Angel was not at all unfamiliar with the kind of "honor" he saw before him. In the Source of Flow at the Barbarian Cave, it was not uncommon for Wizards to encounter problems with their research and experiments, leading to huge explosions, and when they appeared, they mostly looked much like the person in front of him.
If this person was indeed Kaier, it seemed their previous speculations were correct; Kaier was indeed conducting experiments. Only now, it seemed his experimental results were concerning.
The filthy-faced person before him looked around with vacant eyes. Finally, he focused on Dox: "Lord Dox, why are you here? Was it you who triggered the space node just now?"
Dox did not answer immediately, instead, he asked with concern, "Kaier, are you alright?"
Kaier shook his head: "I’m fine, just had a minor accident while trying to improve some casting materials. One of the laboratories blew up, but it’s okay, I have over a dozen more labs for backup."
Kaier’s nonchalant attitude, combined with his remarks, led Angel and Dox to a clear conclusion: this person was a research fanatic, the kind who knew the high probability of problems occurring in an experiment yet insisted on continuing. Otherwise, who would have over a dozen laboratories as backups...
Seeing Kaier’s indifferent demeanor, Dox hesitated to speak. He wanted to remind Kaier as a senior, but Kaier had an incredibly strong Mentor, so perhaps everything he did was directed by his Mentor. After a moment’s thought, Dox finally uttered one sentence: "Remember to exercise caution in your experiments. If something were to happen, it wouldn’t be good."
"I will be mindful," Kaier nodded, his tone somewhat sincere.
After a pause, Kaier curiously asked, "Lord Dox, what brings you to me? Did something go wrong with the space node at the bar?"
Dox shook his head, pointing to Angel beside him: "I didn’t come looking for you, the one who did is him, Wizard Lyon."
Wizard Lyon? In fact, Kaier had noticed Angel from the start. There were only three people here, excluding himself, and Angel’s presence was quite notable. But since Angel stood politely and said nothing, Kaier temporarily ignored him. Now, with Dox mentioning a Wizard looking for him, Kaier was a bit suspicious. He had never heard of a Wizard named Lyon.
Kaier was observing Angel secretly, and Angel was doing the same with him. From the moment Kaier appeared, Angel noticed many details, such as his expression, demeanor, and the casual attitude between him and Dox. Angel was sure that Kaier was a Wizard Apprentice of the Academy Faction, obsessed with experiments and confident in his spatial technique, with a close relationship with Dox.
No wonder Dox was willing to lead Angel, clearly because of his close ties with Kaier, obviously worried that Angel might be harmful to Kaier, and his presence at least offered some protection.
"Wizard Lyon, may I ask why you are looking for me?" Kaier asked doubtfully.
Without offering an explanation, Angel directly took out the letter from Esos and handed it to Kaier.
"You’ll know once you read it."
At first, Kaier was somewhat cautious, glancing at Dox out of the corner of his eye. Seeing Dox nod slightly, he took the letter.
When he saw the handwriting and the familiar space emblem on the envelope, Kaier’s eyes immediately lit up.
This is a letter from Mentor Esos!
Once he confirmed it, Kaier looked up, curiosity in his eyes directed at Angel: "This is a letter from my Mentor. How did it end up in Wizard Lyon’s hands?"
Angel massaged his brow: "I just mentioned, you’ll know once you open it. I believe Mr. Esos should have mentioned me in the letter."
Kaier: "Is that so?"
Angel raised an eyebrow, too lazy to reply.
Kaier hesitated with the letter in hand before saying to Angel: "I can’t open the letter for now, but if Wizard Lyon isn’t in a hurry, why not come sit at my place?"
After speaking, Kaier also turned to look at Dox: "Would Lord Dox join us?"
Dox naturally wouldn’t refuse, though he was a bit curious: "Why not open the letter now?"
Kaier sighed, showing the back of the envelope, and injected some slight power of space into it. As the power of space flowed in, the emblem left by Esos began to glow brightly, and simultaneously, a three-dimensional node appeared before them.
Kaier pointed at this three-dimensional node: "This is an unresolved spatial formula problem. Each time my Mentor sends me a letter, he leaves a problem on it, to assess whether I’ve regressed. I have to solve this formula to open the letter."
Angel and Dox both showed understanding looks; no wonder Kaier didn’t open the letter before, there’s quite the story behind it.
Dox: "What happens if you open the letter without solving the formula?"
Kaier: "Nothing will happen. The problem left by my Mentor is just to check my learning status and is not mandatory. I can open the letter without solving it."
Angel: "..."
Angel: "You could actually open the letter first before solving it."
Kaier immediately shook his head vigorously, like a rattle: "No, this is a matter of principle. I have my own set of rules, I must solve the problem to qualify to read my Mentor’s letter."
When Kaier mentioned "qualification," his eyes were particularly bright.
From this, Angel gleaned another piece of information; Kaier seemed to be a Mentor’s devotee, full of admiration for Esos. This admiration even influenced his code of conduct.
Angel sighed; since Kaier had gone this far and they weren’t adversaries, Angel could only compromise. Besides, the three-dimensional space node he saw was intricate but not overwhelmingly difficult, and since Kaier could set up these real and fake space nodes in this vast pit, he should be able to solve it... right?
Seeing no opposition from Angel and Dox, Kaier enthusiastically invited them to his "home."
The "home" was actually just a deeper cavern.
This cavern resembled a narrow alley, not spacious, but occasionally there were doors on either side. As Kaier walked, he introduced: "This is my first laboratory, used for... this is the second laboratory... this is the third laboratory..."
Every door along the alley way led to Kaier’s laboratories, a total of sixteen rooms.
The eighth laboratory had collapsed. From the heat emanating from there, it was likely the laboratory Kaier had previously blown up.
"No need to worry about these blown-up labs, I’ll repair them. In fact, all the labs here have basically exploded before; now they’re all fine," Kaier said, sounding quite proud.
This left Angel and Dox somewhat speechless. To Kaier, it seemed that being able to blow up laboratories showed how diligent and impressive he was...
Kaier did not lead Angel and Dox into the laboratories but instead went to the end of the cavern, where there was a pit.
Without any explanation, Kaier jumped right in.
Angel and Dox exchanged glances and followed suit.
The pit was quite deep, at least twenty meters. When Angel landed and looked up, he realized it led to an even deeper cavern with a relatively large space.
Here, there were very obvious marks of artificial excavation, and overhead were some relatively intact, yet still broken, Magical Energy Arrays.
When Angel had come to the black market before, he had speculated that this might have once been a palace-like ruin.