Physical mage, challenge me to a solo duel!

China has two research institutes with the largest investments and the highest level of expertise: Huaxie and Huajing.

Among them, the Huaxie Research Institute is the most famous because it has successively developed magic interference devices and magic detection devices. These two major research achievements have helped China find a way to safely control mages and have completed the establishment of a nationwide magic monitoring network.

The only remaining research project that the Huaxie Research Institute is working on is the development of magical weapons.

Although Huajing Research Institute is no less expensive than Huaxie in terms of investment, it is far less prestigious because it has produced very few research results to date, and none of them are even worth mentioning.

The Huajing Research Institute is primarily responsible for research on magic and magic crystals. Its short-term goal is to increase the success rate of mages absorbing magic, while its long-term goal is to break the limitations of bloodline magic, allowing mages to absorb bloodline magic that is otherwise impossible to absorb.

The ultimate goal is to create a new way of passing on magic, so that human mages can pass on magic without being restricted by magic crystals and without absorbing them.

Unfortunately, there has been no breakthrough in these three objectives, not even a glimmer of hope.

At this moment, Ning Yuchao, the director of Huajing Research Institute, an elderly man with silver-gray hair and many wrinkles on his face who looks to be in his sixties, is reviewing a document report.

Standing next to Ning Yuchao is Kong Wenyuan, who is also one of the heads of Huajing Research Institute and is very likely to take over Huajing Research Institute after Ning Yuchao retires. He is in his forties and in the prime of his life.

"So, the Queen Bee's magic crystal has been in our research institute for more than half a year, and with only a few months left before the one-year deadline, this is all we've researched?" Ning Yuchao slammed the file on the table and sighed deeply.

"Ten legendary-grade magic star charts only indicate that this Queen Bee Magic Crystal contains ten legendary-grade spells. While this proves it's an extremely powerful magical beast, it doesn't provide any evidence that it's the same as that spiritual-type sacred beast!"

The so-called magic star map is something that Huajing Research Institute discovered in magic crystals using special methods.

This is one of the few achievements of Huajing Research Institute.

These magical star charts are composed of interconnected dots of light, each with a different shape. Each star chart represents a type of magic, and the same magic of the same rank will naturally have the same magical star chart.

If it exists in magic crystals, it naturally also exists in human crystals.

The process by which a human mage absorbs magic is actually the process of transferring the magic star map from the magic crystal to their own human crystal.

The so-called "awakening of a monk" is the phenomenon where ordinary people develop human crystals in their skulls under the stimulation of an awakening ceremony.

Only with human crystals can the magic star map be contained, and then magic can be used.

If a stable method for transferring magical star charts is found, human mages will be able to absorb whatever magic they want.

If it were possible to replicate a star map directly within a human mage's crystal through some means, wouldn't that mean that humans could learn any magic they wanted?

It sounds simple, but the Huajing Research Institute has spent nearly half a century trying to find a solution, outlasting three generations of researchers and destroying countless magic crystals and human crystals.

It seems that this is some kind of rule and law of the universe, which can only be absorbed by the mage himself, like a talent, and cannot be artificially intervened.

"Dean." Kong Wenyuan looked at Ning Yuchao's wrinkled face and the scattered research reports on the table, hesitated for a moment, then leaned closer and whispered:

"I've heard that many years ago, research institutes in Northern Europe have been secretly conducting human experiments."

"Perhaps we could try this approach, finding a way to implant magical beast crystals into a human body. Maybe that could allow an ordinary person to directly gain magic. If that doesn't work for ordinary people, then implanting high-level magical crystals into the brains of low-level mages, replacing human crystals, might also work..."

"Nonsense!" Ning Yuchao slammed his hand on the table, stood up abruptly, and shouted sternly, "This is heresy! Such human experimentation is strictly prohibited internationally. How many ordinary people and how many mages are you prepared to use as stepping stones for this kind of research?"

Kong Wenyuan gritted his teeth, determined to go all out, and continued to argue, "If we don't research it, they will. If they succeed, they might turn everyone into a sorcerer. If we fall behind even slightly, we'll lose everything, Dean!"

"There's no need to use ordinary people and mages as guinea pigs. There are already plenty of mages sentenced to death in the law enforcement system, and the Night Watch deals with countless wanted criminals every day, all of whom are foreigners. We only need their assistance to support our research. This is a way of making use of waste."

"Shut up!" Ning Yuchao clenched his fist, turned around, and gritted his teeth: "I'll pretend I didn't hear this. Wenyuan, don't mention it again."

Kong Wenyuan took two steps forward, looked at Ning Yuchao's back, opened his mouth, sighed softly, but ultimately said nothing more.

After a long silence, Ning Yuchao spoke again: "There are only a few months left. We need to hurry up and find a way to see if this so-called Queen Bee Magic Crystal is actually a relative of that spiritual-type sacred beast."

Kong Wenyuan shook his head and said, "Dean, we have never hunted or killed any of the same kind as that spiritual beast, nor have we even seen any magic crystals. I guess the only way to prove it is to look at the effects of magic."

"You want to absorb magic for the test?" Ning Yuchao disagreed: "Let's not even talk about whether you can successfully absorb the magic inside the Queen Bee's Magic Crystal. Even if you could, the Queen Bee's Magic Crystal contains ten spells, but there's only one. How many can you absorb in one chance?"

"Moreover, when the Queen Bee Magic Crystal was delivered, Marshal Chu of the Candlelight Army had already given instructions that this magic crystal was reserved for a young man in their military and should not be consumed or damaged."

"Then let that military person try absorbing it," Kong Wenyuan suggested.

Ning Yuchao frowned slightly and pondered for a few seconds: "Based on my conversation with Marshal Chu of the Candlelight Army, the person who reserved the magic crystal probably just recently advanced to a mid-level mage and won't be able to become a high-level mage in a short time, so they can't absorb the magic in the Queen Bee's magic crystal."

"What? He just advanced to the intermediate level?" Kong Wenyuan found it somewhat absurd: "What's his relationship with Marshal Chu that he can directly reserve such precious magic crystals? Isn't that a bit too much favoritism?"

"Don't talk nonsense. Marshal Chu is not the kind of person who would do things out of personal favoritism. He must have a legitimate reason for doing so." Ning Yuchao shook his head.

Kong Wenyuan directly suggested, "Dean, we don't have time to wait so many years, and who knows if that person can successfully absorb the magic in the Queen Bee's Magic Crystal? Even if they do, how many can they absorb?"

"Since we're going to absorb it anyway, why not find a researcher to do it now? We have a highly talented and suitable high-level mental mage here. With our assistance, the success rate is quite high."

"If all goes well, we can directly determine the effects of the magic, which can also be considered as marking the newly discovered magical beast and magic crystal. If we can absorb magic that can control people's minds, we can not only figure out whether this queen bee is related to that mental sacred beast, but also deduce more effects of that mental sacred beast's magic, and maybe even find some weaknesses and loopholes."

"After all, that mysterious spiritual beast has been causing trouble for so many years, yet the military has gained nothing. If we can publish our research findings on this spiritual beast, we can at least temporarily salvage the reputation of our research institute."

Ning Yuchao turned his head and gave Kong Wenyuan a meaningful look: "The most suitable high-level mental mage you mentioned, you wouldn't be referring to Kong Jing, would you?"

Kong Wenyuan's expression remained unchanged as he calmly stated, "When recommending someone, one should not avoid relatives. If the Dean can find a better and more suitable high-level mental mage, he can naturally replace Kong Jing."

"There are still a few months left." Ning Yuchao hesitated, "Let me think about it."