Chapter 78: The Magic Laboratory

It was early spring, and the entire Northern March Fortress was still covered in ice and snow, with a biting cold.

At Solon’s new residence, Ace handed him a bulging bag of Gold Thales.

“Sir Ace, you are too kind. We are brothers; there’s no need to be so formal.” Solon’s grin stretched from ear to ear. As he laughed happily, he stuffed the entire bag of Gold Thales into his chest.

“I never realized you were so noble, Solon. I was wrong. I shouldn’t thank you with something as filthy as Gold Thales. Give it back to me.” Ace said with an earnest, sincere expression.

Solon’s face fell and he laughed awkwardly, saying, “Haha, Sir Ace, you are joking. Anything given by Sir Ace is a token of affection, and I will certainly guard it well.”

Ace couldn’t be bothered to argue with him and changed the subject.

“I hear you’ve been promoted to squad leader. Congratulations on your promotion to public office. How about we go for a drink at the tavern?”

“I was just waiting for you to say that, Sir!” Solon said shamelessly.

“It wouldn’t be good for Joanna to be alone at home. Let’s take her with us,” Ace suggested smoothly.

He wanted to observe Joanna up close. Her pure soul was too peculiar. Not only did she possess strong inspiration and immunity to illusion and control spells, but more importantly Ace felt Joanna was unnaturally pure.

“Then I will heed your advice, Sir. I will take Joanna with me.”

The top-floor private room of the Northern March Fortress’s largest restaurant. Opening the window allowed the sunlight to stream in. The environment was quiet and pleasant. Joanna’s crystal-clear eyes looked around curiously.

The two chatted idly for a while. Solon flattered Ace, and Ace responded perfunctorily, using his mental power to carefully perceive Joanna. Joanna felt a little cold. Her small body pressed closer to Solon, finding a comfortable position nestled in his arms.

Ace saw that the observation was not yielding much result, so he stopped. There is plenty of time. I will take it slow.

He had no intention of capturing Joanna for research. Although he was very curious about her pure soul, he had his own bottom line. If he were to indulge every curiosity without restraint, how would he be different from the scum he killed?

As they chatted, Solon brought up the major events that had recently occurred.

“The south has been very restless lately. I hear the Great Hero Arnold led people to eliminate the Demons. Although he killed the projection of the Great Demon, he was also caught in a plot by the dark worshipers. He was assaulted by Abyssal power while destroying the Abyssal Altar and was severely wounded.”

Ace’s interest was piqued. Dark worshipers and Demons—that combination sounded very interesting. In the eyes of ordinary people, it was danger; but in Ace’s eyes, it was opportunity.

The current situation in the city-state was deteriorating: the Merfolk in the south had completed their transformation and could rebel at any moment, and dark worshipers were active in the north, summoning Abyssal Demons.

The situation was gradually becoming chaotic. Ace, as the pioneer of the Wizard’s path and the Torch-Bearer, intended to use the turmoil as his opening—establish a foothold, spread the Grimoire, quietly nurture Wizard power, and bring a new, independent supernatural force onto the stage.”

Solon seeing Ace’s interest, hugged little Joanna in his arms, fed her a bite of roasted pig trotters, and spoke with more vigor: “Sir Ace, you may not know this, but dark worshipers are notorious here in the Northern Marches.”

“They worship the Lord of Darkness, who is actually an Abyssal Archon. These lunatics are rumored to be able to communicate with the Lord of Darkness and hear the whispers of the Demon. The Abyssal tongue carries terrifying corrosive power. If you hear too much of it, even a Hero will go mad.”

“But the Demons do grant them power. Legend has it that 10 years ago, a Monster Hunter angered a Noble. His entire family was killed, and he barely escaped. Do you know what happened next?”

Solon paused dramatically. Joanna, in his arms, also blinked her big eyes, looking at him expectantly.

“What happened next? Did he gain power from the Demon and kill the Noble?” Ace asked, cutting straight to the chase of Solon’s old cliffhanger.

“You are too clever, Sir! He performed a mysterious sacrificial ritual, cruelly murdering dozens of ordinary people, and eventually exchanged for terrifying power from the Demon. He tormented that Noble to death.”

“Blindly driven by hatred, harming innocent people. Truly worthy of a Demon worshiper,” Ace commented.

“If you say that, Sir, are ordinary people, when harmed by Nobles, simply supposed to endure silently and wait for despair?”

Joanna suddenly spoke with intense emotion. She leaped out of Solon’s arms, jumped onto the table, and stared at Ace. Her eyes flickered erratically. In Ace’s perception, her mental power surged instantaneously, then slowly subsided.

In the black-and-white mental perception world, Ace “saw” Joanna’s pure soul suddenly turn blood-red from its crystal-clear color, fluctuating violently, and then slowly returning to a crystal-clear color.

Ace narrowed his eyes. If he couldn’t see her soul, it would be difficult to spot any anomaly in this little girl. She was definitely hiding many strange secrets.

“Joanna, get down quickly.” Solon grabbed Joanna, hugged her tightly, and said, “Joanna is a poor child. I found her at the foot of the Larr Mountains during a major snowstorm a year ago. Besides calling herself Joanna, she lost all her memories. She occasionally acts like this when stimulated.”

Solon gently soothed Joanna. He continued, “The world is not necessarily as wonderful as you see it, Sir. For the people at the bottom, the Nobles are not always protectors. They can also be accomplices or even the murderers themselves.”

The atmosphere was tense. Solon took the agitated Joanna home. Ace watched the pair leave. Invisible runes flickered, forming a Secret Imprint Soul Spell on Solon and Joanna.

This Soul Spell was modified from the Spirit of the Book’s Marking ability. It allowed Ace to perceive the marked target’s location within a range of over 10 kilometers.

Ace’s hospital was now complete. It was located at the westernmost end of the fortress, in what was previously a large abandoned courtyard—the former residence of the general who held the command two generations ago. It had been converted into a hospital: the front section was the public hospital, and the rear was Ace’s residence.

With assistance from the local public office, they successfully hired and trained a sufficient number of physicians and nurses.

Through the Soul Spell Knowledge Infusion, these physicians and nurses smoothly absorbed the knowledge of the New Medicine in just half a month, becoming qualified medical workers.

Ace used the runes he had obtained to create two spells, Stone-to-Mud and Mud-to-Stone, and carved a secret magic laboratory beneath his residence.

The laboratory was located 300 meters deep beneath the hospital. It was equipped with multiple checkpoints and a mechanical magic lift.

The entire laboratory was handcrafted by Ace. Smooth walls and dense rune arrays formed the exterior of the laboratory. The lab was divided into five layers.

Sub-Level 1 is the Grimoire Control Layer. It houses the large glass sphere Ace transformed and brought, rows of Grimoire bookshelves, and magical material shelves covered in dense patterns. In front of the glass sphere is the core Grimoire replica Ace made, with access permissions subordinate to his own Grimoire.

These rows of Grimoires and the core Grimoire serve as the massive Mental Imprint Server, awaiting the connection of contractors.

Through this layer, the mental imprints cultivated by the contractors can be connected, forming a spiritual network with immense computational power.

Giant signal emitters surround the area, extending to the surface and disguised as trees and flowers using the Imperfect Transformation Spell.

Ace had discreetly installed Magic Signal Converters during his months of sketching. He transformed them into various items and deployed over a hundred of them throughout the fortress, ensuring a full signal strength.

He planned to deploy more signal converters in the Monster wilderness later, in preparation for ushering in the era of Wizard Apprentices.

Sub-Level 2 is the Routine Experiment Layer. All materials sacrificed by Wizard Apprentices will be experimented on here. It is divided into the Material Storage Room, Dissection Room, Magic Potion Research Room, Rune Array Research Room, Ritual Research Room, and the Main Laboratory.

Sub-Level 3 is the Supernatural Creature Confinement Layer. Currently, it is mostly empty, with a massive altar in the center, intended for the supernatural creatures sacrificed by the apprentices.

Currently, the lab only confines a few distinct Monsters and several small Demon projections.

Sub-Level 4 is the Magical Plant Garden. Ace used runes—Fire Element, Luminous, and Water Element—to create different types of Rune Arrays, regulating the light, temperature, and humidity of the entire garden to simulate natural environments. Currently, no plants have been planted yet.

Sub-Level 5 is the Mana Production and Storage Room. It houses a large number of Mana medium materials, all manually converted by Ace. The small horns from the Iron Bone Triple Horned Ox were scarce, so Ace used their rune structure to invent the Mana medium creation spell, Create Mana Stone.

As for naturally occurring Mana ores, Ace has yet to discover any.

Ace modified the runes for meditation, creating a giant Rune Array for autonomous Mana absorption. The absorbed Mana is stored in the Mana storage medium, supporting the Mana supply for the entire laboratory.