Turning Chapter 1058

Chapter 1058

Enon took a deep breath, his surroundings whirling as he began to circle the area. His lemon-colored eyes sparkled ferociously, like a predator eyeing its prey, meticulously scanning the interior of the laboratory. It was a gaze similar yet entirely different from any he had shown before.

"I've only ever searched this place following the methods of Luma. It was so familiar to me that I never considered any other approach. Luma never put much effort into hiding things. I assumed Luma would have only used his own magic because that seemed obvious...! But if he had seen through to that extent, if he believed I would reach this point..."

His circling movement stopped at one spot. Enon's gaze finally settled on his own palm.

"When we found that person's secret laboratory in the West, we used the blood of the descendants to open the door and enter, as I mentioned before."

Yuder recalled Pruelle and Kishiar, who had torn their palms and smeared blood on the family crest engraved on the wall to enter the hidden laboratory of the First Duke Tain.

Somehow, he felt he could clearly understand what Enon was thinking now.

Enon was not human. He was not Luma's descendant either.

However, he possessed the heart and hands of the Great Mage.

A being unique in this world. The guardian who had lived for nearly a thousand years without aging, possessing a part of the Great Mage's body. What could be a more precious, unchangeable, and irreplaceable key than that?

Enon clenched his fist once and then opened it, speaking, "You always carry a dagger with you. Give it to me."

Despite a slight disagreement, Yuder eventually provided the dagger to Enon. Enon casually cut his own palm without anyone's assistance.

Enon's blood was no different in color from that of others.

"Tsk. Let's see. Whether this is the right key or not."

Enon gathered the blood pooled in his palm and stepped forward. He headed towards the tree he had been sitting and staring at until now.

'He spent the most time searching there so far.'

Perhaps Enon thought that if Luma had wanted to hide something, that place had the highest possibility.

Without hesitation, Enon reached his hand inside the hole in the tree. His hand was swallowed by the darkness, and after a moment...

-Rustle rustle...

In the quiet silence, a branch that had seemed dead and withered suddenly began to tremble and shake.

Following that, all the branches shook together. It was as if an invisible wind was blowing and waves were crashing only in that spot.

-Huk...!

The lamps that had been brightly illuminating the inside simultaneously went out, and everything was engulfed in darkness. Even Yuder, with his keen night vision, couldn't see anything for a moment.

"Enon?"

"Stay still right there!"

Enon shouted sharply. The moment Yuder, maintaining his vigilance, widened his eyes to confirm Enon's location, the lights turned back on as if nothing had happened. The surroundings brightened, and Enon became visible again.

He was still standing in front of the tree. However, the surroundings had completely changed.

The tree hole, which had been empty, was now tightly packed with countless pieces of wood. Bookshelves filled with bundles of paper and old books had appeared on the walls that had seemed empty, and several unfamiliar objects were seen on the desk that had merely looked old.

Yuder thought this feeling was similar to the moment when the hidden laboratory of the First Duke Tain was revealed after solving the code. It was definitely somewhat different from Luma's magic he had seen so far.

'Was Enon's guess really true?'

Enon, who had been blankly staring at all those things like Yuder, let out a deep sigh with an expression that was hard to describe.

"The things I wondered where he had thrown away and hidden were all here. How about it? Was I right?"

"Never mind that, hurry and treat your hand first."

"You're prioritizing my hand over this incredible discovery?"

"That won't disappear somewhere else now that we've found it, but your hand is different."

Enon let out a short laugh as if it was absurd.

"Alright. I got it. Did you think this big brother would have torn his hand without considering that?"

When Enon clenched his fist once and opened it, the wound disappeared in the blink of an eye. Apparently, he could quickly recover from such a small wound without needing regeneration.

"Let's see..."

Enon picked up a few pieces of wood that had spilled out from between the tree holes. As he lowered his eyes and concentrated, a satisfied smile soon appeared on his lips.

"These are indeed records of the research process. Things about the difference between the soul and the body. And there seem to be things about time as well."

The papers and books stuck in the bookshelf appeared to be materials collected during the research. Yuder couldn't read the contents due to the archaic language, but Enon roughly grasped and recited them as he saw them.

"The books are mostly collections of old stories. The papers seem to be a list of names? All unfamiliar names... No, I recognize this one. Gyllandr."

"Gyllandr is the name of this place. And..."

"Right. It's also the name of a fairy. I'm not sure if all the names here are fairy names... Maybe Luma met and interacted with fairies more than we thought when he was researching the body and soul to create guardians."

"What kind of old stories are you talking about? Like legends?"

"There seem to be some like that... Anyway, judging by the many unfamiliar names and place names, it's clear that these were recorded before the Great Destruction. He sure collected and left behind a lot of these..."

Yuder recalled what Kishiar had said before.

"The Commander said that there might have been information in the history before the Great Destruction about someone else who had gone back in time or obtained a second chance, like me. If Luma was searching for cases similar to the First Emperor, those materials might be related to that. The scriptures too."

"Right. Then we should focus on examining whether they're related to that first."

They counted and identified the number of materials stuck in the bookshelf, and finally headed to Luma's desk. There was a small, old book that looked like it would crumble at any moment. Enon carefully picked it up and opened it, his eyebrows twisting as if he had seen something very unpleasant and infuriating.

"...This seems to be left behind for me to see."

"A journal?"

"Something like that. I thought he would have taken this with the scriptures, but I guess not. To think even this was here."

Enon closed the journal, fiddled with it for a moment, and then handed it to Yuder.

"Can you read it?"

"Me?"

"This is recorded and hidden in Luma's way, so I think you can read it with your Eye of Magic."

Yuder hesitated for a moment before taking the diary and opening it to any page. He placed his hand on a spot filled with things that looked more like stains than letters, and just like when he had read Luma's letter, unknown letters rushed into his mind and transformed into comprehensible sentences.

— It's strange to be unable to do now what was once successfully accomplished in a forgotten past. This fact infuriates me daily. Living to return to the past while preparing for the future is a ludicrous contradiction. Even this truth torments me…

When Yuder flinched and removed his hand, Enon stared at him without even blinking and asked, "You can read it, right?"

"...It seems so."

"Alright. Then you read that first. I'll start by skimming through the research materials."

Normally, Yuder would have asked why, but he didn't. It was because he had seen how deeply disturbed Enon had been just by looking at Luma's letter.

Sometimes, there are things you want to put off until the very end. If reading this journal had that meaning for Enon, Yuder didn't mind reading it first.

"Got it. I'll read it first and let you know if there's anything to convey."

A journal written by the Great Mage Luma himself. There was a very high possibility that it contained information related to the First Emperor's will. He absolutely couldn't miss it.

"Good. Now we have a clear task at hand. I'll probably have to stay here for a month."

"You're not going back to the Cavalry and then coming back?"

"There's nothing I absolutely have to do right away. I don't think I'm needed to meet the new members coming from other regions."

"That's true, but..."

"I'll write a letter to that little Lusan, so you can deliver it when you go back."

Enon acted as if all the conversations were over now. Yuder gazed at Enon, who seemed to be turning his back to start reading the materials right away, and then lowered his gaze to the journal. As he tilted the page to flip to the front, he noticed letters that were far fewer in quantity compared to the other pages.

That page seemed to have less fading compared to the others, as if it had been inserted later.

'Usually, when something is written later and inserted at the front like this... it's likely a message left for the person who will discover it.'

Yuder touched it. Soon, light flowed from his keen insight, and letters began to penetrate his mind.

- To the Guardian.

- If you're not here to seek a way to protect the land.

- If you discovered this for the reason I think you did.

- Perhaps this may also be of help.

- I hope you are happy at the moment you find this.