Chapter 86: Dead man tells
The ring was in the first of the two small boxes they opened. The other box was locked. There wasnt much in there. The coveted ring sat wedged in a notched round pedestal thing made of gold, which had three more empty slots. So were missing two rings.
[You Elsewhere Be Charging Port] : This complex magical item was designed to restore the spent spatial properties of enchanted blue glass.
Item level : 0. Grade : Regular.
Besides that was a neat stack of seven sealed letters and a hollow glass ball with a needle floating inside it, and layers upon layers of ritual circles engraved on the glass. As well as what looked like the stamp that had been used to seal the envelopes, and a tiny mithril key.
Sofia identified the glass ball first.
[Key-Ring locator] : A Key-ring locator. Infuse with mana to cycle the currently tracked ring.
Item level : 0. Grade : Regular.
Looks like we can actually find all the rings. Trying it out, the needle switched between the ring in the box and the ring on Aliths finger. Either theres no more or it cannot find the other ones. Might have to do with being in this weird void. Or theyre too far.
Sofia finally identified the ring on the port. It was the exact same description as the one they already had, and it had all its uses left.
It was lucky that she was already sitting on the floor or she might have keeled over. Finally it was absolutely certain that she could escape. She wiped the teardrops that had begun to form in the corner of her eyes, and picked up the stack of letters. They all bore the same wax seal of a limbless dragon biting its tail.
Each of the envelopes had a single line on the front, Sofia read them out loud.
To Iriadell. To Zhng Erellan. To Zhng Zhn. To Zhng Adriell. To Alkorm D. To Terrible Limping Drunkard Richard. Sofia had to stop reading to chuckle. Thats the name of the infamous Arch-Lich, over level 400, master of storage items? The terrible limping drunkard, Richard?L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.
I wonder if it would be dangerous to deliver this letter. And I guess Alkorm D is the Dragon? And the others are for his wife and kids. So the last letter
To my savior.
Aight, this one is for us, open it already, Alith urged her.
I tried and failed to leave three times. The rings left by themselves. The first one was the prototype, it wasn't even halfway charged, so when it disappeared, I thought the final and fully charged ones would work. But they didn't. They also left me empty handed in this realm. It turned out they had access to enough mana to activate but not enough to take me with them. I do not even know where they landed.
I realized my mistake. If someone comes here with the rings I lost, they would be trapped too, even worse, they would appear at the preset locations in the swarmed outer city.
I have wasted too many lives already. You who read this letter. You know what I did, you know how I will end up today when I enter my laboratory for the last time.
I have been rotting away here too many years already.
I have no hope to leave anymore.
If the grafting goes well, this realm will have enough mana for you to safely leave, this will cost me my life. But I can at least allow the unlucky stragglers who stumble upon my rings to not suffer the same fate.
I do not know why you pushed through to come and meet me, when your ring could have taken you back to where youre from, but I thank you.
I pray that you go and retrieve the two other rings with the device Ive created if you can, so that no one else finds themselves here. The device should be able to track them down as long as youre within a thousand kilometers I realize how much of an impossible task that is. Sorry. There is nothing in it for you. But I can go with a lighter mind knowing that you will at least have the option.
Finally, now that you killed me, I must warn you that your time to leave is counted. Since I am no longer here to produce it, the mana will eventually run too thin to leave again. This might take anywhere from a few months to a year.
If your regeneration isnt less than half of what it used to be in the physical realm, that means there is still more than enough. But I urge you to not come back unless your natural regeneration (in an environment deprived of mana) is over two hundred mana points a second.
May you meet my family, I beg of you, please let them have my letters.
I would advise not sharing the knowledge you find on the tablets with anyone, for your own safety, it might even be better not to look at them. But I could not bring myself to destroy them. Indulge in this forbidden knowledge if you wish.
As a final note I would also advise against entering the castles underground floor. This is where the plane crossing device is. It is also what keeps the city afloat and the air breathable. Do not go near it, unless you seek to destroy whats left of Zangdar.
That is all.
For putting an end to my self imposed misery, I can never thank you enough.
Zhng L
