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

Lu Yuan suddenly came to his senses, staggered backward, and bumped his waist against the wooden cabinet behind him with a dull thud.

He was bent over, his hands on his knees, panting heavily.

Cold sweat dripped from his forehead onto the stone floor.

My mind was churning with fragments of thoughts.

The residual senses of insects, Laurinna's voice, the colors of the sea of ​​knowledge.

[Sanity: -10...65/120]

[Taboo Studies - Seeker of Knowledge: +2.5...25.9/100]

[Pharmacology: +1...34.4/50]

[New Knowledge Entry Unlocked: The Knowledge Worm Path (Basic)]

[Warning: Your existence has attracted the attention of something...]

Lu Yuan stared at the last line of text for two seconds.

I don't have time to think about these things.

He forced his breathing back, adjusting his current state to prevent anyone from noticing anything amiss when he went out.

After a few simple adjustments, Lu Yuan restored the laboratory cabinet doors and other areas to their original state as much as possible.

After confirming that no flaws had been left behind, Lu Yuan turned and walked towards the door.

The night sky is outside the window.

The faint glow of the city wall runes was the same as when we arrived, and the distance was quiet.

The laboratory has been restored to its original state.

Empty cabinets, empty walls, empty windowsills.

The lingering aura of the sea of ​​knowledge on the small table had completely dissipated, absorbed entirely by the seeker's abilities, leaving only a thin layer of ash on the tabletop.

Just as Lu Yuan's hand touched the door frame.

Suddenly, the floor beneath my feet shook.

It's very light.

It was so light that it would be completely unnoticeable unless the entire building was absolutely silent in the dead of night.

Lu Yuan stopped in his tracks.

The vibrations then accelerated.

The glass in the connecting corridor overflowed with colors, illuminating the originally dim night sky.

Lu Yuan turned to look out the window.

That's the main tower.

The almost extinguished gilding patterns on the surface of the main tower were still visible...

At that moment, they all lit up.

The patterns that should have flowed slowly were now flashing at an extremely fast speed.

The eerie blue light raced wildly up and down the patterns, its direction completely chaotic. Some patterns even had their light flowing in the opposite direction, colliding head-on with adjacent lines.

The inscription system was impacted from within by something.

The flashing lasted for about five or six seconds.

Then the third tower also reacted. The dim alchemical patterns on the walls jumped a few times, and a faint blue light flickered twice, as if it were affected by the fluctuations of the main tower.

In the distance outside the window, similar faint lights could be seen flickering on the outlines of the first and second towers.

The entire Tower of Learning seemed to be affected, and the pressure that was originally permeating the air instantly increased exponentially.

Lu Yuan froze for a moment, then gradually calmed down.

The patterns on the main tower returned to their previous dimness, occasionally flashing, just like when we arrived.

It's as if nothing ever happened.

But Lu Yuan knew what had happened.

At that moment, gray and white text appeared.

[You have received His attention. Rational judgment in progress... Judgment successful. You were unaffected.]

Your resistance offended Him, and His rational judgment... judgment successful, you are unaffected.

【…】

Lu Yuan stared at the string of gray and white text.

Cold sweat broke out on my back.

"What's going on? Am I being targeted by something inside the main tower?"

"But it's so weak? No, the last hint said it was reviving; it must be suppressed by the dual blockade of the Tower of Learning and the Bronze City. No, I have to leave quickly."

Lu Yuan quickly made a judgment in his mind. After all, this was the first time he had seriously resisted the gaze of a forbidden being.

Just as Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze and prepared to leave.

The disordered inscriptions tore away some kind of cover.

At the very moment that crack opened.

Lu Yuan saw it.

Above the very top of the main tower.

There is a lump of something.

It is not a physical entity, but an aura.

The atmosphere of a sea of ​​knowledge.

Extremely thick.

The colors surged, dark gold, deep blue, and deep purple, the three colors swirling together slowly.

[Sanity: -5...60/120]

Compared to the remnant of the sea of ​​knowledge that Lu Yuan had sensed on the small table, this thing before him was completely different.

It's the difference between a drop of water and a river.

The things stored inside the main tower are definitely products that flowed from the ocean of knowledge.

The inscription was restored in the next moment.

That scene vanished instantly, as if someone had drawn a curtain.

Night fell once more over the sky.

The lingering image of turbulent colors remained in Lu Yuan's eyes for several seconds before completely fading away.

Just then, the small silver tag at Lu Yuan's waist vibrated.

The temperature then rose sharply, from slightly warm to scalding hot, which could be felt even through the robe.

Agnes's signal.

It's time.

Lu Yuan's thoughts were instantly pulled back to reality.

I've been spending too much time in the lab.

There was no time to think.

Lu Yuan took out a bottle of Perfect Rationality Potion from the left pocket of his robe, uncorked it, and tilted his head back to gulp it down.

The medicine went down my throat, and a familiar cool sensation spread throughout my body.

[Sanity: +10...70/120]

It has been restored to 10 o'clock.

Stuffing the empty bottle back into his pocket, Lu Yuan strode out of the laboratory and stepped onto the stairs.

The staircase remained the same as when we arrived, with only a sliver of light from the city wall runes filtering through the window.

But one thing has changed.

A faint sound came from the wall not far away.

That was the sound of some kind of liquid continuously flowing.

Lu Yuan hesitated for a moment, then approached the wall and reached out to touch it.

At this moment, the copper pipes are emitting a slight warmth, indicating that someone is conducting some kind of experiment in the dead of night.

But couldn't the people of the Tower of Learning notice this?

Is this unnecessary?

Lu Yuan was a little confused, but without delay, he quickly composed himself and buried his head completely in his hood. Third floor corner.

Lu Yuan stood in the shadows at the corner of the corridor.

As previously agreed, we await Agnes's arrival.

About two minutes later.

Footsteps came from afar.

Agnes returned from the other end of the stairs, accompanied by three nuns and her attendants.

The time was very tight.

They arrived almost as soon as Lu Yuan had stood still.

The accompanying staff walked at the back, their booklets already closed, their faces showing an expression of finally finishing their work.

"Your church is as reliable as ever. I don't need to say anything more about the following procedures. Please."

The attendants at the Tower of Learning gestured for Agnes to hurry up.

Agnes ignored him and walked in the middle of the group.

As she passed Lu Yuan, she paused slightly.

Her fingertips peeked out from her sleeve and gently touched the back of Lu Yuan's hand.

A faint warmth spread from the point of contact, like the illusion of sunlight on the skin.

Then stop.

Without changing his expression, he continued walking.

The accompanying personnel saw nothing.

Lu Yuan could feel the warmth spreading from the back of his hand to his arm, then along his torso to his whole body, and finally settling on the surface of his skin.

Gray and white text appeared simultaneously.

[You have received a faint angelic blessing... You will be enveloped in a holy light effect for the next short period of time...]

Lu Yuan was somewhat puzzled, but he knew that according to the previous agreement, he had to follow Agnes's arrangements since he was here.

Without a second thought, Lu Yuan silently stepped out of the shadows and into the last position of the group.

The five gray-white figures reunited.

The team returned via the same route.

As Lu Yuan passed through the corridor between the second and first towers, he noticed that the stone slabs under his feet had a warmth they hadn't felt when he arrived.

It was obvious that those were underground pipes, and they were in operation.

It seems that the Tower of Learning operates on a considerable scale at night.

The group passed through the first tower and entered the connecting corridor outside the main tower.

The area ahead is the main tower area.

But before they reached the bronze gate, the accompanying personnel stopped in front of a side archway at the end of the corridor.

"Routine procedure".

The accompanying person gestured with their chin toward the archway, speaking in a perfunctory tone.

"During the tower closure, all personnel entering and exiting the tower will need to undergo a check before leaving. Please go through the checkpoint yourselves."

Behind the archway is a very short passage.

At the end of the passage is a bronze disc, about one meter in diameter, embedded in the stone wall, its surface covered with fine inscriptions.

The inscription is quite dark, but you can tell that the design is extremely precise. The lines are more delicate and denser than the inscriptions on the purification nodes.

Lu Yuan glanced at the disc.

[Detection Target: Special detection inscription, capable of detecting something of the same origin...]

Seeing this, Lu Yuan understood.

Agnes just gave herself a blessing to get through this ordeal, but the things she brought out from Laurinna's lab shouldn't be detected by such a thing, right?

The three nuns have already walked into the passageway one by one.

The first nun walked to a spot about half a meter in front of the disc, and the inscription on the disc's surface lit up for a moment.

A faint blue light converged from the edge of the disc toward the center, and then a very faint light flashed across the nun's body.

The light flashed and disappeared in an instant.

The nun walked by.

The accompanying personnel at the distant Bo Xue Pagoda didn't even lift their eyelids.

The second one. The same process.

The third.

A glimmer of light flashed. Passed.

Agnes was the fourth to walk over.

The disc lit up briefly.

The glow emanating from her was slightly brighter than that of the three nuns before her.

by.

It was Lu Yuan's turn.

He slowed his pace and stepped into the short passage.

The disc was right in front of me.

The inscription lights up.

The moment the pale blue light converged from the edge to the center, Lu Yuan felt an invisible warmth being triggered on his body.

That extremely faint blessing was triggered on its own, releasing a faint light exactly the same as that of the nuns before it.

A flash of light swept over Lu Yuan's body and disappeared in an instant.

The inscription on the disc has faded back to its original color.

The accompanying personnel nodded when they saw that all five people had passed through, without saying anything more.

The procession continued forward.

After passing through the checkpoint, the gate ahead is where you can leave.

Lu Yuan lowered his gaze to the lowest point.

Just as we were about to leave the Tower of Learning.

[You have received His attention, rational judgment in progress... judgment failed... successful, you were unaffected.]

[Sanity: -1...69/120]

Lu Yuan stared at the prompt in front of him without saying a word.

We should try to visit the Tower of Learning as little as possible in the future.

As the church members left the Tower of Learning, the accompanying person gave their final words.

"Send over the purification records tomorrow."

"Hmm." Agnes's voice was still the same, and then she led the team away without looking back.

Five greyish-white figures left the Tower of Learning along the route they had come from.

The square was deserted.

The warm yellow light from the gas lamps shone through the distant street, a stark contrast to the deep blue of the interior of the Bo Xue Tower.

No one in the group spoke.

The footsteps were orderly and quiet.

The hem of the robe swayed gently in the night breeze.

Agnes stopped when she reached the alleyway on the east side of the square.

She turned her head and glanced at the three nuns behind her.

"You guys go back first, I have something to do."