The old man scampered over to the giant bird's head.
Paying no mind to the smoke still rising from it, he circled around, clicking his tongue in wonder.
Reilo showed no sign of coming down from the air.
"What are you still doing up there?"
Chuback pulled out a scalpel and carefully cut away a piece of tissue as a specimen. The blood on it boiled in the test tube like water. He glanced up at Reilo, hovering in midair, and noticed that Reilo was looking elsewhere and still had no intention of landing.
"There seems to be... something else."
Reilo's voice was uncertain as he explained, "Just before the final blow, I sensed something for a moment, then it vanished again. I can't even tell whether it was an illusion, because it's definitely gone now. But you know, they're not quite like normal life-forms."
The old man looked around in surprise but evidently found nothing. Then he went back to studying the specimen he had just collected.
This specimen was completely different from the previous ones. It was clearly from a more advanced city!
He had a feeling.
If they were to make any breakthrough in studying the technology of these micro-civilizations, this giant bird would be the key. It might even be the Academic World's only chance. Now, deep down, he almost blamed Reilo for using such powerful academic magic and causing so much damage to the specimen's body.
Chuback soon became completely absorbed in his own world.
The giant bird's skull was extremely hard, but even the toughest specimen was no match for a scholar's various dissecting tools.
When he finally opened the enormous skull, the white-bearded old man froze. A moment later, he let out a low gasp and stared at what lay before him, dumbfounded,