"Has the Angel been emotionally stable this month?"

Mica, the head of Blood Prison Research Institute, sat atop a pile of rubies, looking at the starry sky and recalling the torrential rain he encountered on his first day at Ruby Mountain.

Ruby Mountain exhibits a 'gravitational accumulation phenomenon' where gravity is lowest on its surface. However, once you leave the mountain's surface, gravity rapidly increases, and the higher you go, the greater the gravity. In fact, just three meters above ground causes a mage's Void Wings to plummet.

That feeling is akin to being crushed by an invisible, terrifying giant force.

This phenomenon does not only affect mages; every natural occurrence at Ruby Mountain is influenced by gravitational accumulation. The wind becomes penetrating, hail transforms into explosive rain, sunlight intensifies into poisonous rays, and rain turns into soul-consuming showers.

Mica was overly excited upon climbing Ruby Mountain, mistaking the storm for some kind of trial mechanism, so he faced it head-on without activating his Holy Domain, only realizing something was wrong after nearly half his soul was corroded. It took him three full years in reality to recover.

Ruby Mountain, the aspiration of millions of mages throughout history, is nothing more than a meticulously forged cage.

Yet, mages continue to ascend Ruby Mountain year after year, standing at the pinnacle of the Void Realm and gazing at the sky. Their vision is not blocked by the silver mist, not veiled by the reverse golden rain, nor filled with dream bubble shadows. They see everything, yet they do not see... the path.

Mica had long condensed his blood-gun-colored Void Wings, achieving the perfect 7-gun, 3-blood ratio. As the oldest Gun Master, pure gun color was too extreme, pure blood color didn't suit him, and only a mixed color could perfectly showcase his strength. Although he had theoretically reached the limits of a mage and didn't need to strive further, he insisted on logging into the Void Realm, regardless of the harsh weather.

No one knows how Ruby Mountain's weather is formed; even the most advanced meteorologists find no clues. Legendary Mage jokes that the weather of Ruby Mountain is related to the Ruby Angel, claiming the angel's emotions are quite unstable—sometimes sunny, sometimes gloomy, sometimes wailing, sometimes raging—like a girl who just lost a lover.

Therefore, after Mica watched the starry sky for an entire month, he faintly sensed something happening beyond his sight.

Ruby Mountain's weather might not be connected to the Ruby Angel, but the sudden stabilization of the chaotic weather system is evidently a sign of drastic change.

However, he wasn't too concerned; no matter how the Void Realm changes, could it possibly shut down?

Besides, Mica's focus had long shifted from the Void Realm. Compared to the starry sky of Ruby Mountain, he was more interested in the upcoming annual financial meeting.

Due to the concept explosion of the Sky Gate, all research institutes of the Kingdom of Blood Moon will undoubtedly focus on exploring the potential of the Sky Gate concept. However, because Sky Gate Technique Spirit is a scarce resource, the resource allocation and national support in the financial meeting become crucial.

As the head of Blood Prison Research Institute, Mica's competitors naturally are the other four major institutes.

The Sin of Blood Research Institute is not a concern, as Vice-Director Baiyu disgraced himself in his ghost inheritance battle, tarnishing the honor of Sin of Blood. It is Blood Tears Research Institute that Mica finds particularly troublesome, mainly because Blood Tears saw the emergence of an empress candidate—within six months, from silver directly ascending to Holy Domain—a prodigy mage, Siflin Gaowen!

Though the Blood Saint Clan's early cultivation speed is notoriously quick, ascending at such a staggering pace is unprecedented.

Since Siflin's blood ritual took place at Shattered Lake Prison, recent months saw various research institutes sending Medical Practitioners to Shattered Lake Prison, hoping to replicate the rise of a genius. Siflin's Medical Practitioner ID "222" became a popular number, surpassing even the number of inmates.

Geniuses often receive preferential treatment, benefiting those around them.

Not only were living legends like Mica alarmed, but even pre-epoch ancient relics came out of their graves. After thorough investigation, they found this genius had no major faults aside from once releasing a death row inmate, generally regarded as a good girl.

Moreover, Siflin is the personal student of the Blood Tears Research Institute Director. When she underwent investigation, Vice-Director Serele supervised, showcasing Blood Tears' protective stance. When ancient relics returned to their graves, they praised 'Blood Tears did well' thrice and gazed at Siflin with deep affection, clearly embracing her fully.

While Mica's Blood Prison Research Institute didn't shame itself like the Sin of Blood, it paled in comparison to Blood Tears, which stole the spotlight. If Blood Tears uses this opportunity to establish a leading position in Sky Gate research, the four major institutes might transform into one leading three strong.

Genius births, after all, are rare 'black swan' events; Mica might grumble but can only accept his fate.

Nevertheless, he's not entirely helpless.

Because he discovered that genius is not by chance.

Amusingly, Mica found the loophole all thanks to Blood Tears Research Institute's protective stance. Blood Tears allowed scrutiny of their genius but demanded compensation, suggesting Blood Moon should open its stockpile to reward Siflin.

Everyone agreed, but Mica, with a keen eye, examined Siflin's list of Technique Spirits rewards. He discovered something peculiar—she requested a Three-winged Soul Spirit!

Although the Blood Saint Clan excels in rites such as Blood Magic, Spirit, and Illusion Technique factions, investigation reports indicate Siflin is a pure Blood Mage.

Certainly, this doesn't mean much, as Siflin's senior Serele is a Spiritual Sanctuary, and although Siflin's master does not primarily focus on Spirit, she has achieved Holy Domain. The Spirit faction is an unshakeable traditional skill of their lineage, making Siflin's desire to practice in the Spirit faction reasonable.

Moreover, even if she doesn't cultivate the Spirit faction, she can utilize Spirit Mage.

She might intend to amuse herself by acquiring the Technique Spirit for consumption, which Mica can't interfere with.

But Mica linked this to a minor incident: Siflin has a subordinate Meiwa who happens to be a Two-winged Mage.

Upon a brief investigation, this Meiwa was found to be rather impressive, achieving Two-winged Mage status from nothing within six months. While this performance pales against Blood Saint Mage, it's hardly exceptional, considering Blood Saint Clan's maximum Magic Power absorption efficiency in the Sea of Knowledge is 830% that of ordinary mages, enabling rapid silver Magic Power accumulation even without encountering a Vortex.

Like Mica himself, who reached Time Continent from zero in seven months despite dying once to a Fish-Slicing Dragon.

Though birds of a feather flock together, these two mages with unnaturally swift cultivation speeds happen to be inseparable friends, inevitably provoking Mica's suspicion—the Three-winged Soul Spirit might be Siflin's gift to Meiwa.

This cannot have been pre-arranged, as predicting one's ascension to Holy Domain timing is impossible; stories of prodigious acceleration followed by lifelong stagnation at the Holy Domain's threshold were tiresome even a hundred years ago.

While it's possible Siflin might fervently court Meiwa, considering affectionate whispers work equally on women, Mica prefers to entertain another insane possibility—Meiwa might also be a Holy Sanctuary Mage.

The secrets they share could be the key to rapid advancement.

Unveiling this could undoubtedly prompt the headquarters to reopen investigations. When a secret becomes crucial enough, even geniuses can be sacrificed as offerings.

Mica wasn't wavering over antagonizing Blood Tears but pondering if using this trump card just at the annual financial meeting is too wasteful. However, without clear evidence, rash disclosure leading to embarrassment for Blood Prison would be the consequence.

He decided to discreetly capture Meiwa, Mica mused.

If she reveals herself as a Holy Domain resisting, she'd be exposing the secret; if she doesn't, she's concealing it deeply.

After all, it's just a Meiwa.

As Mica pondered, he suddenly sensed a slight tremor from the ground.

The gravity of Ruby Mountain is related to the number of mages present; whenever mages enter Ruby Mountain, a change in gravity coefficient causes mountain vibrations.

He casually picked up a ruby, crushed it.

A list floated before him, containing no names, only rows of colors. Some colors were bright, others dim, with hues at the front of the list being vibrant and those at the back being monotonous.

Mica gently stroked the list, causing names to appear on about one-tenth of the colors. Apart from a few True Names, most were nicknames, like 'Dazzling Star Alchemy King', 'Gospel Flame Dragon', 'Paradise Cursist', etc.

"Hmm?"

He scrolled through the list, finding three rows of very dull colors at the bottom that contrasted sharply with the others, making Mica's eyes widen.

"Newcomers? Or weaklings?"

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