Chapter 70: Exploring the Secret Chamber |
When exploring a place that looked obviously dangerous, Jiang Chen was still rather cautious.
After restoring his Mana for the second time, Jiang Chen crafted a C4.
Then, after waiting for another period of time and restoring his Mana for the third time, Jiang Chen finally prepared to head down.
The entrance to this secret chamber was around five to six meters away from the cross.
The Candy Bear walked ahead scouting the path, while Vivian followed from approximately ten meters behind the bear.
Jiang Chen advanced all the way down along the descending stone staircase.
He looked around.
This was a passage roughly two meters in length, width, and height.
The passage was constructed from rectangular gray stone bricks.
Since Jiang Chen had visited that area not long ago, he still had some impression of it.
“There are actually no traps.”
The journey forward revealed no abnormalities, which left Jiang Chen somewhat surprised.
Under normal circumstances, places like this should have Wild Monsters suddenly rushing out or various traps hidden around.
“That’s strange. There’s actually no danger.”
Although the journey forward had gone smoothly, Jiang Chen still remained highly alert.
As they continuously advanced along the path, Jiang Chen himself did not feel much.
But Vivian was completely different.
The deeper they went, the more frightened Vivian became.
Wuwuwu… Lord God, please stop going deeper already!
At this moment, Vivian was terrified beyond measure.
On the walls to both sides, Vivian saw all sorts of strange symbols carved into them.
Although she did not recognize most of the patterns—
She could still identify some of them.
Among them were symbols completely identical to the emblems worn by those who had attacked her hometown in the past.
She had heard those people were deeply connected to the Spider Goddess Ross.
This caused Vivian’s fear to reach its peak. Clearly, anything connected to that entity could not possibly be associated with good people.
Lord God, you’ve really doomed Vivian this time…
Vivian’s voice already carried a sobbing tone.
Vivian truly did not want to have even the slightest connection to such a terrifying organization.
But clearly, it seemed they had already provoked enormous trouble.
Naturally, Jiang Chen also noticed the symbols on the walls.
Especially the symbol Vivian noticed—Jiang Chen saw it as well.
“What the heck is this thing?”
After glancing at it briefly, Jiang Chen shook his head.
“Forget it. This thing isn’t important. What matters is continuing to explore this secret chamber.”
Not important my ass! Lord God, this is very important, okay?!
And Lord God, doesn’t the spider in the middle of the symbol look extremely familiar?
Doesn’t it resemble a certain god you know? Look carefully already!
Vivian frantically shouted in her heart.
In Vivian’s eyes, since Lord God was an evil deity himself, he definitely should have known about the infamous Spider Goddess Ross.
Yet it seemed Lord God had failed to recognize it.
Could it be that the believers drew it too abstractly?
Vivian thought to herself.
While Vivian was still letting her thoughts wander wildly, they had already reached the end of the corridor.
The moment she stepped forward, the scenery suddenly opened up.
This was a rectangular space approximately sixty to seventy meters long, over twenty meters wide, and nearly twenty meters high. The walls, floor, and arched ceiling were all constructed from entire blocks of Darkglow Stone.
Vivian recognized this type of stone. It was an extremely expensive material with an ash-white surface capable of absorbing light and sound.
According to rumors, Lilith’s family cellar was built using this kind of stone.
Back then, Lilith had bragged about it at school for a very long time, though later it was said that Lilith was severely beaten by her father after returning home.
As for that, Vivian never understood why Lilith got beaten.
After observing carefully, Vivian discovered that the secret chamber was divided into front and rear sections.
The front section was over twenty meters long and about the same width, serving as a book archive area.
Embedded iron birchwood bookshelves had been carved into the left and right walls, each around two feet deep.
The bookshelves were divided into hundreds of identically sized compartments storing parchment scrolls and metal-covered tomes.
In front of the bookshelves stood wheeled cast-iron ladders.
The central floor was paved with obsidian tiles, inlaid with emblem patterns unfamiliar to Vivian.
“So many books!”
Seeing such a vast number of books, Vivian’s eyes lit up.
Books were extremely precious.
“I wonder if there are any books related to magic. If there are, could I maybe learn some conventional spells?”
Vivian thought excitedly.
If that were really possible, it would be absolutely amazing!
After all, she was currently a Two-Ring Mage. She possessed two Second Ring spell slots and three First Ring spell slots, allowing her to learn a total of five rings’ worth of magic.
“Lord God, hurry and search!”
“There might really be magic skill books here!”
Clearly, the temptation of magic had already made Vivian completely forget that this place was likely dangerous.
Fortunately, this time Lord God did not disappoint her.
He was already controlling Vivian’s body as it walked toward the nearby bookshelf.
“Hehe, with so many books here, taking one or two probably won’t be discovered.”
Vivian thought this happily.
However, it was obvious that Lord God’s appetite was not satisfied by something so minor.
The moment he approached the bookshelf, Jiang Chen saw several books immediately display information prompts.
【First Ring Magic: Fireball】
【First Ring Magic: Arcane Missile】
….
Seeing so many skill books, Jiang Chen’s eyes also lit up.
“Holy crap, are you serious?”
In the vast majority of games, obtaining skill books was actually very difficult.
According to Jiang Chen’s understanding of this game—
The only method he currently knew for obtaining skills was through the academy.
Originally, he had planned to wait until daytime after class assignments were finished before learning skills.
But Jiang Chen never expected to discover such an incredible place now.
According to Jiang Chen’s speculation, learning skills in the academy definitely involved a separate system.
Something similar to the reputation and point systems in other games—only by reaching different reputation levels could players unlock permission to purchase skills of corresponding stages.
In fact, this was also the standard approach used by most games for skill acquisition.
“I seriously never expected to find Third Ring skills here.”
Holding a Third Ring skill book in his hand, even Jiang Chen found it somewhat unbelievable.
“This is perfect!”
Without needing any reputation at all, he directly acquired skill books—and high-level ones at that. Naturally, this was an enormous boost for Jiang Chen.
And most importantly, although a large portion of the books here were useless, there were still plenty of skill books. Jiang Chen discovered five or six of them from just one bookshelf alone.
“Who cares whether they’re useful or not? I’ll collect everything first.”
Taking out the Spatial Ring, Jiang Chen immediately began sweeping away the bookshelves without hesitation.
Wait, Lord God, what are you doing?!
This operation frightened Vivian terribly.
Books were extremely important to anyone.
Without exaggeration, books represented the foundation and legacy of an entire family, and Lord God was directly targeting the foundation itself.
But the problem was that this was a church—a divine church’s very foundation. Lord God truly dared to do this!
The likely outcome of such behavior was probably being hunted down by the entire church in the future.
Thinking this—
Eh?? Strange?
Why did she feel absolutely no emotional disturbance and even want to laugh instead?
For some reason, Vivian felt there was nothing particularly shocking about this anymore.
Wasn’t it just another church added onto the list of groups wanting to kill her?
What was there to fear about that? By now, there were probably already several organizations lined up wanting her dead.
This church would have to wait at the back of the queue.
Trash. Even if they wanted to kill me, they still had to line up at the back—not worth worrying about!
At this moment, Vivian seemed to finally understand what it meant to have too many lice to fear itching.
So as long as you offended enough people, you would stop fearing anything at all…
……
Naturally, Jiang Chen knew nothing about Vivian’s mental state.
After completely looting all the books stored here, Jiang Chen shifted his gaze toward the rear section of the chamber.
The rear section was separated from the front area by a wall, connected only through a stone archway.
The rear area was approximately the same size as the front, over thirty meters long and around twenty meters wide.
Upon entering, the most eye-catching feature was the altar carved entirely from a single massive stone block at the center.
The altar surface was etched with prayer inscriptions, while the rear wall contained embedded Mithril racks arranged into three tiers. Each tier held a square box.
The boxes were forged from Starfall Iron and had completely undecorated surfaces.
Jiang Chen directly stored both the Mithril racks and the boxes into the Spatial Ring before shifting his gaze toward the area above the altar.
Above the altar hung a massive crystal lens chandelier.
The chandelier emitted a soft white glow that illuminated the entire region.
“This thing is good!”
Seeing the chandelier, Jiang Chen’s eyes lit up once again.
“This thing is definitely valuable!”
After withdrawing his gaze, Jiang Chen looked back toward the altar.
Clearly, aside from the skill books and boxes, the altar itself was likely the most valuable object here.
The altar itself was not especially large.
Surrounding the altar were square grooves filled with red blood beneath them.
And upon the altar itself lay all sorts of severed limbs and body parts.
Urgh…
The overwhelming bloody stench and the horrifying scene caused Vivian’s consciousness to retch violently.
Vivian was absolutely certain that if Lord God were not currently controlling her body, she herself would already have vomited uncontrollably.
Too terrifying!
Vivian had already begun trembling violently.
The impact this scene delivered upon Vivian’s young mind was enormous.
Recalling how Father Matthew—that handsome young man who always gave off a bright and cheerful impression—turned out to be like this made Vivian feel chills run down her spine.
Too terrifying!
This was simply far too terrifying!
She never expected Father Matthew to actually be such an evil person.
The god he worshipped certainly could not be anything good either!
Who knew how many innocent believers had already fallen victim to his hands!
However, at this moment, Vivian clearly sensed that the surrounding magical fluctuations had become abnormal.
Their approach toward the altar seemed to have triggered something.
This immediately made Vivian realize that the situation was probably becoming dangerous.