madnovel Chapter 17 Soul Appearance: Lava Octopus, Strange Green Mist
Chapter 17 Soul Appearance: Lava Octopus, Strange Green Mist
"Your analysis concludes that the elemental balance of the Azerite Roots is disrupted, leading to the persistently high failure rate of the Life Concerto. Can you write out the complete reaction formula for the Life Concerto?"
In the laboratory, Celsus was holding a report, looking at the exquisitely beautiful female apprentice in front of him with a slightly scrutinizing gaze.
Despite wearing a standard wizard's robe, the jeweled chain of Kareto around her swan-like neck did not escape Celsus's notice.
This apprentice doesn't seem to be a member of the Oak Crown; the chaotic and tangled aura of desire emanating from him is more like that of someone from the Pale Witch's Guild.
"Yes...yes, Lord Celsus!"
Eileen answered decisively, but a cold sweat still involuntarily seeped out from her back.
The wizard Celsus was completely different from the older first-level wizards she had encountered before. Most of them only possessed inferior soul forms, and their potential had been exhausted by the time they were promoted to formal wizards. They had no hope of divining destiny stars or going any further.
The wizard Celsus is said to possess a superior soul form—the Lava Octopus—and is the most promising genius in the Crown of Oaks in the last hundred years to advance to the third level of wizardry and win the favor of the star.
If I can overcome the current test, I will have a chance to win his favor.
"With my looks, which man could resist?"
In Eileen's eyes, these seemingly respectable wizards actually play the biggest games behind the scenes.
Thinking of this, her tense nerves finally relaxed, and her gaze towards the wizard Celsus took on a different meaning.
She picked up her pen and wrote the reaction formula of the concerto of life smoothly on the paper.
Before deciding to take the risk, Eileen made thorough preparations.
Through the connections of the Borek family, she was hired by a wizard who had been immersed in potion-making for many years to teach her the knowledge of the Concerto of Life. Furthermore, she used magical crystals to enhance her memory, and her mind now contained the most complete interpretation of that report.
"You believe that the elemental balance within the same batch of Aize Roots will change accordingly after being treated with solutions of different concentrations. What data do you base this on?"
Eileen answered fluently as always, without revealing the slightest flaw.
"Then let me ask you, this report didn't perform elemental analysis on the neutralization solution in the waste liquid, how do you conclude that the Root of Aize affected the elemental balance of the reaction formula?"
Celsus slowly opened his mouth and asked a crucial question.
This is precisely the part of the data that Suen did not list.
"I... compared different periods..."
Eileen's lips parted slightly, her mind going completely blank for a moment.
As a high wizarding apprentice, she was not an ignorant vase.
The wizard Celsus pointed out that this missing data forms the basis for the logical integrity of the report's conclusions.
That's it, I can't come up with anything else.
Eileen was startled, and her consciousness suddenly returned.
How absurd of a thought it was to try to deceive a first-level wizard!
A sense of unreality enveloped Eileen's heart, and the sweat on her forehead had smudged her exquisite makeup.
The first-level wizard, possessing a soul aspect, has begun studying astrology and can foresee changes in fate.
She opened her mouth, and a sharp ringing suddenly filled her ears.
wrong!
These thoughts, about Celsus's soul, about the secret history of the Destiny Star... she couldn't possibly know this information.
How would I know these things?
Eileen's pupils suddenly dilated, her consciousness felt as if it were being gripped by an invisible hand, and the spiritual energy around her was completely disrupted.
A wisp of green mist emanated from between her brows, initially as calm as a still lake, but quickly intensified, twisting into tadpole-shaped, fragmented runes in the air.
Eileen's pupils were completely unfocused, and she kept muttering strange, difficult syllables, her voice becoming increasingly shrill and rapid, as if something was pounding wildly in her brain.
Celsus sighed, "What a nuisance, these stinking creatures again."
The moment the sound faded, the air in the laboratory suddenly became viscous. Something deeper was stirred up, breaking through the boundaries of space, like an invisible sea silently pouring into the laboratory.
Behind Celsus, a crack appeared in the void. Deep, dark purple tentacles slowly meandered through the void, like some being that had been dormant for too long, its shallowest layer of dream disturbed, lazily stretching its body.
In Eileen's mental sea, the raging green mist suddenly froze.
Without any trace of witchcraft, the green mist melted away without warning, like the first snow meeting the sun.
As the afterimage faded, Eileen shuddered. Her consciousness surged to the surface like a drowning person, gasping for breath. Sweat smeared her makeup, and stray hairs clung to her skin.
Celsus extended two fingers and plucked the last, extremely faint green thread from between her brows. The thread twitched between his fingers once, then remained still.
"These annoying green flies always seem to come and hop around when I'm busy."
He casually tossed the wisp of green mist into the phantom behind him, and the tentacles swirled and swallowed it, causing the void rift to slowly close.
Eileen looked up blankly.
The wizard Celsus stood with his hands behind his back, his back to her.
"You can go back now."
Eileen's eyes were vacant, as if she were in a dream.
……
The laboratory returned to silence.
Celsus put the report into the drawer, stood up, and walked to the empty space in the center of the lab bench.
He raised his right hand, and the air behind him cracked open once again.
Dark purple tentacles emerged from the void, more solid than before, with a layer of fine silver patterns appearing on their surface, revealing the true form of the Lava Octopus Soul.
The tip of the tentacle traced a circle in the air, tearing open a pale golden curtain of light.
The video shows the corridor of the Oak Crown Academic Affairs Office, taken a few days ago in the morning.
The tentacles reached into the light screen and turned the image back.
The figure walked backwards into and out of the doorway, and the paper flew from the table back into the hand.
Time flows backward, passing through one sunrise and sunset after another, until the image freezes on the table in the registrar's office piled high with reports.
A boy in a dark green apprentice robe stood by the table, pulled four pages of papyrus from his inner pocket, and placed them on the jumbled pile of reports.
"Hello, I'm here to deliver Lord Celsus's mission report."
In the video, the female apprentice on duty didn't even look up, her thumb rubbing the ring on her ring finger.
Celsus withdrew his hand, and the phantom of his soul and the light screen dissipated together, restoring the laboratory to its original state.
"Ian Lister?"
He is a freshman who just enrolled in school; he is the true author of this report.
Celsus raised an eyebrow slightly, a hint of satisfaction on his face.
It is extremely rare for a freshman to have such talent, and for someone not yet to be targeted and trained into a professional.
As a first-class wizard, Celsus has always opposed the Tower's almost cruel Dark Forest-style training system, believing that it would only cause more geniuses to die prematurely.
Truly cutting-edge knowledge and advanced technology should be born from the exploration and creation of people in the present and future. Relying on the search for the remnants of great catastrophes and the relics of the old era will never allow us to glimpse the ultimate truth.
The improvement to the Concerto of Life was developed by Celsus to change the predicament of strengthening the physique during the apprentice stage, so that they could go further.
However, none of his students understood his good intentions, and some even questioned the formula for the Concerto of Life.
That's why Celsus issued this task to all apprentices.
He was trying to prove that there were far better students than these arrogant ones among the apprentices.
Now he finally had a decent analysis, although it was not complete, but Celsus greatly appreciated the author's rigorous thought process.
He picked up a pen and circled Suen's name on the report cover.
……