"The Oath of the Blood Mist Moon."
At first glance, the title of this article seems quite legendary, leading Angel to believe the core of the article revolves around a significant event filled with blood, revenge, entanglement, and promises.
However, this is not the case.
The Blood Mist Moon is generally considered a fixed term, referring to a certain month. Just like the Southern Domain’s Resurrection Moon, Deep Slumber Moon, and Bloom Moon, it corresponds to the names of months.
The Oath of the Blood Mist Moon, however, is the superficial friendship entanglement between two witches during this month.
The entire article in "The Lost Poems" spans only two pages, yet it could incite lively discussions among witches at a tea party for three days and nights.
It is worth mentioning that neither the Blood Mist Moon from the story nor the two female protagonists, Witch Greely and Witch Xuela, are known to Angel.
But from the described atmosphere, it can be confirmed that the background is a large world with wizards.
Therefore, Angel speculates that "The Lost Poems" might be a magazine from one of the other three Wizards’ Realms outside the Southern Domain.
Of course, it might also originate from the Origin World.
No matter where it specifically comes from, these non-Southern Domain magazines, even if they are slightly gossipy and female-oriented, can provide Angel with a bright perspective and insight into foreign customs through their details.
Therefore, for Angel, it’s also a kind of gain, an increase in knowledge.
Besides "The Lost Poems," there are other magazines like "Port Chronicles," "Pink Rainbow," and "Sandy Shadow." Angel confirmed that none of these come from the Southern Domain.
Angel organized these non-Southern Domain publications.
He didn’t plan to take them directly, being an Illusionist Wizard, he could simulate entire books using illusions. If he used Nightmare Illusion, they could even remain as good as new for decades.
So, without special circumstances, he could completely use illusion capabilities to recreate books. He planned to find time to read them slowly later when he had free time.
However, even with illusions, a preliminary flip-through was necessary just to perform the action. Flipping through a book took about a second, and Angel had summoned five Hands of Magic, which made the process even faster.
In less than a minute, he had used illusions to recreate all the books.
During the recreation process, although Angel did not read them directly, he still developed a general understanding of the recreated books.
"Port Chronicles" is a journal published by a magazine from Victor Warmwind Port, issued once a year, describing various anecdotes from Victor Warmwind City. From some small details, it is evident that Victor Warmwind City should be a very large City of Wizards, estimated to be on par with the Sky Mechanical City.
"Pink Rainbow" has a suggestive name, similar to "The Lost Poems," and is a female-oriented gossip magazine published quarterly.
As for "Sandy Shadow," it sounds the most proper, but in truth, it is the least proper among all the magazines. If expanded, its name would surely be "Glamorous Figures on the Beach," a pictorial journal published monthly.
Among these three types of magazines, "Sandy Shadow" has the largest number, with hundreds of copies scattered in disarray on the ground. Angel recreated them all, not concerned with the textual content but with the people depicted in the images. These are extraordinary beings from outside the domain, and having basic knowledge could be vital if he ever encounters or confronts them.
After recreating the required books, Angel turned his gaze to the depths of the main hall, where there was a light and shadow corridor about twenty meters long.
This corridor, filled with geometric lights, had a kind of aesthetic appeal stemming from its structure, but it was a dangerous beauty. When Angel observed room number 02 from the master control node, he noticed something amiss with this corridor. It was connected to many devices related to the Magical Energy Array, and these devices were quite dangerous.
It’s worth mentioning that although these devices are structured on the Magical Energy Array, they do not fully rely on it for energy circulation. The trigger points are unrelated to the Magical Energy Array and are instead linked to the light and shadow. This setup might have been intentionally designed by number 02 to guard against numbers 01 or 03.
Wanting to break through was impossible just by suppressing the Magical Energy Array; only by unraveling the light and shadow mechanisms could one succeed.
Taking advantage of the master control node, Angel had gained some understanding of the light and shadow mechanisms, knowing how to calculate and break them. However, not being versed in shadow magic meant it would be a strenuous task to calculate, and traversing the corridor would consume a lot of time.
But at the end of this corridor lies the study, archive, and laboratory of number 02, and Angel certainly wanted to explore these areas.
Thus, Angel decided to take another shortcut.
Since it was impossible to suppress the effects related to the light and shadow devices within the Magical Energy Array, Angel opted to suppress another effect of the array: space isolation.
Angel naturally couldn’t suppress the space isolation of the entire floor, but just restricting the space isolation of this single corridor was quite manageable.
Standing before the light and shadow corridor, Angel briefly confirmed the spatial stability, then directly opened The Gate of Void.
The other end of the door led precisely to the end of the light and shadow corridor.
Without any obstructions, Angel easily bypassed the meticulously set light and shadow devices of number 02.
In front of him, three branching paths appeared, leading to three different places, namely the study and bedroom, laboratory, and archive.
After mulling it over, Angel headed to number 02’s private laboratory first.
After a while, Angel emerged; number 02’s laboratory truly held nothing noteworthy. It was a special laboratory set up by number 02 for researching shadow spell techniques. There were some research reports on shadow magic but they were locked in a special device and couldn’t be retrieved. Besides that, there were some consumables needed for shadow magic which Angel didn’t touch, as these special consumables required shadow techniques for handling, and random interaction could trigger backlash.
Next, Angel went to the study, where he discovered many books related to shadow systems, but they were of little use to him. He casually recreated a few uncommon ones and exited.
His final destination was the archive.
In the archive, Angel spent the most time, even experiencing a fluctuation of law during his stay.
The reason for his prolonged stay was that the archive indeed contained materials relevant to the base’s laboratory. Whether it was the core material for Soul Arms or not, Angel couldn’t determine, so he opted to recreate it first.
Apart from Soul Arms materials, Angel also found a very intriguing series of publications.
This publication was called "Metal Dance."
The specific origin of it was unknown to Angel, but it definitely wasn’t from the Southern Domain.
"Metal Dance" is an annual publication, with number 02 collecting thirty-six issues. It falls into the category of entertainment-type publications that number 02 favored, albeit differing from gossip magazines as it combines alchemy with home entertainment.
The founder’s mission statement is inscribed on the front page of each issue: "To make life more convenient."
Inside, it teaches some simple alchemy creations to make the nuances of life more comfortable, such as how to eliminate radiation from metals and turn them into a toaster; or how to refine metal pipes and design household layout for easy sewage disposal... and even how to arrange home decor to enhance charm when guests visit.
Angel guessed that turning the main hall into a light and shadow style was likely inspired by "Dance of Metals."
Overall, although this "Dance of Metals" doesn’t contain particularly valuable alchemy blueprints, the ingenuity inside is quite interesting. Furthermore, it offers insights into how other Wizards’ Realm is developing alchemy, which is enlightening for Angel.