Meanwhile, Noel and Leysha finally arrived in Luka's study room.
"I've brought him." Leysha opened the door and entered with a smile. "He is really chosen by Ardagan. To think he's got the full version of the Spirit Enchantment."
"…" Luke remained silent even though he was shocked. Everyone knew about the Spirit Enchantment since this was what made a Blacksmith prosper. As the head of the Ardagan Family, he obviously had heard about the runes in some records, but not the whole thing. He looked at Noel for a moment and finally stood up. "Alright. I'll show you Ardagan."
He walked to the shelf where he stored the book and removed three books randomly. After that, he cut his finger with a knife and dropped the blood right on those three spots. Suddenly, three runes appeared on the shelves, causing the shelves to get pulled back.
There were even some mechanical sounds happening behind the shelves.
"!!!" Noel was amused, never thinking there was a hidden mechanism. The runes were activated by blood, so it was clear that no one other than the person who had Ardagan Blood would be able to find it, much less open it.
"This is…" Noel saw another wall inside which seemed to have been reinforced by another rune. This time, the rune was so much bigger that it looked like it could withstand a powerful impact.
"This room is made by the ancestor himself. It's said to be able to withstand the power of a Spirit Transcendence. So, unless you can open it through the normal way, I don't think anyone can find anything inside." Luke explained. "And this symbol is the full version of the Spirit Enchantment.
"According to our ancestor, the full version of the Spirit Enchantment could allow anyone to utilize their Spiritual Energy without the need to awaken their Spirits. What do you see from this?" Luke asked, trying to figure out whether what Leysha said was correct or not.
"I'm not very sure." Noel walked to the rune carefully and examined it. He pointed at a few patterns and said, "I think this means blood, harden, and Spiritual Energy… There are four more patterns that I don't recognize."
"…" Luke closed his eyes, confirming Noel's knowledge. Even he could only recognize the 'Harden' since it was stated in the Spirit Enchantment Book. As expected, Noel was chosen. He said, "Now, let's use your blood to open it."
Noel hesitated for a moment but still followed Luke's decision. He slightly cut his finger and smeared the blood on the wall.
Suddenly, the wall started getting pulled up, revealing the hidden room of the Ardagan Family.
"This is…" Noel sucked a cold breath. The room wasn't big. The size was about 2x2 meters, making it hard to even put something inside.
In the opposite side of the room was the black sword that he had been using this whole time, Ardagan. The sword was planted on the ground as if waiting for the owner to pick him up.
But before he could pull out the sword, there was a table with a single book on it. Noel carefully walked inside and looked at the book.
Noel grabbed the book and tried to open it first. The book itself didn't seem to be that thick and not all pages were written. In fact, there were only ten pages that were written here.
'I am writing this to my future generations. Ardagan is my partner as well as the lifelong support of the Ardagan Family.'
'Ardagan will only wake up to the worthy heir. Unless you're chosen by the Ardagan itself, no one shall take it out.'
'However, if the family is about to perish, the Ardagan will shine brighter than the others and bring the family glory back.'
'I am not good with my words, but Ardagan will be the one explaining everything, not me.'
'He is alive and I ask you to respect him as much as you respect me.'
'If you wish to hold Ardagan, show him the pride of the family, show him why you can become his master, and he can be proud that you wield him.'
"!!!" Noel finally understood why in his dream, his father actually asked him to swear in front of Ardagan.
Suddenly, a scream echoed inside the room.
"Aaaaahhhh!" It was faint because of the distance but Leysha and Luke could hear it. They turned to Noel and found that he was completely focused on the book.
"You should accompany him because you're also an Ardagan." Leysha was the first to speak and immediately left to see what was going on.
She tried to follow the scream's direction while looking at the windows. However, she was in shock when she saw a group of soldiers coming into the mansion led by two people.
"Those two are… Anna Stargaze and General Helzen?" Leysha furrowed her eyebrows. "But we didn't find any report of them coming with a group of soldiers. No, it's not that we didn't get any report, but…"
She turned around and remembered what Luke said a few months ago. "It seems that Luke is hiding all the information about them. If not, they won't even be able to come here."
She took a deep breath and returned to the room. "Dear…"
Luke looked at her serious expression and instantly understood what was going on. "You stay with him and tell him how to close the hidden door. I'm going to deal with it."
Leysha nodded and said, "Explain it to me later, will you?"
"Of course. Sorry for hiding it the whole time. I can't bear to tell you when you spend your time with him." Luke made a gentle smile before leaving the room.
Leysha clenched her fists while closing her eyes. She looked at Noel, hoping that he could finish it fast since they didn't have much time left.
Unbeknownst to all of them, in another place, Noel and Anna were standing next to each other.
Anna seemed to be able to move her own body again and her body wasn't translucent anymore. She was inspecting the wall carefully while waiting for Noel to finish.
However, she suddenly felt a surge of energy from Noel's body.
"!!!" Anna widened her eyes and turned to him, finding Noel pulling out his sword while glaring at her.