Gold and silver double color means that one side of the cover is gold and the other side is silver.
Megan gently pinched the pendant and shook it slightly, and the small pendant turned into a huge book in her hand:
"Last time on the island, I told you that I had an angel-level relic weapon. Look, this is it."
This book is different from the "Smalwell Code" owned by Miss Pavo, vice president of the Truth Society. It cannot fly without its owner, but this does not prevent Shad from feeling the power unique to angel-level relics.
"Can you tell me, besides enhancing spellcasting, what other properties does it have?"
Shad asked, and Megan motioned for Shad to follow her, and walked with her on the deserted street in the rain. The sound of rain continued all around, and the rain became heavier than in the morning.
The cold is spreading outside, but fortunately it is spring, not autumn, and every rain means stronger vitality in the near future.
"The Book of Angelic Relics. Write down all the magic, spells, or magic you have mastered, ahem, on it, including the learning method of power, the effects of casting spells, etc. Then, use the recorded magic and spells on this relic to store extraordinary abilities in it, so that you only need to consume a small amount of mental energy to cast spells with this book. If you spend some extra money, you can even store other people's power."
Shade raised his eyebrows. Although Megan claimed that this relic was not as good as the Godcaller's Night Watcher, this feature alone was useful enough:
"I think the restrictions of this book should be the storage quantity and the consumption of maintaining the storage state... Since it is the Book of Desire, it should also affect you."
"Yes, it will make me crave more and more knowledge. If I can't control it, I will become the chosen one of knowledge and wisdom who goes crazy. Fortunately, I still have a lot of troubles. I have been mentally disturbed for decades and cannot concentrate on studying. This makes this book have little impact on me."
As she walked forward, she lowered her head and stroked the large metal-covered book she was holding, and she did not shy away from talking about these things with Shade. On the golden side of the book, there was a complete ancient symbol representing "wisdom", and on the silver side, there was a circle of five stones similar to "wise pyroxene".
"In addition to storage and release, at close range, it can also analyze the effects of other people's spells. I was able to use this relic when I was at the eleventh ring, but when I was close to losing control some time ago, I couldn't touch it anymore. So the first two times I went to the island, I was almost adventuring empty-handed."
"Now you can use the power of this book?"
"Part of my power. You, a sixth-ring warlock, can't even imagine how strong I was at my peak. I admit that you are very powerful, but your level still limits you after all."
Megan smiled, holding the book from below with one hand and gently placing the other hand on top, with her palm covering the symbol representing "knowledge":
"Well, it's up to me now."
Invisible wind spread outward from the sorceress' body, making the curtain-like rain appear to be pushed aside by a giant transparent hand.
The metal-covered book emitted a soft glow, and the whispering elements were transformed into the four-element fluctuations unique to Megan and Audrey, which indeed reached the level of a high-ring warlock/high-level witch.
At this time, the two had already arrived at the door leading to the lair of Rotten Eye Barry. If they pushed open this door, they would see the gangster territory in the slums in the shape of a Chinese character "回". Xia De looked at the lady beside him and asked if she needed to open the door now, but she shook her head slightly:
"That's enough."
The light on the book became brighter and brighter, and it also changed shape, until the whole book turned into a large gold and silver metal bow. The whole bow was covered with sky-blue broken gems, and even though there was no sunlight, the metal and gems were still sparkling.
She pointed the bow at the sky and drew the bowstring. At the same time, an arrow as shapeless as white mist appeared at her fingertips.
whoosh!
The arrow flew into the rainy sky and then exploded silently in the air. Afterwards, the effect of the arrow began to affect the entire block, and even Shade felt a little groggy.
The surroundings seemed to have become a little different. It was still a rainy street with no one around, but the sound of the rain had become lighter and the scenery had faded a little. Xia De subconsciously felt that it would be better for him not to stay here.
"What kind of magic is this? I feel the effects of mass stun, idler expulsion, and silent door."
He asked curiously, and the longbow in Megan's hand had turned back into a book. Seeing her expression freeze, Shade knew that this was not the power of the ring wizard, but the power of the witch, and the lady with brown shawl hair also explained:
"This is the magic - No Man's Land. Its effect is to put all life in the area into hibernation and expel all people who enter the area within a certain period of time. It's normal that you haven't heard of it. This magic is difficult to learn, so it's not well-known. Yes, that's it... Oh, this book has two modes, book and bow, but it can only be transformed into a bow when the power stored in it is released, so it's not a weapon."
Xia De could tell what Megan wanted to cover up, but he didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he took the initiative to open the door in front of him.
Not only was the door locked from the inside, but there were also two bars on the back of the door. Shad's key only worked on the lock, but sheer force worked on everything.
When I pushed the door open and entered, I saw a winding narrow alley in front of me, which was divided into two sides by a low and dilapidated building in the middle. Black rags were draped over the alleys on both sides. I don't know if it was to prevent peeping from high places or for some other purpose.
On a rainy day, there were only a few people holding umbrellas outside, and they had all fainted. Shade kindly walked over to check their identities and threw them into the houses with open doors. These two-story houses were also very shabby, and some rude-looking people gathered inside, drinking or playing cards, but they had all fainted.
The best-looking building near the entrance is the one on the left after entering. Although it is a street-facing building, it has no door facing the outside of Gorode Street, but instead has a glass door facing the inside.
The wall with the glass door was also made of glass, but it was frosted glass. Therefore, from the outside, one could only vaguely see the interior of the room. Xia De curiously pushed the door open and found that there was a store inside.
The cabinets displayed all kinds of high-end gold and silver wares, and he even saw special rule Rhodes cards displayed on the shelf against the wall. However, he did not take the cards away. Although the stranger liked Rhodes cards, he only liked the ones he won or bought. He would not use the stolen cards, as he felt that it would taint his deck.
"This is the most high-end black market under Rotten Eye Barry, which is used to pawn high-value items."
Megan followed Shad into the store. She walked to the deepest part of the store with ease, and then motioned to Shad to help her open the safe hidden behind the floor-length mirror.
Gold nuggets, banknotes, land deeds, property deeds, and written contracts filled the entire box, but Megan simply took out a cloth bag with a drawstring from the top layer. After opening the bag, she poured the black pearls inside into her palm.
This pearl is not as big as the one that Shade gave to Queen Diana last year, but the rarity of black pearls determines that its value must be high. Shade is not an expert in jewelry appreciation, but he has heard Miss Carina and Tifa talk about similar topics. The price of black pearls is related to size, roundness, smoothness and depth of color.
The one in Megan's hand is not very big - in fact, it is only one-fourth the size of Shade's fist, and all other indicators are perfect.
Even though he had seen Miss Carina's and Leicia's jewelry boxes, he had to admit that this pearl was quite good.
"The second key requires a flawless, round black pearl. I can buy black pearls myself, but I'm not very satisfied with them. Some time ago, I heard that Rotten Eye Barry had one. I was originally planning to buy it through Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals. Since you said he was a cultist, it also saved me some money."
Megan said with a smile, putting the pearl back into the bag and then into her pocket:
"I will only take this pearl, the rest are yours."
She spoke to Shade again, but Shade did not do anything. He rarely took money from others when he broke into a house unless it was necessary, and he was not like he was at the beginning when he could barely afford to eat:
"This money is too dirty, I don't want it. If we have time later, we can take it away and donate it to the church. I hope that the poor people in Green Lake City can have one more full meal because of it."
After leaving the store, the two walked along the road on the left towards the depths. A few hundred meters away, where the roads on both sides intersected again, was the "office building" of Lanyan Bali.
The term "office building" was strange, but Shade couldn't think of a better way to describe it.
This is a three-story building, the only three-story building here. The first floor is like an open tavern, with long tables filling the room, and various firearms, daggers, and swords hanging on the walls.
The second floor is the office area, where the gang leader also needs to check accounts, personnel lists, and handle relationships with other gangs. Shade and Megan simply flipped through it and found nothing related to the ring wizard.
There was clearly a third floor, but there was no staircase leading to it on the second floor. However, there was no need for Shade to turn into a butterfly and fly to the third floor. Megan, who had already checked the situation here in advance, rotated the candlestick on the east wall, and the bookshelf rumbled to reveal a door, behind which was a narrow staircase.
"It's a really old-school device... I'm thinking of installing one at home."
Shade looked at the secret door.
"Why, do you have something to hide? Wouldn't it be more convenient to use a ritual to hide it rather than a mechanical device?"
The sorceress asked curiously, and Shade shook his head:
"I have nothing to hide, I just think this looks great."
Megan smiled and motioned for Shade to go upstairs with her:
"Only Barry the Bad-Eye can go up to the third floor. There must be valuable clues here."
As he said that, he entered the secret door.
Of course, as a ring wizard, he would not rely solely on mechanical secret doors to protect his property and secrets. Rotten Eye Barry also set up some security measures on the stairs on the third floor.
Those were three human eyes embedded in the wall on the side of the stairs. The eyes seemed alive and could even move in the wall.
"This is not a magic trick, but an alchemical item. On the one hand, it can make people with weak mental strength faint directly when they look into each other's eyes. On the other hand, it can record the information seen and alert the maker when the eyes are damaged. The only drawback is that to make this alchemical item, you need to directly remove the eyeballs from the eyes of a living person."
Megan introduced that the Great Witch of Wisdom and Knowledge was well-informed and knew how to deal with this.
She waved at the eyeballs:
"Go to sleep."
The three eyes turned their eyeballs toward the inside of the wall, and Megan motioned for Shad to continue walking upwards with her.
When I arrived at the third floor, I found that this room with only one window was actually a laboratory. The room was unusually clean, and reagent bottles and other common alchemical equipment were placed on the professional metal laboratory table.
What is less common is the operating table against the west wall and the various specimens of human organs and fish carcasses placed in the closet.
Shade frowned, looking at the human fingers sewn to the fish in the preservative liquid:
"Among the ring sorcerers I know, there are very few who are good at undead abilities. Do these ring sorcerers like to do such disgusting experiments?"
"Only a few can. It looks like he is experimenting with artificially creating certain water ghosts."
Megan flipped through the experimental records on the table, and then checked the densely marked books beside it. The ringmasters themselves are like scholars, so even if they are cultists, they must have undergone various trainings:
"So it's the idea of grafting organs and limbs. The Truth Society gave up on this experimental idea more than 30 years ago. However, the Truth Society wants to graft organs of alien species into the human body through experiments, so as to try to make humans have the innate racial talents of alien species, while Barry wants to make the resurrected corpse stronger... He still has some ideas of his own, but unfortunately not many. But considering that he is only a low-level ring, this talent is commendable."
Although she disliked this kind of experiment just like Shade, she still flipped through the other records on the desk:
"What are these... Oh? I see, they are made from the human body..."
"What?"
Xia De turned his head suddenly:
"Is this what I understand? To create life? He is just a low-level sorcerer, how could he do that?"
Although the highest masterpiece of alchemy is the "Philosopher's Stone", creating life through alchemy is actually the highest goal pursued by alchemy. There is even a saying that the Philosopher's Stone itself is the most basic form of life, because the elixir of life configured by the real Philosopher's Stone can repair the defects of both the soul and the body.
Some ancient alchemists' manuscripts even indicate that the Philosopher's Stone can be directly integrated with the human body through a specific method and become a part of the human body in a very harmonious way - this is somewhat similar to Shad's magic "Active Clay". However, this characteristic was not recognized in the Sixth Epoch because no one could reproduce the phenomena recorded in those materials.
"Barry is not creating a complete life. It is a very low-level one. He uses living organisms to infect the bodies of the dead, thus forming living undead. This is a strictly prohibited experiment. It is indeed not something that a low-level warlock can do... Hmm? What is this?"
As the rain sounded outside the window, she broke the padlock on the desk drawer and took out a file bag. After taking out the documents inside, she flipped through them faster and faster:
"Come here and look at this. Human Transmutation!"
"You've already said that once."
Shade walked over, but the witch shook her head, this time with a serious expression:
"It's not the basic technique of stitching up corpses. The one in my hand is a real attempt to create life in the human body. The material is very simple. I can see that it was given to Rotten-Eye Barry by someone else to help him complete the undead experiment. In other words, there is an extremely skilled alchemist behind Rotten-Eye Barry. Although I don't believe that the other party can really create life, he has definitely reached the forefront."
Xia De frowned slightly:
"Is there such a powerful person in the Drowned Cult?"
When he came into contact with the three cults of the ocean in Coldwater Harbor, he had never heard that the Drowned Cult was so powerful. Their level should be similar to that of the Scarlet Cult, which had already been in a state of collapse. The two had been fighting each other for many years.
"No, it shouldn't be the Order of the Drowned that gave him this information."
The witch said with a somewhat unpleasant expression, twisted the paper, and then looked at the words in the manuscript:
"This special manuscript paper is commonly used in our family. Many of the family letters left by my father were written on this kind of manuscript paper. I have never seen any other similar paper. I have also seen this kind of handwriting on the books left by my father. Someone used this handwriting to write down his thoughts on the books. This information on human body transformation came from the Edwards family. This information is perfectly consistent with Barry's research. It is impossible that he picked it up on the island."
"this... ... "
This was information he had never thought of. Xia De looked at the lady in front of him in surprise:
"That is to say, we have confirmed that the cultists that appeared in this area are indeed related to your family. Wait, one of your ancestors might be a man-made human?"
"Oh, of course it's impossible. Creating life from scratch is the authority of God. Even the most skilled alchemists can only use humans as a blueprint and make certain additions, deletions, and modifications. I suspect that one of my ancestors went through human alchemy, so the prophecy that everyone will return is passed down in our blood."
The witch gave the most likely guess, and Shade frowned and thought for a moment:
"Wait a minute, isn't your father, Alphonse Edwards, an adopted son?"
"It's suspected that he's an adopted child, but no one can be sure of that. Moreover, the mysterious Edwards family suddenly adopted a child. Is this normal?"
The witch asked back, and she thought of more things:
"My father rarely talked about family matters when he was alive. I originally thought that he was an illegitimate child adopted as a foster son, but in fact he is still Edwards' bloodline. Now that I think about it..."
Her lips were pursed, and her face looked a little ugly:
"Father, could it be that he is also a so-called test subject?"
"Ma'am, we don't have any evidence right now, so don't speculate."
Xia De comforted him and then made a suggestion:
"If you believe me, when we separate at night, give me some of your blood and I will verify your bloodline."
There are relics in Middleburg that verify bloodlines, and those relics have verified the bloodlines of both Shade and Mia. But blood is also the best medium for curses, especially voluntary blood, so you must be very careful when giving your blood to others.
This is more dangerous than giving your house keys to others.
Audrey nodded slightly:
"Let's wait until the evening and see if there's anything else here."
She took away the information on human transformation, which was also one of Edwards's relics. Then, she continued to check the desk and the bookshelf with various documents and materials on the side, while Shade checked other parts of the laboratory.
The items on display are all common stuff. A few potion ingredients may be valuable, but they have nothing to do with their goal this time.
Shad tried to find out more about the connection between Barry with Rotten Eyes and the Edwards family and the sect he belonged to, but he could only see prayers occasionally engraved with a sharp blade on the walls and laboratory tables.
But Xia De's excellent perception still worked. As he pressed against the wall and touched every inch of it with his hands, "she" beside him suddenly reminded him:
Under your feet.
Shade was at the southeast corner of the room at this time, so he bent down and knocked on the solid stone floor, and said to the witch who was looking for the documents:
"There are defenses here that I can't undo."
Violence could certainly solve the problem, but Shad was worried that it would alert Barry the Bad Eye.
"See, there are things you can't do."
The witch came over and knocked on the floor a few times like Shade did. After confirming the traces of the elements, she took out a bottle of black potion from her bag and poured it into the palm of her left hand. Then she dipped some on her right index finger and smeared the ink-like potion on the floor.
Soon, the black ritual array was outlined:
"Use the stone to turn it into mud, then dig a hole in the side. Be careful not to damage the area of the floor where I painted the ritual."
Shade did so and quickly took out a small safe from under the floor.
There were also traces of ritual processing on the safe, so the witch used her knowledge and experience to crack it again. In just over ten minutes, the safe was opened.
In the safe, the pale heart was placed in a glass jar. The solution in the container was pale yellow, and tiny bubbles kept coming out around the pale heart. It was alive, and liquid was constantly being absorbed into the ventricle by the heart and then ejected from the other end. The liquid formed a circulation like blood, and this scene looked extremely strange.
Next to this glass jar, there are some letters and documents.