This soul force didn’t move but gathered at the forehead, like a signal amplifier aiding Reynaud’s sensing.
Under this condition, Reynaud closed his eyes again.
After a long while, Reynaud opened his eyes, "Although still very vague, I felt it. That call is coming from below."
"Still blurry?" Nis asked in confusion, "How is that possible? I directly lent you my soul perception, and it’s still blurry?"
Nis looked puzzled. As a Soul Witch, he was the strongest in soul-body connection perception. Yet even with his perception, Reynaud’s senses were still blurry? This was a bit unbelievable.
Angel: "Maybe it’s encased in some kind of perception-blocking device."
Kanter also said, "Anyway, we’ve got a general idea of the location, and we’ll know once we go down and take a look."
Although Nis was still puzzled, Reynaud’s matter was a minor issue, and thinking about it again, the laboratory’s interior was extremely complex, filled with magic pattern partitions, so perception suppression was quite normal. At least now it’s confirmed that Reynaud’s body is within the laboratory, so with careful searching, it should be found.
...
"Reynaud is quite familiar with the interior of the laboratory, so he’ll lead the way when the time comes. We will first take a broad look at the laboratory’s situation." Nis didn’t know where the research data was located, so the best way was to let someone familiar lead the way.
Reynaud naturally wouldn’t refuse; he had his own pursuit under the goal of finding his body.
He wanted to remove the soul mark on his face.
The method to remove the soul mark was also in the internal database of the laboratory. So, part of his goals overlapped with Nis’s.
Kanter didn’t offer any opinion; he was just there to protect Nis. How to specifically explore the lab was up to Nis.
After roughly organizing the itinerary, Nis turned to Angel: "Angel, are you going with us?"
Angel had no curiosity about the laboratory research. He came here mainly for Nausicaa, and now that Nausicaa had left, his curiosity was even weaker.
However, although he didn’t have much curiosity about the lab’s research, he was quite interested in the laboratory itself.
The entire laboratory was actually a gigantic alchemy work.
Especially after Angel entered the interior, he saw magical energy arrays everywhere, along with mechanical pipes, and felt the strong alchemical atmosphere, confirming that this was a rather complex alchemy work.
It was composed of mechanical alchemy and enchantment alchemy, creating a unified and non-conflicting structure.
In the Southern Domain, it’s rare to encounter such a special alchemy work.
Rather than exploring the laboratory’s soul arms research, Angel was more inclined to study the laboratory itself.
"I won’t go. I’m quite interested in these magical energy arrays here; the style is somewhat different from the Southern Domain." Angel said.
Nis: "You plan to study the magical energy arrays?"
Angel nodded: "Sort of. The magic patterns inside the laboratory are more complex than those outside; maybe I can find out why 03 was urging us to enter the laboratory through these magic patterns."
Angel planned to stay near the entrance and start his research on the magical energy arrays.
Kanter and Nis had no objections, and they also thought Angel’s idea was good. 03 didn’t know they had a master of enchantment among them, so since she didn’t want to reveal the laboratory’s internal secrets, perhaps Angel could deduce something from the magical energy arrays.
As for safety concerns, there’s no need to worry. Angel wasn’t going into the laboratory’s interior too deeply, and there wouldn’t be too many traps in the vicinity. As an Alchemist, Angel’s ability to dismantle traps was certainly above theirs. Most importantly, Angel himself wasn’t weak, and he also had Earl Mi with him.
Finally, they divided into two groups: Reynaud, Nis, and Kanter went to explore the lab, while Angel stayed in place to study the magical energy arrays.
Although their actions were separate, their mind ribbons remained intact.
Like now, even though Angel didn’t go to the end of the passageway, he could hear Nis’s voice coming through the mind ribbon: "At the end of the passage is a three-way junction; both the left and right paths seem passable. The left passage leads straight through, and on the right passage, I think I saw something glowing..."
Reynaud: "Both the left and right can lead to the experimental center of this level."
"Then why have two pathways?"
Reynaud: "The left path is for the researchers because the corridor has their sequential dormitories, as well as some material storage and reserve rooms. The right is for combat personnel, like us experimental subjects; aside from living and dining rooms, there are no other rooms."
Nis: "So specifically divided? Which way should we go, left or right?"
Reynaud: "It seems the combat personnel have mostly left now, so the right side should be safer..."
Before Reynaud could finish, Nis said, "Then we’ll go left."
Nis was the leader, so Reynaud couldn’t say much and continued to explain, "The glowing thing mentioned by you earlier is the energy conduit, which contains the energy source that maintains most of the laboratory’s mechanical operations."
"What happens if we destroy it?"
"Destroying it means we can’t access the lower levels."
The conversation between Nis and Reynaud came continuously through the mind ribbon. Initially, Angel found it quite interesting, but as he began to enter his research state, these voices turned into incessant noise.
Angel thought for a moment and directly blocked the mind ribbon.
Regarding the concern of missing important information, it was unnecessary... even if he blocked the mind ribbon, Toby and Dangross didn’t.
The two of them were also recipients of the mind ribbon but remained silent because one was shy and the other couldn’t speak human language.
If there was anything important or if Nis needed to contact Angel, they could convey the message for him.
After making all preparations, Angel’s gaze turned to the smooth metallic surface. The external magic patterns were ultimately just a small part, while more were inside.
In his vision, it was no longer a simple passageway but a world filled with magical patterns and countless energy streams.
After roughly investigating the surroundings for danger, Angel immersed himself in the world of magic patterns.
About five minutes later, Angel suddenly snapped back.
It wasn’t that he’d researched something, but a familiar sensation came over him.
A ripple of the Law, or rather, a surge of the Law.
Even though the magical energy array was packed with "partitions," it didn’t completely block the flow of the Law; Angel could clearly feel it surging.
However, Toby always kept the Gravity Meridian covering Angel, so the surge didn’t have much effect.
Even the mind ribbon wasn’t affected. Presumably, Kanter also protected himself with a Meridian force, preventing the mind ribbon from bursting.
"The rumble was isolated, but unexpectedly, this surge managed to get through."
As soon as Angel reactivated the mind ribbon, he could hear Nis’s voice coming through.