[ Jayce's expression immediately lets him know that he's right, though the guilt is an interesting twist. What he gives isn't quite an answer -- it's more of an avoidance than anything, completely lacking in all detail -- but there are enough clues there. In Jayce's universe, that Viktor must also have been suffering from the sump sickness, and hextech had seemed like the answer. Then, that Viktor had changed his mind, but Jayce hadn't.

And... what? Had the hextech changed him somehow? Possessed him? Turned him evil? Does he really have to play twenty questions here? Maybe Jayce does not want to tell him the specific details for fear of accidentally recreating the exact same thing.

Viktor's mouth sits in a dissatisfied slant, but he won't press. For now. Instead, he just puts a heaping of toast and scrambled eggs on a plate, and slides it across the cramped counter to Jayce, along with a fork. The man looks like he hasn't eaten properly in months; it's a look every person in the undercity is intimately familiar with. ]

I thought about that, actually. [ He lifts a mug to his lips, taking a sip. His own breakfast is just sweetmilk. ] I assume harnessing this magic depends on having a crystal present to draw from. [ He nods at the gem embedded in Jayce's wrist. ] Once you leave, and take that with you, I would not be able to do anything with this research even if I wanted to. I do not know where those gems come from, and even if I did, unless they were found right down the street in the undercity-- I would not have the resources to get them.

[ Viktor makes a wry little motion. Wistful, a little, because... gods, science harnessing magic could do so much good. ]

I will destroy the research, of course. But continuing it would be far beyond my reach anyway.