Chapter 169: I've Done It
Furina had been just about to lead the group to the Scientific Research Department—or the Research Department, whichever name, it was more or less the same.
However, when they arrived at the former entrance of the Scientific Research Department, they stopped short.
The old Research Department had now been transformed into a library.
"Eh?" Furina blinked in puzzlement. "Strange, wasn't this the Scientific Research Department?"
Ye Guyi suddenly remembered something and hurriedly explained, "Oh, right, I almost forgot to mention it. The original Research Department has moved out."
She paused, her tone carrying a hint of helplessness: "Mainly because they were far too noisy when conducting experiments. Every day, those academic discussions would inevitably escalate into arguments, and sometimes they even came to blows."
"Monsieur Neuvillette couldn't stand it anymore, so he approved a plot of land for them outside the city, built a research institute, and had them move their chaos outside. They cleared out completely half a year ago, and this place was converted into a library to store all kinds of books and materials."
Furina suddenly understood. "So that's what happened. I thought as much—I remember even when I was still in the Church, before leaving for Shrek, they were already arguing constantly. I wonder if they've produced any results by now."
Ye Guyi shook her head. "That, well... I'm not too clear on that either."
She truly didn't know much about the Research Department's affairs. She usually operated alongside the Operations Department or the Law Enforcement Department—especially Operations, which always managed to help uncover quite a few leads on evil soul masters. All she needed to do was follow the trail with the Four Protectors and finish them off at the end.
Thanks to that, her cultivation speed and strength were able to keep improving. As for matters in other areas, she neither cared about them nor understood them—it wasn't her field of expertise.
"But I do know where they are now," Ye Guyi said. "I'll take you there."
Furina nodded. "Alright, I'll trouble you then."
"What kind of talk is that?" Ye Guyi waved a hand dismissively, smiling. "You've shown me the grace of a complete rebirth. Now that my martial soul has evolved into the Six-Winged Blazing Seraph, once I stabilize it a bit more, it will be able to achieve ultimate light plus the fire attribute. Perhaps it can even go a step further and become ultimate light plus ultimate fire!"
A light of excitement shimmered in her eyes.
Martial soul evolution was already an exceedingly rare occurrence. Ultimate attributes were rarer still—rarer than phoenix feathers or qilin horns. One had to understand, the vast majority of beings possessing ultimate attributes were those at the absolute apex of the Savage Beast rankings.
An ordinary person's martial soul simply could not reach that level—even the Angel martial soul, hailed as a divinely bestowed martial soul, and even the rumored Sea God martial soul, could not touch the threshold of an ultimate attribute.
This alone spoke volumes about the sheer scarcity of ultimate-attribute martial souls.
And now, all of this gave her the hope of breaking through once again, perhaps even achieving godhood, reaching heights that even the Angel God Qian Renxue of ten thousand years ago had never attained. Moreover, the cultivation technique Furina had given her earlier had laid the very foundation for her present and her future alike.
She was already a member of the Water God Church, and Furina was both the Church's Pope and the Water God herself. For such a small favor, what need was there for thanks?
Listening from the side, Bei Bei and Tang Ya were brimming with envy.
Unfortunately, the evolution path of the Angel martial soul was not something they could replicate. They couldn't grow stronger by killing evil soul masters or make their martial souls evolve that way. They could only down-to-earth, put in slow, steady effort—as Furina had said before, absorb specific soul rings, gradually transforming their martial souls from quantitative change to qualitative change, until they finally completed their evolution.
"Then you'll have to work hard as well," Furina said to Ye Guyi.
"Even if you didn't say it, I would," Ye Guyi replied with a smile. She then gestured to the group: "Alright, no more chatting. Please, follow me."
...
Outside the city, within the Research Institute, inside the Research Department.
It was just as noisy and clamorous as ever.
Dr. X suddenly burst out of the laboratory, his face a mask of ecstatic—one might even say somewhat maddened—delight. He was shouting at the top of his lungs: "It's done! I've succeeded! Ha ha ha ha! I've succeeded!"
Dr. Tomoe raised a hand and promptly slapped him across the face.
"Calm down! You lunatic!" Dr. Tomoe shook his hand out. "What exactly have you succeeded in?"
That slap indeed calmed Dr. X down considerably. Yet he showed not the slightest hint of anger—such a trifling matter meant absolutely nothing to him.
"Look!" Dr. X extended his right hand, and light suddenly blazed forth. He had unmistakably activated a soul bone skill—a layer of white radiance swiftly enveloped his entire body.
"Well?! What do you think?" he asked smugly.
Dr. Tomoe studied the barrier with a serious eye, a flicker of surprise passing through his gaze. "Did it really worked? It seems... to only have the effect of a ten-year soul skill, though?"
Dr. X nodded and admitted frankly, "Yes, after all, it is only the first stage of success. But unlike your soul rings, a soul bone still has the potential for growth. As long as I continuously infuse it with soul power and continue condensing it, I can push this soul bone to break through to the hundred-year level."
He paused, spread his hands, and said with a touch of regret, "However, I estimate that at most, I'll only be able to bring it up to the thousand-year level. Beyond that, my soul power simply won't be sufficient."
There was no helping it. He was, at present, merely a Soul King at rank 56. Condensing a thousand-year soul bone was already the absolute limit of his projections.
Not to mention, his limbs had been severed and regrown who knew how many times—if not for the fact that Furina periodically had people send back Golden Doughnut Vanilla Cakes to assist with the healing, his soul power would likely have already plummeted to rank 30.
Even so, further growth in soul power was all but impossible for him. Unless he relied on forcefully piling it up with medicinal herbs and elixirs—though in doing so, he would certainly never become any kind of true powerhouse.
But that didn't matter to him anyway.
He never could have become a true powerhouse to begin with. Matters of fighting and killing had never interested him. Growing stronger was merely for self-preservation, for research, for getting by in life. It was academia, these intellectual pursuits, that truly helped him.
Dr. Tomoe was silent for a long moment, then slowly spoke: "Even that is already enough. Enough to compete with me for the position of number one doctor."
He sighed. "Although I've thoroughly grasped how to condense a soul ring, so far I can only guarantee, with one hundred percent certainty, the condensation of a hundred-year soul ring. A thousand-year soul ring remains beyond my reach."
"I've only barely touched upon the first inklings of artificial soul rings—I always feel as though something is missing. Perhaps something related to the spirit, or the soul. After all, a soul ring contains the lingering resentment of a soul beast. If Her Holiness knew even a little about the aspect of the soul, she would surely be able to bring me a breakthrough in the technology."
Dr. X, hearing this, curled the corner of his mouth into a sinister grin. "Then I may very well be taking that position of number one doctor for myself—because I have already figured out how to create artificial soul bones!"
He surveyed his surroundings and declared with insufferable smugness: "All of you, surrender obediently!"
"What?!"
Dr. Tomoe's eyes went wide, his face full of disbelief.