Pillar of Yita

All nodded at her words.

Fang Hong couldn’t help but turn to the older knight and asked, ”Mr. Diket, do you have any plan?”

The knight thought for a moment before replying, ”Dolifen is vast, and over the years, numerous legends have emerged. But generally speaking, the primary aim of adventurers here is the Three Treasures of Dolifen.”

”That means it’s likely that the Mysterious Person’s target is also the Three Treasures. Even if it’s not entirely accurate, at least investigating based on a priority-first approach isn’t wrong, especially since we don’t have any other leads,” Fang Hong couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

”The Papalarians consider this feasible,” Parker interjected. ”At worst, if we find nothing, we’ll still have some extra income.”

Before he could finish, he was chided by Tianlan, ”Parker, keep your crow’s mouth shut!”

Fang Hong ignored the two clowns and continued, ”So are we heading to Grey Oak Square along this avenue as Mr. Diket mentioned earlier, if I remember correctly?”

”That won’t do,” but at this moment, Gita interjected. ”If we are to investigate based on the Three Treasures, we must start from Lady Tengye’s Inn.”

”Why is that?”

”I happen to know a bit about that,” Hilveld replied softly, ”When I was in Elpaxin, I also heard some rumors related to it, Captain.”

With Hilveld’s description, complemented by Gita’s additional information, Fang Hong finally understood the situation. It turned out that Dolifen’s Three Treasures weren’t three isolated pieces of equipment, but three rewards from a series of events, starting at Lady Tengye’s Inn. After obtaining the Steadfast Martyr’s Mark from the bedside table of a room on the third floor of the inn, one would trigger a special event—Phantom of the Past.

When the event begins, Phantoms within Lady Tengye’s Inn would revert to a moment in the past, and the participants would be tasked to find a narrative character within the shortest time and protect them from harm until they leave the inn and reach Ruins Avenue.

After completing this event, participants could obtain the Steadfast Martyr’s Mark and use it to unlock the next scene—the Battle of Grey Oak Square. There, they would defeat a past Phantom named ’Kong’ using the Illusory Blade of Victory.

After defeating the Phantom of the Past, the path to City Hall would open. Adventurers would then face a Boss Level Undead wielding the Scepter of Pride and ultimately claim the Ignorant Scepter of Pride. Only when the Three Treasures of Dolifen were assembled would all Phantoms of the city dissipate into nothingness, and only then could the participants return to reality from the echoes of the past.

By the time the description was finished, the group had almost reached Fisherman’s Crossroad—named for its curved street as the elderly knight Mr. Diket explained. From this diverging point to the north was Grey Oak Square.

To the south lay Lady Tengye’s Inn.

He also mentioned that the end point of the mission involving the Steadfast Martyr’s Mark was this very street. Once the characters from the Phantom were escorted to this street, all Phantoms from Lady Tengye’s Inn to this point would vanish into thin air.

”I was fortunate to experience it once, right here—,” Mr. Diket arrived at the center of the crossroad and pointed at a spot and said, ”I saw her abandon all of us and disappear into the darkness.”

For some reason, Fang Hong always felt there was a sense of melancholy in his tone.

Fang Hong stopped to look around; Mr. Diket had said earlier that this street was usually crowded with adventurers, but now it was eerily quiet, devoid of anyone.

Moreover, the task he described also felt somewhat tailless to him; generally, escort missions required delivering the target to a destination or into the hands of a responder, didn’t they? There was no precedent for a target suddenly leaving the escort behind, disappearing into the darkness on their own.

Fang Hong felt that description was more a metaphor than a mission.

Suddenly, Parker bent down and picked up something from the ground.

And behind the Papalarian, Tianlan was still pondering the words Hilveld had said earlier, ”Sister Hilveld, you mentioned returning to reality? Does this mean everything before was a dream?”

”No, Miss Fuli,” Gita shook her head softly and whispered in response, ”Have you heard of Resentful Spirits and Earthbound Spirits?”

”Ah, I know a bit about that.”

”Many Scholars have come to study Dolifen’s Phantoms, and the most famous among them is definitely the seventh master of the Silver Tower, Lierbain. Mr. Lierbain lived here for three years to research the phenomenon of Dolifen, and ultimately, he believed that the formation of Dolifen’s Phantoms should be attributed to the immense resentment lingering here. It is a realm of Undead Illusions, similar in principle to that of a Resentful Spirit—it’s the product of lingering thoughts and information that refuses to leave—”

Tianlan couldn’t help but massage her temples. The Silver Tower was the largest organization of Scholars in Eteliria, loose but with branches in every country—because Scholars know no national boundaries. She knew Lierbain was the previous master of the Silver Tower, meaning the head of this organization.

But that was all she knew, and with a sigh, she said, ”I understand the principle, but could you put it in simpler terms, good Gita?”

The young girl frowned and looked at her, ”Miss Fuli—”

”Alright, alright,” Tianlan couldn’t help but interrupt loudly, ”I get it, I should read more books, right? Gita, you really are more nagging than my grandmother back in Kaon. When you grow up, you’re bound to become a terrible gossip.”