Eldritch Horror Theatre

Was this the power of the astronomy department?

Although he wasn't a professional Stargazer, he had gazed up at the starry sky plenty of times.

Honestly, aside from the sun and the moon, the rest of those theoretically symbolic celestial bodies had never granted him any particularly special enlightenment.

Until this very moment.

It hit him with sudden enlightenment. The Brain Jellyfish before him had only projected it once, yet it instantly brought astronomy to vivid life.

To be specific, every celestial body morphed into a paradoxical living creature, extending invisible tentacles called gravity to tear at his flesh, blood, bones, and skin.

Crack!

The force was so immense that Fu Qian could only watch helplessly as his left arm was violently torn from his body.

Muscle fibers, tendons, dislocated joints—a dazzling, grisly display filled his vision.

Marveling inwardly, the power surging through his body skyrocketed. In the blink of an eye, Fu Qian exposed the wicked true face of the King of the Abandoned Prison—pah, no, his true strength.

His internal cohesion was instantly reinforced. What followed was practically a rewind of the previous scene: the dissociated tissues slowly returned to his body piece by piece, merging back into a complete system...

The legendary gravity magic? He had to admit, it was awe-inspiring.

It was a pity that this seat's time was precious. He could only find another opportunity to experience this high-end funeral rite of the Star Dismemberment Power.

As the last patch of flesh and skin stitched itself back together without a single trace, Fu Qian snapped his fingers, attempting to remind the other party that class was over.

The pulling force naturally hadn't vanished; it simply couldn't budge him anymore.

But even so, it was already quite terrifying.

The Brain Jellyfish before him barely qualified as Mid Tier, yet it could manipulate this caliber of power. It felt as absurd as using knotted ropes to solve calculus.

It went to show just how vile the nature of the Notes of the Hidden Person truly was.

Since they were fellow intellectuals, Fu Qian didn't harshly criticize it. He even found himself empathizing for a moment—

"Looks like it wasn't you. Sorry..."

And everything ultimately paid off. In that moment, the jellyfish's glowing head rapidly dimmed.

The Stars vanished, restoring its original gelatinous texture, and it even offered an earnest apology.

"It's fine, I understand... Where could I possibly help you find it? I'd be more than happy to help."

Accepting the apology without hesitation, Fu Qian even offered to help track down the note thief.

"Where..."

Unfortunately, even with that, it seemed the creature had reached its limit.

Suspended in the air, its translucent body ceased its movements.

At the same time, the fluorescent glow on its body flickered in a peculiar rhythm, like a lightbulb reaching the end of its lifespan.

"I leave it to you..."

Right until the very end, it couldn't manage to produce another ripple, leaving behind only an ethereal word of thanks.

...

"Don't mention it."

He watched the jellyfish rapidly turn murky, ultimately fading into the same grayish-white as their surroundings.

Despite not missing a single one of its movements, Fu Qian ultimately failed to glean any meaningful information.

However, that didn't stop him from casually accepting this karma the moment he brushed past it to continue forward.

His route forward was incredibly straightforward as well.

The interior of this Hall of Ashes was even more cluttered than the outside. With various objects piled haphazardly, there was barely a narrow path left to walk.

From that perspective, asking the jellyfish for directions earlier hadn't been all that meaningful anyway.

Crack—

Fu Qian didn't opt for that rugged little path. Instead, he walked straight up to one of the walls and raised his hand, as if pushing open a door.

Of course, there was no actual door on the wall.

Yet, amid an eerie grinding noise, that didn't stop him from physically pushing an entrance right through the indestructible ash structure.

If the King of the Abandoned Prison said there was a path, then a path there would be.

As for why he resorted to such a tyrannical method?

"You heard all that, didn't you?"

Stepping through the doorway, Fu Qian arrived before another cluster of flickering fluorescence. He sized up a second jellyfish that looked practically identical to the first, his tone severe.

"Have you seen Number One's notes?"

...

He hadn't needed directions because his path forward was already set.

While speaking with the first Brain Jellyfish, Fu Qian realized that he had been locked onto once again.

It wasn't completely desolate in here; in fact, it seemed rather lively.

Moreover, trying to chalk their identical appearances up to mere coincidence would be far too much of a stretch.

The appearance of this second jellyfish practically proved that they hadn't crawled in from the Ash Sea, but were entities natively bound to this place.

And if this one could also understand the word "notes," then there would be absolutely no doubt about it.

"Notes... are no longer needed..."

To his relief, the somewhat frightened second Brain Jellyfish actually seemed to calm down in the face of Fu Qian's interrogation.

Immediately after, it spoke in the exact same voice as the first, confirming that its brain-like form wasn't just for show. Sure enough, this was clearly a collective of researchers.

Although its attitude was somewhat inconsistent.

"We have already found the Falling Point... the stars have also been aligned..."

Before Fu Qian could express any doubt, the second jellyfish had already continued its explanation.

The Falling Point had been found? Their research had certainly yielded results.

Based on the first Brain Jellyfish's reaction, the falling point of the stars was clearly considered to be the Source of Ash. No matter how he looked at it, it was a shocking secret, so it was hardly surprising that people were relentlessly pursuing it.

And yet, he hadn't even taken more than a few steps before someone claimed to have found the answer?

It wasn't strange for ideological differences to exist within an academic institution, but diverging to this extent was still a bit much.

"Is that so? Where is the Falling Point?"

Fu Qian naturally voiced his skepticism.

Unfortunately, it seemed this second Stargazer really was rather unstable by comparison.

Along with its claim that the stars were aligned, the creature's brain began to project the exact same Star Map he had seen earlier.

Ugh...

In the blink of an eye, Fu Qian felt the weight of his sins double.

The reason it doubled was that, even though the first Brain Jellyfish appeared to be dead, its Star Dismemberment Power hadn't decayed in the slightest.

And it had actually stacked perfectly with the gravitational pull currently being generated by the second Stargazer.

Furthermore, without even giving him a chance to verify if killing it would break the spell, the second jellyfish quickly followed in the first's footsteps.

Its fluorescence scattered as it turned into a lifeless corpse—yet the doubled pulling force remained completely unfazed.

...

How interesting. He hadn't heard Professor Claudora mention an encounter like this back then. Could this be the research institution they had found?

Listening to his body creak under the pressure, Fu Qian made micro-adjustments to his posture while reminiscing about old acquaintances.

That's right, his thoughts naturally drifted to the Academy Exploration Team's experiences in the Ash Sea.

After all, staying true to one's original aspiration had always been one of the core themes of this scientific expedition.

And when he heard mentions of things like "notes" earlier, his suspicions seemed to be further confirmed.

Yet, up until now, not only had he completely failed to see any sign of crystallization powers, but wasn't the presence of these Stargazers a bit too overwhelming?

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