A year had passed since Dan Lei settled in Golden People Alley. A year for a Longevity Species really didn't feel like anything at all. Now 193 years old, Dan Lei felt that a year was even shorter than a week had used to be.
Throughout that year, Dan Lei had been setting up an array in his room.
That's right. It had taken him a whole year just to set up an array that could isolate energy fluctuations.
The Xianzhou's Talisman Array Arts were actually all technology. Nano Machines handled the flow of energy, so they had nothing to do with magic.
Pathstriders drawing talismans on the spot worked the same way. Their magical tools could spread Nano Machines, and Pathstriders could directly draw upon the Power of the Path. With those Nano Machines, they could naturally unleash all sorts of "spells."
An array that isolated energy was the foundation of the Golden People Imaginary Energy Restraint Technology. Having worked in the Ten Lords' Commission for so long, Dan Lei naturally knew how to repair Aurumatons. Most of the year had been wasted on the workshop application process.
To apply for the workshop, Dan Lei had to actually develop an Ingenium for entertainment.
But Dan Lei could copy what already worked. Using the designs of two hugely popular XX baby characters from his past life, he released a large variety of Ingenia in different shapes, all controllable via Jade Abacus for battles.
The puppets were only thirty centimeters tall. They couldn't wield sharp weapons, and the energy they fired was all show and no power, so they passed the Earthly Balance Department's safety inspection.
As expected, these Ingenia became popular in Luofu, a place that had barely changed in centuries. Some merchants even organized Ingenium battle tournaments, and the toys sold extremely well.
Thanks to the booming sales, Dan Lei was able to use the need to protect his Ingenium technology as a reason to persuade the Ten Lords' Commission and the Earthly Balance Department to let him set up an energy-isolating array in his workshop.
Of course, it helped that the ones who came to investigate Dan Lei were Xueyi and Hanya, the two people in the Ten Lords' Commission he'd deliberately gotten close to and had the best relationship with.
Especially Xueyi. There wasn't a single part of her that he didn't know. He'd touched her inside and out countless times, and he'd even secretly helped her make some additional modifications.
Once he'd finished preparing, Dan Lei began meditating and communicating with the Holy Grail inside him.
It had been symbiotic with him for nearly two hundred years. Dan Lei still hadn't figured out how to absorb Imaginary Energy through his Magic Circuits, but aside from letting it passively absorb energy through his body, he could also convert the Life Energy produced by his daily metabolism into mana for it to absorb.
As a Longevity Species, the Sustainer Dragon Clan had an astonishing amount of Life Energy. The Xianzhou Celestials were even stronger in that regard, but the Dragon Kind had an innate advantage over them when it came to controlling energy.
Take the Luofu Sustainers' Cloud Chant Technique, for example. One didn't need to become a Pathstrider to learn it; any member of the Sustainer Dragon Clan could pick up a few techniques with enough practice.
And the Cloud Chant Technique wasn't a technological spell. It was a true manifestation of the Sustainer Dragon Clan's innate ability to manipulate Imaginary Energy.
Of course, the Cloud Chant Technique ordinary Sustainers learned was completely different from the one Dan Heng learned in the game. His was the Cloud Chant Technique from the Dragon Transformation Secret Art—like the difference between what a sect leader's heir learned and what an ordinary disciple did.
So, after Dan Lei converted just a little of his Life Energy into mana and used it to touch the Holy Grail, his consciousness slipped with practiced ease into that sea of flowers.
After all, he'd secretly studied the Holy Grail inside him during his time on Luofu.
But until it had absorbed enough energy, all he could do was come to the sea of flowers and zone out.
Yustina's Projection was long gone from this place, so there wasn't even anyone to talk to.
But this time, once the energy was full, a conspicuous distortion appeared in the middle of the flower sea.
It was clearly important, so Dan Lei tentatively touched it with a wisp of mana. A black-and-white blocky "painting," about as tall as he was, immediately appeared.
Well, Dan Lei knew who this was. But why was the Aeon of Equilibrium, Xa, inside the Holy Grail? No, he remembered now. He'd seen Xa when he escaped from the Type-Moon World!
But just as Dan Lei was about to ask a question, the humanoid Xa vanished.
The next second, the gaze of the Aeon of Memory, Fuli, crossed countless dimensions and fell upon Dan Lei.
Dan Lei was certain Xa had drawn Fuli's gaze here. He'd gone all these years without being discovered by the Aeon of Memory or any Memokeepers, so why would the Aeon of Memory suddenly look his way now?
Besides, if an Aeon turned its gaze upon Luofu, the Divination Department would definitely detect it. Someone would probably come knocking to ask what had happened.
So Dan Lei didn't have time to feel out the changes caused by Fuli's gaze.
After all, the Star Rail Universe even had the Final Lord. Fuli surely wouldn't care about the bit of plot he had in his head. As for his memories of other worlds, well, Fuli could look if Fuli wanted.
Right now, dealing with the situation in front of him mattered more.
Dan Lei hurriedly left the Holy Grail and took a half-finished design from his drawer. He had to come up with a plausible explanation for Fuli's sudden attention.
Sure enough, just as Dan Lei had finished setting up his fake research scene, someone knocked on his door.
Although Fuli's sudden gaze toward Luofu was worth investigating, Dan Lei wasn't about to be treated like a criminal.
The people at the door were staff from the Divination Department and the Earthly Balance Department.
And they weren't any big shots. Clearly, they were just there to ask some routine questions.
Dan Lei knew the two of them. One was Qingque, who was always slacking off, and the other was an ordinary Earthly Balance Department patrol officer from Golden People Alley.
They were easy enough to fool. They didn't even look at the research plans Dan Lei was using as an excuse. They just made a note of things and left.
Of course, Dan Lei strongly suspected Qingque had deliberately chosen not to investigate further. When something didn't matter, all she wanted was to clock out early and get back to slacking off.
But after they left, a second group came. Xueyi showed up at his door before long.
This time, Dan Lei simply handed her the half-finished design. He'd drawn it while studying the Cloud Chant Technique out of boredom, with the aim of combining it with Ingenia.
It was personal research, and as a member of the Sustainer Clan, Dan Lei had every right to study his own people's arts within reasonable limits.
So Xueyi just made a note of it and left. After all, the matter involved the Sustainer Clan's secret techniques, and any attempt to document them would provoke a protest from the clan.
Naturally, the Dragon Masters came to see Dan Lei the next day. They forcibly took the design away, claiming the research might lead to the Sustainer Clan's secret techniques being leaked. They'd let it go this time, but he wasn't allowed to continue his research.
Dan Lei knew it was just an excuse from the Dragon Master Council. They simply wanted to claim his research and secretly expand their underground forces.
Dan Lei was too closely entangled with the Ten Lords' Commission for the Dragon Master Council to dare recruit him, so they could only use an excuse like this to seize his work.
But Dan Lei didn't resist. Right now, he just wanted to get through this matter without a fuss. That half-finished design was a piece of junk anyway. As for the Dragon Master Council, he'd deal with them once he was strong enough.
After seeing the Dragon Masters off, Dan Lei waited two more days. Once he was sure no one was paying attention to him anymore, he entered the Holy Grail again.
By now, Dan Lei had figured out how to use the Holy Grail all on his own.
It seemed that under Fuli's power, the Holy Grail had become some kind of Memory Spirit of his.
Besides its original basic functions, the Holy Grail could also fulfill the wish he'd made back then: it could take him to other worlds through the Root.
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