"Lucien was also a person from the ancestral era, originally a Golden Guard of the Madeline family. He died in an action when robbers attacked the estate."

Rose continued her introduction, pointing to a muscular big man equipped with a matchlock gun and carrying a long blade on his waist, whose aura was significantly stronger than the other ghosts.

At this moment, the big man seemed somewhat tense, clearly because of Tang Qi's identity as a Melter Wizard.

He did not mind and nodded to him.

Rose then pointed to another side, towards an extremely handsome man dressed in nobility clothing from the Old Calendar Era, barely stifling a laugh, she introduced, "This is Brad, originally a neighbor of the Madeline family. He dueled someone for one of my grandmothers, and the result..."

The ghost called "Brad," upon having his dark history mentioned, showed no displeasure, instead, he gracefully bowed to the two.

Later, Tang Qi sequentially met other ghosts of the Madeline family, such as the gardener Rubens, Belon who was executed for having an affair with a lady of the Madeline family, among others.

From a brief interaction, Tang Qi astonishingly noticed that there were as many as dozens of ghosts gathered within Madeline Manor.

Although most were not very powerful, and if placed outside, only a few had 'Professional Level' combat capabilities.

Yet, within the Madeline Manor, these ghosts received certain enhancements and blessings, making them difficult to deal with by other Transcendent Professionals, unless encountering extraordinary professionals with particular dominance over ghosts.

Interestingly, all these ghosts belonged to the 'Order, Good Camp' without exception.

At most, there were characters like 'Strazan', fond of pranking yet causing no significant harm.

"The reason might still be that unknown Undead Kingdom. Its sovereign 'Death God' must be a God inclined towards good, though most Death Gods are absolutely neutral, occasionally some might deviate towards evil or good."

"With them here, I can fully concentrate on my research."

As her words fell, Rose took Tang Qi to a three-meter-tall gateway.

At first glance, Tang Qi's attention was captured.

Before him, he saw complex, powerful symbols, each belonging to different Mages, Wizard Sects, or even other Professional Sects.

Yet now, these symbols were engraved harmoniously on a gateway without conflict, crafted from wood naturally patterned like eyeballs and dark yellow tinged red.

From his knowledge in Mysticism, Tang Qi recognized the wood as coming from a very rare tree species, 'Dawn Tree', which was widespread during the Age of Ignorance but greatly diminished during the Dark Era. Nowadays, it was desperate to find even a few on the vast Origin Star.

"Dawn Wood is exceptionally accommodating to most Extraordinary Powers, highly suitable for hosting Forbidden Techniques and witchcraft... This gateway can withstand most Transcendent beings below 'Legendary Level'."

As this information emerged in his mind.

Unbeknownst to him what Rose did, the gateway noiselessly opened.

Inside, the initial darkness was dispelled by automatically lighting lamps.

Under the warm yellow light, Tang Qi immediately saw the setup inside the portal.

It was a true study, not merely something decorative like in building 426 of Lovcek.

In view, the three walls were high with bookshelves crafted from Dark Red Boro Wood, each filled with various books, each bearing the marks of time. In the middle, surrounded by bookcases, a splendid spiral staircase led to a similar second level.

Although in terms of layout and quantity of books, Rose Madeline's study couldn't compare to the 'Library Tower' of the Witch School.

But it should be noted, this was merely Rose Madeline's personal study, and the Madeline family was not one of those deeply established Extraordinary Families; all these books were likely personally collected by Rose Madeline.

The Library Tower, however, was the accumulation of each generation of Witches from the Witch Group.

When admiration flashed in Tang Qi's eyes, a silent ghost appeared in front of them.

This was an elderly lady, dressed properly, wearing tortoiseshell reading glasses, her aged eyes always twinkling with wisdom.

Seeing Rose Madeline, the old lady showed a surprised smile, without any screaming, instead, she merely greeted them with a bow, "Miss, you've returned."

"This must be your guest, I'll go prepare some refreshments."

After speaking, and upon receiving a nod from Rose, the old lady smiled, turned around, and drifted towards the wall, seamlessly fading into it, leaving one to wonder where she was preparing refreshments?

As soon as the old woman left, Rose Madeline quickly introduced:

"Grace is my study's Administrator, she's also a polymath and my assistant."

As the words ended, Rose already stepped into the study and quickly entered her "work mode."

Even before Tang Qi was ready, Rose began quickly climbing the ladders attached to the bookshelves, pulling out a large number of relevant books.

First, stacking them on the ladder's frame, then simply tossing them down, since Tang Qi could catch them.

"Tang, your idea is very interesting and quite bold. Which polymath wouldn't want to know, what kind of species those 'All Spirits' are, and how one could become one of them?"

"These two questions have indeed been researched by human ancestors since the early Dark Era, and some races older than humans have engaged in similar contemplations."

"But they were not as bold as you are. You actually thought of experimenting on a relatively weaker 'Divine,' which is so thrilling."

Tang Qi allowed the three little guys to catch the books Rose kept throwing down while listening to her directly spill the secret thoughts he had previously expressed.

Fortunately, there were no "outsiders" present here.

Nor was there any need to worry about such horrifying thoughts being leaked.

"To understand the essence of the Divine and to obtain unbelievable hidden knowledge, Tang Qi and Rose actually plan to select a Divine being as their test subject... This mad approach, though not pioneered by them, was indeed attempted by some mad scholars during the Dark Era, almost all ending in failure."

"Even so, each of those mad scholars has left their own brilliantly luminous names in the annals of mystical history."

"Now, Tang Qi and Rose are about to do the same."

"Or rather, it is Tang Qi who wants to do this, and Rose is merely influenced by Tang Qi's persuasion to actively assist."

Watching Rose rapidly transition from a 'Female Drunkard' to a female studious type, Tang Qi did not advise her to not get too excited; the plan hadn't really started yet, it was just a rough idea of his.

There are a vast number of "All Spirits" above the Mystical.

But choosing a suitable Divine as a test subject is not so easy.

As a test subject, apart from being weak and easier to handle, it also needs to fulfill other stringent conditions.

With thoughts moving in his mind, Tang Qi walked to the center and first glanced at the books dropped by Rose.

Mostly, they were broad documents like "Divine Secret Record," "Quantitative and Verification Statistics of All Spirits," "List of Weakest Divines."

Mixed among them, Tang Qi also saw one or two unrelated books.

Exotic Realm Mysterious Species Directory!

Great Race Compendium!

His expression slightly changing, Tang Qi understood; although Rose had completely lost hope in her "husband" Howard Roland, she still harbored a strong curiosity and an even stronger... desire for revenge against the creators of the behind-the-scenes schemes.

Glancing over, Tang Qi didn't say anything; he was also very curious about the supposed "Great Race Vitsdon people."

Being a member of that race, that engineer was able to experiment with the Devouring Beast, and no matter how it was achieved, the power and methods used were perhaps close to those of a true Divine.

"The Devouring Beast is test subject HG26, having lost It, the engineer surely won't easily overlook it, will he continue to send other test subjects to the Origin Star?"

Questions emerged, and lacking understanding, Tang Qi could not immediately provide an answer.

Speaking of which, his idea to choose a weaker "Divine" for experimentation was indeed inspired by that unknown "Engineer."

Just as Tang Qi was contemplating, he suddenly sensed something and turned around just in time to see the old woman Grace drifting in through the main door carrying pastries, followed by Faber, Lucien, and other Ghosts each bringing with them some mechanically odd objects.

Each object radiated the aura of Curios.

Like the object Faber struggled to bring in, resembling a "retro fax machine," it looked like a dead mechanical alien that had been forcibly compressed; as it passed by Rose, she casually pressed it.

But white steam quickly burst forth, quickly dissipating, and from beneath the grey-black skull that served as the "spout," sheets of documents were rapidly ejected.

Rose walked past holding a large stack of books, simultaneously casually activating those "Curios."

For a time, the study was filled with the sounds of steam hissing and gears turning.

"These are documents summarized by various organizations for me, with a very low level of confidentiality, as a consultant like me, I have the authority to read and provide some opinions... If it's a high-level event, confidential summoning and consultation will be conducted."

Hearing Rose's voice filled with trust, Tang Qi was first slightly stunned, then he revealed a smile.

With Howard Roland, this "Engineer Test Subject," dead, all that work he had usurped had returned back into the hands of Rose Madeline.

"After being modified by the engineer, Howard Roland always had consistent knowledge alienation, cognitive distortion, which indeed made it quite easy to deceive those core forces of those organizations before contact."

"Hmm, perhaps, turning Howard Roland into a test subject, was also one of that Engineer's schemes?"

As he pondered, Tang Qi casually looked towards that retro fax machine in the form of a Mechanical Alien; it had just stopped spitting out documents.

At a casual glance, he noticed the topmost page, the heading featuring the logo of a foreign organization "Giant Beast Containment Foundation."

A spark of curiosity ignited within him, his eyes scanned across, several mysterious events were described:

"Southern Continent, on the sea border of the Angen Empire, in the deep waters of the Mennis Sea Trench, crew members of a deep-sea fishing vessel witnessed the phantom of a giant beast, its shape and calls initially identified it as the Dark Era early-stage giant beast Napolas Sea Snake... The Foundation has already collected related recordings and photos."

"Near the Old Continent's Blue Ice Islands, a mysterious island, an exploration team composed of several dozen Transcendents, following a treasure map's guidance, accidentally awakened a dormant unknown giant beast deep within the island, which killed most of the exploration team members before returning to its cave; the following are descriptions from surviving members... The Foundation is temporarily unable to ascertain the origins of this giant beast, any clues or information, please reply immediately."

…

ps: After asking for votes, my rank actually fell, Fat Fish cried, there's still an update tonight, plea

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