RNP Chapter 237 The Ancient Staff
Chapter 237 The Ancient Staff
Chapter 237 The Ancient Staff
That night, immediately after Chris killed the wizard, he performed a fortune reading.
Unfortunately, that staff was not his signifier of destiny.
But he had no regrets about killing the other person.
This sacrifice is necessary to reach the pinnacle of destiny.
Moreover, it's other people's lives that are being sacrificed.
Chris stripped the wizard of his clothes; he had worn this suede cloak for a long time.
Wearing it, hmm, it's indeed warm and cozy.
After ransacking the man of all his belongings, Chris disposed of the body.
There is no better place to bury corpses than the permafrost continent.
Simply throw the house into the thick, fluffy snow, and the snow will naturally engulf it.
When the next snowfall arrives, not even a trace will remain on its surface.
Chris didn't dare to go to sleep until he had done all that.
Wrapped in the furry cloak, he felt as if he were sleeping on a large bed with multiple blankets.
Chris fell into a deep sleep amidst the crackling of the flames.
He slept soundly that night.
When I woke up, I felt refreshed.
He has already figured out what path to take next.
The flames appeared much dimmer in the daylight.
Since both the sun and the campfire emit light, what exactly is illuminating Chris's eyes?
He couldn't tell the difference.
Therefore, others would also be unable to tell whether Chris, who was wearing a hooded cloak and holding a staff, was a real wizard.
Chris decided to investigate the information that the unlucky guy from yesterday had mentioned.
The area indicated by the intelligence must be teeming with wizards, and Chris would naturally face danger if he tried to blend in.
However, with his attire and his superb deception skills, he believed he could definitely escape danger.
Moreover, he had a premonition that the place the man mentioned was likely the place where destiny would guide him.
Isn't it reasonable for a wizard's staff to be among so many wizards?
So Chris leisurely headed south, and in just one day, he arrived near his destination.
During this time, he had encountered many pedestrians in the desolate wilderness.
Judging from their attire, they're probably wizards.
Chris didn't continue forward; instead, he retreated a short distance.
It was getting late, and Chris had no other abilities besides interpreting fate and discerning its trends.
Operating at night is disadvantageous for Chris.
Therefore, he had to retreat temporarily.
Chris found a hard-to-reach spot and prepared to go to sleep.
He dared not light a fire, lest he be discovered.
No one can guarantee that the person who discovers him while he is asleep will not launch a sneak attack on him.
Therefore, he could only dig a hole in the snow and rest inside his cloak.
Chris was woken up by the cold at least ten times that night alone.
This is the cycle of fate, Chris thought, and I am nearing my ascent.
Just a few months ago, he was a very wealthy man with several hundred gold coins.
But who would have thought that wealth comes easily and goes even more easily?
In just one night, Chris lost everything.
He once tipped a prostitute named Little Sheep a few gold coins without even blinking.
But when he fell on hard times, the first thing he thought of was to go back and get it back from that prostitute.
But he ultimately didn't go.
Visiting brothels was too conspicuous, so at the time, Chris only dared to hide in dark and damp alleys to avoid his "brother-in-law".
Chris calls these, along with the suffering he is currently enduring, the cost he pays to fate.
He firmly believes that the harder he suffers now, the greater the rewards he will receive.
Moreover, Chris already knew in advance that he would become king.
king!
Haha!
king!
Chris is willing to pay any price for this reward!
Chris made it through the night safely.
He exclaimed how fortunate he was to have killed that wizard; without the suede cloak, he might have frozen to death. Upon waking in the morning, Chris then approached the target location again.
He encountered many more wizards.
As Chris sized up the wizards, they were also sizing him up.
But in the end, they only glanced at each other a few times, and neither of them made a move to attack.
Chris walked in the direction the wizards had gone.
Around noon, he noticed a number of wizards standing in front of him.
It was a cedar forest growing on a small hill, the branches covered with snowflakes, and the hill itself was swallowed up by white.
Chris immediately understood: We've arrived!
But Chris still didn't approach rashly, only observing from a distance.
Then, by harnessing the collective power of destiny, a round of destiny interpretation begins.
Fate spoke words to him:
"Wizard's Staff"
"Elders—"
"here-."
here!
what!
Sure enough, fate led him to this place where the wizards gathered!
The signifier of destiny he has been searching for must be among them!
However, Chris didn't rush forward.
Among the wizards in front of me, almost every four of them held a staff.
These staffs vary in length, thickness, and shape.
But which one is the one Chris needs?
If Chris dared to touch them one by one, he felt he wouldn't live more than five minutes.
Therefore, the more critical the period, the less anxious one should be.
Having already successfully seized his destiny twice, Chris now appears much more composed.
He chose to turn back again.
"Don't rush," Chris told himself. He needed to gather intelligence first to ensure everything went smoothly.
For the next few days, Chris continued to sleep outdoors in the snow at night.
As soon as it was light, they rushed to the hill to gather intelligence.
Chris believed he had gathered enough intelligence before deciding to infiltrate the wizards' ranks.
He felt he was only one step away from a meteoric rise in his destiny.
Chris also noticed that in the past few days, the condition of his left hand had been deteriorating faster and faster.
Now, half of his left forearm is red, swollen, and cracked.
Dark yellow pus seeped from the skin and flesh from the palms.
The fingers were completely stuck together by a thin webbed membrane.
At this rate, it's estimated that within ten days, his entire left arm will be completely transformed into this shocking state.
Therefore, Chris must find a way to stop the disease from worsening rapidly before that happens.
Following the guidance of fate and grasping at its pointers is the only way Chris can think of right now.
To make matters worse, he felt his left hand becoming increasingly out of control.
When he woke up this morning, he found a bloody scratch on his stomach with his left hand.
When Chris was awakened by the pain and tried to take control of the hand, it took him a full half minute to completely regain control of it.
Chris was terrified, as if another soul resided in that hand.
And this soul is fighting with Chris for control of the body.
The wizard said that an ancient power was surging within Chris's arm.
But what does the word "ancient" mean in terms of time?
Was it a hundred years ago?
Or perhaps from the time of our ancestors, or even earlier?
Chris didn't know.
But he knew clearly that what he was going to actively contact today was undoubtedly an "ancient" force.
Chris arrived at the small hill.
Dozens of wizards were gathered in twos and threes, chatting amongst themselves in front.
The language they were speaking was undoubtedly Ice English, which Chris could only understand in general terms.
Some of the terms were clearly wizarding slang, and Chris had absolutely no idea what they meant.
However, he only needs to grasp the general outline of the other party's conversation to be able to guess the gist of their conversation with a high degree of accuracy.
As for professional matters related to witchcraft, Chris is not a wizard, so there is absolutely no need for him to thoroughly understand them.
Chris had heard enough of these conversations over the past few days.
Today he intends to take it a step further.
He walked through the crowd and climbed straight up the hill.
When he reached the top of the hill, he immediately saw several wizards wearing red cloaks and holding crescent-shaped wooden staffs, guarding the high point of the hill.
At that high point, however, there is a spiral cave that is carved downwards, extending all the way into the hillside.
Chris learned that the four men were members of the Church of the Holy Ones.
I've heard that this organization specializes in collecting ancient powers and exploring ancient ideas, to the point of near-madness.
In their quest for the truth they believed in, they repeatedly brought immense disasters to the region.
But they ignored it all, leaving behind a mess and walking away, showing complete indifference to everything.
This is why the meeting with the saint is defined as evil.
It is said that every wizard has blood on their hands, and this is a land that tolerates the existence of wizards.
Even in such a place, the existence of the Face Sound Society could not be tolerated, which shows how grave their sins were.
Chris walked over to the members of the meeting of the saints and said to them:
"Grellala".
The wizard in front of him nodded and stepped aside to let Chris in.
Grellella was a legendary witch, and arguably the most famous witch and woman in the world.
She was the object of worship for countless wizards, including those who attended the Holy See.
If they could collect some fragments of Grellara's ideas, these wizards would be willing to destroy an entire metropolis.
The event Chris is about to encounter seems to be related to Greta. As Chris walks into the middle of the four people, the downward cave is fully revealed to him.
A gentle slope extends down the cave wall, winding and twisting like a giant python.
The central cave resembles the open throat of a python, capable of swallowing a person whole, and its depths are unfathomable.
Chris hesitated upon witnessing the abyss, but he eventually mustered his courage and stepped onto the gentle slope.
The further down you go, the dimmer the visibility becomes in the cave.
Soon, he could no longer even see his own hands.
Chris was terrified that he might be unlucky enough to step into a gap in the slope and fall into the abyss, where he would have no chance of survival.
He regretted not bringing a torch.
But actually, you can't bring it either, because if a wizard doesn't even have a means of lighting, he might be suspected.
Fortunately, although Chris lacked a means of lighting, he had a way of discerning the path beneath his feet in the dark.
He focused his power in his right eye to see the trends of time and the fate of all things.
The gentle slope beneath our feet was immediately outlined in a blurry shape by fate.
Chris breathed a sigh of relief, but he still dared to continue forward only after touching the wall with his hand.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, Chris suddenly heard a noise.
After circling around the vertical tunnel several times along the gentle slope, Chris finally reached the bottom of the cave.
Chris, too, saw the light source.
It seems humans are phototropic; Chris instinctively moved closer to that direction.
Soon, Chris spotted another open space ahead.
Many glowing potions hung on the walls, their multicolored light casting a mysterious and exotic atmosphere over the open space.
Many wizards also stood in the open space.
They, like the people in the hills, were also huddled together talking.
However, no matter what they were saying, and whether they were the speakers or the listeners, their eyes were always fixed on the center of the open space.
There was a neat and mysterious drawing there, which Chris guessed was probably a magic circle.
In the very center of the magic circle was a half-body staff.
The moment Chris saw the staff, he knew it was the destiny marker he had been searching for.
If Chris's information is correct, then it should be the relic of "Calamity Witch" Grellara.
The Holy See used their special methods to learn about the hill.
Upon arriving at the location, they immediately set to work and dug out the vertical hole.
And they successfully found the staff in front of them.
However, no one was able to pull the staff out.
The reason is simple: the staff is protected by some kind of "mechanism".
This mechanism is so complex that even the entire organization of the Face to the Emperor cannot break it.
Ultimately, the only option was to disseminate the intelligence, allowing others to merely attempt it.
Although the Society for the Holy See is obsessed to the point of madness, it does not have an excessively strong possessive desire. What they want is only knowledge and truth, not material things and power.
That's why Chris and everyone else standing in the open space were able to gather here.
Chris also knew that the matrix drawing on the ground was none other than a magic circle.
Although Grelarara is known as the "Witch of Calamity," she is not merely a witch.
She was also a genius magician and alchemist.
Furthermore, she developed each of her talents to the fullest extent within her limited lifespan.
Therefore, it is not surprising that her belongings are protected by magic.
Chris had reason to suspect that Grellella must have also set up an alchemical trap here.
He looked around at the empty space.
Everyone stood outside the magic circle; not a single person dared to go up and try.
Based on what Chris had seen over the past few days at the foot of the mountain, where he would occasionally see members of the Holy Church throwing bodies into a snow pit, Chris could guess the price of rashly attempting this.
It was fate that led Chris here, but fate is precisely the kind of thing that cannot be fully understood.
That's why Chris has to be careful.
He needed to find out why no one had pulled out the staff until now.
What is it that caused so many deaths?
Only in this way can he avoid repeating the same mistakes.
If this were Greta, thousands of years ago, it would be a test that would kill anyone who answered it wrong.
The first thing Chris needed to do was not to figure out how to answer the question.
Instead, read the question carefully first.