"Push the ninety-ninth arm from the left towards the center, do the opposite for the first arm from the right. The head will pop out then. Rotate it to the left for half a round before pushing the first arm back and extending the two hundredth arm from the right. Press the red mole on the forehead and the door will open"
The voice startled Sen who was in deep thought. "Who?" he asked, but no answer came.
"Is someone really behind there?"
After contemplating it for a while, Sen decided to do as the voice said. As he thought, the key to opening the door was the bronze statue.
'Cling'
'Clang'
Sen did as he was told and when he finally pressed the red ruby mole on the statue's forehead, he heard a 'click' sound.
'Rustle!'
The four chains holding the door in place vibrated and rustled before they slithered across the eternum surface like snakes.
The bronze statue's hundreds of hands shrunk into the bronze woman's back one after the other from right to left.
'Rustle!'
The gate then split from the middle into a double door. It pulled open right enough for a burly person to enter.
Throughout the entire process, Sen felt nothing from the door, no Mana, and no energy, meaning that this door was most likely purely mechanical.
Sen took a deep breath and vigilantly entered the room. He was still in his Fanalis form. Sen had decided that from now on unless necessary, he would always stay in the Fanalis form.
His strength is very limited when he mimics other people's appearances. And even when he takes on one of his bloodline forms such as his human appearance, his strength is still somewhat proportionate to his appearance.
Back to the creepy room; it was dark and somber. Sen stepped carefully and approached the center, he even set a clone ahead first to scout for traps but there weren't any.
"I never thought that someone other than those two would find this place" the same voice spoke, echoing throughout the room. "Did they send you? Oh but you didn't even know how to open the lock, so I assume you sneaked in?"
Sen was still vigilant, but he felt no aggression from the voice's tone.
"I walked in through the front door"
"Ha, quite bold! But you should really leave before that witch and the old man find you"
It was then that Sen Thought about it. Elaila's master is a world-level cultivator. The only reason he was able to defeat him was that what he fought was just a clone whose power is only up to the expert level but lower than Sen's.
Maybe that teacher of hers wasn't really far and would arrive here to collect whatever precious thing he left in this room.
For a moment there, Sen seriously debated leaving this place. But the heart itching with curiosity seduced his thoughts. And besides, his hellfire burned a part of the man's soul. Since he is a world-level cultivator, maybe he will have a way to cure it but it surely won't be so soon, so Sen relaxed.
"Who are you?" He asked. The voice was sensible enough to advise him to leave, so it should be fine…right?
"You don't seem too concerned. Why are you here? Did you really just sneak in?" the voice answered with its own questions.
This time, the voice came from a certain direction. Sen turned there and he noticed it. In a dark corner of the room, a few rays of light coming from the torch outside the door shone on some metallic chains.
There was someone there. This fact baffled Sen since he clearly felt no presence once he entered the room.
Hurriedly retrieving an illumination pearl he bought from the DuBois shop, Sen lit it up and finally managed to see what or who was talking to him. And as he expected, the person was a prisoner. At least that's what the heavy chains suggested.
He had dark disheveled purple hair, face covered with soot as if it hadn't been cleared in years. But despite that, Sen could still see the spirit in the man's eyes. In fact, he looked as if the fact that he was chained in place was nothing to speak of.
He was chained in a weird way, however. Both of his hands from the tip of the fingers to the elbow were locked in an elbow-deep metal glove that was as thick as a tree log. A chain was attached to the glove from one end while the other was attached to the ceiling.
"Who are you?" Sen repeated.
"Umm, you're the guest, shouldn't you introduce yourself first? You did disturb my nap time after all" the man wickedly smiled.
A vein nearly popped in Sen's head. First, this man showed no reaction whatsoever to his Fanalis form. Second, shouldn't he be begging Sen to release him? What's this with napping time?
"I'm Sen. you don't seem very surprised to see me"
"Were you sent by that woman? She really upped her game finding a holy energy use like you to convince me"
"You-"once again, Sen felt a headache. Wasn't his fused energy supposed to be sealed? Was that old lady Ming playing him?"
"Oh sorry" the man made a dumb expression, "clearly you didn't want anyone to know about it since you had it sealed"
"Just who are you?"
"Naljaag Shieda Hinahoho at your service, You can call me Shieda"
"That's a weird name. Are you a demon?"
The same wicked smile was still plastered on his face. He didn't answer.
"Then why are you here?"
"Ahh, that little girl Elaila and her teacher think they can get something from me. So they've been keeping here for some time now"
"How much is some time?"
"Not long, about ten years?"
Sen choked on his words. Ten years is not long? What's wrong with this guy?
"Why are you here?" asked Shieda again.
"Zacharias owes me and my friends something so I came to collect." He truthfully answered. Sen also felt that hiding the truth from this man is pointless. "That teacher of hers came. I sent them packing though"
As soon as Sen finished talking, a glint shone in the man's eyes. His tone also became more serious.
"So you killed them?"
"No, they ran away before I was able to. I did injure the old man's soul nevertheless"
Shieda smiled, "sit down. Let's talk."
Sen complied. He found a spot and lazily sat down cross-legged. He was really interested in what this man has to say. But before that,
"How do you know about the fused energy in my body? And the seal."
"I admit, that seal is one of the strongest ones I've seen, but it is not enough to deceive my eyes."
Sen stood up, intending to leave. If he brought one thing with him from earth, it's his impatience and hatred for dancing around the topic. Plus this man was really irritating.
"Hey wait!" the man hurriedly stopped him, "I'll answer your question. Man, you're no fun. But first, can you tell me why you have two ancient magic in your body?"
"Two what?" Sen was dumbfounded.
"I can see them. One is green and hot like nothing 'I've seen before. And the other is pink and cold, the opposite of the first" Shieda said and stared at Sen, waiting for an answer.
Sen, who knew nothing of what the man was talking about, could only harden his face to hide the embarrassment. "Well…I'm…special"
"You don't know what I'm talking about don't you?" the man mockingly sighed and generously explained. "Umm, for mages, when they start to learn magic, they focus on one major discipline. For example, either be a pyromancer, or an aquamancer. You can't be both."
'Makes sense' Sen nodded. 'But that girl Jenna used fire and spatial magic'
"Of course, some people can learn two or more disciplines depending on their luck. But there exists a type of magic that is so rare that when one learns it, it could ruin their body. It is called ancient magic, and even if they did learn it, they can only master one. But you, my long-eared weird looking friend, you have two. Not only that, but they're of opposing elements and still are in perfect harmony with each other."
'Hellfire and true ice art!' Sen realized. But he really didn't know anything about this stuff. He crossed over like this. But this also made him curious. He had two other arts, though they were internal energy-based so they cannot be considered magic, but more like martial arts that manipulate energy to strengthen the body and combat movements.
"Anyhow, you really are special. I've never seen one like you and I've seen a lot"
From what Sen had in mind, in these kinds of scenarios, the person on the other end would be cold, detached, and filled with hatred. They wouldn't even spare the other party a glance because of their arrogance.
But this man here was a total chatterbox. He spoke with such enthusiasm about his life and the circumstances leading to his imprisonment by Elaila and her teacher.