He is the leader of the Tantric sect in Chagdu.

Chapter 101 Light Forging Technique, Glass Elixir, and the Tin Man

"Bottom nest?"

Ai raised an eyebrow, resting her chin on her hand with interest, finding things interesting. "Tell me more."

"Actually, we didn't get any specific information out of them."

Mia took a sip of coffee, like she'd licked a lemon, and her expression clearly twisted. "Ugh, this tastes awful."

"Is there?"

Ai Yi took a bite herself, then sighed helplessly, "Well—it really can't compare to the special beans supplied to the system. I'll just have to make do. Once this storm passes, I'll try to get some more from my unit."

"Weren't we just talking about the bottom nest? —"

Sensing that the conversation between these two eccentric individuals was inexplicably veering off course, Ronan quickly intervened to steer the conversation back on track: "Listen to me first—Mia and I discovered a group of strange individuals, numbering twenty-one, in a small faction that runs a workshop in the alleyways."

"The reason for the anomaly was that after Mia gathered everyone together, she discovered that the group of people—could not speak our language."

"Um?

""

Ai raised an eyebrow, thinking it seemed a bit exaggerated. "After all, it's still a hive city, just separated by a dome—"

Do they not even speak the same language?

"That shouldn't be the case; Hallownest has long since standardized its language."

Ronan shook his head, not answering the question, but continued to recount the details of what happened: "When we arrived at the scene, the original owner of the workshop had already been killed, and the new controllers were these strange people. Mia used a simple soul-searching ritual to directly connect with their souls, which were in a daze with almost no information that could be read—only memories from the bottom nest and a name."

He said softly, "They come from an organization called 'Copper Moss.' When we asked them how they got here, we couldn't read any more of their consciousness that we could understand, so we had to capture them and they're currently being held in the Grey Court's quarantine area."

"Ugh————"

Ai didn't look up, and murmured softly.

"Bottom Nest".

The picky fox was picking out the green peppers from the fried egg, throwing them out one by one, while the little snake next to it looked like it was about to cry.

"I remember that place offered hundreds of promotion slots every year—most of them were selected in advance for scientific research or occult studies, and only a handful of people actually climbed up by following the proper procedures."

—As a result, a group of cohesive bottom-nest people were discovered in the outskirts.

"That's bullshit."

Ai pretended not to see Mia's tearful expression and chuckled, "Unbelievable—how did they even get up here?"

—Bottom Nest.

The fox had a strange feeling about the territory beneath its feet—after all, when it first arrived in the hive, it maintained its mindset by brainwashing itself with "bottom hive jokes" and using the idea of ​​being worse off to make itself forget that its situation was already bad enough.

Of course, after the fox's position in the den changed, his view of the bottom nest also changed: now, in Ai's eyes, it was a treasure trove waiting to be explored.

Infrastructure, raw materials, population, and even territory in the pool—all the resources he currently needs can perhaps be found in the bottom nest.

The current problem has become—how to take over the Bottom Nest, the most notorious no-man's-land in the Nest City, where even the Foundation only exercises minimal "Humerian control"—

Therefore, just one level below, not only is a mysterious force growing wildly, but even the reason for the dome's sealing is questionable—the Foundation's management plan is only responsible for confirming that the main species in the bottom nest is still "humans," and how many monsters and alien species have mixed in with these humans is a question.

To defend against risks from the lowest levels, the "Antarn Wall," which separates the Lower City from the Bottom Nest, is the most solid and decisive barrier in the entire nest—it is equipped with multiple "dead hands" capable of completely destroying the lower levels—and these measures will be implemented immediately once the Bottom Nest is confirmed to have fallen, without even needing the passage of a human rights bill.

The specific attitude is: how you live has nothing to do with the higher-ups; just cut ties when you're about to die.

—That place is a breeding ground for alien species, a paradise for madmen and lunatics.

"Actually—I sent people to explore the bottom nest as early as when I first took over the outskirts."

Ai accidentally kicked her fluffy slippers deep into the table and is now trying to hook them back up with her foot. She casually says, "Although the outskirts are said to be the passage connecting there, it's actually a one-way street. The will of the Azure Sky—that supreme celestial being—is exercising the power of sealing off the area, so we can only go down, but it's very difficult to go back."

Therefore, the initial group of pioneers sent out never sent back any news. The Nest also has a "think tank," but the main database there is not open to anyone; it is just an empty shell responsible for monitoring the "will of the masses."

They're not even willing to do the slightest bit of surface packaging.

Functions like "communication" are utter nonsense. There's no "credit points" system, and even the currency isn't unified yet. According to rumors, each major power in the Underworld still uses its own separate and independent price system, and bartering is still prevalent.

This can establish order—it's a miracle!

In such a situation, daily life must be a scene of brains splattering everywhere.

"And—" He opened his mouth, but couldn't think of what to say for a moment, so he first said "thank you" to Miya next to him.

The little snake used the tip of its tail to hook the fox's slipper out, then quietly coiled up to one side, lost in thought.

Ai spent a long time organizing her thoughts, but in the end, she just sighed.

"In short—at this stage, it might be difficult to extend our power there—we must obtain permission to pass through that 'wall,' otherwise it will be easy to get lost and unable to return—"

—In this way, the significance of those "suspected bottom-nest people" who appear strangely in the suburbs becomes very important.

"I'll go see them myself."

A pile of thin carrots and green pepper strips sat next to the plate. Ai Yi finally finished his breakfast. Miya complained in his ear, "Being picky about food is bad," but the rascal easily resolved the snake's dissatisfaction by stroking its tail.

"But before that, we need to move up our progress bar on the exploration of the bottom nest."

After shooing Lin away from his sofa, Ai Yi sat down and began to stare blankly. His drooping ears suggested that he was seriously thinking.

"Is there any good way?" Lin asked casually. "This is a bottomless pit. All the people we sent out before were just wasted."

In a region without communication methods and where travel is temporarily restricted, who to send to "scout ahead" is indeed a problem.

A good-for-nothing could easily die silently underground, which would be meaningless, and the core team members—who haven't even completely solved the problem in the suburbs yet—Ai Yi is unwilling to let everyone take that risk.

But soon, his eyes lit up.

"It seems there really is a way."

The fox wagged its tail and pricked up its large ears as if to claim credit, remembering the research project it had been working on.

"You can't trust other people because they're too incompetent."

—But what if it's "me" going by myself?

Retrieving the historical log, a light screen from Xiaobai lit up in front of him. This was a mysterious record from two days ago: "Similar to the secret of radiance that you know—the craftsmen who make glass and polish gemstones used to be a noble profession. Because glass is a material that emits light, those who worshipped radiance and forged it into shape had a new name: the Light Forgers."

"This is the principle lost with the extinguishing of the 'lamp'—the light of reason, the rites of wisdom, which can henceforth only be born in your eyes."

"Using pure white as the scale, a new technique:"

"Forging Light Technique"

This is one of Ai's research results, and it is also his core principle, an art derived from the "lamp" waiting to be lit.

"Although it's still just a prototype, I've poured a lot of effort into it—as for whether it will succeed, we have to put it to the test."

As Ai muttered to himself, a radiant light coalesced in his palm, revealing a corner of a transparent, dazzling gem. Then, a breathtakingly bright light appeared, within which some kind of liquid seemed to be slowly flowing—

"Glassy Elixir - Light Purple (Mysterious Item) / Liquefied Reason / Transparent Container: Light contains knowledge, light circulates wisdom — Reason flows from the origin of radiance, casting the shape of a glass vessel. We can never understand what is contained within it, yet we can glimpse it flickering like a candle flame, reflecting countless facets and fiery colors — perhaps it is the liquid flowing within the skull, giving birth to the fountain of wisdom."

The skull, the spiritual realm, is, in the symbolic sense of mysticism, the chamber that holds reason.

"This is—" Everyone held their breath as they looked at the almost pure white color.

"Liquefied rationality, incomplete wisdom."

Ai played with the gem in her hand, explaining casually, "The great quality called 'wisdom' requires the superposition of three essential elements: 'reason,' 'instinct,' and 'passion,' corresponding to the space between the skull, chest, and abdomen—the realm of spirit, body, and mind. Only then can one be considered a complete soul."

"You created the soul—?"

'

Ronan spoke slowly and deliberately, his fiery pupils trembling violently, "This—"

"Of course not."

Ai interrupted his rambling thoughts and pouted.

"Of course I cannot create a true soul; that is a realm of creation that only gods can fathom."

"but----"

The fox snapped its fingers, and in the next instant, a pure white book emerged from nothingness. "However, as a follower of the radiance, I do possess the privilege that the principles of the One Lamp contain reason. Through the medium of glass, I can use the radiance as raw material to create a medium and container to hold reason."

"This is the glassy elixir, liquefied rationality."

The crystal danced between Ai's fingertips. The fox held it up to its eyes, staring blankly at the flowing liquid of light inside.

"What's the use of this thing?"

As a proper emcee, Mia asked quietly from the side, while on the other side, the curious little snake also came closer and tried to reach out and touch the crystal—but it passed straight through her.

"I don't really know if it will work."

Ai pondered, "Ever since it was created, even the fox itself has been unable to verify its effects. Now we can finally give it a try."

"Hold on----"

He snapped his fingers, and soon, along with a spreading mist, an object sealed in gray fog—about the height of a person—was carried to the center of the living room.

The fox felt like he was Doraemon, always able to pull out some strange and wonderful gadgets.

The gray fog dissipated.

The two deer-men stared blankly, for they quickly recognized what it was: a tin humanoid, but unlike the dead souls created by the Holy See, it was simply a tin shell—still retaining its metallic appearance, and completely empty inside.

"The capability I've been envisioning for a long time is finally—at least in its initial form."

Ai circled around it once, then took a deep breath and, under the watchful eyes of everyone, raised her hand and stuffed the crystal into the tin shell.

"Can incomplete wisdom work?"

Two points of light lit up where the Tin Man's "eyes" were, gazing at each other with Ai's blue eyes—a kind of transparent, invisible substance flowed out through the channel of their gaze, merging with the light of intellect within this body.

"Bottom Nest".

In a state of profound connection, Ai gradually lost himself in thought, conjuring up a multitude of images in his mind—all that he had witnessed and all that he had experienced converged upon this moment.

"A suitable image for exploring the bottom nest —"

The gray ash still needs to be left in the outskirts of town.

Eileen has already established her persona.

As for Lot—

Ai tilted his head—this was originally the best choice, but the fox hesitated for some reason. He thought: "Justice" has no presence in a place like the bottom nest—and can hardly touch or influence anyone.

There is no fertile ground for responsibility and justice to take root there.

The bottom nest is a melting pot of desire and humanity. Ai should think of a lighter figure. If she were to go to that place, she would need to be unrestrained and flamboyant, without having to consider any faction's "chaos and unrestraint".

There is also "no taboos" that can disregard all rules.

She must be incredibly proud, yet as unrestrained as a moth, defying any corrupt order built upon the foundation of the nest.

This is a solitary silhouette, free from all attachments, with only the desire to rise remaining.

"Got it—"

A gradually forming light of intellect surged within the tin. Ai closed his eyes, and the tin began to grow according to his will, growing from light to heavy, covering the inorganic metal surface with a layer of flesh and blood, and then silently igniting a golden-red wisp in his eyes.

The Tin Man, supporting herself with a pair of wings, slowly rose from the ground.

It felt like a reunion, or perhaps a long-awaited rebirth.

"Hmm————" In sync with Ai's movements, the two opened their pupils at the same time, blinked slowly, and then raised their hands in front of them simultaneously.

They looked silently at their palms, a faint smile slowly spreading across their blank stares.

"Hello everyone."

The next instant, the beautiful girl put her hands on her hips, faced the crowd, and slightly flapped the pair of gorgeous golden-red bird wings behind her. Her head held high and her chest out exuded confidence and arrogance.

"Aina".

She pointed to herself, her fair and slender neck held high, exuding the nobility and pride of a swan. "Please guide me."