Return, Refining the Personality Model

The expedition team finally returned to Sun Moon Royal Academy's secret stronghold.

As the heavy metal doors slowly closed behind them, shutting out the wind and snow, everyone let out a heavy sigh of relief.

Before they could even catch their breath, steady, powerful footsteps echoed from deep within the passageway.

Xu Qingsong had come in person.

The true man in charge of the Light of Truth had short gray-white hair and a vigorous bearing. He strode over with several stern-faced researchers following behind him.

He ignored everyone else and walked straight up to Huo Yuhao, sizing him up from head to toe.

"You've worked hard." Xu Qingsong's voice was low and powerful. "Tu Feng has already given me the basics, but I want to hear it from you personally."

Huo Yuhao nodded. He deliberately maintained the weak appearance of someone whose spiritual power had been excessively drained, then spoke in a hoarse voice.

"Elder Xu, the core of God's Legacy... has already gone dark."

The moment those words fell, the atmosphere around them froze. Though they had already heard it once, having Huo Yuhao confirm it personally still left everyone so weighed down by disappointment that they could barely breathe.

"That living soul beast called the 'key' burned all of its origin energy during the final stage of activating the core and fell into slumber. We... arrived one step too late." Huo Yuhao's tone carried just the right amount of "regret" and "grief."

Xu Qingsong frowned deeply and remained silent.

"However," Huo Yuhao abruptly changed tack, "before the core completely collapsed, it transmitted some information."

He signaled for the squad leader to present the three "rune stone tablets."

When Xu Qingsong took the three cold, heavy slabs of black ice, his breathing visibly stalled for a moment.

The intricate, mysterious patterns on the tablets belonged to no known modern system. They seemed to contain some ancient magic, making even this well-traveled ninth-rank soul engineer feel a tremor in his heart.

"This is..."

"The core's final gift." Huo Yuhao kept it brief. "I only had time to salvage these three fragments."

Xu Qingsong extended a finger and carefully traced the patterns. His fingertips felt the icy surface and a faint lingering trace of energy that was almost impossible to detect.

He suddenly looked up and ordered the researchers behind him, "Immediately! Activate Origin Analysis Laboratory One! Highest clearance! Halt every ongoing project!"

"Yes!" Several researchers answered excitedly. They carefully took the tablets from Xu Qingsong as though holding priceless treasures, then hurried deeper into the laboratories.

Watching their fanatical backs, Sky Dream Iceworm rolled around laughing in Huo Yuhao's sea of consciousness.

"Hahahaha! This is killing me! These people are treating something you made up in three seconds like an imperial decree! Kid, you're really a nasty piece of work!"

"This is called targeted resource guidance," Huo Yuhao calmly replied within the [Thought Palace]. "The more effort they invest in this, the less time they'll have to suspect anything else. That will buy us valuable time."

With the appearance of the "rune stone tablets," Huo Yuhao's standing within the organization underwent a subtle yet profound change.

Previously, he had merely been a promising young genius.

But now, he was the sole living witness who had come into contact with the core of God's Legacy and returned with "critical information."

He was a walking "top secret"!

Even those members who had previously objected to someone so young holding such a high position now shut their mouths completely.

What a joke. They had secretly glanced at those tablets too. Just one look had made them dizzy, as though their spiritual power was about to be sucked in! Those things were definitely real! Anyone capable of bringing such objects out of a place like that—this Huo Yuhao was no ordinary person!

After dealing with the stone tablets, Xu Qingsong turned back and spoke to Huo Yuhao in an entirely new, appraising tone. "You've rendered great merit this time. If you have any requests, make them."

The opportunity had arrived.

Huo Yuhao did not stand on ceremony. He said directly, "Elder Xu, I'm very interested in these runes. I want to consult all of the organization's materials regarding ancient civilizations, lost ruins, and the history of soul tool development."

The request was entirely reasonable.

Xu Qingsong barely hesitated. "Fine. I'll grant you access to the Level Three archives. In addition, you may participate in discussions with the analysis team at any time."

He paused, then added, "You are currently the only person who can 'understand' the aura of these runes. Your intuition may be more important than our instruments."

"I'll do my best," Huo Yuhao replied with his head lowered.

After returning to the private research room assigned to him, Huo Yuhao closed the door and immediately activated the [Thought Palace].

"Sky Dream, pull all the data from the Level Three archives in here!"

[Command received! Beginning data synchronization...]

Buzz!

An immense flood of information surged wildly into Huo Yuhao's spiritual world like a breached dam.

<Brief History of Soul Tools: From Notting to Mingde Hall>, <A Study of the Extinction of Ancient Soul Beast Races>, Speculations on the Seven Lost Civilizations, <Report on the Ten-Thousand-Year Geological Changes of the Far North Icefield>...

One weighty tome after another, one classified document after another, was instantly broken down, scanned, categorized, and archived within the [Thought Palace]!

Huo Yuhao's consciousness sat cross-legged at the center of the palace, his eyes tightly shut.

His understanding of this world had originally been based more on memories of the original work and his own deductions. Now, these precious materials from within the Light of Truth were frantically filling in the gaps in his knowledge.

Combined with Sky Dream Iceworm's million-year memory bank, worthy of being called a "living fossil," as well as the modern scientific knowledge system in his own mind...

An unprecedented "god's-eye view" was taking shape in his mind!

[Data integration in progress...]

[Worldview Model Completion: 17%...23%...35%...]

[Detected a 7.3% technological similarity between "Sun Moon Empire soul tool technology" and "ancient goblin civilization." Establishing correlation analysis...]

[Detected an 11.2% ritual overlap between "Star Luo Empire martial soul inheritance" and "ancient barbarian bloodline rituals." Tracing the source...]

Huo Yuhao felt like a parched sponge thrown into an ocean of knowledge, greedily absorbing everything!

This feeling was incredible!

A few days later, Huo Yuhao appeared in Source Analysis Laboratory No. 1 at just the right moment.

The atmosphere in the laboratory was as taut as a fully drawn bowstring. More than a dozen top researchers surrounded an enlarged rune projection, arguing until their faces were red.

"No! The design of this energy node completely violates the law of soul power conservation!"

"But look at its structure. If we reverse-engineer it, it seems capable of drawing some unknown form of energy from the void!"

"Bullshit! What do you mean, unknown energy? Can energy just appear out of thin air? You're violating the fundamental laws of soul tool science!"

Huo Yuhao merely listened quietly, occasionally pretending to be deep in thought as he furrowed his brow.

When Xu Qingsong saw him, he immediately beckoned. "Huo Yuhao, come here. Take another look. What does your 'intuition' tell you about this set of patterns?"

Huo Yuhao walked over to the projection and stared at the lines he had scribbled at random. After pondering for a moment, he slowly spoke in an uncertain tone.

"I feel like... it isn't 'conducting' energy. It's more like 'calling'... or rather, 'locating' something."

"Locating?!"

That word exploded like a bomb in every researcher's mind!

Their previous thinking had all been confined to energetics. But if it were interpreted from the perspective of spatial science or information science...

"Damn! That clears everything up!"

"Right! This might not be an energy formation at all—it could be a coordinate!"

"Quick! Remodel it! Analyze it again from the perspective of spatial geometry!"

The entire laboratory instantly plunged into another round of frenzy.

Watching these top minds get led down another wrong path by a single sentence from him, Huo Yuhao turned and silently left the laboratory.

He had already done what he needed to do.

Back in his room, he locked the door and let his consciousness sink into the [Thought Palace] once more.

During this time, he had played the role of a "mystic," guiding the research into the Light of Truth while frantically absorbing the knowledge in the Level Three database. He had also asked Lin Mu to gather every piece of public intelligence she could find on the Sun Moon Empire and Mingde Hall.

Now, the sandbox for his "Hidden Dragon Plan" had basically been completed.

A vast, precise virtual "Mingde Hall," as lifelike as the real thing, floated quietly within his sea of consciousness.

Huo Yuhao's consciousness stood before the sandbox and brought up the profile of a key figure.

[Character: Jing Hongchen. Identity: Master of Mingde Hall, Level Nine Soul Engineer. Personality Model: Extremely arrogant, obsessively devoted to technology, values talent above all else, and will stop at nothing to achieve his goals...]

He reached out and lightly tapped the virtual model of "Jing Hongchen."

"Tian Meng, optimize the personality model of Mingde Hall's chief soul engineer, Jing Hongchen, one more time."