Carisia, who had been pressing her temples, finally spoke.
“What kind of artifact is it? An antiquity? Or a relic?”
While for convenience we often group them all under the term ‘artifact,’ strictly speaking there are two distinct types. One consists of items crafted by human hands – what we call antiquities.
Artifacts refer to magic-infused objects in general, with some especially outstanding pieces from ancient times earning this title.
The second type comprises items that cannot be reproduced by magic – things like those created by gods or dragons are called relics. Most of the holy artifacts held by the vanished gods’ sects fall into this category.
“It’s an antiquity.”
An artifact suitable for Astrape wouldn’t be something like a divine relic. In fact, according to information stolen from a Blasphemia branch, there were a few ancient ruins where such relics might be hidden.
However, it wasn’t a good time to use Blasphemia’s information right now. If we were caught tomb raiding, they might mistake us for Argeyirion and start tracking us.
The information about the artifact we’re looking for actually came from the original work.
Since this artifact was used by Astrape in the original story, it naturally suits her well.
“There are a few ancient ruins from the Wizard King era currently being excavated by the Torres School. One of them contains an artifact called the Talisman of Thunder.”
In the original novel, Astrape is sold to the Torres School and undergoes various modification surgeries. This is part of the school’s long-standing project to create a backdoor for covert access to the Ten Sages.
The Torres School used every available artifact on Astrape to create the perfect Ethereal hacker, considering it a necessary sacrifice.
Among all their artifacts, the Talisman of Thunder stood out as particularly powerful, serving as the core of the modifications.
A magical construct typically requires periodic mana recharging. While a skilled magician can partially self-recharge, limited endurance during combat remains an inevitable issue.
The Talisman of Thunder overcomes this limitation – an ancient artifact capable of conditionally providing endless lightning attribute mana.
When Carisia heard my explanation, she tilted her head in confusion.
“If such a thing exists, why hasn’t anyone found it yet? An artifact continuously emitting mana should be easy to detect.”
“The Talisman’s performance scales with the wearer’s mana control ability.”
Mana is fundamentally consumable. While a mage’s soul can produce mana naturally, this regeneration rate varies greatly depending on individual conditions and constitution.
Supplementation through mana potions or mana stones is possible, but consumables have inherent carrying limits.
Therefore, combat mages practice absorbing ambient mana to quickly replenish their reserves.
This process has three main steps:
1. The mage dominates the mana within their range.
2. Converts the dominated mana into appropriate magical attributes.
3. Absorbs the converted mana.
Due to inevitable losses during steps 2 and 3, traditional mana absorption methods have their limitations.
The Talisman of Thunder minimizes these conversion and absorption losses almost to zero.
In other words, as long as the wearer has sufficient mana control, it could theoretically supply more mana than consumed at any given moment, achieving near infinite power.
Fortunately, personal mana capacity limits and atmospheric mana recovery time prevent truly infinite accumulation. Otherwise, Carisia would undoubtedly suggest “Let’s make this into a bomb.”
“Indeed. Currently buried without a wearer, its conversion and absorption abilities must be inactive. The Torres Tower would likely struggle detecting it.”
“Yes. All the magic towers’ attention is probably focused on Argeyirion’s Elysion terror attacks right now. We plan to acquire the artifact before the Torres School does.”
Carisia summoned Arabel.
Arabel despaired as she found herself gradually getting used to being called by her superior in the middle of the night.
‘This isn’t something I should get accustomed to… d*mn it.’
But what truly filled her with despair was walking into the office to find both Carisia and Ortes present. Her instincts screamed overtime.
‘If he knew it was late, he shouldn’t have called me in…!’
However, despite her misgivings, Arabel had no choice. What could she do when summoned by her boss?
In a normal workplace, she might have resigned by now, but unfortunately Hydra Corp doesn’t approve resignations – it’s a lifetime employment company.
“Director Arabel, do you have any information on the Torres Tower?”
“Oh, those people Krypton used to deal with? Didn’t you personally wipe out that faction?”
“While Etna City and Torres Tower aren’t connected anymore, that may change soon.”
Ortes’ sly smile made Arabel’s thoughts jumble. With Argeyirion’s terrorism spreading across the Ethereal Network…
For a tower that supposedly would soon host a secret inspector from Blasphemia…
‘Could Torres Tower be colluding with Argeyirion? No, that would be too risky a choice even by reasonable standards…’
“What specific information do you need about Torres Tower?”
“The ruins they’re excavating.”
“Ah, that’s simple.”
Ruins excavation is the kind of operation that’s difficult to keep secret. Just the manpower required makes discretion challenging.
Unless it’s some remote interdimensional danger zone, leading large groups of people inevitably draws attention.
And if they hire freelancers or mercenaries due to concerns about internal manpower consumption, keeping it secret becomes even harder.
After a few gestures, Arabel projected a holographic list. Currently, Torres Tower was excavating three ruins.
“One site is presumed to be a temple from the Mythic Age based on standard procedures. The other two appear to be from the Magical Age.”
The Mythic Age – the era before the Wizard King, when only sacred prayers existed without magic. The subsequent Magical Age was opened by the Wizard King and revitalized by his ten disciples.
Internally, Arabel assumed Ortes needed information about the Mythic Age ruin. Given that the secret inspector from Blasphemia would likely be interested in Mythic Age rather than Magical Age sites.
However, Ortes was focused solely on the two Magical Age ruins.
Which one is correct?
My mind became confused. d*mn. Since this is an artifact related to mana, it definitely won’t be from the Mythic Age.
‘Should I guess?’
“Director Ortes.”
I heard Arabel’s voice while pondering between the two candidates.
“Yes?”
“Why are you looking into these ruins?”
“A…”
First, I checked Carisia’s expression. Our alliance with Lampades wasn’t finalized yet. Officially, my trip to Elysion was for Kine’s Museion entrance preparation.
I couldn’t disclose confidential contract details without presidential approval.
Carisia slightly nodded, indicating I had free rein.
I carefully chose my words.
*
“One of these two ruins likely contains an artifact that could be particularly helpful for sacred investigations.”
I thought this was quite an out-of-the-blue excuse. Sacred artifacts should logically have higher probability to appear in the Mythic Age.
“To be precise, it’s not so much the artifact itself but its secondary effects that would aid sacred investigations. Let’s leave it at that for now since nothing is confirmed yet.”
Arabel quickly processed the information. Not the artifact itself but its secondary effects.
Nothing is confirmed yet.
And the secret inspector from Blasphemia…
“Does this mean Torres School is really dealing with Argeyirion?”
“Excuse me?”
Clearly taken aback. That reaction gave Arabel confidence – wasn’t that inhuman squint finally showing a human response!
Thrilled by Ortes’ surprise, Arabel immediately began explaining her completed puzzle.
Instinctual action driven by the joy of making her perpetually overworking superior uncomfortable even for a second.
“Secondary effects being more helpful means the excavation situation itself is important. Ruin excavations naturally involve frequent external personnel visits. Even large influxes of unfamiliar magicians don’t raise suspicion.”
Thus, Torres Tower serves as an ideal location for hiding Argeyirion operatives.
“That, Director Arabel. Isn’t Argeyirion just known as a group of eroders? Who in their right mind would attempt negotiations with eroders?”
Arabel snorted.
“Of course that’s how they’re publicly known. But wasn’t it revealed that they’re actually a group of Blasphemia rebels?”
Ortes recalled that before departing for Elysion, Carisia had provided the board members with an explanation about Blasphemia’s rebels.
An appropriately levelled explanation that conveniently omitted the detail about them being eroders as well as traitors!
‘To explain that would require going into mine and Carisia’s past…’
“Common knowledge states ordinary eroders are beyond compromise. However, if they’re known to be rational entities, magic towers’ responses would differ.”
Torres Tower’s longstanding ambition to replace Yellow Lightning Tower was well-known. Despite being considered the second among lightning attribute schools, its strength was so weak that Yellow Lightning Tower didn’t even pay attention.
“Argeyirion likely revealed their true identity first and proposed a deal. They’d offer advantageous information for the succession battles with the Ten Towers in exchange for assistance in disseminating silver parasite hosts. Since Torres Tower’s global slave procurement network is an open secret, utilizing it would greatly help distribute the hosts.”
Blasphemia would naturally closely monitor any excavation sites related to superstitions, so those couldn’t be used as transaction locations.
Arabel delivered her final conclusion.
“We’ve discovered the secret pact between Torres School and Argeyirion, and the plan is to expose it by catching them in the act. The reason it’s not confirmed yet is because we haven’t verified their close relationship.”
As a Blasphemia inspector, one couldn’t simply stand by witnessing such treasonous behavior. Arabel declared confidently.
Ortes covered his mouth with his hand.
‘How did she reach such a conclusion…?’
“No, it’s for an entirely different reason.”
“Then what exactly is the purpose of your visit?”
“I’m afraid I can’t disclose that at this moment.”
Upon hearing this famous evasive line, Arabel nodded satisfactorily. It felt like her first victory.
