Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 614 2 The Prince's Magic Book (4)

The moment the lid was slowly lifted, an indescribable bitter smell wafted out, seemingly the lingering odor of materials used for sealing, worn away by time. Han Zu subconsciously frowned. While the smell wouldn't affect him, it was undeniably unpleasant. Inside, the trunk was lined with a layer of dark red velvet. It might have originally been more vibrant and softer, but now it was faded and brittle. Even so, its former opulence was still evident. Neatly stacked on the velvet were piles of parchment, each bound with fine hemp rope and wrapped in linen coated with pine resin.

"Incredible,"

Han Zu's voice was filled with surprise.

"It's a miracle that these parchments have been preserved to this extent."

Han Zu carefully lifted the top bundle, the linen crumbling at the touch to reveal the yellowed but intact parchment underneath. The parchment was unusually supple, lacking the brittleness of common antique paper, instead possessing a warm, smooth feel, as if the parchment itself still retained its vitality.

Although the surrounding environment was quite dark, this was not a problem for Han Zu, who possessed night vision; the writing on the parchment was clearly visible to him. It was a Gothic script not written with ink, the strokes delicate yet powerful, the letters often ending in peculiar curls, like some kind of obscure symbol. The first parchment began with "Lord of the Night," which instantly made Han Zu's expression turn serious. This wasn't a clue about the Ferdinand family, nor was it some religious document; this opening was more like the dark magic tome that Carson and the Second Prince had found years ago.

"Could this be related to the Second Prince's magic book? Or are these parchments part of that magic book?"

Han Zu might not have shared Carson's or the Second Prince's deep interest in the occult, but he was still quite intrigued by these strange and unusual things. So Han Zu continued to open the other parchments in the box, intending to see what was recorded on them.

As the parchments were unfolded, more eerie content gradually emerged. One parchment detailed the steps of what appeared to be a "spirit summoning ritual," instructing that a pentagram be drawn at a crossroads on a full moon night using the blood of a black goat, with three pieces of obsidian soaked in corpse oil placed at the center. Next to the text was a precise diagram of the star array, each point of the pentagram marked with a different symbol. Han Zu recognized one as the family crest representing a branch of the Ferdinand family, but he had never seen the other symbols in any historical texts. However, the only family Han Zu could think of at the moment was the Ferdinand family, which had continued throughout history to the present day. Those unfamiliar symbols might be from branches of the Ferdinand family that had vanished into history.

Han Zu's fingers lightly traced the parchment. When he touched the edge of the star array, he suddenly felt something scratch his fingertips. Looking closer, he discovered extremely fine scratches hidden along the edge of the parchment. These scratches weren't man-made, but simply marks left by time. Han Zu frowned. He was very familiar with the defensive capabilities of the newly found armor under the influence of Bastinburg. To damage that armor under Bastinburg's anomalous influence, either a divine weapon or the parchment itself possessed a certain power. But Han Zu didn't sense any form of energy in the vicinity, at least not the types of energy he was familiar with.

"The impact here seems to be even greater than that of the main Bastinburg Palace."

In the middle layer of the box lay a thicker bundle of parchment, its color a darker shade than the top layer, with faint brown edges, as if soaked in some liquid. Unfolded, it contained rather cryptic content related to mysticism and black magic. Han Zu could read every word, but not their meaning. Below the text were simple yet highly accurate illustrations, lifelike and full of eerie tension in every detail. Unfortunately, due to the high degree of "professionalism" involved, Han Zu couldn't yet determine what the text and illustrations represented. However, based on the illustrations, Han Zu roughly guessed that the parchment might record some kind of ritual, either a sacrificial ceremony or the effects of black magic.

At the very bottom of this bundle of parchment lay a special piece, thinner than the others, with more hastily written characters, as if written in a rush. It contained a letter, dated only as September, and the writer's name was not displayed; the writer referred to himself as "the exiled." The letter mentioned that he had been sentenced to be burned at the stake for violating the laws of the land. On the night before his execution, he entrusted his apprentice to hide his life's work in this box, burying it under a tree on the west side of the woods outside Bastinburg. He instructed his apprentice to deliver this message to a specific person, but the letter did not specify who this person was. The letter also subtly hinted at something hidden at the bottom of the box.

After reading the letter, Han Zu carefully removed all the parchment from the top layer, but he didn't find any hidden compartments. However, using his X-ray vision, he discovered that there was indeed a space at the bottom of the box that could hold something, but it needed to be opened from the bottom of the outside of the box. But the inside was empty.

"It seems the contents have already been taken."

Continuing his investigation, Han Zu discovered something among the pile of parchments that did not belong to the same period as the parchments. It was a letter whose manufacturing level was at least several hundred years later. From the text of that letter, Han Zu learned what was hidden in the secret compartment at the bottom of the box.

Hidden in a secret compartment at the bottom of the box were three items: two silver rings engraved with ouroboros, a small bottle of dark red liquid, and a map drawn with special pigments. According to the letter, the two silver rings seemed capable of changing shape and assembling into part of a key. They had fallen into the hands of the fifth head of the Ferdinand family, the one rumored to have disappeared, and their whereabouts were unknown.

The small vial containing the dark red liquid was mentioned in the letter. It was given to a trusted official of the fifth-generation patriarch at the time. However, a month after leaving the Ferdinand family territory, that official was assassinated. The vial was damaged during the assassination, and the liquid inside came into contact with the assassin's skin. Two days later, the assassin was found dead in his hiding place, bleeding from all seven orifices, with pale skin and a gruesome death. No one understood what had happened. Even the possibility that the assassin's death was related to the vial was only suggested by the fifth-generation patriarch's first wife.

As for the map, it wasn't mentioned in the letter, but based on the whereabouts of the other two items, Han Zu guessed that it was probably gone too, though there was a small chance it was in the hands of a confidant of the fifth-generation head of the Ferdinand family.

Why do I always seem to lose my focus when I'm getting into a really exciting part?

Just as Han Zu grumbled about the interruption of the message, a cold gust of wind suddenly rushed in from the door behind him. Han Zu subconsciously turned to look at the doorway, where a blurry black figure suddenly appeared. The figure was tall, even a head taller than Han Zu, and behind the blurry black figure, there seemed to be the outline of a pair of huge wings.

Han Zu leaned forward, shifted his feet, and reached for the hilt of his greatsword, drawing it from his waist. Gripping the sword tightly, he stared intently at the blurry figure in the doorway, ready for battle. The blurry figure, unfazed by Han Zu's movements and the increasingly palpable murderous aura emanating from him, showed no reaction, simply walking slowly towards him as if Han Zu were not there at all. As the figure drew closer, Han Zu could see its features clearly: a person dressed in an ancient ceremonial robe, its face devoid of features, replaced instead by a deep, dark hole, within which lay only pitch-black emptiness. Embroidered on the cuffs and collar of the robe were the same emblems found on the parchment.

Han Zu recalled the record on one of the parchments earlier. This thing seemed to be a product of a failed spirit summoning ritual, but there was almost no description of it on the parchment, so Han Zu didn't know what was so strange about it.

Soon, the dark figure entered Han Zu's attack range, but Han Zu did not attack. He realized that the target wasn't him, but rather the parchments he had taken from the box and placed on the long table behind him after examining them. In that moment of distraction, the blurry dark figure passed right through his body, quickly shrinking into a fireball floating in the air before drifting towards the parchments on the stone table. The instant the fireball's flames touched the parchments, they suddenly emitted a series of shrill screams without warning. The flames from the burning parchment weren't the normal orange-red, but a strange bluish-black, emitting a pungent odor. Han Zu recognized this smell; it was the odor produced when flames devour living things. He had killed many living beings with flames, so he couldn't possibly be unfamiliar with this smell.

The fireball that the shadowy figure transformed into turned bluish-black and suddenly let out an angry roar. The shape of the fireball became even more distorted, and the intense heat that should have been burning the parchment around it suddenly dropped. When the flames twisted to their limit, they rushed towards the stone table and instantly covered all the parchment. This time, the burning speed was extremely fast, and those parchment, including the letter that did not belong to those parchment, were instantly turned to ashes.

Han Zu silently watched the still-burning flame, sheathed his knight's greatsword, pondered for a moment, removed the gauntlet from his left hand, and placed his palm into the flames on the table. The instant his palm touched the stone tabletop, Han Zu unleashed his energy, channeling a large amount into his pollution aura. The energy within the pollution aura, like thousands of chains, instantly and tightly bound the flames on the stone table. Then, the flames let out a shrill scream and gradually became transparent, ultimately disappearing into an energy storm invisible to the naked eye under the powerful attraction of Han Zu's energy conversion. Soon, the flames returned to their normal orange-red color, and the surrounding temperature gradually rose, but the flames fell silent.

"That's quite novel..."

Through this incident, Han Zu understood a principle. He originally thought that he couldn't convert or absorb energy types he couldn't sense, but this time, even without sensing any energy, he still used his energy conversion ability. Although he didn't have a direct feeling about it, judging from the state of the flame, he had indeed absorbed something. It seems that Han Zu's energy conversion ability has also undergone changes that he himself is unaware of.

"Ok?"

Just as Han Zu came to his senses and was about to put the left gauntlet he had just taken off back on, he was surprised to find that his palm was still burning. However, the flames were not the same as the ones on the stone table; they had long since extinguished. Based on the affinity of the flames, Han Zu could roughly determine that the fireball burning on his palm was coming from himself. However, according to Han Zu's senses, he did not find that he was outputting any energy. The flames seemed very abrupt.

Han Zu tried to increase his energy output to change the size of the flame, but although the source of the flame was himself, the "raw materials" forming the flame did not seem to be the familiar energy within his body. This seemed unreasonable, since the flame burning steadily on his palm could generate heat, and Han Zu had tried using some wood chips, which were also ignited by this flame.

Having his hands on fire certainly looked stylish, but it wasn't very convenient. So, Han Zu, on a whim, used his energy conversion ability again, and this time it worked. The flames on his palms disappeared. However, at the same time, Han Zu noticed something interesting: the energy within his body seemed to be changing. It felt like the energy was slowly disappearing, but Han Zu didn't experience any discomfort whatsoever.

"Could it be that they didn't disappear, but rather underwent a transformation?"

The sudden change made Han Zu somewhat solemn. There was no doubt that he had been affected by this place. He was not sure if he would experience any specific changes, but if he wanted to complete this mission smoothly, he might need to speed things up.

"Speaking of which, where did all those guys who rushed through the archway before me go?"

With these questions in mind, Han Zu completed his investigation of the area. He returned the way he came to the center of the cross-shaped corridor, preparing to investigate other locations. At that moment, Han Zu seemed to hear some sounds in the corridor on the other side, which sounded like people talking.