Warlock Apprentice

”No outsiders have entered the ruins? How is that possible?” The Tree Spirit’s face was full of disbelief: ”If no outsiders have come in, then what’s the deal with this knight’s armor? Could it have appeared out of thin air?”

Facing the Tree Spirit’s doubts, Rhein not only did not refute but also nodded: ”You’re right, this knight armor did indeed appear out of thin air.”

The place where the knight armor first appeared was naturally Rhein’s area of concern. He used the Eye of Truth to repeatedly inspect the corridor time and again, seeking out a lot of information in the crevices of time. And synthesize all this information, and a conclusion can be made: the knight’s armor showed no signs of movement; it indeed appeared out of nowhere at a certain moment, and then stayed put until a few days ago when Angel packed it away.

After listening to Rhein’s explanation, the Tree Spirit frowned. He did not ask Rhein what specific information he got from the Eye of Truth, but he trusted Rhein’s conclusion.

Since the knight armor appeared out of thin air in the corridor, does that mean...

”Could it be that a hidden room exists near where the knight armor appeared?” Angel suddenly asked.

Angel’s words coincided with the Tree Spirit’s thoughts at that moment.

However, Rhein shook his head and denied: ”It’s impossible to confirm because I found nothing unusual near the knight armor. If there was a hidden room or hidden passage, there should be some sort of trace. But I found no traces, not even in time.”

Sanders pondered: ”The knight armor appearing out of thin air surely implies some kind of space sorcery. Since it’s space sorcery, you shouldn’t confine your thinking to one point.”

”You have The Gate of Void, so you should know that space sorcery can conduct short-distance displacements. The place where the knight armor was discovered could have a hidden room nearby; however, its probability is no different from any other place in the ruins.”

In other words, in the presence of space displacement, if the knight armor really emerged from a hidden passage, it could have landed anywhere in the ruins, not fixed at one point.

Angel understood Sanders’ point and slightly regretted: ”If that’s the case, then there still are no clues.”

As Angel was feeling dejected, Rhein spoke again: ”Besides this, I found two places that slightly piqued my Spiritual Sense. But whether they are clues or not is hard to say.”

Generally speaking, when a Wizard gets a Spiritual Sense response, it carries some sort of omen. Of course, it could also be pure overthinking.

However, with Angel and Sanders both coming up empty-handed, any information Rhein gathers is worth analyzing and discussing.

”The first point that caught my attention is the copper plaques on the doors.” Rhein paused and turned to look at the study’s main door: ”I think it might have nothing to do with the knight armor and perhaps even holds no significance. But since it triggered my Spiritual Sense, maybe it holds some meaning.”

The copper plaques on the door?

Angel naturally knew what Rhein was referring to; coming from the corridor, there are three levels down. On the door of each room, hangs a copper plaque.

When Angel first entered the ruins, he first noticed these copper plaques. Because each plaque had a phrase written in cursive floral script.

For instance, beneath the copper plaque of the reception room, it read: ”Although it’s used for receiving guests, there aren’t many guests qualified to meet me.”

Another example is the copper plaque beneath the materials library, which read: ”The materials library is built so large, might as well expand the laboratory.”

Because the wording on the copper plaques is so distinct, both mocking and highlighting certain traits of the owner, Angel remembered them very clearly.

However, he felt puzzled as these series of plaques weren’t put up by the original owner of the ruins but were hung by the second owner, Tizarro.

And according to their assumptions, Tizarro should have had nothing to do with the knight armor.

”You also know the words on the plaques were written by Tizarro. What’s peculiar about that?” The Tree Spirit asked Rhein, voicing Angel’s doubt.

Rhein: ”Perhaps it has nothing to do with the knight armor, but there are indeed some strange aspects about the plaques.”

Rhein paused for a moment, not to create a mood or atmosphere, but to reach out and snap subtly in mid-air.

To the naked eye, nothing seemed to happen. But on the level of spiritual power, one could see Rhein turning a tiny thread of spiritual power into several nearly microscopic strands, darting rapidly towards the ruins.

In less than half a second, the spiritual threads returned. Along with them came four copper plaques hung on the doors.

These four plaques respectively represent the reception room, study, materials library, and laboratory. Beneath each plaque were corresponding cursive floral texts.

Rhein placed the plaques on the table and signaled them to take another look.

”The plaques seem alright, their mocking tone and hidden self-assertion match perfectly with Tizarro’s character.” The Tree Spirit observed the plaques, and just those few short phrases made him almost envision Tizarro with a disdainful look, muttering in a prideful tone, wielding his beloved Siggen steel pen to scribble carelessly on the doors.

”The plaques were indeed written by Tizarro. At a glance, no issues seem present. However, when I checked with the Eye of Truth, within the crevices of time, I discovered an interesting piece of information.” Rhein mentioned this as he pushed one plaque out from the four—

”The time this plaque was written was different from the others, and there are evident signs of modification.”

All the other plaques were written almost simultaneously. This is quite normal and aligns with behavioral habits of humans. When humans decide to do homogenized series tasks, they typically choose to do them all at the same time or within close proximity.

Just like placing door numbers on every room of a building, starting from 101 to 901. Such uniform tasks that aren’t difficult are likely completed on the same day, and even if delayed, not long afterwards.

The same is true for Tizarro writing the plaques. Once he started, it was likely completed within the same day.

Indeed, that was the case; the other three plaques were written on the same day, except for the one Rhein pushed out, which was written later and showed alteration marks.

”The time line of behavioral logic is off?” The Tree Spirit murmured softly: ”This indeed seems a bit odd.”

Everyone focused their attention on the plaque Rhein pushed out.

It was quite a coincidence; this plaque was from the study in which they were currently located.

Written in Tizarro’s flamboyant cursive script, it said: ”I don’t need a bedroom, but I want a study where no one can disturb me.”