My health recovery is incredibly fast.

He pulled a secret message ring from his alchemy pouch and sent a secret message.

A short while later, a reply came.

Hillenburg glanced down at the message and said with slight surprise:

"They actually need to verify my identity before they can access Xia Zuo's public file."

Hillenburg realized that things were not so simple.

He summoned an elemental servant and instructed it to take his alchemy card and a handwritten, signed letter of authorization to the fifth floor of the castle.

Xia Zuo knew nothing about what was happening in the ocean observation room, and even if he did, he wouldn't have thought there was anything wrong with it.

This practice of accessing other alchemists' information through the alchemical school's public archives is perfectly normal, legal, and compliant, just like browsing someone's social media, public profile, or website information in a previous life.

The alchemy school created a complete identity record for each member, which included an alchemist's citizenship level, alchemical aptitude, major achievements, and so on.

If there is a physical fitness test report, it will also appear in the public records.

Hillenburg took Shazor's file from the returning elemental servant; the sheer thickness of the file folder alone indicated that Shazor's resume was far more extensive than that of other alchemists of his age.

Hillenburg's first observation was that Shazor had accepted the initiation of loyalty for his significant and irreplaceable contribution to a major operation by the Witcher School.

Granting Shazo the Light Element ahead of time was just one of the rewards led by the Witcher School. The Witchers also sent Rexor to help Shazo strengthen his body as another reward.

Not long ago, the temple's master of detection conducted a highly authoritative physical examination on Xia Zuo, confirming that his physical qualities had slightly surpassed the level of a Demon Hunter Apprentice.

Considering the strictness of the Demon Hunter's teachings and the fact that Xia Zuo uses poison alchemy as his main alchemy, it is understandable that he possesses a stronger willpower than a normal mage.

Hillenburg realized that he had encountered a very rare alchemical talent, who was devoted to alchemy and had little social interaction. He was the kind of alchemical partner who was pure of heart and reliable in character.

It was entirely worthwhile for Hillenburg to use his authority to request personnel from the Poseidon Emergency Response Department, asking them to send Shazo to be stationed in Lumington.

Hillenburg placed the file folder back into the elemental servant's hands, letting it be sent back, and then looked at the glass ball on the control panel.

After nearly an hour and a half of effort, Xia Zuo finally found the toolbox entangled in seaweed in the target field. After getting tangled with dozens of seaweed along the way, he successfully obtained 0.08 points of Strength, Agility and Endurance attribute value, which was faster than taking the adaptation potion.

Xia Zuo rested for a while and looked at the large box that had been left in the seaweed field. There was a large hole in the surface of the box, and the metal tools inside were scattered all over the ground.

Especially the tiny screws and nuts, which were scattered by the water flow, many of which were carried away by the current. Xia Zuo had to slow down to avoid losing these potentially polluting items.

“Master Hillenburg, I have found the toolbox you mentioned.”

Xia Zuo slowly squatted down and reached out to feel the bottom of the box. "It's stuck in the mud, about 20 centimeters deep. The top of the box is badly damaged, some of the tools are missing, and a large clump of seaweed is tangled around it."

"The toolbox is broken?" Hillenburg said with some doubt. "Take a closer look and see what broke the box. The outer shell of this toolbox has a hardness of over 20. Alchemy seaweed doesn't have the ability to puncture the outer shell."

Xia Zuo adjusted the brightness of the searchlight to make it softer and reduce the glare on the metal surface.

Two rows of fine, serrated lines appeared on either side of the tear, suggesting that some creature with sharp teeth used its powerful bite to break the toolbox.

Xia Zuo activated [Toxin Sense] to search for any possible toxins.

There is a prerequisite for the detection spell to be cast: the medium through which the spell's energy is conducted in nature is air.

Xia Zuo was in the seawater at the time, which inevitably weakened the effect of the toxin detection.

He failed to detect the presence of the toxin, or perhaps there was no toxin at all...

Hearing Shazo's description of the damage to the toolbox, Hillenburg felt uneasy and emphasized:

"Xia Zuo, things have changed. Based on your previous performance, you've passed the interview. Now, I need you to do something: attach a rod-shaped marker to the left leg armor of your wetsuit."

"Put the marker in the toolbox, then go back to the dive room the way you came. On the way back, pay attention to your surroundings. If you encounter any trouble, press the emergency rescue button on your chest."

"Yes, Master."

Xia Zuo was happy to have passed the interview, but also felt uneasy because of the interviewer's tone.

"Master, are there any ferocious sea creatures around here?"

"It might not be a sea creature; it could be an alien demon that has infiltrated."

Hillenburg stared intently at the orb, using a button on the control panel to zoom out on the view inside, widening his field of vision to spot any anomalies earlier. He then said:

"This seaweed field platform is researching a type of alchemical seaweed that can effectively shield against detection. Once the research is completed, the alchemical seaweed will be planted in the waters surrounding the sea castle to shield it from the spying of the alien demons."

"About 2 kilometers below the platform lies the junction between the natural world and the Thunder Sea plane. There, a fortified outpost is located, used to filter and sift through the substances flowing between the natural world and the Thunder Sea plane..."

Helenburg paused, adjusted his glasses, and asked:

"By the way, Xia Zuo, have you studied planar geometry?"

"No, Master."

Xia Zuo shook his head inside the diving helmet, the searchlight turning his face deathly pale. "My understanding of planes is still limited to what's mentioned in 'An Introduction to Meditation,' I haven't systematically studied plane science yet."

“Then you need to brush up on your knowledge in this area as soon as possible.” Hillenburg recalled the assessment of Shazo in the file—an exceptional memory—and said:

"I believe you will soon master the basics of planar geometry. I will also lend you a few textbooks and notes on marine alchemy—the kind I wrote myself. Take them back and study them on your own, but keep it a secret, because I don't plan to make it public yet."

"Yes, Master. Don't worry, I won't show it to anyone else."

Xia Zuo brushed aside the seaweed blocking his way and walked briskly through the seaweed field.

The journey was slowed down because we needed to find the toolbox on the way there, but the return trip was much faster. After only 20 minutes, the diving chamber, radiating white light, was faintly visible amidst the swaying seaweed.

"I have already reported the strange phenomena in the seaweed field to the castle administrators."

Hillenburg put down the coded ring in his hand and pressed a few buttons on the control panel. "We've also obtained permission to deploy the Elemental Golem Recycling Toolbox. If you have time later, you can stay here a little longer and examine the damaged toolbox with me."

"No problem." Xia Zuo estimated that it was around 4 p.m., and there was still a while before he got off work.

He quickened his pace, and as he approached the diving room, he suddenly heard several rapid, gurgling sounds overhead. He immediately looked up alertly and hid among the seaweed.

“Don’t worry, that’s the elemental puppet I’m controlling,” Hillenburg said, fiddling with the control panel.

There are a total of 6 elemental golems in the Alchemy Castle.

"What's above you now is one of the underwater transport elemental golems."

"They look similar to giant jellyfish, with four underwater propulsion devices—one large and three small—installed on their undersides to adjust their direction while swimming."

Xia Zuo looked at the elemental puppets passing by at a steady pace above his head, and he was no longer as nervous as before. It was better to have some companions around than to be all alone... even though they weren't real people.

Hillenburg is right; these elemental golems do resemble jellyfish, but they are still quite different from real jellyfish.

When they swim, they rely solely on the power provided by the propellers and do not expand and contract like jellyfish. It is clear that the alchemical school has only borrowed the advantage of jellyfish appearance in effectively reducing water resistance and has not yet explored the simulation structure in depth.

“Xia Zuo, after you enter the diving chamber, tap the glass wall twice to close the hatch and surface. I need to focus on operating the elemental golem retrieval toolbox; it would be troublesome if their chains got tangled in seaweed.”

"Received, Master."

Xia Zuo stepped into the diving room and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Unexpectedly, he received information from his cheat system in his mind:

"The host has successfully completed a mission in the upper ocean. The mission lasted 1 hour and 46 minutes, and the mission completion rate was 100%. The reward is 106 experience points and a certain amount of strength, agility and endurance attribute values."

Yet another reward: the reward for completing the underwater operation is calculated separately from the reward for breaking free from the seaweed!

Xia Zuo watched with some delight as the seawater slowly drained from the cabin.

The surrounding pressure was gradually reduced to prevent the wetsuit from bursting due to the sudden pressure change…

When Xia Zuo returned to the ocean observation room and took off his diving suit, the elemental golems had just packed up and brought back the damaged toolbox.

...

The process of assessing the damaged toolbox was a bit bumpy, and Xia Zuo had a feeling he would be going home late again today.

Next to a spacious, enclosed workbench.

Hillenburg, arms crossed, stared at the toolbox disassembled into parts, his eyes reflecting a greasy, black sheen, and asked Xia Zuo beside him:

What do you think that thing that just exploded was?

A vibrant green magical light flowed from Xia Zuo's eyes. The vision provided by [Toxin Sense] showed that as many as 20 kinds of toxins were rapidly dissipating and completely disappearing in less than 2 seconds.

Just about 10 minutes earlier, when Hillenburg was using the Elemental Golem to inspect the toolbox, he unexpectedly discovered an egg-shaped object deep inside the box.

The egg-shaped object, affected by pressure changes, exploded upon entering the observation chamber where the pressure was lower, spraying out the mucus inside the egg and contaminating the entire toolbox.

Shazo immediately noticed the toxicity of the slime and reminded Hillenburg to seal the toolbox. He then disassembled the toolbox and obtained the parts that had been contaminated by the slime.

At this moment, Hillenburg was pondering the origin of the egg-shaped object.

"It's not the egg of a marine creature, at least not the egg of a marine creature from the area around the sea castle, I'm sure of that."

Hillenburg looked at the notepad in his hand, which recorded Xia Zuo's observations: "As many as 20 kinds of toxins. I can hardly not suspect that this is a trap set by some kind of alien demon. The most troublesome thing is that these toxins have dissipated, and we have no way to deal with them. We don't even have time to identify their effects and compare them with the sample database."

“Master, if this is indeed something left behind by the Otherworldly Demons, perhaps I can consult Master Rexor, who is very knowledgeable about Otherworldly Demons.” Xia Zuo rummaged in his alchemy pouch and took out the bald man’s secret communication ring.

“Oh, is that the Demon Hunter who did your physical enhancement training? Then I’ll trouble you to inquire about it. Once I have definite information, I will report it to the castle administrators,” Hillenburg said.

Xia Zuo randomly sent out a long private message, detailing the discovery of the egg-shaped object and the nature of the toxin.

While waiting for a reply, the two handed over their work.

Shazo signed the employment authorization letter issued by Hillenberg, and once the emergency response department of Poseidon City approves, he will be able to work here full-time.

However, the accommodation remains in Poseidon, for safety reasons.

He had to use Windwalk to fly to the teleportation room in the city center after get off work every day, and then use the teleportation crystal to return home.

It's a bit of a hassle to do this... but it's totally worth it compared to the rewards of underwater activities.

Chapter 53 High-Efficiency Detection

"Click, click..." Xia Zuo's communication ring beeped. He looked down and his expression immediately turned somewhat strange...

Rexol said he was on his way.

Isn't this a little awkward? After all, they only said goodbye a few days ago, and now they're going to see each other again...

It's like bumping into an acquaintance at an intersection, exchanging greetings, and then meeting them again at the next street corner...

“Team Leader.” Xia Zuo is now a probationary member of the Ocean Research Team, so he has changed his way of addressing Hillenberg. “Master Rexol said that the anomalies we have here have attracted the attention of the Federal Emergency Response Department. He has been temporarily transferred here to investigate the situation because the egg-shaped objects in the toolbox have also appeared in the territory of the Crystal Remnants.”

“The territory of the Crystal Remnants…” Hillenburg pondered for a moment, “I’ve heard that things have been rather unsettled there lately, with the Otherworldly Demons causing quite a bit of trouble… If the strange egg is indeed related to the Otherworldly Demons, we must take it seriously.”

"Team leader..." Xia Zuo hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Where is the territory of the Crystal Remnants?"

"You don't know?" Hillenburg paused for a moment, as if the question was common knowledge.

Xia Zuo spread his hands, "The book doesn't mention anything about that place..."