Chapter 2122 Workbench <TOC> Chapter 2124 Truth of the Hand-Drawn Guide
Translator: SumTLMan
Savage Grottoes, Mirror World.
At the very top of a cloud-piercing tower, there is a room tightly locked.
Inside the room, the windows are tightly closed, making the already dim space even deeper and more profound.
The only source of light in the entire room is a crystal ball embedded in the floor at the center of the room. It sporadically emits a pale blue light, adding a cold glow to this silent space.
Under the flickering pale blue cold light, one can vaguely see Rhine sitting cross-legged next to the crystal ball, with eyes tightly closed.
This tranquil atmosphere has been maintained for several days, until now. Beneath the closed eyelids, the pupils begin to stir, and about five minutes later, Rhine finally opens his eyes.
“Sigh…”
Rhine exhales a long breath, and the silent space becomes lively with this breath. On the walls, in front of the long table, and in the fireplace, all the extinguished candlesticks and fireplaces are rekindled with bright flames.
As the light dispels the darkness, Rhine looks at the crystal ball in front of him.
The crystal ball still rhythmically flickers with pale blue light. As the blue light flashes, Rhine extends his index finger to lightly touch the smooth icy glass surface.
A stream of pale blue information flows out from the crystal ball and enters Rhine’s finger.
“It’s been five days. Let’s see if there are any problems at the Star Pool Ruin.” Rhine mutters to himself, “Besides Tree Spirit sending a magical message, which was intercepted outside the tower, no one else has sent any messages.”
Rhine’s main concern is whether Iron Armor Granny has sent any messages, as she is temporarily in charge of the Star Pool Ruin. Since no information has come through, it implies that there should be no major issues at the ruin.
As for Tree Spirit’s message… Not having directly woken him from his retreat but instead sending a magical message suggests it’s not urgent, and he can deal with it later.
Rhine stands up and walks to a metal device shaped like a silver trumpet flower, manipulating several arcs of light in the energy vision. As the arcs tremble, the trumpet flower begins to operate.
These arcs of light, developed from the Path of Magic Siphon, facilitate an energy-level exchange of information. By activating it, Rhine intends to pass some messages to certain individuals.
After completing all this, Rhine sits back in front of the crystal ball, his gaze inadvertently falling on a monocle lying next to the ball.
Looking at the monocle, Rhine unconsciously sighs softly.
The reason for his sudden retreat these past few days was this monocle. During his retreat, Rhine calmed his restless mind and pondered over the future of the Savage Grottoes, the Wilderness of Dreams, and Angel.
Of course, all futures revolve around Angel.
After several days of contemplation, Rhine has roughly set a tone. Previously, the messages he sent through the Path of Magic Siphon were to lay the groundwork for this tone, releasing some information in advance.
Once the groundwork is nearly complete, he plans to call all the core members for a meeting to officially announce the future direction.
Thinking of the originally stable future suddenly taking a different turn, Rhine feels quite emotional. But he also knows that only ‘change’ can elevate the Savage Grottoes to a higher level. Moreover, with the Wilderness of Dreams as a safety net, this significant change will not lead to a worse situation. Thus, as the ruler of the Savage Grottoes, he must take this step.
“Angel…” Rhine muses for a moment, softly whispering Angel’s name, his voice filled with emotion.
Rhine had thought that under his leadership, the Savage Grottoes would shine a light unseen by previous rulers. However, he never expected that this glorious light would shine on Angel, who has only been part of the Savage Grottoes for a few years. How could he not be emotional?
Rhine has studied and crossed disciplines to practice prophecy, but even so, he doesn’t believe in predestined fate. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have forsaken the ‘River of Destiny’ for the ‘Silent Deity’ when choosing his prophecy spell.
At this moment, however, an image of Angel surfaces in his mind, making him feel, for the first time, a deep sense of destiny. Otherwise, why would Angel’s joining the Savage Grottoes and his rapid growth to such a level, perfectly fulfilling Rhine’s long-held wish, be such a coincidence?
Truth be told, at Rhine’s level, he rarely experiences emotional fluctuations. Yet, Angel’s emergence has started to cause significant emotional waves in him.
There’s a sense of reflection, envy… and even a slight jealousy.
However, this jealousy is fleeting and quickly dismissed by Rhine, as he is well aware of the pivotal role Angel will play in the future.
He must not only avoid jealousy but also actively eliminate threats around Angel.
Currently, the greatest threat to Angel comes from the Bud.
After pondering for a while, with a calculating look in his eyes, Rhine decides it’s been nearly an hour since he awoke and his thoughts are now well-organized. He reaches for his monocle, intending to check if Iron Armor Granny is around to discuss future plans.
But soon, Rhine withdraws his hand.
“Never mind, I should first check the message from Tree Spirit. It’s a good opportunity to arrange for some people to assist in the construction of the new city in the Wilderness of Dreams.” Thinking of this, Rhine moves to the window and opens it after being shut for many days.
Upon opening the window, a pure white dove, which had been circling the Path of Magic Siphon, slowly descends and lands on the windowsill.
Rhine gently touches the dove, which emits a burst of white light, scattering numerous ethereal white feathers.
Simultaneously, the image of Tree Spirit appears within the light.
“Angel has deciphered the broken rune, and we are preparing to explore the hidden room.”
The first sentence in Tree Spirit’s message startles Rhine.
Although he is not as gossip-hungry about secret expeditions as Tree Spirit, he is keenly interested in the hidden room, as the ruins where Angel is and the Star Pond Ruins were clearly built by the same person. Rhine hopes to find useful information there.
“However, the current situation in the hidden room is very dangerous. It is filled with the Light of Nightmare, and even my avatar cannot withstand its erosion… If you’ve forgotten about the Light of Nightmare, call Reeves out and let him explain it to you again.”
“We still haven’t found a way to counter the Light of Nightmare.
“You better come here after receiving the message.”
…
Elsewhere, inside the hidden room.
As Tree Spirit spots the parchment and scrolls on the desk beside the workbench, a glint of joy flashes in its eyes: “There are many parchments and scrolls, which might contain information about the hidden room and the Light of Nightmare!”
Looking at the casually placed parchment on the desk, Angel is also excited.
In the Wizarding World, knowledge is most important.
With so many parchments here, plus bound volumes of processed pulp paper, there must be a wealth of information recorded. Even if it’s just experimental data, it’s a treasure trove of knowledge. Compared to the previously sought Star Iron, this is definitely more valuable!
Angel, filled with joy, carefully moves toward the desk, controlling his barrier.
The Light of Nightmare might already be the greatest threat, making other mechanisms unnecessary. Thus, on their way there, they encountered no danger.
As they drew nearer to the domain, more scenes unfolded before them.
In front of them was not just a desk piled with large amounts of parchment, but also, about three meters directly in front of the desk, a concave-shaped metal platform.
That was… a Material Analysis Table!
A Material Analysis Table is a special auxiliary identification tool, containing a multitude of elements that can connect with the item being identified, and is a deep extension of the Eye of Nalda. Essentially, every alchemist possesses one.
The previous owner of this ruin, Tizarro, suspected the existence of a hidden room in this ruin because the Material Analysis Table was missing from the laboratory on the third underground level.
Now, of course, Tizarro’s suspicion was confirmed; the Material Analysis Table was indeed in a hidden room.
Moreover, it’s worth mentioning that there were several dark shadows on the Material Analysis Table, seemingly items left behind by the previous owner and not taken away.
Angel carefully observed it for a moment, confirming they were not materials but some kind of tool.
“Could take a look later,” Angel decided not to immediately approach the Material Analysis Table, but instead sat on a vine chair created by Tree Spirit and began examining the parchment on the desk.
This was a piece of parchment, evidently cut smaller for stitching.
However, it seemed something unexpected had occurred, and the parchment remained unstitched, scattered messily on the desk.
Angel glanced at it and frowned.
Not because the parchment recorded anything shockingly scandalous, but simply because there were too many symbols on it that Angel didn’t recognize, and the formulas composed of these symbols. They were arranged chaotically, as if the recorder had hit a dead end while documenting, leaving behind a large, scribbled black circle.
As for the symbols Angel did recognize, their arrangement was also incomprehensible at the moment.
The only certainty was that this seemed to be the record of some alchemical experiment.
Since it was incomprehensible, Angel set it aside and picked up another piece of parchment. However, like the first one, it was filled with chaotic formulas and complex symbols…
Angel flipped through several parchments on the desk, all in a similar state of incomprehensibility.
However, there was some gain.
These diagrams, placed most visibly, represented the state of the ruin’s owner before leaving——they were engaged in some difficult alchemical experiment.
What exactly the experiment was remained unknown for now.
Since no useful information was gleaned from the parchments, Angel turned his attention to the neatly stacked and beautifully bound pulp paper volumes nearby. These specially made volumes, neatly arranged and exquisitely bound, were unlikely to be the messy, incomprehensible records of experiments.
“You might want to look at this stack.”
As Angel was choosing which volume to examine, Tree Spirit, sitting on the other side of the desk, suddenly pointed to a stack of pulp paper volumes beside him.
“I flipped through these just now and found they’re all related to alchemy, which should be useful to you,” Tree Spirit said. He had started by flipping through this stack and, upon discovering they contained knowledge related to alchemy, had given up on them. Being unskilled in alchemy, he found them useless.
Angel nodded. The three things he most wanted to understand were the hidden room, the Light of Nightmare, and matters related to the creator of the ruin.
Now it has been confirmed that the creator of the ruins was an alchemist. From the alchemical books here, some information related to him might be gleaned.
Angel casually picked up a book, and as he was about to open it, he noticed that Tree Spirit across from him was engrossed in a book with a green cover, not blinking an eye, seemingly lost in it.
—Culuoli Chronicles One—.
That was the name on the cover of the book, appearing like an autobiography or perhaps a diary?
As Angel was pondering this, Tree Spirit seemed to notice his intent gaze and explained with a smile, “This is a collection of essays with clear date markings. I suspect it’s recorded by the owner of this hidden room.”
While saying this, Tree Spirit showed the inside of the book. Angel could clearly see the date marked on the upper right corner of the page: New Calendar Year 5298.
About two thousand years ago.
This indeed matches the era of the ancient equipment in the laboratory.
Unless there is an unexpected revelation, this alchemist named Culuoli might indeed be the creator of the ruins.
“Found anything?” Angel asked.
Tree Spirit shook its head: “Not yet, the records are very trivial, and many stories’ protagonists are not Culuoli but a person named Belos. From some details, it seems that Culuoli enjoyed bullying Belos, but their exact relationship is unclear.”
Since Tree Spirit was already reading —Culuoli Chronicles One—, Angel didn’t pick up a related diary but instead started reading a paper-bound volume in his hands.
Upon opening the title page, Angel saw a line of very elegantly written script: Culuoli.
Seeing this name, Angel was almost certain that Culuoli must have been the original owner of the ruins.
The title page had only the name and no other information. To learn more, Angel had to turn the page.
When Angel turned to the second page and finished reading the content, he suddenly froze.
It was indeed related to alchemy, but not in the way Angel had imagined. This book was not about any alchemical school or alchemical records, but a hand-drawn atlas.
The first page of the hand-drawn atlas depicted an elegant, noble-style golden olive-patterned round mirror.
With a few simple strokes, Culuoli had captured its essence, making it look like a handheld dressing mirror a lady might use.
Below the atlas, Culuoli recorded information related to this dressing mirror in that elegant script.
The name of this dressing mirror was: “Voice of Oblivion”.
Below the name, it read: “Hoopa Coefficient: 2”
Further down, it was noted that the Voice of Oblivion was currently in possession of a heartbroken witch.
Following this, the effects of the Voice of Oblivion were listed: “If you repeatedly recite a certain name in front of this object, you will completely forget everything about them from the root. It also works on objects.”
Lastly, Culuoli added a personal comment, or what could be called a “remark”.
“If a person repeatedly recites their own name, gradually, you will feel your name becoming very unfamiliar.”
Chapter 2122 Workbench <TOC> Chapter 2124 Truth of the Hand-Drawn Guide