Chapter 890: Chapter 888: Useless Ore
Witch Cesi looked at the visitor outside the door and asked aloud, “Who are you?”
The warlock dressed in a black cloak, clasped his hands together and performed a peculiar bow, “You must be Wizard Cersi, right? I was introduced by Master Tobai. I’ve heard you’re quite skilled at interpreting some ancient relics’ documents, so I’ve specially come to ask for your help.”
The warlock in the black cloak explained his purpose and introduced his referrer, but cautiously refrained from revealing his name or identity.
Cersi listened, unperturbed, and said, “I do indeed have some research on certain documents in ancient relics and can interpret some of the texts. However, I can’t guarantee accuracy, as the understanding of the ancients is still too limited, and the available reference books are too few. If we encounter some particularly obscure texts, I’m powerless. Even if I forcefully interpret them, it won’t be a matter of a day or two. I hope you understand this.”
“Of course, I understand.” The warlock in the black cloak nodded, somewhat indifferently, “I also understand that if there is ancient text that even you, Wizard Cersi, can’t decipher, it would be much harder for anyone else. After all, you’d already count as one of the few scholars in this field; calling you a Great Scholar wouldn’t be an exaggeration.”
After speaking, the warlock in the black cloak didn’t continue with pleasantries, but took out a small box from inside his coat. Upon opening the box, it revealed a scroll inside, inscribed with dense, peculiarly shaped characters.
“These are the transcribed texts that need you, Wizard Cersi, to interpret.” The warlock said, then took out a second box from his coat, opening it to reveal a fist-sized, crystal-clear blue gemstone inside.
“And this Feili deep blue gemstone is part of your reward, Wizard Cersi. I think you should know its specific uses,” the warlock said, “If you can decipher all the texts completely, there will be another Feili deep blue gemstone for you.”
“Alright.” Cersi nodded in agreement, taking the two boxes from the warlock’s hand. She thought for a moment and said, “If possible, please come back at this time three days later for the deciphered results.”
“Okay, thank you for your effort, Wizard Cersi. We shall meet again in three days.” The warlock said, without any more ado, took a glance around, turned, and quickly left the alley, disappearing into the distance.
Cersi watched as the warlock left, blinked her eyes, and said nothing. With a “creak,” she closed the door and walked back into the courtyard.
Later, she with the two girls, Narlyd and Heidi, went to the study. She casually placed the box containing the gemstone on the bookshelf, and completely spread the scroll with the transcribed characters across the desk.
Seated on the chair, Cersi began to read seriously, trying to decipher the text. After a short time, she slightly lifted her head and spoke, “Narlyd, Heidi, could you bring me ‘Chapter of Ais’ and ‘Mulu’s Ode’?”
“Sure, teacher,” the two girls replied, quickly running to the bookshelf to look for the books.
In no time, the two found the books and brought them to Cersi’s desk. Content originally comes from novęlfire.net
Cersi was flipping through the found books, occasionally writing something on a new papyrus scroll, now and then calling the two girls to continue finding more books.
Busy , it went on till nightfall.
Cersi wrote the final line on the papyrus scroll, completing her deciphering work, and slowly stood up from her desk. She sighed inwardly, “This time the difficulty of deciphering was lower than expected, it didn’t actually require three days, but it doesn’t matter.”
She slightly stretched her neck and tidied up the desk, noticing that Narlyd and Heidi were already exhausted, sleeping on the small bed in the study. She shook her head.
Taking a blanket from the cabinet, she gently covered the two girls, then stepped out.
In the courtyard, she strolled slowly, gazing at the stars in the night sky, and spoke to herself.
“Lately, more and more people have come requesting the interpretation of ancient relic texts. It should not be a mere coincidence, perhaps they have discovered several consecutive ancient relics. If not mistaken, these are likely related to those earlier findings, and the relics are likely all from the Sika Kingdom. Nobody knows what was discovered there, or whether this is a good or bad thing…”
Cersi muttered to herself, then suddenly mocked herself with laughter, thinking perhaps she worried too much.
After all, the Sika Kingdom was very far from where she was in the Soma Alliance. Even if something bad happened, it would hardly affect here.
At the break of dawn.
The continuous mountains rose and fell across the landscape, like the backbone of the world.
At the mountainside of one mighty peak, Gro was pacing back and forth at the entrance of a mine shaft, appearing a bit anxious.
At this moment, he was still at the level of a Wizard Apprentice. His combat power showed little improvement from before, and the only progress might be the indifferent status he had managed to gain in this mountain mine.
From a former Prince to a mere errand boy in the mine now, it seemed quite a loss no matter how one looked at it.
Whenever he thought about this, Gro felt that choosing the path of a wizard might truly have been a foolish mistake.
The truth proved that enthusiasm alone couldn’t solve everything. Despite his constant efforts, due to a lack of Talent, his progress was exceedingly slow, unable to become a wizard to this day.
Just as he was sighing, footsteps echoed from the mine, and someone walked out.
Gro immediately looked over, then saw a girl emerging while dragging a heavy Cutting Sword. The sword blade was covered in a bright red, with blood droplets like red glass beads rolling down the sword, hitting the ground and soaking into the soil.
The girl who stepped out had spirited eyes, short hair cut to her ears, and an overall heroic appearance. After coming outside, she swung the Cutting Sword deep into the ground, cast a glance at Gro, and asked, “Nothing came out, right?”
This was Nancy, who had long since become a Level One Wizard.
Gro listened to Nancy’s words, and quickly shook his head, “No, I’ve been watching at the entrance, not even a bug crawled out.”
“That’s good,” Nancy said, “Now we can be sure that all the troublesome Demonized Creatures are dealt with.”
“That’s great news,” Gro said, “With this, we’ll no longer have to worry about bizarre creatures rushing out and injuring the miners.”
“It indeed is great,” Nancy agreed, though her expression didn’t convey happiness, “But on the other hand, this mine, like the previous ones, is completely worthless now. I went in to feel it, it’s filled with erosive energy, ordinary people can’t linger in it, let alone mine the ores.
Even if the ores were extracted, contaminated with erosive energy, they wouldn’t sell in Sika Kingdom. Perhaps the Soma Alliance or Southern Free Federation might buy them, but they wouldn’t be foolish enough to transport the ores so far, since the freight alone would be astronomical.
Most importantly, thus far, similar findings have been made at the mountain’s south, east, north, and west,” at various locations such as the foot, the ridge, the summit. This suggests that the interior of the whole mountain may contain these erosive energy ores. Tirelessly, these ruins may extend to nearby mountains, making their number unimaginably vast.”
“Then what can be done?” Gro couldn’t help but ask.
“What can be done?” Nancy said, “The only solution now is to seal these mining areas and find new locations to mine.”
“Everything must start over,” Gro said.
“That’s the way it is,” Nancy said, unable to avoid complaining, “I can’t understand the bad luck! I can’t even fathom why there would be such worthless ores in the mines! They’re completely useless for anything, not even good enough for building houses, just thorough wastes.”
Gro thought quietly, “You’re talking, but don’t address me, please.”
Swallowing nervously, Gro softly said, “I think this ore might be useful. Although it seems worthless now, someday it might have great use.”
“Hmm?” Nancy, already irritated, immediately frowned upon hearing dissent.
“Uh, just pretend I didn’t say anything,” Gro immediately said, yielding to his true feelings.
Nancy shook her head, picked up her longsword again, and headed down the mountain, with Gro obediently following, one after the other.
Not long after, many miners climbed up the mountain to block off the entrance and seal all the evil ores imbued with erosive energy.
After all, they were of no use whatsoever.