Chapter 467 — The Controllable Holy Light

The young researcher lowered his head: "I am a shallow believer of the Goddess of Magic, my lord."

"When you press the button, you may face divine punishment—do you know this?"

"I know," Kern, a third-rank arcanist, answered calmly. "Pressing the button is an act of defiance against the God of Holy Light; the last person to do so was burned to death by holy light—but I believe the protective system here will do its work."

Camiel floated before Gao Yang: "The test subjects all participate voluntarily, my lord; please rest assured on this point."

"I know," Gao Yi nodded slightly, then let out a soft breath and looked at the young man standing before the experiment table. "Kern Bell, you may make a request—I promise it in my own name."

The atmosphere in the laboratory turned solemn; even Amber, who could be flippant at any time, now looked at the young man before the experiment table with a trace of respect. And Kern, the researcher at the center of everyone's gaze, was silent for two seconds after this, then looked at Gao Yang with a serious face: "My lord, I come from the royal capital—that place has already been sealed off. If I succeed, I hope you can bring my family here; and if I fail, I hope you can carry back a message: Kern Bell, child of a merchant, fell on the road in pursuit of magical truth."

Having said this, the young researcher gave a firm nod to the colleagues standing beside him and to Camiel, the project leader, then without hesitation injected his magical power into the rune-trigger and pressed down hard on that iron button.

All eyes converged in an instant on the platform at the center of the laboratory.

The honeycomb magic net was filled with a faint blue-white radiance, and the inverter array unit connected to the magic net brightened at the same moment; all the magical veins and runes were activated, and pure magical energy, after conversion, was injected into the holy light runes serving as the sample. Meanwhile, the holy light substrate connected directly to the rune-trigger also grew bright after Kern's magical power was injected.

All of this actually happened in a very short span of time, yet under Gao Song's gaze it seemed to stretch on for a century.

At last, above the second holy light substrate connected to the inverter array, a cluster of clear, holy radiance floated up, while the substrate connected directly to the rune-trigger, after a brief flicker, went dark.

The holy light rune substrate had been successfully activated by the inverter array's power supply.

The test subject's mind-brand had remained present throughout the entire process.

Kern still stood safely before the experiment table—fine beads of sweat had broken out on his face, his eyes were wide with tension, his breathing rapid, his fingers trembling slightly, yet he truly stood there intact.

Camiel immediately called out to the laboratory's answering mechanism: "Protective system, report whether we have been struck by a divine impact!"

"Self-check of the protective system in progress... no sign of attack detected. Protective system energy at full capacity."

Camille held his floating posture for a full dozen seconds before he suddenly spun around and looked at Gao Yang with excitement: "No divine punishment! My lord, we've succeeded! The mana net-inverter array architecture can evade divine punishment! And it isn't affected by the mind brand!"

Amber blinked. Given her comprehension and the limits of her knowledge, she still hadn't actually grasped the mechanism behind the whole experiment, but she did recognize the fact that "the experiment succeeded." She stared blankly at Gao Yang: "It's a success, just like that? You mean... we 'stole' the Holy Light right out of the hands of the God of Holy Light?"

"No, we simply took it," Gao Yang said, looking at the half-elf lady with a smile. Then he walked over to the experiment table and gave Cohen a solemn nod. "I will keep my promise—I will bring your family safely back to Cecil."

Just then, Rebecca's voice came suddenly from behind Gao Yang: "Ancestral Stone Man, there's actually one more test."

"One more test?" Gao Yang turned his head in surprise, only to see Rebecca directing the technicians as they placed some new devices onto the experiment table. "What have you designed?"

"Random selection," Rebecca answered earnestly.