Chapter 7: The Victim’s Emotions Are Currently Stable
Shaya leaped down the dirt slope, skillfully navigating through broken stone walls and gray, desolate building ruins. Every ruin in the Azure Court Duchy’s remnants had been unearthed and cleared bit by bit by the archaeological team he hired, so Shaya was naturally intimately familiar with the area. Of course, as a price, more than half of the wealth he had accumulated since his rebirth using his knowledge as a transmigrator had been squandered. One could only say that archaeology truly is a black hole of a major.
However, having paid such a significant price, Shaya certainly wouldn’t have gained nothing. Shaya’s footsteps gradually slowed, eventually stopping before an old, black iron door. He reached out, and the dusty black iron door creaked open slowly. Compared to other ruins that had long since decayed with time, this secret chamber was constructed entirely from high-strength alloy materials. The five hundred years of history seemed to have left no mark on it.
Inside the secret chamber, besides the defunct lighting facilities, there was nothing else, only two stone platforms carved from bronze. On the left bronze platform lay a quite tattered sheepskin book, while the right bronze platform held only an empty indentation. Shaya didn’t hesitate and walked directly towards the platforms. Although his system, with its astonishingly slow reaction time, was incredibly frustrating, at least one aspect wasn’t entirely a trap—its beginner quests could be completed in stages, and corresponding rewards were given for each completed stage.
The first stage of the beginner quest was [Arrive at the Azure Court Duchy]. If this were six hundred years ago when the Azure Court Duchy still existed, it would have been a simple map-completion task that could be finished with auto-pathfinding, much like [Deliver the letter to Grandma Wang, the florist north of the village], with no practical significance other than increasing player online time. However, as of today, it had taken Shaya several months of effort just to pinpoint the general location of the Ancient Azure Court from a collection of vague ancient scrolls, then to meticulously search and investigate within the designated area using the system’s navigation function to determine the exact coordinates. Still, this stage objective could be considered complete, as who said ruins couldn’t count as quest locations?
As for the second stage objective—[Become a member of the Grand Duke’s family]—this had even more Shaya stumped. Under normal circumstances, it would likely involve undergoing some kind of assessment and trial by the Grand Duke’s family, completing internal family tasks, and after accumulating enough merit and reputation, one could exchange it for status and position within the Grand Duke’s family. It was a standard faction reputation grinding process, a bit tedious but clear in direction.
But now the capital was gone, so where was he supposed to join this damn family? This stage objective only began to make sense after Shaya’s hired archaeological team discovered this secret chamber. Shaya turned to look at the tattered sheepskin book placed on the left bronze platform. The script at the front of the sheepskin book was illegible due to weathering, but at the very bottom of those weathered textures was a line of clear ink, clearly written in the last few months.
[Shaya Egut]
That’s right, according to Shaya’s prediction, this secret chamber should be a place akin to the ancestral hall for the ruling family of the former Azure Court Duchy, the Grand Duke’s family. It was filled with Guardian mechanisms, a portion of which were still functional even after more than five hundred years, causing considerable trouble for Shaya and the archaeological team during their initial excavation. And a book placed in the ancestral hall should be the family member list, or rather, the family tree, of the Grand Duke’s family. As long as one could have their name listed in the family tree, who could say they weren’t a member of the Grand Duke’s family?
Although he wasn’t even sure of the surnames of the last Grand Duke, no one specified that a Grand Duke’s family couldn’t accept members of other surnames, could they? Couldn’t outsiders marry in and live off of the family? Didn’t the Grand Duke himself appear stable and make no objections? Shaya’s attempt was undoubtedly made with a “last resort” mentality.
Only after Shaya wrote his name in that sheepskin book did the system’s azure light screen, after a long period of fluctuations, distortions, and abnormal development, actually display the prompt: [Stage objective completed, reward: 5000 Free Experience Points]. However, compared to the previous two stage missions that could be completed through trickery, the third stage of the beginner quest couldn’t be completed through such means.
[Stage Three: Increase Grand Duchess Sylvia’s Favorability to over 30 points]. This mission wasn’t difficult; after all, 30 favorability points was merely the level of a somewhat close friend. Under normal circumstances, as long as one successfully joined the Grand Duke’s family, and with enough patience and seizing opportunities for interaction, increasing a Grand Duchess’s favorability to 30 points wouldn’t be too difficult. Just—
Nearly six hundred years had passed. Sylvia had already ascended to the Legendary rank five hundred years ago, standing at the pinnacle of Beast Tamers on the entire continent under the title “Azure Silver Witch.” Currently, that Azure Silver Witch had not appeared for a full five hundred years, and no one knew if she was alive or dead. Let alone Shaya, even other Legendary rank Beast Tamers who stood at the continent’s apex found it difficult to locate her whereabouts.
“But I believe there are always more solutions than difficulties.” Shaya looked at the empty bronze platform on his right and took out the Mithril sealed box he had the master craftsmen of the Imperial Capital forge at great expense. He took a deep breath. He had been preparing for this moment for five to six years.
Putting aside the effort, the Rhine gold coins invested exceeded one hundred thousand, their value surpassing the fortunes of some barons and even viscounts in the Imperial Capital, enough to buy a prosperous village as his territory. At this moment, even with Shaya’s transmigrator mentality, a sense of nervousness crept into his heart. He hadn’t ruled out the possibility of all these investments amounting to nothing, but having pushed this near-bugged beginner quest this far, Shaya was unwilling to give up.
Moreover, although the system was a bit of a trap, the quest rewards it provided were indeed enticing. Simply completing the second stage of the beginner quest had provided Shaya with a full 5000 Free Experience Points. Although these Free Experience Points couldn’t be directly used to increase the level cap due to the Familiar’s level cap being restricted by the Beast Tamer’s Soul Pact level and growth status, they could be used to enhance Familiar Skill proficiency. If it weren’t for this, it would have taken at least decades for Silver to improve the low-level illusion skill “Charm” to the “Mastered Perfection” level. Not to mention, based on “Charm,” developing the self-created advanced illusion skill “Tsukuyomi” on top of it.
Furthermore, Shaya indeed had the motivation to improve his strength. Shaya closed his eyes slightly, adjusting his mental state to its optimal. When he reopened his eyes, his dark pupils had discarded all extraneous thoughts. Shaya took the stone carving out of the Mithril box and placed it precisely on the empty indentation on the bronze platform.
Rumbling—
The normally obscure and dark secret chamber suddenly blazed with light. Amidst the booming ringing sound and distorted light, Shaya noticed a rather inconspicuous prompt in his mind.
[Historical Echo – “Ancient Azure Court” has been activated]
