Getting up to wash face and brush teeth, Bologue got dressed and knocked on Palmer's room door, but there was a rhythmic snoring inside; that guy was still asleep.

Bologue didn't disturb Palmer's sweet dreams. This guy had just been promoted to a Prayer Believer and needed a good rest. Besides, the Field Operations Department had no tasks to assign at the moment, so Bologue left alone.

Upon arriving at the office, Aimou had been waiting there for a long time.

"Let's go."

Aimou said as she took Bologue's arm and led him down the corridor. Bologue only managed to greet Geoffrey on the way.

As the two walked side by side, Bologue occasionally glanced at Aimou, noticing the vitality in her eyes.

After the Time Axis Disorder event ended, Aimou had been depressed for a long time. She lost her familiar home and also Teda.

The love Teda gave her at the last moment was so sudden that it caught Aimou off guard. By the time she picked up that love and was reborn, Teda was already dead. Even if she wanted to say something, she couldn't chase him.

Bologue could understand Aimou's feelings; he had similar experiences. But Bologue and Aimou were different individuals; Bologue could vent his pent-up anger through violence, but he didn't know what might be suitable for Aimou's release.

Thinking it over, Bologue gave up. He was not good at comforting people, and he didn't know how to handle such scenarios. He might even make the situation worse.

Fortunately, Belli stepped up. No one knew what method she used, but after handing Aimou over to her for a while, Aimou seemed to recover quite a bit.

Then it was up to Bologue to handle the job training. During the training, Bologue applied his experience in dealing with Aimou.

Bologue always felt that as long as people stay busy, they wouldn't have time to ponder those troubling matters. As long as they are busy enough, they can numb themselves.

For this reason, Aimou's first week of job training was very grueling. According to Aimou's description, she was lucky to be an Alchemy Puppet; if she were a living person, she would have been trained to death by Bologue!

Aimou liked maintaining her flesh-and-blood state, which allowed her to experience various new sensations. But whenever she went on missions with Bologue, she decisively turned back into Steel Body.

Faced with Aimou's complaints, Bologue merely thought he was fulfilling his responsibilities. As a soldier who had participated in the Scorched Earth Fury, Bologue believed that only sufficient training could increase an individual's survival rate on the battlefield.

And so the days passed, up until now.

Bologue asked, "Is Belli ready for my promotion ceremony?"

Aimou said, "Probably? I'm not quite sure. I only go to the Sublimation Furnace Core on my days off."

Aimou's life is busy; she works at the Special Operations Group on weekdays and is taken away by Belli on her days off. This is a kind of agreement between the Special Operations Group and the Sublimation Furnace Core, traceable back to a day not long after Aimou joined the Special Operations Group.

"Lebius! What's going on!"

It was a calm day, not long after Lebius was discharged from the hospital, when Belli stormed into the Special Operations Group, furious.

"It's Aimou's own choice; I did not interfere,"

Lebius said without lifting his head. He knew very well why Belli was there.

What followed was a round of bickering, and eventually both sides took a step back, leading to the current situation.

"Is that so... I wonder what Belli is up to..."

Bologue rubbed his head. He thought with Aimou around, he could bid farewell to the Sublimation Furnace Core. But since the promotion ceremony concerned himself, Bologue had to personally go once.

Bologue asked, "How's the handling of the Alchemy Workshop's remains?"

Due to the Immortal Heart's out of control, the Alchemy Workshop was engulfed by flesh and subsequently collapsed in battle. The Alchemy Workshop held many of Teda's research materials over the years. During subsequent battlefield cleanup, the Field Operations Department specifically sent people to investigate the ruins and recover some of the materials.

It held many things Aimou was familiar with over the years, so she actively participated in it and managed to recover a lot of Teda's research materials.

Aimou said, "Many materials were lost, but quite a bit were salvaged. Plus, with his previous agreements with the Sublimation Furnace Core, he regularly feeds back his research materials. Overall, the loss isn't much."

"Is that so..."

Bologue thought it was a good outcome.

"Oh right, because of my senior sister, I also got to see a lot of the materials," Aimou's voice lowered, as if sharing a secret.

"Did you see anything interesting in them?"

Bologue smiled as Aimou looked like a cat hiding in the corner.

"Yes, some things that... are hard to describe."

"For example?"

"Bologue, why do you think in recent years, alchemists have made such swift progress in their research on the Secret Source?"

Aimou didn't answer Bologue's question, but rather posed another question.

A thousand years ago, Secret Energy could only achieve the effects of juggling tricks; a hundred years ago, it endowed Condensers with a power beyond mortals; and now, Secret Energy is enough to turn the tide of battle for Condensers.

"As time passes, the progress in alchemists' research, and... war."

Bologue gave his answer.

War.

War has duality; on one hand, it brings endless pain and sorrow to humanity, and on the other, it greatly accelerates technological advancement.

Even aside from Secret Energy, just considering modern technology. A hundred years ago, trains were merely experimental products in academies; now, cold railways have spread across every piece of land humans touch. Once humanity could only look up at the vast blue sky, but during those distant days of scorched earth fury, swarming machines had already swept across the sky.

Human civilization, upon reaching modern times, seemed to press the acceleration button, with new things being born every day, gradually replacing the old.

Bologue feels that Secret Energy is also like this; the scorched earth fury has plunged war into a stalemate, making both the Kagader Empire and the Rhine Alliance need a more efficient means of destroying each other.

Whether driven by war frenzy or fear of the battlefield, both sides directed resources towards the Condensers, causing rapid progress in the research on this Extraordinary Power.

"What's wrong? Why talk about these things?"

Bologue, being personally experienced with war, was very sensitive to it.

"It's related to the teacher's research... at least his former research."

Aimou hesitated a bit, "I want to learn more about his past. Senior Sister has greatly helped me, allowing me to look into his earlier research, one of which involved progress in studying the Secret Source."

Teda has already turned into dust, yet his figure still remains in Aimou's mind; she wants to know more about this sorrowful fellow.

"In the teacher's research, he pointed out that the progress in Secret Source research might not just be due to resource allocation or war catalysis, but also some other crucial factors that have been deliberately obscured."

"Such as?"

Bologue's curiosity was piqued by Aimou's words, he slowed his steps, listening to Aimou's speech.

"For instance, the teacher suspected that a hundred, even a thousand years ago, the ether concentration throughout the human world was far thinner than it is now. Due to the thinness of ether, its connection with the Secret Source was extremely tenuous, preventing research from advancing even a step."

With the development of the era, the ether concentration in the entire world is continuously rising, even allowing the void Secret Source to be glimpsed, and under the full ether environment, increasingly powerful Alchemy Matrixes are being developed."

Bologue stopped in his tracks, staring straight at Aimou. Although he was not an alchemist, he understood the importance presented in Aimou's theory.

"Do you know what that means, Aimou?"

"It means that ether wasn't present initially; it appeared in some unknown way and then gradually proliferated, filling the entire world over time."

Aimou paused briefly before continuing, "This is what the teacher wrote in his research."

Bologue said, "It seems that Teda's research did not receive recognition."

That much Bologue didn't need to guess; if Teda's research were correct, his name would be inscribed in history, and there would be a place for his study in the "Golden Thesis."

"Yes, the main reason being there's no direct evidence to prove the teacher's theory, and humanity being so short-lived; how many people know of things from hundreds or thousands of years ago?"

Bologue hesitated for a moment, he wanted to say that there are quite a few undead in the world.

"Do you think the teacher's theory is right?"

"I'm not sure."

Bologue shook his head; he seldom gave opinions on matters he did not understand.

"According to Senior Sister, the teacher went out afterward to look for evidence to support his research. The subsequent events aren't mentioned in his studies, nor does Senior Sister know. Perhaps the teacher failed to find evidence, which is why his research remains buried."

When Aimou mentioned these things, she was somewhat disheartened, wishing for Teda's research to be recognized by the world.

"Don't dwell on those; Teda already achieved it."

"Achieved what?"

"A perfect work."

Bologue raised his hand and showed Aimou a thumbs-up.

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