Chapter 156. Just In Case He Goes Crazy Again
Although Catherina was tempted by Lacius’s deal, she didn’t immediately accept it. Instead, she negotiated for greater benefit.
“You should remember the time you killed those Level 4 blessed. Do you know most of the related people suspect me of being responsible for their deaths? If you want me to keep silent and let you stay behind the scenes, then extend the time to 1 day and let me send 2 people to your library. Also, let them bring a film recorder to record faster.”
Lacius only stared silently at Catherina and gave his counter-offer: “One person, half a day, but you can bring in a recorder.”
Catherina countered, “I plan to bring Elisa into this, because she’s also been negatively affected by the deaths of the Level 4 blessed. So, 2 people, one from me, one from Elisa. Let them enter your library for half a day, and let them bring a recorder.”
Lacius stared. “Eight hours. That’s the most I can let you. That library is one of my most important foundations.”
Catherina agreed. “Alright, I’ll prepare the money, tell Elisa about it, and find someone suitable to represent me.”
Lacius nodded. “You can send the donation and the people to the Temple. I’ll handle the rest.”
With Catherina’s agreement, Lacius returned to the Temple.
For the next few days, the situation was calm. But when Catherina began providing financial support to the Temple, every force, especially those closely connected with the Temple, immediately raised their vigilance. After all, such a big move by two of the world’s top forces was enough to affect the world situation.
Meanwhile, Catherina had already told Elisa about her deal, and Elisa had sent one of the elves she trusted most to visit Lacius’s secret library and record as much important information as possible.
Catherina has also chosen one of the rare genius dwarves who chose to become a magician and scholar rather than an engineer.
The dwarf is also quick-witted and has earned considerable trust from Catherina. She is also the only dwarf in the Great Dragon Academy who has reached Level 4.
With Catherina and Elisa’s influence, they easily sent the elf and dwarf into the Temple’s headquarters in human territory.
Because the donation had been sent to the Temple via the bank, and because both the elf and the dwarf were already at Level 4, they brought only a coachman and no extra guard, especially since Catherina had decided to tag along after a while.
Before leaving, Catherina and Elisa briefed them not to waste time copying the same material and to understand the importance placed on different pieces of knowledge.
Both of them waited near the Temple until Catherina arrived, then entered.
The moment they arrived at the Temple, a priest immediately notified the High Priestess, who then informed Lacius.
When Lacius heard of their arrival, he put on his hooded robe and left his secret room to meet them with the High Priestess.
Because Catherina was tagging along, the elf, dwarf, and dragon could only be hosted in one of the open gardens within the Temple’s complex.
Around them, some curious priests often passed by to take a look.
Not only because they rarely saw a dragon, but also because Catherina was one of the legendary figures in the world.
By the time Lacius arrived with the High Priestess, all the priests made way for both of them.
He motioned for the two elves and the dwarf next to Catherina to follow him into one of the empty prayer rooms in the Temple, then used his earth element blessed power that has been amplified by his faith energy to bring the dwarf and elf deep underground.
Lacius created a bubble-like air pocket in the ground and shifted the surrounding earth to carry himself and the other two deeper underground. Along the way, Lacius frequently recalculated the direction before continuing.
It took them half an hour before they saw a metal door. Thankfully, Lacius had brought several wind-element magic plants that specialised in quickly converting carbon dioxide into oxygen. Otherwise, the two would’ve suffocated long ago.
Once they arrived, Lacius silently opened the door before bringing the two along.
Behind the door lay a medium-sized library filled with bookshelves and some random items at the back. It was approximately one hundred square metres in area and three metres tall.
The walls, ceiling, and floor of the library were made of magic metal that repelled mana and had a density similar to the surrounding rock layers, making it almost impossible to detect by most means available in the world.
Inside the library, Lacius said, “All of you have eight hours to record any book you wish to record. But return every book you’ve read to its initial location, and don’t try to steal or damage any of the books you read. Open them gently, or both of you can forget about returning to above ground.”
After giving his warning, Lacius opened the hood that hid his face, moved around the library, and then took a book from the shelf.
When the elf and dwarf saw Lacius’s face, both of them gulped and nodded. “I understand.”
Although Catherina and Elisa had briefed them that they might find the god of magic worshipped by humans, seeing a legendary figure like Lacius still made them a bit nervous, especially since he had just threatened them.
For the first hour, they mainly scoured the library to work out which books were in which section.
Once they had a general understanding, both of them started recording using special plants that could capture images and convert them into data.
The elf followed Elisa’s command and immediately went to record the research papers collected in the library. From research regarding potions to human experimentation to seek a more advanced training method, he recorded all of them.
Meanwhile, the dwarf lady immediately followed Catherina’s command and recorded books related to human history, especially regarding the extremely old time before the dwarves and elves came into contact with the humans.
While recording, she made sure to flip them as quickly but gently as possible.
Midway, she passed by the place where Lacius sat and saw him flipping through a book called the ‘Book of Forgotten History’, which caught her attention.
She tried to ask, “My apologies, sir. May I also record the book in your hand?”
Lacius firmly denied her request, “No. This book is special and isn't included in the deal.”
The dwarf tried to ask further, “May I ask how it is special?”
Lacius didn’t mind answering, “This book is something left by the creator.”
“The creator as in the one worshipped together with you by the Temple?”
Lacius didn’t answer, and instead told her, “Are you sure you plan to waste this precious time chatting with me? Honestly, I’ll happily entertain you, but who knows how Catherina will react when she knows you wasted most of your time asking me irrelevant questions?”
The dwarf decided to continue her work and quickly recorded more historical books.
When eight hours passed, Lacius immediately pulled both the dwarf and the elf. “Alright, time’s up. I’ll bring you back to the surface.”
They looked back at the library and realised they had recorded fewer than one twentieth of the books.
It was mostly due to their fear of accidentally damaging a book, which made them especially careful when turning the pages.
Once both the elf and the dwarf returned to the surface, Lacius sent them to Catherina, who’d been waiting while drinking some juice from a barrel. “I’ve fulfilled my part of the deal.”
Without waiting for Catherina to speak to him, Lacius left and returned to his secret room.
He still had a lot to do, such as developing a more advanced Level 4 training method to increase the number of Level 4 blessed in the world, or finding a training method to reach Level 6, especially since Cedric had told him a way to achieve his ultimate goal.
Meanwhile, Catherina looked at the dwarf and elf who had just returned and asked, “Give me the data storage. I’ll make a backup before giving them to Elisa myself.”
“Yes.” Both handed over their travel backpack-sized plants, which served as data storage and contained the books they had just recorded.
Catherina gently held both plants in her claws before flying into the distance.
She first went to her Great Dragon Academy to back up the recorded information into the plant that worked as the academy’s internal server.
Once she had finished copying all the data, she flew to Elisa’s location.
Inside Elisa’s city, Elisa had already prepared a screen and plants capable of reading the recorded data.
When Catherina arrived, Elisa asked, “How is it?”
“I haven’t read the entire recorded data, but while copying it, I’ve taken a few glances and believe there’s a chance the information we need might be in there. But of course, to find that old man’s true weakness, we’ll need to spend a long time. After all, there’s no way he left any substantial personal information, since he’s the one who readily gives me access to that library in exchange for some money.”
Elisa rustled her leaves in agreement. “Indeed. That guy is too dangerous. I never expected he’d do something like kill most of the talented Level 4 blessed out of nowhere. We’ll need to prepare some means to stop him in case he gets another brain cramp and attacks us.”
Catherina said, “I’ll leave the copy here. Tell me immediately if you find anything. I’ll also spend my spare time organising the recorded books and finding some useful information.”
Elisa waved her branches and bid Catherina farewell.
Once Catherina returned, she immediately called a few of her trusted subordinates to transcribe the recorded data.
***
While Elisa, Catherina, and Lacius are busy with their own matters, back in the Starry Sea Empire, Silvia finally hears the news she has been waiting for.
After more than four years since Teo’s mysterious disappearance and after spending considerable resources, three of her descendants have awakened water-elemental blessed power.
What a pity that among those three, none of them fully fit the requirements for the power inheritance ritual, so they cannot undergo the ritual.
Thankfully, Silvia has just received good news from her subordinate: “Your Majesty, we’ve found a suitable person among your descendants. He has met every requirement you set.”
Silvia, who had been busy with paperwork, paused. She fell into thought and asked, “Who is it?”
“It’s Edgard, Your Majesty’s 37th grandchild.”
Silvia nodded. “He should be Kelvin’s child… or is he Aaron’s?”
“It seems my memory has begun to deteriorate. Bring me basic information about Edgard and what happened during his upbringing.” Silvia commanded.
Soon, three papers were placed on Silvia’s study table as she read through them quickly before handing them to her subordinate. “Burn this paper, bring my blood test apparatus, and then call Edgard to meet me.”
The subordinate used his blessed power, and the paper in his hand immediately caught fire. The sudden, controlled, extreme heat burned the paper to dust.
Once he had burned the paper cleanly, the subordinate bowed and left to bring Edgard