Chapter 881: Research Log
It was especially so for Angelano, who had been following Osric since that era. Unlike Connoris who had always been sealed in a hammer, Angelano naturally heard stories about Prince Brahere. He had an impression that Prince Brahere had to be a refined and cultivated man who had a sophisticated taste in art. He really could not associate this image of Brahere with such crazy deeds.
“That explains why Brahere would use the Heart of Stars. Only the Heart of Stars had the power to refine such a complicated mixture of mana,” said Angelano. Although he found it difficult to accept the idea, the reality before him forced Angelano to agree with Lin Li’s theory. “However, the purity of the mana does not make it a perfect one; it cannot escape one problem,” continued Angelano.
“You must be referring to the drainage of mana in the process of transfer? Indeed, mana that has lost all attributes is just like an original source of energy. It will be drained in the process of the transfer…” Speaking of this, Lin Li paused. Since he could think of this, he felt that Brahere had to have thought of this issue as well. Why wouldn’t he have the ability to resolve this problem when he had the skills to create the Heart of Stars?
“Mana transferring tubes!” cried Angelano and Lin Li in unison.
The purer the mana, the harder it would be to control. However, since Brahere had the ability to create the Heart of Stars, he should have the ability to create a mana transferring tube that was compatible with the Heart of Stars.
Lin Li could not wait any longer. He knew that anything that was compatible with the Heart of Stars had to be a magnificent alchemical product. The mana transferring tube that the Caesar Family had found would certainly not match up to its value.
It was fortunate that no other force went to search the lake while they were discussing the Heart of Stars. They would not have expected Lin Li to leave anything behind. Otherwise, Lin Li would really be at a loss. With a sense of relief, Lin Li leaped into the lake without any delay, much to everyone’s surprise.
After entering the water, Lin Li first searched around the location where he’d found the Heart of Stars. Unfortunately, there was no mana transferring tube there. This did not cause him to give up. Lin Li expanded his search area, and finally found a tube that was stuck in a crack at the side on the walls of the lake.
However, Lin Li could not help but feel disappointed when he got hold of the tube. This mana transferring tube was definitely not as durable as the Heart of Stars. Although it was left behind after the explosion, there were obviously some signs of damage.
Lin Li could only comfort himself by hoping that the knowledge he and Angelano had in alchemy could help repair the tube.
Are you kidding me? Why do you not collect all the treasures together? Joseph screamed internally. He was frustrated when he saw Lin Li come out of the lake with another item. If he had not obtained the heart from the Whispering God, he would have vomited his blood out of depression.
Although Brahere’ incubation room was extremely spacious, it was overturned very quickly by the hundreds of people who searched through it. It was unfortunate that there were too few valuable items. The number of treasures that each of the forces could obtain was limited.
However, everyone but the Mithril Alliance was using the Life Potions supplied by the Tower of Dusk while searching the incubation room. As a result, their combat energy had already recovered to a certain extent. After they put themselves together, the higher-ups from the four forces met up to discuss the search of the next level of the mausoleum.
The Mithril Alliance was not in a good shape. Many of their injured members had only just regained mobility. Their Healing Potions would not suffice if they wanted to recover their combat energy in a shorter time. Yet, the Mithril Alliance could only submit to the peer pressure exerted by the three other forces. They could only hope that they would not need to participate in any battle in the short time.
The door on the other side of the incubation room opened slowly. When Lin Li saw the scene on the other side, he sighed with a great sense of relief. Behind the door was not a pathway that led to the next level. It was instead a long and spacious corridor with tightly shut doors on both sides.
Since it was a relic site they were not familiar with, they naturally could not let go of any possible clues. Hence, the adventure team slowed down, and started to survey the rooms along the two sides of the corridor, hoping that they could find information related to the mausoleum.
The men discovered something unusual when they saw what was behind the first door. The room did not seem like the usual burial chambers in average mausoleums. Instead, it seemed like a room for the living. Although the display in the room was simple, there was a desk, chair, bookshelf, and a bed. However, they could easily tell that it was left vacant for a long time.
“I-is this really Brahere’s mausoleum?”
Everyone had the same doubt as they looked at the furniture in the room. There had been many discoveries of High Elves’ mausoleums after the Dark Age, but this layout was certainly not a common sight… unless this was a unique look adopted by the royals.
However, there were no other useful clues in the room other than some High Elves furniture. It seemed like the room had never been occupied by anyone. Of course, this was not unusual for the men. After all, who in their right mind would choose to stay in a mausoleum?
The subsequent doors revealed rooms with an identical layout when opened. It wasn’t until the team opened one of the rooms in the middle that they saw a different scene.
This room was different from the others. It looked like a conference room. What attracted all of their attention was the table in the middle of the room. There were papers filled with words scattered on top of it.
The men were increasingly confused by Brahere’s mausoleum. They could explain the huge amount of magic gears and traps on level one; that was expected of a mausoleum. Those Ghost Warriors on level two made sense as well. They proved that they were indeed in the mausoleum of Prince Brahere.
Everything strayed from their expectations when they saw the remains of the magical beasts. It was, after all, uncommon for remains of magical beasts to appear in a mausoleum.
Their doubts only deepened when they reached level three. Who in the right frame of mind puts an incubation room in a mausoleum?
What shocked them further was the terrifying monster inside the incubation room. They had thought that those magical beasts had to be grown in the incubation room. Now, even Hoffman could not help but start to doubt their initial findings.
Lin Li entered the room, and picked up a few pieces of paper from the table. He could tell from the browning edges that the paper had been on the table for a long time. Despite this, he could still recognize the High Elven print on the paper. Lin Li’s expression became serious after he translated the first statement on the paper. That was because he realized that these records were about the Whispering God.
The Whispering God was something from the Endless World, and Lin Li had never expected anyone in this world to have a knowledge about. But now, the name of the Whispering God was clearly written on the piece of paper. The content was mostly about the Whispering God as well.
“Oh! So that monster was the Whispering God?! That explains our tough wrestle!” one of the higher-ups from one of the other forces exclaimed. They were reading from the pieces of paper as well. It was only now that they knew that it was the Whispering God which they’d dealt with.
Lin Li continued to read the contents on the paper quietly by himself. His astonishment only grew as he read on. It seemed like he was holding the growth records of the Whispering God, and the author of the records was immensely meticulous. He noted down all sorts of changes the Whispering God underwent on a daily basis.
“Who is Caleross? Could he be the person behind all this?” Hoffman muttered as he read the papers with furrowed brows.
“Who?” Hoffman’s comment caught Lin Li’s attention. Lin Li had just finished reading the several pages in his hands.
“Caleross,” said Hoffman as he passed the paper to Lin Li. He continued, “I am guessing he has to be the author of these records.”
Lin Li and Hoffman exchanged their records. They thought about all the famous High Elves, but could not seem to recall any whose name was Caleross. However, they could deduce from these records that Caleross had to be someone Brahere had great trust in—someone who was like a manager.
There were not a lot of logs in the room, probably just a dozen of pages. Everyone exchanged what they had, and managed to finish reading all of them. Yet, the content of the observation logs made everyone look very uncomfortable; apart from the growth of the Whispering God, there was information about research on Undead creatures.
Since they had defeated the Whispering God, it did not matter how shocking the logs were about the creature. It definitely would not affect the rest of their journey here. However, the logs regarding the research on the Undead creatures talked about an existing Humerus Wyrm Legion. It surfaced concerns about an inability to control the legion due to the lack of a king-level Humerus Wyrm.
Knowing that Humerus Wyrms had to be in the Legendary-level at the very minimum, they were confident that it wouldn’t be that much of a problem if there were eight to 10 of them. However, what Caleross mentioned was a Humerus Wyrm Legion. How would it be called a legion if it was only made up of such a small number? Furthermore, he even mentioned a king-level Humerus Wyrm. These two things would be a tremendous threat to the expedition.
“Let’s discuss if we are going to continue this expedition,” Hoffman spoke as he casually pulled a chair and sat by the table. It seemed like he was prepared for a long discussion.
The rest of them looked at one another before joining Hoffman at the table. This would not be an easy question to answer. After all, each of the forces had invested their full strength into this mission. They had suffered significant losses when they battled the Whispering God earlier. If they were to wrestle with another Humerus Wyrm Legion, it would not be meaningful for them to conduct this expedition any further.
However, this was just like gambling. The winners would want to continue winning, and the losers would want to cover their losses. The items in the incubation room were not enough to make up for what they lost from the battle with the Whispering God. If they were to leave the place with what they currently had, they would turn this expedition into a money-losing business.
“According to the blueprint of the mausoleum, it seems to have seven levels, and we are only on the third one. Even if there is really a Humerus Wyrm Legion, I’m guessing that it has to be on the last two levels, employed to guard against Brahere’s coffin. There should be little chance of encountering them on the fourth level,” said Claus after a period of silence. He was implying to the team that they should continue the expedition—at least up till level four.
Claus felt that the Caesar Family gained the least advantage as compared to the three other forces. The Mithril Alliance acquired the Whispering God’s heart, and the Tower of Dusk had obtained two valuable items as well. Although the Glittergold Trade Union did not gain much, they were not like the Caesar Family that lost such an important trump card. Hence, Claus would never feel reconciled if he were to withdraw in such circumstances.
As for the Mithril Alliance, Joseph knew that the four other families would never agree to the idea of retreat from the mission even if he wanted to. They were, after all, an alliance that consisted of five major families. No one would trust that Joseph would share the heart of the Whispering God with them.
“It would be very troublesome if a Humerus Wyrm Legion were to exist. However, they would certainly not appear out of nowhere like Assassins. As long as we stay vigilant, I’m sure we would discover them before they get to us. With our combined strength, I’m certain that we will be able to overcome them if their number is not huge. Even if they really came on a large scale, I guess we can still retreat safely.”
That was Joseph. Acquiring the heart of the Whispering God didn’t help him feel good after he lost an Abyssal Demon Dragon.