Wizard: Unlimited Profession Slots Chapter 1230 - 498: Vital Distortion

The laboratory on the screen was completely different from the orderly research environment in Ron’s memory.

The current seventh floor more closely resembled the private domain of a mad alchemist.

The walls were plastered with endless data charts.

Lines of different colors connected terms like "Pain Threshold", "Increased Pleasure", and "Consciousness Threshold" that sent chills down one’s spine.

"Ron, I must say, the research center is really quite worrisome in your absence."

Cassandra’s tone was filled with exhaustion:

"Cedric, that madman, has stirred up quite a mess."

Her fingers tapped lightly, and the projection began to play the first recorded segment.

In the footage, a Vital prisoner of war was restrained by a specially designed device.

His silver skin glimmered coldly under the magic crystal lamp, and the compound eyes reflected countless distorted light points.

"The initial tests proceeded exactly as Cedric expected."

Cassandra’s voice carried a cold judgment:

"These Vital prisoners of war immediately displayed a strong addiction response after exposure to the cognitive virus."

The Vital person in the image showed an almost obsessed gleam in his eyes.

His body began to tremble involuntarily, but it was not out of fear; it was a kind of almost religious ecstasy.

"Eternal bliss... I see it... saw the individual pleasure that the collective consciousness never gave us..."

The Vital person’s voice emerged through a translation device, containing a longing that sent shivers down the spine.

But as the virtual experience continued, a horrifying phenomenon began to manifest.

The Vital person’s body started to show abnormal twists.

It was not spasms caused by pain, but due to extreme mental euphoria, leading to a complete loss of control in the nervous system.

His spine began to bend at angles that defied physiological structure, with joints making cringe-inducing grinding noises.

His entire body twisted into an impossible shape, like a clay figure kneaded by invisible hands.

"Cedric named this phenomenon ’Vital twist’."

Cassandra’s tone remained calm, as if discussing an interesting academic phenomenon:

"He believes it is a natural response when mental pleasure surpasses physiological limits, and he was quite excited about it."

However, the image very quickly took on a dramatic change.

The brainwave monitoring equipment for all the Vital prisoners used as test subjects suddenly began to blink madly.

The waveforms among different individuals started to synchronize, like countless rivers converging into a rushing torrent.

"The collective consciousness of the Vital people is more like a ’superintelligence’ than we imagined."

Cassandra explained:

"It can identify and eliminate ’cognitive viruses’. When the damage caused by the virus reaches a threshold, the collective network forcibly intervenes."

In the image, all the compound eyes of the Vital prisoners simultaneously erupted with dazzling silver light.

They emitted a metallic scraping shriek in unison.

That sound, even when transmitted through recording devices, still sent a shudder deep into one’s soul.

Immediately following, all the experimental equipment connected to the prisoners began to overload.

The precise neural interfaces sparked as if electrocuted, and expensive perception amplifiers exploded one after another.

The entire laboratory was thrown into chaos.

"Forcibly eject Cedric’s virtual experience data, and cause massive overload of the test equipment."

The projection showed the tragic state of the laboratory:

Precision equipment worth thousands of magic stones was rendered scrap metal, with flickering energy remnants scattered across the floor.

Yet those Vital prisoners, although their bodies remained twisted, the obsession in their eyes had completely vanished, replaced by a cool rationality.

"Facing this failure, Cedric refuses to admit that his design had issues."

Cassandra’s voice took on a sarcastic edge:

"He insists the virus itself was successful, claiming failure only because the ’Vital people’s collective consciousness cheated’."

The image switched to another scene.

Cedric stood before a group of young researchers, delivering some kind of passionate speech.

His glasses reflected eerie light under the magic crystal lamp, as he waved a blood-stained recording pen in his hand.

"We failed because we did not understand how an ’independent, strong’ individual will is completely conquered by virtual experience."

Cedric’s voice came through the recording crystal, the fanaticism reminiscent of some cult preachers to Ron:

"The Vital collective consciousness essentially suppresses individuality. We need to test true, pure individual consciousness!"

"We need a... ’human benchmark model’."

When Cedric said this, Ron saw the young researchers’ faces light up with excitement.

"The project hit a bottleneck. But Cedric didn’t report it to me; he chose to ’bypass the rules’."

Cassandra’s tone became even colder:

"He and those equally enthusiastic confidants conducted... unauthorized human experiments in a shielded chamber on the seventh floor that he had privately modified."

She gave a light snort:

"Of course, he persuaded those young people to be ’volunteers’ under the guise of ’exploring the limits of mental potential’. A bunch of fools blinded by ideals."

A new image began to play.

This time the perspective was from a hidden surveillance eye, with poor image quality, but the content was all the more shocking.

In the laboratory, three young researchers were situated in modified experience cabins.