Netheril’s Glory-Chapter 108: The Mysterious Statue.
As an old mage, the high priest had a lot of valuable things, and at least in terms of equipment, he was far more lavish than Punk. This could be seen from the high priest's space ring, which had ten cubic meters of space inside that was much bigger than the three cubic meter ring Punk inherited from McNeesey.
And then there were about five hundred gold coins and many precious alchemical materials inside the ring, but these were not valued by Punk that much; after all, these few things alone were not enough for a mage like the high priest to spend time and effort to inscribe dangerous, self-destructive formation on the ring.
Some of the alchemy equipment seemed to had been put into the ring in a hurry. Punk guessed that it was probably the high priest's emergency collection when he broke in. This also explained why there was no experiment equipment placed on the inner room of this cave that was previously used by a mage as his secret base.
The only things that really made Punk feel that he had gained something were five weird objects- these were two sealed tin jars, a letter that had been opened, a spellbook with some torn-off pages, and a stone carving in the form of a spider.
Punk carefully took out the two jars, which looked exactly the same. They were not inscribed with any defensive formations; instead, there were low-level formations in them that could shield magical fluctuations from the professional below the official level. But in Punk's view, this kind of minor formation was just decoration.
His mental power perception easily penetrated the formation and found that the jar was filled with a viscous gel-like liquid, and a slight magical fluctuation was slowly permeated from it. But Punk didn't know what this liquid was.
"It is not the right time to open these jars. Let's wait until I return to the White Tower, and then I will study it carefully."
Thinking this way, Punk put the jar back in the ring.
Next, he took out the spellbook.
According to the system's speculation and restoration, this spellbook should have originally recorded two spells, but one of the spell model's fundamental description was torn off artificially, so only one of the spells could be learned.
Punk increased the brightness of the light ball and then looked at the scribbled text on the spellbook with his eyes shining with azure blue light.
"Official level...prophecy spell-Filthy... prediction?"
Punk barely recognized the scribbled handwriting comparable to the doctor's prescriptions in his previous life under the system's analysis.
"Filthy prediction? Is there any connection between this spell and the visceral divination spell!"
Punk silently recalled the weird but mysterious experience at that time he cast the spell "visceral divination" for the first time when he was an apprentice mage.
"In any case, this is something to be studied in the future."
Punk flipped through the spellbook and then put it back.
The last two items were not magical items. The first one was just an ordinary letter, but it was full of wrinkled folds and seemed to be hidden in a narrow place. But the texts inside the letter was elegantly written in a beautiful and neat aristocratic font:
"Honorable High Priest, Our current mission has been implemented quite smoothly. The Locke Chamber of Commerce heads, Gath and Candor, have already drunk the "Holy water." And under the influence of the great goddess Ti Xiaer, they are willing to contribute to the cause of the goddess. But recently, a new chamber of commerce-the Minohorn Chamber of Commerce has appeared in Dolez. According to our investigation, the head of this chamber of commerce is the daughter of a noble named Lo Lan. And they seem to be supported by an official-level mage named Punk Saian. They have not shown any tendency to interfere with the "Mission" so far, so I specifically ask the high priest whether we should preach Lo Lan Minohorn. -Your loyal servent, Zweig Koala.
Punk got a lot of information from what was written in the letter. He put it away and began to analyze the information in the letter carefully in his heart.
"Mission! Huh! This is not really unexpected. A group of fanatics suddenly popping up in a town; obviously, their intention was not to hold a concert. Of course they were planning some conspiracy. However, this conspiracy seems to require the cooperation of the ruling nobles and the chamber of commerce, and one of them, the "Locke Chamber of Commerce," seems to have been influenced. Some noblemen also betrayed the city of Dolez for unknown reasons. The conspiracy also involved Lo Lan's Minohorn Chamber of Commerce. Still, because of my existence, they did not take action on this emerging chamber of commerce yet? And what does the so-called "mission" mean? "
Punk's eyes grew colder and colder. Before he completely gave up the path of the reclusive mage and embarked on the road of looting, the Minohorn Chamber of Commerce was an essential source of income for him.
"These guys actually dared to eye my property. What do they rely on? Do they really think I am so easy to bully!"
Punk put the letter back into the ring with a cold face and an angry heart and then squinted slightly to check the last item- The peculiar spider statue.
The reason Punk thought it was not a magical item because it was a Divine item from top to bottom. Punk, as a knowledgeable mage, immediately recognized the ability attached to this almost magical item.
"Projection ability? which god is so bored that he/she wants to communicate with an official-level believer in person?"
Punk was quite puzzled. Although he had guessed that this inexplicable "Goddess Ti Xiaer" was not an orthodox god, he still felt very surprised seeing this object with projection ability.
This kind of projection magic could project the image of a god without any requirement of the strength of a believer, so any believer could communicate with the god face to face, and it only consumes very little power of faith. So it was very useful as a communication tool between gods and their churches.
However, why would the gods, who think of themselves as supreme of all beings, talk to an official-level "small fry!" But looking at the stored faith in this statue, Punk could not help but think-
"Does the high priest often video chat with his goddess!"
Now Punk could not help but wonder if the so-called "Goddess Ti Xiaer" was truly a divine being who at least had legendary-level strength. From her behaviour, it seemed like she was even worst than a master-level powerhouse. But then again, the power of faith stored in this statue couldn't be faked............
" Not right…"
Once again, carefully perceiving the power of faith in the statue, Punk suddenly discovered that the power of faith inside it was somewhat weird. It was different from the power of faith condensed on church's statues, which had pure and beautiful feeling without a trace of impurities.
... But the power of faith in this statue was filled with various tyrannical emotions, and there were also crazy desires bursting like bubbles. This power of faith obviously had not been purified by the Divinity, and it would seriously pollute the consciousness of the absorber.
Now, this situation raised more question than it answered. As a result, Punk had a rare incredible feeling.
"How can someone who doesn't have Divinity gather and absorb the power of faith? But the power of faith in front of me is really being gathered and absorbed without being purified by the Divinity! Such contradiction!"
"Well, since I don't understand it, let's just ask the person of interest herself."
Punk looked at the statue in his hand with interest.
"Anyway, even if it is a god, she still cannot ignore the rules of this universe and bring divine punishment on anyone, and if it is not a god............ then there is nothing to be afraid about!"
After calming down from his surprise, Punk suddenly realized that he didn't have to guess endlessly here and then slowly infused mana into the statue.
There were too many mysteries in this world, and Punk's cheap parents were just master-level mages. The knowledge they inherited could only be regarded as a drop in the ocean, So now the unknowns needed his own exploration.