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Carisia, pressing her temples, spoke up."What kind of artifact is it? Antiquity? Relic?"
Although they conveniently lump them together as artifacts, there are two types. One is Antiquity, made by human hands.
Artifacts are the general term for magically imbued objects. Among these, a select few with exceptional craftsmanship passed down through the ages are called Antiquities.
The other type, which cannot be recreated by magic, includes items created by gods or dragons and are known as Relics. Most relics stored by the Cult of the Vanished Gods fall into this category.
"It's an Antiquity."
The artifact suitable for Astraphe wasn't some divine relic. In fact, according to information stolen from Blasphemia, there were still some ancient ruins where relics were hidden.
However, using Blasphemia's information right now wasn't ideal. If we were caught during excavation, they might mistake us for Argyron and pursue us.
The information about the artifact we aimed to find this time was actually recorded in the original work.
Since it was an artifact used by Astraphe in the original novel, it naturally suited him well.
"There are several ancient ruins from the era of the Mage King that the Torres faction is excavating. One of them contains an artifact called the Talisman of Thunder."
In the original novel, Astraphe is sold to the Torres faction and undergoes various modifications to create a backdoor access to the Ten Commandments, a long-cherished project of the Torres faction.
They used every possible artifact on Astraphe's modifications, considering it a necessary sacrifice to create a perfect ether hacker.
Among all the artifacts they possessed, the most powerful one central to the modifications was the Talisman of Thunder.
Originally, magi-cybernetic implants require periodic mana charging. Even powerful mages with some self-charging capability inevitably have reduced combat endurance.
The Talisman of Thunder is an artifact that overcomes this limitation. It conditionally provides an endless supply of lightning-attribute mana, an ancient artifact.
Carisia tilted her head after listening to my explanation.
"Why hasn't anyone found it until now? An artifact that continuously emits mana should be easy to locate."
"The Talisman of Thunder's performance is proportional to the wearer's mana control."
Mana is fundamentally a consumable.
A mage's soul can produce mana autonomously, but this natural recovery ability varies greatly depending on the individual's condition and constitution.
Mana potions or stones can supplement it, but consumables have carrying limits.
Thus, combat mages train mana absorption, converting ambient mana to their own mana for quick recovery.
Mana absorption recovery involves three main stages:
1. The mage controls the mana within their sphere of influence.
2. The controlled mana is converted to match their mana attribute.
3. The converted mana is absorbed.
In the conversion and absorption stages, inevitable losses occur, thus limiting the effectiveness of this mana absorption method.
The Talisman of Thunder is an artifact that optimizes these losses to near zero during conversion and absorption.
Therefore, if the wearer has sufficient mana control, it can supply more mana than is used every moment, achieving practical perpetual motion.
Thankfully, the limitation on the individual's total mana capacity and the recovery time for converted ambient mana prevents true infinite mana accumulation.
If that were possible, Carisia would have immediately suggested, "Let's make this a bomb."
"Indeed. Since it's buried without a wearer, its conversion and absorption capabilities are deactivated. No wonder the Torres faction is struggling to locate it."
"Yes. With most towers focused on Argyron's terror attack in Elysion, we plan to use this opportunity to retrieve the artifact before the Torres faction does."
***
Carisia summoned Arabella.
Arabella found herself becoming gradually accustomed to being called by her superior late at night and despaired.
'I shouldn't get used to this, damn it.'
However, a greater despair awaited Arabella the moment she entered the office.
"Oh, you arrived quickly. Thanks for coming despite the late hour."
Not only Carisia, but Orthes was also in the office. Her instincts screamed that this meant overtime.
'If you knew it was late, you shouldn't have called…!'
But despite the warning, Arabella had no choice. What could she do when summoned by her boss?
In any normal job, she would have thrown in her resignation, but unfortunately, Hydra Corporation did not allow resignations, being a lifetime employment institution.
"Director Arabella, do you have information on the Torres faction?"
"Oh. Those dealing with Cretone? Didn't you wipe out that faction yourself?"
"Since then, there's been no connection between Etna City and the Torres faction, but it seems there soon will be."
Orthes' sly smile complicated Arabella's thoughts. Argyron's terror was spreading across the entire Ether Network.
A tower soon to be visited by Blasphemia's secret inspector in such a situation?
'Could the Torres faction have allied with Argyron? No. That would be too risky…'
"What kind of information do you need on the Torres faction?"
"The ruins they are excavating."
"Oh. That's easy."
Even when excavation is attempted secretly, it's difficult to maintain secrecy. The first issue is the manpower involved in the excavation.
Unless it's a remote area like an extra-dimensional danger zone, bringing in large groups of people is bound to attract attention.
If they worry about exhausting their own mages and hire troubleshooters or mercenaries, it becomes even harder to conceal.
With a wave of her hand, Arabella pulled up a hologram list. Currently, the Torres faction is excavating three sites.
"One is presumed to be a temple from the Mythical Era. The other two seem to be ruins from the Mage Era."
Mythical Era. The time before the Mage King's arrival when only divine incantations existed without magic. The Mage Era followed, opened by the Mage King and his ten disciples.
Arabella thought Orthes would be interested in the Mythical Era ruins. Blasphemia's secret inspector would likely be more interested in those than in the Mage Era ruins.
However, Orthes only looked at the information on the two Mage Era ruins.
***
Which one is correct?
My head was spinning. Damn it. Considering it's related to mana, it's certainly not from the Mythical Era.
'Should I just guess?'
"Inspector Orthes."
As I deliberated between the two candidate sites, Arabella's voice reached me.
"Yes?"
"Why are you looking for information on these ruins?"
"Uh…"
I glanced at Carisia. The alliance with Lampades was still unconfirmed. Officially, the reason for visiting Elysion was to prepare Kine for Musaeion admission.
I couldn't disclose details of a secret contract without the boss's consent.
A slight nod from Carisia. She was leaving it up to me.
I chose my words carefully.
***
"There's a high possibility that an artifact particularly useful for the divine investigation is buried in one of these two ruins."
I thought it was a rather abrupt excuse. Wouldn't relics more likely be from the Mythical Era?
"Precisely, it's not the artifact itself but its ancillary effects that would aid the divine investigation. I'll explain more once it's confirmed, as it's not a settled matter yet."
Arabella's mind raced. Not the artifact, but its ancillary effects.
It's not a settled matter yet.
And a secret inspector from Blasphemia…
"So the Torres faction is dealing with Argyron?"
"Pardon?"
Obvious bewilderment. That reaction gave Arabella confidence. Wasn't this the first time she saw a genuinely human reaction from his always closed eyes!
Excited by Orthes' confusion, Arabella instinctively began explaining the solution to the puzzle she had quickly pieced together.
It was an instinctive action born from the thrill of potentially troubling the boss who had consistently imposed overtime.
"Saying it's not the artifact itself but the ancillary effects that are useful implies the excavation itself is crucial. The nature of excavations involves frequent entry of external personnel. A large influx of unfamiliar mages won't raise suspicions."
Hence, the Torres faction is suitable for hiding Argyron personnel.
"Director Arabella, isn't Argyron currently known as a group of Eroders? Who would negotiate with Eroders unless they're out of their minds?"
Arabella scoffed.
"Of course, that's the common perception. But you said they're a faction of Blasphemia's rebels, right?"
Orthes recalled that Carisia had explained the Blasphemia rebels to the directors before leaving for Elysion.
The explanation omitted the detail that they were both rebels and Eroders!
'To explain that fully, I'd have to delve into my and Carisia's past, which is off-limits…'
"The general belief is that Eroders are non-negotiable. But if it's known they can communicate, the towers' responses will change."
It was well-known that the Torres faction aimed to usurp the Yellow Thunder Tower's position. They were too weak to be considered the second in the thunder attribute faction, hence often ignored by Yellow Thunder Tower.
"Argyron probably revealed their identity first and proposed a deal. They'd offer information useful for the succession war in exchange for cooperation in spreading the Silver Thread hosts. The Torres faction's global slave trading network would be very helpful for distributing Silver Thread hosts."
Blasphemia would naturally monitor mythical excavation sites closely, so those would be excluded as trading locations with Argyron.
Arabella delivered her final conclusion.
"You discovered the secret deal between the Torres faction and Argyron and plan to expose it by catching them in the act, right? The uncertainty is because their covert relationship isn't confirmed yet."
A Blasphemia inspector wouldn't overlook such a traitorous act
. Arabella confidently declared her understanding.
Orthes covered his mouth with his hand.
'How did she reach this conclusion…?'
"No. It's a completely different reason."
"Then, what exactly is your purpose?"
"I can't answer that right now."
Arabella nodded satisfactorily at hearing the famous evasive answer. It was the first time she felt she had won.
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