A dozen seconds later, Richard lifted the square pillar formed from the transparent liquid and saw that not a speck of powder clung to its surface; it was shiny as new. Comparing the pillar with the Blood-colored Seal, he found that they were identical in both shape and size, except for some slightly different patterns on the bottom.
His brows twitched. Richard took out some dye from the Space Iron Ring, smeared it across the transparent pillar's surface, and stamped an image onto a sheet of white paper.
When he examined the print, he saw that because the square pillar had been obtained through an indirect method of "cloning," rather than being the original, the image was not particularly clear. He could only vaguely make out a line of words, which seemed to be a new clue: Blue is water, red is fire; water and fire combine, neither can be missing—Tangka.
Richard swept his gaze over the words and began to think.
Blue is water, red is fire—this should refer to the Blood-colored Seal in his hand, and the other... Blue Seal.
Water and fire combine, neither can be missing. This likely meant that the two seals had to work together to achieve some purpose. Barring any surprises, it should be the condition for opening the Ancient Ruins that Ross and Tangka had once explored together.
If that was truly the case, then the Blue Seal he had guessed at should have been placed here. Otherwise, there would have been no need to leave behind a trace, right? Now there was a trace, yet the Blue Seal was gone. There was only one possibility: someone had taken it.
The person who took it was not Tangka, but a tomb raider.
But if that was true, there was one point he