Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2404: Chapter 2405: Mirror Corridor

After a while, they stood outside a corridor filled with water.

This corridor was entirely different from the ones they had passed before; the walls were made of a material resembling mercury, like square mirrors.

On such a mercury-mirrored corridor, a gentle stream of water flowed.

Because of the mirror reflections, standing outside the corridor and looking inside, it seemed to create an infinitely wide shallow pool, but in reality, it was about the same size as the other corridors.

"Are you sure the control node for this level is inside?" Nis asked.

"All sources of magic pattern energy flow point to the depths of this corridor," Angel’s voice resonated through the Mind Ribbon, "If there are no other pathways, the control node is inside."

Nis turned his head to look at Reynaud: "Have you been here before?"

Reynaud shook his head blankly: "I had no idea the third floor of the laboratory had such a corridor."

Nis sighed and said grumpily, "You’ve lived here for decades, and yet you didn’t know."

Reynaud felt a bit embarrassed. He had indeed lived here for decades, but that didn’t mean he had been everywhere. Moreover, they had found this place after passing through a high-sequence numbered washroom.

No one expected that there was a hidden passage behind that high-sequence numbered washroom.

It could be said that this area was unknown to most of the laboratory’s personnel, belonging to a hidden section.

Since no help could be expected from Reynaud, Nis turned to the Mind Ribbon and asked, "What do we do next, go inside?"

Angel used the Authority Eye to nod up and down: "There’s not much time left, we must enter immediately to control the information transfer block... Does Wizard Nis have any suggestions?"

Nis awkwardly said, "I just feel something is off about the water in this corridor. How about I have the Bone Knight go in first to try it out?"

Angel: "There are also magic patterns in the water, they can’t be tested recklessly."

Nis: "Then..."

Before Nis could hesitate, Kanter stepped forward gently: "I’ll go with Angel, after all, I know some magic patterns, while Wizard Nis does not."

Nis immediately nodded, he was saying so much just because he didn’t want to go ahead.

Angel himself didn’t plan to have Nis join; they could stay outside.

Kanter: "Shall we go in directly? Or should we observe a bit more?"

Angel: "Wait a moment."

Through the vision of the Authority Eye, Angel carefully explored the corridor ahead. Although he wasn’t present in his true body and didn’t feel any danger, the evasive look from Nis and the gradually solemn expression from Kanter suggested that this corridor was giving them considerable pressure, which was a wizard’s warning of danger.

Because of this, Angel put away his dismissiveness and began to observe meticulously.

A minute, two minutes... Soon, ten minutes had passed.

Kanter’s expression became increasingly severe because he had set up the magic pattern that delayed information transfer at the medical center, and he could feel its delay effect beginning to fail. In no more than five minutes, the magic pattern would fail, and the information from Number 23 would instantly reach all floors, putting them at a considerable disadvantage if the Magical Energy Array fully activated against them.

Though anxious, Kanter didn’t dare to urge, for Angel was the expert in magic patterns.

Another minute passed, and Angel’s voice finally sounded in the Mind Ribbon: "Refraction, reflection, diffraction, scattering, and the use of light and mirrors to create illusions of truth and falsehood, the one who set up this corridor was indeed cautious."

Nis looked bewildered: "What are you talking about?"

Angel: "Nothing, Lord Kanter, you can proceed. Just follow my guidance and do not make judgments based on subjective consciousness."

Kanter initially didn’t understand Angel’s meaning, but as he stepped into the corridor and walked a few steps guided by Angel, he gradually understood what Angel meant.

For instance, there was a landing point where magic patterns converged. Through past experience, Kanter himself could determine the corresponding position. However, Angel pointed to a very "wrong" spot, seemingly not at the magic pattern convergence point at all.

Kanter hesitated several times but ultimately trusted Angel’s advice.

Everything was calm, indicating they had taken the right path.

This left Kanter puzzled as to why his judgment had failed. Upon inquiry, Angel didn’t explain directly but gestured for Kanter to look at the wall.

The mercury walls were all mirrors, with the true magic pattern convergence point projected onto the walls through mirrors.

Kanter appeared to stand in a "wrong" position, but his projection on the wall stood at the correct magic pattern convergence point.

In short, the magic patterns here were applications of mirrors and light.

If unfamiliar with this, one could easily walk according to logic, ignoring the external factors of mirrors and light, leading to one wrong step after another.

Recently, Angel had been studying mirrored spaces, giving him relative knowledge of light and mirrors. Furthermore, the physics common sense taught by Jon had not been forgotten. Even if some physical constants in this world differ from those on Earth, the properties of light are mainly the same.

With such a foundation, Angel could quickly see through the corridor’s subtleties and swiftly solve its mechanisms.

With Angel’s explanation, Kanter finally understood, and from then on, he no longer relied on his experience to judge routes, following Angel’s instructions to proceed deeper step by step...

While Angel and Kanter approached the control node, elsewhere, Nis pondered over the conversation with Number 23 earlier.

Even though Number 23 eventually committed suicide, it didn’t mean they obtained no intelligence.

From the acquired information, what concerned Nis most was a sentence spoken by Number 23— "That noble, great, and invincible existence is still asleep, but once your threat is confirmed, he will awaken and use divine power to bring you to justice!"

Judging from Number 23’s state and emotions at the time, this sentence wasn’t something concocted on the spur of the moment.

This meant what he said might very well be true.

Once his information was transmitted, it might indeed awaken a dormant powerful being.

Who was this hidden ’mighty one’ 23 referred to with prefixes like "noble, great, invincible"?

Nis looked up at Reynaud floating in mid-air and questioned him.

Reynaud appeared puzzled: "I don’t know who Number 23 was talking about; does such a being really exist in the laboratory?"

Nis: "Why do I feel you’re completely clueless? I’m very doubtful. Given your understanding of the laboratory, how did you manage to break in with Nausicaa and then escape successfully?"

Reynaud scratched his head, not sure how to answer; he was very familiar with the personnel shift arrangements of the laboratory, which allowed for easy entry. However, this didn’t mean he was privy to all of the laboratory’s secrets.

Reynaud hesitated for a moment: "Besides hidden areas, there are certain restricted zones, and I am relatively familiar with the first four floors, but I’ve never heard of any hidden powerful existence. I think the existence Number 23 spoke of might be hidden on the fifth floor?"

The fifth layer, Reynaud has only been there once, it’s the reserve area of the top three sequences. Because he went there so little, Reynaud has quite a few fantasies about it.

Reynaud: "Oh, by the way. No. 23 has an assistant, sequence number is No. 91, I heard she is his wife, but I don’t know if it’s true or not. What I can confirm is that usually they are often together, maybe she knows something."

Nis with a blank expression: "Then where do you think this No. 91 is?"

Reynaud: "I... don’t know."

Nis: "Then how is what you said any different from nonsense."

Nis rolled his eyes at Reynaud and no longer paid attention to him, instead continuing his contemplation.

As for that hidden entity, Nis actually had a guess in mind: could No. 23 be referring to No. 00?

Earlier outside when speaking with No. 03, No. 03 never denied the existence of No. 00.

However, due to Reynaud’s influence, they preconceived that even if No. 00 existed, it wasn’t within the laboratory... After all, over the decades, situations had occurred inside the lab, and the ones who stepped in to solve problems were always the top three sequences, No. 00 never appeared, always remaining a ’legend’, never revealed.

Now thinking about it, No. 03 didn’t say No. 00 had left either, she just kept silent, unwilling to talk more.

Perhaps No. 00 is actually inside the lab?

After all, No. 03, upon knowing they wanted to go inside the lab, clearly showed a somewhat encouraging attitude. Perhaps she thought their entry would trigger No. 00?

If No. 00 were truly asleep somewhere in the lab, then their actions must be quicker, and also much more cautious and secretive.

Quickly find the data and leave the lab, to avoid being trapped inside like a turtle in a pot.

...

Three minutes after Kanter entered the mirror corridor, Nis received a communication from Kanter via the Mind Ribbon: "The block for message transmission has been controlled. The message sent by No. 23 has been processed."

About ten minutes later, Kanter emerged from the mirror corridor with the Authority Eye.

Nis quickly approached to inquire: "What’s the situation inside?"

Kanter: "There’s nothing particularly different, just pure Magic Pattern similar to the previous sub-control nodes."

Nis: "Has Angel discovered anything?"

Nis inquired about Angel’s status because the eyes of the Authority Eye were closed at the moment, and Angel remained silent in the Mind Ribbon, apparently blocking external information again.

Kanter: "I didn’t ask specifically, but Angel said he could attempt to decipher the location of the master control node. He is probably working on the deciphering now."

"Let’s go, we should first check this floor’s Exhibition Room, according to Angel, we can take two items from this room, exceeding that will trigger a warning."

Nis naturally nodded, simultaneously searching for data and collecting some exhibits would also be beneficial for him. Even if they don’t find the data, he can still research Soul Arms through these exhibits.

On the way back, Nis asked: "In the sub-control node, besides Magic Pattern, is there anything else? Are there Hunter Sequences?"

Kanter nodded: "Yes, there is the Hunter Sequence with code number 3, resting inside."

Nis: "This means every layer’s sub-control node has a high-sequence Mechanical Puppet."

Kanter: "That’s correct."

The first layer houses the Hunter Sequence with code number 5, the second layer has code number 4, the third layer has code number 3. Following this pattern, it’s not hard to deduce that the fourth layer might be code number 2, the fifth layer code number 1.

But if this pattern really continues, a question arises.

"Each layer’s sub-control node has a Hunter Sequence, with the sequence number increasing as layers progress, strength also increases... Following this logic, what about the master control node?"

The fifth layer has five sub-control nodes, guarded separately by the top five Hunter Sequences.

It is evident the master control node is more important than the sub-control nodes, might there also exist a ’Guardian’ inside the master control node? Could it be the legendary No. 00?

Nis felt faintly uneasy.

But Kanter advised Nis not to dwell on it, even if No. 00 existed, its strength likely wouldn’t surpass other sequences by much, at most reaching Second Level True Knowledge Wizard level, which Kanter deemed he could handle. Even if it attained Third Level True Knowledge, Kanter believed he had means to... escape.

Rather than worrying about No.00, Kanter was more concerned about the entity Ferro encountered capable of blurring his memory.

That entity might truly be the hidden bigwig.

...

Minutes later, they returned to the medical center.

Eager to find the sub-control node earlier, they didn’t stay long in the medical center. Now with time, they naturally couldn’t simply skip over it.

Such a medical center surely contains some experiment records.

Locating the experiment records might significantly aid Nis in his future research of Soul Arms.

Since Reynaud was ’born’ in the medical center, he was extremely familiar with the place, under his guidance, Nis quickly found a pile of records.

The majority were medical records, with a small portion pertaining to experiment records, all concerning the experiment bodies with X numbers, along with related research on compatibility with Soul Arms.

Although there’s a gap from the envisioned situation, theoretically, these still pertain to Soul Arms scientifically, so overall there’s some gain.

Plus, from the medical records, they gleaned one fact.

No. 23 voluntarily entered cold liquid to recuperate a day ago, before the combat personnel went to The Nest.

The reason for recuperation was that No. 23 was attacked by a Magical Creature, though the specific Magical Creature wasn’t recorded in the medical records.

From the burn injuries of No. 23, Nis guessed that it was likely a Magical Creature adept at using fire.

But when Nis asked Reynaud if there were any similar Magical Creatures in the lab, Reynaud shook his head.

Shaking the head doesn’t mean denial, but not knowing.

What Reynaud knew was, the lab predominantly bred water system Sea Beasts, there were no skilled fire creatures among them. However, because the lab frequently needed Magical Creature organs, occasionally having fire-attribute Magical Creatures in the lab was normal, just they quickly would be dismembered.

Due to uncertainty on specifics, and since the matter wasn’t very crucial, Nis didn’t probe further, tidying up the relevant experiment records, they left the medical center heading towards the Exhibition Room.

Encountering no obstacles on the way, they smoothly arrived at the Exhibition Room.