Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"Power? You are too weak, the power I possess is not suitable for you."

This once again proved the other party's strength, which Shard believed without a doubt.

The woman paused for a moment before continuing, as if in thought. And the temperature inside the room had returned to the same level as the hallway, indicating that her mood had also returned to normal:

"But I happen to have in my possession a decent Relic, though its value is far less than that statue of the Old God... No, not the Box of Darkness, that's merely a Poet-Level (Level 5) toy. I offer you a Scribe Level (Level 4) Relic and will tell you the secrets of the Blood of Mercury, to help you avoid danger, in exchange for the address and Spell Words. How about it?"

"No problem, thank you for your generosity, ma'am."

Because saying nice things doesn't cost any money, Shard was willing to use the "Northern Common Language Pack" in his head to translate his Chinese into the Otherworld language with a translated accent to praise the other party.

But this time, Shard didn't take the initiative to reveal the contents of the Spell Words, and the woman inside the door surely understood his intention:

"Recently, a Sage-Level Relic has appeared in Tobesk City."

The first sentence was somewhat surprising; he had thought the woman wanted to discuss the Keeper of Secrets Level Relic related to the Blood of Mercury, the Forged Philosopher's Stone that Shard had seen on the Academy Bounty Notice at the doctor's.

But fortunately, it was only Sage-Level (Level 2), not Angel-Level (Level 1). But on second thought, it seemed unlikely for him to suddenly encounter an Angel-Level Relic; after all, Shard still had a certain level of confidence in his luck.

The woman in his heart laughed again.

"This is not exactly a secret; at least the Church and the Academy know about it, as well as other fellows with spies in this place... The Sage's Relic is God's Gift Box, an instrument once used by an Old God who possessed the power of Creation."

The woman behind the door said with a teasing tone:

"At present, the Blood of Mercury, which is classified as an illegal organization, possesses this Sage-Level Relic.

For some reasons, the Blood of Mercury is temporarily unable to move the Relic, so God's Gift Box is still in Tobesk City. The power of the Relic is immense, every Circle Sorcerer who touches the box for the first time will automatically know a formula for synthesis.

By putting specific Relics into the box in a certain order, one can synthesize a more powerful and definitely fitting Relic for themselves. Detective, do you understand?"

"I think I understand."

Shard carefully memorized this information—this was the first time he had come across information about a Sage-Level Relic.

"This is somewhat similar to the synthesis in the Study of Alchemy, but the side effects of a Sage-Level Relic... Diak, the 'Silver-Eyed One' of the Blood of Mercury, seems to think that through this box, he can master the synthesis method for an Angel-Level (Level 1) Relic, the Blood of Mercury..."

The woman was laughing, but her laughter wasn't nearly as pleasant as the laughter in Shard's mind at that moment.

"The Silver-Eyed One is attempting to use this immovable Sage-Level Relic to synthesize the real Blood of Mercury, which was also the original intent for the formation of the Blood of Mercury organization, in pursuit of a possibly non-existent Relic... That's why this group of people came to this city with all sorts of random items, including that statue.

They say there are also a number of quite decent Relics, but for now, I am only interested in that statue."

"So, what do you think of that Sage-Level Relic, the God's Gift Box?"

Shard hesitated, quite doubtful. If everything the woman said was true, he wondered if the Academy, knowing the truth, would inform the local Correspondence Circle Mages in this region.

If they told the whole truth, then the Bounty Order seemed somewhat understated. Therefore, the Academy Bounty Notice he saw at the doctor's might actually have "finding traces of the Blood of Mercury organization" as its real purpose, and the Forged Philosopher's Stone was just incidental.

The Academy currently had no intention of sharing this intelligence with the Correspondence Circle Mages.

"I have no interest in that item whatsoever, I know exactly what that box is, so I will never touch it. It first appeared in the autumn of 1068 of the Fifth Era, very ancient, very powerful... If I were you, for the next few months, I would definitely hide in this fog-shrouded City of Steam from Blood of Mercury, those people are nearly going mad."

"Alright, ma'am, I really appreciate your information. It's a spell word..."

He took a few seconds to commit the woman's words to memory verbatim, then confidently recited a six-syllable spell word. After that, he added that it was due to the effect of his Core Spirit Rune that he was able to learn it.

But the woman seemed unconcerned with that comment, just as she was indifferent to why Shard could easily make the Box of Darkness go out of control.

"Good, Detective, I appreciate someone like you, this was a rather nice commission. Now, please take care of this 'Relic'."

From behind the door came the sound of a drawer being pulled open, followed by footsteps. But when the door was finally pushed open, only a young maid emerged. In her mid-twenties, she wore the classic, sturdy black and white uniform of a maid.

Her black hair was netted with white ornaments because she wasn't working in the kitchen, so she didn't have the apron around her long maid's dress that Shard had envisaged.

This definitely wasn't the lady Shard had been conversing with. The contour of the lady behind the door had been depicted in golden hues in the darkness just before, quite different from this dark-haired maid.

The maid opened the door at the corner of the bookshelf, immediately returned it to a slightly ajar state, preventing Shard from getting a chance to see the "noble lady" inside. Then, she carefully brought a small square box in front of Shard, cradled in both hands, the outside wrapped in red velvet. She held it in one hand and with a snap, opened it to show Shard the ring nestled inside the lining.

A faint smell of blood was captured, but neither the naked eye nor the Echo of Blood could see any blood stains on the ring itself.

The ring appeared to be made of pure silver, and the gem in the setting was a piece of yellow amber encasing an unknown insect. The insect, resembling a common midge, was entirely red as if it could come to life from the amber at any moment.

"You have touched 'Whisper'."

"Scribe Level Relic 'Vampire Ring', when worn on an injured state, directly touching any humanoid creature's skin can draw their blood to heal oneself.

It cannot cure diseases or curses, but it can provide relief. However, if the injuries needing healing are too severe, it could lead to the contacted person's blood being drained instantaneously... But do not use the ring as a weapon, even if you are willing to hurt yourself, don't do it.

This is a Scribe Level Relic, frequently using the ring's ability to heal oneself can lead to symptoms similar to Bloodlust Syndrome."

That was the woman inside explaining. She didn't hide anything about the Relic:

"Do not wear it when you're uninjured, at least not for extended periods, or else I can't guarantee what might happen. Of course, even if it isn't because of the Relic's side effects, it's better not to wear it casually, because this is also something I took from Blood of Mercury, they don't know who took it, so... you should be that cautious."

For a moment, Shard didn't know whether to fuss about the woman's contradiction with Blood of Mercury or to ponder the relationship between Blood of Mercury collecting so many blood-related Supernatural Items and synthesis formulas.