Chapter 99: 95 The Purple-Red Stone

Followers of the Lord of the Lost!

Byrne was glad he was nearly thirty, for if it had been himself from a few years ago, he might have been so frightened as to tremble.

Now he was sufficiently composed. Upon hearing “followers of the Lord of the Lost,” he was inwardly shocked, yet he still maintained his calm and listened silently.

“There’s no information about them. Numerous people have come to search in the Eastern Four Kingdoms of the continent over the past decade or so, yet no clues about this ‘Lord of the Lost’ have been found.”

The person who answered her was “Time Stasis Stone,” whose voice was that of an elderly man.

“Time Stasis Stone” appeared tall and thin, clad in a gray robe, his voice full of wisdom brought by experience.

Having said that, “Time Stasis Stone” added with great perplexity, “It’s strange, logically deducing, this ‘Lord of the Lost’ who is given great attention by the True Gods must be a very powerful Evil God. His followers should be numerous.”

“Yet, his followers have managed to keep such a secret that not a whisper escaped for over a decade, which is truly hard to believe.”

It seemed that the Fischer family’s principle was quite correct; caution and secrecy were of the utmost importance. Byrne pondered silently about why the Lord of the Lost was targeted by the True Gods Church.

He could not comprehend the reason and could only attribute it to the great power of the gods; they somehow became aware of the existence of the Lord of the Lost through some unimaginable method and even locked the location down to the east of the continent.

It was then that “Dragon Crystal,” known as Viscount Bast, interjected:

“It could be that there’s some extraordinary method that ensures the secrecy of the followers, like the betrayers are granted death the moment they think of betrayal.”

Byrne smiled and glanced at Viscount Bast. If he hadn’t known the other party was just speculating, he might have even thought his cover was blown.

“I too haven’t sensed their presence and agree with the conjecture of Dragon Crystal.”

“Solar Gold” shook his head as well.

Byrne had noticed that “Spirit Essence” had remained silent throughout the meeting.

She seemed to be a petite female; although she had not spoken from the start, her position in the Alchemy Council was second only to “Solar Gold,” and Byrne dared not ignore her presence.

“It is indeed very strange.”

“Star Metal” shook his head and continued, “Anyway, I hope to obtain information about the followers of the Lord of the Lost, and when the time comes, I’m willing to exchange a Class 4 Extraordinary Material for it.”

Class 4 Extraordinary Material, those were significant items that couldn’t even be bought on the black market.

Extraordinary Exponents who had reached mid-level Transmutation and wished to progress further, or those who had reached upper-level Transmutation and wanted a stronger bloodline, all needed Class 4 Extraordinary Materials.

Similarly, some extremely powerful spells also required the use of Class 4 Extraordinary Materials.

For the Fischer family, even Class 3 Extraordinary Materials were extremely important, and they had no idea where to find Class 4 Extraordinary Materials!

Byrne felt like selling himself on the spot, but he could only remain silent.

Since no one had the slightest news about the followers of the Lord of the Lost, the topic was eventually shelved.

“Solar Gold,” who was quite tall and had a deep voice, spoke to everyone:

“The Lorne citizens have gotten some crucial Forbidden Knowledge in the Spirit Realm, though it’s still unclear what it is, it’s likely to change the existing world order.”

“I’ve got some information about the Spirit Realm. If you can pay a hundred Gold Coins, I’m willing to share it with you.”

Byrne knew the Fischer family was truly broke, so he shook his head.

“Sorry, I’m not participating in this trade.”

Bast chuckled casually and said, “Mr. Solar Gold, you’ll have to give us an idea of what kind of information it is before we’re willing to spend money.”

“Solar Gold” paused, then continued, “It’s about the various vortexes, or rather, the names of the Spiritual Gateways.”

Huh?

To Byrne’s surprise, he found that the important knowledge mentioned by “Solar Gold” was actually the mysterious knowledge that the Fischer family had already obtained from the Lord of the Lost.

What astonished him even more was that aside from himself, everyone present seemed interested.

Aside from the chairman’s silence, members of the Alchemy Council expressed their willingness to pay for the true names of the Spiritual Gateways.

Byrne quickly understood the most important reason for the trade.

The true names of mystical items often had a significant connection to their actual effects, and knowing the true names of the Spiritual Gateways would make their exploration of the Spirit Realm much easier.

He sharply sensed an important information advantage that the Fischer family held.

With the knowledge of the Spirit Realm bestowed by the Lord of the Lost, the Fischers would be essentially walking into the Spirit Realm with a guidebook.

For other Extraordinary beings, however, every step into the Spirit Realm was filled with the unknown and mystical, almost every moment was unsettling, and every choice was fraught with tension and fear.

“Alright, the deal is set.”

“Solar Gold” clapped his hands lightly, and without a sign, sheets of gleaming paper appeared from thin air, automatically flying to all those who contributed to purchasing the true names of the Spiritual Gateways.

As everyone received the sheet of paper from “Solar Gold,” they then saw the true names of thirteen Spiritual Gateways.

Gate of Shadow, Gate of Conquest, Gate of Knowledge, Gate of Divine Sacrifice…

Viscount Bast squinted his eyes, contemplatively, showing great interest in the “Gate of Revelation” and “Gate of Knowledge”.

Byrne had not received the paper bearing the true name of the Spiritual Gateway, but he could guess what was written on it – the corresponding thirteen Spiritual Gateways of the thirteen steps of the God Pantheon stairway.

“Alright, let’s stop here,”

Suddenly, the president who sat at the head of the table spoke up, and his emotionless voice made Byrne feel uneasy, almost instinctively doubting whether the president was truly human.

“Alchemy is the greatest of all types of magic, and it will eventually change the Ouden Continent, even the Claud World, completely.”

“My alchemy had already reached a bottleneck, but fortunately, the Forbidden knowledge from the Spirit Realm provided me with a whole new perspective.”

After finishing his speech, the president waved his hand, and a series of purple-red stones appeared out of nowhere, landing in front of everyone present.

Although Byrne did not understand what exactly it was, he could sense both magic power and spiritual power emanating from the purple-red stones!

It seemed like a mysterious rare artifact, yet also like an alchemical tool.

Or perhaps, it was both a mysterious rare artifact and an alchemical tool!

In the past, such a thing did not exist in the world; alchemical tools contained only magic power and not spiritual power.

Back then, the people of Claud World had almost no understanding of the soul and spiritual power, only a handful of necromancers researching the most superficial knowledge.

However, the emergence of the Spirit Realm brought in many fresh pieces of knowledge, and new applications of magic were also expanded, such as breakthroughs in alchemy over the past decade.

The president continued to speak.

“Through the Forbidden knowledge granted by the Spirit Realm, I created this new substance. As an alchemical tool, it has special properties similar to mysterious rare artifacts, hmm, and the spiritual power it contains is probably of collectible class,” the president said.

Indeed, Byrne thought to himself, the purple-red mysterious stones in front of him were the new products created by the president through Forbidden knowledge from the Spirit Realm with alchemy.

The president had not yet finished, continuing to introduce them in a tone devoid of sorrow or joy.

“Although the spiritual power contained is only of collectible class, it is a one-time consumable that can unleash its final power, comparable to the very top treasure-class rare artifacts, when resonated with emotional power,” he explained.

The very top treasure-class rare artifacts!

After hearing this, Byrne felt a surge of immense surprise; top treasure-class rare artifacts commanded prices of thousands or even tens of thousands of Gold Coins.

Even though this purple-red stone had only a one-time effect, it was still extremely valuable.

Nevertheless, the president couldn’t help but sigh a breath of regret, and for the first time, an evident sense of loss emerged in his usually impassive voice.

“Unfortunately, it is still an imitation, still far from the ‘truth’ I seek.”

“Reject it, or present the price you are willing to pay,” he said.

As expected, the purple-red stone was not something given for free but required a corresponding price to be paid.

Byrne decided not to respond immediately, waiting to see what prices others from the Alchemy Council would be willing to pay.

“Solar Gold” first put forth a sample of “the purest of pitch-darkness” brought from the Aphotic Sea – a mysterious substance that was contained in a pitch-black flask, where no color other than black could be seen.

“Spirit Essence” put forward a meteor shard that continuously radiated starlight, which had been collected from a fallen meteor.

“I pay three months of my lifespan.”

The person willing to exchange lifespan for the purple-red stone was “Star Metal”, the one searching for followers of the Lord of the Lost.

Soon, each member of the Alchemy Council had paid their price, and when it was Viscount Bast’s turn, he spoke respectfully.

“I am willing to trade a piece of very important intelligence for it, Mr. President. The item that you have been searching for over the past decade is very likely in the hands of the Sea God Cult,” he proposed.

“Agreed,”

The president nodded his head and said calmly:

“Any one of you who finds that diamond fragment radiating sunlight, I will grant him a wish.”

Byrne silently noted the “diamond fragment radiating sunlight”, hoping that the Fischer family would encounter it indeed.

Finally, it was Byrne’s turn to pay the price.

The resources of the Fischer family were practically non-existent for a transaction of this caliber.

After much contemplation, the only two things he could offer were his lifespan and various pieces of intelligence about the Spirit Realm.

But if he offered the intelligence about the Spirit Realm, and Viscount Bast later asked him how he obtained it, Byrne would be completely unable to answer.

Viscount Bast had mentioned that killing was not permitted within the Alchemy Council, but the president would not care about anything that happened outside.

He initially thought to refuse the purple-red stone, yet considering the imminent dangers his family was about to face, he utterly did not want to give up such a powerful trump card.