My dear witch, please turn evil according to the script!

Chapter 337 means "Gods".

After Kalia led the people and the little bone dragon back to the ground, Roland took charge of collecting experimental data that he hadn't previously cared about.

Of course, the research was also targeted.

Fortunately, although this place had been abandoned for four hundred years, fortunately, no one except himself had ever found this research institute located deep in the frozen forest of Isfar during those four hundred years.

With the exception of a few documents, the vast majority of those research materials are still intact and preserved in the filing cabinet, and have even been categorized.

After finding the room where the files were stored, Roland found the section about androids without much effort.

Then he understood what kind of product those white-haired girls in the metal cans he had just seen were.

Just as Elena said—they were more like mere props than living beings. Even when the technicians researching this technology were first designing it, they never intended for these artificial life forms to develop souls.

Their creation had only one purpose and use—to contain the power of the nameless girl who was the subject of the experiment.

This was the initial plan.

They extracted genes from that nameless girl to create a body with perfect compatibility.

Afterwards, they would try to extract power from the girl and then implant it into these artificial life forms.

Finally, control programs were implanted to deploy these androids as weapons on the battlefield.

This is why these artificial life forms came into being.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the plan failed from the very beginning.

Although the research institute used the advanced bio-alchemy technology of the Holy Empire at that time to create perfect artificial humans, and even specially created individuals of different ages as a precaution, the institute still managed to do so.

However, there has been no progress in extracting the power.

In other words, these androids were abandoned shortly after they were created.

If the head of the research institute hadn't been adhering to the principle of not wasting resources and planned to repurpose these androids for other purposes later, or at the very least, to conduct human experiments.

After all, even if it is man-made, apart from lacking a soul, its physical structure and internal organs are no different from those of a normal person.

It is perfect for conducting experiments that violate human ethics and morality.

But everything came to an abrupt end.

Roland found the last record and archive date of all the documents.

Both occurred on January 29th of Imperial Calendar 631.

Based on the corpse of his ancestor, who still had a conscience, it can be estimated that the anomaly occurred the following day, which was the day they originally planned to rescue the nameless girl from within and without—January 30th.

These are all the documents regarding the origins of these androids.

There are a total of 20 artificial human individuals, each with a different prefix represented by a different rune letter, and a uniform suffix of 423.

It means the clone of experimental subject 423.

The girl Roland and Kalia rescued was numbered...

"k()-423?"

At that moment, Roland suddenly felt a warm sensation.

The warmth, as if he were standing right next to the fireplace, was spreading through Roland's heart.

The surrounding temperature did not rise, but Roland clearly felt the warmth.

The next moment, the rune stone that had been dormant rose from Roland's storage ring.

The pale surface began to peel away, and then, to Roland's astonishment, the rune stone revealed its true form.

With a faint flash of white light, the runestone split in two, and two primordial runes appeared before Roland through the Great Source.

【】、【】

It turned into two rune stones.

They then landed in Roland's left and right hands respectively.

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have obtained the Primal Runestone [Flame of Hope]]

[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have obtained the Primal Runestone [True Spirit]]

[Primal Runestone: Flame of Hope]

[Effect: When the rune is inside the host's body, it will amplify the host's mana and life force recovery speed.]

[Active Effect - Candle of Hope: After activation, the host's life force will be fixed at a near-death state until the host's will collapses (After use, the rune will fall into a dormant state, the dormancy time depends on the duration of the effect, and there is no upper limit to the cooldown time.)]

Before hope arrives, a faint candle will burn; as long as you don't give up waiting, hope will always come.

[Primal Runestone [Spirit of Wisdom]]

[Effect 1: When the rune is located in the host's body, it greatly increases the host's mental strength and recovery speed.]

[Effect 2: When the rune is inside the host's body, the rate of soul decay is greatly slowed down]

[Effect 3: Spell Beacon, increases casting range by inscribing runes]

[Active Effect - Divine Enlightenment: Greatly enhances the host's soul and spirit for a short period of time after activation. After the effect ends, a negative status effect will be inflicted: Sleep]

[Negative Status - Sleep: An absolute state of sleep; if not awakened by external force, the person will remain in a permanent sleep, existing between the boundaries of life and death.]

With the acquisition of the two runes, and after reading the system's effect description, Roland also learned the pronunciation of the two runes.

Kenaz and Ansuz.

After carefully examining the effects of the two runes, he suddenly understood something.

For example, regarding the reason why that android girl has been able to survive until now, both runes have passive effects that include health and mana regeneration, and even spirit protection.

The active effects all coincidentally include a mechanism that locks the health bar.

For example, why was that girl captured and used as a test subject for creating human weapons?

A girl with two runes on her body may seem unable to freely exert her strength, and may even be affected by the power of the runes.

However, the abandonment of this research institute, and the deaths of all its personnel, proved the foresight of those who initiated this research.

Although I don't know why the two runes were found together, or why they suddenly broke their dormant state when I was going through the experimental records and documents.

But none of these were the reasons why Roland was a little excited at this moment.

He recognized the rune Ensoz.

Of course, this doesn't refer to his understanding after acquiring the Primal Rune.

Rather, he had known this rune long before, even when he was a child and learning runic writing on his own.

ANSUZ, which has been given many meanings by later generations, is itself a derivative use of runic magic.

The idea that the meaning of a word changes during its use is also inherited in runic magic, a type of magic similar to a language.

But no matter how it changes, its original meaning has never deviated from any aspect that requires the use of runic magic or even rune inscription.

Gods/Gods/Gods' messengers.

This is the meaning of its text.

From ancient times to the present, from the moment this rune was engraved on the original runestone until now, this rune has never been interrupted in its transmission, nor has it undergone any major changes.

That character, which looks like a hunchbacked F, is unique and special.

At the beginning of runic magic, everyone believed that magic and magical power were gifts from gods and the world.

Mortals cannot use magic directly, so a messenger is needed to connect the world with the gods.

And along with this concept, even now, in the most authentic and complete runic magic transmitted to him by the World Tree's consciousness, the Ensoz rune still plays the same role.

To cast rune magic, you must inscribe the rune of Ensoz at the beginning of a language or phrase.

It's as natural and necessary as pressing the space bar before starting a new line in typing.

Roland once studied the connection between the original runes and the runes as they are today.

However, no significant developments or changes can be observed.

Until now.

"No wonder the primordial runes could be incorporated into modern runic magic so smoothly..."

Roland looked at Ensoz in his hand, and after a moment of joy, he felt somewhat down.

Although it's the original OG first edition collector's edition multi-functional model, it doesn't seem to be very useful in essence.

At least in terms of practical application, aside from enhancing his casting speed and range, Roland hasn't seen many other uses for it yet.

Seemingly sensing its new master's thoughts, the runestone inscribed with the Ensoz runes flew out of Roland's hand in a huff and began to glow.

The next moment, with a faint connection established, Roland subconsciously released his magic...

Immediately afterwards, in this laboratory that had been buried underground and carefully preserved for four hundred years, accompanied by the flashing of a [] rune in mid-air, a huge ball of fire elemental magic erupted from the rune and turned it pitch black.

If Roland hadn't reacted quickly enough to move the runes outside the document room, these documents would probably have been burned.

"Is this how effect 3 is used!?"

So, as long as one only needs to think, one can create an Ensoz rune at any location within the range of one's mental power.

Then you can transfer your magic, spells, and runes through this rune.

Roland's current mental power range... without exaggeration, after obtaining the [Spirit of Wisdom] runestone, if he abandons breadth and only pursues distance, he can extend his mental power to the border village where he used to live in Platia.

He could even see what the villagers were doing.

The simple, friendly villagers, who got along very well, were gathered together processing and curing the meat of the wild animals and edible magical beasts that Kalia had hunted.

In other words, this is my current maximum casting range.

Roland was silent.

He then carefully put away the two rune stones, hid them well, packed up the documents in the file room, and walked towards the ground.

In any case, the runes represented by the Spirit of Wisdom are truly extraordinary.

This thing must have something special about it, waiting for me to discover it.

It's not just about casting range.

Especially after communicating with the World Tree and deciding to abandon the more advanced and convenient modern magic in favor of rune magic, which is difficult to learn, understand, and use, Roland clearly understood the importance of this rune that had never changed over the long years.

On the ground, after Kalia took out a blanket and a portable cot from her shadow, she placed the girl on them and lit a fire for her to keep warm nearby.

He also directed his shadow figures to set up a tent for the girl and to build a stove and start a fire nearby.

It's almost time; it's time to eat.

The midday sun blazed down, snowflakes drifted down, and tall trees surrounded the area, with ruins visible in the background.

Hmm, perfectly matching Kalia's fantasy of camping... cough cough, adventurous life.

Just as she took out the kitchen utensils and began to think about what dishes to cook for Roland, she noticed that the girl on the bed twitched her eyelids.

(End of this chapter)