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

The Milky Way, which had hung in the sky, began to fall.

Lu Yuan stood on the rooftop, the night wind filling his sleeves, frozen in place.

Dreamlike colors, carrying countless luminous fragments of text, poured down from the torn sky, their speed increasing rapidly.

Dark gold and deep purple hues mingled into an inverted river, plunging towards the inner city.

Lu Yuan clenched his fists, mentally preparing for the worst.

'If that thing had landed directly on the ground of Bronze City...'

He dared not think any further.

Even a single drop of the aura of the Sea of ​​Knowledge can instantly transform an ordinary person into something neither human nor monster. And this is an entire river.

However...

Just as the river of light was about to touch the top of the inner city's buildings.

It did not fall.

Lu Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted.

The end of the River of Light, about a hundred meters above the inner city, seemed to be held in place by some force.

It plunged directly into another space.

Lu Yuan saw it.

Directly below the River of Light, a void quietly cracked open.

It was a pure "nothingness".

It's like a blank space that has been cut out of reality.

The river of light thus descended into that void.

Dreamlike colors continuously overflowed from the cracks in the sky, cascading down along this passage, only to be swallowed up the moment they touched the void.

Silently.

Just like water flowing onto the ground.

The glowing fragments of text tumbled and collided as they fell, with a few occasionally being swept off course by the airflow, spinning in mid-air before disappearing into the night.

Like a firefly, it flashes and then disappears.

Lu Yuan's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down at this moment.

'fine...'

He took a deep breath, the night wind filling his lungs, icy cold.

'Thank goodness it didn't fall directly to the ground.'

As long as there is no direct overflow pollution, it means there is still room for maneuver.

Although the inscription system of the Tower of Learning is abnormal, it is at least still functioning.

That void is very likely some kind of emergency mechanism of the Tower of Learning itself.

Or perhaps it's the experimental equipment used by the professors.

Regardless of the cause, at least for now, the sea of ​​knowledge has not directly overwhelmed the Bronze City.

The rest is up to Klaus and his team.

Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze.

Those figures rushing towards the inner city had long since disappeared into the depths of the night.

Klaus's azure light, Rek's gray insect body that blotted out the sky, and the Guardian's aged figure shrouded in a dark aura.

We have no choice but to trust them.

It's much better than just standing here and staring blankly.

Lu Yuan took one last look at the sky above the inner city.

The River of Light is still flowing.

The speed was a little slower than before, but there was no sign of it stopping.

That void hung steadily in mid-air, like a gaping maw, quietly devouring the fragments of knowledge falling from the sky.

The light from the inscriptions on the city wall had gradually faded from a blinding blue-white to a normal pale blue.

Lu Yuan's gaze swept across the inner city and towards the outer city.

In the distant residential area, gas lamps are being lit one by one.

The windows, which had been extinguished, now let in a dim, yellowish light again.

The residents of the outer city may not be aware of what is happening in the skies above the inner city.

But they sensed it.

The floor shook, the inscriptions on the city wall shone brightly, and there was an indescribable sense of oppression in the air.

Since the ghoul incident, the residents of the outer city have developed an instinct.

At night, lights are lit.

No matter what happens, keep the lights on.

One gas lamp after another, forming a warm yellow galaxy in the night.

It stands in stark contrast to the cold, icy Milky Way that is falling overhead.

Lu Yuan stared at it for a few seconds.

Then he flipped over and jumped back into the window from the roof.

The foot landed on the floor with a soft thud.

Within the symbiotic connection, the insects of knowledge huddle together quietly.

The invisible pressure from before seemed to have affected it as well, as if it had been frightened.

Lu Yuan rubbed his left eye to reassure the little guy and then lay back down.

But this time, Lu Yuan couldn't fall asleep after lying down. He stared at the ceiling for a long time before giving up.

'never mind.'

Lu Yuan sat up and walked to the experimental table on the second floor.

The war lamp was turned down to its lowest setting, casting a dim, yellowish halo around the table.

Lu Yuan opened the side compartment of the toolbox and took out the thin copper needle whose tip had been sharpened.

Then he took two ghoul brain cores out of a cloth bag on the shelf.

It is about the size of a fingernail, grayish-white, and has a hard texture.

I have already successfully engraved one.

The gray text gave the evaluation as "rough" and "completely useless".

But it was followed by a sentence.

"Perhaps only by linking the three together will they have some effect."

Lu Yuan always remembered those words.

I was just too busy before and didn't have time to do it.

I can't sleep anyway.

Why not carve the remaining two as well? Besides, ever since I found out that the logistics department has a ton of ghoul materials that haven't even been put into storage yet...

Lu Yuan asked Margaret for some, and so far a lot of brain cores have been sent. Of course, Margaret said that more materials are still on their way.

Now, Lu Yuan wanted to see what would happen once all three were gathered together.

Lu Yuan placed two brain nuclei side by side on the experimental table.

Then he took out the finished piece he had carved earlier from the toolbox and placed it next to him for comparison.

The strange inscriptions on the surface of the brain core were still there, the lines were rough and the turns were not smooth, but the engravings were clear.

The dark red glow had long since faded, and now it was just a small, grayish-white pebble with scratches.

Lu Yuan picked up the first new brain core, holding it in his left hand and a needle in his right.

Close your eyes and visualize the direction of the seventh symbol in your mind.

The symbiotic connection skipped a beat.

The Insect of Knowledge, having recovered somewhat from its earlier shock, sensed Lu Yuan's intentions.

It shrank deep into its eye sockets, and the colors on its body shifted more slowly than usual.

The first knife.

I controlled the force better than last time.

The tip of the copper needle cut into the surface of the brain nucleus, emitting a faint hissing sound.

White powder rose from both sides of the engraving, and the symbiotic connection gave a slight response.

Lu Yuan subtly adjusted his wrist, and the second stroke followed immediately.

The transition this time was much smoother than the previous finished product.

It's not that the technology has improved by much, but rather that the feedback from the knowledge worm has become more accurate.

Last time, I gave him a warning the moment he went astray.

This time, a hint of direction came just before he was about to deviate from the path.

It was as if the little thing was saying, "Here, a little bit to the left."

Lu Yuan followed his instincts.

The final stroke completes the cut.

A dark red glow appeared on the surface of the brain nucleus.

It's a little brighter than last time.

It lasted for about three seconds, then went dark.

Grayish-white text flickers at the edge of the field of vision.

[Inscription Arts (Advanced - Mysterious Inscriptions): +0.4...3.9/50]

[Sanity: -1...72/120]

[Basic Eerie Inscription: Ghoul Brain Core (Rough)]

It rose by 0.4.

It's 0.1 more than the first time.

Although it's still rough, it's definitely a significant improvement over the last one.

Lu Yuan placed the carved brain core next to the finished product.

Lu Yuan picked up the last brain core.

I rubbed its surface with my fingers.

Within the symbiotic connection, the worm of knowledge conveyed a faint, almost imperceptible expectation.

The little one also wanted to see what would happen if all three were collected.

Lu Yuan inserted the needle.

This time it was faster than the previous two times.

The feedback from the Knowledge Bug is almost instantaneous, like an invisible teacher guiding him by the hand.

As the final blow fell, a faint, dark red light shone from the surface of the brain nucleus.

[Inscription Arts (Advanced - Mysterious Inscriptions): +0.5...4.4/50]

[Sanity: -1...71/120]

[Basic Eerie Inscription: Ghoul Brain Core (Normal)]

The evaluation changed from "rough" to "average".

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly as he looked at the line of text.

Three brain nuclei, each one better than the last.

The last one even broke through the threshold of "rough".

He placed the three brain nuclei side by side on the experimental table.

Two were rough, one was average.

Three identical symbols are quietly engraved on the gray-white surface, and the gray-white text says "linked together".

How to string them together?

Lu Yuan thought for a moment, then held the three brain cores in his palm and pressed them tightly together.

No response.

Lu Yuan frowned.

"Stringed together" does not refer to physical contact.

It's on the inscription.

He remembered what Buren had said in the pipe network.

The essence of inscriptions is connection.

A symbol is a node, and multiple nodes need to be connected through a "network" to form a complete loop.

This is how large-scale inscriptions are written.

The bizarre inscriptions should also be included.

Lu Yuan picked up the copper needles again.

Arrange the three brain nuclei in a straight line, with a distance of about one finger's width between them.

Then, on the tabletop of the experimental bench, use the tip of a copper needle to very lightly draw two connecting lines.

From the end of the symbol at the edge of the first brain nucleus, it extends to the second.

Extending from the second to the third.

The connection is very shallow, almost invisible.

But the instant the second line was drawn—

All three brain nuclei lit up simultaneously.

A faint, dark red glow seeped from the engravings of the three symbols, spreading rapidly along the two almost invisible lines connecting them on the tabletop.

The light flowed between the three brain nuclei.

The strange inscription lines on it seemed to come alive, slowly moving across the grayish-white surface and adjusting their positions.

Those originally rough transitions began to correct themselves under the influence of the light.

The sharp corners became rounded, and the broken lines were reconnected.

The whole process lasted about ten seconds.

Then the light faded, and the three brain cores went dark simultaneously.

Grayish-white text flickers at the edge of the field of vision.

[Inscription Arts (Advanced - Mysterious Inscriptions): +1.0...5.3/50]

[Taboo Studies - Seeker of Knowledge: +0.3...38.9/100]

[Sanity: -2...69/120]

[Ghoul Transformation (3/3)]

[A small gadget made using the brain core of a ghoul, capable of emitting a ghoul aura and attaching to a thinner layer of keratin depending on the user's constitution.]

[Note: This is your first bizarre inscription creation. Though rudimentary, the journey has begun.]

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

Ghoul transformation?

It looks pretty useless?

Lu Yuan held the three brain cores in his hand, examined them carefully, and was somewhat surprised.

Can something like this be made from just basic inscriptions and core materials?

Putting down the brain core, Lu Yuan leaned back in his chair and looked out the window.

The curtains weren't fully drawn, and moonlight shone through the gaps.

A wave of weariness washed over me from the symbiotic connection.

The worm of knowledge had also expended a lot of energy assisting in the seal carving process, and now it was fast asleep.

Lu Yuan closed his eyes.

This time, I didn't think about those messy things anymore.

My consciousness slowly sank away.

At the very moment Lu Yuan closed his eyes.

Inner city.