In short, Tobesk's affairs were temporarily dealt with, and a new adventure could begin. Considering that he would probably be back very late, on Tuesday morning, Shad asked Dorothy to take care of Mia temporarily today, and the writer of course agreed.
"May the original rift protect me in infinite space."
In the basement of his home, Xia De reached out to touch the statue of the ancient god alone. As the thick white fog quickly gathered around him, he entered the fog.
Outsider, you have entered the 'space maze'.
Message from the ancient god "Original Rift":
Existing space landmarks:5.
After taking a look at the five worn-out road signs on the path, Shade raised his head and drank the magic potion "Oak's Luck Potion" in one gulp, then lifted up the white stone crystal in the mist:
"Offer a sacrifice to the Space Labyrinth."
The stone turned into a wisp of white mist and disappeared into Xia De's hand. At the same time, "she" reminded:
New information is available, and new spatial landmarks can be searched for. Please select a direction.
"Southwest."
Xia De said in a steady voice, and as soon as he finished speaking, the sixth road sign appeared on the path in the thick fog, still in the dilapidated shape that seemed to have been ravaged by time for a hundred years.
After passing the first five road signs, Shade reached out and pressed on the rotten wood.
The Original Rift will show you the way.
The white mist around him slowly dispersed, like a curtain moving to both sides. Xia De looked at the ancient god statue that he had touched. As he stared, the statue emitted a soft light, illuminating the dark circular space.
"Every hidden space seems to be the same size."
He muttered softly, then looked at the other objects here besides the statue.
In fact, since similar hidden spaces can be entered as long as one has the "space" spirit rune, before Shad arrives at a certain space, there may be things left by other people there.
For example, he found information left by the "Guiding Light Hermitage" in his basement, a body whose identity is still unknown in the White River Valley vineyard, and an empty rough gray stone bookshelf on the island in the middle of Lake Pantanal.
At this time, the hidden space corresponding to the sixth signpost was not empty. There was an iron box against the wall. The box itself was made of wood, and some rusty iron bars bound the box. This appearance reminded Shade of the relic treasure chest monster he encountered on the fishbone pirate ship.
No, it's just an ordinary box for sure.
"She" reminded softly.
So Xia De did not rush to leave here to confirm which city this was, but knelt on one knee in front of the box.
The box itself has a built-in lock. Judging from the shape of the lock, this box is probably quite old. Fortunately, under the effect of the door key, the lock is equivalent to non-existence. However, when opening the lid of the box, Xia De was a little worried that this ancient wooden box would disintegrate.
Squeak~
Fortunately, it was much stronger than it looked. After opening it, I saw that half of the box was full of books.
“A Study of the Folklore of the Randall Valley, A Complete Collection of Fairy Tales of the City of Spring, The Silmarillion, Crazy Earth, and Hymns to Flowers…”
He took out several of the books and looked through them, confirming that seven of them were books about ring wizards, while the others were mostly religious texts of the Orthodox Church, or ordinary books that recorded folk customs or myths.
Looking at the other items in the box besides the books, there were two extremely gorgeous-looking jewel-studded metal medals in a box, an unsealed letter, and gold coins covering the bottom of the box.
Shad had seen those two medals more than once at many banquets in Tobesk during the winter. They were found among the medals hanging on the chests of the Carsenrick nobles who attended the banquets.
"let me see... ... "
He rubbed his fingertips on the metal medals and noticed the medal numbers. In this way, it would be easy to find out who the original owners of these medals were.
The unsealed letter had no stamp or address, but the faded dark blue ink on the envelope told Shade who the letter was for:
To you who read this letter.
"A letter for me."
Xia De nodded and took out the letter. The exaggerated cursive letters used by the nobles came into view. This cursive letter was quite difficult to read:
To you who have opened this letter. I don't know your identity, and I can't be sure of the identity of the next ring warlock who comes here, but if you are willing, can you read my story
Shade continued to read, and then recorded the story of a low-level warlock named "Thomas Granger". Mr. Granger was born into a famous local family in the Randall River Valley. He unexpectedly awakened his talent and successfully became a ring warlock under the guidance of a local ring warlock who passed by.
"It seems that this is indeed the Randall River Valley."
It took him ten years to reach the fourth ring, but he also knew that this was his limit. As he entered middle age, Mr. Granger focused more on his ordinary life as a nobleman, until he was cursed in an accident. The curse not only left him with only a few weeks of life, but also contaminated the items he carried with him.
The other items were not important, but the two family treasured medals could not be left alone. That strange curse would not weaken with the passage of time, but would become stronger and stronger. Therefore, Mr. Granger, who was at the end of his life, placed these books and medals here to suppress the curse with miracle elements.
He hoped that someone who came after him would be able to return the two medals to his family. The gold coins at the bottom of the box and his own collection of books were the reward for returning the medals.
"There is indeed no curse on the medal, so it seems his idea is correct. But why is it not written on this letter? How did he find this place?"
Xia De muttered to himself, and saw that the date written at the end was 1780, but now it was 1854. Although it was less than a hundred years ago, it was already a long time ago.
There were no traces of the curse on the items in the box, but the gold coins that covered the bottom of the box were roughly identified by Shad as gold coins minted by the original "Principality of Randall" in the Randall Valley region before the establishment of the United Kingdom of Carsenrick. This antique is now called "Randall Crown".
He counted them and found a total of 51 gold coins, all of which were in good condition. Although he was unsure of their value, Xia De believed that if they were all converted into money, it would definitely exceed his current savings.
"Thank you Mr. Granger."
He said softly that he was going to send the medal back. This was not only because of the reward of the gold coins, but also because he knew nothing about the Randall Valley, and in order to find the key mentioned by "Luvia", he had to at least establish certain social relationships locally.
"I hope the Granger family won't fall into decline."
The books and gold coins were placed in their original places, and they would be moved back home when he returned. The letters and medals were put into his pocket. Shade turned and looked at the wall facing the statue. Under the light of the time and space spirit runes, the hidden path was opened.
As usual, it was dark outside, with only slightly cold air rushing in.
"What's out there?"
He walked out along the long and narrow hidden passage, and only lit the moonlight on his fingertips after making sure that there was no one here.
This is a corner of a dilapidated room. The space here is not very large. The surrounding walls, including the ceiling, are all made of square bricks and stones. Next to the right wall, there are some half-collapsed stone shelves. It looks like this should be a storage room or something like that.
Although the ground was dusty, there were no spider webs or small animals like rats or bats. Although the air was not good, it did not have the peculiar smell of decay that is found in abandoned buildings:
“Maybe there are still people living here.”
The door to leave the room is on the side, and the stairs leading up are blocked by collapsed shelves. It seems that this time it is still underground.
However, when Xia De walked to the top of the stone stairs, he unexpectedly found that the stone door could not be pushed open.
"Feliana's Witch Light!"
The palm of his right hand radiated a golden light, and as his arm melted and penetrated the wooden door, Shad saw that the corridor outside had collapsed and a part of the ceiling blocked the door.
There was no other way, so Shade could only use the Moonlight Greatsword and the Witch's Light to forcibly open up a path to the outside. Fortunately, the collapse of the ceiling only reached the position of this door. After leaving the underground storage room, he could still choose to move in another direction.
"It looks like no one lives here, but why don't we see any animals?"
This is indeed an abandoned building, and the interior space of the building itself is quite large. Although there are collapsed walls and ceilings everywhere, which greatly limits Shade's comprehensive exploration, he still realizes that this may be an abandoned church.
The churches of the Five Gods Church would certainly not be abandoned easily, but the churches of those old gods who had long gone away might have been preserved until the Sixth Age for various reasons.
It’s a pity that time is fair to churches without any faith, and there are no traces left here to indicate where the church belongs.
Relying on his knowledge of church-like buildings, Xia De broke through a wall before finding the corridor leading to the front hall. He walked along the semi-arc corridor to the end, and the sunlight made his eyes, which had adapted to the darkness, feel a little uncomfortable.
Shad raised his hand to cover his eyebrows, squinted his eyes, and saw the main hall of the church illuminated by the sun in the snow.
There is a big hole above the church door on the east side of the ceiling. Winter sunlight shines in obliquely, and specks of dust rotate around the light column, which illuminates the old stone pulpit. This picture is extremely shocking, and the traces of years and time are clearly visible here, and the pulpit in the light seems to have witnessed all the stories here.