Chapter 2059 - 551: Far Beyond the Demon King's Expectations_5

Sacrificial offerings that meet the criteria will be sent to the altar for the next stage of processing, a process akin to ore smelting... but Luo Yan could no longer bear to read on.

Too cruel.

Death is merely a momentary affair, even if one awakens as an Undead, it's equivalent to another incarnation.

However, such conveyor-belt-like slaughter, where even personality is ground away in the Blood and Flesh Grinding Plate, would likely shock even the Demons.

The Purgatory depicted in the Holy Word Book is right here...

Through this inhumane method, this Professor successfully removed the 'Spiritual Essence' that contained memories and emotions as waste, preserving only the purest 'soul quality.'

Yet it's still not perfect.

The manuscript mentioned that the density of soul quality varies in different body parts, and slight differences exist between various individuals' soul quality.

Numerous factors restrict the purity of the final product, greatly diminishing the effect of this artificial Holy Water on improving 'Soul Level.'

Luo Yan flipped to the last page of the manuscript in his hand.

There, the handwriting became somewhat hasty, seeming as if left by the experimenter himself, which would be an extremely important clue.

Not only that—

From that hasty note, he gradually sensed a trace of twisted excitement.

[The loss rate of adult bodies is too high... impurities in Spiritual Essence are difficult to completely filter... we need purer raw materials...]

[...I should have thought of it earlier! We can actually obtain more efficient materials from the source, as long as it's processed before exposure to light...]

Luo Yan's expression slightly tensed, a bad premonition rose in his heart.

Alakdo completely didn't mention this thing to him, obviously, they only carelessly wandered the outside without delving deeper here, nor did they carefully read these notes they couldn't understand.

And as if to confirm the worst guess in his heart, a Knight responsible for searching the surrounding area ran out from behind a nearby stone door.

His face looked even worse than when he vomited earlier, as if he had seen the Purgatory in the Holy Word Book.

"Your Highness! You... you should come and have a look at the room next door."

Erin's heart skipped a beat, not daring to delay, she quickly followed behind the Knight, and Luo Yan also put away the notes and followed.

As they passed through the heavy stone door and entered the adjacent room, the scene before their eyes made everyone freeze their breaths.

"These beasts..." Theresa's voice trembled.

The environment here was completely different from the bloody filth outside.

The nauseating stench was gone, the air was even somewhat dry and warm, with relatively clean thick animal hides on the floor, and fresh food and clean water piled up in the corner.

However, this unnatural "favor" carried a chill deeper than death.

Behind several low wooden fences, hundreds of imprisoned girls of varying ages, some mature, some young.

Most of them showed dazed expressions, eyes vacant, clearly being fed some kind of drug for a long time, leaving them in a semi-drowsy state.

Most shocking was that each of their stomachs was distended...

Judging from their gestation time, they clearly weren't brought here recently, more like they've been "raised" here for a long time.

If the previous area was a farm, then this was a production base.

Yet strangely, no sound of crying infants could be heard, not a trace of a child, nor any sign of cradles or the like.

Erin stared blankly at the scene before her, her faded pupils seemingly broken, and the Longsword in her hand trembled slightly.

"...What are they doing?"

Even on battlefields as tragic as those in Twilight Province, even facing tens of thousands of corpses, she had never felt such despair and helplessness as she did now.

Luo Yan stood silently behind her, hesitating for a long time, ultimately deciding to tell her part of what he knew.

There's no point in hiding anymore.

Even these materials could be found in this cave, clearly the research by those Mages didn't start only with the Winter Moon fire; it must have been going on long before Brass Pass was nearing collapse.

Ten years?

Twenty years?

He wasn't sure, perhaps only Saint Sis knew.

"...According to the Soul School's theory, the human Spirit is divided into 'Spiritual Essence' and 'soul quality.' 'Spirit' is the sum of memories, emotions, and self-awareness acquired postnatally. And 'Soul,' is the innate Life Energy, what's ultimately reincarnated."

Using the information era's concepts could explain it better. The former is software, the latter is hardware... but explaining this would surely confuse Erin even more.

Though Taufu would surely understand.

"So?" Erin turned, staring straight into Colin's eyes, filled with pleading, hoping not for that answer.

Yet destined to be disappointed.

The Evil here exceeded the Demon King's expectations.

"...Newborns, or those not yet born, their 'Spirit' hasn't formed or is extremely weak. But their 'Soul' is no different from adults, and the time cost is lower."

"For these Magic researchers pursuing ultimate purity, that's perfect raw material without any impurities."

"Holy Water uses soul quality as its raw material, with Spiritual Essence as the impurity."

"They've paved a shortcut leading to the Abyss on paths we hadn't conceived..."