Chapter Ninety-Six: The Itel Dynasty

Zhao Xu, who had been about to press for an answer, found his entire attention seized by the very word hidden vault.

In his previous life, the Earth faction had floundered for years before finally pulling itself together. It was said that they had done so only after discovering the final lost legacy of the legendary Ittel Dynasty. With the immense stockpile of resources left in that legacy, they had successfully equipped a force with real strength, and that army later won the Earth faction a desperately needed breathing space in the Demon-Sealing War.

Back then, Zhao Xu had only heard people around him gossiping about the highest-level secrets and had merely repeated what others said. He did not know where the Ittel Dynasty’s legacy was buried.

And without a location, there was nothing to excavate.

That was why he had never given the dynasty’s legacy much thought. In any case, he was strong enough; in time, he could naturally get involved at his leisure.

But now there was also the hidden vault of the Arcane Sovereign, Ernest?

Zhao Xu suddenly remembered that the Ittel Dynasty seemed to have inherited some of the ancient Arcane Empire’s shadow. He quickly asked, "What connection is there between Emperor Ernest and the Ittel Dynasty?"

At that, Mage Ryan studied him. "Could it really be such a coincidence? When you were researching Nobility and Royalty, did you read something about this? By rights, even with rank four knowledge in Nobility and Royalty, you should not have been able to uncover this line of descent. Could it be that some things are truly fated?"

After a moment, Zhao Xu still appeared calm and unruffled, with nothing unusual about him.

Since Mage Ryan could not read minds and could not see through any secret by force, he continued his explanation.

"This involves a very hidden secret, so if you do not want trouble when you go back, keep your mouth shut. The descendants of the Ittel Dynasty hold considerable influence in the headquarters of the Mage Association. They treat this history as something too sensitive to mention."

Seeing that Zhao Xu was now listening intently, Mage Ryan finally went on, "The founding monarch of the Ittel Dynasty was said to be a descendant of Ernest. As for when Ernest had descendants, or who his wife was, do not ask me. I would like to know as well."

"Back then, Ernest had already more or less foreseen the collapse of the entire Arcane Empire after his death, and with it the collapse of the entire magical civilization. So he divided the empire’s most precious treasury into two parts: one true hidden vault and one false hidden vault. A thousand years later, the founding sovereign of the Ittel Dynasty obtained that false hidden vault and was thus able to establish the kingdom. It was called false only because the amount of treasure inside was not even one-twentieth of the true vault, but even that was enough for Ittel to found a dynasty that would span a thousand years."

"As for what I uncovered this time, it points to that true vault." With that said, Mage Ryan lifted his eyebrows in triumph, clearly pleased with himself.

After hearing all that, Zhao Xu finally understood. Ittel had founded its dynasty on the back of Ernest’s false hidden vault. Centuries later, the remaining imperial treasure had become the legendary legacy of the dynasty, and Earth’s forces had used it to complete their unification and establish their nation.

Thinking of it that way, just how fearsome must Ernest’s original true vault have been?

By comparison, if the false vault contained less than one-twentieth of the original, then after a thousand years perhaps not even one-fortieth of it remained. And even so, it had still been enough to support the entire Earth faction!

"Then, Master Ryan, have you uncovered any leads?" Zhao Xu asked. The secrets involved here ran too deep; he had not wanted to get tangled up in them to begin with, but since they were tied to the Ittel Dynasty, and it might matter in the future, he decided to ask.

"This is exactly why I was looking at you like that just now," Mage Ryan replied. "I discovered that the false hidden vault obtained by the Ittel Dynasty contains a key that points to the true vault. In other words, whoever obtains the Ittel Dynasty’s lost legacy now might be able to find Ernest’s true vault."

Waves of astonishment surged through Zhao Xu’s mind.

No wonder the Earth faction had always been so secretive after obtaining the Ittel Dynasty’s legacy. It turned out that behind it lay a far greater hidden vault!

And yet...?

Even Zhao Xu, as a native of Earth, wanted to ask just what right Earth’s forces had to meddle with something like this.

At the level of Ernest’s true vault, even the gods would intervene.

When Ernest founded his empire in antiquity, at least half of the gods in the public eye were different from the ones that existed now. If he had lived, he might well have become the present God of Magic.

Not to mention that, in those days, Ernest, though not a god, had records to his name of having brought down ancient deities.

That forbidden history came from the book Antinoya had once read to him.

"Hearing secrets like that, exciting, isn’t it? At least it was worth those shots from your staff, don’t you think?" Mage Ryan said with confident satisfaction.

"Still, Master Ryan, after all these years of uncovering this information, haven’t you gained anything useful?" Zhao Xu said after a moment’s thought, delaying for time.

He suspected that Ryan probably knew, to some extent, about the Ittel legacy.

At once, Mage Ryan bristled. "Hah, I was considered a priority trainee too, all right. Maybe I never reached the level of someone directly favored by a major faction like you, but I still came into contact with plenty of inside information. But before I tell you that, I have to ask: who is your mentor?"

"Antinoya," Zhao Xu answered briefly, seeing through the other man’s feigned innocence.

"Even though you have two items made by Antinoya on you, I still need further proof."

"Then look at this." Zhao Xu pulled out the holy symbol Archbishop Soss had given him and placed it in his palm.

At the sight of the symbol, still brimming with sacred aura, Mage Ryan abruptly fell silent. Whether it was an illusion or not, he even felt that this holy symbol looked more radiant than the ones he had seen before.

What a sly boy.

Mage Ryan muttered to himself. In truth, what he had mainly wanted was for Zhao Xu to show off one or two specialties.

He had already guessed that the boy in front of him had used the Versatile Caster ability, but since Ryan himself lacked spontaneous spellcasting, he could not use it.

Still, that was enough to convince him that the boy possessed no small number of skills.

If he could have coaxed out secrets like Persistent Spellcraft, Extraordinary Spell Targeting, or Uncanny Foreknowledge, he would have laughed himself awake in his sleep.

Unfortunately, a holy symbol of the Goddess of Magic’s cleric was proof enough of everything. Even if Ryan kept hiding here, he would no longer dare confront or question the cleric’s credibility in earnest.

He could only sigh inwardly at his misfortune. He had failed to pry out any specialty secrets and had instead given away quite a few of his own.

Still, the person before him had faintly made him feel that the thing he had been pursuing might truly have hope, so he was not stingy with his words. "The secret of that lost Ittel legacy is in the hands of the Ittel descendants in the floating city."

The floating city.

Wang Ningwei.

Zhao Xu realized he had already worked out the reason Earth’s forces had obtained the Ittel legacy.

It had been the headquarters of the Mage Association that told Wang Ningwei the secret of Ittel’s lost legacy!

Besides the charisma granted by the specialty Leadership, it was the final legacy of the Ittel Dynasty that had enabled Wang Ningwei to bring the entire Earth faction into line.

"And I’m eighty or ninety percent certain that the big names in the Mage Association know the clue to the true vault is hidden within the false one."

"Then why don’t they dig it up?" Zhao Xu asked.

"No one is stupid. Think about it: if the Ittel Dynasty had the key for a thousand years and still never found the true vault, there must have been a reason. Otherwise the dynasty would not have fallen."

"My guess is that the excavation requires a certain moment." Having said this, Mage Ryan gave Zhao Xu a long, penetrating look.