"Who!"
Reilo and his two companions faced off against the two girls who emerged from the depths of the castle.
The two girls, who appeared to be twins, were unnaturally pale, as if they had been frightened by something.
Reilo frowned.
"What happened?"
The two girls exchanged a glance, their faces filled with fear.
"It's a seal, probably left by an ancient civilization. A hundred years ago, an exploration team came here. They were elite experts from the same class of students at the Xilan Academy. They spent three days studying this seal, but in the end, they were all wiped out!"
Upon hearing this, Reilo and the other two were startled.
seal?
The other girl gritted her teeth and said tremblingly, "It's too dangerous inside. We don't plan to continue exploring, and we don't want to clash with you. These are notes left by previous explorers. If you're interested, you can try them out."
Reilo accepted the journal the girl handed him.
Journals and notes are almost a scholar's most precious possessions, but this girl treated them as if they were some kind of curse. After handing them to Reilo, she and another girl left without looking back.
Reilo, Misa, and Jenny exchanged glances.
Reilo, who was already getting a little bored on the second floor and was planning to explore the third floor, seemed to have become interested, and a hint of curiosity showed in his eyes behind his mask.
A seal that has been sealed for ten thousand years, yet still harbors danger?
If this is true, the power of this life form is probably beyond imagination; sealing and dormancy are two completely different concepts.
But why is this seal located in the second-floor living area?
This doesn't make sense.
Following the girl's directions, the three walked along the castle for a while and arrived at a secluded cottage.
It's clear that this place was once quite cozy, seemingly the living quarters of a nobleman from an ancient civilization. In the corner of the bedroom, there's a hidden door that was later discovered, securely locked with Chains, and next to it lies a human skeleton.
"It must be his handwritten notes."
Reilo took out the Crystal Lamp, opened his notebook, and began to study it carefully on the spot.
"Mr. X, Mr. X... you, you, you wouldn't be trying to break this seal, would you?"
Misa's voice trembled slightly.
He looked at Reilo as if he were a monster.
Reilo chuckled and said, "Don't be nervous. This hidden door isn't a seal. Any seal will inevitably contain a Magic Material made of Dark Essence."
However, it was clear that Reilo's rational explanation did not reassure Misa and Jenny.
The two girls' pale faces just now clearly indicated that there was something extremely dangerous inside. As for the Dark Essence Magic Material, that was irrelevant to them; all they knew was that this place was fraught with danger.
"Mr. X, I'm so sorry, my family has already failed twice in our exploration of the Eye of the World. I must ensure my own safety; it's too dangerous here. I... I... I can't continue exploring with you."
With that, Misa and the girl walked outside.
The two were clearly determined to explore only the safe area on the second floor.
"Alright then, I wish you all the best."
Reilo didn't say much. After watching the two leave, he sat down beside the skeleton, his eyes behind the X Mask fixed on the notebook, reading it intently.
"It's said that a genius scholar has emerged this year at the Grand Natural Sciences Academy, even surpassing Kuriana. He should be my biggest competitor during my graduation assessment. This time, I'll explore the Eye of the World and try to find some ancient civilization treasures so I can continue that experiment."
Well?
Reilo was taken aback.
Kuriana?
Night Fire Maiden, Human-faced Spider!
This skeleton turned out to be a scholar from the Xilan Natural Sciences Academy who was in the same class as Dark Night Fire Woman Kurianna and Sky Shadow Wushuang a hundred years ago.
Moreover, he seemed to be one of the top experts at the Xilan Natural Sciences Academy at that time.
The genius scholar from the Grand Natural Sciences Academy mentioned in the notes is very likely to be Sky Shadow Wushuang Galleon!
A powerhouse of this caliber died here without a sound.
A chill ran through him, Reilo continued flipping through the journal.
"The higher the level of the Eye of the World, the more treasures of the Gulan Civilization one can find. However, we discovered this strange castle in the second level. Scorn, who is skilled in the study of souls, intuitively tells him that this castle hides some kind of treasure from an ancient civilization."
"We're determined to explore this eerie castle thoroughly. Wildman, following the clues, discovers that the castle's owner seems to be attempting to gain some unfathomable ancient power by studying some taboo of the Gulan Civilization?"
"We searched every corner of the castle and finally found the secret entrance to this underground space, but Skorn was scared. He said his intuition told him that this place was full of danger; his spiritual intuition belonged to a supernatural force that could not be understood by the Natural Law."
"Scorn has escaped. That coward! He has utterly disgraced the Bolton family. Now only the six of us remain. For knowledge and honor, we must move forward!"
At the very end of the notebook were hastily written bloodstains.
"It's still inside..."
it?
Reilo flipped through the notes several more times, but didn't get any more useful information.
The forbidden power of ancient civilization, the seal on the second-floor living area?
The more Reilo thought about it, the more uneasy he felt.
Fear stems from the unknown, but reason tells Reilo that this should not be a seal. An ancient civilization would not place a seal on the second-floor living area, nor should it lack Magic Material like Dark Essence!
Oh, right.
Those two girls just now, could they be the ones Scorn sent from the notebook?
Otherwise, it's hard to understand why these two were so panicked. Clearly, through Scorn, the two girls learned about the strength of the exploration team at the time, and only after confirming that they had been completely wiped out did they leave in fear.
"Without Dark Essence, this door couldn't possibly be a seal!"
Reason prevailed over the fear of the unknown.
A moment later.
With a creak, Reilo unlocked the Chains, opened the underground secret door, and stood at the entrance of the underground chamber, holding the Crystal Lamp, looking down.
A long, narrow underground staircase, filled with the stench of decay, stretched into darkness with no end in sight.
Quack quack.
The Blood Raven controlled by the Eye of Suggestion flew over, folded its wings, and landed behind Reilo. After entering the second level of space Reilo regained control of the Blood Raven.
Looking at himself through the bloodshot eye, Reilo felt a very strange sensation.
"Go."
Reilo hung the Crystal Lamp in his hand on the deformed creature covered in fleshy bumps.
Through the X Mask 'Eye of Suggestion, Reilo, with the vision of this Blood Raven, peered into the unknown within the passage.
The passageway is long and narrow, with steps leading underground.
After flying for a distance, the Blood Raven arrived at a spacious underground space, which turned out to be a large flower bed. However, because it had been abandoned for too long and had not been watered, there were no plants in the flower bed, only bare soil.
Well?
This scene was far from the terrifying secret realm that Reilo had imagined.
"Where is the seal?"
Blood Raven looked around, trying to find something that looked strange, something of value.
Sudden!
"Hmph, hmph hmph hmph hmph hmph hmph..."
A sinister laugh suddenly echoed through the hall.
The laughter was long and drawn out, seemingly a sense of relief and gratitude, but tinged with a hint of malice.
"I have slumbered here for ten thousand years, you ignorant explorer, I have been waiting for you for a long time, heh heh heh heh heh..."
At the entrance to the passage, Reilo trembled, and a cold sweat broke out on his back without him realizing it. His breathing became rapid and tense.
How is that possible?
The seal of the Dark Essence is broken!!
A terrifying creature that has survived for ten thousand years, sealed away by such a flimsy door???
The entrance to the passage was eerily quiet; Reilo could almost hear his own heart pounding violently.
"You lowly creature, do you crave my power?"
Desire your sister!
Only a fool would believe that!!
Just as Reilo was about to reseal the seal and make his escape.
Suddenly, everything became clear.
In the underground space, the soil in the flower bed stirred, and out crawled a small, human-shaped creature with white roots, about ten centimeters tall.
The little creature stood in the mud, its back to the Blood Raven, exuding an air of otherworldly wisdom.
"Submit to me, and you will gain boundless power!"
Well?
Seeing this, Reilo at the entrance of the passage was slightly taken aback.
hiss...
This fair and tender little thing seems completely different from the powerful creature I had in mind.
The underground space remained silent for a long time, without any response.
The little creature, with its back to the Blood Raven, stood for a while, wanting to turn around several times, but managed to resist the urge.
"You lowly creature, are you afraid?"
There has still been no response.
finally.
The small, white, root-like humanoid creature darted its eyes around, then turned its head away rather awkwardly. Upon seeing that the intruder was actually a Blood Raven, it froze in shock.
Look up, look down, look left, look right.
The little girl with her soft, milky face looked around mischievously, constantly glancing left and right, searching for the explorer.
"Could it be!!!"
The little creature, quick-witted, thought of a possibility.
"The door opened???"
"I'm free!!!!"
Hahaha...
The little thing let out an excited scream like a child, its tiny, root-like feet jumping around incessantly.
As Blood Raven stared in disbelief, it slid down the edge of the flowerbed like a child on a slide, then, with its bouncy little feet, it ran step by step toward the steps.
But this little thing is really too short.
Each step was higher than the previous one, and it took a lot of effort to finally climb one step. I didn't know how many steps there were in the whole staircase, or how long it would take to reach the top.
But driven by its yearning for freedom, the little creature showed no fear and climbed upwards, layer by layer, with all its might.
"Sun, moon, soil, water, plants, freedom, keep going!!!!"
The little creature let out a series of panting breaths and excited squeals.
Blood Raven followed behind the little creature, watching in astonishment as it struggled to climb five steps.
This little thing—is this the sealed Magic Creature that just terrified me and made the two female scholars flee in panic?
"You stinky bird, what are you doing following me? What are you looking at?"
The little thing turned around and yelled, looking quite temperamental.
To Reilo's astonishment, the Blood Raven, which he had been controlling with his Eye of Suggestion, turned and fled out of control due to instinctive fear, breaking free from his Eye of Suggestion's grasp.
Based on the Blood Raven's low-intelligence, wild instincts, this little creature seemed extremely terrifying.
However, this fear is not a sign of strength; just like many girls are afraid of spiders and worms, it's an instinct.
After one hourglass period.
Huff, huff, huff, huff, huff...
Heaving, heavy breathing.
The tiny white, rooted, humanoid creature had climbed countless steps when suddenly a pair of black shoes appeared on one of them. Startled, it cried out and comically tumbled back down the stairs.
"Ah!!!"
The little creature pointed at Reilo and screamed hysterically, clearly terrified of Reilo.
Reilo slowly crouched down and looked curiously at the little thing through the X Mask.
What are you?
Reilo knew that it could speak human language and seemed to be very intelligent.
The little creature glanced behind it, having climbed countless steps, then looked at the enormous humanoid being. Knowing it had nowhere left to retreat, it took a deep breath, stood up again, put its tiny, rooted hands behind its back, and let out another chilling "humph humph humph."
"Hmph, you lowly creature, do you crave power?"
Seeing the little thing startle him again, and remembering how he had been frightened by such a thing before, he was instantly furious and grabbed it.
"Ah! You lowly worm, loose your filthy hands!!!"
Boom.
Reilo flicked the guy's wrist and said angrily, "What did you just say?"
"You lowly human, I'm about to get angry, and the consequences will be far beyond what you, in your humility, can bear!!!"
The little creature struggled and screamed through Reilo's hand, gritting its teeth.
Boom.
Reilo flicked the little guy again, raised his eyebrows, and looked at it with a sneer.
"You! Let me go if you dare! Do you know who I am?!"
Boom.
"You bastard! I'm going to kill you!!!"
Boom.
"I... Waaaaah, stop playing, waaaaah..."
After being flicked a few times by Reilo, the little guy completely broke down, bursting into tears in Reilo's palm, crying as if he had suffered a great injustice.
"I swear, you'll regret your stupid actions, waaaaaah!"
Boom.
"If you keep doing this, you'll lose me, waaaaah!"
Reilo raised an eyebrow.
"Can you speak properly now?"
"I got it, sob sob sob."
The little thing cried and whimpered, its tiny hands constantly wiping away the tears streaming down Reilo's face, but it couldn't stop them.
It kept trying to break free from Reilo's grasp, but its strength was too weak, about the same as that of a Whitey.
hey-hey.
Reilo sneered, "Then why didn't you speak properly just now?"
"Because... because I wanted to look cool, waaaaaah, it hurts so much..."
Seeing that the little creature seemed to have fully grasped the situation, Reilo snorted and placed it on the steps.