Translator: Shiraishi Editor: TheAlliance
Under the protection of the Magic Spring, Lin Yun went a few hundred meters deep in the cave before finally finding the mentioned stone tablet. The stone tablet wasn’t that imposing, however, words in Nesser language were inscribed on it.
‘It’s actually Nesser characters…’ The inscription on the stone tablet brought some sort of shock to Lin Yun.
There would be no issue with the Nesser runes being there if it was a newly built tomb, after all, it was already considered to be relatively widespread among mages. High Mages and stronger mage powerhouses would usually study such Nesser runes.
But this tomb was a tomb of the 3rd Dynasty…
In the 3rd Dynasty, only the members of the royal family could understand the Nesser runes. That was a dynasty ruled by bloodlines. The ranks between different bloodlines were strict, and the mages who weren’t part of the royal family, no matter how powerful or otherworldly they were, couldn’t get a chance to learn the Nesser language. Only one outcome awaited them if they were found guilty of learning the Nesser language in secret, immediate execution.
‘So it’s a member of the 3rd Dynasty’s royal family…’
After a short surprise, Lin Yun’s eyes fell onto the stone tablet once again.
Although the inscription on top of the stone tablet was in Nesser language, it was far less complicated than the magic knowledge Lin Yun usually came in contact with. Thus Lin Yun spent less than ten minutes to decipher the inscription on the stone tablet.
From the stone tablet’s inscriptions, the person buried there should be a prince who should have lived during the early stage of the 3rd Dynasty. It could be seen from some grammatical parts that were commonly used during that time. Lin Yun relied on those details to make an approximative guess of the tomb’s origin.
‘Strange…’ After reading the inscription, Lin Yun was filled with doubt.
Normally, an ordinary tomb inscription would be a review of the tomb owner’s life. Even if it wasn’t detailed, it would surely carry some important bits of information. But this stone tablet didn’t say anything about the prince’s life, it was as if the prince’s life was blank.
However, Lin Yun understood after figuring out the identity of the tomb owner. No wonder such a shocking amount of wealth was hidden in a temple in the Poison Fog Canyon.
The 3rd Dynasty’s royal family believed in the Haiba Dragon God of War and Power.
Among Noscent’s legends, the Haiba Dragon God was one of the two Dragons at the birth of Noscent, it was in charge of war and power. Someone who obtained the favor of the Haiba Dragon God would have the power to triumph in every battle. The Haiba Dragon God’s most loved offering was wealth, whether it was dazzling gold or glistening gems, they would both make the Haiba Dragon God happy. How much care a follower would receive depended on how much wealth he would offer.
A prince’s offering to the Haiba Dragon God could naturally be described as outstanding.
Thinking about this, Lin Yun was naturally looking forward to exploring this tomb.
After all, the 3rd dynasty was famous for their lavish burials. Even when a civilian died, they would be buried with all their savings, let alone members of the royal family… Every royal tomb could be considered a huge treasure.
Who knew how many powerful mages became rich by being grave robbers during the peak of the magic era. Even a tomb of a member of the side branch of the royal family would make a High Mage rich overnight. That was a crazy era, almost no member of the 3rd Dynasty royal family would escape the fate of being disturbed by the livings. From emperor to prince, from duke to baron, people used this method to do an archaeological study of the 3rd era’s high society.
That was a crazy era, but it was also an era that would make one rich overnight. During that era, mages began to make an inventory and discovered that 3rd Dynasty’s royals amounted to almost half of Noscent’s wealth.
Once he was done reading the inscription, Lin Yun started carving all kinds of marks on the inside of the cave.
Every 3rd Dynasty family royal tomb had fixed rules. These might be unknown to people of this era, but not to Lin Yun.
This was due to those grave robbers during the peak of the magic era, they excavated nearly all of the 3rd era’s royal tombs. What kind of tomb were built for people of different status, what kind of rules were established for what kind of tomb, all of these secrets were already classified into a specialized school of magic knowledge, becoming a mage’s essential knowledge at the time.
Although Lin Yun didn’t specialize in learning that kind of knowledge, he had seen countless explanations about it in the decaying library, it was to the point that he could easily figure out the layout of a prince’s tomb.
What Lin Yun had to do now was marking out the position of every room of the tomb.
‘That should be the prince’s resting place, I should leave it for later…’
If it was an ordinary tomb, then the priority would be to dig up the dead’s resting place, because that would be the place the tomb owner was sleeping in, and there would be buried the most precious items of the entire tomb.
But the tomb he was now excavating was the tomb of a prince of the 3rd era.
Lin Yun clearly remembered that beside being extremely proficient in magic knowledge, they were also very good with Bloodline Curse Magic. That was a power coming from their bloodline. The purest the bloodline, the stronger the spell power would be. Moreover, that power wouldn’t disappear after their death, remaining lingering like a ghost. Countless of those grave diggers during the peak of the magic era died to that power.
Lin Yun wasn’t sure he could withstand this Bloodline Curse Magic…
‘I should first start with the surroundings…’
Lin Yun made his decision and chose to first start with the outer part of the tomb. Usually, the tomb’s surroundings wouldn’t have items that were usually buried with the dead, however, it was also unlikely to be dangerous for the same reason. He was going to open up the tomb’s surroundings first, but more importantly, he would make sure he could retreat anytime.
Nothing could be done about it, he only had 10 Magic Spring left in his bag, counting the ones he would have to use on his way back, he would only be able to stay 40 minutes here at most, with such a short time, even if Lin Yun entered the resting place of the prince, he would likely not have much gains.
Rather than going on a wild good chase, it would be better to first prepare a way out.
That way, if he met any danger, he would be able to timely retreat.
As for profits, it wasn’t that urgent.
From his talk with Sauss, he gained three months. Three months were enough to excavate the prince’s tomb.
Once he made a decision, Lin Yun quickly sprang into action.
To be honest, for a powerful existence like a Great Mage, the matter of digging up a tomb was very simple. Even if Lin Yun didn’t do the job himself, he unhurriedly chanted a few sentences to summon a few Rock Puppets. These stiff and slow elemental lifeforms were almost useless outside of providing cover during battle. However, they were extremely useful when it came to digging a grave
Rock Puppets moved very slowly…
But their strength couldn’t be matched, and they would never tire. Lin Yun only needed to add a Sharpness enchantment to the limbs of each puppet, with the help of the enchantment, the few Rock Puppets would quickly clear up the path leading to the core of the mountain.
Lin Yun couldn’t help shivering as he felt a gloomy cold wind blowing out of the passage. Suddenly, Lin Yun heard some mournful scream, it felt as if a ghost would rush out from the passage as a gloomy aura filled the mountain.
‘Trying to scare people!’ Thankfully, Lin Yun was prepared and let out a Light spell he had been preparing.
In a flash, the entire mountain was lit up with dazzling lights. The originally gloomy aura was swept clean in a split second.
Once everything was over, Lin Yun sighed in relief.
Lin Yun knew that it was the power of the Bloodline Curse. Each tomb of the royal family was protect by that kind of power. What affected Lin Yun a second ago was just a trace leaking from the tomb. He would be able to feel the true horror of that power once he went deeper in.
Lin Yun didn’t stop chanting after the Light spell dispelled that sudden gloomy aura, incantations kept coming out of Lin Yun’s mouth, Lighten, Haste, a few Rock Puppets, and once he was done he let off a Mage Vision, to make the puppets’ vision temporarily linked to his own.
Afterwards, Lin Yun passed down a few commands to the Rock Puppets.
Several Rock Puppets entered the passage, and by relying on the floating effect of Haste and Lighten, he steadily left the tomb’s surroundings.
Lin Yun had summoned a total of five Rock Puppets. They didn’t move together after entering the tomb surroundings, but scattered instead. Each Rock Puppet explored one direction, and with the Mage Vision, Lin Yun was able to understand the layout of the entire tomb.
