Chapter 2415 Creature Hidden in the Shadows <TOC> Chapter 2417 Miniature Castle
Previous page password is bold portion: JlbrE8u0#1wR
Translator: SumTLMan
—The Oath of the Blood Mist Moon—.
At first glance, the title of the article seemed legendary, leading Angel to believe the core of the article involved blood, revenge, bonds, and promises. However, this was not the case.
The Blood Mist Moon refers to a specific month, similar to the Southern Region’s Month of Recovery, Month of Hibernation, and Month of Blooming Flowers, serving as a synonym for the month.
The Oath of the Blood Mist Moon represents the superficial camaraderie entangled between two witches during this month.
This article only spans two pages in —Poems of the Forgotten—, but if discussed at a tea party, it could spark excited conversations among the witches for three days and nights.
Notably, Angel had never heard of either the Blood Mist Moon or the two main characters, the witches Hulda and Grelly, before.
Yet, the overall atmosphere gleaned from the description confirmed the setting was a vast world inhabited by wizards.
Thus, Angel speculated that —Poems of the Forgotten— might be a magazine from the wizard communities outside the Southern Region or possibly from the Source World.
Regardless of its origin, these magazines from outside the Southern Region, even if they were of the gossip variety, could still dazzle Angel, offering glimpses into foreign landscapes.
For Angel, this represented a form of gain, an acquisition of knowledge.
Besides —Poems of the Forgotten—, there were other magazines like —Harbor Chronicles—, —Pink Rainbow—, and —Sandy Shadows— that Angel confirmed were not from the Southern Region.
Angel organized these publications from outside the Southern Region.
He did not plan to take them directly; as an illusionist wizard, he could use illusions to replicate the entire book, and with nightmare illusions, even keep them looking brand new for decades.
Therefore, except in special circumstances, he could perfectly duplicate books with his illusion capabilities. When he had time later, he could slowly find time to read them.
Even with the use of illusions, he needed to flip through them first. This flipping was just a simple action, taking about a second per book, and Angel also summoned five Magic Hands to increase efficiency.
In less than a minute, he replicated all the books with illusions.
During the replication process, although Angel did not read them directly, he gained a general understanding of these replicated books.
—Harbor Chronicles— is a periodical published by a magazine company in the Warm Victorian Winds port, an issue-by-issue publication, narrating various anecdotes of the City of Warm Victorian Winds. From some of the minor details, it is apparent that the City of Warm Victorian Winds must be a very large wizard city, roughly on the same level as Sky Mechanical City.
—Pink Rainbow—, as the name suggests, already has a directional implication, similar to —Poems of the Forgotten—, is a gossip magazine that leans towards a certain direction, published quarterly.
As for —Sandy Shadows—, it sounds the most serious, but in reality, it is the least serious of all the magazines. If this publication were to be expanded, it would definitely be —Beautiful Shadows on the Beach—, a monthly publication of portraits and texts.
Among these magazines, —Sandy Shadows— has the most issues, well over a hundred, with copies scattered all over the floor, mostly consisting of —Sandy Shadows—. Angel, without missing a single issue, has reprinted them all, not caring about the content within the texts but the people in the pictures. These are extraordinary individuals from outside the domain, and having a basic understanding of them is quite important in case of a future encounter or confrontation.
After reprinting the needed books, Angel’s gaze shifted towards the deep end of the main hall, where there was a light and shadow corridor about twenty meters long.
This corridor, filled with geometric light and shadows, exuded a sense of regular beauty, but this beauty was deadly. He had noticed something off about this corridor when observing room number 02 from the main control node. It contained many mechanisms connected to the magic formation, and the danger level of these mechanisms was quite high.
It is worth mentioning that although these mechanisms are built on the magic formation, they do not entirely rely on it for energy circulation. Their triggers are unrelated to the magic formation but rather the light and shadows inside. This was probably a deliberate design by Number 02 to guard against Number 01 or Number 03.
To get through, simply suppressing the magic formation would not suffice; it would require solving the light and shadow mechanisms.
With the convenience of the main control node, Angel had some understanding of the mechanisms’ workings and knew how to calculate and solve them. However, since he was not a shadow wizard, it would be quite strenuous to actually do the calculations. Passing through this corridor would also take a significant amount of time.
However, at the end of this corridor were Number 02’s study, archive, and laboratory, which he definitely wanted to check out.
Therefore, Angel decided to take another shortcut.
Since he couldn’t suppress the effects of the magic formation related to the light and shadow mechanisms, he decided to suppress another effect of the magic formation: spatial barrier.
Suppressing the spatial barrier of the entire fifth level environment was definitely beyond Angel’s capabilities, but suppressing just this corridor’s spatial barrier was relatively easy.
Arriving in front of the light and shadow corridor, Angel briefly confirmed the stability of the space and then directly opened the Gateway of Fantasy.
On the other side of the door was the end of the light and shadow corridor.
Without any hindrance, Angel easily bypassed the light and shadow mechanisms painstakingly set up by Number 02.
Before him appeared three diverging paths, leading to three different places: a combined study and bedroom, a laboratory, and an archive.
After some thought, Angel first visited Number 02’s private laboratory.
After a while, Angel emerged from Number 2’a private laboratory, which really didn’t offer much to see. It was a special laboratory set up by Number 2 for researching shadow arts. There were several research reports on shadow calligraphy, but they were locked in a special device and inaccessible. Besides, there were some consumables required for the shadow arts that Angel didn’t touch because such special consumables needed to be handled with shadow arts, and touching them carelessly might trigger a backlash.
Next, Angel visited the study room, where many books related to the shadow school were found. However, they were of little use to Angel, who randomly copied a few uncommon ones before leaving.
The final destination was the archive room.
Angel spent the longest time in the archive room, even experiencing a surge of law ripples at one point.
The reason for the prolonged stay was that the archive room indeed contained all the laboratory-related materials. Whether these were the core documents of Soul Armor, Angel couldn’t determine and decided to copy them first for later review.
Apart from the documents on Soul Armor, Angel found a set of interesting serial publications called —Dance of the Metals—.
It was unclear where exactly —Dance of the Metals— originated from, but definitely not from the Southern Region.
—Dance of the Metals— was a publication, and Number 2 had collected thirty-six volumes of it. The genre was also among Number 2’s favorite types of entertainment publications. Unlike gossip magazines, it was a magazine that combined alchemy with home entertainment.
The founding principle written on the title page of each volume was to make life more convenient.
It included teachings on simple alchemy productions that could make the nuances of life more comfortable. For example, how to remove radiation from metals to turn them into toasters, or how to produce metal pipes and instruct on their placement in the house for convenience… Even, how to arrange home furnishings to enhance the charm seen by guests upon their arrival.
Angel guessed that Number 2’s arrangement of the main hall in a light and shadow style was probably inspired by —Dance of the Metals—.
Overall, although —Dance of the Metals— did not contain any particularly valuable alchemical blueprints, its ingenuity was very interesting. Moreover, from —Dance of the Metals—, one could also see the development direction of alchemy in other parts of the Wizarding World, which was enlightening for Angel.
After copying —Dance of the Metals—, Angel retraced the steps and left room number 2.
The findings in room number 2 were quite rewarding, with the Shadow Demon and a series of documents and books. Although the total amount was not large, knowledge itself is a process of accumulation.
After leaving the more residential-like room number 2, two rooms remained before Angel, namely rooms number 1 and number 3.
Room number 1 was a bit special, containing a hidden room whose interior could not be observed by the main control node, only the entrance was confirmed.
As for room number 3, it also had a hidden place, but it was different from the hidden room in room number 1 because that was the control node of the fifth level.
After some thought, Angel decided to first visit room number 3.
The goal was to take control of the sub-control node and see if it was possible to find traces of the misty shadow. Even if not confronting it directly, knowing its trajectory was better than the unknown.
To enter room number 3, certain permissions were required.
For Angel, this wasn’t a problem at all. Even when he was at the main control node, he had already solved it.
With the recognition from the Authority Eye, Angel directly pushed open the door to room number 03.
In contrast to the shadow-filled space of room number 02, room number 03 was significantly brighter, with jellyfish-like creatures floating above, casting a deep blue glow everywhere.
Walking among them felt like stepping into sunlight streaming through water.
The corridor, over ten meters long and decorated with these jellyfish, led easily to the main hall without encountering any traps. The main hall was vast, capable of accommodating hundreds without feeling overcrowded.
The main hall was styled with a marine theme, with various aquatic gems shining brilliantly thanks to the energy cycle of the magic formation; luxurious blue furniture, uniquely styled statues, and the mist of water floating in the air comprised its short landscape.
Although the main hall appeared trap-free, it was not the case. The mist in the air and the free-floating water streams could activate the defensive mechanisms of room number 03’s water magic.
However, since Number 03 was currently trapped in the Fire Law Land, even if the mist was triggered, she would be isolated and unable to sense it.
Compared to the randomly placed books in room number 02, room number 03’s main hall was quite clean and orderly. Although it contained many valuable items, they were mostly integrated into the energy cycle of the magic formation, eliminating the need for special retrieval.
After touring the hall, Angel gave up on further exploration and proceeded through the corridor to the other rooms.
The mist in the corridor could be ignored.
Room number 03’s corridor had more branches, leading to a variety of rooms including a laboratory, study, archive, bedroom, dressing room, washroom, small garden, and a place that was either a swimming pool or a water feature.
Angel explored each room one by one, starting with the bedroom, small garden, washroom, and dressing room, but found nothing of value. The small garden did contain some exotic plants, but they required a specific aquatic environment to thrive, which meant Angel could only take them if they hadn’t wilted.
The laboratory was similar to room number 02, a specialized lab for studying water arts, yielding no significant discoveries.
The archive room, however, was quite fruitful, uncovering many documents on Soul Armor. Without time to examine them closely, Angel decided to copy them for later review.
Then, Angel visited the study.
Initially, Angel had low expectations for the study, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
There were many research topics on water, basic information, and even apprentice-level materials, suggesting that Number 03 had apprentices. These documents were quite useful to Angel, providing valuable insights.
However, none of the materials were as exciting to Angel as the stack of Secret Letters placed on the desk.
There were thirteen letters in total, all pierced on a metal rack. Although this left a small hole in the middle of each letter, it did not hinder their readability.
The letters were all from a void merchant named “Sparkling”.
Judging by the intervals between dates, it lasted for more than four decades. This means that since the laboratory was initially established, Number 03 had already started maintaining close contact with the Sparkling Trading Group.
Angel remembered that Number 03 had mentioned before that the laboratory was receiving messages transmitted by the River Legacy Society through a void merchant. Presumably, the void merchant commissioned by the River Legacy Society included this Sparkling Trading Group.
However, Angel speculated that there might also be other void merchants, not just Sparkling, in contact with Number 01 and Number 02.
This speculation was because the 13 letters here, marked with the recipient, were not addressed to the ** laboratory or Number 01 and Number 02, but explicitly written to be received by “Cecilie”.
And Cecilie was a pseudonym of Number 03.
……
Angel opened the earliest letter, which wasn’t very lengthy but confirmed one of his speculations.
Indeed, the Sparkling Trading Group was one of the void merchants appointed by the River Legacy Society, but at the same time, they also accepted a separate commission from Number 03, that is, Cecilie.
Number 03 had paid some price to make the Sparkling Trading Group continuously transmit various pieces of information from major Wizarding Worlds, including the Source World, to her over these decades.
The contents of this information were not under the jurisdiction of the River Legacy Society but were obtained by Number 03 through private transactions.
After seeing the contents of this letter, Angel couldn’t wait to open the second one, eager to know the extent of the capability of this “Sparkling” void merchant and the kind of information they were seeking.
However, the content of the second letter didn’t mention information from other Wizarding Worlds but described a void merchant named “Night Sunflower”, who accepted a commission from the River Legacy Society, and the River Legacy Society personnel they were in contact with, as well as the general content of their task.
Initially, when Angel saw this letter, he thought that Number 03 was a traitor to the River Legacy Society, otherwise, why investigate the commissions of the River Legacy Society. But it turned out that Number 03’s main purpose was to find out about the laboratory tasks in other Wizarding Worlds and their progress.
Guessing, does the River Legacy Society have some kind of competition aspect when distributing tasks across the four Wizarding Worlds?
Chapter 2415 Creature Hidden in the Shadows <TOC> Chapter 2417 Miniature Castle