Endless Debt

Take Mamo and Nesanel for example, once these two face off, even though both are Seekers of Glory, Nesanel can severely damage Mamo in just a few rounds. At the same tier, the gap in the Alchemy Matrix will determine the outcome of the battle.

Blindly throwing in Seekers of Glory will only cause unnecessary casualties, hence the real deciders of the battle’s outcome are often just a few Seekers of Glory.

"According to the Order Bureau’s regulations, only those who have ascended to Seeker of Glory in the past thirty years are included in the battle sequence," Palmer said.

"How many of such Seekers of Glory does the Order Bureau have?" Bologue curiously asked.

"How would I know? The list of the Glory Seeker Level battle sequence is a secret," Palmer added, "But surely my dad, the Deputy Director, is definitely among them."

Palmer walked over to Bologue, suddenly appearing lively, "Compared to that, kid, you’re a Defender now, just one step away from a Seeker of Glory, any thoughts?"

"Not really."

Bologue shook his head, "In my view, it’s just like a work promotion, power is just a tool for work."

"You’re really boring."

Palmer looked disappointed, but then he said, "But that’s good, at least you have no desire for power, which is quite reassuring."

"What is it?"

"Think carefully, Bologue, with your kind of stubbornness, if you were also filled with a desire for power... if you’re lucky, you might be the world’s savior, but if unlucky, you could be a downright villain."

Palmer recalled for a moment and gave an example, "Like becoming a guy like Serey."

"I shouldn’t be as bad as him."

"It’s just an example, just an example."

Palmer said as he walked towards the door, he looked at Bologue, and then at the open space in front of him.

In front of Bologue, a clear dividing line was drawn, within the boundary the building remained intact, outside the boundary the originally vast platform of the real combat room was a mess, countless pits and cracks swept across randomly, as if a military group had just bombarded this place madly.

The real combat room often suffers such attacks, but it usually heals and recovers in a few minutes, yet this time, Bologue has destroyed most of the real combat room into ruins, countless rubble slowly wriggling, seemingly trying to heal, but no matter the effort, the recovery speed is still immensely slow.

It seems as if Bologue’s Ether possesses some kind of toxic property, even the Cultivation Room is absolutely suppressed, unable to resist a bit.

Palmer raised his eyebrows, originally thinking that he, having ascended to Negative Power User, might catch up with Bologue somewhat, but who would think, Bologue so quickly became a Defender, and his Secret Energy intensity is somewhat excessively beyond imagination.

"Are you going to stay here a little longer? Or shall we go together?" Palmer asked.

Bologue twisted his wrist and said, "Let’s go together."

Now the real combat room can no longer meet Bologue’s training requirements, it merely acts like a target, letting Bologue intuitively gauge his destructive power.

"Have you mastered the Extreme Realm now?" Palmer followed beside Bologue, asking quietly.

"Almost, but not very proficient, only able to amplify Ether to the Extreme Realm," Bologue pondered a bit, then said, "I’m trying some new Ethereal Skills."

"Such as?"

"The Ethereal Siphon technique Yas mentioned before."

Bologue further explained, "This Extreme Technique is usually unleashed when Ether is exhausted, turning oneself into a whirlpool, rapidly attracting Ether from the surrounding environment, forcibly refilling the Alchemy Matrix."

"That sounds excessively brutal."

Palmer doubted, converting Ether with the Alchemy Matrix takes time, this is undoubtedly forcefully pouring Ether into the body, much like a bottle with only so big an opening, forcing will only fill the bottle with cracks, even potentially bursting it.

"Yes, according to Yas, Ethereal Siphon can be used only once in a short period, and even if used just once, it will cause some damage to the Alchemy Matrix," Bologue said dispassionately, "But I am an Undead, what’s more, being able to swiftly recover Ether Amount, the cost isn’t considered much."

Seeing Bologue in this state, Palmer didn’t know what to say for a moment, nor how to evaluate.

Looking at Bologue worriedly for a while, Palmer sighed helplessly.

"What’s up?"

"Nothing."

"You’ve been sighing a lot lately, has something happened?"

"Nothing, nothing, it’s just thinking about impending war, it gives people a headache... I haven’t had my wedding yet." Palmer randomly found a reason to evade.

Bologue persisted, "Hold it after the war ends?"

"No, no, haven’t you forgotten those movie scenes? As soon as the characters say similar lines, they end up dead!"

Palmer knew that to make a character’s death more emotional, directors would have them fall with regrets, this kind of design once or twice is fine, but too much of it makes Palmer really dislike it.

"Hmm? So when do you plan to hold the wedding, with Church together?"

"With Church together? That’d actually be fun, having more people makes it lively."

Palmer and Bologue reached a fork in the path, he crossed his arms, imagined for a moment, then seriously said, "How about including you?"

"Huh?"

"I mean the wedding, would you want to join us, but the premise is you best speed up the progress with Aimou, what if you can’t catch up?"

Palmer said with a peculiar laughter, before Bologue could respond, he dashed away in the corridor. Even having become a Negative Power User, Palmer was still that carefree figure.

Bologue stood in place for a while, casting those chaotic thoughts aside.

Bologue is now carrying a significant mission, before all this ends, he doesn’t want to consider anything else... he doesn’t dare to consider.

Thinking of these, Bologue envied Palmer’s carefree mindset, a trait Bologue could never learn in his lifetime.

Leaving the current area, Bologue moved to the Sublimation Furnace Core.

After confirming Mamo wouldn’t die temporarily, Belli and Aimou also returned to the Sublimation Furnace Core, replacing Mamo to lead the upcoming research.

Bologue expertly passed through corridors and areas, pushed open the office door, and Aimou as usual, sat behind the desk piled with research materials, calculating a column of formulas on scrap paper.

Aimou seemed engrossed in research, entirely oblivious to Bologue’s arrival.

"Ahem."

Bologue coughed twice, finally drawing Aimou’s attention.

"Bologue? When did you arrive?" Aimou asked with surprise.

"Just now, it seems like you didn’t notice me," Bologue said as he sat across from Aimou, "As per our agreement, I came."

Aimou took about ten seconds to recall what she had agreed upon with Bologue. Recently, too much was happening, the workload draining her physically and mentally.

"Oh, oh, about the next-generation Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid, right?" Aimou remembered the agreement.

With Bologue’s advancement, the Alchemy Armament and Contract Object that once fought alongside Bologue have either fallen behind his power or were damaged in battle. For instance, the broken Phantom Dagger and the gradually cracking Face of Horror, unable to be deployed to battle.

"Do you have any design ideas?"

Aimou said as she took out a jar of liquid from a cabinet, inside was the Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid, but an unenhanced version, of little use to the current Bologue.

"I do, I hope the new generation of Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid can possess stronger lethality in the microscopic sense," Bologue said.

Aimou probed, "Infinite Sharpness?"

"Right, Infinite Sharpness."

Continually segmenting and sharpening, until it can damage the enemy from the cellular level.

This is the concept of Bologue as a Defender.