Chapter 2572 Sphinx Harpy <TOC> Chapter 2574 Traveling Merchants
Translator: SumTLMan
After confirming who held the weapon, Vai immediately inquired about the whereabouts of Marsha’s husband at the time.
Unsurprisingly, the man nicknamed “Raven” was currently in the northern part of Area Three, one of the three underground secret passages discovered by the Hero Squad, rumored to contain gold and various treasures, but fraught with danger. Recently, almost all of the Hero Squad’s combat personnel were stationed there.
Once the location was confirmed, Angel had not yet spoken when the Black Count directly commanded through the mental connection: “Vai, have Old Tireless divide his people and lead the way, and you follow to bring back ‘Raven.'”
Vai naturally did not dare to disobey the Black Count’s orders and immediately consulted with Old Tireless.
After a while, Vai replied: “Old Tireless has agreed, and Marsha will accompany me. However…”
Pausing for a moment, Vai spoke somewhat weakly: “Lord Super Dimensional has sealed the entrance to the cellar, and I cannot break through.”
Angel remained silent for a moment before softly saying: “I only set up a magic formation at the entrance of the cellar, do you understand what I mean?”
Vai: “Ah?”
As Vai’s puzzled voice came through, the stone slab embedded with the Black Count’s nose began to emit a chilling aura. Although the Black Count said nothing, his displeasure with his descendant was palpable.
Vai also seemed to sense the Black Count’s unusual mood through the silence of the mental connection.
Under this oppressive atmosphere, Vai suddenly came to his senses: “I-I understand. I’ll create an exit elsewhere.”
As an apprentice wizard of the earth element, creating an exit was incredibly simple for Vai, yet he had gone to the cellar entrance. This foolish behavior could only irritate the Black Count.
As Vai left the underground, the Black Count’s mood gradually returned to calm.
However, the air still held some silence.
No one spoke, nor did anyone speak through the mental connection.
It took quite a while before someone broke the silence: “Lords, have you found any clues? I thought I just heard something about the podium?”
The one who broke the silence was Kael, who had been moving in and out of the upstairs room.
“For now, we don’t know if it’s a clue, we’ll have to wait for Vai to return.” Angel: “What about you, any discoveries?”
Upon hearing this question, Kael seemed quite excited and began to elaborate on his findings.
However, Kael’s narrative was all about archaeological culture and architectural styles, mixed with some personal views that were unclear whether true or false.
And all these had nothing to do with extraordinary traces.
Two minutes later, Angel interrupted Kael: “Besides these, have you noticed anything unusual or abnormal?”
Kael honestly said: “No.”
Angel replied: “Then continue your exploration, and don’t contact us if you encounter this type of situation again.”
At this moment, Kael seemed to realize that what he had been saying was rather pointless, and said somewhat sheepishly: “Okay, I understand.”
With that, Kael fell silent.
Although Kael’s words were mostly nonsense, the atmosphere wasn’t as awkward as before due to his interjection.
“Kael is just like that, he gets excited whenever he’s at a ruin site, and his chatter multiplies,” Daus explained: “When he first came to the black market and discovered it was also a massive ruin site, his excitement was just like it is now. However, he really only loves the culture of the ruins, not so much the so-called treasures within them.”
After Daus offered these explanations, the conversation slowly steered back on track.
Currently, they had discovered only two extraordinary traces; one at the top, an inscription card that nobody wanted, and the other was the indentation they were now facing.
Unable to find any other extraordinary traces, they could only wait and see if Vai would bring any good news.
However, they didn’t just stand waiting for Vai to return; they dispersed again, each going to look for extraordinary traces.
Angel and the Black Count went upstairs, while Daus remained at the reception desk, studying the indentation.
After a while, Angel and the Black Count had checked both the second and third floors, and after exchanging information, confirmed that neither had found any extraordinary traces.
With no other options, Angel had to turn his attention back to Daus.
“What are you still doing standing in front of the indentation? Have you discovered something new?” Angel asked.
Daus shook his head: “I’m just thinking about the problem, while waiting for Vai to come back.”
Angel said: “So, you’re saying, you never thought about searching for extraordinary traces with us.”
Daus replied lazily: “You all went upstairs to look, you didn’t miss one person. Plus, I’m thinking things through, maybe I can think up some inspiration.”
If it were someone else, even if Angel didn’t verbally mock, he might have used an illusion to give extra “care”.
But when Daus said this, Angel could accept it calmly.
No way around it, others have a stronger spiritual perception, that’s undeniable. Even he himself said, maybe thinking it through might bring inspiration, what else could he say?
“So, have you thought it out?” Angel asked.
Daus shrugged and spread his hands: “If I had thought it out, would I still be sitting here?”
Angel couldn’t argue with that, so he just sighed and conjured an illusory sofa, leaning on the soft illusory cushions to rest.
Since there were no other leads to pursue for the moment, as Daus had suggested, they decided to wait for Vai to return.
Meanwhile, seeing Angel sitting on that illusory sofa, Daus quickly approached: “Get me one too.”
With a wave of his hand, Angel conjured a similar sofa next to Daus.
Daus immediately lounged on it, even stretching lazily: “This is really comfortable.”
“You said you were thinking just now. What direction were your thoughts going in? Maybe I can help think it through?” Angel decided to start from Daus’ inspiration, so as soon as he sat down, he asked.
“Thinking, you know, is about information data swiftly coursing through the mind, capturing any possible sparks of insight…”
Angel: “Speak plainly.”
Daus curled up a bit, without any sitting posture, and then said: “Forgot.”
“Mostly forgot, because there weren’t any sparks. But then I did think hard about another issue.”
“What issue?”
Daus: “Even if a podium has just a single pillar, its top should still be large. It’s quite unexpected that the Hero Squad would use it as a weapon.”
As a bloodline wizard who fights with swords, Daus was particular about weapons. He couldn’t imagine how they managed to fight with a podium.
It’s no wonder Mia had said that the members of the Hero Squad were quite flamboyant in both their attire and appearance. Just imagine, people who fight with podiums, aren’t they the definition of flamboyant?
Hearing Daus’ musings, Angel was about to casually reply, but just then, a snort of disdain came from beside them: “What’s so strange about that? As long as it’s useful, not just podiums, even an hourglass could be used as a weapon.”
The speaker was the Black Count, who had flown down from the upper floor and landed directly on the armrest of the illusory sofa where Angel was seated.
Feeling the salted fish aura emanating from the Black Count, Angel already knew that the Black Count hadn’t found any other extraordinary traces on the higher floors.
“Using an hourglass as a weapon? That is quite novel. Is it some kind of special alchemy item?” Daus asked curiously.
The Black Count was silent for a moment, seemingly recalling something, and after a few seconds, he said in a low voice: “It’s not an alchemy item, just a plain hourglass, but the materials are somewhat special. The top and bottom bases are made from the shoulder armor of an Uya Giant, and the funnel shell is crafted from Song of the Deep Sea Conch Gold, while the sand inside is Winter Chill Sand.”
The materials the Black Count mentioned were all extraordinary. The Uya Giants are a branch of the sea giants, and their shoulder armor, which can grow and be shed like human nails, is not particularly rare; in fact, most such materials on the market are sold by the Uya Giants themselves.
Winter Chill Sand, like the shoulder armor, is considered a low-grade material. It is occasionally used in crafting cold-type items, but it is heavier than ordinary sand and difficult to craft, so most alchemy apprentices avoid using it, and its market price isn’t high.
However, the Song of the Deep Sea Conch Gold is a material that is highly cherished. Although it is only considered a mid-grade material, it is exceedingly rare and only found in the depths of the Song of the Deep Sea. It plays a significant role for ocean wizards, and since the Song of the Deep Sea consists entirely of ocean wizards who use a lot of it themselves, it is rarely available outside their community.
“Using Song of the Deep Sea Conch Gold for an ordinary hourglass funnel? Who is so extravagant?” Daus, although not knowledgeable in alchemy, recognized the material.
The Black Count suddenly spoke: “Do you really want to know who it is?”
Daus was taken aback, a sense of crisis suddenly enveloping him. It was the first time he had felt such a distinct response from his spiritual perception since he had arrived at this ruin.
Daus paled and hastily said: “I don’t want to know, I was just asking casually, no need for you to answer.”
Perhaps fearing that the Black Count had not sensed his reluctance, Daus added: “Really, there’s no need to answer, I really don’t want to know who you were talking about.”
“Cowardly.” The Black Count snorted through his nostrils, but he thought to himself: This guy is indeed sharp, it seems his spiritual perception is indeed close to evolving into a true talent.
“I am not cowardly, I am following the sincere answer of my heart.”
The Black Count, uninterested in Daus’ poor excuses, dismissed it: “If you don’t want to know, then let it be, I don’t want to talk about that person either, after all, he is an old acquaintance.”
Old acquaintance.
Just by that term, Angel and Daus understood that the person the Black Count spoke of, the one who fought with an hourglass, was not just any wizard of their level but someone beyond their reach as newly initiated formal wizards.
Daus: “So, it’s a big shot, then it’s not surprising. Not just fighting with an hourglass, even using a feather pen as a sword wouldn’t be surprising.”
The Black Count: “The person I’m talking about, he was just an apprentice when he fought with the hourglass.”
“Apprentice? Then, how does one fight with an hourglass?”
The Black Count: “Well, the material is good, just smash hard. Normal attacks are just random smashing; against slightly tougher opponents, see where the Winter Chill Sand inside the hourglass falls to, then use that end of the hourglass to strike hard.”
Hearing the Black Count’s explanation, both Angel and Daus had one thought.
That is… a brutally direct way to fight.
However, if someone got such a “hardcore” weapon during their apprenticeship, containing Song of the Deep Sea Conch Gold, could it be someone from the Song of the Deep Sea?
As Angel pondered this, could someone from the Song of the Deep Sea have become an old acquaintance of the Black Count… could it be the Sea God?
Just as Angel thought of this title, a faint sense of crisis enveloped him.
The Blood Night Sanctuary behind Angel flickered slightly with light.
Angel quickly refocused his mind, trying not to think about it anymore. As he did, the sense of crisis began to fade.
By this point, Angel also somewhat understood why Daus suddenly turned timid before. It seemed that the lord was quite concerned about embarrassing past incidents, immediately sensing whenever someone thought about him in that regard.
However, compared to Daus, Angel’s intuition was significantly weaker than his spiritual perception.
Angel had figured out who the other party was before he felt the danger. If not for the protection of Blood Night Sanctuary, he might have been discovered already.
Daus, on the other hand, had a sense of crisis without even considering who the other party might be. That was the difference…
But when the Black Count suddenly mentioned this, without naming anyone, it still felt intentional when he divulged his embarrassing moments.
Was this the true meaning of “old acquaintance”?
In awe, Angel and Daus remained silent.
As time ticked away, about half an hour later, the voice of Vai finally came through the mental connection, after a long wait.
……
Vai: “I’ve found Raven, and he’s coming back with us now.”
Vai’s return meant it was time to confirm whether the lead was valid.
With a hint of nervousness, Daus asked: “Did you see the weapon in Raven’s hands? Is there anything special about it?”
After a few seconds of sudden silence, Vai replied: “Well… you’ll see when you get here.”
Hearing Vai’s response, everyone understood that there must have been some unexpected developments.
Whether this change was for better or worse was still uncertain.
During the silent moment, Kael, who hadn’t spoken for a long time, suddenly said in the mental connection: “Raven? You mean Marsha’s husband?”
“That’s right, what about it?” asked Vai, puzzled.
Kael: “I remember Marsha’s son, described by Mia as resembling someone named ‘Lightning’. Why would Marsha’s husband be called Raven?”
Everyone remained silent.
After a while, Angel softly said: “Perhaps, there’s just more admiration for Lightning than for Raven?”
Chapter 2572 Sphinx Harpy <TOC> Chapter 2574 Traveling Merchants