"That's right."
The Female Dean answered him.
Xin Nan caught the term "Consciousness Body," paused for a moment, and then asked, "Before, in your words, I seemed to have mutated, right? Then Yan Yu, she was too close to me at the time, is she okay?"
Xin Nan's question perhaps surprised the Female Dean; she hadn't expected Xin Nan to first inquire about the girl.
He recalled a similarly surprised expression; Xin Nan had seen the same on Ye Lan, another member of the Materialist Bureau, the young man in the grey suit.
"She's fine, and she has now officially joined us. A very talented child. Also, three days have passed since your mutation."
"That's good."
Xin Nan breathed a sigh of relief and then continued:
"As for these eyes, you should be able to find all the documents, right? After all, I spent my time before the age of 12 in other mental hospitals; they must have complete records."
"Of course."
The Female Dean lifted her left leg, closed the notebook, and placed it on her lap, crossing her arms in an even more exaggerated pose.
"Actually, it's not just you; including Doctor Pu in your notebook, including Yan Yu, we know about all the mental patients in this city."
"But in our world, the conclusions from observation are the least reliable."
"Perhaps you will understand this principle later. For us, it's about contact rather than understanding, pursuing essence rather than observing phenomena; this is the correct method. At most times, we only trust what we and our companions personally feel, which is why I am here."
Saying this, the Female Dean lowered her leg and bent forward, looking deeply into his eyes.
"What exactly did you see?"
What the Female Dean was asking was what Xin Nan had seen behind her.
"A greyish-brown, rotting whale, very large. What I see now is only a part of it; the rest is probably blocked by the room. It was dripping a disgusting dark green liquid, but it felt somewhat sad."
That feeling of sadness wasn't an emotional impact like those colorless background paintings, but rather... a feeling directly conveyed by the image itself.
He had felt the same way before when he saw the background paintings of that unknown young man in a grey suit and the girl in the JK uniform.
Xin Nan couldn't help but recall that term—Consciousness Body.
The Female Dean fell silent, but her eyes looking at Xin Nan grew brighter.
So he not only saw the Consciousness Body but also the essence of my Consciousness Body?
"I really want to study your eyes properly!"
The Female Dean stared intently at Xin Nan.
The last person who gave him that intense, almost ravenous gaze was the Boss Lady.
This instinctively made him feel uncomfortable, and he wanted to kick the Female Dean in the chest. Fortunately, he restrained himself; otherwise, he would have been the one lying on the ground.
This was the Female Dean's second loss of composure.
She quickly regained her composure, coughed, and tentatively asked him:
"Very good, you are exactly the talent we need. Have you considered joining us?"
"Then please tell me about your obligations and rights."
"Heh heh, little boy, do you think you have a choice?"
At this moment, the Female Dean displayed a unique, wicked sense of humor and stated decisively:
"People like you, if you don't join us, will only be contained. There will be no other outcome. Believe me, containment will not be a method you'll like. Also, even if you want to join, we still need to assess you."
Saying this, the Female Dean stood up, walked towards Xin Nan, and took his hand.
"Let me see first, your Consciousness Body."
As the Female Dean took Xin Nan's hand.
An invisible power connected along Xin Nan's arm to his brain.
She began to perceive Xin Nan's Consciousness Body and its essence.
And within Xin Nan's "field of vision," the colossal whale behind the Female Dean let out an ethereal cry in the void, seemingly echoing from ancient times.
Its massive body swam and spun in the void, then, with those eyes on its rotting body that strangely retained their spirituality, it gazed deeply at Xin Nan.
But those eyes were not beautiful!
Their living spirituality, under the veneer of death, was not noble; all that remained was a struggle more hideous than death itself.
It felt like a corpse crawling up from the abyss, desperately trying to grasp something to prevent itself from falling. When it approached, it would instinctively make anyone want to flee, lest they be dragged into the eternal abyss.
As it stared, the dark green liquid flowing from its decay began to surround Xin Nan.
He made no move; over the past decade, he had long since mastered the art of remaining calm in the face of change.
The Female Dean, however, frowned.
"Nothing?"
With such close contact, the Female Dean could be certain that an element must exist within Xin Nan; that scent was impossible to mask. Yet, under her mental coverage, she couldn't sense the other party's Consciousness Body. This was illogical!
Although everything related to the Transcendent in this world was inherently illogical!
Suddenly, the Female Dean thought of a possibility.
"Abyss Trait, could it be that you already possess the Abyss Trait!"
The Female Dean's excitement at this moment was second only to when she learned of Xin Nan's eye ability. She murmured as if in delirium before Xin Nan, chanting:
"Forged in the rule of at least five emotions into the fissure of the abyss, born from the depths of spirituality, the Transcendent, the element that can contain almost all elements, the miracle of miracles."
At this point, the Female Dean looked at him with great solemnity, as if observing an important test subject.
The Female Dean suddenly said to Xin Nan:
"Although this might be sudden for you, please understand that in our field, decisions made based on intuition are often the correct ones."
The Female Dean stood up, grabbed Xin Nan's hand, and pressed it to her chest.
"No assessment is needed. Based on the touch of essence, I have made a judgment."
"Then please allow me to invite you to join the Materialist Bureau, to fight for the Night Watch, Secrecy, and Guardianship. Are you willing, little boy?"
The door to the Transcendent, which he had always pursued, now opened its arms to Xin Nan.
Xin Nan was not overly excited, nor did he need to weigh the pros and cons, as this was precisely what he had been seeking.
If an opportunity presented itself, why not seize it?
His expression calm as he felt the Female Dean's overly intimate gesture, he nodded.
"I am willing."
This was without a doubt.
The Female Dean smiled.
"Then I will lead you into the realm of the Transcendent. As your Senior, I will inherit the tinder from even older Seniors and illuminate the path leading to the Despair Abyss for you."
"I believe you are already craving related knowledge. Next, I will slowly explain Transcendent, Elements, Consciousness Body, Essence, and the Despair Steps. This is the most basic knowledge in our field."
Saying this, the Female Dean licked her lips; indeed, they were quite full.
"First, I will explain the Transcendent to you."
"In your eyes, a Transcender might be equivalent to some unknown power. But in our field, Transcendent is inevitably linked to madness. This is determined by the essence of the world and the universe. The necessary condition for the emergence of Transcendent, we call it an Element."
At this point, the Female Dean sighed heavily.
"Little boy, you must understand that the essence of this world and the universe is disorder, chaos, and madness."
"What humans call reason might not be a fortunate tool; instead, it has become a restraint that prevents us from contacting the Transcendent."
"As an old saying goes, if you want to defeat an evil dragon, you must naturally become an evil dragon. If you want to master lightning, you will transform into lightning. When Transcenders pursue the sublimation of life, they naturally draw closer to the universe itself. Experiments over countless years have proven this."
"Please imagine reason as a veil that separates us from the essence of the universe."
"Its existence prevents us humans from truly contacting the essence of the universe. But when our emotions become so intense that they break through the brain's threshold for fainting, and when individual spirituality contacts the essence of the universe through this veil, Elements are born."
"Therefore, all known Elements are born from humans, because only humans possess reason. You certainly understand that reason is different from the intelligence that animals also possess. Furthermore, already-born Elements can be acquired by other entities, giving rise to alternative Aberrations or Sealed Items. But in any case, only by possessing an Element can one open the door to the Transcendent."
"The appearance of Elements manifests in three ways. First, scent; when you ascend the steps with us, you will naturally know what scent refers to. As for its second manifestation, your body will be strengthened when your emotions are intense. As for the third manifestation..."
The Female Dean paused here. Before Xin Nan, who was already shocked, could digest the despairing information he had just heard, her eyes became profound, her expression solemn, and she uttered that sentence word by word.
"You can begin to controllably devour other Elements. Before humans themselves give birth to Elements, any act of devouring other Elements will only lead to absolute mutation and loss of control."
Xin Nan froze, then was suddenly struck by an indescribable sense of absurdity.
If things were truly as he imagined, then the group of Transcenders was likely dark and despairing to an unimaginable degree.
There will be another update this afternoon.
This kind of Transcendent power is something I envisioned based on the worldviews of Cthulhu and Lord of the Mysteries. There may be loopholes that I haven't noticed myself later on, so please provide your feedback.
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