Shiayar jumped down the slope, nimbly weaving through broken stone walls and gray-white architectural relics.
Each site of the Azure Garden Dukedom’s ruins was excavated and cleared out bit by bit by the archaeological team he had hired, so naturally, Shiayar was more than familiar with this place.
Of course, as a price, Shiayar had squandered a large portion of the wealth he had accumulated since his rebirth by leveraging knowledge exclusive to a "transmigrator." It’s fair to say that archaeology is indeed a money pit profession.
However, having paid such a steep price, Shiayar naturally wouldn’t co away empty-handed.
Shiayar’s pace gradually slowed until he ca to a halt in front of an ancient black iron door.
He reached out his hand, and the dusty black iron door creaked and slowly opened.
In contrast to other relics that had decayed over the years, this chamber was constructed entirely out of high-strength alloy material, seemingly untouched by the over five hundred years that had passed.
The chamber was empty except for the defunct lighting equipnt; there were only two pedestals sculpted from bronze.
On the bronze pedestal to the left lay a rather tattered sheepskin to, while on the right, there was rely a hollow groove.
Shiayar didn’t hesitate; he headed straight towards the pedestals.
His system, which had remarkably slow reflexes and was utterly unreliable, had at least one redeeming feature—it issued newbie tasks that could be completed in phases and rewarded accordingly upon the completion of each stage.
The goal of the first phase of the newbie task was "Arrive at the Azure Garden Dukedom."
If it were six hundred years prior, when the Azure Garden Dukedom still existed, completing this task would have been as simple as enabling auto-navigation to run across the map, much like the task "Deliver the envelope to Grandma Wang, the northern village gardener," serving only to increase the player’s online ti without any real significance.
Alas, in present tis, just to pinpoint the general location of the Ancient Dukedom Azure Garden from a pile of highly ambiguous ancient texts, and then to search and probe for exact coordinates within the defined area using the system’s navigation feature, had cost Shiayar several months of painstaking effort.
Nonetheless, this phase of the goal was considered complete—after all, who says a ruin doesn’t count as a task location?
As for the second stage goal—"Beco a mber of the Grand Duke’s family"—that was even more perplexing for Shiayar.
In normal circumstances, that would an accepting so form of assessnt and trial from the Grand Ducal family, completing a number of internal family tasks, until enough rit and prestige were earned to exchange for status and rank within the Grand Ducal family.
A standard process for grinding faction reputation—tedious, but the direction was clear.
But now, with the nation gone, where was he supposed to join this damned family?
This stage goal only beca clearer after Shiayar’s hired archaeological team discovered this chamber.
Shiayar turned to look at the crumbling sheepskin book placed on the left bronze platform.
The text in the beginning of this sheepskin scroll had beco illegible due to weathering, but at the very bottom of these worn patterns, there was a line of ink that was clear, freshly written just a few months ago.
Shiayar. Egutt
Indeed, this room must be sothing akin to the ancestral land of the ruling Grand Dukes in the old Azure Garden Dukedom, Shiayar surmised.
It was filled with guardian chanisms; despite over five hundred years, parts of them were still functioning, causing considerable trouble for him and his archaeological team during their initial excavation.
A book placed in the ancestral land of the family would likely be the list of the Grand Ducal family’s mbers, or in other words, the family genealogy. As long as my na is added to the genealogy, who could deny my mbership in the Grand Ducal family?
Even though I don’t even know what the last Grand Duke’s surna was, there’s no rule saying a Grand Ducal family can’t accept mbers with different surnas, right? Surely they wouldn’t forbid an outsider from marrying in for benefits? Hasn’t the Grand Duke himself remained perfectly calm, offering no objection whatsoever?
Shiayar’s attempt was undoubtedly tinged with an air of desperation. It was only after he wrote his na on the parchnt book that the system’s azure light screen, following a long period of fluctuation, twisting, and bizarre developnt, finally displayed a prompt: [Stage Goal Accomplished, Reward: 5000 Classless Experience Points].
Nevertheless, compared to the first two stage tasks that could be completed by taking shortcuts, the third stage of the novice task could not be completed with such tricks.
[Stage Three: Raise the favorability of the Grand Duke’s Daughter Silvia beyond 30 points]
This task wasn’t difficult per se, as a favorability of 30 points rely indicated a fairly close friendship. Under normal circumstances, if one successfully joined the Grand Duke’s family, then with enough patience, taking the opportunity to interact and raise the favorability of a Grand Duke’s daughter to 30 points was not too challenging. However, nearly six hundred years had passed, and that Silvia had ascended to Legendary status as the "Gray-Silver Witch," the pinnacle of all Beastmasters on the continent, five hundred years ago.
Today, the Gray-Silver Witch had not been seen in the world for a full five hundred years, and whether she was alive or dead was unknown to all.
This wasn’t just a challenge for Shiayar; even other Beastmasters of Legendary Rank at the pinnacle of the continent found it difficult to track her whereabouts.
"But I believe that there are always more solutions than difficulties," Shiayar said.
He looked at the empty bronze pedestal to his right, took a deep breath, and pulled out the mithril box that he had commissioned a high-level artisan in the Empire Capital to craft for a high price.
He had been preparing for this mont for no less than five or six years.
Putting aside the effort, just the investnt in Rhine gold coins exceeded one hundred thousand, a sum even surpassing the wealth of so barons or even viscounts in the Empire Capital, enough to buy a prosperous village to serve as his own territory.
At this mont, even with his mindset as a transmigrator, tension inevitably crept into his heart. He had indeed considered the possibility that this substantial investnt might all go to waste, but having pushed this practically bugged newbie task this far, he was truly unwilling to give up.
Moreover, although the system was a bit of a pain, the rewards it provided for the tasks were genuinely attractive.
Completing just the second stage of the novice task alone provided Shiayar with a whopping 5,000 Classless Experience Points.
Even though the level cap of Pet Beasts was limited by the Beastmaster’s Soul Pact level and their growth status, these Classless Experience Points could not be directly used to increase the level cap.
However, these Classless Experience Points could be used to improve the proficiency of Pet Beast skills.
If it weren’t for this, for Silver to elevate the low-order Illusion Technique "Bewitchnt" to a level of Superb Achievent would have required a tispan asured in decades.
Not to ntion developing her own High Order Illusion Technique "Moon Reading" based on "Bewitchnt."
Furthermore, Shiayar indeed had a motive to enhance his power.
Shiayar closed his eyes gently, tuning his ntal state to its optimal condition.
When he opened his eyes again, his dark pupils had discarded all distractions.
Shiayar took the stone carving out of the mithril box and placed it precisely on the empty space atop the bronze pedestal.
BOOM—
The originally obscure and dark secret chamber suddenly burst into brilliance.
Amidst the thunderous sounds and twisting light, Shiayar noticed a not-so-eye-catching prompt in his mind.
[Echo of History—"Ancient Dukedom Azure Garden" has been unlocked]
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