Endless Debt

"You take a look first."

Jeffrey threw a document over, and then emphasized, "Be sure to look at it carefully."

Boluogo took the document, sat on the sofa and read it, word for word. He had never taken it so seriously when he signed the contract.

"Those who bear power..."

Jeffrey sighed from the side, "This is a watershed moment."

Boluogo nodded while reading. In the Order Bureau, the Power Bearer is already considered a high-level combatant. After Boluogo is promoted to the Power Bearer, if his seniority is deeper, he can theoretically form an independent special operations team. , leading a brand new action team alone.

Of course, this is only theoretical.

The composition of each action group of the Order Bureau is not consistent, and because of their different functions, there is a clear distinction in combat power between each action group. For example, the tenth group has Gauld, the defender, among them. The situation also occurred in the fourth group.

The fourth group of Abyss Watchers is responsible for guarding the evils in this world. Their leader is also a defender and the youngest defender in the Bureau of Order. Among all the defenders, he is responsible for the alchemy of Matrix is ​​the latest iteration of the generation.

There is also the ninth group, the atheists, whose functions are related to the devil. Although there are no defenders among them, there are several power-bearers, and they are also a very powerful force.

In addition, Boluogo also heard that there are defenders in the seventh group, but as an action group that infiltrates intelligence, they are very thorough in keeping their own secrets. The authenticity of this intelligence is yet to be determined.

In contrast, the special operations group is undoubtedly an extremely deformed one, with very few members and a huge disparity in overall strength.

But it is such an inexplicable and mysterious action group that has been involved in many major events, and they are also responsible for exploring the truth about the devil and putting an end to it all.

To be precise, only Boluogo is responsible for it, and everyone else is a helper to help him move forward.

Every time he realized this, Boluogo felt an inexplicable feeling of fatigue.

"You're really lucky, you have all the resources you need."

Jeffrey said with envy, "I was just like you, and I was promoted to a Prayer in the second year. But in order to earn enough money to exchange resources, I worked for another four years before I was successfully promoted to a Power Bearer."

"How long did it take for your soul to be stable?"

"Three years."

Boluogo rolled his eyes at Jeffrey, and Jeffrey laughed.

The implantation and promotion of the alchemical matrix can be regarded as an operation on the soul. After each operation, it takes a certain amount of time for the wound to heal.

The length of time it takes for everyone's soul to return to stability is different. For example, Boluogo, although he is a debtor, his soul is unexpectedly stable.

The soul is like a piece of ice. The implantation and promotion of the alchemical matrix is ​​to melt the ice, and then wait for the melted liquid to cool down until it solidifies into ice again.

This is a self-circulation of the soul.

Even if his soul is unstable, Bologo can forcibly be promoted by virtue of his immortal nature.

Theoretically, Bologg can reach the Glorious One in one go, but this is just a theory. There are too many risks waiting for him on the way to promotion. Just like when he is promoted to a Prayer, without the help of astronauts, Bologg will Almost lost, his consciousness evaporated, his body turned into a living corpse.

Even if Borogo can withstand this many trials, multiple operations on the soul in a short period of time will still bring great risks, not to mention that each operation is so complicated and in-depth, which may damage Borogo. Ge's alchemical matrix, thereby distorting and deforming it.

A deformed soul.

This is what alchemists call this situation, and this situation often occurs on the way to promotion to the Negative. The twisted alchemical matrix will affect the soul and even be mapped to the body, and then further destroy the individual's will.

In order to avoid this unnecessary trouble, Boluoge moved forward step by step.

A powerful bishop.

As Jeffrey said, this level is the dividing line between the ordinary and the extraordinary.

In the ranks before the Power Bearer, the distortion of the human body by the ether is not obvious, but after reaching the Power Bearer, the ether will sublimate the mortal body, thus giving Bologo the etheric qualities.

Pure etheric energy will replace human flesh and blood to a certain extent, and the affinity with ether will be further increased. Some people with authority can even transform themselves into pure human beings through the cooperation of secret energy and etherification. The ether dispersed.

Boluogo has seen similar examples in the book. There is a person with power who has the ability to control thunder. After becoming etherified, he can even turn himself into thunder, travel at high speed within the city power grid, or affect the entire city. of electricity to fight.

In comparison, Lebius and Geoffrey, whom Bologo was familiar with, did not study etherization in depth and regarded it as an incidental trait.

The situation of Lebius was unclear to Boluogo, but why he knew about Jeffrey.

Jeffrey is similar to Palmer to a certain extent. He is a somewhat lazy person. If the special operations group had not been established, Jeffrey would have worked in the logistics department until his retirement.

According to the content described in the document, the Hall of Scholars has designed a separate promotion process for Boluogo. Boluogo flipped through several pages and found long paragraphs full of academic terms.

Bologg felt a headache after reading it, and then he saw the notes that Bailey left for him on the next few pages. She explained this part of the content to him in sentences that Bologg could understand.

"Promotion is just incidental. The main purpose is to explore the etheric world through the deeper connection with the secret source during promotion."

Boluogo knew this. As the concentration of ether increased and the original things appeared, the Hall of Scholars began to doubt the authenticity of the world.

They suspect that another dimension, the etheric realm, is gradually overlapping with the material world. Because the overlapping area between the two is getting larger and larger, the ether concentration is also rising. It is difficult to imagine what will happen when the two dimensions completely overlap.

Bologger could guess what was going on.

First, ether will fill every corner of the world. All human beings will be bathed in the brilliance of ether. The alchemical matrix will advance by leaps and bounds. The iterations between sublime practitioners will become faster and faster. Then there will be a large number of ether vortex points. Appeared, high-concentration ether materialized in the real world, setting off a series of naturally occurring extraordinary disasters.

What a chaotic and magnificent scene it was.

Just like the industrial revolution of mankind, it may be another extraordinary revolution.

Jeffrey asked, "Do you have any questions? It's best to ask them here so I can give them feedback."

"No more," Boluogo shook his head, "I don't have any ideas."

"Okay, you can go back," Jeffrey added, "Don't work these days. I'll give you and Palmer a leave. You two can take a rest and stay in a good mood."

"Why take Palmer?"

"How productive do you think he can be without you?" Jeffrey complained. "Instead of being annoyed by it, it would be better to ask him to go with you."

"ah……"

Boluogo raised his eyebrows and tried to control his expression.

"Come on, I'm very busy," Jeffrey urged Bologg, but when Bologg was about to leave, he said, "You can look forward to it, Bologg."

Boluogo looked at Jeffrey with a playful look in his eyes, "Those who hold power are a watershed, and you will see a brand new world."

"Um."

Bologger nodded.

…

"Every change in alchemy matrix technology will create a huge generation gap between condensers. Even if they are at the same level, the impact of the generation gap will be suppressive."

A hazy voice sounded next to his ears, and the man continued, "Actually, from this point of view, every Ninghua practitioner has extremely bad 'age anxiety'."

"Once the pace slows down, it will become an old thing and be eliminated by young people."

The man tried to respond, "New things eliminate old things. This is the law of all things."

"But as the concentration of ether increases, the speed of change will become faster and faster. Maybe this group of condensers has not yet grown up, and another group of condensers has already joined the stage of the times with a brand-new alchemical matrix."

The voice became distressed, "What can be foreseen is that one day in the future, the condensers will be produced in large quantities, just like the goods on the factory assembly line, being continuously put into the battlefield, and their power will increase day by day, until Destroy everyone."

The man said, "Are you worried about war?"

"From a certain point of view, I am the arms manufacturer of war. It is always right to worry about the future market prospects."

"You're not going to lose your job anyway."

"Ha ha."

The voice didn't laugh for too long, he paused, and after a while he said again, "The generation gap of the alchemical matrix is ​​not completely impossible to catch up with."

The man did not respond immediately. He was half lying on the operating table. His muscles were sore and tingling. He was mentally exhausted and sleepy. There were dim light paths floating on the surface of the exposed skin. The extremely complicated patterns are like carving countless transformations into the limited skin.

"Do you need painkillers?"

A slightly rickety figure appeared next to the man. He pulled a cart with bottles and cans on it.

"No... no, I need to stay awake," the man said. "You also said that it is a miracle that I can be promoted in this state. I need to stay awake to deal with any possible strange reactions."

"A miracle indeed, Lebius."

The other party took a look at Lebius's body. His strong body was covered with scars, which were injuries that even the etheric person could not avoid. To this day, there are still residual ethers that are nailed into the body like steel needles. The most serious one is It was Lebius' ankle. The injury could not be completely healed. For this reason, Lebius had to be on crutches for all these years.

Lebius whispered his thanks, "Thank you, Mamo."

"nothing."

Mamo said, reaching out to touch the scars on Lebius's body, "You were injured too badly during the Secret War. The enemy's ether flow penetrated your alchemical matrix, leaving wounds everywhere on them."

Viewed as a whole, the brightness of the alchemical matrix light covering Lebius's body was inconsistent. In some areas, the light of the ether was extremely dim, and it was completely extinguished where his injured leg was.

The alchemical matrix is ​​engraved into the soul, reflected on the body, and driven by the combination of body, mind, and spirit.

After being promoted to a power-bearer, the etheric body and soul overlap and undergo the highest sublimation. At this time, the trauma that is enough to kill a human cannot break the etheric body, but it is enough to leave scars deep in the soul.

Such soul scars are all over Lebius's body. Although his soul is stable, it is like a debtor, full of loopholes and wounds, and the risk of promotion has increased several times.

"Such a soul scar alone is not enough to limit your promotion. The real trouble is the blood contract on your body."

Mamo's expression was serious, and he was vaguely aware of the madness in Lebius. It was so weak that no one noticed it even after so many years after the end of the Secret War.

This is not because Lebius concealed it very well, but in the blood contract transaction, he did not get much from the devil.

Lebius said, "It's just a wish. I have not received any favor from Belphegor, nor am I his debtor."

"But you have his protection."

Mamo stretched out his hand with some sadness, trying to smooth Lebius's frown. Lebius always looked like this nervous and could not relax for a moment.

Everyone thought that Lebius was an overworked workaholic, but only the top brass of the Bureau of Order knew that it was a curse of protection that would never rest under eternal toil.

"It's nothing, haven't I been successfully promoted now?"

Rebius recalled the terrible risks in his promotion, and then felt the power in his body. He clenched his fists and felt a faint joy in his heart.

"I am very satisfied that I can survive until now," Lebius said half-jokingly. "I was already prepared to be liquidated after the war."

"How could it be? You made the deal with Belphegor just to win the war."

Mamo knew the inside story of the Secret War, and he sighed again, "Just like the prank of fate, without the protection of eternal labor, it will be difficult for you to persist in the chaos of the timeline for so long."

Regarding this part of the information, Mamo also learned about it after the Secret War. During the countless overlapping offensives, only the absolutely clear will brought by eternal labor can withstand countless tortures. Only in this way Only with the protection can Lebius be able to fight against the sixth seat.

"Because of my involvement with the devil," Lebius said, "it is a pity that I cannot join the crowd."

Mamo smiled and thought of another thing, "Do your partners and team members know these things?"

Lebius shook his head, "They don't know, and they don't need to know."

Within the Bureau of Order, only a handful of people knew about this experience of Lebius. Being involved in the chaos of the timeline, he chose to trade with Belphegor in order to disrupt the offensive of the Sixth Seat, and obtained the freedom from being deceived. Eternal labor.

The serious injuries suffered during the Secret War, as well as part of the soul sacrificed in the deal with the devil, together made it difficult for Lebius to be promoted. In the following years, Lebius has been lingering in the position of a person with power. Position, never dare to take a step forward.

It wasn't until the sixth seat came again that Lebius made up his mind completely.

Lebius succeeded. He passed the dangerous trial and reached the rank of defender.

"You have just been promoted to the base defender, and your current strength is not enough to fight against the sixth seat," Mamo said. "From the iteration of the alchemy matrix, you two are in the same generation, but he became the base defender." It’s been too long, maybe we’ve reached the edge of being a Glorious One.”

"I know, that's why I want to know what you said."

Lebius's goal is very clear, "How to catch up with the generation difference of the alchemical matrix?"

It takes an extremely long time from implanting the Alchemy Matrix to becoming a usable combat force, and while the Condenser grows, the generation gap of the Alchemy Matrix continues.

It can be said that the alchemical matrices carried by the existing high-level condensers in the world are already behind the times. The new generation of alchemical matrices is being carried by new people, and they need time to catch up with these predecessors.

In contrast, what Mamo said about catching up with technology is extremely important, and it may be able to bridge the gap between Lebius and the Sixth Seat.

"It's very simple, just equip yourself with more powerful alchemy weapons." Mamo said, "This is no secret."

"Sublimation ones need time to grow, but alchemy weapons don't. As long as you have enough ether to support them, they can function.

The capacity of Mang Yin's soul is not as good as that of Chan Jin's soul. It cannot carry an overly complex alchemical matrix, nor can it grow the alchemical matrix. However, as long as technology changes and qualitative changes occur, alchemical weapons will always be at the forefront of the times. "

Mamo then asked Lebius, "Do you think the undead are powerful?"

Lebius shook his head, "Although he is immortal, the alchemical matrix they carry is too backward. Even though they have a huge amount of ether, the conversion efficiency of the alchemical matrix is ​​still too low, and they cannot play much at all. actual combat effectiveness."

"Yes, this gap is just like the gap between steam engines and internal combustion engines," Mamo said, "So some active undead people often carry a large number of advanced alchemical weapons, relying on these weapons and their own ether storage Fight with force."

Lebius understood what Mamo meant, and he showed a surprised expression.

"Do you really think that the Secret Sword is just a ritual reward?" Mamo continued to explain, "The Bureau of Order previously obtained the body of a Secret Sword and the blade he carried. I remember his name was Sang. Dyke, and that secret sword is called the Sword of Kirigakure."

"From a purely technical perspective, the alchemical matrix of the Kirigakure Sword is more advanced than the alchemical matrix carried by Thorndike, which means that this secret sword was created after he became a believer.

So do you understand? The Secret Sword is not only a reward, but also a way for the King's Secret Swords to catch up with Dai Chai. "

Mamo looked at Lebius and said softly.

"You need a weapon that can bridge the gap between us."