Chapter 84: Meeting in the Cave

In the dim mountain cave, as the antidote dripped onto the wound, Victoria watched by the faint lamplight as the blackness at the injury slowly receded. She let out a long sigh of relief, but before she could savor her success, she realized that as the deadly poison withdrew, it also quickly consumed the antidote. The toxins surrounding the wound were plentiful, and in no time, the meager antidote was exhausted. The poison surged back, staining the small patch she had just cleansed with black once more.

Victoria felt waves of dizziness in her mind. She intended to seal the wound with an ice spell again, but before she could finish reciting the incantation, consciousness left her. Her frail body collapsed to the ground, and the little lamp beside her was nearly snuffed out by the gust stirred up by her fall; its flame flickered violently for a long while before finally stabilizing.

In the small chamber atop the domed ceiling of the Mishus Grand Hall, Rollin stood in a daze, staring at the spot where Mishus had vanished for a long time. Only then did he flip his hand and place the black token Mishus had thrown to him before leaving into his palm. He bit his fingertip and let a drop of fresh blood fall onto it, just as Mishus had instructed—one could only use it after recognizing it with blood.

The token’s surface, like a sponge, swiftly absorbed Rollin’s blood and, in an instant, merged into his body. Suddenly, a flood of information appeared in his mind. He now controlled the very core of the Mishus Hall; with a single thought, he could overturn the entire structure. The sensation was uncanny and profound.

When he looked down at the hall below, a faint smile played at his lips, for he saw the little donkey, Blackie, wandering about the hall in boredom, while Kuss hovered in midair, drifting anxiously back and forth.

Just then, suddenly—

A thunderous rumble erupted. Blackie the donkey was startled to see layers of bluestone steps suddenly grow beside him. The staircase rose quickly, soon reaching the very top of the vaulted ceiling, leading straight into the massive fissure above.

Kuss, suspended in midair, was equally astounded to find that the force restraining his soul body had vanished. Now, he could float upwards freely. It turned out that when Rollin had first ascended the Rainbow Staircase, Mishus in his black robes had cut off Kuss’s connection with the white stone and confined his floating form to a certain height.

“Blackie, Uncle Kuss, what are you waiting for? Hurry up here!” As the donkey and Kuss gazed in amazement at the giant staircase reaching to the dome, Rollin’s voice suddenly floated down from the fissure above.

Blackie had long grown weary of waiting below. Seeing such a marvelous, winding bluestone staircase appear and hearing Rollin’s call, he immediately dashed upward, eager to try it out. Last time, when the Rainbow Staircase appeared, Mishus hadn’t allowed him to climb, but now, with the bluestone steps, he wasn’t about to miss his chance.

Clip-clop, clip-clop… Donkey hooves rang out crisply on the hard stone as Blackie trotted joyfully upward. Though the steps were a bit steep for a four-legged creature, Blackie, who had grown up bounding up and down the hills of his native Bosang Mountains, thought nothing of it.

Kuss’s translucent body floated straight upward as well.

In a moment, Kuss and Blackie passed through the great fissure and entered the small chamber where Rollin waited. At once, both were captivated by the golden, radiant little room. After so long in the grand hall, the sight of such a delicate and beautiful space dazzled them.

Kuss, noticing that his connection with the white stone was restored, felt a wave of relief and immediately inquired after Rollin’s well-being. Blackie, meanwhile, shook his head, glancing curiously around as though discovering a whole new world.

“Uncle Kuss, have you ever heard of ‘Swordfruit’ or ‘Vivifying Herb’?” After a brief account of his circumstances, Rollin quickly asked what weighed most on his mind. Though Mishus had said these two items existed only in the Planar Herbal Valley, Rollin couldn’t help but ask Kuss as well.

“‘Swordfruit’ and ‘Vivifying Herb’… I’ve never heard of either. Can you describe what they look like?” Kuss pondered.

Rollin simply took out the Seven-Star Elixir formula, turned to the page for the vitalizer, and showed Kuss the illustrations of the Swordfruit and Vivifying Herb. But Kuss only shook his head. In all his thousand years of memory, he had never seen such herbs.

“Could it really be as Mishus said, that these two herbs do not exist anywhere on the Aragon Continent?” Rollin thought helplessly. If that was true, it would be troublesome indeed. The condensation of a spatial seed was an uncertain matter—who knew when he might succeed? But without it, he could not enter the Planar Herbal Valley at all…

“Boy, is what you said earlier about restoring my body really true?” As Rollin was worrying about whether to condense the spatial seed early, Kuss’s trembling voice sounded. This matter was of utmost importance to him; he did not wish to spend centuries, perhaps even millennia, drifting about with Rollin in this ghostly state.

Hearing Kuss’s question, Rollin replied at once, “Uncle Kuss, don’t worry. As long as I reach the Saint Domain level and my alchemy reaches nine stars, you can count on me to restore your body!” For this uncle Kuss, accidentally bound to him by fate, Rollin was deeply grateful. Without him, he would never have become a mage.

“Good lad!” Kuss mumbled for a long time before finally uttering just these two words. Yet in his heart, he had made up his mind: from now on, he would spare no effort to help Rollin grow, not just for his own sake, but because the boy could say such words to his face.

Afterward, Rollin took Kuss and Blackie to the portal that led to the Planar Herbal Valley.

Although Blackie was mischievous and lively, he now quailed before the dark portal ahead, where swirling energies distorted the surrounding space. His colorful shield was powerful, but even he doubted it could withstand whatever lay within.

Kuss, too, was stunned as he gazed at the portal. He was certain that even at his peak, he would not have survived an encounter with what lay beyond.

“Boy, are there truly hordes of undead behind this portal?” Kuss was astonished when Rollin described the Planar Herbal Valley as being filled not only with rare and wondrous herbs but also with countless undead. He cared little for precious herbs, but the undead mattered greatly to him. If what Mishus said was true, and the valley teemed with undead of every rank, from the lowest to the Saint Domain, then without a doubt, this was the greatest treasure trove any necromancer could dream of. He had suffered the agony of failing to convert a high-level magical beast into an undead after a hard-fought victory—an experience that could drive one to despair.

After lingering a while longer in the Mishus Grand Hall, Rollin and his companions prepared to leave. Though the hall was magnificent, they had spent too long there and longed for fresh air. Moreover, Rollin had already been in the Maya Mountains for nearly two months, and he missed his family and friends dearly—his heart now burned with the urge to return.

With the black token, Rollin easily controlled the various mechanisms in the Mishus Hall. At his thought, the rippling portal—like a stream—appeared at the spot where they had first entered. The two men and a donkey passed through the spatial array.

But as soon as Rollin entered the cave, he noticed that, contrary to expectation, there was a faint light up ahead in the pitch darkness. Listening closely, he seemed to hear the soft moans of a woman within.

With Blackie in tow, Rollin hurried through the dense regions of fire and shadow elements. There, by the dim glow of a nearly spent lamp, he saw a woman in purple robes and golden hair lying on the ground. It was none other than Victoria—the academy goddess who, just a year ago, had joyfully set off fireworks with him behind the hills of Port Academy.