Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong was gradually growing uneasy, but suddenly, he heard a somewhat peculiar sound—a faint ’thud’ echoing from deep within the darkness of the dungeon.

This unexpected sound gave him quite a fright.

On any other day, this would hardly be enough to make Fang Hong uneasy, but now, firstly, he had no tools or weapons at hand—the control gloves weren’t with him, and without the ability to control the flexible construct, as a Combat Artisan, he was no different from an ordinary person—and secondly, after completely losing contact with the outside world, the immense solitude only deepened the sense of unease in such an environment.

Thus, he almost stiffened as he looked in that direction, nearly stepping back instinctively, but the weight on his feet reminded him that his range of movement seemed quite limited.

Fang Hong looked nervously over there, but through a few cells, he couldn’t see what was in the darkness beyond. After a while, he finally heard a low ’huff huff’ sound emanating from that direction, the noise piercingly clear amidst the whistling wind, making one’s skin crawl.

It sounded like a beast growling low, or perhaps a person gasping in their dying breath.

What was even more unsettling was that earlier, he hadn’t noticed anything there, and Miss Tata seemed to have overlooked it too.

Fang Hong finally couldn’t suppress his unease and called out softly in that direction, ”Is someone there?”

He felt that if there were truly a monster lurking in the shadows, he at least wanted to understand his fate, but subconsciously, another voice in Fang Hong’s mind told him this was nonsense; why would a terrifying monster hide in the fortress of Arcanists?

But the sound lingered on, with no one responding to his words.

The noise persisted for a few minutes before gradually dying down, leaving the darkness to return once more to silence.

Fang Hong was feeling things were getting strange and uneasy, and just at this moment, a gentle voice suddenly came to his heart, ”Mr. Knight.”

It was the voice of Miss Tata, like a beam of light piercing the darkness, like a gentle hand to soothe the soul, causing the dark room to brighten instantly, which settled Fang Hong’s heart and almost excited him. He immediately asked urgently:

”Miss Tata, are you back?”

He even forgot to ask if they had achieved their goal, as if just their return was enough to set his mind at ease.

A moment later, he saw two glows light up in the darkness, one turning into a little Miss Fairy, and the other into Nini—holding something in her hands, precisely his Magic Guided Reactor—almost twice the size of the little girl, making her appearance with the Magic Guided Reactor seem a bit comically cute.

Miss Tata brought the control gloves gifted by Lady Nether. Nini, in a bid to claim credit, brought the Magic Guided Reactor beside him, turning it upright with effort, and overturned it underneath.

With a clang, a crystal fell out from inside, exactly his Information Crystal.

Seeing these items, Fang Hong felt reassured, looking at Tata with some gratitude, ”Thank you, Miss Tata.”

”Nini was more helpful.” Miss Tata replied calmly as before.

”Nini was more helpful!” Nini wasn’t pleased, puffing her cheeks, her eyes blinking, tears already welling up in her eyes.

Fang Hong patted the little girl’s head, feeling extremely gratified, with a sense that his daughter had grown up, ”Nini, well done.”

And so the little girl immediately smiled through her tears.

Fang Hong picked them up, placing them on his shoulders one on each side, and meanwhile, Tata added, ”Pride of the Lonely King is actually at that place too, but it’s too heavy, and the Magic Guided Reactor itself isn’t light either, so for efficiency’s sake, I had Nini bring the gloves. As for the other things, Miss Gita told us they should be in a room on the upper floor of the castle.”

”You found Gita?”

Tata nodded gently:

”Miss Gita said she would come to you as soon as possible, Mr. Knight.” Tata answered quietly, ”But I had her stay there, as it would be more secure for both her and Mr. Knight.”

In Fang Hong’s mind, the image of a slightly nervous Miss Natural Historian appeared, and he nodded; without a doubt, Miss Tata’s choice was right, the other side was a bit too concerned.

The Arcanists kept her under house arrest, not to provide her with a more comfortable environment, surely the monitoring there was much stricter than here.

However, no matter how strict the monitoring, it couldn’t seem to prevent his Miss Dragon Soul.

Fang Hong finally understood how Miss Tata found his things, it was indeed a brilliant method, finding a living person was easier than finding an object, after all the Guards of the castle would always talk about the new ’resident,’ or by following the castle’s servants, they would always find some trace of clues.

But no one would discuss what spoils the Arcanists recently collected, nor where these items were kept. After all, the Arcanists weren’t bandits; only bandits would boast about their spoils for no reason.

Fang Hong couldn’t help but sigh once more, Miss Fairy was indeed as reliable as ever.

But for not bringing back the Pride of the Lonely King, it didn’t bother him, as long as they left this place, they could always figure out another way.

He put on the gloves and reattached the Information Crystal to his chest, and with the help of his ’daughter’ and Miss Dragon Soul, he equipped the Magic Guided Reactor. But just as he was about to start, a hoarse voice came from the darkness: