Neutralization
“Was that an illusion?” Leylin muttered under his breath and turned his attention to the A.I. Chip’s records.
[Unknown forcefield interference detected! Host has entered a state of confusion.]
[Interplanar spell formation engaging countermeasures, charging!!”]
[Magus Tower prepared to eradicate interference, beginning.]
[Host has successfully been restored to normalcy. Alert ended.] The red records made Leylin feel gloomy.
In the middle of all this, the spiritual force seed that he had sent into the astral plane had vanished without a trace into a spatial rift.
“Tower genie!” Leylin called out.
“My Lord!” The green genie immediately flew towards Leylin.
“How much of our energy reserves are left?”
“Energy currently at 1.9% of maximum. Energy boost has been initiated,” it replied instantly.
“What led to such a huge consumption?”
“Records are in chaos!” the tower genie expressed a rare puzzlement.
“Indeed! What happened a moment ago was real. It wasn’t an illusion!” Leylin drew a deep breath.
He’d always known interplanar research was risky. Still, what he’d experienced just now was possibly his greatest research crisis to date.
‘Fortunately, the three astral laws are unbreakable. Hence, the other creature was unable to pass through and could only create an illusory projection!’
Leylin stroked his chin, pondering about the events that had happened one more time, ‘It was merely an illusory projection and yet it was that menacing. Had I opened an astral gate and allowed the other party to enter, perhaps my entire territory would have been destroyed...’
With such thoughts, he felt his lingering fear wash over him.
“Fortunately, it lacked the power to do anything. The situation was resolved by the countermeasure of the dimension spell formation!”
He exhaled a deep breath and turned his head around.
“Do you know—” A huge decapitated goat head with yellow liquid flowing out of it, appeared behind him.
Two huge lifeless pupils locked onto Leylin’s.
“.......”
In a split second, a layer of black scales surfaced on Leylin’s body and both his eyes turned amber.
“Petrifying Gaze!” Rays of mysterious light hit the opposing wall, and a layer of whitish-gray stone covered it.
The goat head disappeared into thin air.
“This matter is not finished!” Leylin’s face turned gloomy, “A.I. Chip, start scanning!”
[Beep! Mission established! Beginning scan!] It took but a few seconds for it to respond with its findings.
[Remnants of an unknown force field have been detected. Confirmed to be interplanar contamination.]
*Buzz!* He stopped the whole interplanar spell formation with a wave of his hand. And then, with a blast at the center, the astral stone turned into smithereens.
The energy from this astral stone that he’d acquired from Vance of the Rolithe Family had been exhausted completely.
Seeing the course of events, Leylin took a deep breath before stepping up to the middle of the room.
In the library, multiple sprinklers that were fixed to the ceiling and connected to an enormous pool in the center started spraying a fragrant whitish-green liquid.
“Rank 5 purification pool! I hope it’s of help!” Interplanar defense was a compulsory course for anyone performing research in the area. Leylin had gotten Gilbert’s own purification system a while ago and built an enhanced version for himself.
Green liquid dripped from the nozzles, its antiseptic scent strong and sharp. Soon, Leylin was completely drenched.
As the green liquid washed over him, green fur started to appear on the surface of his clothing before being washed off by the same liquid again.
“This is so troublesome!” Leylin assessed his situation and furrowed his brows. He stripped himself naked and jumped into the pool in the center.
*Zi Zi!* An enormous whirlpool formed of pearl-white liquid started bubbling lightly.
Traces of black liquid oozed out of Leylin’s pores, visible to the naked eye.
After several rinses, Leylin stepped into another purification room. Inside, many human-sized flowers and plants were blooming. They opened up their petals and revealed their scarlet red tongues with suction pads...
After multiple purifications, Leylin wore a brand new loose-fitting robe and relaxed on a recliner.
‘I’ve sent many seeds into the astral plane in the past three months, but unfortunately I didn’t have help from the Coin of Destiny. There’s no way to find the Blackrain World again. Not only did I suffer an irrecoverable loss, I have even provoked such a heinous creature...’ Leylin weighed his gains and losses.
He had run many experiments on the astral plane, and had gotten some substantial gains. Yet, compared to his engagement with the Multi-Armed Race, it was all worth nothing.
With the A.I. Chip’s help, he had figured out the secret spell, and named it Multilimb Strength.
The A.I. Chip’s simulations had proven that such a secret spell had the ability to break apart one’s genetic limitations. So much so, that it could enhance Leylin’s current vitality by five to ten points.
To Leylin, such temptations were irresistible.
The more powerful one’s vitality, the harder it was to advance further. When his vitality was at ten to twenty points, he hadn’t bothered much about raising it. But now, to advance further from his base was an uphill task.
If word leaked of his Multilimb Strength, it would drive body-refining Magi crazy and cause them to act.
Even this one gain was enough to offset all his losses in the past three months!
This was the main attraction of the astral plane. There were both sides to a coin, no profit without loss. After becoming unable to use the Coin of Destiny, Leylin’s experiments had been at a bottleneck, with multiple attempts to proceed resulting in failure.
Especially today. He’d unexpectedly drawn towards himself a completely unknown living creature. It was, in fact, not an organism. Just a formless being with consciousness.
When it flared up, it was potentially more horrifying than an ancient curse.
“My luck had been average, I think it’s time to stop!” Leylin had a bad premonition about the dangers he had been facing.
“.......”
He shut his eyes lightly, and when he opened them, the same decapitated goat head appeared in front of him again. Its eyes were filled with death and traces of ridicule.
Leylin sighed. Facing the goat head eye to eye, his face was expressionless.
Ten seconds later, the goat head once again disappeared without a trace, as if what had just happened was another illusion.
“So troublesome!” Leylin was evidently annoyed, ”How dare it!”
He got up in a flash, grabbed his clothes, and went to the center of a restricted room.
Grasping the knob of the door, another illusion appeared as the yellowish-bronze knob morphed into a familiar goat head, glaring at Leylin, and giving him a sinister smile.
Such circumstances would drive any Magus crazy, and cause many other repercussions as well.
Upon opening the door, a cold mechanical voice was transmitted, “This is the core room! Only host Leylin Farlier is permitted entry. All trespassers will be executed.” Soon after, horrifying spell energy locked onto Leylin’s body.
Rays of red, green, and blue scanned his body. “Scanning has begun. Authority verified. Alarm lifted.” With the last sound, his body felt a rush of relief.
This was a small core room. There was only an experimental table with a crystal ball, and on top of it were intermittent images of a white bone.
Leylin laid down on the experimental table. Soon, he could hear noises from all around. First were some animalistic growls, and then there were the pitiful cries of someone in the throes of death.
Leylin was unmoved and nonchalantly gave the order, “Begin radiation!”
“Beginning radiation!” A mysterious energy appeared from the Lamia fingerbone, streaking across Leylin’s body. Slowly, the Giant Kemoyin Serpent bloodline in his body was roused to a gentle boil.
Given any other time, he would have enjoyed this process immensely. However, this time he felt different. Streaks of ash-grey fog appeared all over his body, enveloping him like a huge callous. It made him feel like he was struggling on his deathbed.
[Remnants of an unknown force field have been detected in the host. Confirmed to be interplanar contamination.] The A.I. Chip repeated, and then added something else. [It is advised to stop the Lamia radiation.]
“No! Increase the radioactive level. Raise it by 10 times!” an ambitious glare burned in Leylin’s eyes.
The A.I. Chip only had the rights to suggest, not to execute anything. Acting on his will, rays of blue currents radiated from the Lamia bone, causing huge energy undulations. It broke through the grey fog and shone onto his body.
Leylin groaned as he clenched his teeth, both hands holding tightly to the experimental table, using so much strength that he left imprints on it.
Purplish-black patches started to appear on his body, looking similar to sunburns.
[Epidermal cells are now 39.78% damaged! Host is suggested to abort the radiation!] The A.I. Chip sounded once again.
“It seems to be insufficient! Increase intensity, adjust to 50 times!” Leylin locked his jaw tightly and hissed.
*Zi Zi!* The enormous radiation tangled with the ash-grey fog, turning it into a liquid that dripped down.
The noises surrounding Leylin began to intensify in both volume and chaos.
The white goat head once again appeared in front of Leylin. This time, the fur on it started to be shed one by one and the two horns started to shrink back into its skull, resulting in a huge change in its appearance.
After numerous alterations and transformation, the original goat head had morphed into a female human head. Her eyes were all-white, and were streaming blood.