lord in history has shattered forbidden-spell-level defenses. Humanity's 'everything' may be insignificant in the eyes of gods, and even gods have been recorded as having fallen in mythology. There is no defense in this world that can resist everything.

Fortunately, Quinn didn't need to worry about that; how to implement it was the R&D department's job. He only needed to provide some "inspiration" and his understanding of this abstract description.

Quinn had previously submitted a report, which, like a thesis, elaborated on some theories of Earth psychology and Buddhist Zen concepts—knowledge he had learned from a psychologist. Although Quinn insisted that he had no psychological problems, the female doctor hired by the police station diligently spent a week talking to him.

If his report were shown to professionals on Earth, it would certainly have much room for improvement. But in Temuran, in a world where every psychological problem can be attributed to cult curses, these arguments are still quite avant-garde.

In short, the R&D department's document stated that they believed his theory was very "feasible" and asked Quinn to provide some specific examples for their reference.

“Dear Cavendish teacher,” he called to Amamiya Nene.

"Ok?"

"What would you think if I stared at your legs?"

"Sorry, I have no right to stop your inner fantasies. But please don't say them aloud, and don't use my reactions to satisfy your shameful and perverted fetishes—"

Quinn nodded and wrote on the document, "Professor Cavendish's walls are frighteningly thick. He's prejudiced against me."

Normally, Quinn would occasionally steal glances at her black stockings, which Amamiya Nene was well aware of.

Although such sneaky glances became increasingly difficult to detect as he advanced in his extraordinary sequence, the little witch was still happy to display her beautiful thighs on the table for him to see.

No other reason than being greedy.

It's delightful to see that guy pretending nothing happened.

But Quinn was different today. He genuinely didn't seem to be looking. Even when he pulled his legs back under the table, he didn't pretend to be engrossed in his work as usual. "He really can't see?"

Amamiya Nene craned her neck forward, getting closer to examine his dark eyes.

Unexpectedly, Quinn leaned in close as well, but thankfully he stopped in time, the two almost kissing. Amamiya Nene hurriedly sat back down in her chair, asking in embarrassment and annoyance, "W-what are you doing?"

“You can only see clearly from this distance.” Quinn seemed oblivious to her panicked expression and nonchalantly pulled his head back.

In the past, he would definitely have said something like, "What are you afraid of? I wasn't afraid even when you were teasing me."

Amamiya Nene coughed lightly.

"You were perfectly fine yesterday, how could you suddenly become nearsighted?"

"The effects of extraordinary abilities." Quinn stopped using abstract language, but he wasn't telling the truth either.

"I thought you sexually harassed Celia after I left yesterday and that she punched you twice in the eye and swollen it up."

Quinn continued writing without stopping, his expression remaining completely unchanged.

"She's not as violent as you."

“Where was I being violent? When you sexually harassed me…” Amamiya Nene paused abruptly, but Quinn immediately followed up: “When did I ever sexually harass you?”

"Massage," the little witch said with a snort, sounding annoyed.

"A woman's madness is like quantum mechanics." He wrote this sentence on the document while shaking his head. "It was clearly your request, but now it's become me sexually harassing you. Hmm, whether or not sexual harassment is in a quantum superposition state, only classical mechanics can cure it. Hmm, let's add some short stories about Confucius and Mencius solving the walls of the heart, not bad."

"Hey, leg fetishist."

"I really didn't see it, I couldn't see it. If you're willing to put your feet next to me, you can scold me."

"Is your nearsightedness a sign that your supernatural abilities are becoming increasingly out of control?"

The voice, though feigned nonchalance, carried a hint of worry.

"Maybe. I've been looking for promotion materials lately."

"You were only promoted a short time ago? So fast?"

“You know, my situation is quite special,” Quinn asked casually. “Have you ever heard of the Primal Flame?”

“No.” Amamiya Nene shook her head. “I must remind you, anything with the word ‘primordial’ in its name is not a good thing. For example, primordial demons, primordial beings of the spirit world. The older the primordial species, the more primitive it is. Primitive means uncontrollable, and often it also means evil.”

"Could you ask for me?"

"Lick my feet and I'll agree to your advances!! You pervert, get away! Don't come near me, I'll write home and ask."

The sounds of panic echoed through the office.

"Heh, just kidding. You've been acting strange lately. You used to never pull your foot back unless you stuck your tongue out."

"I don't make these kinds of jokes with men who have girlfriends."

The silence lasted briefly before Quinn sat back down at the table, shrugged, and said, "I'll be more careful next time."

Wangcai lay to one side.

The feathers almost completely enveloped it, making it look like a snow-white egg, and it remained motionless.

The eastern country, its capital—the Third New Tokyo City.

Located 300 meters underground at the Clock Tower Bank headquarters.

"The Primordial Fire?"

Peipei raised her head and thought for a long time before finally shaking her head slowly.

“I don’t think I’ve heard of Mr. Jacob. Where did you see this name?”

"Do not use 'you' (formal).

Ankuya said in a low voice, pulling his hat brim down over his head, "Be mindful of our relationship. Use more intimate language, don't be too formal."

“I understand,” she replied in a similarly soft voice.

The two sat in an underground cavern illuminated only by torches, before a colossal bronze door, fifteen meters high. The door was covered in arcane runes, and with its defensive array activated, it could even withstand an attack from a high-sequence warrior.

This is the Clock Tower Bank's highest-level vault, containing the assets of more than one royal family. Rumors even suggest it contains formulas for high-sequence extraordinary properties, Level 0 containment items, and the Emperor's overseas assets.
They sat on the sofa, waiting for something.

“A term that a student came across while reading a book a month ago,” Ankuya explained calmly. “I just suddenly remembered it. The academy library has so many books that even the librarian can’t count them all. There are always a few ancient books that record obscure knowledge.”

"I just thought that the nuns of the Vatican might know this word, since mentioning 'primordial' and 'fire' would subconsciously make people think of the sun."

"The fire of God?"

Pepe said thoughtfully, "Every church in the Holy See has one. The sacred flame on the torch, Jacob's, which has burned since the beginning of the century."

"Pay attention to how you address someone."

"Honey, darling," she said shyly, "can we really find clues about the demon traitor?"

"That's what the academy's intelligence says."

"I understand. Oh, he's here."

The two of them immediately transformed into serious, upper-class figures.

A goblin suddenly appeared in front of the bronze door. Unlike the goblins from the Clock Tower Bank in other places, it was nearly 1.5 meters tall. If it weren't for its ugly appearance, its black suit and tie made it look like a human of not very tall.

"Is it Ms. Pepe Caster Ortiz and her husband, Mr. Jacob?"

The two nodded.

The goblin bowed deeply.

"Dear Ms. Pepe, your blood test results have been approved. Please come with me; I have prepared your family's estate records from 1428 onwards."

(End of this chapter)