Chapter 59: Development

“Cognitive Deprivation First Layer.”

Allen elegantly snapped his fingers.

Mel suddenly found 【The New Moon】 in her hands had become unusually heavy, and the combat techniques she knew by heart were rapidly fading from her memory.

What was more terrifying was that Veronica's silhouette began to blur, as if some force was forcibly deleting her understanding of the concept of "sister".

“Don't even think about it!”

Mel bit the tip of her tongue, the taste of blood temporarily allowing her to regain her senses.

But when she looked up, the entire library had already transformed—the bookshelves had turned into ghastly white ribs, the chandelier into a suspended bundle of nerves, and every book had opened a mouth full of sharp teeth.

Allen ascended the void, steps automatically materializing beneath his feet, formed from the chapters of "A Study on the Improvement of the Eldian Race".

His pupils split into countless tiny words, his voice carrying a triple reverb: "Those who follow their instincts are utterly foolish—Knowledge Materialization Second Layer."

Countless formulas from "Principles of Mechanics" suddenly materialized into gear chains, instantly piercing Mel's limbs and suspending her in mid-air.

Fresh blood slowly dripped down the chains, converging into twisted symbols on the ground.

Her consciousness wavered between pain and clarity, but what was more terrifying was that the gears were reverse-engineering her muscle memory— Mel discovered with horror that her combat instincts were being rewritten into the "Code of Ladylike Etiquette".

“Concept Replacement Third Layer.”

Allen's voice rang out again, like a judgment.

Veronica suddenly let out an inhuman scream, and dense diagrams from the "Human Anatomy Atlas" appeared beneath her skin.

When she tried to grab Mel, her five fingers suddenly scattered into a three-dimensional projection of "Detailed Explanation of Hand Bones".

“Stop!”

Mel frantically activated her Quintessence, only to find that 【The New Moon】 in her hand had been refracted into fragments by the geometric models of "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres".

The suspended ink-like words were weaving some kind of cognitive filter, forcibly translating the connection between her and the Red Moon into the "Selected Lyrical Poems of Moonlight".

“When knowledge is sufficiently complete, everything is but....a text to be annotated.”

As soon as Allen's words fell, the entire library began to twist and deform.

“Logic Reconstruction Fourth Layer.”

As Allen's voice fell, everything in the library began to operate in a way that defied common sense.

Books grew from the ceiling, bookshelves walked on the floor, and the walls turned into a flowing ocean of words.

Mel found that she could no longer think with normal logic; every thought was twisted into an absurd paradox.

Veronica's body began to disintegrate, turning into countless scattered words.

Her voice became a series of meaningless syllables, combining in the air to form bizarre verses.

“Mel...er...I...am...who...”

Mel wanted to respond, but found her language system had been completely subverted.

Every sentence she spoke turned into a complex thesis, filled with obscure terminology and citations.

Allen walked over slowly, treading on steps formed from "Introduction to Quantum Mechanics", each step causing ripples in the surrounding space.

“Concept Fusion Fifth Layer.”

Allen lightly snapped his fingers.

And so, the boundary between books and people disappeared.

The manipulated readers began to grow paper-like skin, their blood and brains turning into ink, writing one "Hymns to Knowledge" after another on their page-like faces.

The bookshelves turned into ghastly white ribs, the chandelier into a suspended bundle of nerves, and every book opened a mouth full of sharp teeth, greedily devouring the knowledge in the air.

Veronica's body also began to turn transparent, gradually becoming a living annotation for "Etymological Study of Sisters".

Mel looked at her own body in horror.

Dense text appeared on her skin, representing all her memories and thoughts.

She felt herself merging with the entire library, becoming a part of this insane world of knowledge.

Mel was suspended in mid-air by chains of materialized knowledge, and below her was an altar built from thousands of books.

Every book was screaming silently, the words on their covers like writhing maggots.

Then, the floating words suddenly came to life, twining around Mel's ankles and dragging her towards the center.

The parchment on the altar suddenly glowed with a phosphorescent blue, and Mel found her shadow was being dismembered by countless words.

Allen walked slowly towards the altar, a silver ceremonial dagger having appeared in his hand at some unknown point.

The blade of the dagger was covered in ancient runes, gleaming with a strange luster in the dim light.

The blade cut more than just the air.

Mel saw the "Atlas of Human Anatomy" appear in the ripples caused by the blade cutting through the air, the sharp edge precisely cleaving along the annotation lines of the muscle texture.

The words recording the structure of the dermis suddenly flipped open, like loose leaves peeled away by an invisible scalpel—her flesh and blood really began to decompose on its own according to the anatomical atlas's guidance.

When the tip of the dagger pierced Mel's collarbone, the bookshelves of the entire library began to tremble in unison.

The sound of hardcover spines cracking was as crisp as breaking bones.

The girl bound by the chains suddenly found her screams had turned into materialized lead type.

The living letters were constantly spewing from her throat.

But just as the blade was about to slit Mel's carotid artery, the trajectory of the ceremonial blade suddenly deviated —Veronica's lunging figure shattered the parabolic formula from "Kinetics".

The sound of the blade piercing flesh was exceptionally clear.

The rampaging formulas immediately began to reverse-engineer her flesh and blood.

“Veronica!”

Mel's pupils contracted sharply.

She screamed her heart out, the shriek shattering the crystal prisms on the chandelier.

Countless fragments reflected hundreds of thousands of moments of Veronica falling, each reflection playing out a different version of a death annotation.

Veronica's chest was pierced by the dagger, blood splattering like ink blooming in the air, but it soon turned into bright red living words that fell to the ground with a thud.

“Mel... Mel....”

Veronica's voice was intermittent, her body disintegrating at a visible rate.

The words formed from her flesh and blood danced in the air, forming one moving love poem after another.

Mel's eyes widened, tears flowing uncontrollably, yet they turned into transparent characters as they slid down her cheeks.

Just then, Mel suddenly felt something quietly awakening within her soul.

Veronica's blood was like a fuse, igniting the dormant Quintessence within her body.

The suppressed power erupted in an instant, breaking through Allen's restraints like a volcanic eruption.

The Omniscience Society's guess was correct.

From the very beginning, the Red Moon had never taken away the Quintessence of those thirty people.

That was the hunter's spoils of war.

“RUMBLE—!”

The entire library shook violently, and the books on the shelves fell one after another.

“This is....”

Allen's pupils suddenly contracted, feeling an unprecedented threat for no reason.

“Crack—crack—”

The "Principles of Mechanics" chains binding her began to break.

The gears and formulas turned to dust under the impact of the Quintessence, dissipating into the air.

Mel's consciousness fell into a state of chaos.

She could feel the Quintessence in her body surging in an uncontrolled manner, washing over every inch of her flesh and blood like a bursting flood.

Pain and pleasure intertwined, reason and instinct collided, her very existence was undergoing a complete reconstruction.

At this moment, Mel's Stress Phase finally ended.

Amidst the burning of Quintessence and the emotional breakdown—she welcomed development!