The volumes of information were as expected. They described the path of necromancy from the ground up, beginning with the simplest of concepts, describing the different branches, before finally focusing on Hecate's path and her belief structure.
What was more curious were the half-mask and staff.
The staff, called the Death Weed Staff, had a few basic functions. It increased Spiritual Qi absorption speed, deepened one's connection with death, and helped during certain refining procedures.
Death Weed was a spiritual herb that grew from fallen branches of trees borne of death qi. They had the toughness and consistency of twine, and when layered like this into a tightly woven staff, it could be incredible sturdy. Ryu didn't find it to be any weaker than his current Earth Grade weapons.
As for the half-mask, it functioned to obscure one's visage. It was convention among necromancers to hide their faces. Though being a necromancer wasn't exactly taboo, it also wasn't a noble profession either. There were many stories of necromancers who were tracked down and killed for using the corpses of long-dead individuals from lofty Clans.
In the end, to protect each other, necromancers covered their faces with similar half-masks, making it more difficult to recognize them.
Of course, this was an incredibly old convention and only used by those who kept the body whole during their refinement process. For Soul or Summoning Necromancers, it was unnecessary. It was also unnecessary for necromancers who refined the body down to the bones.
Since Hecate's path was especially grating on one's senses, it would make sense for her to wear a mask like this.
The mask itself was of the Higher Heaven Grade and could hide one's face, scaling to one's Mental Realm. As a Spiritual Endowment expert, Ryu could protect his face from Divine Vessel, Connecting Heaven Realm and even Immortal Ring experts as long as they hadn't entered the Soul Birth Realm.
After sifting through this all that was left was Vitae's wealth. As a Ruin Master, it didn't need to be said that he was rich. In fact, he was more wealthy than Leopold… Or, rather, he should have been.
Ryu could only shake his head. Vitae had spent all of his money resources and cultivation techniques. His spatial ring with filled with Four and Five Star Mortal and Immortal techniques, there were even a few obscenely expensive Six Star Mortal Techniques. Seeing this sight, Ryu understood why this was.
Vitae had been of poor talent, but he didn't accept this truth. He thought that maybe he just hadn't found the right technique for him, so he crazily spent his riches buying endless techniques and trying them one after another.
With this sort of fickle personality… There was no way he could have become the expert he dreamed of.
'I'm not sure if it's safe to resell these techniques. If I do so, someone sharp might remember that they were originally bought by Vitae. I'm not sure what this man's background was, but a Ruin Master is bound to have some friends. Someone might even know about his fortuitous encounter and become greedy. If I want to sell them, it can't be in the Inner Ring, at least…'
Once he finished this, Ryu went through the spatial rings of the adventurers.
Adventurers were actually just Mercenaries who focused on discovering new lands and exploring novel territories. A group of strong adventurers like this would definitely have some wealth, not having squandered it all like Vitae. Unfortunately, it was less than Ryu expected once again.
Remembering that Vitae had cheated the adventurers out of six payments, Ryu suddenly understood. Their wealth had likely gone to the spend thrift. At that moment, the Scion of the Tatsuya Clan, a man who had never wanted for money, felt frustrated.
In the end, Ryu accumulated another five thousand Medial Mortal Qi Stones and a fifty Superior Mortal Qi Stones, bringing his wealth to: fifty-two Lower Mortal Qi Stones, fifteen thousand Medial Mortal Qi Stones, one hundred fifty Superior Mortal Qi Stones, and three Lower Immortal Qi Stones.
'I should spend this wealth. It's useless to just accumulate it… The Incubator needs more spiritual herbs to display its value, and I need another defensive treasure. This time, one that lasts me more than just a month…'
Ryu put his gains away. After retreating to the entrance of the Ruin and silently slaughtering the three remaining adventurers, he returned to Hecate's Lab and began to pour over her legacy.
It was impossible for Ryu to know whether or not the adventurers or Vitae told anyone else about this Ruin, so he knew that he needed to be careful. He speculated that this Ruin could be moved, so he needed to grasp the essence of it all quickly.
As it turned out, Hecate's Ruin was actually an underground Immortal Cave. Immortal Caves were the abodes of high-level cultivators and could be both stationary and mobile. Usually, Immortal Caves were explored by Ruin Masters only when a cultivator died before they could prepare a Legacy World or a Ruin. It was rare for a cultivator to knowingly turn their Immortal Cave into a Ruin.
Hecate believed that the most noble creature was the Death Worm. According to her teachings, this worm helped death pass on and left life behind. After tearing away the flowery speech, the essence was that Death Worms were scavengers and their feces was excellent fertilizer. Their only specialty was that they were practically immune to death qi, which was odd for such a weak creature.
Either way, Hecate used this pious belief to construct her Immortal Cave to the image of a Death Worm. If a mortal were to see its full structure, it would look no different from a common earth worm, right down to the grotesque maroon-black exterior. Ryu felt lucky that it was buried underground, or else he really wouldn't have the face to travel in such a vehicle.
Ailsa giggled lightly as Ryu finally took hold of the controls, diving deep into the underground.
Seeing that Ryu didn't bother to ask her why she was laughing, she took the initiative.
'Want to hear something funny?'
Ryu sighed, having a feeling he knew where this was going. "What is it?"
'You entered the Death Worms butthole to get here!' Ailsa burst into a fit of laughter. If it wasn't for her small stature and her place on Ryu's shoulders, there's no question that her undulating breasts would be the center point of any man's vision.
"…" Ryu was speechless. "… You entered too…" Was all he could say.