Chapter 86 - 83. A Tall Wall
"We’ve got some system going on in the translation thing, got someone from otherworld linguistic pulled to our side," Eugene reported their progress as Zein took a seat on his now permanent swivel chair in the lab. It was the closest one to the glass window, where he could conveniently look at the shard.
Over time, Zein had experimented on communicating with the shard without direct touch. Expanding his consciousness to the pulsing crystal. So far, he managed to at least tell it to stop rejecting the researchers’ presence. He tried sending simple thought like greetings through the glass window.
Just like now. The shard would send a different mana wave with every different response, and the researcher would capture it to be analyzed. So Zein’s role as of right now was like a conversation mate with this shard.
Someday, they might be able to ask the shard about the method to completely dissolve the miasma in its surrounding. While they were able to record the process with the help of the corrupted mana stone, understanding it was a different matter.
"Still no dice on the Specter’s cores?" Zein asked after a session of greeting exchange with the shard.
"No, the composition is totally unique. That team still had no idea how elemental mana and miasma could mingle in balance," Eugene sighed, eyeing the wrapper in the guide’s hand. "Is that a candy?"
"Hmm..." Zein nonchalantly put a small jar of assorted candies on the table, which got the other researchers--who always craved sugar as a fuel for their brain--perked up. "Rather than knowing how it worked, can you just use it to make a Specter detector or something? Since the composition is unique, the pattern of the mana frequency in the core should be unique too. If we can detect a Specter, we can detect a shard too...what?"
The researchers, who were in the middle of opening the candy jar, paused and stared at Zein like a statue.
"You...never thought of that?"
Eugene cleared his throat, as the assistants turned their heads away sheepishly. "I’ll...call that team," Eugene said with an embarrassed smile. "Gosh, Zein--we really need you here."
"Sir Zein, might I know which school you were going?" one of the assistant researchers asked curiously.