Book 5, Chapter 83: Core 2
Chapter 83: Core (2)
Of course, at the time that hypothesis was merely that - a hypothesis.
Now, however, this hypothesis had become real.
Su Chen didn’t know how the Harpies had managed to accomplish this, but without question, the fact that a Desolate Beast was able to survive until this point had a lot to do with the Boundless Origin Sea.
Sbasse’s story had mentioned that Origin Beasts relied on Origin Energy to survive, and that they had gone into hibernation due to the gradual thinning of Origin Energy in their surroundings.
But what if a person was able to supply them with a powerful supply of Origin Energy?
The answer was that, of course they would be able to continue surviving.
The Origin Energy obtained from the Boundless Origin Sea would constantly infuse the Desolate Beast’s body, turning it into a living spring for Origin Energy. What connected the two was this Shallow Sea Chain.
Perhaps this was what they had learned from using the Deep Sea Anchor. The Deep Sea Anchor had locked Sky City in place, but the Shallow Sea Chain wouldn’t lock the Desolate Beast in place. This was why the muddled Desolate Beast was still able to move while it was being kept alive. The Shallow Sea Chain didn’t lock down the strange spatial realm, but it couldn’t be used for too long at once either and needed to be changed out every so often.
By the time Su Chen came, it just so happened that the Shallow Sea Chain needed to be swapped out.
The Depth Crystals were hauled out from the Boundless Origin Sea. The Boundless Origin Sea contained all kinds of crystal-like objects. However, due to the violent nature of the energy contained there, it was impossible to go into the sea to harvest them.
After the Harpies invented the Shallow Sea Chains, they inadvertently discovered that, at the same time that this item absorbed Origin Energy, it would also bring out some of these crystalline objects, which were the Depth Crystals.
For this reason, every time the Shallow Sea Chain was exchanged, the Harpies would also claim the Depth Crystals. To Harpy Nobility, this was also a day of harvest. The Harpy nobles would fight over the right to claim these Depth Crystals for themselves.
River Sun was probably the victor of this competition that Cloud Worker was referring to.
Unfortunately for him, Su Chen had managed to step in before he could claim them.
As the Craftsman continued to show him around the Chaos Tower, he said to Su Chen, "What does Sir River Sun think?"
"Oh, it's pretty good," Su Chen said
“You’ve seen most of the Chaos Tower’s internal workings now. Will you come with me to retrieve the Depth Crystals now? Or do you want to wait a bit for Miss Young Beauty to return so that you can congratulate her for reaching the Eighth-Ring?”
An Eighth-Ring Arcana Master was about to show up?
Su Chen was badly startled. He was just about to suggest taking the Depth Crystals now, but he saw that Cloud Worker’s body was trembling slightly.
When he thought of how Cloud Worker had frozen momentarily before showing him around, he squinted his eyes.
Then, he said, “No, I’m not in a hurry. I want to go take a closer look at the Sparkling Sky Amethyst, if possible.”
Cloud Worker hurriedly said, “Sir, Miss Young Beauty is really about to come back soon!”
Su Chen chuckled.
He finally understood.
This Cloud Worker guy hadn’t misidentified him - he knew that Su Chen wasn’t River Sun, but had pretended not to notice!
As for why, it was probably because he was worried that Su Chen would kill them all to buy their silence.
This Cloud Worker’s reactions were pretty fast. It was obvious that a Harpy who had appeared out of nowhere due to the effects of the exposing light had snuck their way in. And anyone who was able to sneak into the tower so silently was definitely incredibly strong.
The Craftsmen at the core of the Chaos Tower all loved to perform research, so their combat prowess was definitely terrible. If they were to agitate Su Chen, there was nothing they could do if he decided to kill them all.
His quick reactions were evident in how quickly he mentioned River Sun’s name.
River Sun was probably a real Harpy; otherwise, the other Craftsmen wouldn’t have been able to act so calmly. Cloud Worker had given Su Chen a way out, and Su Chen was able to take it. This would allow the Craftsmen to survive.
Cloud Worker had purposefully mentioned the Depth Crystals, basically telling him to hurry up and take the treasures before leaving.
Even though losing the Depth Crystals would infuriate the other Harpies, and they would definitely be punished for it, that was definitely better than being killed right away.
Cloud Worker’s status amongst the rest of the Craftsmen wasn’t low either, so the Harpies probably wouldn’t kill him. At most, they would discipline him a little.
Everything had been calculated quite carefully. Unexpectedly, however, Su Chen hadn’t been moved by the Depth Crystals. Instead, he had become interested in the Chaos Tower’s operation. In Su Chen’s eyes, the principles behind the tower’s operations contained large quantities of knowledge, which were much more valuable than Depth Crystals.
Cloud Worker was quite agitated. He had even namedropped some Young Beauty, who was apparently an Eight-Ring Arcana Master.
Su Chen had no idea if she was a real person or not, but based on the current circumstances, if Young Beauty was actually going to return soon, then Cloud Worker probably wouldn’t have nicely reminded him in the first place.
As such, it was unlikely that a powerful Harpy would return anytime soon.
Since that was the case, what need was there for him to be in such a hurry to leave?
Su Chen chuckled. “I’m not in a hurry. If Miss Young Beauty does return, I will need to have a good talk with her. After all, it has been a while since I have last seen her. How about this? You can go send someone to bring over the Depth Crystals, and we can continue to tour this place.”
Cloud Worker was completely stunned by Su Chen’s shamelessness.
Did he not care about his face at all?
He had already been found out, but he was hanging around instead of hurrying to leave? Was he really not afraid that a stronger Harpy would come back and arrest him?
But Cloud Worker’s life was in Su Chen’s hands, so he could only do as Su Chen asked. He sent off another Craftsman to retrieve the Depth Crystals and continued to follow Su Chen around.
Since Su Chen’s identity had been discovered, he began to ask all kinds of questions, not even trying to mask the truth anymore.
“What is this? What it is used for?”
“What’s the idea behind the operation of this component?”
“The Desolate Beast’s muddled consciousness lives in the Sparkling Sky Amethyst, right? Why do you have to use that kind of method to control the Desolate Beast?”
“How is this Origin Formation linked to the Shallow Sea Chain? What is it used for?”
“Do you have blueprints for the Chaos Tower? What about the Origin Formations? Are there any records of sudden inspiration or discoveries?”
Su Chen continued to ask question after question, and Cloud Worker could only answer them one after another. The more questions Su Chen asked, the less he tried to hide his intentions. Eventually, he was even asking questions that even the Harpies would know the answers to, a shameless expression written all over his face.
However, Cloud Worker found himself more and more surprised as he answered Su Chen’s questions.
At first, Su Chen’s questions were very shallow, mostly asking about the various equipment and mechanisms used in the operation of the Chaos Tower. Cloud Worker looked down on him for not understanding, but still answered Su Chen’s questions quite diligently. After all, even if he told Su Chen, Su Chen wouldn’t understand.
He hadn’t expected for Su Chen to have so much experience or that he possessed a consciousness crystal.
Su Chen was able to understand 80% of what Cloud Worker said, and the remaining 20% he stored away in his consciousness crystal for further analysis in the background, which would usually allow him to comprehend an additional 10%. The remaining 10% was covered by asking some follow-up questions.
At first, Su Chen would need to think a bit after each question he asked Cloud Worker, but as his understanding began to deepen, he began to understand Cloud Worker’s answers almost immediately.
Later on, he was able to even fill in the blanks of what Cloud Worker had taught him. His rate of comprehension really was staggering.
Cloud Worker was stunned.
He had no idea who the infiltrator was, but the infiltrator’s scholarly nature completely shocked him.
He had originally believed that Su Chen was here only for treasure, but as Su Chen continued to ask question after question, Cloud Worker realized that Su Chen had come not for treasure but to understand the principles behind the Chaos Tower’s operation.
He was no longer surprised by the time Su Chen began asking him about how the Chaos Tower was constructed.
If he was surprised, he was surprised that the Harpies had produced such a talented scholar.
A scholar like this should have been sent by the Harpies to work their magic at the heart of a fort like this a long time ago. Why was he here acting like a thief?
Cloud Worker didn’t understand. The thought that Su Chen might be a human didn’t even cross his mind, as Su Chen’s wings were very real. As such, all of his considerations were of Su Chen as a Harpy, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t think of a Harpy that was quite like the one before him.
Su Chen was reaping quite a few benefits from his conversation with Cloud Worker.
The current Chaos Tower seemed like it was just a fort constructed on the back of a Desolate Beast, but the amount of knowledge that was needed to build a tower like this was quite amazing. It involved spatial principles, Origin Energy, consciousness power, Origin Formations, lifeform alteration, and a number of other facets. Every bit of knowledge that Su Chen received opened his eyes quite greatly, causing his already abundant knowledge to reach new heights.
Most importantly, he was able to remember everything he heard because he had his consciousness power - others might not have been able to remember the deluge of information. And since he remembered it, he would be able to learn it.
Learning things on the spot and even being able to apply them immediately was very rare.
As Su Chen listened to what Cloud Worker was saying, deducing different things from his words, he was even able to directly point out some problems with the way that Cloud Worker and the others were thinking about things, resolving some of the problems that they were facing.
Cloud Worker was also a scholar and possessed incredible passion for learning things. At the beginning, he had only answered Su Chen out of obligation. Later on, he began to answer Su Chen earnestly, and shortly after that he began to discuss and converse with Su Chen over theoretical questions.
At the very end, when Su Chen began to point out deficiencies in his train of thought, Cloud Worker began to stare at Su Chen like he was staring at a demon.
This guy was too frightening!
How had he gone from the elementary level to the level of a professor?
Most importantly, the solutions Su Chen was offering could actually be practically implemented!
If it weren’t for the fact that he was supposedly talking to an enemy, Cloud Worker would have tried out Su Chen’s suggestions then and there.
He found the person in front of him becoming more and more enigmatic.
Was he not here to steal treasures?
When had he become an instructor?
What kind of Harpy was he? How could he be this much of a genius?
Cloud Worker felt like he was about to scream.
If it weren’t for the fact that he still feared for his life, Cloud Worker probably would have yelled at him to give up being a thief and do research with him instead!
Unfortunately, the Craftsman bringing over the Depth Crystals interrupted their mutual understanding.
When they looked at the Depth Crystals, both of them understood something.
The time for them to separate had come.
They would need to part sooner or later, no matter how happy they were talking to each other. The thief Su Chen needed to go.
Cloud Worker understood this. He stared at Su Chen for a moment with a bit of an unwilling expression.
After a moment of thought, he suddenly said, “Can you wait a moment?”
He hurried off.
Su Chen stood there waiting, unconcerned that the other party would try to use the opportunity to harm him.
After a moment, Cloud Worker returned, holding a large scroll in his hands.
He gave the scroll over to Su Chen and said, “These are records of the construction of the Chaos Tower and how to use it. They are my private notes, not inferior in the slightest to the official records. You can have them!”
Su Chen was stunned.
He was really going to give it to him?
He stared at Cloud Worker intently. “You……”
Cloud Worker stopped him. “I am only telling a good friend everything that I have learned. I will be happy if he remembers me and comes to visit me from time to time.”
“After I go, you……”
Cloud Worker chuckled. “I am a Craftsman scholar. These small matters aren’t worth mentioning.”