The tiger-leopard-shaped petricite statue was already nearing completion.
The reason they had built a small one was naturally to test first whether they could imitate Durand and create a statue that possessed "life."
If it worked, then the petricite statue plan would officially be placed on the agenda.
Luke thought for a moment and asked, "When will the experiment begin?"
Smith answered, "Three days from now. When the time comes, Your Highness must be there."
Luke nodded. "All right. I'll come personally to inspect everyone's results."
If they could successfully recreate Durand's handiwork, then this would become another important project for Demacia.
After leaving the Petricite Colossus Department, Luke learned that Frey was currently conducting experiments on the third underground floor, so he immediately set off.
The first, second, and third underground floors of the Mage Association were confidential areas. Only association personnel with sufficiently high authority could enter. Stored inside were the association's core secrets, and the lower the floor, the higher the level of confidentiality.
The security and defenses also became stricter.
Of course, to Luke, whether those things existed or not made no difference.
He made his way to the third underground floor without obstruction. There was only one laboratory here, and Luke headed straight for it.
Halfway there, he already sensed a faintly unsettling aura, as well as magic power filling every part of the surroundings.
By the time he reached the laboratory entrance, he could see that the entire laboratory was currently covered by a demonic aura. Overall, it gave off a terrifying chill.
It was as though some dreadful thing were waiting inside, making people instinctively recoil.
But only Luke knew that this was a kind of demonic power, and within his own body, he possessed power from the same source as these auras.
They all came from the hand of one demon.
He did not linger for long and directly opened the door. The scene inside the room was even more terrifying. It could be called a wild dance of demons. One black aura after another flew chaotically through the laboratory, making sounds like drifting ghosts.
When they saw the door open, they all scrambled to escape, yet they seemed to be blocked by an invisible barrier.
The scene immediately became a mess, as though the demon's power had gone out of control. Even Luke frowned slightly at the sight.
Just then, a figure slowly walked out from within the aura. It was Frey.
"Your Highness, you're already here?"
She was somewhat surprised. Originally, given Luke's lazy personality, she had thought he would arrive a little later.
"I left a little early. What's going on here?"
Luke looked around and asked.
"Oh, these are energies extracted from the demon's body. They have taken shape, but in reality, they are only pure energy and have no harmful effect."
Frey explained.
Luke could also tell that these drifting demonic auras were not harmful. Aside from making one feel a chill through the body, the only frightening part was the scene itself.
His gaze caught sight of the little black dog on the other side, sprawled on the floor with all four limbs spread out like a dead dog. Its tiny eyes were filled with despair.
Naturally, Nocturne was in so much heartache that he could barely breathe.
These were all his powers!
All of them were powers he had painstakingly accumulated and recovered bit by bit during this period!
And yet, before they had even warmed up, Frey had forcibly and violently taken them away!
Worse still, he was trapped deep inside the seal and had no means to resist.
It hurt. It hurt too much.
Retracting his gaze, Luke noticed a platform like an altar in the center of the laboratory. It was a circular altar, with four curved iron arms bent like hooked claws at four corners. They looked like a closing hand, with four fingers gathered together.
In every position around the altar, there was a vivid gemstone, along with complex magical patterns carved into it.
At the very center was a magic circle.
The entire altar had been built in an extremely solemn and luxurious style. It could be called the most eye-catching thing in the laboratory.
Anyone who did not know better might think Frey was conducting some grand ritual here.
"This is what I want to formally introduce to Your Highness."
Frey slowly walked to the edge of the altar, then said, "I call it the Central Hub. Its meaning is that it is the core connected to everything, and also the most crucial and indispensable part of the experiment."
She found four prism-shaped magic crystals. Their main function was to store magic power.
"Its purpose is to carry and operate another key component."
Frey slowly inserted the four crystals into the gemstone positions corresponding to them on the altar.
After all of them were inserted, there was a hum, and the entire altar seemed to begin operating.
Suddenly, all those wildly flying auras were absorbed by the altar, as if uncontrollably drawn toward it.
In the end, they all gathered above the four claws, slowly moving back and forth in the shape of a sphere.
Looking closely, they resembled layer after layer of woven nets.
Looking at the results of her experiment, Frey's tone was quite excited. She said, "Through experimentation, I discovered that the source of Nocturne's power comes from another world, or perhaps another dimension. Some people call it the spirit realm, but to put it in more common terms, we can call it 'dreams.'"
Luke listened and nodded slightly, his gaze curiously studying the sphere formed from demonic power and the altar as a whole.
As far as he knew, Nocturne was indeed a demon who had come from the spirit realm to the material realm.
And his special ability was to enter human dreams through the spirit realm.
Basically, everyone in Fossbarrow had experienced this and knew about it.
"So I began thinking. Since he can enter our dreams, could we also use his power to enter our own dreams?"
Frey said something shocking.
Even Luke was stunned for a moment by her bold idea. "So you did that?"
"Yes." Frey nodded and said, "I had to understand demon power clearly enough, so I personally attempted it. The answer was failure. I cannot use Nocturne's power to enter other people's dreams. However, during that process, I discovered another path."
Luke quietly nodded, waiting for Frey to continue.
Even the little black dog raised its head and looked at Frey with interest.
To be honest, even he himself did not know what results these humans had developed from his power during all this time.
"The spirit realm, dreams, they are constant. They exist there forever. In truth, we do not need to enter them. What we need is only a ticket, or a key, that can enter."
Frey smiled and looked toward the little black dog. "And he is that key. With him, we have the authority to connect to dreams at any time. Based on this idea, I wondered whether this key could be divided into countless pieces."
By the time she said this much, Luke had already understood her bold idea, and he was also slightly shocked.
Frey looked at the circulating auras above the altar and continued, "And these are countless pieces of the key. Holding the key, we do not have the qualifications to enter dreams, but we do have the authority to connect with them. Based on this idea, it is not hard to discover that we are only one step away from dreams."
"It is like a constant relay station, forever existing there. Because Nocturne exists, no matter where we are, no matter how far apart we are, the relay station will always remain constant. And this is what I want to formally explain next."
She looked rather excited as she slowly uttered a few words. "I call it, the Dreamnet."
After listening, Luke was stunned again.
Although he had long known that Frey was not simple, only today did he realize that this woman was actually such an incredible person.
"Because it is tightly interwoven and connected like a spiderweb, I thought of the word net."
Seeing Luke's dazed eyes, Frey even explained.
"Amazing." Luke came back to himself and said with a solemn expression, "I have to say, Vayne is unbelievably lucky to have a teacher like you. You really are incredible."
He admired her from the heart.
Frey had already reached middle age, and when she heard this praise, she only smiled. "Your Highness overpraises me. Without the inspiration you gave me, I would never have thought of these things."
There was Luke first, then her. Frey was still very clear on that order.
Luke now asked curiously, "So this Dreamnet of yours is already complete?"
"Not yet. It is actually still in the experimental stage, but the framework of the Dreamnet has already stabilized."
"You mean this altar?"
"Mm."
Frey nodded. "The magical engravings and magic circle on this altar can allow the Dreamnet to exist stably. When the time comes, as long as we hold the keys, we can communicate through dreams, or rather, the spirit realm."
Nocturne was the key to entering the spirit realm. Without him, everything would be useless.
However, there was no need to worry about that at all. Because of the seal, even if Nocturne were given ten legs now, he still would not be able to run away.
So the formation of the Dreamnet was already set in stone.
The reason Luke felt Frey was so incredible was precisely because what this woman had developed was nothing else.
It was a phone.
The kind that could be raised, placed by one's ear, and used to communicate from a distance.
Because of the special nature of the spirit realm, it could be understood as a kind of signal that existed everywhere.
Because there was no one who did not dream. Or rather, just as Frey said, the spirit realm existed there forever and constantly.
And Nocturne's ability happened to be entering each person's dreams. So once everyone possessed this key, they could all connect with their own dreams, and the spirit realm would become a signal network spread everywhere.
As long as they were under this signal network, they could use this Dreamnet to accomplish many things.
To emphasize it again, the core of all this was Nocturne. Without his demonic power, everything would be useless.
And he had basically become a mascot tied in place.
At this moment, even the little black dog, after listening to Frey's idea, showed shock in his tiny black bean-like eyes.
You humans, using my power, what exactly are you trying to do?
Damn it.
Those are all my powers!
He absolutely did not want to contribute to humanity. However, right now, he had no solution at all. He could only watch helplessly as these humans seemed to plan on using his abilities to do something incredible.
At this moment, Frey continued, "I can refine the key into even more pieces, then store them separately inside magic crystals. However, one problem I have encountered is that they do not seem able to be preserved for long. After some time, the magic power dissipates on its own."
Hearing this, Luke looked thoughtful. Very quickly, inspiration flashed through his mind, and he said, "You can use petricite to make an outer shell and reinforce the magic crystal. That should prevent the magic power from dissipating."
Frey looked puzzled.
Luke explained, "The true use of petricite is to absorb and store magic. It does not prohibit the operation of magic power. If petricite is used as the outer shell and the magic crystal as the core, then the dissipating magic power will be absorbed by the petricite again and circulate back into the crystal. Of course, since it is magic power, it will eventually run out. When the time comes, it can simply be replenished. But doing this should extend its lifespan."
Frey understood the field. After listening to Luke's analysis, she immediately nodded. "In that case, it should be feasible. We only need to test it."
There was still plenty of time, so the two immediately began trying it.
There was ready-made petricite, and there were also magic crystals.
This kind of magic crystal was an artificially created product. It used a special method to store magic power inside mineral crystals, and these crystals were usually single-use items.
Many mages used them as a way to replenish magic power when it was exhausted.
In Luke's eyes, magic crystals were like prepaid phone credit. When they were used up, they could simply be recharged.
Now that Demacia had opened itself to magic, magic power could be said to be inexhaustible and endless.
After embedding the magic crystal and petricite together, they injected a trace of demonic energy into it.
As a result, a new problem was born.
Since these were magical products after all, activating the key naturally required a spell.
But how could ordinary people use it smoothly without obstacles?
"Perhaps we can use a magical engraving that automatically activates when it receives magic power. We only need to inject magic power into the petricite ahead of time. Then, through a specific switch, activating the switch would represent activating the crystal."
After thinking it over, Luke offered an idea, then looked at Frey.
After all, he was not a professional. Whether it could actually be made depended on Frey in the end.
After listening, Frey's eyes lit up. "Perhaps it is feasible! An engraving that casts automatically, isn't that just a magic circle? As long as a magic circle is carved onto the petricite in advance, and according to Your Highness's explanation, if petricite does not disable magic but only absorbs it, then we can indeed use a specific switch to guide the flow of magic power. When it is needed, open the switch. When it is not needed, close the switch!"
Her thoughts immediately became much clearer, as if she had thought of many possible plans.
If there was a rectangular piece of petricite, after it absorbed magic power, that entire piece would contain magic power.
Then if it were cut apart in the middle, would it not become two pieces of petricite, each possessing magic power?
At that time, if a third piece of petricite were used to connect the two, those three pieces of petricite would finally become one whole body containing magic power again.
As long as the flow of magic power remained smooth, it could provide energy to the magic circle. That way, ordinary people would only need to press the switch to activate the crystal.
Once the crystal was activated, naturally, the rest would no longer be troublesome.
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