The appearance of another Antique explained the distant island he saw in the black chasm. That vision seemed to allude to where he would end up if he was able to touch that Antique.
Is there some kind of connection between the two? Will I be able to find out more about the cube once I get there? Are there more Antiques?
So many questions filled his mind. But that last question, in particular, was a little bit easy to guess.
After all, what was the Antique? It was a Tibia bone of a Mythical Beast in the Ancient Era. It wasn’t far-fetched to think that a beast of that size had tens, maybe even hundreds of bones.
If so, was it possible that each one of them led to an island designed by its creator to find an inheritor?
Probably not... if there are hundreds of these Antique, then it would have been a lot more common in this place.
Either way, he was only going to get the answer if he was able to find that bone and reach the second island.
"Then what are we waiting for? We should go get that Antique right now," he urged Katarina.
"Didn’t you hear what we said? It’s going to be impossible to sway the Elves on our side without giving them something valuable in return."
Michael waved off her concern. "It’s fine. Let’s just go there before we’re too late."
He walked out with a confident stride, not waiting for any response from Katarina.
This befuddled her completely. It seemed that touching the Antique really did have an effect on ’Keo’. It made him more impulsive!
"Hahahaha! I like your style, young man!" Zovirru praised. "Bastiene, tell them where to find the Elves."
Zovirru’s loyal butler gave Michael the directions to the Elven territory in New Sparta, which was on the other side of the Werewolf Territory, making it a bit of a trek.
Meanwhile, spurred on by Michael’s go-to attitude, Katarina decided to humor his actions for now. After some thought, she realized that it wouldn’t be too bad to talk with the Elves and see the current situation in their territory.
But before they left, she made some arrangements with Zovirru about the Antique.
"Zovirru, one of my colleagues will be here to pick up the Antique a little while later. They’ll transport the item to the professor so that he can study it with a closer look."
Hearing this, Michael kept quiet. Just as he thought, their mysterious organization was keen on obtaining the Antique for further study.
He was glad that neither she nor Zovirru found out about his recent visit to the island.
He’d been playing it off cool, but he was actually worried that they saw something happen when he touched the Antique. He even thought that they would be waiting for his return and question him relentlessly about what he found.
But thankfully, it seemed that they were none the wiser. They didn’t even mention the Antique to him, so they probably thought that he didn’t elicit a reaction from it, just like everyone else who came into contact with the Antique.
If Katarina found out, there was no doubt in his mind that she would ask a lot of questions about the Antique.
With her Nascent Spirit realm cultivation, it was very probable that she had some kind of technique to discern truth from lies. So, he’d have to reveal the cube to her, which he wasn’t very keen on since she would probably want to take it back to their organization for study and safe keeping.
Although he didn’t think that she was evil or anything, he wanted to keep the cube to himself for now since his whole phone manufacturing plan hinged on having the cube to himself.
The only one he trusted with the cube was the professor. So unless he appeared right now and asked for it, he would never tell anyone else about its existence.
That was why he wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. He didn’t want the Antique to suddenly have a reaction and reveal his secret.
So once Bastiene told him the Elves’ location, he immediately headed out and followed the map, with Katarina following closely behind.
And while they were walking through the boundary, ignoring the peddlers trying to sell them trinkets for a few Sand Dollars, Katarina walked up right next to Michael and asked a question.
"What did you find out about the Antique? It looked like you were engrossed in studying it."
He kept a straight face. "I tried to decipher the cuts on its surface. But my understanding was shallow compared to the professor’s."
Not wanting to linger on the subject, he threw a question back at her.
"I thought there was only one Antique. Are there more besides the one we’re trying to get?"
Katarina turned silent for a moment, trying to censor her words so as not to reveal any of her organizations’ secrets.
"Yes... the professor was aware that there may be multiple pieces to the Antique. He even said that connecting them all will result in... a big secret to be revealed."
Michael scratched his head and put on a disarming smile. "That school of yours, what was it called again? The professor never told me. You know him, he’s too busy with finding the secrets of the world to answer some trivial questions, hahaha."
Katarina looked at him, her eyes deep and contemplative.
It looked like she was on the verge of telling him the name, but chose to keep her silence at the last second.
"It’s just a name," he said. "Why can’t you tell me?"
She kept quiet before suddenly stopping in her tracks and pointing forwards. "We’re here," she said.
Michael looked ahead and saw a bountiful forest filled with mysterious greenery and vegetation. The vines and plants looked alien and otherworldly.
Damn it, he cursed. She’s saved by the bell again.
They’ve arrived at their destination, giving Michael no chance to ask any more questions.
"Looks like you were right," she said. "There’s already a lot of people here."
Just beyond the boundary and a few meters into the forest, Michael and Katarina saw a couple of groups camping out in tents and makeshift hammocks. They seemed to be waiting for something.
According to Bastiene, the Elves had a lot of visitors already wanting to curry favor.
Michael and Katarina walked forwards, drawing the looks of the people who were already in their own camps.
There was no hostility in those eyes, but Michael could see wariness from their gazes.
It was a competition for the Elves’ attention, after all.
"There," Katarina pointed in the distance.
Just beyond the shrubbery was an Elf holding a scroll in her hands and talking to a group of human adventurers. The humans were speaking a little bit loudly, making big gestures and impassioned pleas, while the Elf could only shake her head disappointedly.
They approached, making the Elf and the adventurers turn their heads towards them.
"Who are you? Can’t you see that we’re busy talking with the Elf here? First come first serve, so get out."