Exploring Technology in a Wizard World
Chapter 447 - 446: Seeing the Black Spirit Empire’s Emblem Again

Chapter 447: Chapter 446: Seeing the Black Spirit Empire’s Emblem Again

Richard descended the iron cover and entered an unfamiliar underground space, shrouded in darkness so profound that he couldn’t see his hand before his face. Yet, he was not alarmed, his eyes flashed a faint red glow, activating the spell "Dark Vision."

In the darkness, light invisible to the normal eye fell upon his retina, and under the spell’s influence, rapidly formed images, allowing Richard to see unimpeded, surveying the underground space around him.

He found that the entire space was about two hundred square meters, taking the shape of a hall that was over twenty meters long and more than ten meters wide.

On the floor of the hall, there were numerous black iron chests, their surfaces coated with a special paint to prevent rust.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Richard stepped forward and approached the nearest black iron chest. He opened it and saw that it was filled with an array of gold and silver jewelry and precious stones.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Moving on, he stepped over to the second chest. Upon opening it, he found it was filled with gold coins. The third chest contained silver coins.

All these chests had their contents reduced to less than half, having evidently been used by the Death Mage. After all, research required funding, which had nowhere to be spent during the first few years of being trapped on the island. But later, with the capability and possession of a Ghost Ship that could freely travel between the mainland and Undead Island, the Death Mage had plenty of expenses that necessitated money.

Although none of these details were mentioned in the diary scrolls, Richard could guess as much.

Not to mention, how could the Divination Woman have gathered information about the ships at the port without money?

With these thoughts, Richard opened the fourth chest and his eyes lit up.

He saw that this fourth chest was, astonishingly, filled to the brim with crystal coins.

Ah, crystal coins—the currency circulated among wizards.

However, the Death Mage had not touched any of these coins, obviously having had no idea how to spend them.

After that, Richard opened several other chests and found them all to contain valuable items. Some had been used by the Death Mage, while others were still full.

Like so, walking past a dozen chests, Richard reached the end of the hall, where he saw several distinctly different, large chests.

The material of these chests was no longer metal but wood, with a coat of raw lacquer to prevent decay. The wood itself emitted a smell akin to camphor balls, presumably to ward off insects.

Richard approached one of the chests and with a "creak," opened it. As expected, he saw that it was filled with scrolls.

Taking a deep breath, the red glow receded from Richard’s eyes. He snapped his fingers, conjuring a ball of illuminating olive-green flames that he controlled to float midair.

He then carefully reached out, picked up a scroll from the chest, and began to examine it closely.

The scroll began with the words "Fire Magic Glue One." Richard read on and soon confirmed that it contained an introduction to "Temperature Difference Colloidal Material."

Picking up another scroll marked "Fire Magic Glue Two," the record was about the manufacturing method of the "Temperature Difference Colloidal Material."

Taking the third scroll, the fourth scroll...

Richard continued to peruse, a smile spreading across his face.

It was undeniable that the scrolls filling several chests were an enormous and unexpected windfall for him. The knowledge they contained was more precious than wealth or magic rune items.

But who had researched all this knowledge?

Richard was puzzled.

Was it some wisdom figures who once existed in the Wizard World?

That seemed unlikely. Richard shook his head, dismissing the thought.

The knowledge within the scrolls spanned many fields, and it was hard to believe they were the work of a single individual, given that polymaths akin to Da Vinci from Earth’s history were extremely rare. The likelihood pointed to a research organization being the source.

With this in mind, Richard’s eyes narrowed as he opened all the scrolls in his hands, and at the end of each, he saw a distinct mark.

Seeing this symbol, Richard’s eyes squinted into thin lines.

A black triangle with an inscribed circle, and a vertical line that bisected both the triangle and circle evenly.

The sigil of the Black Spirit Empire!

This was the sigil of the Black Spirit Empire!

This!

"Could it be the emblem of the Black Spirit Empire? Does that mean this treasure was also left by the Black Spirit Empire, just like the one outside the White Stone City in Alex’s ancestor’s tomb? The difference is that this one is located on an island far from the mainland, and it lacks all sorts of dangerous defense mechanisms," Richard muttered to himself, his eyes flickering as he surveyed the entire underground hall, thoughts whirling.

One had to admit, this discovery prompted him to think of many things.

When he was deciphering the secrets of the Black Spirit King in White Stone City, he realized the complexity of the Black Spirit Empire, the intricacies of its puzzles wrapped within puzzles, which were not for ordinary people to solve.

Even palindromes and Lickerel Numbers had been devised, far surpassing Medieval standards. And in the end, having acquired the Space Handbag and solved the extremely complex High-level Magic Cube, he found that everything in the tomb of White Stone City was just the beginning—the secrets of the Black Spirit King had even greater parts concealed in the fog.

Stockholm—Mo’er, Wooden Island, these were the place names written on the parchment inside the Magic Cube.

Clearly, some aspects of the secrets of the Black Spirit King were hidden there.

It was out of curiosity, as well as a desire to leave White Stone City, that he embarked on his journey. Although he was still en route, it seemed inevitable that upon reaching Mo’er, there would be many complicated riddles to unravel. Only by peeling back the layers like an onion could one possibly glimpse the ultimate truth behind the Black Spirit King’s secrets.

Now, in some unexpected circumstances, he had arrived at this island and discovered another treasure of the Black Spirit King.

So he boldly speculated that similar treasures of the Black Spirit King couldn’t just be this one; there must be many more in other unknown places. Perhaps they contain information pointing collectively to the final destination.

As for what lay at the destination, what the final treasure would be, and what the ultimate truth might reveal, they were not important for now.

What mattered at the moment was, to have the heart to set up so much, to carry out such a grand plan, how powerful was the Black Spirit Empire in its heyday?

Not to mention anything else, just the knowledge contained in the scrolls in this underground hall had already completely exceeded Medieval levels, and in many respects could rival the technological level of modern Earth.

He simply could not imagine that the Black Spirit Empire, able to research such advanced knowledge, would be the brutal, feudal, and autocratic Wizard Empire of legend.

And from this perspective, one would discover even more astonishing things.

Common belief held that the Black Spirit Empire had been overthrown and destroyed hundreds of years earlier, leading to the present East Coast—where over a dozen Wizard Organizations coexist, controlling various nation-states within the region, extracting all kinds of resources to support themselves.

The Black Spirit Empire could be considered the eve of the current East Coast. Several hundred years might seem long to an individual, but on the scale of true history, it was but a brief moment.

So why, in such a brief span of time, has so little information been handed down?

It seems that every wizard, every person knows there was a Black Spirit Empire, which was destroyed, leading to the current East Coast. But what the Black Spirit Empire was really like, what its political system was, how many people there were, how many wizards, what the lives of regular people were like—all of it is unknown—a blank slate, or one might say a void of darkness.

The Black Spirit Empire is like a black hole, absorbing all information, vanishing without a trace.

Even the few mentions of the Black Spirit Empire in some books are vague and unclear, often contradictory. This was why, initially in White Stone City, he didn’t even recognize the emblem of the Black Spirit Empire and had to ask the Great Scholar Socrates to find out.

And that was just the Black Spirit Empire!

According to rumors, prior to the Black Spirit Empire, there were two other empires. Even less information about these empires exists, giving the impression of two vague shadows lurking in darkness—though present, they are indiscernible.

This was simply unimaginable!

Truly unimaginable!

It was as if history had been violently slashed through—as if abruptly cleaved apart. At a certain point in time, the past and the present became distinctly separated, with everything of the past erased, leaving only the present.

This was simply illogical!

But the reality was right before his eyes, as if some supernatural force, a hidden hand behind the world, was silently controlling history, maneuvering everything.

That was very problematic.

And to clarify this problem, the first step was to try and uncover the ultimate secret of the Black Spirit King.

Richard’s eyebrows rose.

To tell the truth, he wasn’t very eager to go to Mo’er. He only embarked on his journey because there was nowhere else to go, and also because of the letter from the Cat Slave Girl Heidi, which made him feel that a visit might be worthwhile.

But now, he felt it was necessary to make the trip—even if he couldn’t unravel the ultimate secret of the Black Spirit King, he wanted to at least understand the hidden truths, to get some sense of what they looked like.

The world was becoming increasingly complicated.

"Huh—"

Richard took a deep breath and said softly, "This world is truly becoming more complicated, and of course, more interesting."

"Going to Mo’er is a must, but... the journey must be taken one step at a time, and matters must be dealt with one by one. What’s important now is to quickly understand the knowledge on the scrolls and to resolve the research that needs resolving." As Richard spoke, the next moment, without ceremony, he stored everything in the hall into Eden, then strode out.