Pillar of Yita

The person looked at him silently, as if waiting for something, but the determined look in his eyes gradually turned to confusion, and finally, he couldn’t help but glance around — the dungeon was quiet. He opened his mouth in disbelief and asked, ”Why is no one coming over? How have they not noticed you?”

”Could it be that you also know...”

”No,” Fang Hong shook his head, ”I don’t know.”

By the light of the crystal, he saw the wall behind the person was covered in dense writing—some were records of dates, four slashes with one crossing through them, this part filled almost half of the wall. Another part consisted of scrawled small letters and drawings, Fang Hong was curious:

”Are you an Alchemist?”

From the moment this person spoke earlier, he had more or less guessed this; who else but an Alchemist could know the skills to hide the magic power disturbances of a Magic Guided Reactor? However, since the magic power disturbance from the Magic Guided Reactor stemmed from magic leakage, no one throughout history had been able to resolve this issue, which is why he was interested.

The person’s eyes were filled with disbelief as he muttered to himself, ”Then how did you...?”

”That’s not important,” Fang Hong looked curiously at this person, ”Who are you? Why are you imprisoned here?”

He shifted, his voice hoarse as he answered, ”That’s my secret, but if you are willing to tell me...”

”No,” Fang Hong interrupted him once again, he knew what the other wanted to say, but he could not tell a stranger the secret of the Zero-Type Crystal, ”I won’t exchange that information with you, but I can trade something else.”

The person seemed to relax, looking at him with dim eyes, ”Like what?”

”I’ll take you away,” Fang Hong replied, ”You tell me what this place is, why the Arcanists have captured you here.”

But the man shook his head, ”You’re mistaken, I don’t want to leave here.”

”Why?” Fang Hong was taken aback, unable to help but suspect this person might really have some mental issues, locked away for years, anyone would dream of leaving this ’Hell’, yet this person actually said — ’I don’t want to leave this place’?

What kind of madness is this?

”For no reason,” the man answered, ”but I can tell you what this place is, but you must exchange something with me, as for why I’m here, that’s my own matter, and none of your business.”

Fang Hong was silent for a moment, increasingly finding this person strange, but still he asked, ”So what do you want?”

”Desert Blood.”

”What?”

His eyes almost gleaming, ”It’s a kind of wine, possessing unimaginable magic power—I hear you’re here to rescue your companions, not far from here is a cellar, I guess they are being held there. There’s a secret room, where this wine is kept, it’s easy to identify, with a color like fresh blood—”

”Go find it and bring it back to me, and I’ll tell you what this place is—”

This request was truly bizarre.

Fang Hong glanced at the scrawled writing on the walls, dense and like twisted symbols, feeling increasingly that this man might be a madman, but he did at least inform him of where others were being held. Though from his nonsense, Fang Hong doubted the accuracy of this information.

”What do you want the wine for?”

”Of course, to taste it,” the man laughed, ”Are you an idiot?”

Fang Hong was speechless, what a reason indeed, if the guy wasn’t being held in this dungeon.

He even entertained the suspicion that this person might be a habitual thief, hence being locked up here.

Thinking of this, he shook his head, ”I’m too disadvantaged, I could have guessed this place might be somewhere near Bain, confirming that wouldn’t be difficult. That question was incidental in the first place, I won’t exchange it for one of your demands.”

The man was silent for a moment, seemingly agreeing with Fang Hong’s words, suddenly grinning, ”Then let me tell you a secret about the Arcanists?”

”What secret?”

”Like who they truly serve.”

Fang Hong was intrigued, why did the Arcanists bring him to Bain, this was the strange part to him, never had he heard of any connection between them and the local master—Count Nulman. But he also worried the man was just talking nonsense, if he brought back the items only to be told that the Arcanists truly serve the Star Moon Council, wouldn’t he be infuriated?

He thought for a moment, first preemptively blocking this possibility, ”Everyone knows, the Arcanists serve the Star Moon Council.”

The man smiled, ”That’s only appearances, I happened to overhear some things.”

Fang Hong’s gaze flickered slightly, but he maintained a calm expression, simply watching the other’s eyes as if trying to confirm whether he was lying.

But the person’s gaze did not avoid his, seemingly very straightforward.

Only then did Fang Hong reply, ”Deal.”

It’s merely fetching a barrel of wine, the task itself isn’t cumbersome.

Yet in his heart, he doubted the person was truly just after tasting fine wine, the man’s actions seemed topsy-turvy, yet sometimes very rational, not entirely a madman, rather with deeper motives.

But having motives wasn’t terrifying, Fang Hong had his own too, as long as their interests were temporarily aligned. As for whether the ’Desert Blood’ was problematic, he would naturally inspect personally, not just him, Miss Tata and Gita, also as a Natural Historian, would surely find some clues.