2420 Stone Man
When Han Sen reached the control room, Miss Mirror, Red Cloud, and Night Wind were there staring at the rock through a monitor.
The stone had been locked inside a warehouse. No one was allowed to physically approach the warehouse, though. Whenever any creature approached the stone, something strange would happen.
A deified elite had suddenly been reduced to a King. That was something that had never happened before.
Even Red Cloud didn’t know what had happened to her. She hadn’t been injured, and she hadn’t felt anything invade her body. It was as if she had fallen asleep and gone back in time to a point before she had become deified.
Although she still had a deified mind and senses, her physical power and prowess had dropped to King cla.s.s. It was a very unusual phenomenon.
Han Sen heard what had happened, and when he looked at Red Cloud, he examined her carefully. He could see that Red Cloud’s lifeforce had significantly lowered. When he had looked at her previously, the cloudy appearance that had shrouded her power was now gone. He could see her lifeforce clearly now. She was only a King, and she was weaker than Falling Leaf.
“What do you think?” Miss Mirror asked Han Sen, indicating the stone.
Han Sen looked at the stone displayed on the monitor, and he noticed that it looked like any ordinary block of stone. It was black, and it was roughly the size and shape of a man standing on his feet.
It was only a rough shape, though. There was no discernible face. The rough outline of limbs were connected to the body, so the stone was a single lump. It looked like something that might have been crudely hewn from a greater rock by primitive individuals with their primal tools.
Han Sen knew it couldn’t have been constructed, though. There was no evidence that it had been created by sentient beings.
Even the symbols upon the stone man appeared to be naturally generated. They didn’t look like carvings, at all.
Han Sen observed it for a while, and he couldn’t find anything unusual about it. He didn’t know what any of the symbols upon it meant, either. He had never seen them before, and they weren’t like the Kingese, which he could understand by instinct.
“I cannot tell you anything just by looking at the video,” Han Sen answered.
“Do you want to go to the warehouse to take a look?” Miss Mirror asked, glancing at Han Sen.
“If you guys can’t determine anything about this stone, then I definitely won’t be able to,” Han Sen said quickly. He wasn’t really interested in taking an unnecessary risk.
Even a deified had been reduced to King cla.s.s overnight. Han Sen didn’t want to have his level lowered, especially since he had only just become King.
Han Sen’s answer surprised Miss Mirror. She was silent for a moment, then said, “This news has spread all across King’s Kingdom. My brother told me to keep it here and figure out what it is exactly.”
That didn’t surprise Han Sen. If they sent it back to the Extreme King without figuring out what it was or how to control it, the stone could end up draining the power of all the deified Extreme King. Han Sen found the thought to be rather funny.
Night Wind said, “We don’t know how effective this item is. We will have to use another creature to figure out the nature and effective radius of its ability.”
“Sixteen, didn’t you want to work? I will let you handle this,” Miss Mirror said.
“Me?” Han Sen was shocked. This was too dangerous of an endeavor, so he had no intention of trying it out himself. He would just pick some workers to go for him.
It was surprising that Miss Mirror was actually letting Han Sen handle this, though.
“You have a problem with that?” Miss Mirror inquired.
“Nope. What people should I use, though?” Han Sen asked.
“Choose some workers to go. There are many of them, but you can only select a maximum of ten Dukes. You can have ten Marquises, too,” Miss Mirror said.
“Sure,” Han Sen agreed.
“Then it is settled. Get to work, and I will await your good news.” Miss Mirror smiled.
“Don’t worry, my Lady. I will not disappoint you,” Han Sen answered.
When Han Sen left, Night Wind said, “My Lady, is it suitable for Prince Sixteen to be the one to handle this? If something happens to him, what will we say to the King?”
“I can handle that. Now, Red Cloud has lost most of her power. You will have to be in charge of the stone field. Be careful,” Miss Mirror said.
Han Sen went to the stone field and selected a few people, including Ning Yue. Although it was only a test, who knew how dangerous it could turn out to be.
Because Han Sen needed to confirm how effective the stone was, he would have to send people close to the stone. The closer someone was, the more danger they would be in. Han Sen planned to keep Ning Yue as far away from the stone as possible. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be affected by the stone.
If the furthest person was affected, then everyone in the base was already in range of the stone. In that case, it wouldn’t matter who was or wasn’t partic.i.p.ating in the tests.
Han Sen put together his operation swiftly. He split his twenty n.o.bles into ten pairs, one Marquise and one Duke per team. He instructed each team to stand at a different distance from the stone. The closest team to the stone was inside the warehouse. The other teams were outside the warehouse. He s.p.a.ced the teams out at regular intervals, positioning Ning Yue far in the back.
Then, all Han Sen needed to do was watch the changes unfold within the ten teams. High-level members of Spring Rain observed the proceedings, making careful records of everything that happened.
After a single night, something occurred to the team that was nearest the stone, but it was different from what had happened with Red Cloud. They didn’t drop a level. Instead, they leveled up.
The Marquise became a Duke, and the Duke became a King.
It wasn’t as much of a surprise as when Red Cloud was reduced to King cla.s.s, but it was still shocking, all the same. Now everyone was curious if the stone could be used to level up beyond King. If they could use the stone to turn a King into a deified, that would be pretty wicked.
Even if the stone couldn’t level people up that far, bringing Dukes up to King cla.s.s was exceptional. If he could use those powers safely, and there were no adverse side effects, Han Sen thought he could raise a King cla.s.s army. That would be a force to be reckoned with.
Han Sen didn’t allow the two leveled up people to leave their position. They remained inside the warehouse, waiting for more changes to occur.
By the third day, no further changes were observed in the two people in the warehouse. The second team outside had been affected, though. Just like those of the first team, they had leveled up.
Ever since that rock had been found, all the creatures that touched it leveled up once. Only Red Cloud had been knocked down a peg.
Han Sen went to check out the ten teams each and every day. He also had a chance to speak with Ning Yue. Han Sen found the experience to be chilling, though. Ning Yue was really girly. It wasn’t just his body anymore; his personality had changed, too.
Han Sen could scarcely believe that this was the Ning Yue he used to know. Ning Yue never used to be afraid of anything, but now he really was sensitive like a girl.
“I was affected by that sword.” Han Sen would never forget Ning Yue’s face when he said that. It was like a woman that had just been married, but her husband was killed immediately after. He looked so desperate and helpless; he was pitiful.