I can see experience bars after being transported to another world.

Hilde nodded.

Having received confirmation, Arthur did not hesitate any longer.

He placed his hands on the bronze platform, and the inscriptions and magic circles on the ground suddenly lit up. A bluish-white light surged from the grooves of the inscriptions, illuminating the entire basement.

The buzzing sound of the magic array growing louder and louder caused the basement walls to tremble slightly.

Countless white beams of light rose from the ground, very thin, like some kind of tentacles. They twisted in the air for a moment, then accurately located Arthur's position, piercing through his back and abdomen simultaneously, penetrating his body.

Arthur's body stiffened abruptly, his mouth slightly open and closed, but he couldn't make a sound.

No blood flowed where the white beam of light pierced his body; the area around the wound faintly glowed with a bronze luster, and the inscriptions were spreading along the beam of light into his body.

His eyes were still slightly open, his pupils trembling with pain, but his body was completely immobile.

Hilde looked at Arthur, who was frozen in place, remained silent for a few moments, and then turned her head away.

"Yes, who can argue with that?" she murmured to herself, then walked to the set of inscriptions she was in charge of and activated the final layer of protection of the magic array.

The light in the basement grew brighter and brighter, and the buzzing sound became increasingly shrill.

The power of the magic circle surged wildly upwards along Arthur's body, penetrating the basement ceiling and the foundation of the Tower of Learning, and running all the way towards the top of the tower.

The sealed passage at the top of the Tower of Learning is being torn open at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The moment the magic circle was fully activated, Arthur's consciousness was extracted from his body.

He felt himself disappear from the basement, his body still stiff there. He could see it, but "he" was no longer inside.

The feeling was strange; it was the first time he had ever experienced the sensation of consciousness leaving his body, like death or an out-of-body experience.

Everything around had completely faded away; the inscriptions, the light, and the piercing buzzing sounds had all disappeared.

Before him lay only a vast, dreamlike sea, a place he had never set foot on before.

This sea has no boundaries.

Countless words surged and swirled in the seawater, spreading out layer upon layer to the horizon.

The colors of the characters also vary, some are deep blue, some are dark gold, and they alternate and flow with each other.

Each character carries a heavy weight, suspended in this endless sea.

Arthur stood in the seawater, feeling the unreal sensation between his hands.

The seawater had no temperature or smell; it was simply something pure, composed of words, flowing through his fingers.

A bitter feeling welled up inside him.

This is what the empire has exhausted countless human and material resources to try to capture and enter: the sea of ​​knowledge.

However, he did not go fishing as originally planned.

The true purpose of the fourth fishing operation was never to retrieve knowledge.

He smiled and shook his head.

All he has to do now is persevere as much as possible.

Before his consciousness is obliterated by the sea of ​​knowledge, his body will continue to serve as the anchor point of the magic array.

Every extra breath he holds on here widens the cracks in reality.

Meanwhile, in reality, a huge crack suddenly appeared in the sky above the Tower of Learning.

The rift tore open the sky, revealing another world—the very sea where Arthur was currently adrift.

The moment the crack appeared, the remaining sealing runes underground lit up wildly. The runes that were originally used for binding became ineffective, and the light surged to a blinding intensity before extinguishing one by one.

The vast ocean poured down from the crack.

What gushed out of the crack wasn't seawater, but words.

Countless large and small characters swirled down from the gray fog, pouring towards the bronze city.

The words, with their main colors of dark gold and deep blue, occasionally flashing with a touch of dark purple, fell in a flurry, landing on the giant waves made of flesh and blood.

Those waves of flesh and blood, ironically, shielded the Tower of Learning from the first wave of the sea of ​​knowledge.

The once invincible flesh and blood, upon touching the words that fell from the sky, emitted a piercing hissing sound, accompanied by extremely strong corrosion. The dark red flesh and blood quickly withered and shrank under the erosion of the words.

The wave of flesh was actually stopped, stopped by these seemingly insignificant words.

The waves of flesh and blood collided with the waves of words, and the Tower of Learning trembled violently between the two forces. The main tower emitted a teeth-grinding creak, as the centuries-old building endured pressure far exceeding its limits.

Over there on the wall, the head formed from gray mist suddenly looked towards the top of the tower, a violent unease appearing on its mist-formed features.

The red inscription beneath the massive skull at the top of the tower suddenly lit up, its immense light enveloping the entire skull.

The fishing method itself is derived from it, and opening the sea is touching its very roots.

The gray-white head that split off from the person on the wall slowly turned towards the guardian below, its misty lips moving as it uttered a word of resentment.

"You have broken your promise."

As soon as the words were spoken, the floating gray-white head was forcibly pulled back by a force and flew rapidly towards the top of the tower, disappearing into the darkness inside the Tower of Learning.

Outside the Tower of Learning, the wisp of mist that had drifted out from the cracks in the tower walls earlier had not yet gone far.

As the visitor in the mist hovered in the shadow of the outer wall of the Tower of Learning, sensing the breath of the sea of ​​knowledge pouring down from the crack, its misty form suddenly tightened and quickly drifted away into the distance, distancing itself from the words that had fallen from the sky.

It stopped atop a half-collapsed clock tower in the distance, watching as words and flesh collided around the Tower of Learning, and as the main tower swayed precariously between the two waves.

"Interesting, very interesting indeed." Its voice was light and airy, tinged with a rare hint of interest. "A good plan."

After saying this, its figure completely dissipated, turning into a wisp of extremely faint white mist, disappearing into the sky above Bronze City, its whereabouts unknown.

Outer city, branch.

Lu Yuan stood at the branch office entrance, gazing towards the inner city. The wall of flesh and blood continued to surge towards the branch office, and Klaus and the Blue Knights were still desperately trying to intercept them. The situation showed no signs of improvement.

But at that moment, the power in his left eye suddenly flickered.

The pulsation was extremely intense; the golden token formed from the key fragments was burning hot in his arms, and the Worm of Knowledge also became active at the same moment, writhing wildly deep within his left eye.

Lu Yuan didn't know what was happening in the inner city, but his body was telling him that something extremely important was taking place.

He looked toward the inner city, but he couldn't see anything through that colossal wall of flesh and blood that blotted out the sky.

But the surge of power grew stronger and stronger, and the worm of knowledge thrashed about in his left eye, its colorful light flashing constantly, exuding an unprecedented excitement.

Suddenly, a large number of colorful lights appeared on the streets of the outer city, which should have been deathly quiet.

Lu Yuan was stunned. The points of light were extremely small, glowing faintly in the air, and their color was almost exactly the same as the iridescent light on the worm of knowledge in his left eye.

They emerged from the cracks in the ruins, from under the piles of rubble, from the broken drainage ditches, one by one, more and more of them.

The insect of knowledge.

How could there be a worm of knowledge in the outer city?

Lu Yuan's mind raced.

He wasn't present at the time, and no one mentioned the scale of the leak in detail after he returned.

Most of these knowledge worms were left over from that leak, hiding in a corner of the outer city and surviving silently.

The worm of knowledge in his left eye suddenly emitted a low, deep sound.

It was a resonance emanating from deep within, spreading outwards in all directions along the insect's body.

The colorful lights all surged toward Lu Yuan's location.

All the knowledge insects scattered throughout the outer city responded to this voice.

Hundreds and thousands of colorful light spots converged into a swarm of insects, rushing towards Lu Yuan's location.

Lu Yuan stood still, watching the countless insect shadows rush towards him. The insects of knowledge resonated more and more strongly in his left eye, and the power was burning hot in his arms.

He didn't know what he could do with these things, but he knew they had come to him.

The swarming insects, the sea of ​​knowledge insects, stopped before him.

Hundreds and thousands of colorful light spots hung in mid-air, no longer surging forward, but fixed themselves three steps away from Lu Yuan.

The light spots varied in size, but unlike Lu Yuan's own worm of knowledge, which was colorful, each had a fixed color, such as pale purple or dark gold. They huddled together, trembling slightly, and remained suspended without falling.

From the depths of Lu Yuan's left eye, the worm of knowledge that had followed him for so long suddenly sprang out, swimming out from the slit of his left eye, its body slowly shimmering with colorful light.

Judging from its size and radiance alone, it was not only a size larger than the knowledge insects outside, but its light was also significantly brighter.

That's normal.

This worm of mine has eaten a lot of good things with him, things from the abyss, things from the bronze pillar, those consciousness crystals, and even those strange fragments on the guardian's body. It's not surprising that it's grown a bit strong.

Those wild insects of knowledge clearly recognized this exceptionally large creature of their kind.

A subtle ripple arose within the cluster of light spots, and all of them simultaneously lowered, crouching slightly towards Lu Yuan's left eye.

The worm of knowledge in Lu Yuan's left eye swam out completely, hovering in front of him, its colorful light spreading out from its body, much more flamboyant than usual.

It circled the group of lights for half a turn, then its own light suddenly shone brightly, carrying an indescribable sense of pride.

The swarm of insects quieted down, remaining motionless, all watching it.

Lu Yuan didn't have extra time to figure out how these insects recognized their leader.

Gunfire was still ringing out outside the branch, and Klaus and the Blue Knight were still trying to stop the surging flesh and blood, but the speed at which the flesh and blood were surging did not slow down at all.

Lu Yuan was all too aware of the Knowledge Worm's ability to devour everything related to knowledge.