When he first saw this strange creature, his instincts had kicked in, making him react instinctively, his mind a blank slate, unable to think of anything else.
Now that the immediate danger had passed, he finally had the chance to consider the implications of encountering such a legendary being in reality.
This was no ordinary animal.
It was a creature of legend.
A magical being had appeared in the real world. How would normal humans react to it?
The worldview of modern society would be shattered – if he could just take this slime's corpse out, Hall believed that the top biologists in the beautiful country would go mad.
Because such a rare creature simply did not exist in nature.
Even the weakest slime was a magical creature, incomparable to any animal in the real world.
In a way, the corpse of this magical creature was worth more than gold. If handled correctly and sold to the right people, it could fetch an exorbitant price!
Hall had a business acumen and knew many influential people. He understood the immense value of the corpse, the biological remains, before him.
On a grand scale, if this remains could be thoroughly studied, it could shake the fourth technological revolution on Blue Star, opening up entirely new worlds to humanity.
On a smaller scale, antiques and calligraphy, considered cultural artifacts, could sell for high prices. A slime, with its extreme scientific research value, was even more so.
Antiques and calligraphy were rich in history and cultural value.
But the slime's corpse, its historical and cultural value, was far surpassed by its scientific research value.
Its scientific research value alone transcended all other values, making its overall significance entirely different, a matter of another dimension compared to antiques and calligraphy.
In terms of recouping his investment, just obtaining this slime's remains made this trip worthwhile.
As long as he could bring it back, Hall was confident he could obtain the political resources he desired.
This corpse could be leveraged for many things.
"This room contains a legendary magical creature like a slime..."
"Then what about the other rooms?"
"Could it be..."
The thought sent a chill down Hall's spine.
This place had more than just one room; each floor had at least twenty to thirty rooms.
Even excluding the eleventh floor and above, which were inaccessible, the first ten floors alone had two to three hundred rooms.
If the unknown entities within were all life forms like slimes, magical creatures...
Perhaps other slimes...
Perhaps other magical creatures...
Were these magical creatures all confined within these rooms?
Who, exactly, had placed these magical creatures in the rooms and manufactured so many keys?
Was it the owner of this ancient tower?
If he hadn't come to this ancient tower, Hall would never have imagined that such magical creatures truly existed in the real world.
What if the magical creatures from three hundred rooms all appeared in reality at once...
"Blue Star is not just about science; its mysterious side also exceeds my imagination..."
Hall didn't believe he was the first to touch upon this mysterious aspect.
He suspected that beyond the world known to normal humans lay darkness.
Within that darkness, in unknown places, existed some magical creatures, and these magical creatures, like the owner of the ancient tower, looked down upon human civilization, encompassing it.
Some corner of Blue Star might be hiding things beyond human comprehension.
Beings that transcended human intellect, secrets unknown to man.
And now, he had encountered such a secret.
Thinking back, the old man—his father—had likely encountered such a secret and found a way to prolong his life in these rooms.
For instance, by making a deal with a sorcerer, or with a devil.
Or with a demon...
Hall recalled that more than ten days ago, the old man had ordered his subordinates to search for witchcraft artifacts. Had those people eventually found this place?
And then, brought back witchcraft artifacts from here?
Was it a deal with a sorcerer, or...
"If I could find a witchcraft artifact that prolongs life, I..."
Clearly, if there truly was a witchcraft artifact that could restore a person's middle-aged vitality to an elderly person,
Its value would naturally surpass that of the slime's remains.
Before coming here to explore, Hall had scoffed at the old man's order to find witchcraft medicine, thinking he was senile.
But now, Hall felt that the old man must have visited this ancient tower before and eventually found an item to prolong his life in one of the rooms.
...He just didn't know how the old man had gotten out of that room back then.
With the old man as an example of someone who could leave, Hall knew that within the ten floors and so many rooms, there must exist magical items, and there must also exist paths leading to the outside world, to familiar places.
What he needed to do now was to continue exploring this room... even if there was danger, there was no other choice.
Hall had brought bodyguards with him earlier, but now, those dozen or so bodyguards were nowhere to be found.
They had been directly separated.
Hall felt they were not in the same space as him, but had gone to another place—as for where that other place was, he didn't know, perhaps some parallel dimension.
Gazing at the slime's remains, Hall collected it with his instrument.
Then, looking at the room, which was still black-walled and empty of any other presence, he moved on to the next room.
Hall habitually reached for the scarce blue keys, but quickly put them away.
He had a feeling that the magical creatures behind the blue doors might be more powerful than those behind the yellow doors... Hall didn't know if this feeling was true or not, but when it came to gambling on concepts and luck, he could only follow his intuition.
Now, no one could guarantee what would appear behind a door.
He went to a room with a blue door and intended to open it with the yellow key he held.
The runes on the blue door and the runes on the key began to flicker simultaneously, but it seemed that due to different frequencies and a lack of coordination, the blue door ultimately did not open.
Hall seemed to understand something.
He walked to another room with a yellow door and used the yellow key in his hand to open the yellow door.
As the yellow door opened, the runes on the door and the runes on the key flickered, and the key disappeared.
This also made Hall realize that the connection between the runes and the key was likely the reason they could open doors.