Pillar of Yita

Six dice hovered in midair, motionless.

Everyone looked at one another, bewildered by the scene. In the stairway, Parker lay sprawled on the floor, innocently blinking his glossy black eyes, and for a moment, there was complete silence.

Ghost Jeffrey stared at the translucent dice hanging in the air with a hollow, lifeless gaze, seemingly caught in the same daze. It wasn’t until a while later that he let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

Fang Hong saw a glimmering light start to emanate from the pale pupils of the ghost, as if his vitality was gradually being restored. The ghost’s face began to look younger, and after the wrinkles faded away, he was left with a rugged face of no more than thirty years.

With a complex expression, he glanced at everyone before he bowed deeply to the Papalarians, and spoke in an almost chant-like tone, ”My deepest thanks.”

”That’s right,” Parker finally rolled up from the ground and casually replied, ”You really should thank me. But could there be something more substantial? Like an endless tablecloth, the kind that keeps producing an abundant and delicious supply of food as soon as you spread it out—or, if that’s really not available, I could settle for a treasure map.”

But the ghost shook its head with a complicated expression and looked past the crowd to a deep darkness on the other side of the corridor.

Only then did Jeffrey turn his gaze back to the Papalarians and say slowly, ”I can only offer you two heartfelt pieces of advice.”

”Then I’d still prefer the endless tablecloth,” Parker shook his head emphatically.

Ignoring him, the ghost spoke in a distant voice, ”Listen well, my friends—The hero’s sword, the poet’s history; trace the past, unveil the fog.”

He repeated the phrase three times, fading more transparent with each repetition. After becoming nearly indiscernible, he made a slight bow to everyone, then turned and walked into the darkness.

And even after the ghost had completely disappeared, the ancient, profound words seemed to echo through the corridor.

Everyone was stunned by the spectacle.

It took a long while for Fang Hong to recover and ask, ”Is this a normal part of the mission process? ’The hero’s sword, the poet’s history; trace the past, unveil the fog?’ Mr. Hansen, do you know what this means?”

Hansen seemed to snap out of his shock, and after hearing Fang Hong’s question, he smacked his lips and shook his head. ”No, I don’t know what it means, by Ouli above, I’ve never seen that damn creature lose before—” he said, casting a look at Parker as if he were a prehistoric monster.

”However, I have a feeling,” he murmured, ”that since we’ve broken Jeffrey’s curse, the task tonight might take an unexpected turn.”

Turning back, excitement flickered in his subordinates’ eyes. The ruins of Dolifen had been abandoned for so many years, and the phantom scenes within had repeated themselves, but this was the first time the curse had been resolved—before this, even the staff-wielding bishops from Marlan had been powerless against it.

This was the first change people had seen in the phantom scenes in decades, and simply reporting this to the Adventurers’ Guild and Holy Sanctuary could potentially earn them a hefty reward.

After all, this was something many had strived for yet failed to achieve—

”Friends, you truly are our lucky stars. The cooperation hasn’t even started, and you’ve already been a great help. I think we’ll have a bountiful harvest tonight,” Hansen said with newfound amiability, having seen real benefits from Fang Hong and the others.

Fang Hong was also somewhat surprised, although he had his suspicions about Parker.

In Eteliria, perfectly solving an event had always been a legend, but each occurrence was usually accompanied by a huge cognitive experience reward. However, glancing at his system, he found no trace of such a reward, not even a record of the ’curse’ event.

Completely baffled, he quietly sent a message to Parker, asking if he had received any prompt, but the Papalarian’s response was similarly clueless.

That was odd—

It was then that Fang Hong realized the ’Ghost Jeffrey’ event might not be so straightforward; it was likely just the beginning of a series of scenarios in Dolifen. According to Hansen, this beginning had never been perfectly triggered before—he couldn’t help but entertain the ridiculous thought that maybe no one had truly completed the Three Artifacts of Dolifen series of tasks.

What people had seen may just be the surface of a series of phantom scenes, Fang Hong speculated. Could the reason for the repeated scenes in these ruins be due to a lingering obsession that had never dissipated?

As he pondered this, the Scholar, who had always seemed somewhat gloomy, spoke up:

”Change is certainly good, but let’s just say it could turn either way. I advise everyone to remain cautious and not be blindly optimistic,” he said.

”Being careful is all well and good, sir, but there’s no need to scare oneself,” Hansen replied, his tone conveying his dissatisfaction. As a hired mercenary, he was not one to meekly agree with his employer. After hearing the Scholar, he responded directly, ”These gentlemen broke Jeffrey’s curse, and out of gratitude or repayment, it wouldn’t be right for things to turn for the worse now, would it?”