Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 115: Extraction
Finally, the puppets finished gathering the scattered wills. Those damaged beyond restoration were swept into a corner and piled into a small grave mound.
Except for Kai, who had been thrown into the chimney, everything returned to calm. Kendrick didn’t immediately undo the body-swap effect on the others, so the group continued forward like this.
Myss lazily half-hung from Salaar.
Solid, soft, and warm, with a very stable base. It was the kind of touch he liked.
He was a little curious how Salaar planned to deal with Kendrick, but not curious to the point that he absolutely had to see it. Because of everything that had happened earlier, both his brain and his flesh were so tired they were about to melt.
Before this, Fork had been guarding Knife without taking a single step away. Once it confirmed Knife’s intelligence had returned, Fork went clack, lay down, and simply slept like the dead.
Tass controlled Kai’s body, swaying back and forth like a large bee. Judging from his expression, he seemed more inclined to believe Salaar’s revelation of his true identity was an act. He wanted to confirm it yet also felt that now wasn’t the right time.
Father Kalen was more worried about Kai in the chimney.
Even though Kai was a Stargazer of unknown background, he was at least using Owen Karns’s body. Owen might be a vicious fool, but his crime didn’t deserve death.
“Is it all right to leave Kai down below?” the priest asked carefully, his tone neither high nor low, just enough for Kendrick to hear.
“That puppet can hold on.” Kendrick responded lightly, his eyes only looking forward.
The space one level higher was filled with even more machinery, and even more darkness.
Twisted, undulating metal pipes and slender glass tubes crisscrossed the area, resembling the heart of some mechanical creature. Under the lantern light, the shadows danced with the trembling flames. The projections of these things intersected with each other, as if they were quietly breathing.
Salaar lightly stroked Myss’s back, making the drowsy enemy loosen his embrace. Then he walked to a wall buried beneath certain pipelines and gently extended his hand.
In the next instant, the entire space lit up.
Amid a strange rumbling hum, brilliant golden radiance spilled down from the top of the tower.
Only then did everyone discover that what hung above their heads wasn’t the ceiling of the previous floor, but the four-edged spire of the tall tower. A round glass cover hung there, filled with fist-sized sunstones. They emitted sunlight-like radiance, illuminating the entire top floor as if it were day.
Myss was dazzled by the light. He subconsciously lifted his hand to his forehead, shading out a small patch of shadow.
Everything emerged from the darkness, yet he still couldn’t understand what any of it was. This place was too clean. There weren’t even wheelchairs or wills, only empty alchemical machinery and a strange glass jar encircling the inner wall of the chimney.
A thin layer of dust had accumulated on the glass jar, but its empty interior was still visible. Myss twitched his nose. The air here was also clean, without any strange smell.
On the opposite side of the inner wall from the glass jar, a small compartment had been separated off with brass-colored metal plates. On it, a neatly etched line read “Central Control Room.”
“How are you planning to save Peyton?”
Kendrick moved a few steps and stood between everyone and the central control room.
“By using this equipment to ‘filter’ out his memories and thoughts, if any of his consciousness truly remains.”
Salaar said in a low voice, “Then place them into a suitable body. That is the most ideal situation.”
Make a body that could truly hold life? …An alchemical life?
Myss looked at Salaar in surprise. He only knew the concept of alchemical life, but had never considered how they were made, just as he wasn’t that interested in the craft behind raspberry candy.
“A suitable body.” Kendrick slowly chewed on this phrase.
“As for how much consciousness Peyton still has left, I’m not certain. After all, I have only heard the situation relayed by Myss.”
Salaar paced slowly and walked to the empty glass cover.
“However, Peyton’s Magibase is still there, and his flesh body hasn’t truly died. If he only experienced reversible brain damage, then the possibility of his survival is indeed quite high.”
“What if not much consciousness is left?” Kendrick pressed.
Salaar was silent for a moment.
“…The spirit is like the liver,” he said softly. “Even if more than half of it is damaged, it can slowly heal.”
“However, if too little of his spirit remains, then even if I forcibly wake him, his condition will be no different from dementia.”
This time, it was Kendrick’s turn to fall silent.
“You didn’t fully accept the Abnormal Fruit, so it didn’t fully fuse with Peyton’s Magibase. In other words, Peyton’s ‘spiritual organ’ didn’t completely undergo total pathological transformation. That’s why I said there is hope.”
“I can only guarantee that I’m the person in this world most skilled in spiritual magic, the best choice you can find.”
Salaar added calmly.
“…So, Kendrick Karns. Do you want me to continue and give you a verdict? Or do you refuse help and preserve a thread of hope for yourself?”
“Continue. I have only one request.”
Only after a long struggle did Kendrick give his answer.
“Speak.”
“If Peyton is gone, then execute me, take my divine power, and continue dealing with V.O.R.”
His tone carried a frightening relaxation. “I only wanted to live with Peyton in the monastery and hunt sinners together. If I am the only one, all of this has no meaning.”
“As you said, I have killed many people. Then let me atone for my sins with my death. Brother will be comforted by it too.”
Judging from his tone, that powerful force mortals dreamed of obtaining was nothing more than a dispensable wad of useless paper. And his own life was merely a chess piece that could be discarded at any moment.
Myss licked his lips. He had to admit, this proposal was somewhat tempting.
A living “god” certainly had uses, but a dead “god” was even fresher and more delicious.
Salaar, however, simply nodded. “I agree.”
Tass: “Wait, am I the only one who wants to ask what this damn place was originally used for?”
Whether it was spiritual filtering or body manufacturing, were these really things that could be discussed openly? …He knew that ancient alchemy was somewhat sinister, but he hadn’t known it could be this strange.
Salaar only smiled at him and didn’t say more.
The Dragon Fae secretly moved a little farther away from Salaar, pressing his back against the burly but curious Father Kalen.
Under everyone’s gazes, some curious and some terrified, Salaar’s fingers lightly traced a complex path across that glass cover. The cover opened smoothly to both sides like a ladybug’s wings, revealing a slanted groove.
“Lie inside,” Salaar said to Kendrick. “Once you are lying down, temporarily transfer your consciousness to a puppet. You can do that, right?”
Kendrick raised his brows.
“Otherwise, once the filtering is over, your consciousness will mix with the remnants of Peyton’s consciousness, and it will be no different from not filtering at all.” Salaar shrugged. “This thing has a way to preserve the body’s vitality, so don’t worry.”
“That’s enough. If we wanted to kill you, we wouldn’t need to go to all this trouble.” Myss swallowed hard, struggling to keep his voice clear.
Only then did Kendrick comply.
The instant his consciousness left his body, the ancient puppet closest to the glass cover suddenly stiffened, then quickly returned to a humanoid shape. It pressed both hands against the closed glass cover and silently looked at Peyton’s “sleeping” body inside.
Just then, a metal box popped out from the side of the glass cover. Salaar sliced open his palm. The blood that flowed out wasn’t dark red, but pure gold condensed with ample magic, like flowing gold.
That golden blood quickly filled the metal box. Immediately after, Salaar pushed the box back into place with a click.
Almost at the same instant, pale golden mist rose inside the glass cover. Amid the steaming mist, black and viscous substances slowly seeped from the eyes, nose, ears, and mouth of Peyton’s body.
When the golden mist touched these things, it was like fish encountering bait. Those black substances were swept into the gold, turning into black mist mixed within the brilliant gold.
At this moment, everyone’s attention was on those dancing black wisps. Myss briefly turned his gaze toward Salaar.
He was becoming increasingly curious about Salaar’s past. Previously, when he read memories, he had merely imitated Mina and used magic threads to touch the other person’s Magibase.
Salaar had no Magibase, and he was damned skilled at defending against Myss’s magic, so Myss had never had similar thoughts. If… just if, he could use this current trick of playing with consciousness on Salaar…
Realizing that he had been distracted for too long, Myss immediately turned his gaze back and continued observing the process of “spiritual filtering.”
Soon, the golden mist inside the glass cover turned gray-black, like churning shadows. Peyton’s body no longer secreted those strange black liquids. The corners of his eyes and mouth had long since been licked clean by the mist, and his complexion was still rosy and peaceful.
Beneath the glass cover, the friction of turning gears suddenly sounded. Judging by the thick pipe connected below the glass cover, this process clearly wasn’t complete, yet Salaar suddenly pulled down a lever and directly closed that thick pipe.
The black-gray mist was fully absorbed by the thin tube above the glass cover.
They passed through spiral glass tubes, slowly separating and condensing like essential oil extraction. Salaar’s golden blood vanished somewhere unknown. Only inside the collecting bottle the size of a human head, swaying black liquid gradually condensed.
“What is that?” Kendrick turned the puppet’s eyes and asked in a dry voice.
“That is ‘Peyton,’” Salaar said. “To be precise, it is Peyton’s emotions and thoughts after the interfering memories have been stripped away.”
“Now I have two pieces of news, one good and one bad. Which do you want to hear first?”
Kendrick didn’t seem to like this “game,” but he had no desire to waste time. “The good news.”
“The good news is that, just as you dreamed, Peyton Karns hasn’t completely vanished. His spirit has lost more than two-thirds of itself, but at least the root has been preserved.”
The puppet didn’t need to breathe, but Kendrick exhaled a long breath, as if a burden of tens of millions of pounds had been lifted.
“The bad news,” he said, almost peacefully.
“For him to fully awaken, it will take around ten years. During this period, you must carefully take care of his body and speak with him every day to stimulate his spirit.”
Salaar stated realistically, “To be honest, this will be very difficult, and it will be difficult to hide from others. Even if you move somewhere completely uninhabited, if V.O.R remembers you one day…”
“You don’t need to make a new body,” Kendrick interrupted Salaar.
“What, you want to give up?” Myss asked curiously. “At a time like this?”
“No,” Kendrick said. “Peyton should use the body that originally belonged to him. The one who had taken over his place was me.”
“I understand. You want to sacrifice yourself in exchange for Peyton’s return.”
Father Kalen said solemnly, his right hand pressing to his chest. “Only, ‘carefully taking care of’ a family member is no burden for the Karns family.”
“…No.” Kendrick smiled.
That smile didn’t resemble Peyton in the slightest. Instead, it held a faint neurotic quality, making even the puppet’s rigid features seem a little more sinister.
“I only think that I should take care of him in a way more ‘close to the body’ than ‘close personal care.’”
“Sir who calls himself ‘Saint Salaar,’ since you are so skilled in spiritual magic, then you should understand that two spirits can survive within the same flesh body.”
“Isn’t that madness?” Tass sucked in a cold breath.
He had indeed heard of similar cases. Certain people would develop multiple personalities.
Most of these people lived alone. Once their condition was exposed on a large scale, they were either sent to a church for exorcism or hauled off to an asylum. Only a tiny number of families were willing to continue supporting them.
Hearing such a painless evaluation as “madness,” Kendrick remained unmoved. “Peyton is my family, not some member of the Karns family.”
“For these ten years, I will take meticulous care of this body. And when he wakes, I am willing to return control of the body to him and let him decide whether I may ‘appear.’”
“Even if he learns of everything I have done over the years and wants to imprison me in his heart forever, I am willing. We will never be separated again.”
Salaar’s expression turned grave.
Stuffing two consciousness into one body was something he could do.
According to Kendrick, this was indeed the most beneficial option for Peyton’s recovery, and it wouldn’t easily alert V.O.R to anything abnormal.
The problem was whether, after Peyton woke, he could accept having an obsessive soul inside him.
“In exchange, before Peyton wakes, I’m willing to absolutely obey you, as long as your orders don’t harm my body. Since you are ‘Saint Salaar,’ you surely possess the means to bind such an oath.”
Kendrick continued in an icy, slippery tone, “…You desperately need my power, don’t you?”
Faced with such a price, Salaar ultimately sighed.
“Deal,” he said.
If the world still existed ten years from now, at worst, he could go deal with Peyton’s possible complaints then.
While the two discussed terms, Myss was thinking about something else.
His pupils faintly diffused as he stared fixedly at the strange machine in operation.
He could barely make out that filtering the “spirit” wasn’t the main purpose of this complex magical cluster. Rather, judging from how this machine operated, the “spirit” was a genuine impurity.
Looking at that pipe, the one that not even a skull could pass through and which Salaar had shut halfway through, the “flesh body” was most likely also an impurity that needed to be separated.
What it truly wanted to preserve was pure memory stripped of personality and emotion.
Yes. Thinking of it this way, all the strange things about this tower could be explained.
Why this place emphasized medical treatment and recuperation, why there were no corpses here… why so many wills were preserved downstairs.
Three hundred years ago, the members of the Celestial Canopy had come here, perhaps because they were ill, wounded, or too old. They spent the final period of their lives inside the tower until their lives were about to reach their end. In the end, they threw themselves into this strange alchemical machine and extracted everything from this life.
…The problem was, the Celestial Canopy’s mission was to oppose the Night Scourge, so why did it collect such a thing?
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