Chapter 1131: Crystal Ball
Hence, at this moment, High Priest Poer and Delano were both waiting to see Lin Li make a joke out of himself, curious what kind of ridiculous piece of evidence he could come up with. Although Elder Zumar was not like High Priest Poer, he certainly did not want Lin Li to really be able to provide any evidence because of his consideration of the interests of the Gilded Kingdom.
In fact, not to mention High Priest Poer and the others, even Claus and the other people from the Breezy Plains behind Lin Li did not have much confidence in the evidence Lin Li mentioned. However, Lin Li still seemed very confident in the evidence that was about to be brought to light as he remained composed.
Some were worried, while some were gloating. No one was optimistic that Lin Li would be able to produce any concrete proof; hence, they waited at the port for the so-called evidence to appear, each having their own thoughts. As for Delano whose fleet had just been damaged, he did not seem to be sad at all. Instead, he remained arrogant, and was constantly sneering at Lin Li.
However, they soon saw a few crewmen of The Star carrying an object and walking over under the lead of a Legendary-mage from the Tower of Dusk. The object was rather large, about half the size of a man, and it seemed to be quite heavy too. Otherwise, it would not require several level-15 crewmen to bring it over. However, the exterior of the item was covered up by something, and others could not see what was inside at all.
Seeing this scene, the people froze in unison, after which they could not help but be curious, because the evidence that the president of the Tower of Dusk was about to reveal was clearly not just some nonsensical empty promise. It was a great surprise to them. After all, the fugitive was caught on The Star, and apart from the testimonies of witnesses, they really couldn’t imagine what else there was that could prove that the fugitive had nothing to do with the ship.
After the item was carried to the spot in front of them, Lin Li gestured to the Legendary-mage, who then reached out and removed the exterior of the object to reveal the true appearance of the item inside.
To be honest, when the item was carried over, Delano’s heart trembled, but when he saw what was inside, he was relieved and pointed at the item while guffawing loudly. “What a joke, this must be the evidence you are talking about! A crystal ball of such a massive size may be relatively rare, but how does this prove that you did not hide the wanted fugitive on the ship?”
It turned out that the so-called evidence that Lin Li had people carry over was a massive crystal ball, which could definitely be considered a superior treasure. However, crystal balls were not very rare, and they were used in many places, especially in the magic towers of the mages where crystal balls were mandatory. However, they generally wouldn’t be that large, and crystal balls that were the size of a human head were considered extremely precious.
However, no matter how big and rare the crystal ball was, there seemed to only be one use of it, and that was to conduct real-time surveillance and observation of the surroundings using the Heaven’s Eye mageweath. Most importantly, it allowed one to monitor the things that were going on within the scope through the crystal ball.
Although Delano had yet to reach the Legendary-level, he had a Sanctuary-level father, after all, so what kind of rare things had he not seen before? He had played with various magical weapons that were almost considered artifacts, let alone a crystal ball. Hence, he was naturally also very clear about the use of the crystal ball. Besides, the alchemical battleships in the Gilded Kingdom were equipped with such crystal balls to monitor the situation around the ship as well.
Hence, as soon as he saw Lin Li taking out a crystal ball, Delano immediately felt relieved. What a joke, how can such a thing be used as evidence? Does he want to show us what’s going on around here now!?
However, Delano’s father, High Priest Poer, and Elder Zumar, the two Sanctuary powerhouses, had a very different reaction from Delano at this time. They did not seem amused at all, and instead their eyes widened in shock, revealing the shock within their hearts.
As a true Sanctuary Master and the high priest of the Gilded Kingdom, Poer was naturally more knowledgeable than the others. Besides, at his level, as long as mana and World Laws were concerned, he would be able to grasp it almost instantly. Even if he hadn’t studied some things before, he would be able to reach a level that was close to a Master-level.
In particular, the field of inscription had always been closely related to magic in instances like the drawing of magic scrolls, which required some knowledge in inscription. Hence, the two Sanctuary powerhouses—High Priest Poer and Elder Zumar—might not have much attainment in inscriptions, but they were definitely not clueless. In fact, in many aspects, they even had more profound insights than the Legendary-level Masters of Inscription.
After seeing Lin Li display the crystal ball, High Priest Poer and Elder Zumar were immediately attracted to the mageweaths inscribed on the crystal ball. They could see at a glance that the mageweaths on the crystal ball were not just the common Heaven’s Eye mageweath, but some that were much more complex and mysterious, or even far beyond their understanding of mageweaths.
If only the Heaven’s Eye mageweath could be seen on the crystal ball, Poer and Zumar would probably have the same reaction as Delano, and reckon that Lin Li couldn’t come up with any proper evidence. However, after seeing that there were so many mageweaths on the crystal ball, they immediately panicked.
“President Felic, what are you doing?” Elder Zumar asked, forcing himself to smile. The Gilded Kingdom had already suffered a great loss as the Fifth Fleet was damaged, and if they were proven to be responsible for the mess, the Gilded Kingdom would really be doomed this time.
Lin Li smiled faintly, and did not answer immediately, but waved his hand and beckoned for the large crystal ball to be brought over. As the crystal ball floated in front of him, he said, “Didn’t you want to see some evidence? It’s right here.”
“Drop the act, it’s just a crystal ball! Do you really think we are country bumpkins like you who have never seen much of the world!?” At this moment, Delano had already sensed that there was something off about the situation because of the reactions of his father and Elder Zumar. However, he still refused to accept it, and was hoping for a fluke.
Lin Li simply ignored Delano, stretched out his finger, and tapped the floating crystal ball twice, immediately after which a complex mageweath lit up. It then began operating. Under the backdrop of that magical light, the entire crystal ball was enveloped in a layer of mysterious light that seemed to be able to suck one’s soul out.
Immediately afterwards, they saw the intertwining rays of magical light in the space above the rotating crystal ball gradually form a clear image of the place where the people were at the moment. Their expressions were all captured and displayed clearly.
Upon sight of this scene, Delano got smug as he thought that there was obviously nothing different between this crystal ball and the ones that he had seen before. Hence, he derisively mocked, “Is this all that you’re going to show us? What a joke, what can this prove? Please stop wasting our time!”
However, as soon as Delano said that, he suddenly felt that there was something amiss about the atmosphere around him, especially with his father and Elder Zumar. Logically speaking, they shouldn’t have been shocked to see a crystal ball, but they looked extremely horrified as if they had seen a ghost.
Overwhelmed with puzzlement, Delano turned to look at the crystal ball again, and scrutinized the scene displayed in it, only to realize that it was not fixed on their surroundings, and the scenes were gradually rewinding instead.
Could it be that this thing can show the images of the past? Delano finally panicked and fell silent, staring anxiously at the images displayed in the crystal ball.
At this moment, Lin Li stretched out his finger again, and tapped the crystal ball, after which the scenes in the crystal ball changed rapidly. The scenes of the tragic battle at sea were then displayed. Of course, it was tragic only for the Gilded Kingdom because it was a thrilling massacre launched by the people of the Breezy Plains.
Seeing the scene again and watching the consecutive destruction of the battleships, as well as the helplessness of the warriors of the Fifth Fleet who could not resist, High Priest Poer and Elder Zumar could not help but feel indignant and helpless even though they were already Sanctuary powerhouses.
However, due to the acceleration of the playback in the crystal ball, the tragic sea battle fortunately also quickly vanished, and the scenes were soon restored to calmness. If not for the occasional appearance of some figures, they might have thought that they were looking at stills. They could tell that those scenes should have been recorded during those two days that The Star had been seized, which meant that the main show was about to come.
Indeed, just as they thought, Delano appeared in the scene with his subordinates, escorting the so-called fugitive out of the port. However, since the scene was played backwards, the scene displayed was that of Delano and his men retreating back to The Star with the fugitive before going back into the cabin.
By the time he saw this, Delano was already incredibly flustered because he already knew what would appear on the screen next. On the other hand, High Priest Poer and Elder Zumar, as well as the people of the Breezy Plains, were all holding their breaths and waiting for the truth to surface.
Finally, Lin Li tapped the crystal ball again, and the images changed rapidly once more before slowing down to a normal speed. Next, they saw Delano taking the fugitive into the cabin, after which the fugitive began to remove his sailor’s uniform, and change into another set of clothes.
When the fugitive in the scene was done changing, the crowd that was initially calm immediately got agitated because the sailor’s uniform that the fugitive was wearing was actually the uniform of the Fifth Fleet.
“No, this is fake, you fabricated this. How can you see the past events displayed in the crystal ball? This must be fake,” Delano exclaimed furiously, and he even felt a strong urge to rush forth and smash that crystal ball.
Actually, at this point where the fugitive was seen changing back into the uniform of the Fifth Fleet, even a fool would know exactly what was going on. However, Lin Li did not stop the playback, and instead continued to let the crowd watch the fugitive who had changed back into his uniform follow Delano and the others all the way out of The Star‘s cabin and then to the deck.
“High Priest Poer, Elder Zumar, I wonder if this evidence is satisfactory to you,” Lin Li said with a calm expression while reaching out to pause the playback at the scene of Delano, the others, and the fugitive as they stood in the dock.
“Th-this is!” At this point, High Priest Poer was speechless. After all, there were no video recording cameras or any editing software in Anril. Hence, such a thing could not be faked at all.
However, what really shocked High Priest Poer Elder Zumar was not the truth of the matter that was on display, because the harboring of the fugitive was not their concern at this time. What shocked them was the crystal ball’s ability to display a playback.
In this world, there was no magic equipment similar to a camera, and one would have to use the elusive laws of time to go back in time to see the events of the past. Legend had it that only the Dragon of Time, one of the five great Dragon Aspects, had the ability to travel through time and monitor the past and future of Anril. Apart from the Dragon of Time, even ordinary gods and deities might not have the power to see the past and future.
Of course, High Priest Poer and Elder Zumar also knew that the ability to look at events from the past was still not comparable to the Time Dragon’s ability to travel through time. However, even so, they were almost certain that the mageweath that gave the crystal ball the ability to show the playback of past events should be at least of the Guru-level.
A Guru-level mageweath! It was no wonder that Sanctuary powerhouses like High Priest Poer and Elder Zumar were shocked. In Anril today, Masters of Inscription were rare, and Gurus of Inscription were simply godlike existences. Of course, they didn’t think that the Guru-level mageweaths on the crystal ball were inscribed by Lin Li, who was only in his early twenties. In their opinion, Lin Li definitely wouldn’t have the time to juggle other fields of knowledge, since he had stepped into the Sanctuary-realm at such a young age!