The wandering child watched as Annan disappeared into the pit of the Curse Cellar like a fish with a backward leap.
His heart tightened immediately, and he hurriedly rushed over in three steps, loudly complaining with the tone of someone dealing with a relative’s mischievous child, "When walking down, it would be trouble if you don’t watch where you’re going!
"What if you fall and bump the back of your head, what then?
"Even if you don’t hit it, what if you get stuck and can’t get out?"
"Although I appreciate your concern... are you really okay?"
Annan’s childish yet cool voice drifted from ahead.
His voice sounded slightly distant and muffled inside the building.
Annan questioned the child’s concern with no mercy, "Bofis is such a cute little girl, you take her to such dangerous places without caring whether she’s happy to go or not... I’m almost an adult man, you know? And also a Transcendent with dual professions, how could there possibly be a problem?
"Besides, if I walked down like they did... how could I find this kind of place?"
Annan said assertively.
It was only then that the child realized Annan hadn’t directly jumped to the bottom of the silver Curse Cellar.
He utilized his small figure and the momentum from the backward leap, much like a diver, to smoothly slide into a crevice on the lower level.
It was the gap between the underground and the ground level that Xitan Pulan had noticed, around four or five meters... full of rubble.
Annan and the child were a bit different to say.
When he watched Xitan Pulan’s live stream before, he vaguely saw there was something here... but Xitan Pulan didn’t notice. They obviously couldn’t go back either—the only ones who could squeeze into such a tight space, other than the short and supple Annan, would probably only be Defu.
"You can go ahead and look for them or wait here for me!"
Annan shouted, "I think I saw something inside... I’ll be right back!"
"...Then I’ll wait for you at the entrance. So you don’t get stuck when you come back."
The child said helplessly, "If anything happens, Your Highness, just shout... I can help too!"
He was now confident.
He had just learned a cool new skill, the Sky Strike Technique, which allowed him to slash wind blades with his sword, and hadn’t had the chance to try it out. He had also gained a deeper understanding of the Rock Strike Technique.
Especially since... the other players were still watching.
The child was even more eager to show off.
It would be best if Annan really encountered trouble, and then he could pull off a heroic rescue... saving the child and smoothly extricate Annan with remarkable ease.
But Annan might disappoint him.
After wriggling through the cracks of the building, Annan slowly turned around, and lying in a narrow and lightless space, he crawled forward with his eyes closed, relying solely on the perceptive abilities he had just practiced for half an hour.
Since the target wasn’t too far, it took Annan less than three minutes to scrabble over and find the object he had seen during Xitan Pulan’s live broadcast previously:
It was an object the size of a human head, wrapped in bandages and gauze.
Centuries had passed... the bandages and gauze had become dry and brittle, covered with dust on the surface.
Then, remaining in a prone position, Annan lifted his hands above his head and carefully peeled off all the bandages and gauze, bit by bit.
He soon touched the material of the bottle.
It felt a bit like gemstone...
The shape was vaguely like the largest type of bottle used for intravenous infusions.
After Annan had removed all the bandages, new information popped up before his eyes:
[Sacred Bone Extract (Justice)]
[Type: Material/Consumable/Offering/Curiosity (Gold)]
[Description: A sleeping potion of Dragon Blood, thoroughly soaked with sacred bone, with the anesthetic potency completely absorbed. It seems to have gained some new power, but unrefined and uncleaned, it may contain unknown deadly toxins.]
[Description: It must not be exposed to sunlight and has to be completely sealed for storage.]
[Description: The potion once contained magically cursed materials, so remnants of the curse power still linger.]
[Description: You have never heard of it being used as an offering (failed "Advanced Curiosities" skill check).]
[Effects: After consumption, there is a 13% chance of indeterminate mutations; consumption increases erosion by 57%; consumption will always result in "High-Level Influence: Residue of the Heart of Justice"; consumption temporarily increases levels, able to raise current level up to 45; consumption randomly increases the awakening depth of the element "Radiance," with a minimum of 3%; after consumption, afflicted with "Dragon Blood Poison" LV43.]
[Effects: Injection has a 75% chance of immediate death; if level surpasses 43, injection carries a 3% chance of an undefined mutation into a dragon species; injection will always result in "Curse Bond: Creator’s Sorrow"; injection will always result in "High-Level Influence: Residue of the Heart of Justice."]
This was the first time he had seen such an extensive list of effects.
If it weren’t for "Annand" not having studied Advanced Curiosities, he might have seen another line detailing its use as an offering.
Moreover, as a raw material, it was already gold in color even before purification.
...Could this be considered a medicinal liquor brewed with holy relics? Or even Dragon Blood liquor?
All in all, just consuming it would cause enormous side effects. The cost of injection was absolutely unacceptable.
"Ah, I’m kind of missing my senior..."
Coughing from the dust that had risen, Annand muttered softly.
No, Senior Saul might not be up to the task...
But if it were "Senior Vatore," perhaps she could extract the active ingredients.
In terms of potency, it bore some similarities to the Philosopher’s Stone of the Hermes Faction—it was a top-grade potion capable of granting temporary levels.
There was no mentioned duration for the temporary levels, and it also came with a huge amount of erosion.
Annand just wanted to separate out the influence and the element. The rest could be given to his senior.
When he had previously consumed the Philosopher’s Stone, he found that his "Radiance" element had already awakened to 63%. At that time, with the truth of "The Way of Ascension and Transformation" provided by the Book of the Celestial Chariot, he saw that his "Radiance" element had a safe extraction limit of only 85%.
This meant that in his current state, after reaching the Gold level, if he did not burn his soul to the limit, the "Radiance" element would not be able to achieve a 100% perfect extraction.
His talent... or rather, the soul known as "Annand’s" affinity for the "Radiance" element, was limited to that extent.
In another world, he might have just eaten some divine ingredients to replenish his spiritual roots... but in this world, it seemed that only by receiving rewards from nightmares could he improve his awakening depth.
From the nightmare experienced by young Kafney, Annand had gained a 10% awakening depth.
After careful inquiries with Vasily that bordered on probing, he confirmed that his "Radiance" element could now be extracted up to 95%. But this was obviously still insufficient.
Upon seeing the attributes of the holy relic extract, a bold idea sprang to Annand’s mind:
It wasn’t just about the missing 5%.
Annand remembered clearly.
Besides his inherently maxed-out "Frost" element and the "Radiance" element, which was already at 65% at the Bronze rank, he also had awakening levels for the elements of "Wisdom," "Glory," "Beauty," and "Discipline."
Although the last two combined didn’t even amount to 5%... the fact that he could awaken those at this stage indicated that Annand had some affinity for these elements as well.
And if Annand could max out the "Radiance" and "Wisdom" elements before reaching the Gold level... might he be able to burn his soul and extract the remaining elements?
If he ascended with a Sixfold Perfect Element form—would there be something special about it?
Currently, it seemed that nightmares spawned from High-Level Influence might be able to increase elemental awakening depths...
Now Annand was seriously considering.
Whether, after advancing to silver, he should seek out the Silver Baron or The Man in the Mirror to obtain the true names of gods related to his elements?
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Defu and the others had finally followed the sewer and reached their ultimate destination.