"Such strange energy fluctuations, judging by the traces, it seems to have been left recently."
Angel arrived at the anomalous energy point and carefully observed but did not find anything unusual in the Material Realm. However, the energy here was peculiar.
He was certain that this energy was absolutely different from the energy of the Magical Energy Array. The purity of the energy flowing within the Magical Energy Array is quite unparalleled, but the residual energy here was extremely varied and peculiar.
This energy is not only complex but also has a slightly eerie feel to it. Angel had never sensed anything like it before.
However, in the non-main energy, he did find some traces of familiar residual energy.
"Spatial energy." Although it was already very sparse, Angel could determine it was some kind of residual energy from spatial traversal... somewhat like the leftover spatial energy post-transmission.
Could someone have possibly used something akin to a Transmission Spell to reach here?
But the entire first layer has a Magical Energy Array, and without suppressing the array’s spatial sectors, how could one transmit here from outside?
Alternatively, perhaps someone was teleporting within, like from the east side of the first layer to the west side of the first layer. But is such teleportation necessary?
Angel was a bit confused; he shook his head and no longer dwelled on it.
Speculating now may lead nowhere, coupled with the laboratory itself being bizarre, not everything needs thorough investigation. Perhaps it was just someone’s idly made trick.
Passing by the anomalous point with energy residues, Angel continued with his previous work. Through observing the Magic Patterns of the first layer and calculating the guidance of multi-level sub-control nodes, he confirmed the location of the main control.
This method’s efficiency was indeed beyond imagination.
Once he had wandered through most of the region of the first layer, the progress in the search increased rapidly like never before.
After a while, Angel finally stopped in front of a pair of double doors.
This was the Exhibition Room on the first layer.
According to his calculations, all the Magic Patterns pointed here, and the point where energy converged most was inside the Exhibition Room.
If everything was as he calculated, he could find the information on the location of the main control node in the Exhibition Room.
Angel walked to the entrance of the Exhibition Room without Reynaud, it seemed unlikely that he could "use facial recognition" to enter. But he had already roughly understood the Magic Patterns of the entire first layer, most spaces here can be accessed through the suppression and inducement of the Magic Patterns.
This might be a backdoor left by the arranger of the Magical Energy Array... or perhaps it was the arranger’s confidence, believing no one could crack it.
Angel reached out and touched the door, as the Magic Patterns emerged he swiftly modified their path, using a self-consistent energy flow method that didn’t alter the overall layout yet succeeded in suppressing the door’s Magic Patterns temporarily, solving the problem of entering.
Upon entering the Exhibition Room, the Authority Eye of the first layer immediately floated out, starting to flash red light.
This wasn’t a warning targeting Angel, but a reminder to all visitors that today’s lingering time in the first layer’s Exhibition Room had already exceeded the limit.
The reason for exceeding the limit was due to Nis and others lingering here earlier.
Generally speaking, once the time limit is exceeded, the hunt sequence would emerge, but the hunt sequence of the first layer had already turned to ashes, therefore the warning of the Authority Eye had no substantial effect.
However, the prolonged flashing of the Authority Eye might alert other layers, so to prevent any contingency, Angel employed some methods to temporarily weaken the connection between the Authority Eye and the Magical Energy Array.
This weakening wouldn’t last beyond fifteen minutes, meaning Angel can only stay in the Exhibition Room for about fifteen minutes.
Walking among the metal platforms, Angel completely ignored the various organs perched atop the platforms. All his attention was dedicated to searching for clues to the main control node.
With the Magic Patterns of the Exhibition Room now before Angel, he became increasingly confident in his deduction.
He had examined the Exhibition Rooms of the second and third layers through the Authority Eye, the complexity of the Magic Patterns there was significantly lesser than that of the first layer’s Exhibition Room.
The complex Magic Patterns concealed within the walls were even comparable to the Mirror Corridor, though not as perilous as the corridor. Judging by the complexity of these Magic Patterns, the first layer’s Exhibition Room must be hiding some clues.
Several minutes later, Angel stood at a corner of the Exhibition Room, carefully observing a convergence point of the Magic Patterns.
As time ticked away, Angel’s eyes grew increasingly bright.
When the suppression time by the Authority Eye approached its limit, Angel extended a finger and lightly tapped the energy-rich area at the convergence point of the Magic Patterns.
A wave reminiscent of thin smoke flickered through the nearby space.
"Thin smoke" lingered momentarily before dispersing like ripples, leaving a pitch-black hole at its origin.
This hole seemed somewhat unstable, ready to collapse at any moment. Without hesitation, Angel stepped inside.
After stepping in, the hole behind him dispersed like clouds and vanished.
At this moment, Angel stood in a corridor he had never seen before.
Without moving forward, just by sensing the terrifying quantity of Magic Patterns in the corridor, along with the dense energy path in the patterns, he was already certain.
He found the main control node.
However, the final step remained; to reach the main control node, he must traverse this corridor.
Removing the energy perspective, solely from a visual viewpoint, it was a blood-red corridor. Initially, it looked like the blood-fleshed cavity of some beast species. But upon closer inspection, it’s evident the blood hue was merely an energy reflection; the corridor was still constructed from metal, unrelated to blood and flesh.
Though the corridor appeared harmless, considering the Mirror Corridor one would know, even the corridors with sub-control nodes can retaliate if mistakenly stepped; this one being close to the main control node, the retaliating force from an error here might be even more daunting.
For others, this type of corridor might symbolize danger. But to Angel, this was merely a Magic Pattern problem solvable with instantaneous computation power.
The stepping points would continuously change, making pre-calculation impossible, hence Angel did not linger but step directly into the corridor.
Upon entering the corridor, he felt a distinct change.
Because he was levitating.
To be precise, he was suspended upside down; what he previously perceived as "ground" outside the corridor, was now the "ceiling."
On the surface, space had merely inverted, but in reality, it had added several folds to the computation power required to calculate the next stepping point.