On the ground, Pandora stepped out from Eden and looked up at Richard with a furrowed brow, "Huh, Richard, were you calling me?"
"Mhm." Richard nodded and said to Pandora, "I have a task for you."
"It’s ." Richard pointed to a nearby passage entrance and explained, "I’m going to be busy with some things inside here, and I don’t want to be disturbed. Unfortunately, the area around is quite unstable at the moment, especially to the north. Who knows when a large group of wizards might come by.
The task I’m entrusting to you is to keep watch near the entrance to this passage. Pay attention to the surroundings. As soon as you see any person with an unclear identity approaching, immediately run through this passage to its deepest part and tell me."
By the end, Richard reminded her, "Right, remember, if you see anyone coming, don’t even think about engaging with them. The people coming are likely to be very strong, and you might not be able to beat them. Even if you did beat them, there would be no benefit. So, if there’s any situation, report to me as quickly as possible. How about it, do you foresee any difficulty?"
After listening to Richard’s words, Pandora thought seriously before speaking, "I shouldn’t have any difficulty, but I do have a question. My homework for today isn’t finished yet."
To strengthen her argument, Pandora unrolled the papyrus scroll she had brought from Eden to show Richard: "Look, I’ve done less than half. If I do this task for you, I definitely won’t finish on time."
"That’s not a problem," Richard responded considerately after looking, "Keeping watch is the kind of task you can do with just a third of your attention. You can completely work on your homework while keeping watch. If that doesn’t work, you can wait until after your watch to finish your homework. The circumstances are special this time; I won’t blame you if you go overtime."
"Ah—" Hearing Richard’s words, Pandora hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded, opening her mouth to agree.
But just as she was about to speak, her heart suddenly clenched, and a sharp pain ached from within her chest, causing a strong unease.
Pandora didn’t know why this happened or where the unease came from, but she indeed became nervous. She felt that agreeing to Richard’s request might bring some calamity.
Sensing that something was off with Pandora, Richard quickly glanced over and asked, "What’s wrong?"
"Uh—nothing—" Pandora pursed her lips, remained silent for a while, then looked at Richard and asked, pointing to the passage, "Richard, is the thing you’re busy with inside very important?"
"Very important," Richard said.
"Alright then." Pandora spoke, "Then... I’ll keep watch here for you. Be careful and make it quick."
"I will." Richard nodded, relieved that Pandora had accepted the task, and turned to walk into the passage.
After a couple of steps, he remembered something, stopped, turned around, and took out a heavy hand cannon from the Space Iron Ring. He loaded a hefty cannonball into the hand cannon before handing the whole thing over to Pandora.
Richard said to Pandora, "Although as long as you run into the passage immediately upon seeing an enemy, you’ll definitely be safe... I feel like you were indeed a bit off just now. It’s better to be prepared. This is your hand cannon, I’ve loaded it for you; you just need to be responsible for firing, as before.
In case there’s actually an unexpected situation and some wizard comes by, as long as they are not too formidable, you should be able to deal with them. Of course, if you can avoid fighting, do so, and report to me as quickly as possible in any case."
"Okay." Pandora nodded and reached out to take the hand cannon.
But as soon as she touched the hand cannon, her brow furrowed. She carefully felt around, then lifted a hand, pulling up a strand of shiny, transparent, sticky, and somewhat disgusting slime.
"What’s this? Richard!" Pandora asked with a deep frown, her expression one of disgust.
Richard was slightly startled, then remembered that he had previously stuffed the entire hand cannon into the mouth of a giant turtle, and it was covered with saliva which he hadn’t wiped off before putting it into the Space Iron Ring.
He couldn’t be too explicit about this, or else Pandora would certainly throw the hand cannon away in disgust.
"This, uh, is a liquid applied to the surface of the hand cannon to prevent rusting. Think of it as a kind of oil; it’s nothing much, just wipe it off and you’ll be fine. Now, we’re short on time, so be careful on the surface and keep an eye out; I’m heading in now," Richard quickly headed into the passage as he spoke.
Pandora touched the hand cannon again, pulling up more strands of the shiny, clear slime, her head tilted slightly in confusion, "A liquid to prevent rusting, to be seen as a kind of oil? What is rusting, exactly? Besides, is there such oil that’s transparent?"
Confused for a while, Pandora didn’t understand, but Richard had already left and there was no one else to ask. Annoyed, she grimaced as she set the hand cannon on the ground next to her and stepped towards a stone.
Looking around, the north was noisy with constant explosions, but no one was flying over. She placed the papyrus scroll on the stone, preparing to do as Richard said—study while keeping watch.
She hoped Richard would be quick.
Pandora thought, quill in hand, beginning to write and draw on the papyrus scroll.
"Scratch, scratch, scratch..."
Having assigned the task to Pandora on the surface, Richard quickly returned underground.
Although he thought the likelihood of the battlefield spreading here was low, he still didn’t dare completely ignore the possibility. With a sense of urgency in his heart, he stood in front of the palace gate, squinting at the multitude of stone tables in the palace and the scrolls on them, took a deep breath, and strode in.
"Swish, swish, swish!"
Richard spread open one scroll after another on the stone tables, quickly skimmed the titles, then selected the most valuable ones for reading and memorization—this was the only way to take things out of here for the time being.
Truth be told, every single scroll in the palace was extremely valuable, enough to drive countless powerful wizards in the outside world crazy. But considering the limited time, he could only select the most essential, the most valuable, and those that could enhance his strength and expand his thinking.
"’The suppression and connection between Earth Magic and Water Magic’? I won’t read that!"
"’The fusion and variation of Fire Magic and Wind Magic’? I won’t read that!"
"’The casting range limits and theoretical analysis of Shape Energy Magic,’ hmm, that’s somewhat interesting, pending."
"’The source of Magic Power—The ultimate collision of Free Energy Elements,’ that’s an idea, I’ll give it a look..."