"You want me to help your family?" Michael asked.
"Yes. I think so."
"How?"
Jot'un stuttered for a little bit before saying, "I… I don't know. But I feel that you're someone with special abilities. The fact that you can so casually purchase 7 million Sand Dollars worth of GodForge pieces is proof of that. I'm certain that being a historian doesn't pay you that well."
Michael had to hand it to the guy. Jot'un was perceptive, despite his unserious and talkative nature.
In truth, Jot'un probably went to the exact person who could help them solve this problem. If Michael's guess was correct, then Ersatz was behind this heist on the Thunderfoot company. It made too much sense.
The Ersatz company's life goal was to eradicate everything there was to do about the Ancient Era.
And the Thunderfoot Company was contributing to exactly the opposite of that goal. They were distributing and selling GodForge pieces, something that, according to Katarina, was instrumental in recreating the conditions in the Ancient Era.
So, it was only natural that the Ersatz did something to disrupt their business.
But it's still not for certain, he reminded himself. I don't even know what the Ersatz stole from the Thunderfoot company. I don't even have a single clue on how I'm going to retrieve it, or if I should even do it.
"What was stolen?"
Jot'un opened his mouth, but chose not to say anything instead.
"If I don't know what was stolen, I won't be able to find it. You understand that, right?"
Frustrated at himself, Jot'un nodded. "I know, I know, but… it's just too sensitive. This involves the entire Thunderfoot family!"
"Young Master? Venerable Keo?"
Just then, Jasper's voice called out from the end of the tunnel, forcing their conversation to a halt.
"Urgh! Fine, I'll tell you. But I think it would be better to show you."
Jot'un walked forward and Michael followed behind him.
They both entered into the bottom of a mineshaft, with hundreds of meters of excavated stone walls surrounding them from all sides. "Welcome to our warehouse," Jasper bowed to Michael, the light from his oil lamp illuminating the thousands of soil mounds lined up on the ground.
It looked like a graveyard. These soil mounds were about three feet tall and six feet in diameter. And they littered the bottom of the mineshaft in perfect rows and columns.
"What is this?"
Jot'un cleared his throat. "This is where we store our GodForge pieces."
Michael opened his Drone Vision, suddenly seeing the entire abandoned mineshaft with blinding orange light!
Underneath these soils, he could see Aubility Power just waiting to burst out into the open and release the purifying white fire into the world.
Wait, how are they not destroying everything they touch? Is that what the soil is for? But it's just ordinary soil. How is it not burning?!
Only Damascus Steel or Mithril could contain the holy and destructive white fire that the GodForge pieces unleashed. Other metals or organic materials would simply be incinerated into their base elemental mana atoms, with the only exception being human hearts—
"WAIT!"
Jot'un nodded, awkwardly nodding his head. "Yep. You're seeing it right. There are corpses under those mounds of soil."
Michael was so blinded by the Aubility Power that the GodForge pieces were emanating, that he didn't even notice what was surrounding them. They were human bodies!
"Now, before you say anything, we didn't kill any of them," Jot'un said immediately before a misunderstanding arose. "They're already dead. And we purchase these cadavers for a very reasonable price… like, for science."
"But… why?" Michael wondered. "With your resources, you could easily purchase container boxes that can store GodForge pieces."
"It relates to the secret of the Thunderfoot family. Truthfully, we are—"
Jasper started, immediately warning the Young Master from saying too much.
"It's okay, Jasper. You can trust Keo. He's the one that's going to help us retrieve the key."
The Thunderfoot butler still wanted to say something, but Jot'un immediately began to explain.
"In truth, we are descendants of an ancient family, one that stretches back to the Ancient Era."
Michael raised his eyebrows. "So… you're related to Ancient Humans? But aren't we all?"
Jot'un shook his head. "Well, you're right. But most of everyone's history's lineages have been erased during the Great Cataclysmic event. But not us. We are the only ones who were able to keep a record."
This was a tremendous revelation! He couldn't believe that such a normal, run-of-the-mill company turned out to have such an important connection to Ancient history! "So you know your great, great, great ancestor?" Michael asked, half-joking.
"Yeah, I do. He was a farmer for a royal family, but that's not important. It's not just our historic lineage that is preserved, but also our heirlooms. Our family secrets.
Our ancient ancestors left for us a great inheritance, one that allowed us to obtain as many GodForge pieces as we want. It just requires… Soo drops."
Michael frowned, completely confused. "Huh? So you can obtain as many GodForge pieces as you can in exchange for Soo drops. What does that have to do with the cadavers buried in soil?
Jot'un's face twisted into a grimace. "It's very hard to explain in words. Jasper, can you please take out the Lamp?'
Jasper's eyes bulged. There was a vehement refusal in his gaze. "Young Master, I sincerely hope that you know what you are doing. Our family has kept this secret for thousands of years without anyone knowing. We didn't do that by telling strangers about our heirloom."
But Jot'un shot back a look at Jasper. "Trust me. Who do you think figured out how the Lamp worked? Me, right?"
With those words, Jasper had no response. It was only recently that they were able to figure out how their heirloom Lamp worked. And it was all because of the Young Master's unique instincts.
"Alright," Jasper acceded. He raised his hand, making some hand signs as he used his Aubility Power to release the hidden defensive mechanism inside the mineshaft.