"After confirming this, I drastically altered every parameter of the Extraordinary Factor combination experiments. After conducting a full 1,827 tests, I generated another 'spirit.' I studied this third 'spirit' for around sixty hours before it vanished into thin air like the previous two.
"Afterward, I continued repeating the process. After 3,267 tests, I obtained the fourth 'spirit.' Another 926 tests produced the fifth, and another 2,909 tests produced the sixth.
"I improved the experimental procedure and greatly reduced the time required for repeated trials. Over the course of several months, I conducted tens of thousands of tests and discovered thirteen 'spirits' in total. The most difficult of them took more than nine thousand tests to generate, while the easiest took only 121.
"Under my research, the thirteen 'spirits' all possessed different properties. Their sole similarity was their extremely high value for the study of extraordinary power. They allowed me to glimpse a world one level above Extraordinary Factors.
"However, the scarcity of 'spirits' and their brief existence constantly hindered my further research. So I spent a great deal of time and effort trying to find the correct method for generating them.
"To that end, I constructed an extremely complex set of equations and entered every value associated with the generation of 'spirits,' hoping to determine what rules governed their appearance. When that method failed, I considered whether subtle external factors might be affecting them. To eliminate those subtle factors, I began conducting experiments more than a thousand meters underground."
"The Dark Exploration Project, right?" Molly's eyes flickered as she cut in. As Shalin's ruler, there was no way large-scale civil engineering projects could be kept from her. In fact, she personally supervised most such projects. The moment Richard mentioned conducting experiments more than a thousand meters underground, she immediately guessed