My health recovery is incredibly fast.

When Xia Zuo put on the trench coat-style winter coat, he realized that this coat was not simple.

The filler layer has a grainy texture, which may be a type of alchemical material that can automatically regulate temperature.

The heat released during exercise is absorbed by the temperature-regulating material, and when the body surface temperature drops below 30 degrees Celsius, the temperature-regulating material will automatically release the stored heat.

Wearing this outfit, Xia Zuo walked from the chilly outdoors into the warm, spring-like Bosing Building, feeling neither hot nor stuffy, but very comfortable.

...

The second basement level, Vickers' office.

Vickers is manipulating two pens to write words.

A knock came at the door.

He glanced at the glass ball on the table and saw Xia Zuo waiting at the door through the projection inside.

"Come in, Xia Zuo."

"Good morning, supervisor." Xia Zuo pushed open the door and entered the room, closing the door behind him.

“It’s like this, Shazo.” Vickers searched his desk, which was piled high with folders, for a few seconds, then pulled out a file folder and handed it over.

"You should have heard about the recent occurrence of many Category 3 disasters in the suburbs and nearby towns."

Vickers pushed up his glasses on the bridge of his nose and crossed his fingers on the table.

"There have been some adjustments to the personnel arrangements in the appraisal team. The main change is that your daily work has been expanded. Previously, you were only responsible for appraisal tasks related to blood magic. Now, you will also be responsible for some appraisal tasks related to shadow demons. The details are all in the file."

Xia Zuo glanced at the cover of the file folder and nodded. "Okay, supervisor."

"Give me your access card, and I'll grant you access to the lab."

Vickers took the alchemy card, poured a few drops of different alchemical oils onto it, fanned the card to let the oils dry quickly, and handed it back after confirming that there were no residues on the card, instructing:

"Go to the lab on the fourth basement level later and try the access card. If it doesn't work, come back to me for reauthorization."

"Yes, supervisor."

Xia Zuo put away the card, said goodbye to Vickers, and left the room.

Vickers was the only one left in the room.

He took out a notebook from the drawer and wrote on the pages filled with text using special ink:

[On December 3, 1913, at 7:40 AM, P had already taken the Shadow Fiend's file from me.]

A few seconds later, several lines of response appeared out of thin air below this line:

[The Polis team has received it.]

[The Hakansen team has received it.]

Vickers' gaze moved upwards.

Every time Xia Zuo receives a research plan from him or meets with him, a similar conversation appears in his notebook, with more than 20 records to date.

...

The third basement level is the poison alchemy chamber.

Xia Zuo changed into a leather robe for making poison, put his briefcase on the table, and opened the file folder to empty the documents inside.

But he didn't rush to read it.

There are other things to do.

This morning at 8:00 AM, train number BB010 was scheduled to depart for Polis.

Xia Zuo sat down at the desk in the alchemy room, selected [Minion No. 1] in his mind, and switched to its perspective.

The wind on the train station platform was really strong. Luckily, I chose a sheltered corner last night. Just listening to the wind made me feel the cold.

Xia Zuo discovered a potential advantage in controlling the blood element servants to go out.

Blood servants are affected by the cold wind, but this effect does not affect their masters.

At this moment, the template for [Blood Elemental Servant #1] clearly displays the negative effect: [Slight Chill: Movement speed reduced by 5%].

But Xia Zuo, sitting in the warm alchemy room, did not feel the chill at all.

Listening to the announcements and the sound of the wind on the platform, he leisurely picked up a cup of scalding hot tea, blew away the steam, took a small sip of the hot tea, and calmly instructed his No. 1 servant to observe the situation on the platform.

There were about thirty passengers departing in the morning. They were carrying briefcases and wearing scarves around their necks, clearly office workers on business trips.

The train, trailing long plumes of white steam, chugged into the platform and came to a steady stop with the screech of brakes.

Servant Number 1 slipped into the carriage, floated onto the luggage rack, and hid in a gap where he could observe the interior of the carriage and the windows.

"Clang~ Clang~ Clang~"

"Waaah~~"

The train gave a long whistle and headed towards the next station.

The journey to Polis will stop at several small towns.

The expected arrival time will only be delayed, not arrived early.

Xia Zuo set his alarm for 9:50 a.m. and then opened the documents in the file folder.

There was a pair of sunglasses in the bag.

This relates to a type of Otherworldly being mentioned by Director Vickers:

Shadow Fiend.

It is also a lineage controlled by the Church of the Otherworldly Demons, similar to the hybrid mage.

There are four known levels of hybrid mages:

Transformers, blood addicts, blood demons, blood witches.

The way Shadow Fiend is divided into levels is a little different.

It is named according to its area and volume.

The first-tier Shadow Fiend is known as the Bush Shadow Fiend.

This means that its main body is only the size of a small patch of grass, about 0.25 square meters, and the area of ​​the Grass Shadow Demon, which is about to advance to the next level, will not exceed 1 square meter.

The second-tier Shadow Fiend is called the Square Table Shadow Fiend, with an area ranging from 1 square meter to 3 square meters.

The third level is called the Cube Shadow Demon, and its volume ranges from 0.5 cubic meters to 5 cubic meters.

The records state that in the first two levels, the Shadow Fiend is a two-dimensional being that can only live in a plane and has virtually no offensive capabilities, making it the least noticeable of the otherworldly demons.

But in the third stage...

The Shadow Fiend will become three-dimensional, evolving from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, possessing its own body and shadow just like a human.

Its shadow is the main material for the transformation ritual, which can turn living things into new grass-like shadow demons.

The Shadow Demon is a rather special type among the many otherworldly demons.

Its growth and advancement do not require devouring life, but rather by constantly merging with shadows.

However, it can only use normal shadows that are smaller than itself as targets for fusion.

otherwise..

Shadow Fiend will be backfired by normal shadows.

Often, it's not that Shadow Fiends choose to merge with shadows larger than themselves; they are forced to do so.

Let's imagine.

If we were two-dimensional beings, the image we could see would be a line with alternating light and shadow.

The glowing areas on the lines represent areas where no shadows exist.

Dark places represent shadows.

But how do we determine the size of these shadows?

The lines are one-dimensional.

At most, one can only roughly estimate the size of the shadow on a two-dimensional plane based on the length of the faint lines.

This method is very unreliable.

Therefore, the vast majority of first and second-tier Shadow Fiends die from accidental collisions with the Great Shadow, rather than being attacked and killed by others...

The only thing that can appear in the sight of ordinary people is the Cube Shadow Fiend.

When the 10th and 17th action teams returned yesterday, they were escorting a cube-shaped shadow demon.

It is said that this Shadow Fiend used shadow magic to cover a large group of Transformers and Blood Addicts causing trouble in the area around Poseidon.

After detecting the movement of the Shadow Magic, the Category 3 Disaster Response Department spent some time gathering personnel and setting a trap for the Shadow Demon, which led to its capture in a southern town.

Also captured were more than a dozen Transformers and 6 Blood Addicts.

Given that these are extraordinary times, the fewer aliens in the Possing Tower, the better.

Command ordered the immediate annihilation of all Blood Mages of the Church of the Otherworld, sparing only the Cube Shadow Fiend.

Kill all the mixed-blood mages on the spot.

"Cough cough..." Xia Zuo pounded his chest a few times, he almost couldn't catch his breath just now... This is a huge wave of experience and skill rewards!

The last time I felt this tightness in my chest and shortness of breath was more than ten years ago, on the day I first arrived at Piek Fortress.

Back then, Audrey, the leader, went to the fortress commander and came back with two bags of coins, while Shazo didn't get a single experience point.

Now it's happening again...

Xia Zuo sighed helplessly and flipped through his research plan.

Vickers assigned him to identify the Shadow Fiend's avatar.

All shadows have an umbra and a penumbra, which were explained in detail in the optics of the previous life and the alchemy of this life.

simply put.

The darkest part in the center of the shadow is called the umbra.

The gray area on all sides is called the penumbra.