Kraus spoke.
“The Grey Covenant had an underground hideout where wooden men were performing a ritual around a seed. We confiscated everything after the battle. The wooden men and the seed are currently at the branch.”
The report was extremely brief, omitting the details of the sequence of events.
The Guardian did not press for more. The old man sat hunched on the stone bench, his entire body wrapped in pitch-black aura, his cloudy gaze fixed steadily on the wooden construct in its kneeling posture on the floor.
Within the aura, several black eyeballs turned toward the wooden man, staring at it for a while as they rotated slowly.
His right fingers, resting on the edge of the stone bench, twitched slightly.
The ground floor of the clock tower remained silent for a long time. A black eyeball would occasionally surface within the pitch-black aura before sinking back in. The wind poured in through the half-open door, carrying the scent of earth and the smell of copper rust from the stone walls.
The Guardian finally spoke.
“How many?”
Kraus answered.
“Five. We brought them all back.”
The Guardian did not speak immediately. The pitch-black aura surged slowly around him. His extended fingers retracted, resting once more on the edge of the stone bench. Lu Yuan could barely see the change, but the extremely subtle tension in the old man’s body indeed receded.
The Guardian kept his head lowered, shifting his cloudy gaze from the wooden man to the night outside the door.
His raspy voice sounded again.
“This thing is dangerous. It contains a power that even I am wary of.”
He paused for a few seconds.
“And it seems to be connected to another place.”
Kraus’s brow furrowed.
“Then how should we handle it?”
The Guardian fell silent for a moment. All the black eyeballs within the pitch-black aura looked down and sank into the depths of the shadows. The old man had finished confirming what he needed to confirm.
“Leave them here with me.”
His voice sounded a bit more tired than usual.
“While these things are dangerous, their current quantity falls far short of being a major threat. The power within the wooden men is eerie, but the amount is too small after all. They are still a long way from being able to summon or attract the attention of certain entities.”
Lu Yuan stood to the side, listening. He had never heard the Guardian say so much in one breath during his few interactions with him.
The last time, at the top of the clock tower, the Guardian had only said “Good” and “Live well,” totaling fewer than ten words.
The Guardian’s voice dropped another half-step in volume.
“But remember. You must find out how these wooden men are produced. And what the success rate is.”
He paused.
“This is very important.”
Kraus’s shoulders relaxed slightly, and Lu Yuan let out half a sigh of relief. Leaving this wooden man here meant they only needed to bring the remaining ones over later.
As they spoke, the Guardian’s pitch-black aura had already completely enveloped the wooden man.
As for anything else, that would be a matter for later.
Since the matter of the wooden men was temporarily settled, Kraus straightened up and glanced at Lu Yuan.
“Wait for me outside.”
Lu Yuan nodded and didn't ask questions. He knew that what Kraus needed to discuss privately with the Guardian had nothing to do with him—at least for now.
He turned and walked out the door at the base of the clock tower.
The door closed behind him.
Only Kraus and the Guardian remained on the ground floor.
The pitch-black aura puffed out intermittently around the old man, becoming a bit denser than before. A few of the black eyeballs floated into the air, their gaze drifting aimlessly.
Kraus looked at the Guardian before him.
The light from the march lamp fell on the old man’s hunched frame. His grey-white hair hung over his shoulders, and the bones beneath his skin were more prominent than they had been during the last visit.
His right hand rested on the edge of the stone bench, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.
Kraus lowered his tone slightly.
“Sir. Is the power within you... losing control again?”
He paused for a moment.
“How much longer can you hold on?”
The Guardian did not answer immediately.
The old man looked up, his cloudy gaze landing on Kraus’s face.
The pitch-black aura flowed slowly between the two. The inscriptions embedded in the stone walls of the clock tower’s ground floor shimmered with a dark gold light, pressing inward in circles, forcibly restricting the overflowing black aura within the walls.
The Guardian let out a sigh.
The raspy sigh was very soft, echoing briefly against the stone walls before dissipating.
“Do not worry. I can still suppress it for now.”
His voice was even lower than before.
“It is enough to last until after the dive. I can even hold on if the ghouls appear again.”
Kraus’s fingers clenched slightly at his side before relaxing. He had heard the words “for now.”
Silence lasted for a few seconds.
“New potions are already on the way,” Kraus said steadily. “The branch paid a high price for them this time. The effects seem to be quite good.”
The Guardian did not move. The pitch-black aura surged around him, and several black eyeballs sank into deeper shadows.
The old man was silent for a long time.
The wind from the ground floor seeped in through the cracks in the door, stirring his white hair. The dark gold luster of the inscriptions on the stone walls pulsed rhythmically.
Finally, the Guardian spoke.
“You are thoughtful.”
Three words. There was no inflection in his raspy voice.
Kraus looked at the old man. There was no expression on that face filled with deep wrinkles under the lamplight. The pitch-black aura continued to leak out, rising in wisps from the gaps between his shoulders and arms.
The Guardian had been in the Bronze City longer than he had. When Kraus first came to the branch, the old man was already here.
Kraus withdrew his gaze and said no more.
He bowed slightly and then turned toward the door. As he pulled it open, a very faint cough came from behind him, muffled by the sound of the surging black aura, almost inaudible.
Kraus’s footsteps faltered for an instant.
Without looking back, he pushed the door open and walked out.
The night wind outside the clock tower was colder than inside.
Lu Yuan leaned against the stone wall at the base of the clock tower, hands tucked into his coat pockets. His breath condensed into a small cloud of white mist in the pre-dawn air.
His expression was not good.
While inside the clock tower just now, he had deliberately stared at the Guardian for a while. The old man sat hunched on the stone bench, his body wrapped in pitch-black aura that was denser than during his last visit, and the way it leaked out had changed.
Last time, that aura had been steady and heavy, pressing around the clock tower without moving. This time, it puffed out intermittently, leaking through the gaps in his body in wisps.
Grey-white text jumped out at the edge of his vision.
【Detection Target: Guardian (Eerie Transcendent) (Slight loss of control)】
【A human who has reached the end of his pathway; perhaps he can linger for a while longer.】
Lu Yuan’s gaze lingered on that line of text for a few seconds.
The last time he came to the clock tower, the grey-white text had given him “Beyond Cognition” and “Being consumed bit by bit by his chosen path.” Now it had changed to “Slight loss of control” and “Perhaps he can linger for a while longer.”
Only a few days had passed between the two visits. During that time, the Guardian had only intervened once, and it hadn't even been a high-intensity action.
It seemed the Guardian’s body had reached its limit...
He leaned against the stone wall and looked up at the top of the clock tower. The pitch-black aura seeped out from the cracks in the stone, only to be pressed back slightly by the dark gold luster of the inscriptions before seeping out again.
Lu Yuan closed his eyes, his thoughts sinking into the depths of his mind. In fact, after seeing the prompt about the Guardian, Lu Yuan had already activated Specialized Research.
Lu Yuan wanted to see if he could give the Guardian some help or appropriately delay the inevitable.
But the schemes provided by Specialized Research told Lu Yuan he was overthinking things. As a rank 2 transcendent with shallow experience, he simply did not possess the means to overturn the fate of a fifth-rank.
Nevertheless, Specialized Research still provided two seemingly feasible schemes.
【Forbidden Lore: Specialized Research activated】
【Analyzing target state: Guardian (Eerie Transcendent)】
【State Analysis: Potential exhausted, anchored as a human, eerie pathway on the brink of losing control.】
【Deducing schemes...】
The grey-white text flickered for a few seconds.
【Scheme Generated: Devouring Hope (Optimal Version)】
【Principle: Hope contains the power of Wish. By using a pathway to devour it, one might be able to take another step forward.】
【Estimated Success Rate: 3%】
【Note: But no one has ever tried it...】
【Scheme Generated: The Man on the Wall (Stable Version)】
【Principle: Although the defeated is weak, they still possess some residual strength. If you pay the corresponding price, you might catch a glimpse of a more distant path.】
【Estimated Success Rate: 1%-5%】
【Note: Walking with the abyss may lead to eternal damnation.】
Lu Yuan opened his eyes.
Two schemes, both with success rates below 5%. The Optimal Version required using the seed, “Hope.” That thing was kept in Room 7 of C-District. Even if he could take it out, a 3% success rate meant the Guardian would most likely endure an impact for nothing, and both the person and the seed might be destroyed simultaneously.
The Stable Version was even less of an option. The Man on the Wall, that sealed existence behind the copper wall... no one knew the price of making a deal with it. The fluctuation between 1% and 5% meant that even Specialized Research couldn't calculate it accurately; there were too many variables.
Lu Yuan withdrew his thoughts.
He leaned against the stone wall without moving. The wind blew from the direction of the outer city, and the light from the gas lamps formed a string of warm yellow in the distance.
There was nothing he could do. As a rank 2 Knowledge transcendent, he couldn't even provide a decent scheme when facing the end of a fifth-rank eerie transcendent’s pathway.
Another line of grey-white text jumped out at the edge of his vision.
【Bronze City Status: +1... 33.2/50】
The door to the clock tower creaked.
Kraus walked out. On the surface, nothing seemed different from before he went in, but his pace was a bit slower than usual.
The two looked at each other and said nothing.
They walked back along the path they had come. There were no pedestrians in the alleys. In the pre-dawn hours, the outer city was silent except for the sound of their footsteps and the occasional sound of the wind in the distance. Gas lamps were placed every few steps, their warm yellow glow falling on the grey stone walls.
After walking for a while, Kraus spoke.
“Go back and rest for a few hours. There will be an interrogation at noon, and we need to prepare for the dive in the afternoon.”
He paused and added another sentence.
“Remember to come to the interrogation at noon. Also, try to make as many of those things you made with eerie inscriptions as possible tonight. They might come in handy during the dive.”
Lu Yuan nodded.
By the time they returned to the branch, the horizon was beginning to turn grey.
Kraus went into his office and closed the door.
Lu Yuan stood in the corridor. The grey-white text floated quietly at the edge of his vision.
【Sanity: 64/140】
He rubbed his temples and turned toward his quarters.
The moment the door closed, a sharp vibration came from deep within his left eye.
The Knowledge Worm crawled out.
Rate on N.U.
