Ruins of the Unified Empire

A pillar of magical light pierced through the underwater depths.

A massive purple creature leaped into Shane's field of vision.

It was a monster covered in many tentacles and five eyes, with fin-like structures growing along its scaled back. Sharp fangs were bared, and its four claws were dug into the stone wall deep within the pool in a twisted posture.

From Shane's vantage point looking down, he happened to lock eyes with the five eyes beneath the water.

A chill shot straight to his brain.

"It is a Venom Extreme Dragon."

Frieren spoke indifferently.

Shane felt his entire body go numb. Please, stop explaining and just attack!

But it seemed his request didn't reach her; after the pillar of magical light faded, Frieren maintained a guarded stance and stopped, showing no intention of continuing the assault.

At first, Shane didn't understand what Frieren was doing.

But soon, he realized something was wrong.

The Venom Extreme Dragon made no move to respond to Frieren's actions.

The giant python from before had launched an attack the instant it spotted an enemy, but this Venom Extreme Dragon deep in the pool, despite being a pure monster, took no action at all. Even after Frieren had struck, it remained unresponsive.

Why was that?

"It is dead. No, I should say it has lost its life force," Frieren concluded.

"I don't understand..." Shane was honest.

"Monsters turn into magical particles and vanish without a trace when they die. This Venom Extreme Dragon is dead, yet it hasn't vanished. This can only mean someone has stripped away its life force without truly killing it in the conventional sense."

Frieren's explanation made Shane frown, but soon, a word came to mind—specimen.

"Are you saying someone turned it into a specimen?"

Little Shane was greatly astonished.

"A specimen?" Frieren looked thoughtful. "I seem to have seen that term in some grimoire. That is likely how it would be described."

What kind of person could turn a magic dragon into a specimen?

Shane couldn't help but take another step back.

His hand pressed against the hilt of his sword as he vigilantly scanned his surroundings. In the shadows where the light of the crystal ball couldn't reach, could there be some perverted old witch hiding?

Frieren's staff swept lightly over the surface of the water as she continued, "Do not touch this water. There is very evil energy within it. The person who did this is likely using this method to extract something."

Of course I won't touch it!

Shane muttered silently to himself.

He wasn't some middle-aged uncle with a hobby for medicinal liquor; why would he be interested in pool water that had a dragon soaking in it?

At the same time, he felt deeply grateful that he was the type to drink plain boiled water. It was a good thing he hadn't gone to refill his waterskin just now, or it would have been a waste of a perfectly good skin.

Bypassing the pool, the two continued forward, only to discover that the entire room had no path leading anywhere else.

At the end of the hall stood only a giant mural.

It depicted the Goddess who created this world, all-knowing and all-powerful, surrounded by her devout followers. The solemn and majestic scene gave off a sense of holiness.

"This type of giant carving should be the mural style of the Unified Dynasty era," Frieren said.

"It's truly spectacular."

Shane sighed in genuine admiration.

Aside from the initial Age of Myth, the Goddess had never once appeared in the long river of history.

Yet, faith in her had never ceased.

Shane had seen monks holding the Scripture, and he had even gone to a monastery to seek healing when he had an upset stomach. Although he had no particular faith in the Goddess of this world, he had a good impression of the monks.

"It is more than just spectacular."

Frieren, who had been expressionless the entire way—even when her magic was sealed—now revealed a sly smile.

She walked up to the mural, tilted her head, pressed against it, and tapped it with her hand.

"There is a hidden room behind this wall. There must be treasures inside. Looking at the surrounding environment, there might even be very precious grimoires in there."

At the mention of grimoires, a light flashed in Frieren's eyes.

She stood before the mural, feeling around left and right, looking completely excited.

Shane marveled, Truly, it is you.

"But, this room doesn't seem to have any other exits..."

"Indeed, but based on my many years of experience exploring dungeons, there is definitely a room here."

As she spoke, Frieren lay flat on the ground, feeling around the bottom edge of the mural.

Shane watched the white backside raised up in front of him and raised an eyebrow.

A few minutes later, Frieren actually found it.

As the elven girl pressed down on an unremarkable stone brick, the mural before them began to change.

Rumble.

The angel wings that had originally hung by the Goddess's side stretched upward, shifting into a flapping posture, and the entire mural slowly rose, revealing the stone wall hidden behind it.

Immediately after, the bricks on the stone wall seemed to come alive, beginning to move of their own accord.

In just a moment, a narrow staircase leading upward appeared before the two of them.

"Hmph, hmph."

Frieren wore a slightly smug smile.

Shane gave a thumbs-up, "Impressive."

Being praised, Frieren hummed with pride as she stepped onto the stairs.

After only a few steps, the two arrived in a brand-new room; compared to the vast, empty palace hall from before, this room could only be described as "cramped."

It was a stone chamber of only a few dozen square meters, with extremely simple furnishings.

A makeshift wooden bed, an empty bookshelf, a desk holding a diary and a quill...

Everything was covered in dust.

Clearly, no one had been here for a very long time.

Frieren, who had been excited just a moment ago, lost all her enthusiasm upon seeing the room's furnishings, her long, pointed ears even drooping down.

She even looked under the wooden bed, unwilling to give up...

Unlike her, Shane felt a surge of excitement.

Because a pile of information that was about to blind him appeared before his eyes—

[Diary of Great Sage Ciel]

Status: Decaying

Traits:

[Great Wisdom Looks Like Stupidity (Golden Legendary)]: Simplifies complex magical formulas and theoretical knowledge into easy-to-understand "entries"; mastering an entry allows for the rapid learning of the corresponding magic.

[Thought Acceleration (Golden Legendary)]: A true sage must possess a brilliant mind; permanently increases your intelligence and comprehension, and accelerates the speed at which you interpret documents.

[Time Mastery (Golden Legendary)]: Where is the boundary between the past and the future? The best way to avoid "Future Sight" is to suppress the flow of your own time; now, you can deceive those who enjoy "reading the future."

Evaluation: Experiment No. 142857 complete. Teacher, we succeeded.

Holy crap.

I pulled a gold on a single draw.