Chapter 2587 True Depths <TOC> Chapter 2589 The Black Count's Odd Behaviour
Translator: SumTLMan
“This window is also integrated into the magic formation; it’s best not to touch it if not necessary,” Angel suggested: “I recommend we first look for an exit in this building.”
“Of course, that’s just a personal suggestion. If you have other ideas, feel free to bring them up.”
Angel was quite self-aware. His leadership role was largely because he knew the location of that wall. In terms of exploring ruins, he might not even compare to Kael. Therefore, he wouldn’t act despotically and was open to his teammates’ suggestions… especially those from a teammate who had strong intuition but was unaware of it.
Angel looked around; neither Kael nor Vai spoke, and for some reason, the Black Count also remained silent.
Only Daus nodded and said: “Although I think breaking this window, even if the magic formation backlash occurs, it shouldn’t be major. But let’s follow your suggestion since this building was the stronghold of those Demon God worshippers; perhaps there’s more information here.”
As Daus finished speaking, he glanced at a stone slab floating in the distance: “Let me say this in advance, if we get information here, let’s not use that whatever language, some people better not intentionally conceal important information.”
It was clear who Daus was indirectly referring to, and while they agreed with his point, Daus’ words still made them nervous.
The tone was quite sarcastic… so, was he directly confronting the Black Count?
Vai cautiously looked towards the Black Count, fearing his ancestor might overreact, but surprisingly, the Black Count wasn’t angry.
“I’ve made my promise to Angel, and what I say is my freedom,” the Black Count stated calmly.
The Black Count’s refusal didn’t surprise Daus, but his calm response did raise some doubts in Daus’ mind. However, Daus didn’t voice them, instead, he looked helplessly at Angel: “I just think there was no need for you to make that promise with him in the first place, look, he’s gotten smug now.”
Angel smiled without saying a word. If they didn’t set ground rules, the Black Count’s true body descending would mean the end of their expedition. Because Angel was very clear that this exploration of the ruins couldn’t avoid Noah’s great ancestor——Augustine.
After all, even the alchemy omen that created the “key” to that wall was presided over by Augustine himself, which said it all.
“Since no one opposes exploring this building first, let’s start,” Angel suggested, looking ahead at the corridor: “There’s a corridor on this floor, so there must be rooms. Let’s first check the rooms on this floor for any clues about this place.”
Although the corridor split in two directions, they didn’t split up. It wasn’t out of fear that splitting up would lead to encountering dangers they couldn’t handle in time, but purely because Daus feared the Black Count might find some information and not tell them.
Of course, even if the Black Count found information with them, whether he chose to share it was still up to him. But at least they would know about it, rather than being completely unaware of what the Black Count had discovered.
Daus’ intentions were too obvious, everyone could guess them, and naturally, the Black Count could see them too. Still, he didn’t say anything and chose a direction along with everyone else, and they began to move.
After three minutes of exploration, they had basically figured out the layout of this floor.
The layout is a “rectangular” shape, with fully connected corridors. On each of the four sides of this “rectangle,” there is a room, but three of these rooms yielded nothing, not because they are completely empty, but because there was nothing useful found.
As for the last room, it is actually more of a hall than a room, larger than the other three, and they also discovered a staircase leading upwards here.
“There seem to be some spots here, which is a bit strange,” said Kael, who was squatting near a stone wall in the hall.
The material of the stone wall is Starshine Stone, but unfortunately, the painting that was once on it has long disappeared. However, in the lower right corner of the stone wall, there is a spot that is dark with a hint of gray.
“The painting on the Starshine Stone is gone, but this spot remains, suggesting it was added later. And, it must have been about a thousand years ago,” observed Angel, deducing from a glance: “Starshine Stone easily retains color, but not every pigment can leave a mark on it, at least some extraordinary energy must be present. This spot does not seem like someone intentionally used pigment mixed with extraordinary power.”
“So, the only possibility.” Daus found a pause in Angel’s speech and hurriedly interjected, eager to assert his presence: “It could only be that someone fought here, or got injured. From the shape of the spot, it doesn’t look like it was intentional to stay here, so the former is more likely?”
“Fighting? Why?” Vai looked puzzled at Daus.
Daus gave Vai a disdainful glance: “Have you really laid like a dog over these years? What happened to that fiery young man you used to be?”
Vai turned his head away in a “don’t mention it if you’re not going to explain” manner.
Pausing, Vai looked back at Angel, with a slight twinkle in his eyes, mixed with faint anticipation.
Angel understood Vai’s gaze, it was a request for an explanation, albeit a bit puzzled by the strange look in his eyes.
Without overthinking it, Angel continued: “Because this spot is very likely blood, whether wizard’s blood or monster’s blood, both contain extraordinary energy, capable of staining the Starshine Stone.”
“That only the situations Daus mentioned could result in blood appearing on the Starshine Stone.”
“As for the blood ultimately appearing as a black-gray state, given the texture of this Starshine Stone, and excluding cases of human maintenance, it can basically be determined to be from about a thousand to thirteen hundred or fifteen hundred years ago.”
Angel gave a rough timeframe.
This explanation was quite comprehensive, and naturally, Vai understood, his eyes brightening even more.
“To think you would admire this kid, you’ve only met a few times?” The voice of the Black Count suddenly echoed in Vai’s mind.
Vai blinked, scratching his head and muttered: “It’s not really admiration, just that the Super Dimensional Wizard is quite impressive. Especially the way he repaired so many rune faults at once, it was unprecedented.”
The Black Count snorted coldly but did not continue the conversation, as even he was surprised by Angel’s technique in repairing the rune faults earlier.
Originally, he thought the Research Institute brought Angel in just because he was lucky and had almost touched the mysterious realm. Now, it seems that Angel is truly qualified to be a member of the Research Institute.
Although Angel’s skills were glimpsed only briefly earlier, the Black Count has a premonition that Angel, currently unremarkable in alchemy, is simply biding his time. It shouldn’t be long before he astounds everyone and truly secures his position at the Research Institute.
So, when Vai mentions this, and thereby expresses some admiration, even the Black Count has nothing to say.
“Moreover, the Super Dimensional Wizard seems very approachable, likely one of the white wizards from the academic faction,” Vai quite likes the academic faction’s white wizards… or rather, there aren’t many wizards who don’t.
Even if they verbally mock such individuals as weak, they trust the white wizards of the academic faction more in their hearts.
Take the “Holy Light Wanderer,” Gandalf, for instance, known for his amicable relations with wandering wizards, family wizards, black wizards, and other transcendents. This master alchemist and white wizard of the academic faction is easy to talk to; provide him a reasonable reason, and he will concoct potions for you, charging only for the materials. Think about it, a master alchemist brewing potions just for the cost of materials is a tremendous opportunity indeed.
Therefore, Gandalf is known as “the walking opportunity,” and rightfully so.
“A white wizard from the academic faction? Humph, do you think that Sanders, that guy, could produce a white wizard from the academic faction? Would he tolerate his disciple being a white wizard?” the Black Count snorted coldly.
“Put yourself in his shoes; if I were Lord Phantom Master, I certainly wouldn’t want a disciple who’s a white wizard. But if this white wizard has talent and skill, I see no need to stick rigidly to principles,” said Vai: “Just like you, ancestor, if the Super Dimensional Wizard were to become your disciple, would you refuse him?”
The Black Count choked suddenly; when had Vai become so articulate…
And indeed, he had no rebuttal.
If there really was a chance to bring Angel into his fold, how could he possibly refuse?
However, to maintain his dignity, the Black Count still stiffly said: “There are no ifs in this world; all hypotheses are blindsided by unexpected variables.”
“Whether Angel is a white wizard of the academic faction, you can observe that for yourself. I hardly think he’s a white wizard, or even part of the academic faction, for that matter.”
With that, the Black Count dismissed Vai. But Vai, unaffected by the Black Count’s disdain, found it difficult to remove his fanboy filter due to several prior incidents.
…
In this hall, besides the bloodstains of the Starshine Stone, there were no other discoveries. There were some pieces of furniture made from magical materials, but… since the predecessors didn’t take them, it shows these items probably aren’t worth much.
Since the hall yielded no clues, their only choice now was to continue upstairs.
As they ascended the stairs, Kael, stroking his chin, said: “It’s a bit strange. The place we came out should be the basement, this is the first floor, so the floor we’re heading to is the second… Where’s the door?”
Normally, the exit door would be on the first floor, but they had just toured an entire corridor without seeing any exit doors. There were two windows, however, located at either end of the corridor, both overlooking alleys with no other discoveries.
“Does it matter whether there are doors or not?” Daus said lazily: “Besides, this is an underground labyrinth. Who says doors have to be constructed like on the surface, necessarily on the first floor? Maybe the doors here are inverted, on the top floor.”
“Is that so?” Kael was skeptical.
“Don’t worry about it. If there really are no doors, I’ll make one.” As Daus spoke, he twisted his mouth into a grin, rubbing his fists together, looking ready to smash through the walls at any moment.
No one else joined the conversation; the others didn’t want to, and Kael was too afraid to, especially of the glowing red fist possibly landing on him.
They continued up the stairs in silence.
The second floor——let’s call it the second floor, had a layout similar to the first, a rectangular shaped corridor, but it was smaller and had no windows.
The second floor also had three small rooms and one large hall. After some searching, they finally got their first clue about this building: each of the small rooms had a plaque on the door.
The plaques were in a familiar script.
It was the Common Language of the Continent, but an earlier version that had not yet been simplified.
Everyone recognized it.
The plaques indicated the purpose of each room: a cleaning room, a review room, and a Transfer Station.
While they recognized the words, they couldn’t guess the specific purposes. The cleaning room didn’t seem to have any cleaning supplies; the review room was odd, completely empty.
As for the transfer station, it was the most peculiar.
Because there, they saw a familiar material——Sphinx Harpy demon blood ore.
However, here the Sphinx Harpy demon blood ore was just a pedestal, on top of which was a shattered altar. The altar was broken into many pieces, and some runes inscribed on it were visible.
Unfortunately, it was too shattered; even Angel couldn’t restore it. He could only barely make out a few runes, which seemed related to space runes involving teleportation.
But if this was a teleportation formation, why was it built as an altar? Moreover, the altar wasn’t large enough to easily teleport people.
Angel shared his analysis and asked: “What do you think?”
Without even thinking, Daus quickly chimed in to make his presence felt: “Let’s not talk about the other rooms for now. I have a theory that this room was reconfigured. The transfer station was its original purpose, but it was later taken over by followers of the Demon God of Mirrors, who set up this altar.”
“Any proof for that?” Angel turned to Daus.
Daus, without a second thought, spoke impulsively, with no apparent reason, but he didn’t want to admit he was just spouting nonsense. His eyes roamed rapidly.
Soon, Daus pointed to a wall: “Look, there’s a slight difference in the color on this wall, seems like some kind of mark. In size, it should be about the same as the cabinet in the basement.”
“That is to say, a cabinet similar to the one in the basement might have once been placed here. Think about the material of that cabinet, then look at the material of this altar, they are clearly not of the same style. So, my claim that it has been arranged a second time is plausible.”
As Daus spoke more, it seemed more logical, and the others listening found it reasonable.
When Daus breathed a sigh of relief internally, everyone generally believed him; his reasoning was sound.
Only Angel, sensing the shifts in Daus’ emotions, subtly guessed the truth.
But Angel didn’t point it out, because Daus’ subsequent explanation could indeed be possible.
“Since it’s possible that this place was arranged a second time and set up by the followers of the Demon God of Mirrors, then this might be an altar for sacrifices. The subject of sacrifice might just be for the so-called Demon God of Mirrors.”
After Angel finished, he thought for a moment and added: “I remember a friend I met in the Abyss once told me that the altars of ordinary Demon Gods must bear the corresponding Demon God’s mark, which is their true name mark. Only the altars of Great Demon Gods and Supreme Demon Gods can omit the true name mark.”
He heard this while chatting with the lovely clerk Canaan during his time running a shop in La Sutherland.
However, this wasn’t exclusive news.
Humans have been dealing with demons and Demon Gods for so long, these kinds of information could still be unearthed, it’s just that not everyone might have access to it depending on their status.
Like those present, the Black Count also knew this piece of information.
As for Daus, he was entitled to know, but as a wandering wizard, he didn’t have access to the latest information.
“I don’t know if the Demon God of Mirrors is a common Demon God, but if it is, perhaps we could find some clues about it on this altar.”
Chapter 2587 True Depths <TOC> Chapter 2589 The Black Count's Odd Behaviour