Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

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The Potions Department's Core Data Room.

Ian descended the spiral staircase towards the underground area of ​​the tower library.

The metal plate of authority was affixed to the rune at the entrance, and the heavy stone door slid open silently, revealing a dimly lit staircase leading downwards.

The further down you go, the cooler the air becomes, filled with the smell of old paper and some kind of preservative.

The bookshelves are no longer made of bright wood, but of dark metal or stone, and the scrolls of books on them look even more antique.

There's almost no one here.

Ian walked slowly along the bookshelves, his fingers brushing against the cold spines of the books.

What he needed to find were obscure materials on "stable encapsulation of abyssal rules", "tracing the source of shadow energy", and "basic theory of contract countermeasures".

This knowledge is scattered and obscure, and may be hidden in some inconspicuous corner, or mixed in the appendix of other large works.

After searching for almost an hour, he finally pulled out a thick book with a nearly rotten animal hide cover from the corner of a dusty bookshelf.

The book title is written in ancient wizarding language: "An Initial Exploration of the Rules and Restraints of Different Species".

Opening it, one finds densely packed handwritten notes.

The handwriting was messy, interspersed with many dizzying rune structure diagrams.

Ian found a stone table against the wall and sat down, using the cold, gleaming crystals embedded in the wall as a reference, and began to quickly flip through the pages.

The book mentions several "marks of higher-dimensional beings on the side of order," such as certain ancient guardian spirits and remnants of the spirit of law.

They can be used to temporarily bind and isolate fragments of chaotic rules.

Although it's not exactly the same as the Abyss Soul Contract, there are some ideas that can be learned from it.

"...Using contractors as a bridge and the mark of order as an anchor, a one-way filtering channel is constructed, which can strip away the chaotic consciousness from the fragments of rules and retain pure information..."

Ian's eyes lit up slightly as he read the description.

"This...it's practically a description of how I 'exploited' the system using the control panel!"

However, the methods in the book are extremely dangerous and have a pitifully low success rate.

If one is not careful, one can be corrupted and consumed by chaotic consciousness.

He has a control panel that acts as an "absolute firewall."

"Perhaps... we can think about it from the opposite perspective." Ian's mind raced.

"It's not that I'm trying to bind the rules of the abyss, but rather that I'm using the inherent characteristics of the abyss rules to 'erode' and 'connect'..."

An even bolder idea gradually took shape in his mind.

What if... he creates an extremely tiny, seemingly harmless "Abyssal Information Decoy" and deliberately lets those shadow detection energies "steal" it?

When the other side brings this "bait" back to their lair...

Ian's lips curved into a smile.

That's not spying, but a "surprise" delivered to your door.

"Heh heh, the erosion of the abyss is high-dimensional and happens silently..."

Even the wizarding world was unaware at first that it had suffered heavy losses after a great battle.

Of course, this requires extremely precise calculations and camouflage.

The bait must have looked like something he accidentally left behind while researching pollution neutralizers.

As he was engrossed in this dangerous yet intriguing idea, a sudden, tense voice transmission rang out in his mind.

"Ian! Another 'guest' has arrived near your residence."

This time... it's not the same 'shadow bug' as before, it's another one, its presence even more concealed, it seems to be... carefully examining the area outside your window? *Gah!*

Ian closed the book, his eyes instantly turning cold.

"They still dare to come? This is defying the rules!"

Moreover, the person in charge has been changed this time.

It seems the other party is very cautious. Their method was exposed during one spying attempt, so they immediately replaced the person to avoid having their pattern figured out.

He stood up, put the book back in its place, and dusted off his hands.

"Okay, I'll head back now."

Ian did not immediately appear upon returning to his residence.

He lay in wait in the shadows far outside the courtyard wall for nearly ten minutes.

His formidable mental strength manifested itself at this moment, covering the surrounding area like a spider web, sensing every suspicious energy fluctuation.

The new spy was cautious and acted more professionally than the previous one.

Instead of approaching Ian's window directly, he wandered among the surrounding buildings, observing and probing from different angles.

The methods were those of a professionally trained intelligence agent.

The aura... a late-stage level one shadow element. It seems the other party has also sensed something.

The opponent's mental energy fluctuations were well contained, but they carried a 'piercing' characteristic, suggesting they were a specialist in detection or stealth.

Ian analyzed it silently.

He waited patiently until the wizard finished his outer survey and began to slowly approach the master bedroom window.

That was where Ian usually spent most of his time.

The time has come.

Ian took out a transparent crystal the size of a fingernail from his dimensional ring.

This was leftover scrap material from when he previously processed the abyssal crystals.

It is a mixture of several inert materials, but has a special affinity for shadow energy.

This is a "bait" that Ian specially made using his own knowledge.

Inside the crystal, a barely perceptible fragment of the abyss's rules is sealed.

It's not poison, but rather... a catalyst.

Ian activated the [Starry Sky Ritual] and the [Abyss Soul Pact], and the faint resonance between the two allowed him to carefully inject this orderly abyss fluctuation into the crystal.

At the same time, he controlled his breathing, slowed his heartbeat, and blended into the shadows, his breath completely assimilated with the background.

The shadow wizard outside the window is lingering in the corner below the window.

The other party extended their right hand, fingers spread wide, and subtle shadow energy emerged like tentacles, beginning to examine the window's protective runes.

Using Gaga's shadow energy, Ian silently moved into the shadows thirty meters away from the opponent.

This distance was dangerous, but he was betting that the other party was highly focused on detection at that moment.

He flicked the crystal lightly with his fingers.

The crystal traced an almost invisible arc and struck precisely a small, inconspicuous protrusion on the edge of the window frame.

"Click."

An extremely slight collision sound.

The wizard outside the window froze instantly, his shadowy tendrils retracted sharply, and his body tensed as he turned toward the source of the sound.

Ian had already retreated into deeper darkness.

The wizard observed warily for a few seconds but found nothing unusual.

His gaze fell on the protrusion in the window frame, where there was a small, translucent crystalline fragment.

He hesitated for a moment.

As a professional intelligence officer, he shouldn't touch anything that hasn't been verified.

But his professional habits and strong self-confidence led him to conduct a quick assessment.

There were no dangerous energy fluctuations on the fragment, no signs of trap runes, and even the material itself appeared simple and harmless.

More like... research material that fell by accident?

He remembered Lord Julian's instructions.

"That new potion master seems to be conducting some kind of research involving alien rules, focusing on physical evidence that he may have come into contact with or left behind."

Should we collect them?

Obtaining firsthand samples of Ian's research would undoubtedly be a significant intelligence gain.

Just as this person hesitated...

Inside the fragment, the abyssal fluctuations that Ian had specially processed made extremely slight contact with the shadow energy surrounding him.

hum!

A subtle, unsettling feeling swept through his mind.

It was very faint, as faint as a strange thought that flashes through your mind when you sit alone late at night, and it disappears in an instant.

The Shadow Wizard frowned.

After confirming that there were no dangerous energy fluctuations, he still took out a specially made crystal bottle and used his mental power to control it to put the fragment into the bottle.

"Never mind, it can't hurt to take it back and analyze it."

What he didn't notice was that the moment the fragments were collected...

A "connection" that is difficult to detect even with spiritual power has been quietly established.

It is not a powerful energy connection, but a faint sensation at a higher dimension and a level of rules.

The abyss's unique "erosion" property begins to take effect.

Just like when you drop a drop of ink into a clean water source, the ink will slowly spread.

For the Shadow Wizard, the only feeling at that moment was a sudden clarity of mind.

That sense of clarity is very comfortable, like the feeling of being exceptionally clear-headed when you wake up in the morning.

He even subconsciously took a deep breath, feeling as if his senses had become more acute.

"Something's not right..." He suddenly woke up and hurriedly looked around.

In the corner of the room, a precious calming incense stick wafted gently.

"Damn potion masters, they're all so extravagant..."

Many potion makers light a calming spice in their workshops.

He lowered his guard, quickly completed the remaining checks, and after confirming that there was nothing else to be found, quietly left the area.