Chapter 2638 So-Called Treasures <TOC> Chapter 2640 Sparks of a Fire
Translator: SumTLMan
Previously, Vai had asked the alchemy puppet, what exactly counted as meeting the standard? And the alchemy puppet’s answer was: “Use your hand to touch the Box of Cecia, and it will tell you.”
After Vai’s attempt, it seemed there really was some sort of intelligence within the Box of Cecia.
Now that they knew there was such an “existence,” even if the alchemy puppet were to directly let Angel pass, Angel would not leave. No matter what, he was determined to try communicating with it.
The moment Angel’s hand touched the Box of Cecia…
A surge of red light burst from the box’s opening.
But strangely, Angel did not experience the same thing as Vai, who had been drawn into a pitch-black space. Aside from being surrounded by red light, nothing around him changed. Even the mental link constructed by the Black Count was not interrupted at this time.
Just as Angel found it strange, his left earlobe suddenly felt as though it had been scorched by fire, stinging and burning.
Had the Mark of Flame left to him by Odeklaes been triggered? What was going on?
While Angel was still puzzled, a crisp female voice suddenly sounded by his ear: “Huh? This fluctuation seems so familiar…”
“Who are you?” Angel did not know who was speaking, so he simply asked aloud.
“Is someone talking to you?” The Black Count looked over in confusion.
Angel nodded to the Black Count, then turned his attention back to the Box of Cecia: “Is it you speaking? Are you this box?”
“I cannot affect the outside world. If you want to know who I am, seal away the thing on your person that can resist my ability…”
It was still that female voice, only it was growing noticeably weaker. By the end, it had faded to something almost imperceptible.
Angel tried to speak to her again, but there was no response. Even the red light around him began to weaken.
No one else understood what was happening. Had Angel passed? Or had he not passed?
“What happened?” the Black Count asked again.
Angel thought for a moment and answered through the mental connection: “Just now, someone seemed to whisper softly to me, a female. I’m guessing she’s the same existence Vai met in that pitch-black space earlier.”
“My lord wasn’t pulled into a pitch-black space?” Vai asked, curious.
Angel: “I have multiple layers of defenses on me, and it seems her ability couldn’t break through them. Just now, she was whispering softly for me to seal away my defensive powers…”
Eight parts of Angel’s words were true and two parts were false, and the suddenness of the situation kept even the Black Count from noticing the slip in Angel’s story.
“She wants you to remove your defenses so she can pull you into the pitch-black space?” The Black Count pondered for a moment: “What do you plan to do?”
Angel smiled and, right in front of everyone, withdrew all his defensive layers. Even Eremy was transformed by Angel into an earring that glimmered a faint, ghostly blue, piercing Angel’s left earlobe.
With his actions, Angel showed his decision.
He had intended to communicate with this being from the start, there was no way he would pass up this rare opportunity.
Just as the Black Count was about to speak, Angel had already closed his eyes. As Angel closed them, the red light around him went completely dark.
…
When Angel opened his eyes again, he was surrounded by darkness.
Presumably, this must be the same pitch-black space Vai had experienced before. But…where was the female voice from earlier?
While Angel was sizing up his surroundings, a pair of hands faintly aglow passed through the swirling darkness, soundlessly brushing over Angel’s body.
At first, Angel did not feel anything. Not until those hands touched his earlobe did both Angel and the owner of those hands experience a sudden burn.
Angel spun around. Only then did he see those slender hands, faintly shining in the darkness.
“Are you an attached soul inside the Box of Cecia?” Angel did not realize that the part of his body previously beyond his field of vision had been thoroughly examined. He merely thought she had touched his ear once. Hence, he could still face those hands in the darkness calmly.
“Attached soul? I’m not some ghostly thing like that. Listen carefully, I am Cecia.” In that crisp female voice was a hint of inexplicable pride.
“So you’re saying your name is Cecia? Then you’ve taken the form of this Box of Cecia, are you a soul?” Angel still could not see “Cecia” in the darkness. As a result, he had not yet discerned her nature.
“Hmph. Are you humans all so ignorant of etiquette? You placed a demon coin that symbolizes absolute fairness, yet you haven’t upheld the balance pursued by the Crowned Clown.”
Angel: “You mean…”
“I’ve already answered one of your questions. Now it’s my turn to ask!” Cecia deliberately raised her voice, sounding even more proud. Angel could practically imagine a woman with her chin tilted upward, casting a sideways glance in lofty disdain.
“I thought self-introduction was a matter of courtesy, not included in our question count.” Angel: “But since this is your domain, I’ll follow your rules.”
Angel didn’t mind letting her ask questions. On the contrary, if she didn’t ask anything and simply did with him as she had done with Vai, tossing him out, Angel would be left with the outcome he most wanted to avoid.
Conversation, after all, was Angel’s purpose.
If nothing unexpected happened, this was likely another intelligent being besides that so-called Sovereign of Wisdom who had seen the Wood Spirit. Maybe he could glean some information about the Wood Spirit from her, or at least something about that Wise One. Anything would be helpful.
“Answer me, what exactly is sealed within your left earlobe?”
From the way she had tried so sneakily to touch his earlobe earlier, Angel already knew she would zero in on that. He was just surprised Cecia cut straight to the heart of it without any preamble.
“I asked you who you were, but you’re asking me for my secret. If you truly want to uphold the Crowned Clown’s concept of absolute fairness, the value of this question can’t match the value of mine.”
If Cecia had first proposed a typical wizardly ‘equivalent exchange,’ it would be one question for one question, which wouldn’t matter much. Yet Cecia had specifically invoked the Crowned Clown’s philosophy, which emphasized “absolute fairness,” and question exchanges alone were not fairness but rather balanced value. So since Cecia had brought up the Crowned Clown’s concept, Angel responded with that same notion. It was perfectly appropriate.
Sure enough, as soon as Angel finished, Cecia clearly paused, stuck for words.
A few seconds later, he heard a mumble by his ear: “What kind of man is so stingy…”
“I’m still under twenty,” Angel responded, completely unbothered by revealing his age.
If the Box of Cecia had existed from the very beginning, it must have been at least ten thousand years old, so Angel’s twenty years hardly qualified as an adult “man” in comparison.
“All you do is leave me speechless?” Cecia’s voice sounded as if squeezed out through clenched teeth, betraying her fury.
“No. I’m not trying to leave you speechless, but rather using your own standard to talk. If you want strictness, I’ll be strict. If you want generosity, I can be generous. But if you expect me to be generous while you’re strict, then we have nothing to discuss.”
Angel paused before continuing: “By the way, that, too, counts as a round of Fair Question and Answer.”
“So now we’re even again. That means it’s my turn to ask.”
This time, Cecia was silent for a long while.
Though Angel did not know exactly what was on Cecia’s mind, his heightened senses were still at play, and he could detect the emotional tides surging in the darkness. Clearly, Cecia’s mood was anything but calm.
After quite a while, Cecia spoke again: “Fine. Ask your question.”
The proud attitude from earlier had begun to wane.
“My question remains the same as before: I know now your name is Cecia, but in what form do you exist? I’m very curious.”
Angel paused, then added: “Yes, I’m young, and it’s perfectly normal for me to be petty. Let’s not let any unpleasantness carry on.”
Cecia snorted coldly: “You little carrot-lump brat. Back then, if I saw a kid like you, I would’ve been kicking one after another!”
Angel gave a faint smile and did not respond.
After a round of curses, Cecia returned to the main topic: “You’re wondering in what form I exist? Haven’t you seen it? My shell is in the shape of a box, and my consciousness is confined within that box. I’m neither a soul nor a ghost; my soul has already merged with the box, leaving me unable to sense it at all. So if you ask in what form I exist, I don’t know either. Perhaps I’m the aggregate of my memories, or maybe some unknown form of energy being.”
Cecia’s words formed a very thorough answer, but it was still rather nebulous.
A regular wizard would probably need quite some time to fully understand it. Angel, however, was different. He had seen a scenario in which a soul was claimed by a Demon God, yet that individual’s consciousness remained in the Wilderness of Dreams, as had happened with Popoca.
Hence, he was not surprised by an entity that had no soul yet still possessed mind and thought.
Of course, if asked to explain the principles behind it, Angel didn’t know them either…
Angel: “Your answer is very complete. I more or less understand your predicament; so now it’s your turn to ask.”
Cecia gave a derisive laugh: “I don’t believe you can understand my predicament.”
Next, from within the swirling darkness came Cecia’s question: “I’m still interested in your left ear. But rather than a specific query this time, I’ll let you say as much as you’re willing. Whatever you can share, share.”
Her wording was rather cunning. It seemed like she was showing Angel some goodwill, but in truth, a question without limits was much harder to pin down, making it unclear exactly what she was after.
Nonetheless, it didn’t matter what Cecia was truly thinking, because she’d dropped the “absolute fairness under the Crowned Clown’s concept” façade. On some level, she was admitting defeat to Angel.
“I don’t know what precisely you’re seeking, so I’ll do as you say and share whatever I can.”
After that, Angel began to speak at length.
Because Cecia’s attitude had softened, Angel no longer resorted to rhetorical maneuvering. Otherwise, he would’ve started from “the moment I was born” to talk about changes in his left ear.
Angel knew that what Cecia truly cared about must be related to the Mark of Flame. But how much did she want to know?
If it was just the superficial details of that imprint and information about Odeklaes, Angel was fine with sharing.
If she was aiming for something deeper…Angel would have to think carefully.
With that in mind, Angel kept his explanation of his left ear to surface-level information.
For instance, the earring on his ear was a shadow elemental creature that had temporarily sealed away the mark inside.
Also, the mark on his earlobe was a symbol of friendship from a major figure of the Abyss Plane.
Finally, Angel gave a brief description of the rumors surrounding that major Abyss figure——Odeklaes, and then fell silent.
“That’s all I can share for now. I wonder, are you satisfied?”
Angel posed that last question: “Are you satisfied?”, as if casually, but it was actually to gauge Cecia’s motives.
If she replied that she was satisfied, it meant her aim was covered by the information he had provided. If she was not, then undoubtedly she wanted to know the deepest secret of all.
Cecia: “You did indeed share a lot about your left ear. The amount of information you offered suggests you put some effort into this. Unfortunately, you still didn’t mention what I want to know.”
In other words, Cecia was unsatisfied.
Angel’s brows lowered slightly. He already had some ideas in mind.
“Now it’s my turn to ask. In the interest of saving time, why don’t I ask two questions at once?”
The slender hand in the darkness waved as if unconcerned: “Suit yourself.”
Angel could sense that Cecia seemed exhausted, probably because she wasn’t getting the information she was after, and now her initial interest was fading.
That was perfectly normal. Ancient beings were often worn down by time long ago. It was already quite impressive that Angel’s left ear had piqued Cecia’s interest for a while.
“My first question: When you say a ‘precious object,’ do you mean an item imbued with emotional significance?”
Cecia: “Exactly. Anything its owner finds hard to part with often carries a subtle, unspoken sentiment. That sentiment adds a bit of joy to my dull existence. By the way, your two gold coins have considerable value to me, since I can sense how unwilling you are to part with them.”
“So does that mean I passed?”
Cecia: “Consider that question a freebie. Yes, that’s right. Once you leave this place, I’ll place a mark on you. You now have permission to move on.”
When Cecia said this, Angel’s eyes lit up slightly. She had been about to conclude, but noticing Angel’s expression, she added:
“I know what you’re thinking, why is there a setup here requiring a precious object in exchange for permission to proceed, right?”
Angel nodded.
Cecia: “It’s not really a secret, but it’s a long story if I go back to the beginning. It’d take ages, and I’m too lazy to bother. All you need to know is that the precious object originally demanded here was appointed by the warden. Now, the precious object is chosen by me.”
Though Cecia did not go into detail, she had revealed the key point.
That to pass through, one needed either a ticket or a precious object. And ten thousand years ago, the warden had demanded a different kind of precious object than now.
Thus, perhaps the “precious object” from ten thousand years ago was actually some fixed treasure, an “alternative ticket,” so to speak?
Angel merely speculated a bit, without asking outright. He was indeed curious about what that precious object used to be, but in the present age, that was not the most important issue.
“Hurry up. Ask your second question so I can get some rest. I hate brats the most, especially cunning ones, I’m done with you.” As Cecia spoke, Angel even heard her yawn, proof enough that her enthusiasm had all but vanished.
Since that was the case, Angel decided not to ask about the Wood Spirit for now. Instead, he changed to another question.
“My second question is about you, Cecia.”
Cecia let out a cold laugh: “So you’re interested in me? Well, I, an old lady, have no interest in bare-chinned kids.”
Angel paid no attention to Cecia’s taunt and slowly asked:
“Is Cecia a Laudsourcian?”
Chapter 2638 So-Called Treasures <TOC> Chapter 2640 Sparks of a Fire