Chapter 37: Living Quarters and Notes
A brilliant light suddenly flared before Li Wen, making her feel as if a stun grenade had exploded next to her ear, leaving her head ringing.
But even facing such a sudden attack, Li Wen managed to cast Prayer on herself amidst the disorienting chaos.
After what felt like tens of seconds, Li Wen’s dizziness and blindness began to fade. She forced her eyes open, her vision still tinged with the afterglow of the bright light, everything she could see accompanied by heavy afterimages.
Li Wen noticed that others weren’t faring much better. Harik and Nasha, the two Wild Mages, were groaning in pain, clutching their eyes, while Jotes, who had opened the door, bore the brunt of the attack and had collapsed onto the ground. Only the occasional twitch of his body indicated he wasn’t dead.
Moria had also been affected, but he had a bad feeling before opening the door and had cast Bless at the first moment of the attack. He was now engaged in a lengthy prayer.
Specks of Glor gathered in his hands as Moria, with a solemn expression, clasped his hands together, holding up a candlelight-like Glor. Once the prayer was complete, the Glor emitted ripples of light in all directions, dispelling all sickness and pain beneath its glow.
Li Wen felt her mind completely cleared, all negative status effects banished, and even her life force was restored to 100%.
She wasn’t the only one who benefited; everyone within the range of the Divine ability was healed.
“What a powerful ability,” she mused. “A wide-range dispelling and restoration method. If it weren’t for the long casting time, I would have wanted to learn such a Divine ability myself.”
Harik and Nasha, having recovered, looked confused, completely unaware of what had happened.
The Dwarf remained slumped on the ground, unwilling to get up, and shouted hysterically, “I don’t know, I don’t know it would be like this…”
Moria walked over, pulled him up, and comforted the Dwarf.
“No one will blame you. This was just an accident.”
Was it really just an accident? Li Wen had a different opinion, but she certainly wouldn’t tell Moria.
The Dwarf’s eagerness to open the door was far too deliberate.
“I’m sorry, it’s all my fault! I’m sorry…”
Jotes repeatedly confessed to the Eldest Son of the Holy See, tears and snot streaming everywhere.
Moria’s expression was calm. “Making mistakes is human nature. Besides, you may not have made a mistake. Tell me everything you know, Jotes.”
“I don’t know… Nothing happened when I came here last time or the time before that…”
“So, this might be a randomly triggered trap,” Moria said, turning to look at Li Wen.
“Ah ha, I know this!”
At this moment, Harik eagerly raised his hand, looking fearfully and trembling, “I’ve read about this kind of magic trap in books. It’s a triggered trap that targets only Mana. It activates whenever Mana exceeding a certain limit approaches… Perhaps it might be… this really was an accident.”
Moria nodded upon hearing this, accepting the explanation.
Only Li Wen looked speechless. Not to mention that this didn’t explain why Jotes hadn’t triggered the trap before, but a Magic-triggered trap usually focused on a “burst with the intruder.” Such traps were rarely placed in locations like doorways, which could be triggered at any moment. Moreover, such traps weren’t used to cast a mere glare spell but typically involved more powerful spells, such as chain fireballs.
After all, a glare spell was only crowd control and lacked significant destructive power, making it difficult to reduce the number of intruders.
“The treasure I obtained is behind the door.”
The Dwarf Jotes nervously scratched his neck, appearing particularly uneasy. His fingernails were untrimmed, and he scratched with unusual force, drawing blood, as if he were trying to claw through his skin.
Beyond the door was darkness, with nothing visible, like the gaping maw of an Abyss ready to swallow everyone.
Moria once again used his illuminating Divine ability, launching a glowing golden sphere that illuminated everything within the doorway.
The style inside the room was a stark contrast to the dungeon outside. It resembled a combination of a bedroom and a study, generally neat and uncluttered. There wasn’t much in the room: just a simple bed, a desk, and a bookshelf overflowing with books.
The dust on the bed and desk clearly indicated that no one had been there for a very long time.
However, Li Wen saw no sign of Potions, or anything related to Alchemy.
“Are you sure this is the place?” Li Wen questioned the Dwarf.
“I-I don’t know…” The Dwarf continued to scratch nervously, his voice filled with fear. “It wasn’t like this when I came. There should be huge instruments, scattered books and papers, and shelves filled with bottles of Potions…”
“Perhaps it’s an illusion?” Moria proposed. Since the trap had already been sprung, adding a hallucinatory spell on top of the glare spell was not a difficult feat.
Li Wen remained noncommittal. Aside from the dampness and mustiness of the dungeon, there were no other smells in the air. If there truly was an Alchemy laboratory filled with Potions, it certainly wouldn’t be here.
“I think since we’re already here, we might as well go in and take a look. Perhaps we can find some clues inside. What do you all think?” Moria believed that an open-minded team should brainstorm and understand everyone’s wishes. However, besides Li Wen, it was unlikely anyone present dared to object.
As for Li Wen, she said nothing and took the first step forward.
To prevent her from encountering danger or accidentally triggering traps, Moria quickly followed behind her.
There were too few things to investigate in the room, so Li Wen focused her attention on the desk first. Generally, people would place important items in visible and accessible places, trying not to let them out of sight.
Aside from evaporated ink and an oxidized quill, there was only a thin notebook on the desk.
The diary was open, covered in dust, its writing long illegible.
“This might be something important,” Li Wen had a premonition.
She picked up the notebook and dusted it off. The cover was black, with nothing on it. Only in the lower right corner of the flyleaf was a strange symbol: a non-human claw gripping an eyeball.
Li Wen pondered, perhaps it was an eyeball with a monster’s claw growing on it.
She opened the first page of the notebook, and the very first sentence made her heart skip a beat.
“Found it,” Moria said at this moment. Li Wen looked over; the bookshelf had vanished, replaced by a secret passage. “Jotes accidentally dropped a book, and then this hidden door appeared.”
Li Wen wasn’t concerned. “Then let’s go in and see.”
Alchemy Master, laboratory, dungeon, Ghost Fairy, Dwarf, and adventurers gathered from all over…
She became increasingly curious about what secrets were buried beneath this forest.
