Angel originally wanted to look for any other news about the Darkening Technique or Death Alchemy Sect Alchemists, but after flipping through books all night, he couldn’t find any similar information.
Instead, among a stack of thick Alchemy Books, he came across an unnamed booklet.
At first glance at this untitled booklet, Angel thought it might be yet another of Culori’s Alchemy Guides because its appearance was particularly similar. But upon opening it and seeing a line of small characters at the top left of the first page, Angel froze.
"New Calendar Year 7027, Month of Flowing Fire."
This familiar handwriting, Angel could confirm, was absolutely written by Culori himself.
Moreover, this specific format, this familiar way of recording time, was almost identical to the style of the previous "Culori Chronicles"!
This might be a "Culori Chronicles XIV" that they hadn’t found before! Because it had no title, Lord Rhein didn’t notice it earlier, thinking there were only thirteen volumes of "Culori Chronicles."
Discovering a new chronicle, Angel was naturally surprised, but upon further contemplation, he noticed something amiss.
"It’s now New Calendar Year 7378, which means New Calendar Year 7027 was three hundred years ago?" Angel frowned. According to Tree Spirit and Rhein’s accounts, after Tizarro left seven hundred years ago, this ruin was sealed away until Angel arrived and reopened it.
In other words, this "Culori Chronicles XIV" must have been written by Culori upon returning to this ruin after it was sealed!
Angel couldn’t wait to read on.
"After a thousand years, I’m back to my old place."
"I’ve always known that my little laboratory concealed in the Void was drifted near the Southern Domain of the Wizards’ Realm due to the spatial storm’s impact. However, because I’ve been in seclusion, contemplating the refining of the Teshumir Mirror, I’ve never come over to check."
"Last month, Belos took a mission from the Orderly Guild to support the Observer stationed in the Southern Domain Wizards’ Realm, and that gave me the chance to return."
"Before returning to the laboratory, what worried me most was whether the Nightmare Light had leaked out, affecting the nearby Transcendents. But fortunately, the Gemini Laboratory enveloped in Nightmare Light docked near the Southern Domain but has not surfaced."
"It hasn’t impacted the life forms of the Southern Domain, and that’s good."
"Since I’m here, I’ll reinforce the Gemini Laboratory’s Void Constraint; it should not surface."
Seeing this, Angel roughly understood that Culori was referring to the Star Pond Ruins. The first thing he did upon returning was to reinforce the Star Pond Ruins to prevent it from surfacing and endangering the life forms of the Southern Domain.
From this point of view, it shows that Culori’s personal allegiance leans towards the White Wizard.
However, if you think about it carefully, if Culori truly cared about the safety of the Southern Domain life forms, he should have come to reinforce when the ruin docked at the Southern Domain a thousand years ago, instead of waiting until returning hundreds of years later to do it.
But that aside, even so, Culori’s personal allegiance still possibly leans towards the White Wizard. It can only be said that his personal interests outweigh everything else.
This is actually the norm for White Wizards, as Holy Mothers with truly flawless morals almost don’t exist in the Wizards’ Realm.
"According to the records, Culori indeed reinforced the Void Constraint of the Star Pond Ruins, and if nothing unexpected happens, the Star Pond Ruins might not surface for thousands of years." Angel sighed deeply in his heart: "But unfortunately, an accident happened."
The Fusion Point between realms happened to appear near the Pamiji Plateau.
Although the fusion between realms failed due to Angel’s intervention, the space fluctuations it stirred up at the Pamiji Plateau caused the hidden Star Pond Ruins to break through Culori’s constraint and reemerge into the light.
This led to the series of events that followed.
This can’t be blamed on Culori.
With a sense of regret, Angel turned the page and continued reading.
"Tizarro, this junior seems to have stayed in my laboratory for a long time."
"I investigated a bit. He’s a wizard from the Barbarian Cave and left the Southern Domain over five hundred years ago. A bit of a pity; I wanted to meet him and hear his evaluation of my laboratory."
"Tizarro belongs to the Witcher Organization known as the Barbarian Cave. I’ve heard of this Witcher Organization before. Greenwald Magic Research Institute’s Natural Researcher Audrich is said to also hail from the Barbarian Cave. Additionally, the newly ascended genius Legendary Level Witch, Yuli Witch, is also from the Barbarian Cave in recent years."
"Tsk tsk, truly a place full of talents."
"I intended to explore the Mirror World, but Audrich once said he would provide Legendary protection for the Barbarian Cave, prohibiting Legendary Wizards from interfering with the Barbarian Cave’s development. Although I have no malice, I’d better not provoke the famous researcher’s trouble."
In this short page, Angel saw two familiar names.
——"Touch of Nature" Audrich and "Yuli Witch" Marisa.
Audrich, Angel had heard of this name when he first entered the Barbarian Cave. The previous Controller of the Barbarian Cave and also Lord Reine’s most respected elder, during his thousand-year reign, he led the Barbarian Cave back to the ranks of top organizations, a powerful Nature Witch who dominated an era.
However, after Audrich broke through to the Legendary Realm, he passed the position of Controller to Reinmut and left the Southern Domain to seek further hope beyond the domain.
Angel could also guess that Audrich must have gone to the Origin World after leaving, but didn’t expect that even in the Origin World, Audrich would continue to protect the Barbarian Cave in another way.
As for the other "Yuli Witch" Marisa, she left the Southern Domain two thousand years ago. Her reason for leaving, like Isabella from the Black Castle, was because she had been unable to break through the third level’s constraint and wanted to seek opportunities for breakthroughs beyond the domain.
Yuli Witch has been unheard of since her departure, with rumors within the organization claiming she might have died on her quest journey.
Unexpectedly, she’s still alive.
And moreover, judging from Culori’s tone, Yuli Witch not only is alive but is living quite freely.
Though Angel has never had any interaction with these two seniors, seeing fellow members from the Barbarian Cave along the long road ahead gives him an inexplicable sense of comfort.
Perhaps in the future, Angel will still not have any interaction with them. But just knowing they’re still alive and haven’t given up on pursuing the path of truth gives Angel a psychological comfort that even in the darkest of paths ahead, there’s a bright lighthouse guiding the way.
...
It was unexpected for Angel to see the predecessors of the Barbarian Cave in Culori’s chronicles, which he hadn’t anticipated.
After his reflection, he continued reading.
"I found some of Tizarro’s inspiration notes in the laboratory. From these fragmentary records, it’s evident that Tizarro is quite a clever person. Even though he focuses on his own experiments, he can still notice that there’s a hidden bedroom in the laboratory from some details of life."
"Unfortunately, the bedroom and the laboratory are separated. Unless you find a short-distance teleportation array or lock onto the laboratory’s coordinates in the void, there’s no chance of entering the bedroom."
"But I didn’t leave a short-distance teleportation array in the laboratory, so he’s destined not to find the location of the bedroom."