They walked for less than half a minute before they saw the "objects with faint extraordinary reactions" mentioned by Angel.
Previously, Angel didn’t spend computing power on careful investigation, only knowing it was a small item, possibly some extraordinary items left by predecessors.
But when they actually walked up to it, they found it wasn’t an object at all, but a very small skull.
When they first discovered the skull, they thought it was a baby’s skull because the back of the head was facing them. But when they saw the front, they were stunned.
"Do humans have cyclops species?" Kaier asked silently, looking at the skull with only one eye socket.
"Regardless of whether humans have cyclops species, have you ever seen anyone with a split all the way to the ear root, and over a hundred sharp teeth crisscrossed?" Dox retorted.
Kaier shook his head: "Seems like no."
Dox: "Then that’s settled, this is actually the skull of a magical creature."
Dox picked up the skull from the ground; the small skull fit perfectly in the palm of his hand. After carefully examining the skull’s details, Dox considered: "There are many one-eyed magical creatures, but with only one skull here, I can’t tell which kind of creature it is."
After Dox finished speaking, he looked toward the Black Earl.
The most experienced and knowledgeable among them was the Black Earl.
The Black Earl did not disappoint. He merely glanced at the skull with his nostrils, sniffed a few times, and provided the answer.
"This is the juvenile form of a flying skull demon, which inherently has only the skull and no body. Two-month-old flying skull demons have skulls comparable in size to adults, and after three months, their heads are even larger than adults. Looking at this skull’s size, it can be concluded that this flying skull demon’s juvenile form is less than a month old... perhaps even less than half a month."
"Its time of death, judging from the almost nonexistent extraordinary energy inside the skull, should be over a hundred years ago."
"As for the cause of death, it’s hard to determine. The skull is complete, which might suggest non-physical attacks on intracranial organs."
After finishing, the Black Earl said indifferently: "While I don’t mind explaining and educating you, something so clearly unrelated to our goal is pointlessly wasting words if understood, and useless if not."
The Black Earl rarely expressed complaints, but Angel could feel that the Black Earl wasn’t really angry about wasted words. He might feel like Dox treated him as... a tool.
One moment Dox could argue with him, the next, whenever encountering something unfamiliar, he’d turn to him.
Is this not being treated as a tool?
The Black Earl has his temperament; he wouldn’t speak directly but would hint to you that he was slightly annoyed.
Angel knew people like this quite well. Whether his mentor or Lord Rhein, even big shots from the Abyss like Fafnir, Odeclass, Baltica, etc., basically had this disposition.
To put it nicely, it’s called maintaining noble self-esteem, unwilling to express emotions directly.
But simply put, it’s being tsundere.
Encountering such moments, others might sit upright and dare not speak further, but Angel, being experienced, immediately responded: "Lord, you’re right, but this flying skull demon might not necessarily be unrelated to our goal."
If Dox had said this, the Black Earl wouldn’t even pay attention, but with Angel saying it, he considered it: "Why do you say so?"
Angel organized his words: "If there’s no accident, traces of flying skull demons should occasionally appear near our target location."
Upon these words, Angel felt a ripple in the Black Earl’s emotion. He quickly added: "As for how I know this, it’s personal, and I can’t reveal it. But also, don’t fully trust me; what I said might also be wrong."
"It might be wrong?" Black Earl asked in confusion.
After pondering for a moment, Angel replied: "Because reality often differs from imagination."
The Black Earl frowned, seemingly sensing a hint of thread, yet upon careful thought, it vanished again.
However, because of this sudden inspiration, the Black Earl partially believed Angel.
The Black Earl quietly asked: "Besides the flying skull demon, does the target location have any other features... I mean, in your imagination?"
Angel hadn’t expected the Black Earl to so quickly accept his words, and this time he didn’t hold back: "Yes, the surroundings of the target location might have maneater flowers."
What Angel mentioned were experiences from the Nightmare Realm. His first visit to the Nightmare Realm’s location was actually outside the maneater flower tunnel, where he encountered two flying skull demons that startled him into fleeing into the tunnel, where he discovered the tunnel’s end was that... mysterious wall.
"Flying skull demons and maneater flowers, okay, I’ve noted it," the Black Earl said solemnly.
Angel: "Listen, it’s still the same sentence: when imagination collides with reality, everything might change."
Black Earl: "I understand."
Listening to the dialogue between the Black Earl and Angel, others were completely perplexed. Kaier and Vay’s confusion was one thing, but Dox wouldn’t allow himself to remain bewildered. On the way, he went directly to Angel’s side, asking quietly, "What were you talking about earlier? What’s imagination, what’s reality?"
Angel didn’t answer but asked: "Are you planning to keep this flying skull demon’s skull as a collection?"
By now, they had continued onward, but Dox hadn’t discarded the smooth skull, still playing with it in his palm.
"You don’t get it, the feeling of holding it full-handed is really quite satisfying." Dox said, showing a meaningful expression.
Angel raised an eyebrow: "Then suit yourself."
Angel was purely pondering whether Dox’s behavior indicated a subconscious action influenced by inspiration, and whether it was related to what followed. But Dox seemed not to grasp Angel’s intention, and Angel couldn’t explain, so he let it go.
"You asked me, but you haven’t answered my question yet." Dox still appeared insistent.
Angel was reluctant to answer, but Dox was the most persistent and cheeky Wizard Angel had ever met, completely disregarding the demeanor of an Official Wizard, pestering as if a child asking for candy.
After enduring a journey filled with constant buzzing in his ear, Angel finally sighed.
"Have you heard of prophecy visions?"
Dox, seeing Angel respond, immediately became a good student, nodding vigorously: "Images captured from the future?"
"Almost. I know a Prophet Wizard who specializes in capturing images from the past or future."
"You can now understand it as if the Prophet Wizard I know saw some images and told me. These images point directly to the destination, and alongside them are trivial details, such as the flying skull demon and the maneater flower I mentioned earlier."