Otherworld Bone Dragon Operation Guide

Chapter 221 The Prism of All Things (Bonus Chapter for Event)
The two walked into the passageway behind the door.

“There’s something I’ve always found strange.” Violet summoned several orbs of light that hovered beside her, their soft glow illuminating the dim passage. “You’re clearly Galio’s successor, so why are your mental traits more similar to mine?”

"You and Galio don't have this problem?"

“I’m very different from him,” Violet replied, looking around. “That doesn’t make sense. You should be closer to your mentor, not me, no matter what.

The outer warehouse was mostly empty, and what remained were mostly useless items, indicating that all valuable supplies were taken away during the evacuation.

But upon entering and pushing open the door to the library, one is struck by the room's abundance of books. Many are scattered on the floor, but most are neatly arranged on antique bookshelves.

Su Ming estimated that there were about a thousand books. Some were printed books, but most were handwritten parchment scrolls and mage notes, with the air filled with the old scent of ink and leather.

The room was very dry, and Su Ming noticed a dehydration magic circle drawn on the floor. The remaining energy on the magic crystal was very weak, but it was still working tenaciously to protect the books from moisture.

Su Ming found a candle, lit it, and placed it on the candlestick on the wall. Although the orb of light summoned by Violet already provided ample illumination, the flickering candle flame allowed him to monitor the air quality in real time.

When in an underground facility, it is essential to remain vigilant.

Violet's slender fingers glided lightly across the spines of the books, stirring up fine dust with her fingertips, and she quickly pulled out several heavy tomes. Among them, a gold-embossed "Handbook of Spirituality" stood out, while the others were notes personally made by Galio.

She added several more orbs of light in the air, surrounding the desk area, before sitting down and beginning to peruse her notes.

Su Ming picked up the "Spiritual Handbook." He quickly found the chapter on vengeful spirits, which was filled with densely packed handwritten text recording many characteristics of this special type of undead. The book revealed that vengeful spirits are a very limited form of undead; suitable materials require a long cultivation period, but their growth potential is not high.

Materials capable of accumulating powerful resentment are extremely rare, certainly not from ordinary people. Such "resources," if used in a different way, would be worth far more than just vengeful spirits.

What makes it even more difficult to deal with is that most of these "materials" are already powerful beings. When a vengeful spirit master encounters them, he should not consider turning them into vengeful spirits, but rather how to escape.

Then there are specific cases. The book recounts the story of a high-ranking combatant who transformed into a vengeful spirit, which, after being successfully detonated, nearly destroyed half a city.

However, the concept of a city in this other world is completely different from that of a "city" in Su Ming's hometown. Su Ming secretly calculated that the "half a city" mentioned in the book was not even as large as some "neighborhoods" in his country.

On the other side, Violet frowned more and more. "Galio chose the item binding route." She pointed to a paragraph in her notes, "Binding the dead to items with the ability to store spirits, extending the time the spirit is active—this is completely different from the vengeful spirit route."

"Perhaps it's a dual cultivation?" Su Ming guessed.

Zijin flipped to the next notebook and quickly found the relevant record: "Galio did try the vengeful spirit route, but gave up because he found the process too troublesome."

Su Ming opened the "Spiritual Manual" in his hand. "This chapter records the encryption methods of high-level vengeful spirits. Is this it?"

Zijin leaned closer to read, her soft hair swaying gently with her movements, releasing a faint lavender scent.

Su Ming subconsciously moved aside.

"Do I smell?" Zijin asked, remembering that she had sweated a lot during the day.

"No, it's just the scent of shampoo," Su Ming explained directly.

Zijin brushed a strand of hair aside, twirled it with her finger to her nose, and sniffed it lightly. "This one, is it alright?"

Realizing that Zijin had misunderstood, Su Ming had no choice but to clarify, "I stepped aside not because I disliked you, but because I felt it was a bit impolite."

As for the fact that he slept with the violet scarf the night before last, he has decided to keep it to himself.

“…Is that so?” Violet tilted her head and thought for a moment. “Dragons have a very sensitive sense of smell, and most dragons hate it when their own kind get too close.” She explained, “Sorry, I thought you were disgusted by me.”

"How could that be? I really like it," Su Ming replied. "It's a lavender-scented shampoo, and I picked it out for you."

****
Zi Jin turned her attention back to the book and resumed reading. "Miao Xin's Dark Sea cannot be restored?"

According to the description in the *Spiritual Manual*, once the Nether Sea enters its unfolding phase, there is no way to reverse it. Only when its energy is depleted can it close again, reverting to its reserve form to accumulate energy. Su Ming shook his head. "Her bottomless abyss hasn't shown the slightest sign of weakness in all this time; it's definitely beyond the reach of this route."

"That's troublesome." Zi Jin continued reading, quickly finishing the chapter on vengeful spirits, but found no relevant solutions.

However, in other chapters of the book, Violet discovers another method: "Honeypot bait!"

Su Ming quickly came over to check; this was a special strategy used by spirit-type undead to avoid mental targeting.

According to the book, the activator infuses Miao Xin with resentment, triggering the vengeful spirit, which is a targeted release.

Spirits are a special kind of existence that can be superimposed. Utilizing this characteristic, the book details how to create decoy spirits that resemble the main spirit's fluctuations, and place them outside the main spirit to attract the attacker's mental lock.

"Have Miao Xin place a 'spirit' on herself?" Su Ming murmured, "To use as bait?"

This is somewhat similar to how, on Earth, a fighter jet is locked onto by an infrared-guided missile, and a heat decoy is released to lure the missile to attack the decoy. Both worlds, in some tactical concepts, arrive at the same conclusion through different paths.

“That’s right, that way if someone tries to ambush her, the cover spirit can take the blame for her,” Violet replied. “On the other hand, if she notices something amiss with the cover spirit, she’ll know she’s been ambushed!”

Does it possess both protective and early warning functions? Su Ming stroked his chin. There's only one deceased person on Earth, Miao Xin, but she possesses a soul. Although these spirits quickly lose their intelligence, they will still linger for a period before slowly dissipating.

"This method is quite ingenious!" Su Ming praised, and he quickly told Miao Xin about it.

First, we need to find the big guy's spirit, Miao Xin decided to start the operation.

Su Ming also breathed a sigh of relief, as this would provide an extra layer of protection for Miao Xin's safety when she appeared at the negotiation venue two days later.

Continuing to the next page, "The Spiritual Handbook" also describes a concept for freeing vengeful spirits from their confinement, but since vengeful spirits lack autonomy, the author concludes that it has no practical significance.

But it wasn't the same for Miao Xin. Su Ming also made a mark and would study it later.

****
Zijin closed the book, got up and stretched.

“Su Ming, the power of the Nether Sea is a problem, but it is also protecting Miao Xin,” she said to Su Ming.

Su Ming nodded, understanding the two layers of meaning in those words: The Nether Sea, as a huge source of energy, not only caused a qualitative change in Miao Xin's power, giving her a stronger ability to protect herself; on the other hand, the explosive nature of this powerful energy, while being used by the mastermind behind the scenes, was also a protective umbrella, forcing everyone to treat Miao Xin and Su Ming with caution.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to say who posed the greatest threat to him and Miao Xin. The two put away their books and notes and headed to the last storeroom of the stronghold.

The door was somewhat hidden. Following Zi Jin's instructions, Su Ming placed his hand in the center of the rune array. With a flow of magic, the wall in front of him slid open with a low thud.

Violet dragged the ball of light inside. The space inside was not large, with seven or eight boxes of materials scattered about, emitting an earthy yellow luster.

Su Ming approached for a closer look and discovered that some of it was an alchemical material called "Rock Core." This ore was in irregular block shape, with a rough surface, and emitted a faint fluctuation of earth-elemental magic power, just like an earth-elemental magic crystal with extremely low purity.

During their last raid on Snail Island, they seized quite a few of these "rock cores," which were particularly heavy.

Su Ming didn't recognize the other materials. Zi Jin explained that these were all rare materials that Galio had accumulated over decades of research, and none of them were easy to find.

But they weren't used often and rarely came in handy. Galio couldn't bear to throw any of them away, so they accumulated more and more.

He usually couldn't manage to declutter, but when he finally had to escape, Galio reluctantly left them here along with the heavy rock core.

Violet picked up a piece from among them, "This one seems to contain the neodymium you want."

“Yes, I’ll analyze them all with a spectrometer when I get back,” Su Ming said.

He really doesn't have much of these things left; often he has to dismantle unusable equipment to use as raw materials. This other world doesn't have large-scale mining and use of these rare metals, so every acquisition is extremely precious.

****
Zijin carefully searched through the large wooden box, and a look of disappointment gradually appeared on her face.

"what happened?"

"I'm looking for the 'All-Seeing Prism,' a very special gemstone."

Su thought for a moment, closed his eyes and sensed carefully, and quickly found a hidden compartment in the corner of the room. He opened it, only to find it empty.

"It seems Galio has already taken everything that was easy to carry," Su Ming said. "Didn't you find it on him?"

“Yes.” Violet said with a slight sense of frustration, “I searched his body immediately after Galio died and turned over every corner of the Bone Fortress, but I couldn’t find the gem at all.”

Su Ming suddenly had a thought, "Is it this big?" He gestured with his hand, "The surface is full of cracks, and the stones shimmer with tens of thousands of colors?"

"You've seen it?" Violet asked curiously, but quickly realized, "Could it be on Earth, on that little prickly boy!"

“That’s right!” Su Ming nodded firmly.

The scholar's expression immediately fell. "That bastard Galio! How could he bring the 'All-Seeing Prism' to Earth! Such a precious gem... Legend has it that it appeared about ten thousand years ago during a cataclysmic catastrophe in the plane of Teya!"

“Legend?” Su Ming said, “meaning its origin is unknown.”

“Show some respect for the mystery,” Violet said, dissatisfied. “I’ve never had a chance to touch this gem. I’ve been looking forward to it for so long!” Her tone was full of resentment.

Zijin returned to the library she had just been in and took another of Galio's notebooks from the shelf. "This is Galio's research record. Like previous researchers, he hasn't produced many results, but he suspects that it contains spatial power."

“It’s understandable that Galio took the ‘Prism of All Things’ with him when he escaped through time, but why put it on a little skeleton?” Su Ming couldn’t understand it either.

He glanced down at his electronic wristwatch; it was already 9 o'clock, and the two of them had been away from the Youth Civilization Station for a full hour.

"Let's go back first," Su Ming suggested.

"it is good."

Zi Jin used her levitation technique to move the materials out of the warehouse, but she discovered that Su Ming was already packing up all the books in the storage room.

"Bring all of these?" Zijin asked doubtfully. "Many of these books contain outdated and obsolete technologies with limited use."

“I know.” Su Ming continued organizing without looking up. “I have a project coming up that requires a lot of magic-related data for training.”

"Training?" Violet asked, puzzled.

“Something that’s both stupid and clever,” Su Ming said. “In short, the more books the better.”

Zijin thought for a moment, "If you want books, I have quite a few stored in my collection. I can arrange for the Blue-Eyed Merchant Guild to transport them and purchase some more that are available on the market."

"That's a good feeling."

The snowmobile's cargo bed was clearly not big enough to hold all the items, so Su Ming built a sled to finally put them down.

"The books are heavy, but the rock core is even heavier," Su Ming complained. It took the two of them half an hour just to sort and move these things.

Violet took out two magic crystals and cast a levitation spell on the sled. The sled was now too heavy to be pulled by the snowmobile's power alone.

"It should be able to hold out until we get back," Violet estimated.

Su Ming started the snowmobile, the engine emitting a dull roar. After starting, the speed was only half that of the snowmobile, but at least it could move.

Zijin had worked all day, and after all that, she was exhausted. The girl leaned her head on Su Ming's shoulder and fell asleep as soon as she got in the car.

****
The snowmobile moved slowly across the snow-covered plain under the cover of night, its headlights casting long beams of light on the pure white snow. The leash, suspended to reduce weight, left two parallel tracks behind it.

When Su Ming finally returned to the Youth Civilization, the magic crystals had already lost their luster. Unlike magic cores, which could be recharged repeatedly, the magic power in these crystals could not be replenished once it was exhausted.

Magic crystals do indeed possess amazing energy density and convenient energy conversion properties, but they are consumed only once, are expensive, and are relatively scarce.

Currently, the production level in this other world is sufficient for the use of magic crystals. However, Su Ming has calculated the reserves of magic crystals in this other world, and the energy provided by the currently discovered and mined portion is roughly enough to refine steel in TS City for two to three years.

Coal may seem inferior, but it possesses a massive weight measured in hundreds of millions of tons, making even the scale of magic seem like mere fancy footwork in comparison.

This is one of the most original powers of Industrial Cthulhu.

(End of this chapter)