An interesting thing happened during dinner. Shad went to the bathroom halfway through the meal. When he washed his hands and walked back to the restaurant, he saw Miss Swift head-on.
The young apprentice did not run into Shade by chance, but seemed to be waiting for him:
"Mr. Hamilton."
She hesitantly put her hands behind her back and called out to Xia De in the corridor. Seeing that there was no one around, she asked in a low voice:
"You saw Miss Sylvia, didn't you?"
"Yes, that's a fine lady."
Xia De nodded, and the flaxen-haired lady asked with twinkling eyes:
"We can't just ask for information about other witches, but I remember that Miss Sylvia wasn't very old."
"Yes, I am twenty-one."
Although it was not polite to talk about ladies' age, Shad gave the answer because Miss Sylvia was young.
"Younger than all of us..."
Miss Swift nodded somewhat disappointedly.
Although she looked about the same age as Ajelina, her actual age was the same as Shad's body, which meant she was a year or two older than Miss Sylvia.
Xia De naturally knew what the young girl was thinking, so he comforted her:
“You should compare yourself with the apprentices of the great witches, not with the great witches.
Miss Sylvia was able to become a Ten Ring at such a young age. In addition to her own efforts, it was also related to the times... I mean, it was also related to her experience. I had an in-depth conversation with Miss Sylvia and I know that it was not easy for her. Without the protection of her teacher, she had to face everything on her own. I will not lie, and of course I will not tell you that you are better than her, but sometimes people can't look too far ahead, they have to look at what is near and at their feet. "
Miss Swift nodded. She was always a little unconfident.
"Teacher Cassandra intends to train me to be her successor, but I don't think I can be better than Miss Sylvia."
"Granny Cassandra is still a tenth-ring person at the age of several hundred, while Miss Sylvia is already a tenth-ring person. This comparison is actually meaningless. Although it may be a bit rude to say this, Granny Cassandra is not as good as Miss Sylvia, but she is still the most respected one in the contemporary parliament."
After hearing what Shade said, Miss Swift finally smiled a little. She looked at Shade a little embarrassedly:
"I'm sorry, it must be boring to listen to me talking about these things, but I can't find anyone else to share these thoughts with."
She is the only apprentice of Grandma Cassandra at present, so it is naturally impossible for her to discuss these things with her followers.
"It's okay. Everyone has their own troubles. Compared to them, your troubles are actually very normal. Let's go back."
he said, but Miss Swift shook her head:
"Mr. Hamilton, you go back first. I'll go back later."
As he spoke, he walked towards the bathroom, then suddenly turned around:
"Thanks."
"Is this kind of thing worth thanking for?"
Xia De thought in surprise, and then heard "her" laughter:
Sometimes I really have to doubt whether the God of Gamblers is really the only one who blesses you.
After dinner, the old witch took Shad, Sister Devlin, Grace Helen and Miss Swift to the basement to get close to the relic she found for Grace and Helen, which could be used for safe space transfer.
That was the escape box of the Secret Keeper-level relic magician. It was a black and dark blue metal "escape box" and looked like a coffin no matter how you looked at it.
The box is a standard rectangular block, with incomprehensible geometric patterns on the four sides. In addition, there are openings on the top, upper middle, middle, lower middle, and bottom that run through both sides, allowing sharp weapons such as swords or knives to be inserted:
“Have you ever seen a magic show?”
Granny Cassandra asked Shade, and Shade recalled:
"No."
Not in this world.
"There is a classic escape magic where the magician enters a sealed box and someone outside attacks the box with a weapon. But when the box is opened, there is no body inside. The magician then walks out from the corner of the stage in a very dramatic way."
Helen explained to Shade enthusiastically, pulling Shade's sleeve:
"My sister and I have seen this before, but we can't remember when. Yes, if it's this relic, then it will definitely work."
The escape box of the Secret Keeper-level relic magician. When any humanoid creature enters the box, the door is closed and five sharp swords are pierced into the box. After the creature inside the box feels a slight puncture pain, it will be transferred to the location of the pre-set "escape ceremony".
The specific base of the ritual is drawn on the bottom of the box, and it can be redrawn on the flat ground with chalk. If there are multiple escape rituals at the same time, they will be transferred to the last ritual.
Of course, the negative characteristics of the Secret Keeper-level relic cannot be ignored either. In the magician's escape box, there lives a terrifying undead spirit who calls himself "Magician Wilwood", who is most likely the original owner of the relic. After the magic box became a relic, the undead spirit was also affected by the whispering element and sublimated into an unknowable and inaudible weird existence.
Anyone who uses this box to "escape" may be targeted by the magician Wilwood and may even release the undead trapped in the escape box.
Some special means, such as carrying the holy emblem of a righteous god, bathing in holy water, or carving symbols of other powerful beings on the skin, can effectively reduce the possibility of encountering "Magician Wilwood", but if you are unlucky, you may still be entangled by him.
Strictly speaking, the main function of this relic is not space movement, but to listen to the whispers of the dead when entering the escape box and transferring, so as to obtain the weird but useful "magic" knowledge of "Magician Wilwood". Space movement is just an additional effect of the relic, but it happens to be useful to Grace and Helen.
Even though their powers were sealed, they were still angel-level humanoid relics. "Magician Wilwood" and this box together could be rated as a keeper-level, and the two were not even comparable, so there was no need to worry about the negative effects of the relics taking effect on them.
We are all relics, there is no need to think too much like humans.
And if a human like Sister Defulin were to use this box, Granny Cassandra suggested that it must be of at least a high level and that the frequency of use should not exceed once every six months.
Listening to the whispers of "Magician Wilwood" and gaining knowledge is bound to happen. Even if you don't consider the possibility of being entangled by the terrible whispering undead, you must also take into account the impact of the whispers of the undead on the human soul.
Of course, for Sister Defulin, she was the chosen one and could enter the space maze unconditionally. Therefore, Shade only needed to take the nun to touch the ancient god statue in the abandoned tower of Xikar Mountain, and then use the magician's escape box to touch the ancient god statue in the White River Valley Vineyard, and then the nun would be able to successfully build a signpost between the two places, and there would be no need to use this relic.
Unfortunately, if she wanted to visit Tobesk, she would have to wait until she found a similar relic, or go there in person. However, nothing had happened in Tobesk that required the presence of a nun, so there was no rush.
Granny Cassandra explained the properties of the relic, and with the help of Miss Swift, Shad opened the box that was locked with nine padlocks. The inside of the box was lined with soft red wool, obviously to make the people inside more comfortable. The only thing was that there was no lining at the top of the head, but instead there was a line of Fifth Age text that looked like it was scratched out with fingernails:
The final way to escape from this box is death.
"The body couldn't escape, so could the soul escape? But his soul couldn't escape in the end either."
Xia De translated the text and said with regret.
Grace, who looked about fifteen or sixteen years old and was wearing a white dress, pulled Xia De's sleeve like her sister and said softly:
"Sir, I still remember that Helen and I went to see his performance. It is said that he died alone in the box, and his body was pierced by five long swords. But it is impossible for anyone to enter that secret room. It seems that he was outside the box and pierced himself inside the box."
“This is also a kind of magic.”
Sister Defulin said softly, and Helen pulled Shad's sleeve and added:
"During his lifetime, this magician always wanted to get in touch with the power of the occult to enrich and expand his magic skills. But as you know, men in the Fifth Era cannot use supernatural powers, so it is difficult to judge whether the magician's death was due to an accident or whether he really provoked those terrible beings in his exploration of the occult."
Listening to Helen's voice, Xia De reached out to touch the line of text on the top of the box, but after crossing an era, there was no residual power for Xia De to judge:
“The stories behind these relics may be more interesting than the relics themselves.”
In short, with the help of this magician's escape box, Grace and Helen can go to No. 6 St. Teresa's Square, but their injuries have not yet fully healed, so they plan to wait until winter officially arrives and snow falls before going to Tobesk.
Sister Devlin was not in a hurry to go to Huntington City to establish a new landmark, but planned to wait until Shad completed his task before setting off together.
Thus, a fulfilling and busy Monday passed. After returning home in the evening, Xia De was not idle, and continued to improve his thesis in the study. Once you concentrate on this kind of work, it is easy to forget the time.
By the time Xia De realized that he had almost finished the first draft, it was already one o'clock in the morning on Tuesday:
"I have to attend a wedding during the day!"
After taking a look at the foggy Saint Teresa Square outside the window, Shad stood up and prepared to rest. However, after washing up in a hurry, he found that Mia was nowhere to be found.
After walking around the second floor, I saw a cat in the study room, looking at the manuscript of the thesis in the moonlight:
"You can't read, what are you reading?"
He picked up Mia, who had three rings on her tail, and stroked her tail with a smile, then Mia glared at him in dissatisfaction.
"Meow~"
After rubbing against Shade's arm, the little orange cat opened its mouth and yawned.
Xia De picked up a pen and wrote down a system of linear equations on a piece of rough paper. The smudged ink listed four answers:
"Which one is the answer? If you answer correctly, I will make you a midnight snack."
The cat lay in Shade's arms with its eyes narrowed, not even trying to move.
Xia De finally felt relieved and prepared to rest in a good mood.