More than twenty days later.

Late at night, sunny, full of stars.

Outside of Atlanta, on a raised ground in the field, there was an ordinary-looking courtyard.

There are three stone buildings in the courtyard, the middle of which is the tallest, with six floors, and a huge long cylinder structure at the top is slowly turning, as if someone is observing something in the sky with the help of this prop.

This is the 361 station.

On the ninth basement floor, inside a huge, empty room.

In the center of the room, there is a set of seemingly complicated mechanical equipment, which is connected to the top, except for nothing, not even the most basic tables and chairs.

A tall, lanky old man in an indigo robe who looked to be in his seventies stood in front of the machinery in the center of the room, fiddling with it.

His name is Nikolai Tycho, and he is a powerful, but extremely low-key wizard, having reached the level of a fourth-level wizard decades ago, but there are hardly any rumors of him on the main continent. This is mainly due to his quirky hobby - stargazing, studying the mysterious and infinite starry sky, for which he spends most of his life away from the crowd, eliminating meaningless interference, hiding in a remote place with few people to observe and record the trajectory of many stars.

It is precisely because of this hobby that he was invited to Sarin two years ago and became the director of 361.

Tycho, whose face was wrinkled, squinted at a hole in the glass of the instrument, and pressed his hands against the two crystal hemispheres on the surface of the instrument.

A delicately controlled flow of mana was injected into the crystal hemisphere, which shone brightly, and the sound of dense gears could be heard inside the instrument, as well as the fluctuations of high-intensity energy activating magic patterns. The instrument is finely tuned under manipulation, and many internal structures operate, and the stargazing tube on the ground outside changes its angle and direction.

Tycho kept observing the stars forming in the glass holes, occasionally reaching out and pressing a few other buttons on the instrument, looking attentive and smiling.

The process lasted dozens of minutes, and Tycho ended the stargazing, pulled down a white joystick on the mechanical instrument, left the instrument, and turned to look at the doorway.

In just half a minute, the sound of small steps and running sounded outside the door, and then the door was pushed open halfway, and a young male wizard apprentice entered, holding a shining crystal ball in his hand, and saluted respectfully: "Master Tycho, I have recorded the star map you observed today for you next door, and it has changed slightly compared to last time, do you want to check it?"

"Well, give it to me. Tycho said loudly, beckoning, and the crystal ball flew up under the influence of extraordinary power, breaking away from the palm of the wizard's apprentice, and crossed an arc in the air, and was caught by Tycho.

Tycho gripped the crystal ball tightly and poured mana into it, and the crystal ball, which was already glittering, suddenly lit up, and the light cast from the top of the room quickly dimmed. I saw countless points of light flying out of the crystal ball, floating in the air of the room, occupying a fixed position, forming a three-dimensional star map.

Tycho raised his hand and nudged the star chart, causing it to rotate slowly, occasionally stopping to observe one of the points of light for a long time.

Tycho watched for a few more minutes, reaching out and grabbing all the points of light back into the crystal ball, and waving his hand to restore the light to the room.

Holding the crystal ball, Tycho looked at the wizard apprentice still standing in the doorway, and asked a little strangely, "Why are you still here?"

"Yes, Master Tycho. The wizard apprentice looked over, "There's one more thing—Master Emerson from Institute 362 came just now, saying that he has something to give you for Research Project Nine." ”

"So, that Emerson has been waiting for me for almost an hour?"

"Yes. The wizard's apprentice was a little apprehensive, "I wanted to tell the master just now, but you reminded me that no one is allowed to disturb you while you are stargazing and observing the star map, so ......"

"Yes, yes, you've done a good job. Tycho lifted his chin, "You should have made that arrogant gambler wait a little longer." I heard that this time he and Lord Richard proposed to use more than seventy percent of the next quarter's capital budget as a bet, as long as our 361 can't complete the delivery, the funds will be transferred to their 362. ”

"Hmph, sure enough, that old guy's idea of swallowing us has never been broken. However, he also thinks it's too beautiful, our 361 is no worse than their 362. The things that Lord Richard gave us were not only completed, but also completed many times ahead of schedule, so if he wants to win, he will have to live in the next life. Tycho clutched the Crystal Fairway.

The wizard apprentice listened and asked tentatively, "Then Master Tycho, do you need to ask Master Emerson to wait a little longer?"

"Forget it. Tycho waved his hand, "It's almost time to keep him waiting for so long, if it doesn't take any longer, that guy won't be able to stop from going to Lord Richard to speak ill of me again, so call him in." ”

"Yes. The wizard apprentice nodded, turned and walked out.

After a while, the sound of hurried and dull footsteps sounded in the corridor outside.

Then there was a "bang", and the door of the opposite room bounced inward as if it had been hit by a siege cone, and slammed against the walls on both sides, and Emerson, whose face darkened, stepped in.

Tycho raised his eyebrows, looking at Emerson who seemed to be very angry, the wrinkles on his face were ironed by the iron in an instant, and asked with a smile: "Mr. Emerson, you have so much time, you are willing to come to my 361." ”

"Hmph, I'm just inspecting the branch of my 362 Institute in the future to see how it can be renovated. Emerson said with a blank face.

Tycho was stunned for a moment and chuckled: "You 362 Branch? Think too much, this bet, you didn't win, you completed your business, we also completed our business, it is a draw." ”

"I know. Emerson said lightly, "But I will always win after that, you 361 don't have much value at all, and sooner or later you will fall under our 362 Institute." ”

"No one can say what the future holds, so don't jump to conclusions so early. ”

"No, I said yes. Emerson said in an accentuated tone, and as he spoke, he took out a gray crystal ball from his bosom and threw it at Tycho, "By the way, take this, this is the content of our 'Nine Research Project', which records the location of the other dozens of ancient spirits, their location in the void, the scope of influence, and the test method from the captured spirits.

I really don't see any practical value in this, but since Lord Richard asked me to hand it over to you, you can take it, and hopefully not waste my time. ”

Tycho caught the gray crystal ball and opened his mouth to say something to anger Emerson, but Emerson didn't give him this opportunity, turned around first, and walked out the door without looking back.