章節 24: Chapter 24 - Legacy (3)
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'I found it!!'
In the area illuminated by my light, a cross, about the length of a baby's finger, was delicately carved into the cave floor. The position was exquisitely placed along the border between the wall and the floor, making it difficult to notice without prior knowledge.
With trembling hands, I took out the vial containing holy water from my pocket and poured it on the cross.
Kugugugugung—
After a while, as the droplets of holy water touched it, a bright light began to spread from the cross.
Then, the bottom of the cave with the cross carved into it erupted in a large square shape.
In the game, it was a place where you had to pour holy power to open it, so I wondered if it would be possible to replace it with holy water that contains holy power, but fortunately, my prediction seems to have come true.
In the lower part of the raised floor, there was an empty space, and as I bent down to examine it, I found two large wooden boxes inside.
Barely calming my heart, which was now beating like crazy, I pulled the boxes out. Then, I opened the lids of the boxes with careful hands.
Inside the first box, there was a tunic adorned with intricate golden threads on a white background, a stone staff with a cross-shaped end, and a rosary with a small carved cross hanging from it.
"It's here... it really was here..."
At first glance, they might look like priestly garments and religious tools, but I knew the true identity of the items I had found.
These items were Relics used by the saintess of the first Hero party who subdued the Great Demon King in the past.
* * *
"Hahahaha..."
As I inspected the contents inside the box, I couldn't help but laugh.
It was truly there.
Even when I was told that there really was a mountain called Falana in the Demon Realm, even when I confirmed the existence of a cave halfway up the mountain, and especially when I entered the cave and found traces exactly as seen in the game, I honestly had my doubts. However, now that it was right in front of me, I couldn't help but believe it.
If these items existed, then there was a high probability that the contents of another box would be familiar items I knew, and items hidden in other locations might indeed be in the exact spots as in the game.
I turned my gaze back to the box.
The robes, pendant, and rosary inside the box each had unique names, precious Relics according to the setting.
What were their names again? The robes were undoubtedly the Angel's Holy Robe, the scepter, the Staff of Purity, and the rosary... I couldn't recall.
In any case, these Relics were like most other items in the game, and they were not mentioned in the original novel.
I think they were tools to explain the lack of coherence in the original novel.
And the fact that these items exist means that this world was a place where the elements of the novel and the game I knew were mixed together.
The Angel's Holy Robe had nothing special about it other than the title of the first saint's relic, and the rosary didn't seem to have any particularly good effects either.
However, the Staff of Purity had a clear purpose. If it worked similarly to what I knew, I had nothing to worry about even if the relationship with demons soured and the worst moment approached.
I decided to keep the staff separate for later use, and the robes and rosary would be used for their intended purposes according to their names.
I carefully pushed the first box aside and turned my attention to the second one. If the items were intact like the first box, they might be more useful to me.
—Creak!!!
When I opened the box, there were quite a few different items mixed together; from their appearances, these items were indeed what I knew.
I began taking each item out of the box and started categorizing them.
"This is a Fairy Elixir, and this too. This is... glasses? This looks like a ring, but I don't know its name. And this is another elixir. What was this one again? Some kind of Tome... Ah, it's the Tome of Intelligence since the cover is blue. So, this one is probably the Tome of Strength with a red cover? And this is... an Advanced Massage Scroll? Seriously, even this is in here..."
Among the items, the most abundant were the Fairy Elixirs, which were, according to the setting, the ultimate elixirs that couldn't be found anywhere else in the world. In the game, there was no way to obtain more than the three bottles that were in this box.
In addition to the elixir, the box contained various old tomes used to increase stats in the game, small weapons like daggers, a few mysterious items with unknown purposes, and even glasses and a ring.
It seemed almost like a joke to include a Massage Scroll, but there it was.
In reality, there was now no way to obtain multiple items like this at once. Hidden items scattered across the continent were typically singular, with perhaps two at most in a given location.
However, since the Demon Realm was largely unimplemented in the game, all the items allocated to the Demon Realm were concentrated in one place, Falana. At the time, I hadn't thought much about it, and I never imagined that these items would be of such help to me.
I didn't know. If I had known this would be the case, I would have memorized the item names more thoroughly.
I could recall the names of one or two elixirs and tomes adequately, but the names and uses of the other items like glasses and the ring just won't come to mind.
I decided to put them away for now, and to acquire the tomes to minimize the volume I would carry.
As I picked up one of the tomes and opened any page, a bright light emanated from the letters, and soon the book crumbled into dust.
I started acquiring other tomes in the same way. I wonder what use a Massage Technique Scroll could have, but since it's here, I might as well acquire it. If there's no place to use it, I can give my father a massage later on.
However, even after absorbing all three types of tomes from the box, there didn't seem to be any noticeable improvement.
Even if I disregard the Massage Scroll, if I absorbed the Tomes of Intelligence and Strength, there should be some change if everything was normal...
Maybe it's not noticeable because the effect is too subtle? After absorbing all the tomes, the volume of the second box had halved.
At the end of my gaze was one item. A slender glass bottle was filled with an unidentified liquid, and inside, a pair of eyeballs floated, accompanied by an elongated optic nerve-like structure at the back, adding to its grotesqueness.
It was an item with an unidentified, unpleasant appearance, but one good thing was that I still remembered what this item was for.
* * *
'Maybe it's better to use this now, right?'
The strange-looking eyeball was an item that had the name 'Lakisia's Eye' in the game.
And this item had various minor effects related to the eyes, such as night vision, increased reaction speed, and increased field of view.
However, the most significant effect of this item was that it could retroactively develop the ability to communicate with spirits, making it the only item of its kind.
In fact, Lakisia's Eye was not a very useful item in the game.
The improved night vision and increased reaction speed weren't features you could directly experience, and the ability to contact spirits wasn't implemented in the game.
But in reality, the story was different.
Each of these minor effects would be helpful, and above all, the ability to communicate directly with spirits was an extremely valuable advantage, especially in this empire.
Individuals with the aptitude of an Elementalist were rare, perhaps born once every few decades, making their mere existence rare. They were treated as precious beings because they could harness the power of spirits to enhance and expedite the use of various magic spells.
Perhaps due to this attractive background, there was even one girl in the protagonist's party who was an Elementalist.
She was also a student at the academy, but by now that girl must have developed her abilities.
'Alright, let's use it.'
After thinking about it for a long time, I finally decided to use Lakisia's Eye.
Actually, there was nothing to worry about.
This item was almost like an Easter egg, and using it wouldn't affect the story. Most importantly, the ability to contact spirits is an immense advantage that could compensate for my lack of talent.
But when I decided to use it, I realized that there was one problem.
'How did I use this?'
This was a problem I hadn't considered at all. I had never equipped this item in the game, and it wasn't like the tomes where you could use them by holding them in your hand.
I finally made up my mind and turned the round lid of the glass bottle to open it. With a pop sound, the lid opened, and I inserted my finger into the bottle's mouth, pulling out the two eyeballs inside.
I don't know if it was just a matter of feeling, but somehow it felt like the eyeballs on my palms were making eye contact with me.
After staring at them for a while, I closed my eyes tightly and swallowed the two eyeballs whole, one after the other.
"Nothing has changed... Oh, wasn't this the way? Should I throw up now...?!"
But no matter how much I waited, I couldn't find any change in my body.
Just as I was contemplating whether I had chosen the wrong method, a sudden, excruciating pain struck me without warning.
"Ku, ku, ku, aaaaaaaaah!!" I cried out, overwhelmed by the sudden and excruciating pain in my eyes. I screamed as if the mountain was going away and collapsed on the cave floor. It felt like someone was holding burning coals against my eyeballs, and the agony was unbearable, akin to torture.
"Kuu, ku, ku, ku, ku... ku, ku..." I continued to moan in pain, clutching my eyes tightly shut as if it could somehow alleviate the torment.
—Thump
—Tumbling
During a long period of groaning in pain, I heard a sound of something falling to the ground, and suddenly my field of vision reversed entirely into pitch black, unable to see anything.
I could no longer endure the relentless pain and collapsed to the floor.
And the last thing I did was to faintly feel the touch of the cold rock against my cheek, and eventually lost consciousness.
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每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票