I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

Lu Yuan first took a small pinch of copper powder from the toolbox and sprinkled it on the outside of the sampling bottle.

There was no reaction when the copper powder came into contact with the glass.

Through the glass, the copper powder couldn't perceive what was inside. Or rather, the aura released by the crystal in its dormant state was too weak for the copper powder to detect.

Lu Yuan wiped off the copper powder, put on gloves, and carefully unscrewed the bottle cap.

The moment the bottle was opened, a cool sensation emanated from it, as if something extremely fine had brushed against my skin.

[Rationality: -1...-1...70/120]

Lu Yuan sprinkled a little more copper powder, which landed on the edge of the bottle mouth.

This time there was a reaction; the copper powder warmed slightly and darkened in color a bit, but there was no obvious burning or repulsion like when dealing with the strange creature.

It's somewhere between having a reaction and not having a reaction.

"The concentration of pollution emitted isn't high, so what's the danger?"

He didn't intend to touch the crystal itself until he figured it out.

He turned the sampling bottle so that the crystals were facing him.

Dark gold patterns meander across the gray-green crystalline body.

The dark gold color is the mark left by the burning of the copper pillar runes, and the gray-green color is the color of the mycelium itself.

Two completely different things were compressed into a space the size of a thumb by high temperature.

There may still be quite a few things sealed inside.

I just don't know if we can get the things out of there.

The gray text provided the same answer twice, indicating insufficient knowledge to interpret it.

Since the tips are unreliable, we can only rely on our own eyes.

Lu Yuan held the sampling bottle up to the window, letting the afternoon sunlight shine through the glass onto the crystals.

The dark gold patterns became clearer.

wrong.

More than just clear.

The patterns are moving.

It's not an illusion.

Lu Yuan blinked, then shifted his gaze back to the top.

The patterns are indeed flowing.

It flows slowly at an extremely slow pace.

Against a gray-green background, dark gold patterns resemble water plants at the bottom of a river, pushed by an unseen undercurrent, meandering in the same direction.

Lu Yuan brought the bottle closer.

The outer shell of the crystal is translucent.

Through that thin shell, you can see the patterns deeper inside.

Layer upon layer, like countless streams flowing at different depths, each without interfering with the others, yet vaguely following a common direction.

It's like opening a window on the surface of the water.

You can see something flowing below, but you can't see where it's flowing to, let alone what it is.

Lu Yuan stared at it for a long time, trying to find a pattern in the direction of the patterns.

did not find.

The flow rate fluctuated, and its direction gradually changed, as if it were being pulled by something.

But the pulsation rhythm remained unchanged, still flickering on and off.

There seems to be no connection between the flow and pulsation of the patterns.

Lu Yuan put the sampling bottle back on the table.

Looking around, he took a clean, wide-mouthed glass bottle from the shelf.

I walked to the bucket in the corner, scooped out half a bottle of water, and returned to the table.

Then, the crystals were carefully poured from the sampling bottle into the wide-mouthed bottle.

The crystals sank to the bottom of the bottle.

The water level was about two fingers above the crystals.

The heartbeat didn't stop.

The faint glow of gray-green and dark gold shone through the water, casting soft spots of light on the glass bottle.

Lu Yuan took another wide-mouthed bottle, filled it with the same amount of water, and placed it beside him.

Two bottles of water, one with crystals soaking in it, and the other with nothing in it, placed side by side, the difference is immediately obvious.

He wrote a few lines in his notebook.

"Soak in clean water and observe the water color, smell, and temperature."

"If the water quality changes, feed it a small amount of live food, such as that infected giant ghoul..."

"First attempt at timing eight hours."

The pen tip paused for a moment.

Another sentence was added.

"If obvious abnormal contamination occurs, crystallization should be dealt with immediately."

I closed the notebook and put the pen aside.

Lu Yuan looked out the window; the sun had already moved to the side of the city wall, and most of the afternoon had passed.

The water in the wide-mouthed bottle appeared unchanged.

This won't give you results so quickly.

Lu Yuan rubbed his temples.

Fatigue creeps into my mind, and my body is telling me it's time to sleep.

After all, it hasn't really stopped operating since the pipeline was removed.

There's the Tower of Learning thing to do tomorrow night, so I need to get some sleep tonight and try to regain my composure.

Lu Yuan placed a bottle of calming potion within easy reach.

Lu Yuan lay on the bed, pulled the blanket over himself, and closed his eyes.

As if finally granted permission, a feeling of heaviness immediately washed over me.

Consciousness began to sink...

At the edge of my field of vision, gray and white text suddenly appeared.

[Ancient Music Theory: +1...2.4/10]

Lu Yuan regained consciousness instantly.

He stared at the line of text.

Ancient music theory.

I haven't touched the sandworm bone flute in a long time, and I haven't been involved in anything related to ancient music theory recently.

Where did this experience come from?

Before the text had even faded, the second line immediately appeared.

[Taboo Studies - Seeker of Knowledge: +0.1...23.4/100]

Third line.

[Basic Medical Care: +1...3.8/20]

Three notifications flashed by in quick succession, less than a second apart.

Then it fell silent.

Lu Yuan's gaze shifted from the gray-white text to the wide-mouthed bottle on the table.

The crystals remained submerged at the bottom of the water, their light flickering on and off.

It was as if nothing had happened.

There was no mental exhaustion, and no physical discomfort.

Lu Yuan glanced down at the edge of his field of vision; his sanity level remained unchanged.

[Rationality: 70/120]

He looked at the three growth records.

Ancient music theory, taboo studies, basic medical science.

Three completely unrelated skill areas are growing simultaneously.

There is only one possibility: that crystal contains those things.

And now, it is seeping outwards.

But Lu Yuan did not feel happy; instead, he instantly became alert.

How is its overflow calculated? Is it a fixed amount overflowing in a fixed period, or is it because this thing is actually always overflowing, but it just happens to overflow the knowledge it has accumulated through experience...?

Lu Yuan decided to continue observing.

Since the warning from this thing is dangerous, it can't be that simple; there must be something I haven't discovered yet.

Then continue watching the crystallization.

and so on.

Time passed little by little.

The sun had set behind the city walls.

The sky gradually darkened, and the runes on the walls of the Bronze City began to light up, this time the light was much clearer than the previous nights.

It is clear that the mycelium in the pipe network layer is gradually reducing its corrosive effect on the bronze city pillars.

The inscriptions on the city wall are gradually being restored, and the energy that had been suppressing the strange energy is also gradually returning to normal.

Lu Yuan sat at the table, having spent the entire afternoon examining the crystals.

But nothing else happened.

The pulsation frequency of the crystals remained unchanged.

The gray-white notification did not pop up again.

The water used to soak the crystals appears to remain unchanged.

Night gradually fell.

Outside the Alchemy Workshop, the lights on both sides of the street began to turn on.

Outside, the workers responsible for rebuilding Beifang were still working. The blood-stained ground was being washed and painted, and new surfaces were being installed. As for the pipes that had been damaged by the reverse injection, Lu Yuan didn't know if they had been repaired.

Lu Yuan's eyelids began to droop.

After a long silence, Lu Yuan decided to give up for the time being.

There's the Tower of Learning to do tomorrow night, so I need to make sure I get enough sleep tonight and get my mental state back to normal.

First, find a place to put the crystals. Lu Yuan carefully poured out most of the water from the wide-mouthed bottle, slid the crystals back into the sampling bottle, and tightened the cap.

My fingertips just touched the bottle wall.

The gray and white text reappeared.

[Imperial Language: +5...256/1000]

[Pharmacology: +1...33.4/50]

Following closely behind—

[Sanity: -10...60/120]

Lu Yuan's body suddenly stiffened.

It wasn't because of a sudden drop in rationality.

It was because of his right hand.

The skin on my fingertips is turning grayish-green.

Starting from the base of the nail, it spreads along the knuckles towards the back of the hand, as if something is flowing under the skin.

It lasted for about two seconds.

Then it quickly subsided.

However, the gray text provided no hints.

This only made Lu Yuan more uneasy.

My rationality was compromised, and my body underwent changes, but the system said nothing.

Either this change does not constitute pollution.

Either the system cannot detect it.

Neither of these is good news.

Lu Yuan stared at his hands for a long time.

Everything seemed normal, but he was certain he had seen it.

Grayish-green, exactly the same grayish-green as the mycelium.

Lu Yuan decisively uncorked a bottle of sanity potion and drank it down.

[Sanity: +8...68/120]

Taking the medication repeatedly would reduce its effectiveness, but Lu Yuan didn't want to worry about these side effects for the time being.

Lu Yuan put down the empty bottle and looked at the sampling bottle again.

The crystals still shimmered with a golden-green luster.

Lu Yuan leaned back in his chair.

Triggered twice.

First time: Ancient Music Theory +1, Taboo Studies +0.1, Basic Medical Care +1. No cost.

Second time: Imperial Language +5, Pharmacology +1. Sanity -10, a distinct luster entered his body.

The interval is about seven or eight hours.

The cost of the second time far exceeded the normal expenditure of rationality.

-10 is not a small number in any context.

More importantly, there are physical changes.

The green glow emanating from my fingertips was definitely not an illusion.

This crystal contains more than just knowledge.

Was there really no cost the first time? Or did he simply not realize it?

Lu Yuan had no answer.

Two sample points are not enough for him to draw any conclusions.

But one thing is clear: the function of this crystal is far beyond his imagination, but he just can't understand its significance.

Lu Yuan wrapped the sampling bottle in three layers of special cloth again and stuffed it into the bottom of the toolbox.

Copper powder is pressed on.

Cover it up.

Lu Yuan stood up and walked to the window.

It was dark outside. The faint glow of runes shimmered on the distant city walls, a little brighter than a few days ago.

Lu Yuan took the note out of his pocket and glanced at it.

Tomorrow night, the clock tower will chime for the second time at the east gate of the Old Parliament Square.

He folded the note and put it back.

I drew the curtains, lay back down on the bed, and closed my eyes.

Rationality 68.

It's not high enough, but a full day of rest tomorrow should help me recover some of it.