Divinity Research Institute

Before the night completely fell, Luo Wei finally entered the interior of this divine research institute.

Arriving in the dark and spacious hall, Tilis slightly raised her hand, and a cluster of blue light slowly floated up, illuminating the surrounding area.

Luo Wei looked around. From the layout, it closely resembled the structure of a hospital, with countless small rooms lining both sides of the corridor, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Margery cautiously scouted the area and, sensing no danger, returned to Tilis's side with relief.

Tilis, however, eagerly headed in one direction.

"Follow me, this way. My teacher's and my research lab is on the second basement level."

Everyone immediately followed her footsteps. As they walked, the quiet, dark corridor gradually brightened.

Luo Wei looked up and saw that the entire area was illuminated by magic. The deep blue light made the silent corridor appear eerily strange.

As the group ventured deeper, a heavy smell of blood faintly emanated from the rooms on either side.

Helena, standing beside her brother, immediately tensed up.

Margery was also highly vigilant. She extended her wand, ready to cast a spell at any moment.

However, after a moment of alertness, the rooms remained eerily quiet, and no unknown monsters leaped out from within.

Roens, after reading the sign above a large room, slightly relaxed his furrowed brow.

"It's a room for housing experimental subjects," he said, slowly pushing open the slightly ajar door. Inside, a scene of bloodied limbs and dismembered bodies was revealed to everyone.

Luo Wei peered inside. The large room resembled a prison, with metal bars on the windows. On the ground lay numerous mutilated corpses, as if they had been gnawed on by some creature. Judging by the state of decomposition, they hadn't been dead for long.

"It must have been the work of the President," Margery said with a frown. "He consumed these experimental subjects, and it likely happened not too long ago."

With even greater caution, the group continued forward.

Luo Wei's gaze occasionally wandered to the sides, and he suddenly felt a sense of curiosity about these projects of the Magical Hermetic Order.

According to Tilis, after being expelled from the council, she hadn't immediately rallied her allies to make a comeback. There had been a period of time in between.

After the President took over this place as his territory, he likely moved the Order's regular projects here, thinking these studies might prove useful.

Under the bright lights, Luo Wei slowly stopped in front of a tightly shut door.

Through the glass window, he saw a shocking sight.

Inside, what could perhaps be called "experimental subjects"—human corpses—were tightly bound to chairs. Their faces bore twisted, grotesque expressions, and many had undergone bizarre mutations. Some were covered in tumors, others had grown fangs, and some even had multiple tentacles. In short, none of them looked like normal humans.

"Why have we stopped?"

Tilis, who was ahead, stopped in annoyance. Just as she was about to turn around and scold the person holding them up, she realized it was Luo Wei.

Luo Wei smiled at her, and Tilis took a deep breath, suppressing her irritation, and patiently explained.

"This is the Hermetic Order's 'Critical Point' project."

"Critical Point?"

"Yes," Tilis nodded. "We've always hoped to find a way to prevent the madness caused by the backlash of supernatural powers. So, as the name suggests, we pushed different experimental subjects to overuse their powers, recording and studying the process of backlash, hoping to delay the arrival of this critical point."

"I suppose you ultimately didn't succeed," Luo Wei said quietly.

"Of course not," Tilis turned her head away. "If we had, we wouldn't have risked researching deities."

The group continued forward, and as Luo Wei observed the various projects of the Hermetic Order, his mood grew increasingly heavy.

Seeing these chilling projects was no less unsettling than facing a terrifying monster.

For example, there was a project involving the chaotic splicing of limbs, attempting to combine the limbs of different species to see if their powers could be fused...

Then there was the artificial human project. Sometimes, when there weren't enough experimental subjects, they used ancient black magic to create bodies. These "inferior" subjects were kept in cramped rooms, no better than livestock.

There was also a soul project, which might have some connection to Tilis's current situation. The project aimed to separate a person's soul from their body, testing whether madness would still occur.

And there were many more...

All these projects had likely failed.

After all, the "curse" of mages still existed, and no solution had been found to this day.

Seeing all this, Luo Wei suddenly recalled what Tilis had once told him about the internal factional struggles within the Magical Hermetic Order.

According to Tilis, her faction was known as the "Academic Faction." They dedicated themselves to studying the mysteries of magic, aiming to solve the "curse of magic." Most of them were buried in mountains of books, largely detached from worldly affairs.

The President's faction, on the other hand, called themselves the "Pragmatic Faction," though they were better described as radicals. They genuinely wanted to restore the semi-feudal magical empire and were deeply resentful of being ruled by ordinary humans, whom they saw as insignificant. They were always plotting something big.

In fact, many of Tilis's infamous deeds as the "Calamity Witch" could be attributed to this faction. It was just that Tilis was too well-known, and the President wanted her dead, so all the blame was conveniently pinned on her.

Speaking of which, Luo Wei couldn't help but glance at Margery.

She seemed to align quite well with that faction's ideals, yearning for the bygone magical empire. He wondered why she had ended up following Tilis. Perhaps she truly believed Tilis could change everything.

Just as the group reached the first basement level, the magical lighting on the ceiling flickered like an old incandescent bulb.

Luo Wei looked around at the pitch-black darkness, feeling as if he had stepped onto the set of a horror movie.

The moment they stopped, a deafening sound echoed from the depths of the darkness, growing closer.

Along with the sound came a gust of cold wind, carrying a foul, bloody stench.

Luo Wei immediately realized something massive was sweeping toward them.

His vampire instincts kicked in, and he grabbed Helena, instinctively dodging to the side.

The two Hermetic Order elders quickly activated their wands, erecting two magical shields to block the incoming attack.

As Luo Wei and Helena tumbled to the ground, Helena looked up in shock.

"Brother! What is that?"

Luo Wei turned his head and saw the two elders being sent flying by a tremendous force. In the brief flash of blue light, he caught a glimpse of what had attacked them—a massive tail covered in uneven scales.

The moment she saw the enormous tail, Tilis froze once again.

Her lips parted slightly, as if she was recalling something.