Chapter 156 Void Always Relates to Astronomy

The corridors on the fourth floor of the library were lavishly decorated with various ornaments: complex alchemical astronomical telescopes, an "Antikythera Mechanism" with pure gold gears, an intricate and artistic "Edmunds Cosmogony," and some alchemical instruments whose function was unclear.

Many of these were classic astronomical instruments still in use today, their designs remaining largely unchanged even after countless years.

Suren walked along the corridor, seeing treasures displayed in glass cabinets that he couldn't help but want to snatch.

Apart from "ancient scrolls" and "manuscripts" preserved like antiques, the vast majority of books were meticulously printed, collector's editions. Gilt-edged covers were neatly arranged on the shelves, perfectly matching the surrounding gold-plated carved walls, creating an atmosphere of profound knowledge infused with the unique luxury of the Royal Academy.

Perhaps because Suren had the chessboard, he was able to enter every room on this floor without hindrance.

Wary of triggering any unforeseen events, he refrained from taking any of the books for the time being.

Finally, he located the Academy's archives and stepped inside.

The archives were larger than they appeared from the outside, roughly three to four hundred square meters, having clearly used space-folding technology to expand the original space by two or three times.

Immediately visible were stacks of densely packed parchment folders piled into more than a dozen bookshelves, each three stories high. Movable mahogany ladders were provided to facilitate access to the upper archives.

Each bookshelf had a detailed classification, and the files were also labeled.

Here, one could investigate records of all Academy personnel, personnel transfers, and major events.

He needed to find the "Herbert Silberleit" mentioned in the investigation file, and this was the most likely place.

Suren looked at the dense array of files and clicked his tongue. "So many files; this is going to be a lot of hard work."

Moreover, time was limited.

Normally, he would only have about five hours before the "Void Invasion" began.

Alone, even with multitasking, it would be impossible to review all the files here in just a few hours.

Thinking this, Suren performed an alchemist hand seal, "Spatial Alchemy - Void Devour."

A cyan-black hexagram array lit up beneath his feet. He looked at the spatial black hole rapidly forming in his hand and muttered, "As expected, the spatial energy fluctuations in this academy are dozens of times stronger than outside, and the casting efficiency is several times faster."

This was definitely a major boon for spatial practitioners.

It was also one of the most important reasons Suren considered this cursed space to be relatively less dangerous for him.

Here, his spatial abilities would be several times stronger than outside.

In the blink of an eye, the black hole in his hand transformed into an elliptical void about the height of a person, and figures rapidly emerged.

His two disciples, Kama and Aberk, along with Tani and Lolota, who wanted to join the fun and see the world, as well as crew members from the Dawn Mercenary Group with talents in "fast reading," totaling over a hundred people.

These people nearly filled the entire archive room as soon as they appeared.

"Teacher!"

"Mr. Suren!"

"Mm, thank you all for your hard work."

Suren had already communicated with them using his mind, and as soon as they appeared, they greeted Suren before immediately diving into the task of reviewing the files on the bookshelves without delay.

Suren himself also released the Eight-Armed Spider Spears, reviewing the files at a glance.

His goal was clear: to focus on older archives.

He speculated that since "Herbert Silberleit" had issued a warning about problems with the space channel, his identity was definitely not simple.

Moreover, the "Void Invasion" had indeed occurred.

The question then became, why did he discover it when others didn't? This indicated that he either possessed abilities stronger than others or held a special position that allowed him access to secrets others couldn't reach.

Therefore, Suren focused on the files of "senior faculty members."

...

Suren knew that his entry into the library would not go unnoticed.

At least, some administrator-level NPCs were certainly aware of what he was doing here. But the fact that no one had appeared to stop him so far emboldened Suren to summon his Dawn Mercenary Group companions to help.

In a monarchical society, the king's power was supreme.

Suren had the [Stannitz Chessboard] and was a genuine investigator, so even if the Academy's higher-ups knew he was investigating the archives, they most likely wouldn't stop him, nor would they dare to.

He hadn't notified the Academy and had come directly to the fourth floor to investigate. Those NPCs with limited intelligence would probably assume he was some sort of "secret investigator," and wouldn't trigger too complex a response.

Of course, this approach did involve some minor risks.

The "Toxter Void Royal Alchemist Academy" may have once had ninth-tier or even stronger practitioners. But at least based on current information, even the Dean only had about seventh-tier combat power remaining.

But the Dawn Mercenary Group was not without a fighting chance.

After trying it out, if the opponent didn't emerge, then the risk wasn't a risk at all.

...

With more people working, things progressed quickly. More than a hundred people helped review the files, and they soon gave them a rough first pass.

No one found any files with the name "Herbert Silberleit" recorded.

Suren wasn't surprised in the slightest.

Since no information could be found in the Academy itself, it was normal not to find it in the archives.

He was looking for related clues.

He speculated that the possibility of the name being his real name was high.

The reason it wasn't there now was most likely because it had been "erased."

This was a transcendent world, and certain special methods could indeed directly erase all related text, but bugs would appear.

Files could be erased, but it was impossible to completely erase "his" social connections and activities in this world.

Sure enough.

After about two or three hours of reviewing, while Suren was carefully examining the faculty files, Aberk, who was reviewing old files in the corner, discovered something and exclaimed softly, "Teacher, come and take a look. I've found something that might be what you're looking for."

Suren walked over and asked, "What did you find?"

Aberk pointed to a file and said directly, "Teacher, this is the file of a person named 'Pedro Rona.' He was the second-place student in the Academy's comprehensive assessment in the year 3351 of the Tarkrol Calendar. At the same time, according to the records, I found the file records of the third to tenth place students. But after searching all the files from that year, I couldn't find any related information about the first-place student. Moreover, I also looked at the assessment records from that year. This second-place student had an assessment score of 754, while the first-place student had 996. It was almost a crushing difference."

At this point, he paused, used the spider spear behind him to pull out another file, and stated his analysis, "Logically speaking, such a 'genius' would definitely not be an unknown figure. Even if something happened, there should be a record. Moreover, this person's research direction is very special. I saw a mention of the research topic he won an award for in the writing of the ninth-place student, called 'On the Feasibility of Integrating Void Genes into the Human Body.' This seems to be the same thing as the [Void Gene Potion] you mentioned earlier."

"..."

Suren listened to his disciple's narration, a look of affirmation appearing in his eyes.

Aberk's [Seven Aperture Exquisite Heart] talent granted him extraordinary observation and analytical abilities far surpassing those of others. He had immediately captured the key points from the files that others had overlooked or skimmed over.

Suren took the file from Aberk's hand and realized that his disciple's line of reasoning was flawless!

"That first-place student from thirty years ago should be that 'Herbert Silberleit'."

Suren's eyes flickered frequently, and he finally felt that he had found the key to breaking the situation.

He had extremely strong research abilities, which met the condition.

Moreover, it was also confirmed that this person's name had been erased by some special means.

"Well done, Aberk!"

With time being of the essence, Suren didn't say much more, but instead said, "You don't need to worry about the archives for the time being. Everyone, please help me find all the books related to the 'Void Gene Project' in the library!"

He felt that since he was a genius, he should have left more clues.

"Yes, Mr. Suren!"

Upon hearing this, everyone left the archives one after another.

...

The "Toxter Royal Alchemist Academy" was an academy specializing in Void research.

Almost everyone here was a spatial arcanist.

However, alchemists had to integrate Void armor, which inevitably led to the problem of "distortion."

Therefore, the Academy researched various topics to prevent distortion and increase Void affinity.

They also produced many results.

People from the North Sea Fleet had actually discovered clues before. They had found a simple description of a [Void Gene Potion] in the fragmentary words of some books.

It was a "crazy project" that could give people super Void affinity.

It wasn't some kind of temporary augmentation potion, but rather directly allowed humans to integrate into the Void and permanently become half-Void bloodline creatures.

But because there was no definite information, it could be a research guess or a research project with results.

However, Suren had previously injected "x-Serum" and believed that it was feasible.

This was also one of the most important goals for him entering this cursed space. If the potion really existed, he needed it himself, Qiantiao needed some affinity to fuse with the fifth-tier armor, and other members of the Dawn Mercenary Group also needed it.

If he could deeply explore this clue, he couldn't let it go.

Therefore, Suren immediately connected the clues when he saw that file just now.

That "Herbert Silberleit" was likely the "first-place" student in the student assessment thirty years ago.

Moreover, such a genius student, as long as he didn't leave, was usually a high-level member of the Academy in the future.

Suren searched through the personnel files of the years following that annual assessment.

It was then that he discovered that the Void student vice president usually had six standard positions, but there were only five in the years 3360-3365 of the Tarkrol Calendar.

Seeing this, Suren was almost certain that Herbert was a vice president who had been erased!

...

With more people, strength was greater. Before long, almost all the books on the "Void Gene" topic on the entire fourth floor were brought over.

None of them had that name written on them.

Moreover, there didn't seem to be any books that were the same as that topic.

However, Suren didn't give up and personally checked each one.

The more genius one was, the more they liked to "show off their skills."

Ancient alchemists usually used special encryption methods when recording certain secrets. The Dawn Era was almost the pinnacle of cryptography.

However, even the most special cryptography had a shelf life, and most encryption methods had now been deciphered.

Suren himself was proficient in at least hundreds of them, covering almost all known encryption methods in the current era, not to mention the Omniscient Eyes.

*Void Devil Fish Blood Gene Analysis*, *Void Eel's Dual Attribute Gene Inheritance*, *Miraculous Genes*...

Suren looked through them one by one, very quickly.

However, because he was afraid of missing key information, he had to flip to the end of almost every book.

His left eye, the Omniscient Eyes, scanned through those books, and he did see a lot of content that showed "special encrypted information."

However, after flipping through one or two hundred books for nearly an hour, he didn't gain anything.

Suren wasn't flustered.

Even if the "Void Invasion" broke out, he was basically "guaranteed" now that he had this library.

If it didn't work, he would find a way to come back next time.

But at this moment, he saw a book called *Void Zerg Research*.

It didn't matter what the author's name was, it definitely couldn't be "Herbert Silberleit."

This was a manuscript. Opening it, it was densely filled with various texts and hand-drawn drawings of Void zerg, which were very detailed. In the Void Plane, zerg were almost at the bottom of the food chain, and few people would study those low-level creatures. This book recorded hundreds of Void zerg in great detail. And there were also some interesting alchemical laboratory records later on.

This was originally a very normal book, but as Suren looked at it, a "encrypted information" prompt appeared in his eyes.

Then, after he deciphered it according to the decoding method, interesting content appeared.

The note content was as follows:

"Void zerg are low-intelligence creatures? Most of them may be, but some are very terrifying existences."

"Ants are not scary to elephants, but they are scary when they are organized. I like this proverb very much."

"I studied the Void zerg and found a problem. Our previous understanding seemed to be wrong. Some Void bugs cannot be counted as individuals if they are just one, but must be a group of thousands of them together to be considered an 'individual.' They have a core 'brain' that directs this group of bugs to carry out complex commands that they cannot complete by themselves. I named it 'Mother Bug'."

"The reproductive isolation between alien creatures is not completely isolated, but rather because they have not found a suitable 'bridge.' The higher the life form, the smaller the range of reproductive isolation. The root cause is that the gene chain is complex and complete enough. So, what if I used a high-level life form as a carrier to establish a connection between two unrelated low-level alien creatures? For example, use a certain God-level life form to connect the gene chains of humans and Void creatures..."

"I succeeded in the first stage. I tried various Void gene materials and finally chose a 'Void Mother Bug's marrow,' which is a very rare God-level material..."

"...."

When Suren saw these contents appearing in the notes, he knew he had found the right thing.

A sharp light flashed in his eyes, and he thought, "This must be Herbert's notes!"

It was another very powerful encryption technique. The content of the notes was completely normal and readable, but it hid what the author wanted to leave behind.

Although these notes didn't record a detailed research report, they did record the truth about the "Void Invasion."

Suren frowned as he looked at the recorded content.

"I calculated the possibilities. In that group of hundreds of millions, the 'Mother Bug' will almost certainly appear. I notified the Dean and explained that a high-level consciousness body had appeared in the 'Katz Void Zerg' that had recently appeared near the space channel, and may even have exceeded the God level. The plane channel must be closed, otherwise it will bring unexpected disasters. But my proposal did not attract the attention of the Empire's higher-ups. The Void Plane is the Empire's main source of financial income, and those councilors who make a fortune through this channel have brought strong resistance. Those greedy guys will not easily give up the 'black gold' tap. They deliberately lowered the danger rating of my report, and the Empire's investigation team has not arrived after several years of delay. I know that I have to wait for the resolution of the council, I am afraid the disaster is inevitable. Alas, greedy and stupid nobles..."

"I am distorted, both physically and mentally... I once thought about dying. But I wanted to leave my research results behind. Facts have proved that my idea is right, the 'Void Gene Potion' can transform the human bloodline and greatly improve human Void affinity. As long as I solve that little side effect, I already have an idea. Unfortunately, because of that side effect, the opposing faction in the academic circle does not support closing the channel, because that would make the entire academy lose everything. They launched a fierce public opinion attack on me. I lost everything. But I don't care about those. I only care that there is no time left, I want to study the final [Void Gene Potion]..."

"Later I realized that it was not an accident, but someone had tampered with my experimental data, so I was distorted. It doesn't matter who it is anymore, after all, the people who can get close to my laboratory are all my most trusted friends. I really have no interest in the power struggle, why drag me in..."

"I may be locked up and sent to 'Laboratory Zero'. But I still informed the academy."

"Even if I become a monster, I love this world and I love alchemy."

"..."

Suren finished reading the content of the notes.

All the content can be summarized in three sentences.

A genius researched a [Void Gene Potion], and then was killed by opponents in the academic world, and his name and honor were erased;

About a decade ago, he sent out a "warning" saying that there was a problem with this space plane.

Then, the investigation team didn't come until now.

......

"So, the main will of this cursed space is actually this guy?"

After reading it, Suren frowned and fell into deep thought.

The information obtained by the North Sea Fleet almost all pointed to the Dean as the "main will" of the cursed space.

As a result, after obtaining these notes, he realized that "Herbert Silberleit" was the one.

Moreover, he has now obtained a new clue, that is, "Laboratory Zero."

Going there is very likely to get the [Void Gene Potion], as well as more space armor, materials, and even crack the entire cursed space.

The good stuff all seems to be in the experimental area.

But the problem is that the laboratory area is now a "T-level" area, and there have never been any survivors, which makes Suren very conflicted.

There is currently less than an hour before the "Void Invasion" breaks out. Suren considered it and decided not to take the risk.

Now that he has these clues, he can go back and sort them out carefully, and he may be able to think of some other solutions next time.

After reading those books, Suren put the people he had summoned back into the small Void realm.

He planned to wait for the war to start, and then take away all the collections on the fourth floor of the library.

With an hour left, Suren had nothing to do, so he wandered around this fourth floor.

He was focused on finding files just now, and he didn't carefully observe the things here. He now plans to take a closer look, so as not to miss any treasures when he searches later.

From the crystal chandeliers, murals, and sculptures, to the door handles and teacups, he appraised them one by one.

After this look, he really discovered many alchemical items with special effects.

He even found several secret compartments.

However, after Suren opened them with the chessboard, he found that there was nothing inside.

But it wasn't incomprehensible.

He guessed that those secret compartments were most likely only authorized to be opened by the Dean. Therefore, the vice president knew there was this secret compartment, but couldn't open it and didn't know what was inside.

It also further confirmed that the main consciousness of this cursed space was not the Dean.

Suren was still happily searching for "small surprises", thinking that he would stay here until the battle began.

Suddenly, the Omniscient Eyes reappraised a "spatial door" on the ceiling at the end of the corridor.

Just like going from the third floor to the fourth floor before, it required permission to identify.

......

Overhead was a magnificent, dazzling, and mysterious starry sky ceiling. Looking closely, one would find that those stars were all kinds of gems and magic crystal cores.

Luxurious and charming, but not particularly special on this fourth floor.

Suren looked up at the information appraised in front of him, his face full of caution, and thought: "Could it be that there is a fifth floor in this library? Will I encounter an old guy as soon as I open it?"

He thought that he must have been discovered, so he didn't have any psychological burden, and directly took out the chessboard and activated the permission again.

The nine-pointed star alchemical array lit up, and Suren watched the light and shadow of the starry sky ceiling rotate for a while, and then turned into an exit that seemed to lead to outer space.

In an instant, Suren only felt that there was no gravity, and his whole body floated up.

Looking at the dense buildings in the space again, Suren's pupils shrank suddenly, and he was shocked: "T-level experimental area?!"

He never expected that the fourth floor of the library actually had an entrance that directly connected to the experimental area in that plane channel.

"That is to say, after the 'Void Invasion,' the plane channel was closed. But in fact, you can also enter and exit the fourth floor of the library through this spatial door?"

At this moment, Suren's adventurous heart that had been extinguished suddenly burned fiercely.

ps. Number one is asking for votes~