Chapter 160 - 155: Barrier Isolation Experiment
An assistant dragged the body away, leaving a wet trail on the ground.
Another assistant came with a bucket and mop to clean the filth off the stone slabs.
The smell of rust filled the air.
No one in the large, circular hall dared to make a sound.
The twenty-some remaining bandits watched helplessly, holding their breath, terrified they would be next.
"Continue."
The assistants immediately grabbed a bandit who was closest to the experimental table. The man’s legs went soft, and he was practically dragged over.
"No... don’t... I’ll do anything... I beg you..."
His pleas earned him no pity.
Valerius picked up another crystal beaker. The purple liquid inside was a deeper shade than the last one, its concentration higher.
"Experiment 002. Culture fluid concentration doubled."
An assistant silently recorded the details nearby, the quill pen scratching across a sheet of parchment.
The same procedure, the same brutal force-feeding.
This bandit’s reaction was even more violent than the last one’s.
He let out a beastly roar as his muscles bulged. The veins beneath his skin were as clear as writhing earthworms.
"How do you feel?" Velin asked calmly, stepping a little closer.
The bandit whipped his head around, his bloodshot eyes locking onto Velin. A guttural "Ghhk..." sound came from his throat, as if he wanted to say something but had already lost the ability to form words.
"What are you looking at?" Velin pressed.
"...Tower..."
The bandit forced out a blurred syllable.
Velin called up the system interface, and a stream of data flowed before his eyes.
[Overall Evaluation: Mental Contamination (12%)... Mental Contamination (27%)...]
The contamination level was rising rapidly.
"What tower?"
"...Black... spiral... It’s... watching... us..."
His body arched backward violently, bending at a horrific, unnatural angle. The crisp snap of breaking bones was clearly audible.
Then, he collapsed onto the experimental table like a boneless heap, dark red blood seeping from his seven orifices.
"Record it," Velin said without turning his head.
"Time of death: thirty-four seconds, thirteen seconds faster than Subject 001. Subject experienced visual hallucinations before death and was capable of limited verbal communication."
Valerius looked at the twisted corpse without much discomfort. Plenty of people had "contributed to the cause of alchemy" at his hands.
"Velin... this stuff..." He frowned, struggling to find the right words. "It’s like... it’s consciously eroding the mind of whoever consumes it!"
"No, I believe your judgment is flawed." Velin rejected his theory, his eyes never leaving the master brain tissue soaking in the container.
"What remains in it isn’t ’consciousness,’ but a massive stream of information. Imagine shoving an entire library’s collection of books into a person’s brain in an instant. This would be the result—being blown apart by pure information."
He glanced at the trembling bandits and continued.
"For the next experiment, we will no longer use the culture fluid."
He signaled to an assistant, who brought over a fine, silver knife.
"We will use the master brain tissue directly. Cut a sample weighing zero-point-one grams."
Hearing this, not only the bandits, but even Valerius and several assistants gasped.
The diluted liquid was already so lethal; the consequences of consuming the substance itself were unimaginable.
The third "volunteer" was dragged forward.
He was completely scared out of his wits, having lost control of his bowels and bladder. A foul stench emanated from him.
Velin used a pair of tweezers to pick up a tiny, almost invisible fleck of purple. With an assistant’s help, he placed it in the man’s mouth.
This time, there was no struggle, no roar.
The bandit’s body just trembled slightly, then went still.
His eyes were wide open, his pupils reflecting the light of the Magic Lamps on the ceiling, but that light soon faded.
"Is he dead?" Barrett asked in a low voice, taking a step forward.
Velin didn’t answer, his eyes fixed on the data on his system panel.
[Mental Contamination: 99%]
The number stopped there, unmoving.
"I feel..."
The bandit on the experimental table suddenly spoke. His voice was soft, laced with an eerie calm.
"...very quiet."
Velin and Barrett exchanged a glance, both seeing the astonishment in the other’s eyes.
"What do you see?" Velin asked.
"An ocean," the bandit said with a smile. "A purple ocean. It’s so warm. I can see... home."
The moment he finished speaking.
THUMP.
A muffled sound.
His head exploded.
Bits of red and white splattered everywhere.
Velin and Valerius, standing closest, were spattered with streaks of blood and brain matter.
The entire hall fell silent once more, save for the sounds of some assistants vomiting and the surviving bandits sobbing.
Barrett waved his hand, and someone immediately came forward to cover the headless corpse with a thick cloth.
"Sir, should we continue?" he asked, personally handing towels to the two of them.
"Continue."
Velin took the towel and calmly wiped the stains from his robe. "But we’ll change the method."
He walked over to a nearby desk and quickly wrote down several nouns.
"Barrett, go to the storage room and bring me these Scrolls. Three of each."
Barrett took the parchment and glanced at it. Written on it were several Magic names he didn’t recognize: [Protection from Evil], [Mind Barrier], [Willful Ward]...
Velin turned to Valerius, who was dabbing his beard with a handkerchief, his expression grave and confused.
"Master, I will need your cooperation for the next experiments."
"What are you planning to do?"
"A barrier isolation experiment," Velin explained. "Since a direct mental assault is unbearable, we’ll add a ’filter’."
The Scrolls were brought over quickly.
The new experiments began.
The bandits were divided into several groups of three.
"Group one, apply the [Protection from Evil] Magic. Use zero-point-one grams of the master brain tissue."
An assistant tore open a Scroll, and a soft, white halo enveloped the bandits on the experimental table.
The fear on the bandits’ faces seemed to lessen slightly.
When the purple flecks were fed to them, they began to scream violently.
"Get out! Get out of my head! Monster!"
"Mo... Mom!"
The halo flickered erratically.
[Mental Contamination: 12%... 25%... 40%...]
The rate of contamination had clearly slowed.
"It’s working!" an assistant shouted excitedly.
But before the words were even out of his mouth, the roars from the table turned to shrill shrieks, and their heads exploded.
"Failure," Velin announced calmly. "[Protection from Evil] can slow the contamination, but not stop it. Record it. Survival time ranged from one minute and twenty seconds to one hundred and twenty-seven seconds."
"Group two. Apply the [Mind Barrier] Magic."
...
"Failure. Next group."
"Failure. Next group."