The Marvelous Effect of Deep Study
Listening to Baron Hawke mutter that there really seemed to be a Dwarf in the Snow Mountain, Lu Yuan put the Dwarf Copper Whistle back into his pocket and, following up on the previous topic, jokingly inquired with Baron Hawke:
"By the way, that mission you mentioned earlier that requires the participation of the Eerie Inscription Studies, could you give me a sneak peek at what it involves?"
Upon hearing Lu Yuan's question, Baron Hawke, sitting opposite him, grinned from beneath his thick, reddish-brown beard, waved his rough hand, and chuckled dismissively:
"I can't tell you that now. We're still in the preparation stage, and we haven't gathered all the necessary materials yet. It's not possible for the time being. You'll know when the time is right."
Seeing that Baron Hawke was keeping his mouth shut and clearly didn't want to reveal the details of the mission yet, Lu Yuan didn't press further. He simply leaned back in his chair and nodded.
While the group was talking, the carriage wheels rolled over the smooth bluestone road outside Iron Furnace Street and drove steadily back to the back street gate of the heavy steam forging workshop in the southwest of the Outer City.
After the carriage came to a stop in the open space inside the cargo door, Lu Yuan, Lin En, and Baron Hawke jumped out of the carriage one after another, and followed the Academy sentries guarding the door into the forked corridor made of granite at the back.
Since the group had just come out of the auxiliary fuel chamber on the side of the No. 3 heating furnace plant, which was full of hallucinogenic spores, even though the site had already been burned by fire, they still had to go through a procedure according to the rules here before entering the Core District the stronghold.
The three stopped in the Isolation room at the entrance of the corridor and cooperated with the staff on duty to do a simple cleaning, wiping away all the dust from the wrinkles in their outer clothes and the soles of their boots. They then walked one by one through the alchemical detection array overhead, which was covered with Wailing Crystal powder, and completed the full set of residue screening.
Once the heavy steel gate at the end of the corridor slid open smoothly, confirming that no spores or abnormal Contamination had been brought back by the group, they officially stepped into the sweltering heavy steam forging workshop.
As soon as they stepped through the steel gate, Lin En stopped, turned to face Lu Yuan, and earnestly began to instruct him:
"Advisor Lu Yuan, I need to participate in the interrogation and reporting of those furnace guards first. As you are an advisor personally sent by the Rock Grand Knight Commander, you are entitled to know these things according to the rules. I will come back to you as soon as I find out any specific details."
Lu Yuan nodded upon hearing this, patted the specially made sealed glass bottle he kept close to his body, and replied:
"No problem, you can go ahead and do your work. I'm going back to my workstation to study that mushroom Seed I brought back earlier, to see if it has any special characteristics, like whether I can find out where it was cultivated."
Upon hearing that Lu Yuan intended to personally study the troublesome gray-black hard core, Lin En immediately nodded emphatically in agreement:
"Okay, then I'll leave this to the consultant."
After giving his explanation, Lin En didn't linger. He turned and hurried along the main passage next to the steam engine unit toward the interrogation room and the communication room at the back. Baron Hawke also said hello and carried his hammer back to the forging table.
Watching Lin En leave, Lu Yuan walked along the metal passageway on the west side of the factory and soon arrived at the western pharmaceutical analysis station that he hadn't had time to take over when he first entered the workshop.
The independent workstation, enclosed by thick sheet metal partitions and canvas, was quite spacious. A set of glassware, a grinding mortar and pestle, and a bronze balance were neatly arranged on the long wooden experimental table. Lu Yuan pushed open the door and walked in, rightfully taking over and sitting in this pharmaceutical analysis workstation that belonged to him.
After settling in, Lu Yuan originally wanted to summon Oden in his mind to ask him some questions about the fungal Seed.
But then he thought that Oden had only recently fallen asleep on the return journey because he had been staying up too long, and it would be rather impolite to wake him up now, so he abandoned the idea and decided to leave Oden alone and start his own research first.
Lu Yuan got up, locked the metal door of his workstation from the inside, reached into his pocket and took out the transparent glass bottle covered with special Sealing Inscription and patterns, and gently placed it on the experimental wooden table in front of him.
Separated by the transparent glass bottle, Lu Yuan did not rashly open the seal. Instead, he lowered his eyes and focused intently on the fist-sized gray-black sphere inside the bottle, carefully confirming its identity through the Gray-White Text that appeared in his vision.
After confirming that the mushroom core was currently in a completely dormant state and that there was no immediate danger posing a threat to the workshop, Lu Yuan confidently unscrewed the bottle stopper and used a long-nosed copper tweezer to carefully remove the [Illusion-Reality Boundary Mushroom's Core] from the bottle, placing it steadily on the metal tray on the table.
Without the obstruction of the glass bottle, Lu Yuan leaned closer to the edge of the tray and examined the kernel closely. He gently touched the surface of the outer shell with his fingers through his leather gloves and began to study it carefully.
Previously, when I tapped it with a gun barrel at the furnace factory, this core felt hard to the touch, but now, upon closer inspection and contact, I can see that...
The object actually appeared very soft, and the entire gray-black sphere was pulsating slightly with an extremely faint curve, like a living thing slowly breathing.
While carefully examining the undulating surface of the core, Lu Yuan's gaze followed the texture of the outer shell, and he soon noticed the unusual details remaining on the surface of the mushroom's core.
On the soft, grayish-black outer shell, there were countless wrinkles of varying depths, the lines of which were evenly distributed. There was not a trace of soil or sand pressing against the outer edge of the kernel.
On the contrary, the inward-curving folds are traces that would naturally form from being soaked in some kind of liquid for a long time.
Considering that the mushroom core is still pulsating slightly like it's breathing, it means that it is still a living thing. Since it is a living thing, Lu Yuan didn't leave the readily available methods unused. He directly focused his attention on the soft, pulsating core on the tray and activated his Deep Study ability in his mind.
[Forbidden Studies - Deep Study Begins]
[Analyzing target state: the Illusion-Reality Boundary Mushroom's Core (withered, dormant)]
[Status Analysis: This is the Living Seed core remaining after the main body of Illusion-Reality Boundary Mushroom was destroyed by fire. Currently, it is withered and dormant due to the loss of its growing environment and nutrient supply. Its outer shell wrinkles bear traces of artificial cultivation, indicating long-term immersion in a special nutrient solution. Under specific conditions, it can awaken from its dormancy and regrow.]
[Initiating a scenario development...]
The Gray-White Text in the field of vision flickered and jumped a few times, and soon a clear and specific solution was generated based on the analysis results.
[Program in progress: Awakening hydroponics and suppressing dormancy]
[Recipe: Use Winter Demon Mallow, Ash Grass, and Rotten Blood Corpse Flower, along with a specially prepared Despair Leachate (made by mixing the bodily fluids of the desperate dead with humus water) as a hydroponic substrate to soak and cultivate the plant. This will awaken the withered and dormant core and cause it to rapidly expand and grow. If you apply a solution made from Frost Petals and Bitter Salt Crystals to the outer shell, it will inhibit its growth and cause it to revert to a dormant state.]