Chapter 183: Side Effects

Silence.

For a total of three minutes, there wasn’t a single word spoken between us.

Alfred wasn’t much of a talker to begin with, while I was... well—

I wasn’t much interested in having small talk with him.

Alfred had asked me to follow him, and we had now reached another research room within Alfred’s private research quarters.

A huge glass wall stood before me, as the research room was on the other side.

But looking around, there was no way to enter the room.

Just as I glanced at Alfred... the guy walked in the direction of the glass with no signs of stopping in his tracks.

At this rate, he was going to smash his head—

Huh?

The moment Alfred’s body touched the glass, there was a visible ripple across its surface, as the glass slightly glowed, emitting a faint green light, while at the same time allowing Alfred to pass right through it.

It was as if Alfred had passed through a wall of water.

I just stood at my place, without moving an inch.

"Follow me."

Turning around, Alfred noticed that I hadn’t followed him, so the guy motioned me to walk forward by tilting his head to the other side.

Sigh.

My legs moved as I slowly made my way towards the glass wall, stopping just before it.

"Your name has already been registered in the security list. Walk in—I don’t have time to waste."

Seeing me standing in the same place, Alfred’s voice echoed from the other side.

Though his face looked the same, the impatience in Alfred’s voice could be clearly felt.

Without making him wait, I carefully extended my right hand, moving it in the direction of the glass.

Upon contact with my skin, the glass immediately let out a green glow. I could see the same ripple that had spread across the glass during Alfred’s entrance.

Seeing that the mechanism was working, I didn’t hesitate, pushing my hand through the wall, while the rest of my body quickly followed.

"Couldn’t you have made a normal door to the room?"

The reason I was hesitating to enter through the glass was simple—

Should the mechanism have failed during my entrance...

I didn’t have any interest in trapping myself in that wall.

"The glass... it’s stronger than every metal out there."

Alfred replied in his usual tone, though I could feel a slight hint of pride in it.

"Had you discovered it?"

"No."

Then—

"I invented it."

Alfred’s voice was as calm as before.

"And it’s more efficient to observe the experiments within while standing at a safe distance—behind the glass."

This...

I didn’t know Alfred had such love for his life.

Maybe... well—

He was human in the end.

"It’s for people like you, not me. I always stand close to my children."

"..."

Yeah.

It was for me.

Surely this madman wouldn’t care for his life.

"So... where’s the child?"

"..."

"The one I had asked you to create—Invent?"

On my words, Alfred did something on the device in his hand, and a pillar rose from the ground below.

It was a black pillar with various engravings on it.

The pillar continued to rise till it had reached a height of about five feet.

After that—

The pillar began to expand from the inside as its surface broadened to create a flat circle of around the width of three footballs.

Then—

The centre of that circle collapsed, creating a hollow from which another mini pillar emerged, and as I observed its surface—

There wasn’t a single thing present on it.

Just as I was about to turn my head to look at Alfred... the guy passed me a monocle, his hand extended just before my face.

Looking at the monocle, which had a simple look with no extra design to it— I took it from Alfred’s hand, while turning my head to look at him.

"The device that I had prepared for you can only be seen through a lens."

"I could have just increased the power of my eyes."

That was, after all, easily achievable by willing my mana through my eyes.

The same as increasing my physical strength—mana could also increase the effective vision of my eyes.

"Try it."

Hm?

Hearing Alfred’s words, I began to channel mana through my eyes and tried to zoom in on the mini pillar before me, but—

Nothing.

There wasn’t a single thing that my eyes were able to see, except the details of the engravings on the pillar.

"Use the lens."

Alfred advised me, though it sounded more like an order.

"It’s called a monocle."

I corrected him—or at least tried to—but my words fell on Alfred’s deaf ears, as he had already placed the monocle on his right eye.

Seeing him... I did the same, adjusting the monocle on my right eye.

Turning my gaze to the mini pillar again—

I could see it.

A very small cube-shaped object that was placed at the centre of the pillar.

Its surface was so transparent that even with the help of the monocle, I had to focus my entire attention on it so as not to miss the cube before my eyes.

"I had thought of making it into a sphere like the device you had seen before, but... a cube would be more effective in enclosing and covering your entire core."

"Will it be enough?"

I asked the most important question.

"It will be enough to hide the actual rank of your core even after you become an Immortal."

"Sovereign?"

"No. That rank is still above my current capabilities, given the limited time that I had to create this device—from scratch."

Fair enough.

"Any side effects?"

"As the device will be connected to your core, it may at times cause you to feel unnecessary emotions to their extremes. I tried to reduce the extent of the amplification, but there was a limit to what I could achieve... in such a short time. I could improve it, but you will have to wait for another—"

"That’s fine. This will do."

I didn’t have any extra time to restrict my cultivation.

For the missions going forward, I had to evolve my core soon.

As for the amplification of my emotions—

"What’s the frequency of the side effects showing themselves?"

"Hm. It depends on many circumstances, but maybe... once or twice in a month, or maybe once every week. They may not even surface at all for an entire year, if luck is on your side."