Dox: "Secondary profession? You mean as an Illusionist?"
Angel said quietly: "...The Illusionist is my primary profession. I meant it in relation to alchemy."
"Your call." Despite saying so, Dox remained noncommittal. He didn’t know the extent of Angel’s expertise in illusion techniques, and most Southern Domain Wizards also probably had no idea. But Angel’s alchemical abilities have been acknowledged by the Research and Development Institute, and now, when mentioning Angel, the first thing that comes to mind is an alchemy genius, not an illusion genius.
However, if Angel believes himself to be primarily an Illusionist, then so be it.
Angel didn’t wish to argue on this topic, so he continued: "Under shared perception, I could clearly feel that the magic blood isn’t that pure; there are some impurities in it."
"After all these years, isn’t it normal for there to be impurities?" Dox wondered aloud.
Angel ignored Dox and continued on his own: "I attempted to construct the Eye of Nalda and found it to be a very familiar feeling—not foreign impurities, but those belonging to a special mineral."
At this, both Dox and the Black Earl realized what Angel was implying.
"You mean magic blood ore?"
Angel nodded: "The residue in this hole should be from the human-faced eagle magic blood ore."
"Even if it’s confirmed to be magic blood ore, what does it really explain?" Dox still seemed a bit confused.
Angel pointed to the depression on the ground: "This depression, unless there’s some unimaginable far-fetched theory, is the fixed position of a lectern. And the residue of magic blood ore in the depression can only mean that the material used to create that lectern was the human-faced eagle magic blood ore."
"And even the poorest quality magic blood ore possesses a long preservation capability, as its creation itself spans ages."
By this time, the Black Earl understood Angel’s implication: "You’re saying that the ’lectern’ here, because it was made from human-faced eagle magic blood ore, couldn’t have been eroded by time but was rather taken away by someone?"
Angel nodded: "Although it’s magic blood ore, I didn’t feel any alchemical traces. Previous exploring wizards, unless they were alchemists, probably had difficulty determining the material of the lectern. Even if they figured it’s magic blood ore, due to its uncertain value, they might not have taken the lectern."
Black Earl: "So, it’s possible that the lectern here was taken by adventurers."
Angel nodded again.
Upon seizing this clue, the Black Earl didn’t hesitate and contacted Vay immediately through the Mind Ribbon.
"Ask the Endless Old Man if the lectern on the hall stage was still present when he visited back then?"
When Vay received this message, he was on his way to the cellar with the Endless Old Man and others. The Endless Old Man and his group intended to first meet up with Machusa and her son, while Vay gathered information along the way.
The Black Earl’s sudden transmission puzzled Vay, as he completely didn’t understand what had happened. But he didn’t dare disobey his master’s command and immediately conveyed the question to the Endless Old Man.
After listening, the Endless Old Man looked surprisingly at Vay, realizing Vay had been following them closely yet somehow knew about the building’s situation. Indeed, the abilities of a Transcendent are unfathomable.
The Endless Old Man dared not inquire how Vay learned of this information, thought for a moment, then said: "It was still there when I came, but..."
Half a moment later, through the Mind Ribbon, Angel and the others heard the reply given by Vay.
The result was quite pleasing.
The lectern was still there when the Endless Old Man first came. Due to a special encounter, they discovered that the single-column lectern was of such high quality that even their sharpest blades couldn’t cut through it.
As a result, a brute in their adventure group pulled the lectern out from the ground.
After some modification, it was directly used as a weapon to hammer people.
As time passed, that brute retired from the adventure group, but his weapon remained left for his apprentice, who happens to be part of the Hero Squad. He is Machusa’s husband.