Nicholas slowly opened his eyes from his chair.

In his calm, water-like green pupils, there was neither malice nor kindness, as tenderness and compassion as a god.

He moved his head from side to side, slightly soothing his cervical spine, which had been a little stiff from sitting still for a long time.

Nicholas exhaled softly, reached back and ran his long white hair back, tied it into a ponytail, and took a piece of rope from the table to tie it up. He reached out and pushed aside the instrument on the table, picked up a bottle of sky blue potion the size of a little thumb from the reagent rack, and drank it down.

At this moment, a calm and bitter middle-aged man's voice came from behind Nicholas:

"Where did you just go?"

"A little bit out."

Nicholas reached out and wiped the corners of his mouth, then turned back and replied softly.

And behind him, there was no living person.

Only a human-height plaster statue sits on the ground. The gloomy expression on its face was reminiscent of that of a philosopher, and its eyes were slightly closed in thought.

But the statue looked up and glanced at Nicholas.

The dull middle-aged man's voice poured out of its mouth: "You drank the 'soul healing elixir'. Is your soul hurt? ”

"Well, I was hurt by the 'red' and 'yellow' of the paper hime, so it's not a big problem. He also brought out the 'blue' pen, but he didn't use it against me. ”

Nicholas replied calmly, "My soul is orange, and eating a 'red' attack is not a big problem. ”

"Why did you mess with Paper Hime?"

The stone statue made a dull voice: "She's still in a good temper." ”

"I saw Annan."

Nicholas smiled slightly, took out another tube of pale yellow oily reagent, and drank it before whispering, "Go and say hello to him." ”

“…… Annan Rindong? ”

The stone statue paused slightly before continuing: "Has he come to Noah?" ”

"Well, just came. But unlike what you told me before, Lord Shifu, his soul is not snow-colored...... It's rainbow. ”

"That means his ritual was a success."

Father Shi said calmly: "But this has nothing to do with your work.

"Work in peace and don't touch Annan."

"But my job is to make poisonous dust, and Annan is the most well-known otherworldly species, right? I'll need some of his blood and soul fragments to be sure that Poison Dust is also effective against the Otherworldly species. ”

"Don't think about it, your job is just to make poison dust, that's all. Regardless of whether Annan is special, even if the poisonous dust is effective against the otherworldly species, it is not an excuse for you to attack other otherworldly species. Nor can a knife maker test a man...... You're close to taboo. ”

Father Shi said flatly: "Moreover, when you get his blood and soul, will it really only be used for experiments?" Do not forget how your creator died. Don't forget how the heritage of Hermes was severed. Don't underestimate the memory of the gods.

"—don't try to touch the taboo."

"Okay, I got it...... I wouldn't make the same mistakes my father did. ”

Nicholas sighed helplessly: "So let's have a showdown, Lord Stone." So what are you going to use the poison dust for? You asked me to make this thing, changing the recipe and never telling me what you were for...... This is gratuitously increasing my workload.

"I need to know what it's used for and what it is for. This is a very reasonable need...... You don't know much about the alchemy of the Hermetic school, but I do. ”

Hearing this, the stone statue behind him was silent for a long time.

Then the humanoid figure stood up and walked behind Nicholas.

“…… Speaking of which, it's time too. ”

Father Shi said in a deep voice, "Do you know how the elves perished? ”

"It's because of the spell, right?"

Nicholas replied fluently, "Use the curse as a transmission medium to extract the power of the world itself as an energy source. is the power of incomplete creation...... A limited degree of 'the ability to do what you want'.

"What the spell can draw is the blood of the world. Originally, the spell energy could be restored naturally, but as the elven race expanded and the scale of the use of the spell energy gradually expanded, it gradually weakened the barriers of the world, making the world overlap with other worlds...... Hence cursed by the world. ”

"Is that part of what you know?"

Father Shi nodded and said gently, "It's generally good." There is only one thing that needs to be corrected.

"This world is already colliding and overlapping with other worlds. Nightmares are not something that only exists in these ages, and our world has many books of truth as the spine of the world, and the flint father has given us the power of the elements as the recipient...... The rest of the world is even more difficult to stand up to us.

"And it's the same whether it's the imaginary realm, the dream realm, or the other worlds at the end of the dream realm...... It is only after the spell has weakened the barriers of our world that there is an occasional 'world collapse' accident, which permanently exiles a creature from our world to another world. That is to say—"

“…… That is, without using spells, there will be creatures from other worlds exiled to us? ”

Nicholas quickly understood what Father Stone meant.

It's like a collision of two ships.

If it inevitably leads to damage to one party...... Then, after completely stopping the spell energy, the misty world will gradually recover. Creatures in the Void or Dream Realm can then be exiled to this side by the shattered world—just as creatures from this side are exiled to other worlds.

This is undoubtedly a victory for the world.

But for the insignificant creatures living in the world, the "terrifying creatures that came from the other world" are more related to their vital interests than "losing a few strangers forever".

"It's good that you understand."

Father Shi glanced at Nicholas, stretched out his stone-textured hand and patted him on the shoulder: "The dream realm is relatively stable...... But the Void has gradually begun to shatter in recent years. The scale of the invasion is still relatively small, so the Red Knight and the Silent Lady can still stop it, but as the Void shatters, more and more Void creatures will fall into the Dream Realm and the Present Realm.

"But it may also be an opportunity for us...... You must know that the 'true Philosopher's Stone' is the blood of the Void. ”

“…… That's why you're waking me up? ”

Nicholas whispered with a complicated face, "Because I inherited my father's memories and abilities?" ”

"Because he is the 'second Hermes' and you are the 'second Nicholas.'"

The Stone Father replied flatly, and his tone did not change in the slightest, like a real stone statue: "Hermes was able to gather the power of the elements and artificially create the Philosopher's Stone...... You may also be able to turn an invader from the Void into a new Philosopher's Stone. What we need is not Hermes Poison Dust, which can effectively kill all otherworldly creatures, but a portable consumable that can 'extract and refine the power of the corpses of Void creatures'.

"Since the creatures of the Void will inevitably fall into us, what we need to do is not to think about how to minimize the impact and mitigate the disaster...... It's about whether it can be turned into a beneficial effect. Ultimately, the answer is yes.

"If the remains of the creatures of the Void can be made into something similar to the Philosopher's Stone and fed back to the world through the elven spell cellar, the power of the flowing elements in the world can be further enhanced...... In the future, it may not only be the gold level, but only silver can ignite the fire of the elements.

"Even, perhaps...... Someday, we'll be able to dispel this damn fog once and for all. Let the earth be bathed in sunlight again. ”