Chapter 18 Harvest Time

After Cai and the others left, Suren didn't stay at the Central Prison ruins.

According to Selia, now that the [Isaac Alchemy Heart] was on him, the fallen angel had sensed it and would come looking for him at any time. Only with Mr. Mirror by his side could the danger be minimized.

He sent a signal to Mr. Mirror and then headed in the opposite direction of the three, finding a relatively safe place deep in the ruins to wait.

It was a tower building that was still quite sturdy.

Suren jumped inside. The view here was very open, with dilapidated windows on all sides to detect situations in time.

But he had just stopped when a mysterious person with an indistinguishable face appeared out of nowhere. Like a beam of light from a projector, shining in and then the person arrived.

Looking at the golden-patterned cloak, Suren knew it was someone from the Mirror Organization.

Well... judging from this method more bizarre than teleportation, it was likely Mr. Mirror herself.

He probably understood some of Mr. Mirror's abilities now. She seemed to be able to imitate anyone's appearance and abilities.

This was clearly an extremely rare talent.

The knowledge system in Old Lingdun was mostly unearthed from the ruins, with discontinuities and incompleteness. The introduction to talents was also not complete, with some omissions.

Especially S-class talents, which had almost no records or descriptions.

Suren didn't know what Mr. Mirror's talent was before, only that it should be rarer than A-class.

But just now, he had gained a copy of "A Complete Collection of Human Talent Awakening" in the cursed space. He curiously flipped through the first few pages and saw a talent—[S-011-Mirror Guardian].

That was a talent that could imitate "almost" any ability as long as one could understand it.

Obviously, Mr. Mirror had this kind of talent.

.......

The cloaked person saw Suren and asked, "Did you see her?"

Hearing the tone of voice, although it was impossible to tell the gender, Suren knew it was Mr. Mirror and responded, "Yes."

The cloaked person heard this and let out an almost imperceptible sigh of melancholy.

Suren probably knew what she was melancholy about.

One of the causes of the cursed space was the fall of ancient powerhouses, with the powerful lingering thoughts and energy forming a special space.

The existence of the [Dawn Central Prison] cursed space, in a sense, was actually Selia's "tomb."

She should have died when Dawn City was destroyed.

The disappearance of this cursed space also meant that no trace of Selia's existence could be found in the world again.

Suren looked at her, his expression unchanged, but he felt a little strange inside.

He had previously confirmed that this Mr. Mirror really knew Selia from a thousand years ago.

Which also meant that the person in front of him was a truly "old monster" who had lived for a thousand years.

Under normal circumstances, ordinary humans could extend their lifespan through professional advancement or certain special means, but two or three hundred years was about the limit.

He had never heard of anyone living for as long as a thousand years.

Suren thought of Mr. Mirror's exaggerated healing ability after being injured before and thought: Could it be that she's not human?

Suren now knew that there were more intelligent life forms in this world than just humans. Just on the ground, there were dwarves, goblins, orcs, elves, half-orcs, trolls, sea races, dragons...

And all sorts of strange mythological races, special races from other planes...

Oh, and fallen angels, a "god" of unknown origin.

But Mr. Mirror was definitely not an ordinary human.

.......

Mr. Mirror, shrouded in a cloak, seemed more mysterious and had a cold feeling than when she had transformed into Qian Tiao before.

It was unclear whether it was due to the aura of her true form or her personality.

She glanced at Suren, seemingly guessing his doubts, but did not explain, only asking, "Do you know what's going on?"

Suren nodded, "Yes."

Suren knew that Theresa would definitely come looking for him and wanted to understand the enemy's strength to be prepared, so he asked, "What is her current strength exactly?"

Mr. Mirror: "It's hard to say."

Suren: "Hard to say?"

Mr. Mirror said, "The other limbs have already been found by us in advance, but she also got a small part. She has probably recovered to the level of a Fourth Order. However, that kind of Fourth Order, in terms of understanding the laws, is definitely not comparable to an ordinary human Fourth Order."

Suren could understand.

It was like he was only at the level of a Second Order professional, but his understanding of the laws had reached the level of a Third Order or higher, and his normal combat power far exceeded that of the same level.

Mr. Mirror pointed to the sky, not wanting to elaborate, "Let's not talk about this. The problem shouldn't be too big."

As she said this, she didn't seem to want to leave and sat down cross-legged not far from Suren.

Neither of them explicitly referred to the fallen angel.

Gods were very sensitive to perception and could hear some whispers about them.

Suren understood the gesture.

With this big shot by his side, he wasn't too worried.

Sir Isaac had planned for a thousand years and naturally had other methods.

At this moment, Suren suddenly thought of the information he had extracted from the soul of "Forensic" Servais Gerard.

He felt it was necessary to say it, so he said, "Mr. Mirror, I also know some other information. Duke Raphael already suspects that Theresa is 'possessed by an evil spirit.' Besides the people in the Duke's mansion, there also seems to be a team of exorcists from outside."

"Exorcist team?"

Mr. Mirror listened and pondered for a moment, seemingly considering something.

Since that team had avoided the Umbrella Organization, they had obviously come secretly, and the Mirror Organization hadn't received the news.

"Well... we do need to be careful."

She thought for a moment, then took out an alchemical ring that looked like a communicator and gave a few instructions.

Suren looked at the ring-shaped communicator with some curiosity.

Probably because they were familiar and he knew she wouldn't mind, he identified it.

[Dagus Goblin Communicator]

Detailed Explanation: An alchemical product from the age of the Mythic Goblins, a true antique; can ignore a certain degree of spatial obstacles, allowing for ultra-long-distance directional communication. The 'Dagus Split Worm' is a peculiar creature that existed in the Mythic Age. The queen worm can sense the location of the split bodies, accurately transmitting signals to each other; this worm was widely used in the secret intelligence transmission of the goblin civilization during the Mythic period.

"Good stuff."

Suren muttered to himself as he looked at it.

This was more advanced than any communicator he had ever encountered.

The communication that ignored spatial obstacles felt a bit like an "encrypted satellite phone."

And it didn't need a signal tower.

It seemed to be the Mirror Organization's exclusive communicator.

Mr. Mirror naturally saw Suren's curious gaze. After transmitting the message, she magically took out an identical ring and tossed it over.

Suren looked at the communicator ring in his hand, slightly surprised, and asked, "Mr. Mirror, is this for me?"

"Yes, for convenient contact."

Mr. Mirror nodded and added, "There aren't many of these. Losing one means one less, so be careful not to lose it."

"Oh."

Suren put the ring on his hand and suddenly had a strange feeling.

With an exclusive communicator, was he a member of the "Mirror Organization" now?

However, why didn't they give him one of those cool cloaks too?

Also, wasn't the entry requirement a second talent awakening?

Before he could think too much, Mr. Mirror directly asked, "Do you want a cloak?"

The tone was very relaxed.

But these words,

were obviously asking Suren if he wanted to join.

Before he could answer, Mr. Mirror continued, "The 'Mirror' is a very loose organization, with no special responsibilities or obligations. Everyone is working together for the common goal of leaving the tower, so we complete some specific tasks. In the future, it will be like the 'Rosicrucian Order' of the last era, a purely high-end alchemical academic exchange circle..."

In a few words, she explained the meaning of the organization's existence.

Suren didn't think much and immediately responded, "Yes."

This golden-patterned cloak was a good thing.

Of course, most importantly, he was in close contact with several big shots in the Mirror Organization, Qian Tiao, Number Nineteen, Mr. Mirror, Mr. Black...

Even if he wasn't, that's what others would think.

Hearing his response, Mr. Mirror casually tossed him another golden cloak.

Although it also had golden patterns with common alchemical symbols of snakes, eagles, lizards, fire dragons, and thorn flowers...

there were obvious differences in the details compared to the ones Suren had seen before, with some more "exclusive" symbols, such as a scythe, representing the Reaper?

Was this prepared in advance?

Suren put away the cloak.

With just these two simple sentences, he had joined the number one reactionary organization in Old Lingdun.

Both of them were calm.

At this time, Suren remembered something else and took out the [Vulcan's Furnace Lamp] to return it to its original owner, saying, "That... Mr. Mirror, this is the copper lamp that was taken inside before..."

But that heart had already been refined into the [Isaac Alchemy Heart] and was still sealed, so it couldn't be taken out.

He originally wanted to explain, "That heart..."

But Mr. Mirror didn't seem to care at all and waved her head, interrupting him.

She saw the ring on Suren's hand, a flash of light passed through her eyes, and she only said faintly, "I know."

Hearing this, Suren didn't say much.

Sure enough, Selia was right, Mr. Mirror wouldn't mind her giving the [Isaac Alchemy Heart] to Suren.

After the exchange, the two of them didn't speak anymore.

They meditated cross-legged, waiting for Theresa to come to their door.

.......

Before, in the cursed space, Suren had been listening to Selia's teachings and hadn't had time to think carefully about his gains.

Now he had the mind to properly count them.

As soon as he meditated, he immediately felt different than before.

What was it like to be able to run multiple thoughts in your brain at the same time, while still having clear ideas?

Suren used to have to stay awake to a certain extent even when he was sleeping in order to suppress the other emotions in his brain.

Now that negative emotion was completely released, impacting brain development.

Suren clearly felt that his brain's processing speed was taking off, and the whole world was clearer.

The effective part was naturally the mental power secret technique.

Even in ancient times, mental power secret techniques were very high-end secret arts.

Like breathing techniques, there were also different qualities and effects.

Mental power secret techniques were also different. Suren had also seen Sabina's mental power, and the succubus's mental power was in charm, soft and able to evoke people's primal desires; Mr. Black's mental power was very "sharp," like a needle, able to pry into people's deepest secrets...

And some aggressive mental secret techniques were very overbearing.

Different mental secret techniques ultimately formed different mental power.

Suren was learning Selia's exclusive secret technique of the Puppet Master lineage, the epic secret technique passed down from the last era—[Starry Sky Visualization Technique]. Da Feng Novel

The mental power visualized by this secret technique would be very scattered, but the focus was on "more."

Like the stars in the sky, scattered points.

It was perfect for controlling puppets.

Before, Suren's mental power was like a pile of loose sand.

His "reason" was like a small sandcastle built in the sand, with very little usable, and those extra mental powers were still a burden.

But now, with this secret technique, Suren clearly felt different.

During meditation, he could clearly feel the mental power in his brain condensing into shape, turning into the shape of a "willow tree."

All the mental power was fully utilized, condensing into the trunk.

And the mental power tentacles could also spread out like willow branches...

This was perfect for the Puppet Master profession.

As long as his mental power was strong enough in the future, these "willow branch" mental power tentacles would increase infinitely, becoming infinitely long...

Moreover, Suren could not only increase his mental power through visualization.

He could also increase it by harvesting the residual souls from corpses through the [Reaper].

The compatibility between this secret technique and his talent was very high!

.......

Suren had learned the mental power secret technique, and the burden in his mind had been completely resolved, eliminating the hidden danger of exploding and dying from mental power backlash.

Now he could also control negative emotions, but not by "blocking," but by "dredging."

The extra mental power fluctuations created by negative emotions directly became nourishment for the mental secret technique.

He could really get a good night's sleep in the future.

And with the disappearance of negative emotions, it seemed that Suren had lost a desperate means.

But that wasn't the case.

Negative emotions could cause the body to secrete excessive hormones.

Like before in the cursed space, when Suren fully released his emotions, exceeding the safe value of his body's endurance, he even had the combat power of a Third Order, or even a Fourth Order.

Now that the violent negative emotions were gone,

because Suren had mastered another method, the unique alchemy of "Forensic" Gerard—[Hormone Outbreak]!

After digesting his memories, Suren discovered that this guy, besides being the leader of the Umbrella Organization, was also a true biological genius.

His research in human anatomy and physiology had reached a very high level, especially his research on corpses, which was absolutely unmatched in Old Lingdun, surpassing everyone else.

Suren used to use hormones in a barbaric way, opening the valve, roughly estimating the strength, and then leaving it to fate.

But Gerard had precise control!

He could control his pores to breathe, control his hormone secretion precisely, thereby achieving a better combat power boost than Suren's method.

The "white, red, black" three-colored clowns were the three stages of hormone outbreak he had researched.

The first stage was physical excitement, the second stage was doubled combat power, and the third stage was dangerous.

This method was much more scientific than Suren's barbaric method.

.......

And thinking of this, a strong sense of doubt and interest suddenly arose in Suren's heart.

He wanted to know how Gerard had figured out such a complex system of human hormone secretion and mastered it.

After all, after listening to Selia's teachings, he now understood that alchemists should not only know how to use it, but also understand why.

With this thought,

he flipped out a pile of notes from his storage space.

People who do research usually have the habit of keeping research diaries.

Gerard was no exception.

Suren found the results of his years of research in his storage ring.

Dozens of densely packed research diaries, all numbered.

Suren opened the first one, numbered 001.

Rows of neatly written research diaries came into view.

"I like to study corpses. To me, they are something I can communicate with..."

"I have found that hormone secretion in the body is different at different emotions. Fear, joy, excitement, sorrow... Some hormones clearly increase combat power. I want to figure out the relationship..."

"People who are dying have very disordered hormone secretion. I tried choosing live targets, torturing them, recording data, until death..."

"Experiment number #771, fear will secrete..."

"Experiment number #1222, I have finally mastered a method to absorb hormones from other corpses. I named this technique [Blood Qi Extraction]. External qi and blood can compensate for the lack of hormone production in the human body..."

"Since hormones are controlled by sensory emotions, can controlling emotions control the continuation of secretion..."

"The human body is too fragile..."

"..."

Not just reading ten lines at a glance,

but listening to the continuous "rustling" sound of turning pages, clear and melodious.

Each page only stayed for a second or two.

But it didn't sound rushed, and there was still a slight sense of rhythm.

Whole pages of notes were almost glanced over and flipped over.

Even if there were some content that needed to be understood, he could quickly process it in his brain. Even if he encountered something that needed time to calculate, it wouldn't affect his reading speed.

His brain would dedicate a portion of his energy to concentrate, and the other thoughts would continue to flip through and accept new content.

This was the wonderful spillover brought about by a 5% increase in brain development and the release of mental stress...

With the double learning aura bonus of [Isaac's Alchemy Manuscript] and [Selia's Instructions], Suren's current learning efficiency had reached a level that ordinary people couldn't comprehend.

Suren was completely immersed in this wonderful and novel feeling,

reading, learning, mastering, thinking...

He absorbed knowledge like a whale.

Hearing the sound of turning pages, even Mr. Mirror, who was meditating, couldn't help but look sideways.

She glanced at Suren, paused for a moment, and slowly closed her eyes again.