Chapter 640: Become a Mortal! Become the Protagonist of This Age!
The ferry drew close to the tomb beside the Abyssal River.
Wizard Warwick did not hesitate at all, stepping directly onto the tomb city. He crouched down and used a single Concentration School monocle lens to peer at the ground-level rock. "Just ordinary Type-M magical granite. That lines up. In the Era of Stars, alchemy was nowhere near as advanced as it is today."
"If the foundational materials of this ship-burial tomb complex were extremely high-grade magical materials, then this city would certainly be a later-era forgery, or a product of one of the subsequent ages. But if it is this grade of refined granite, then it all checks out."
"This magical granite is a product of the natural world. Though fine in quality, it forms naturally, and while it is functionally reliable, its extraction is extremely damaging to the environment and has been subject to restricted mining by the White Wizard Association for a long time."
Wizard McKinley smiled and said, "Which means that even if we were to dismantle this city and sell it off as premium magical granite building material, it would fetch quite a sum."
"Magical granite is restricted now, with limited annual output."
In the next instant, he found both Witch Shirley and Wizard Warwick fixing him with looks sharp as knives.
Wizard McKinley hastily said, "I was joking."
"I am also a professor of archaeology, everyone. How could I not understand the preciousness of historical materials? Haha... I was joking."
Under the two of them's near-murderous gazes, Wizard McKinley quickly raised his left hand in a pledge. "I swear on all my savings, I absolutely have no intention of dismantling this city and selling the Type-M magical granite."
"I am not joking anymore."
Warwick let out a cold snort. "You really should not joke about things like that."
Locke swept his gaze over the city. The main body of it was built entirely from Type-M magical granite, and every building had a special ancient aesthetic.
What should have been ordinary residential buildings all bore the structure of fortresses.
This reflected the reality of the Era of Stars, where wars of moderate scale could break out at any moment, with nations fighting without cease. In that age, ordinary people hardly knew peace.
It was entirely unlike the current modern magical age, where peace was the prevailing theme, and most mortal societies in the wizard world's homeland had long been in a state of extended peace.
As Locke and the others walked along the streets and alleyways, they noticed that these ancient buildings had very few windows, and the few window-like openings that existed were fitted with crossbow mechanisms and similar devices.
What made Warwick's expression darken was the sight of several corpses on the streets, nothing but dry bones remaining within wizard robes.
Warwick examined them briefly and confirmed their identities. "Some are native wizards from the Jade Splendor Enclave, and some are wizards from your Cloud Marsh Wetland. Look at this one, it appears to be a wizard from the Rose Council, and this one is from the Storm Tower."
"They must have fought one another on this street. Some of the buildings show signs of damage. It is just unclear why they ended up dead here."
Warwick furrowed his brow and used an archaeology spell, Summon the King of the Dead, and a tall black-armored undead warrior appeared.
He communicated with the undead for a time, then gave a slight shake of his head to Locke and the others. "I retrieved nothing of use. This street should be free of danger."
"At least I detected none. Or perhaps, none for the time being."
Witch Shirley examined the bodies and said, "Based on my years of experience examining corpses, these individuals were not fundamentally archaeology wizards. In other words, these people did not come here as part of an archaeological expedition."
"They came here not for academic research, but to seek out some particular magical resource."
Locke furrowed his brow. "So these wizards treated this place as a wild wizard secret realm to storm through."
Locke suddenly thought of something else. Wizard secret realms typically contained wizard echoes, so might there be an echo of the Loom Princess within this ancient tomb?
Wizard Warwick grew somewhat anxious. "In that case, we should quickly find the location of the Princess's main burial chamber within this tomb complex."
"If those outsiders reach it first, they may destroy the ancient tomb's information. If that happens, certain mysteries may be sealed in history forever."
"Never to see the light of day again!"
Locke said, "Warwick, we need to maintain our earlier pace. This tomb city is extremely dangerous."
Warwick received Locke's reminder, gave a nod, took a deep breath, and said, "You are right."
"I was too hasty."
"If I lose my composure, we may pay an even greater price."
Locke looked down at the stone bricks of the street and noticed that on the surface of some of the granite bricks, a line of text had been carved. "In this place there are one hundred people, of whom ninety-nine are mortals and one is a wizard. Among them, who represents civilization itself?"
Locke summoned his Suzerain's Book and recorded the negative energy particle field historical information from the brick.
Warwick and the others noticed this as well. "Who represents civilization itself? That would obviously be the wizard."
Locke furrowed his brow and mused, "Is civilization a single person? If civilization is that wizard, does it not follow that the deaths of those ninety-nine mortals would be of no consequence to civilization?"
"Can the civilization of one person still be called civilization?"
Warwick paused. "That is a fair point. But why would the grounds of the Loom Princess's tomb complex have this question inscribed upon them?"
Locke pondered, "If this truly is the tomb of the historical Nameless King, then this question is worth reflecting upon. Perhaps it is connected to the curse of erasure that was placed upon the Nameless King."
Warwick looked down at the line of text on the brick and furrowed his brow. "But if only one among a hundred is a wizard, then by any reckoning, that wizard is the most important. They should be the leader."
Locke gave a small cough and reminded him, "Mr. Warwick, only a week ago you were speaking up for those wizards in the Jade Splendor Enclave who worked hard enough but lacked sufficient talent. Have you forgotten so quickly?"
Wizard Warwick instinctively retorted, "Locke, how can wizards and mortals be equated? They are not even the same species."
Locke looked at him with mild surprise but did not argue back.
Because it was an inconsequential point.
After saying it, Wizard Warwick was also taken aback. "No, that is not right either. I was a mortal myself at one point. Every wizard was mortal once. To say one is not a mortal at all, that is not quite right."
"McKinley, and Miss Divine Master, what do you think?"
"Look, the granite bricks ten meters ahead have more text on them."
At that moment, all four of them opened their Suzerain's Books. The four books continuously emanated magical radiance outward, using the Historical Projection spell model to absorb the surrounding negative energy particle field historical materials.
Enriching their own Suzerain's Books.
The four of them looked down at the small text carved on the second brick. "If among these hundred people, ninety-nine mortals were single-mindedly devoted to developing their own civilization, to living well, to wearing proper clothes and constructing proper buildings, while that wizard was a necromancer who spent each day in the company of bones and ghosts, who then would represent civilization?"
The four stared at this passage, unable to make heads or tails of it.
Wizard McKinley said, "This Loom Princess was quite fond of troubling herself with difficult questions."
Witch Shirley pondered, "But that is a fair point. Can a necromancer even be counted as a person? If something cannot be counted as a person, how can it represent civilization? So, under this extreme hypothetical, the ninety-nine mortals among those hundred would be civilization."
Warwick and McKinley immediately looked at her with indignation.
Wizard Warwick gave a small cough. "Miss Divine Master, you have a bias. But a necromancer who is obsessed with corpses... truly would have little motivation to develop any other aspect of civilization."
"Within this hypothetical, those ninety-nine mortals would indeed be better representatives of civilization."
Locke said, "One might rather say that all one hundred of them are part of civilization. When everyone is part of civilization, there is naturally no need to argue over who represents it."
All three wizards nodded in sudden realization, only then recognizing that they had all fallen into the habitual line of thinking laid out by the brick, and had been led astray.
It was simply because these were the words of an ancient person that all three had unconsciously been pulled off course.
The three of them continued forward and found new carved text on the granite bricks ten meters ahead. "If all one hundred are part of civilization, then why must the ninety-nine mortals listen to that one wizard?"
"Perhaps there will come a day when the status of all mortals and wizards is made equal. When mortals too have the power to determine their own fates. Will that day ever come? My great..."
The gazes of all four sharpened at once.
The final portion of the text had been erased from existence, leaving behind only the scar-like marks of the erasure that remained after the destruction.
Locke thought to himself, 'The text on these three bricks reveals that the Loom Princess had a very dangerous ideological tendency.'
'The foundation of the Era of Stars rested upon Wizard Kings using their individual power to sustain kingdoms, forming one magical kingdom after another. But these ideas were already threatening the very foundation of that age.'
'If the Loom Princess had merely spoken these words, it might have been one thing. But if she had truly acted upon them...'
Wizard McKinley said with dissatisfaction, "It is only wizards who can lead those mortals toward something better. This princess really did talk nonsense."
Witch Shirley could not help but say, "But in that hypothetical, that wizard was only a necromancer. They would only lead civilization toward destruction. They are nothing, merely a walking corpse, a rat of the underground."
"I think those ninety-nine mortals would actually have lived happier lives without that wizard."
Wizard McKinley said indignantly, "What if that necromancer summoned the undead to help the mortals live better lives?"
Witch Shirley said, "They would not. They would only turn those mortals into their own skeletons. A necromancer tramples simultaneously upon the dignity of life and death, and has already lost all regard for living things."
"Having already looked down upon life day after day, what moral conviction remains in their heart to keep them from harming those mortals? Even if they could deceive themselves into holding back at the start, the moment those mortals did something the necromancer considered utterly unforgivable, they would immediately find a reason to use dark magic against them."
"Moreover, the existence of the undead is itself evil. The undead cannot consume..." Witch Shirley gave a small cough and corrected herself. "The undead are by their very nature products of negative energy. Simply drawing near to mortals causes mortals to die rapidly."
"I do not believe that the presence of a necromancer is of any benefit to mortals."
Warwick breathed hard. "Miss Divine Master, do you not have an excessive bias against us black wizards?"
Wizard McKinley said, "Instructor Warwick, I have been holding my tongue for this entire journey! If she has such contempt for us, why take part in this joint operation at all!"
Witch Shirley let out a cold laugh and was just about to speak when she suddenly furrowed her brow. Simultaneously, a Divine Master spell guarding her soul, the First Circle spell model, Celestial Maiden's Embrace, flashed through the depths of her soul.
Witch Shirley immediately came back to her senses.
At the same time, she looked toward Locke and walked directly to his ear, snapped her fingers, and said, "Wake up!"
Locke also started, and then looked around to find that their surroundings had entirely changed. He saw that the four of them had not entered the street at all.
They had not entered the city.
They were simply standing on the dock where they had first landed in the city.
On the dock were indeed the corpses of many modern-age wizards, and the architectural style of the buildings within the city was exactly as they had observed before, only none of them had actually gone near it.
Locke saw on the wall beside the steps of the dock, an inlaid picture made of colorful tiles.
The tile picture depicted the very scenes he had just experienced while deep inside the city. It was a bird's-eye view of a small tomb city.
At the same time, using his Concentration School eyeglass lens, Locke spotted, in the fine details of the tile picture, the three questions inscribed on those street bricks.
"This is... a magic painting," Locke realized quickly. "This is a tile picture technique similar to a magic painting. The moment we all set foot on the dock, we were drawn into an illusion."
Cold sweat broke out across Locke's back.
Witch Shirley nodded. "Were it not for the fact that I am a Divine Master, with the strongest mental fortitude among the four of us, we might have already started fighting among ourselves. The tile picture on this wall is not only an illusion. It also contains Enchantment School magic that causes us to grow angry and argumentative without realizing it."
"As for the three questions within the picture, they were most likely intended deliberately to provoke us. They are inherently questions that easily spark conflict."
Locke glanced at Witch Shirley. "Is that so?"
At that moment, the tile wall picture suddenly began to move on its own, with the bricks shifting one by one.
Witch Shirley immediately said, "This is not an illusion!"
The tile picture rearranged itself into a line of text. "Ignorant people of later generations, how dare you set foot upon the resting place of the Loom Princess. This place will become your eternal hell!"
"Relinquish your magical power. That will be your only choice for leaving this place. Become a mortal! Become the protagonist of this age!"
"This is the final mercy of my mistress."
Locke furrowed his brow.
Witch Shirley said, "The tile wall is moving... this appears to be Transmutation School magic..."
At that moment, Warwick suddenly charged toward Witch Shirley, furious, and said, "You had better explain yourself clearly."
Witch Shirley pushed him away with one hand. "Get away from me. Do not touch me. Touch me again and I will kill you."
Warwick flew into a rage. "Fine, fine, fine. Miss Divine Master, then we have nothing more to say. Today I am going to kill you."
Witch Shirley, regardless of whether he was under the effect of an Enchantment School spell, found herself with a killing intent flickering in her eyes and a wand appearing in her hand.
Locke hastily intervened. "Wait, Senior Sister. This person still has historical materials that I need. That is right, this expedition is so dangerous, he promised me he would give me the materials before the formal operation began."
"I will wake him up now and have him hand over the materials."