The shock brought by the discovery of the factory lingered in Benjamin's mind for quite a while.
But he quickly suppressed that ripple.
No matter how many Level 9 entities there were, they were still the assets of the Multi-Race Alliance and had no direct connection to the matter at hand. Benjamin did not look any further. He carefully stored the energy instrument in his Internal Grotto-Heaven, then left the factory with Viola.
Inside the factory, the Black Giant Priests continued dismantling the remaining recoverable equipment with crisp, efficient movements.
By the time they stepped out through the factory gates, night had already fallen.
The pale violet sky had been dyed a deeper purplish red by the sunset, while the lingering smoke of war drifted slowly away on the wind.
In the distance, the hills rose and fell in the twilight, seeming exceptionally quiet.
As they walked, Benjamin casually told Viola about his discovery regarding this plane's Natives.
After hearing him out, Viola blinked, and her expression suddenly turned somewhat strange.
"No wonder."
She raised a hand. The grayish-white Law of pain slowly condensed at her fingertips into an extremely tiny orb of light.
Its surface seemed to reflect a map of the emotional distribution across the entire continent, fine patterns of light flowing endlessly within it.
"Ever since I came to this plane, I've felt that something was off."
She stared at the orb and narrowed her eyes.
"The distribution of emotional auras across the entire continental landmass is extremely uniform. It's neither concentrated in strongholds like the Octopus-folk, nor does it fluctuate with population density like ordinary animals. Rather... it exists in every inch of land."
"At first, I thought the Octopus-folk had mastered some special power, or that there were some Natives hiding very deeply. But during