The fourth Silver Needle shattered.
The sound was soft, like ice being crushed between fingers.
Powder from the fracture slid down the inner wall of the Sarcophagus and disappeared into the gaps between the pipes.
Calvin felt it.
There was no need to check the Sarcophagus's observation window. The glow of the pipe inscriptions had already explained everything—it had dimmed another degree.
The fifth one.
The interval was even shorter this time.
The cracking sound nearly merged with the previous one. Before the fragments had finished falling, the fifth needle had already turned to dust.
The light of the Inscription Channel plummeted.
The aura emanating from the girl in the Sarcophagus was visibly weakening.
The Degradation Circuit formed by those Silver Needles and pipes had originally been responsible for filtering the aura of primordial knowledge down to a bearable concentration.
Now, that circuit was collapsing.
The unfiltered aura of knowledge surged back through the pipes like a flood flowing upstream.
Calvin's face turned pale. As the final readers, they instantly bore nearly all the pressure.
Selina was not faring well either. Her body trembled faintly.
But neither of them had any good options. If they let go now, all their previous efforts would be wasted. They could only take the impact head-on and share the mental pressure pouring into the girl in the Sarcophagus.
If she bore it all alone, the channel would completely rupture within seconds.
Sea of Knowledge, center of the vortex.
The fragment storm still howled, but all was quiet around the small girl. The scattered fragments of knowledge automatically avoided her.
Behind her, the passage bought with eighteen lives was disappearing.
Black-red blood surged back in from both sides of the passage, once again swallowing the gaps forcibly propped open by the Worm of Knowledge's body.