Endless Debt

"In fact, in this world there are not only extraordinary groups headed by devils, but also sublimation ones headed by humans."

At the dinner table, Jeffrey explained to Boluogo.

Boluogo nodded, picked up the bread and dipped it in some meat sauce, eating while listening to Jeffrey's words.

The noise of conversation came from all around, and everyone was full of people having lunch. There was no mystery about the extraordinary institution. Everyone communicated casually, and from time to time there were quarreling sounds from one side.

"Why are these dishes coming again? Does the cook still want to cook them?"

"Auntie! Keep your hands steady!"

"Don't shake! Don't shake! If you can't do it, let me do it!"

Words like this are endless.

Boluogo's expression was stiff. He didn't know whether to laugh or sigh that this place is close to life. In addition, the topic he and Jeffrey were talking about was obviously about mysterious extraordinary information, but there was no sense of mystery at all at the moment. They were talking about what to eat after get off work.

Thinking about it, I am a newbie who knows nothing, and the questions I am confused about should be the same as basic common sense in the eyes of these employees.

Jeffrey looked at the people around him, swallowed the food in his mouth, and said, "Don't worry, in order to maintain such a large organization, there are far more people in the logistics department than in the field department."

Judging from the known intelligence, the main body of the Order Bureau is the "decision-making room" led by the director of the Order Bureau. This is the command core of the Order Bureau. It is subdivided into several departments under its command, which are dispatched by the decision-making room.

Jeffrey works in the "Human Resources Department", which sounds pretty ordinary, but in order to select employees who can join the extraordinary world from countless candidates, the composition of this department is actually quite complicated.

The "Field Support Department" is a very special department, because it is responsible for external execution of tasks. It can be said that all departments except the Field Support Department can be regarded as "logistics". According to regulations, all departments must give priority to cooperate with the Field Support Department. Due to the special nature of the Field Service Department, its director is directly served by the Deputy Director of the Order Bureau.

"Logistics Department" literally means real logistics. It is closely connected with various departments and is responsible for all troublesome matters, such as material transfer, personnel transfer, fund allocation, maintenance of the order bureau and many other functions, including cleaning up the scene after the war. It is also part of their functions. The "ferryman" that Boluogo saw at the end of the assessment was specially set up by the Logistics Department to handle the battlefield.

Under the leadership of Jeffrey, Boluogo left the field department and arrived at the logistics department, which was the atrium where the two appeared when they first arrived at the Bureau of Order, and where the employee canteen was set up.

"Back to the Condensers, not only debtors and demons have those weird extraordinary powers, humans also have this power."

Jeffrey explained.

“In an era when history has yet to be recorded, scholars discovered a mysterious source of power, which we call the ‘Secret Source’.

In the following years, scholars began to understand, experiment, and gradually control the "secret source", or use the "secret source", just like we now use electricity to make lights illuminate the darkness, and use diesel to drive heavy vehicles. Mechanically the same.

They systematically summarized this knowledge and named it alchemy, and these scholars were called alchemists.

In the end, the alchemists fully understood this extraordinary power and developed 'tools' to harness this power and tame it. "

"The Alchemical Matrix."

Boluogo uttered the mysterious words, and the hazy and dim world gradually became clear.

Jeffrey nodded in affirmation and continued.

"The alchemy matrix is ​​a complex and cumbersome matrix, the reins of taming extraordinary power. It is like a fine circuit and a complex machinery. It triggers different effects depending on the composition of the matrix. We call its ability ' Secret energy'."

As he spoke, he took out the "Key of the Winding Path" and placed it on the dining table.

"Just like this 'Key to the Winding Path', it is essentially just an ordinary key, but it has been implanted into the 'Alchemy Matrix', and the 'secret' effect of this 'Alchemy Matrix' is to open different areas 'Gate'."

"When the 'Alchemy Matrix' is implanted into the weapon..."

Boluogo recalled, remembering the blade-biting wolf that was wearing a sharp blade and was killing and suppressing during the assessment.

"This type of 'carrier' that is implanted with the 'alchemy matrix' and carries extraordinary power is collectively called the alchemy weapon. The Blade Bite Wolf you encountered can be understood as an alchemy weapon."

Jeffrey explained.

"Then the Sublime One...the human body is implanted with an 'alchemy matrix', which gives the human body the ability to control extraordinary power, right?"

Boluogo deduced, his breathing quickening slightly.

If the alchemy matrix of the "Key to the Winding Path" could be implanted into the human body, would Bologo have the "secret power" to open any door? No matter how far the distance is, it can be easily crossed.

"Yes, but not entirely right."

Jeffrey corrected.

"The 'alchemical matrix' is not implanted in the 'object', its 'carrier' is the soul."

Picking up the "Key to the Winding Path", Jeffrey's voice became heavy and solemn.

"Remember what I told you before? Everything has a soul, even iron, stone and flesh."

Boluogo listened carefully to Jeffrey's words,

"As for the Sublime Ones, they are human beings whose souls have been implanted with the 'Alchemy Matrix', and thus gain the ability to control extraordinary power."

"But how do you implant the 'Alchemy Matrix' into the soul? That is something invisible and intangible." Boluogo asked.

The corners of Jeffrey's mouth were slightly raised, and his voice was filled with mystery and unknownness.

"That's why we need 'sublimation' to transform the soul from nothingness into an entity that can be interfered with. That's why we are called 'sublimation ones'."

Boluogo was stunned for a while, and then he made a new move. He picked up the remaining bread and stuffed it into his mouth with the meat sauce stuck on it.

This feeling is very strange, just like the feeling when I first came to this other world. There are new and unknown things everywhere, which is both ecstatic and unsettling and confusing.

"In other words, there is a Philosopher's Stone in the body of the Sublime One... at least an entity similar to the Philosopher's Stone, right? And it is also engraved with complicated formations, just like an engine, driving the extraordinary in your body. Power."

Boluogo tried to accept all this. It sounded like this was the weakness of the Condenser. Once the embodied soul in the body was taken out, they would definitely die.

"Yeah, but it's different from what you think. The soul of the Sublime One is not presented in a physical way. It is somewhere between nothingness and substance."

Jeffrey's next words shattered Boluogo's guess.

"Condensation will cause the nihilistic soul to directly solidify into an entity, bypassing the liquefaction process of the soul, thereby refining the so-called philosopher's stone. When we implant the 'alchemy matrix', the soul will enter a semi-condensation state and undergo material transformation. Three state changes.

From the void 'qi', it becomes a flowing 'liquid', and then condenses into a solid 'solid'.

The implantation of the 'Alchemy Matrix' occurs at the 'liquid' stage. It has an entity, but has not yet solidified, and still has a plastic form. We implant and cover the 'Alchemy Matrix' at this stage. After the covering is successful, the ceremony That's it.

The human soul cannot be bound, so after the ceremony, our soul will stop the process of condensation, and will transform from 'liquid' to void 'qi' again, but this time it will have an 'alchemy matrix' attached to it. "

Speaking of this, Jeffrey remembered something and reminded Boluogo.

“Part of the guesswork you asked me about about the generation of soul fragments came from here.

The generation of debris is the 'loss' that occurs due to changes in the soul's form. This can also be explained by condensation. The process of condensation requires the release of heat, and the part that is released may be the soul debris. "

After saying that, Jeffrey quickly picked up the hot soup that was almost cold, took a few sips, and wiped the corners of his mouth with a tissue.

"Is there anything else you have doubts about?"

"Yes, although you said it lightly, interfering and implanting souls sounds very risky." Boluogo said.

"That's right, not only is the risk high, even if alchemy has developed to this day, the process of implanting the 'alchemy matrix' is still full of uncertainties. And as I said before, the soul determines the body. Do you feel that during the ritual, the soul is being manipulated? How can our bodies be any better if we interfere?"

Jeffrey's voice was muffled.

"There are often examples where the soul successfully accepts the 'Alchemy Matrix', but the body falls apart during the ritual. What's worse is that the soul cannot carry the 'Alchemy Matrix', and the soul collapses and the body dies."

Everything Jeffrey just said is knowledge accumulated through countless, blood-stained examples.

"Is this why there are so few staff in the field department?"

The risk is extremely high, but Bologo is still very interested in implanting the "alchemy matrix".

"Part of the reason, and the other part is that field operations are indeed very high-risk. This is what I wanted to tell you at the beginning. You will not only face demons, but also those hostile Sublimationists who carry strange and unknown powers." Secret energy'."

"You know, Bologo, I am actually a Condenser, but I just took a back seat." Jeffrey laughed sinisterly and whispered to Bologo, "If we are hostile now, what will you do? How to do it?"

Boluogo glanced sideways at the chair beside him and said coldly, "Pick up the chair and smash your head."

"So, what if my 'secret power' is to make the target that is looking at me unable to move?"

Hearing this, Boluogo tried to look away, but during the conversation just now, he had already looked at Jeffrey.

Jeffrey still had that friendly smile that came into his eyes, but this friendliness seemed a bit colder now.

"Look, you can't move," Jeffrey said. "I don't even need to control you all the time. As long as I can stop you for a few seconds, I can pick up the spoon and stab it through your throat. "

"You know, I was once a member of the field service. Although I gained weight, the muscles on my body were only covered by fat." Jeffrey said as he rolled up his sleeves, revealing arms that seemed to have no muscles at all.

"But I am immortal." Boluogo responded indifferently.

"Yes, but I can smash your body repeatedly and keep you in a state of 'death'. You also said that if you die multiple times in a short period of time, you will fall into a coma and be rendered powerless."

silence.

After a while, Boluogo felt a sudden realization. He realized what his problem was. In this extraordinary world, the immortal body may be powerful, but it is not powerful in an absolute sense. He still has a lot to learn. Arrogance will only kill yourself.

"I understand what you mean." Boluogo nodded seriously, sincerely.

"This is the battle between condensers. It's like guessing games. They test each other, guess each other's 'secret power', find the weakness, and give a fatal blow."

Jeffrey approved of Boluogo's attitude. It was really not easy for him to make Boluogo, a guy with some mental problems, listen to his opinions seriously.

“The strong are respected, but the fittest survive.

This is a saying that has been circulated in the Bureau of Order for a long time. The battle that the Ninghua people have to face is full of deceit and weirdness.

In most cases, we don't know what kind of enemy we are facing, how many people there are, and what kind of "secret power" we are facing. All we can do is adapt, improvise, and find out through constant trial and error. The enemy's weak point and then slit his throat. "

When Jeffrey said this, his eyes dimmed a lot, as if he was recalling the battles in his early years.

"Intelligence is life." Bologg said, he understood the true meaning behind Jeffrey's words.

"That's right." Jeffrey nodded appreciatively.

"Then..." Boluogo thought of Jeffrey's "what if" just now, and looked suspiciously at the guy who was transferred back from the field to logistics, "Is the effect of your 'secret energy' really just like that of 'what if'" ?”

Jeffrey smiled and responded to him with the words Boluogo had just said.

"Intelligence is life."