Deeper inside the research facility, the sounds in the corridors gradually faded.
As they continued farther inward, the experimental areas they had passed through were slowly left behind.
The crackling flames of the high-temperature laboratories.
The rush of air from the low-temperature equipment.
The dull vibrations produced by the impact-testing machines.
All of them grew increasingly distant.
In their place came the steady hum of machinery operating at a more consistent rhythm.
The walls here were also different from those in the areas they had passed through earlier.
There were no large observation windows.
The walls were thicker, and the distance between each door was noticeably greater.
Every door was equipped with its own independent identity verification system.
This was no ordinary experimental area.
It was the core section responsible for research planning, technical evaluation, and determining the direction of future development projects.
The department head accompanying Lucian reached the end of the corridor and stopped in front of a metal door.
He raised his hand.
After his identity was verified, the lock disengaged.
The heavy metal door slowly swung inward.
Beyond it was a relatively small office.
There was little decoration.
A desk stood in the center, with two filing cabinets against the walls. Several terminals were running nearby.
A number of experimental reports that had yet to be organized lay scattered across the desktop.
The office looked less like the workplace of a department head overseeing a core technical division of the Jace Family and more like an ordinary research room where someone worked long hours.
Behind the desk, a middle-aged man was studying some documents.
Hearing the door open, he raised his head.
His gaze first settled on the staff member accompanying Lucian.
Only then did he turn toward Lucian.
After a brief pause, he set down the documents and stood up.
"Mr. Lucian."
"Hello."
Lucian gave a slight nod.
"Hello."
There was no unnecessary small talk between them.
Nor did the department head display any obvious nervousness because of Lucian's status.
Within the Jace Family, status could indeed determine many things.
But in the technical division, experimental data spoke more directly than rank ever could.
If a proposed design failed to pass testing, it had to be revised, regardless of who had proposed it.
The department head gestured for Lucian to sit.
"I heard you came here with a new research direction in mind."
Lucian took a seat at the desk.
"More or less."
The department head studied him.
"It's not ordinary material testing?"
"No."
"Equipment?"
"Not that either."
The department head frowned slightly.
He stopped guessing and asked directly.
"Then what is it?"
Lucian did not answer immediately.
His gaze fell on several experimental reports scattered across the desk.
The impressions left by the experiments he had seen along the way were still fresh in his mind.
High temperatures.
Low temperatures.
Impact.
Pressure.
Corrosion.
The changes exhibited by materials under different environmental conditions.
Every test ultimately pointed toward the same question.
What could matter withstand?
But what Lucian truly wanted to test now was something else entirely.
He raised his head.
"If a certain kind of power..."
"Could be temporarily stored inside a material, would that be possible?"
The department head did not respond immediately.
Lucian continued.
"Have you ever researched that possibility?"
The office fell silent for a moment.
The department head's previously relaxed expression grew slightly more serious.
"Storing power?"
"Yes."
"The power you're referring to..."
"Is it energy?"
"Not energy in the ordinary sense."
The department head looked at Lucian.
"Then what is it?"
Lucian did not beat around the bush.
"Azure."
The moment the word left his mouth, the office fell completely silent.
The faint hum of the nearby terminals suddenly became unusually distinct.
The department head did not answer at once.
His gaze remained on Lucian before slowly shifting to Lucian's hand.
Azure.
The name was hardly unfamiliar to the Jace Family.
That was especially true for the technical division.
After all, Azure was no ordinary ability.
It could stabilize structures, contain chaos, and, under certain circumstances, interfere with the states of energy and matter.
Yet none of these properties had ever been formally studied with the intention of treating Azure as a storable energy source.
At least, no one had officially proposed such a research direction before.
The department head remained silent for several seconds.
"You mean..."
"Extracting Azure from your body?"
"No."
Lucian shook his head.
"Not extracting it."
"I want to see whether it can temporarily enter a certain material."
The department head looked at him.
"And remain there?"
"Correct."
"For how long?"
"I don't know."
Lucian answered without hesitation.
"That's why we need to research it."
The department head did not object.
He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands on the desk.
"Have you considered this possibility before?"
"After what happened in Northveil."
Lucian's answer was brief.
The department head took note of the timing.
"Northveil?"
Lucian offered no detailed explanation.
"I saw a few things there."
The department head did not press him.
He knew that if Lucian was willing to share something, he would do so on his own.
Since he had chosen not to elaborate, it meant this was not the time to ask.
The department head returned his attention to the subject at hand.
"If we proceed according to your idea..."
"The first problem we need to solve isn't storage."
Lucian looked at him.
The department head picked up a pen and wrote several words on a sheet of paper.
"Contact."
"Stability."
"Containment."
"Retention."
"Release."
"These are the five stages."
As he spoke, he gently tapped the final word with the tip of his pen.
"The last one may be the most difficult."
Lucian remained silent.
The department head continued explaining.
"Even if a material can temporarily support Azure, that doesn't necessarily mean it can truly store it."
"It might simply absorb it for a brief period."
"Or the ability might merely be undergoing some kind of reaction with the material."
"If it disappears after a few seconds, it has no practical value."
Lucian nodded slightly.
"So..."
"We first need to determine whether it can remain."
"Exactly."
The department head raised his head.
"Only then can we investigate how long it can be stored."
Lucian asked, "What if it can remain?"
"Then we continue testing."
"How much testing?"
"We start with the most basic quantities."
The department head spoke in a calm, measured tone.
"A small amount of Azure."
"A short duration."
"A single material."
"A single environment."
"Every variable must be controlled."
"Otherwise, even if we obtain a result, we won't be able to determine what caused it."
Lucian raised no objections.
This was precisely the research methodology he was familiar with.
When dealing with complicated problems in the past, he had also preferred to break them down into smaller parts and verify each one individually.
The only difference was that this time, the subject of the research was no longer an ordinary material.
It was his own ability.
The department head glanced down at the desk before asking another question.
"What result are you hoping to achieve?"
Lucian considered the question briefly.
"Let's not worry about scale for now."
The department head looked up.
"Or practical applications?"
"Not yet."
Lucian's answer remained calm.
"Let's prove one thing first."
The department head waited.
"Can Azure remain inside a material after I leave?"
The department head fell silent for a moment before nodding.
"Understood."
The objective was clear.
It was also far more straightforward than immediately proposing the construction of some kind of device.
At this stage, they did not even know whether Azure could form a stable storage relationship with matter.
If they could not establish that basic fact, every subsequent discussion would be meaningless.
The department head picked up another document and flipped through several pages.
"In that case..."
"We don't need to build a new, large-scale experimental facility at this stage."
Lucian looked at him.
"The existing material laboratories will suffice?"
"For now."
The department head replied.
"The material laboratories have more than enough testing equipment."
"We can begin by screening the materials we already have."
"Metals."
"Composite materials."
"Ceramics."
"Crystals."
"Special coatings."
"Even materials currently undergoing long-term stability testing."
"We'll first observe how they change after coming into contact with Azure."
Lucian asked, "What if the material itself shows no reaction?"
"We try another one."
"And if none of them react?"
The department head paused briefly.
"Then we'll have demonstrated that the materials available within our current material systems cannot support Azure."
"And after that?"
"We keep searching."
Lucian looked at him.
The department head returned his gaze.
Neither spoke.
After a moment, the department head suddenly smiled.
"You should understand..."
"If we really find a suitable material, the significance of this project will go far beyond making you a special piece of material."
Lucian did not deny it.
"I know."
The department head lowered his head again and slowly turned the pen between his fingers.
"If an ability can be temporarily contained within matter..."
"Then the relationship between ability users and their abilities will change."
Lucian's eyes shifted slightly.
The department head did not elaborate further.
Instead, he turned to a blank page.
At the top, he wrote a provisional project name.
There was no official number.
No project code.
Just a simple line of text.
Azure Storage Experiment.
The department head set down his pen.
"However..."
"Before we begin, there's one more thing I need to confirm."
Lucian looked at him.
"What is it?"
"Can you control the amount of Azure you introduce?"
"Yes."
"Can you make it extremely small?"
"Yes."
"Can you maintain a continuous input?"
"Yes."
The department head nodded.
That was enough.
At the very least, the first stage of the experiment was feasible.
He stood up and walked over to a nearby terminal.
After entering several commands, the existing material testing database unfolded across the screen.
A vast collection of material names and testing records appeared in orderly rows.
Heat-resistant materials.
Cold-resistant materials.
High-strength materials.
Composite materials.
Special crystals.
One set of experimental data after another scrolled down the screen.
The department head did not rush to select anything.
He simply browsed through the database.
"We won't assume that any particular material will work."
"We'll start with the basic data and eliminate the candidates one by one."
Lucian stepped up to the terminal and scanned the information.
"When can we begin?"
The department head glanced at the time.
"If you're available now..."
Lucian did not answer.
Instead, he raised his hand.
A faint blue glow slowly emerged from his palm.
It was extremely weak, barely bright enough to illuminate the space immediately around his hand.
The blue light simply hovered there, motionless in his palm.
Yet the department head fell completely silent.
For the first time, he was observing Azure at close range with his own eyes.
Not through experimental reports.
Not through data collected in the past.
And not through the accounts of other people.
This was the actual power, present right before him.
Lucian did not allow it to grow any stronger.
He simply maintained it in its most basic state.
Several seconds later, the faint blue light slowly receded and returned to his palm.
The department head watched the entire process.
After a moment of silence, he spoke.
"Let's go."
"To the laboratory."
Lucian withdrew his hand and turned around.
The two men left the office.
Behind them, the terminal screens remained illuminated, displaying rows upon rows of material data.
The provisional project record they had just created had also appeared at the bottom of the database.
No one knew what results the first experiment specifically designed to investigate Azure's storage capabilities would produce.
But at least the research had officially begun.