Chapter 234: Section 22: Toad Safe
Knowledge is expensive.
And knowledge about power? Even more so.
Everyone floated down to the floor. Zong Ge spoke up, “So, are we saying that this person was a Mage?”
“To be precise, an Undead Mage,” Cang Xu’s words immediately drew everyone’s attention.
Cang Xu walked over to the circular desk.
Before him was that gigantic Magic Book.
Compared to the other books on the shelves, this Magic Book stood half a person tall, at least as wide as an adult’s forearm. If opened, it would naturally be wider.
As soon as Cang Xu saw the Magic Book, his gaze was captivated by it.
The book was as thick as a fist, with a pitch-black cover. The edges, the spine, and the pages were all made of bone—pale and penetrating to look at. The entire book constantly radiated a sinister chill.
After carefully observing and pacing around the Magic Book, ensuring there were no traps, Cang Xu gently caressed the cover with his hand and slowly opened it.
Though the Magic Book was thick, each page was made out of white bone and fairly thick, so there were not that many pages when counted.
Each page essentially documented one Undead Spell.
Some spells were represented by text, others by Arrays. The scripts were diverse—including Elf Jade, Dragonese, Universal Language, and so on. The Arrays also varied greatly, with pentagrams, hexagrams, crescent moons, and sun shapes…
Cang Xu was deeply entranced, and his breathing became noticeably lighter for a moment.
Even though the other three had lived and fought alongside him, they felt a chill watching him so absorbed.
Cang Xu appeared to be a living person, still breathing, but in reality he did not need to breathe—it was merely to avoid seeming out of the ordinary.
This is what it meant to be an Undead Mage.
They toyed with spirits, mocked life, and challenged death.
“How is it?” the knight youth broke the silence.
Cang Xu snapped out of his trance, gave the Magic Book a deep look, then closed it, his voice laden with emotion, “Invaluable!”
This was a Silver Level Magic item, recording many spells.
Just by channeling enough Magic Power, one could cast them, skipping the step of a Mage having to construct the Magic Model with their spirit, which was incredibly quick and convenient.
Of course, it required maintenance.
Using it excessively could lead to the pages, even the entire book, disintegrating.
During its crafting, many casting materials were mixed in. When casting spells with this book, it would covertly consume those materials.
“Just this book alone, and ten Silver Level Unsealing Scrolls couldn’t match it,” Cang Xu made a comparison.
Aside from the Magic Book, the cluttered circular desk was full of magical items.
Among the few people, only Cang Xu was knowledgeable and scholarly, but even he couldn’t appraise everything on the spot.
A rough estimate of the value of the items they could identify already exceeded the value of the Unsealing Scrolls by tenfold. And this didn’t even include the black leather bone Magic Book or all the books mounted against the wall.
Cang Xu took a scroll pinned in a pen holder.
He spread it out on the desk and, after scrutinizing it for a moment, joyfully announced, “This must be the Sea Chart we were looking for.”
The waves, islands, and ships on the Sea Chart were all slowly moving.
It was an active sea chart.
The knight youth, with delight, said, “It seems I no longer need to buy a new active sea chart, we already have one.”
Lan Zao shook his head, “My Lord, this map is too small, the range it describes isn’t comparable to a standard Sea Chart.”
Cang Xu laughed softly, “And what about this?”
No sooner had he spoken than he began to manipulate the active sea chart with his spirit and Magic Power.
The content of the Sea Chart immediately shrank, and the sea area it displayed suddenly became vast.
Lan Zao exclaimed, “It includes the entire Night Spirit Sea Domain; the value of this Sea Chart is very high!”
The Night Spirit Sea Domain was precisely where they were at the moment.
Cang Xu manipulated the map, quickly zooming in again: “These places have been deliberately marked; they should be our next exploration targets. These locations are likely where the Main Temples of the Mei Lan Gods are hidden.”
They searched the entire floor, then descended the spiral staircase to the next level.
The lower level was clearly a storage room.
Inside there were three rows of shelves, stocked with various materials. Most were casting materials, including skeletons from various species, seaweed resembling human hair, and still-moving eyeballs.
The preservation of these casting materials was evidently done with care.
For instance, the moving eyeballs were soaked in thick green liquid inside glass jars.
“Look, these treasures must have been salvaged from the sea,” Lan Zao remarked.
On one of the shelves, a pile of treasures was carelessly scattered. There were copious Gold Coins, silver coins, copper coins, as well as gold and silver jewelry, crystal cups, and more.
Cang Xu speculated, “This Undead Mage must have had ghosts to command. For them to explore the seabed and discover sunken treasures wouldn’t be difficult.”
“However, judging by this, the treasures weren’t closely guarded by the owner of this secret chamber. There must be even more valuable treasures!”
Everyone continued searching until finally, in a corner, they found a metal toad squatting.
“This is a toad safe!” Cang Xu was stunned for a moment, then said.
This was an alchemy device, a spatial appliance in which the most valuable items were placed. Nobles and great merchants often used it.
“To open it, it seems like we need a passphrase, right?” Lan Zao had heard about this device.
Cang Xu shook his head, “Not just a passphrase, but also bloodline, voice, appearance, fighting energy, or magic power, and so on. A series of recognition steps must be passed before the toad safe can be opened.”
This was a high-grade treasure box. It wasn’t an inanimate object; one of the materials used in its making was the soul of an intelligent lifeform!
Lan Zao was full of regret, “The most valuable treasures must be inside, but unfortunately, we’ve used up all our unsealing scrolls.”
“Unsealing scrolls can’t solve this problem,” Zong Ge shook his head, “It seems we can only think of a way later.”
“Ha ha, that’s not necessarily true,” Cang Xu laughed, shaking his head, “Don’t forget we have this.”
He took out a pearl from his chest.
This was no ordinary pearl; it was a Pearl Bubble! A peculiar item produced by the Divine Artifact, Mermaid’s Fairy Tale.
Every member who escaped from Mysterious Monster Island carried at least one Pearl Bubble with them to replenish at any time, in case of emergencies.
Cang Xu was about to crush it, but then he stopped. He turned to look at the knight youth, “My Captain, it’s better if you do it.”
The knight youth shrugged his shoulders; he was indifferent, but if Cang Xu was actively avoiding suspicion, it would be even more inappropriate for him to refuse this kindness.
He walked up to the toad safe, crushed the Pearl Bubble he had on him, and applied it to himself.
Then he channeled his fighting energy into the metal toad that was half the height of a man.
The metal toad came to life; it opened its swollen eyes and shot out two beams of light.
The light shone on the knight youth, scanning him up and down twice.
Then the metal toad extended its tongue, which had a sharp spike on it.
The knight youth lightly touched his finger to the spike, creating a wound, and blood dripped down.
The toad retracted its tongue, closed its mouth, and also closed its eyes.
After croaking twice, it immediately opened its eyes again. But this time, its eyeballs didn’t emit any light.
“Passphrase,” it said.
The knight youth had no idea what the passphrase was.
He shrugged his shoulders and said casually, “You’re a good toad.”
Under the guise of the Pearl Bubble, the metal toad heard the correct passphrase, “Welcome to use this again, master.”
It released all restrictions, and instantly, the knight youth, linked by spirit, was clearly aware of everything stored inside.
There were no lack of treasures inside.
There was a Bone Wand, about one meter four in length, Silver Level equipment.
Also, there was a Magic Robe, although patched and originally grey now turning white, it was still a Silver Level Magic Robe.
There was money.
But it was not Gold Coins; it was Purple Crystal Coins.
This small handful of Purplegold Coins was enough to buy three ships the youth had reserved!
The most numerous were not the Purple Crystal Coins, but a kind of black crystal.
These crystals were of varying lengths and sizes, all rod-shaped. They were deep and dark, emitting an indescribable chill, and their aura was inconsistent, ranging from Bronze, Black Iron to Silver.
“What is this?” the knight youth puzzled, and with a thought, the toad safe spat out a piece of the black crystal.
“Soul Crystals!” Cang Xu suddenly exclaimed, his mind and body shaking.
The other three turned pale at once.
They had all heard about the cruel rumors concerning Soul Crystals.
“There are at least a thousand Soul Crystals in here,” the knight youth said, his face slightly pale.
This indicated that the master of the underground chamber was an executioner, having committed a massive slaughter. Because Soul Crystals were made from souls.
Cang Xu frowned, “So many Soul Crystals?”
He sensed something odd.
“Quick, see if there are any scrolls or books inside?” the old Scholar asked eagerly, his voice trembling.
Indeed there were two books.
The knight youth took them out.
The first was a diary, with a multitude of research content and a few personal life experiences.
The second was Alchemy notes, detailing the method and experience of making Soul Crystals.
“We’ve really hit the jackpot!” Cang Xu clenched the alchemy notes tightly in both hands, usually calm and composed, now he couldn’t help but get excited.