Relife System: The Unholy Mage Chapter 90: The Cave's Secret

A/n: Help reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! slinktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree''

Leon opened his eyes and saw a bright light coming from outside the cave. He gazed with narrowed eyes and saw Vadim approaching.

"I've widened the cave's entrance, lad." Vadim said, as he seed to have shed so sweat doing physical labor.

"Single-handedly?" Leon asked.

"Why? Sothing wrong with that?* Vadim asked, seeming a bit offended.

Any Dwarf can clear that amount of earth without much trouble. They are just that efficient and Vadim was helping the Elves recover anyone they may have lost under the rubble.

"Saviors, we don't know how to thank you, we are greatly in your debt." An adult Elf approached both Vadim and Leon offering his sincerest thanks.

"Just take your people and go." Leon said dismissively.

"Hey!" Vadim wanted to whack Leon on the head but he held himself back seeing how badly Leon was hurt. He then turned to the Elf, "We're glad yer people are doin' fine. It's best you do what he said though, you don't want to stay 'ere any longer."

"Yes. You are right, we can't stay." The Elf man said, "The Feudal Lord has sold us to that brute. I doubt he'll leave us at peace if we return to our village."

"Then head east." Vadim said, "The Duchy of Godfrey won't treat you badly."

"They pose expensive taxes." The Elf said and exhaled a sigh, "But if it is for the sake of the young, I think we can manage."

"Hey!" Leon interrupted the talk, "That oldie that was caged, the one that followed us in the cave."

"The Water Mage?" The Elf seed troubled, "I'm afraid I know little about him. He seed harmless when he was in the cage and almost too quiet."

"You didn't find him?" Leon asked Vadim.

"His traces end at the cave's exit. He must've used magic to buzz off." Vadim replied.

"That is more trouble than what we can afford." Leon seed bothered.

Unlike his usual attitude the past few days, Leon seed rather colder than usual, almost as cold as when Vadim first found him.

"We thank you again. If we would offer you" The Elf spoke but he was interrupted.

"Your dicine was enough aid, thank you." Vadim said, "Just take your people and waste no ti."

"Alright." The Elf nodded and turned around, "Just a word of advice, the magic in these caves is as old as the Age of Orcs. Be careful."

"Thank you."

And the Elves left.

Leon received so treatnt from the Elves' dicine man. He had burn wounds around his arms as well as many bruises all over his body. Despite the fact that they were inside an illusion, it all felt too real and left real traces on his body.

"That thing in the sea was it really so illusion?" Leon asked.

"Aye! But the Age of Orcs, those Elves said." Vadim replied.

"What about it?"

"It happened a long ti ago, the founding of Amber. You should've learned about that in the Academy." Vadim said.

"Do I look like a history buff?" Leon asked.

"Ugh!" Vadim rolled his eyes and sat on the ground, "The Orcs are one of the Demonic races that once conquered the continent a long ti ago. They have settled in the eastern parts of the lands north to the Ruby Gulf, which is the Peninsula of Amber nowadays."

"And the humans ca and destroyed them?" Leon asked.

"Humans, Elves, Dwarves even Giants!" Vadim added.

"Damn!"

"That was a long ti ago." Vadim said, "The Orcs have been reduced to re tribes since then, those barbarian fucks are as mad as monsters now and we even thin them out every now and then."

"So?"

"They left many ruins around the landscape. Fortresses, Shrines, Caves, things like that?"

"So were the orcs this sophisticated of a civilization to the point where they would make such an illusion to ward off invaders?" Leon asked.

"Errrr No!" Vadim replied and scratched his beard, "Honestly, Orcs don't have a remarkable magic tradition."

"It is obvious from the na." Leon replied, then rested his back on the cave's wall and closed his eyes.

A few seconds passed then Vadim initiated a new conversation.

"On the other hand, ya seem to have inherited sothing nobody ever expected." He said.

"What is that?" Leon opened his eyes and turned to Vadim.

"Lightning, lad." Vadim replied, "You never told you can do that."

Leon remained silent for a second before looking at both his hands which were now covered in bandages and herbal ointnt by the Elf dicine man.

"I never knew I could." He said and then had a smirk drawn on his face, "Well, I guess Lightning is a variation to Fire."

"It is true. However, Lightning is your father's signature magic." Vadim said.

"Father?" Leon's expression beca a bit sharper, "You an the Duke guy?"

"Yes. A mighty man, he is. They call him the Storm Lord." Vadim said.

"So If I cast lightning now, does this resolve the fact that his son is considered illegitimate?"

"Well" Vadim bit his lower lip and looked away thinking for a reply, " for all the good and bad that cos out of it, this proves ye that bastard's son not a bastard son see how I said it? HA!"

"I see." Leon smiled but then his smile disappeared as he looked away, "I'm no one's son."

"You should be though. At least ye're Anna's son."

"Every ti you ntion her it doesn't feel right with . I don't know her but this bastard in just can't stop shaking whenever her na is said."

"Here you go again."

"Let's just see what that woman has for when we get there."

"So you're finally agreeing to co ho." Vadim beca all smiles.

Leon shook his head.

"I agreed to co for my benefit, I never said anything about staying."

The two remained silent after that until Leon decided to stand up one hour later as he felt comfortable enough to move. Rather than getting out of the cave, however, he turned his head inside and without waiting for Vadim, he started walking deeper into the cave.

"Hey! Don't go there." Vadim called.

"Light!" Leon didn't reply and simply cast an orb of light to illuminate his way in.

"Tsk!" Vadim clicked his tongue and shot up after Leon, "We don't know what we're walking into."

"I feel like sothing valuable was stashed here." Leon replied, "A criminal claid it is his heritage that was hidden in this cave, a noble family has connections with this cave too, and a wizard tried to sneak his way inside."

"Prolly so ancient civilization ruins. Who cares?!" Vadim said while feeling annoyed.

"I do."

The first few ters in the cave made them believe that this cave was dug by a very ancient technology since its walls were very smooth unlike how it was at the entrance. It was a Dwarven quality digging but the shape of how it was dug made Vadim deny it being so.

Still, they ended up at a large hall with a circle on the ground carved from the stone beneath and had many elaborate and unknown inscriptions.

"Familiar?" Leon asked.

"No." Vadim replied, "You?"

"Looks like the holy glyphs of the temple." Leon replied then shed more light on the walls and on the four pillars linking the floor to the ceiling, "The interior was carved in the mountain but they didn't bother decorating anything but the floor."

"The way ya say it, you make it sound true." Vadim looked around carefully, "It's not just carved, it's cleanly carved. Dwarves would take a week to build such a spacious hall."

"Your people sound fun." Leon said and then focused on the floor, "I've seen little remnants of this world's past civilizations. This would be my third but it is still different from the other two."

"What were those other two like?" Vadim asked.

"A toppled Obelisk within the forest outside Karanberg and an underground ruin that seed like a vault for the old temple where your mind does the opposite of what you tell it." Leon replied.

"For real? You've been to that death cave?" Vadim asked with wide eyes.

"You know about it?"

"Aye! Heard of it. For the entire 8 years I've worked in Karanberg, it was like a myth among the rcenaries."

"Hm what are the chances?!" Leon shrugged his shoulders and walked away from the inscription on the ground.

Vadim seed to have given up after checking every wall for a hidden compartnt that would open any more way inside but he found nothing.

"This is a dead end anyway. I don't think" Vadim was about to say sothing but Leon interrupted.

"It's a vault." Leon said.

"A vault?" Vadim turned to him wondering.

"The color of stone isn't fixed due to so level of humidity which ans so of these walls have a body of water on the other side. My guess is the nearby river. If we are beneath this level of water, it ans that this room is powered by so water pressure or water current chanisms most likely magic is involved." Leon said.

"You Did you use magic to Read all that?"

"Nope. I'm just familiar with this type of engineering. Still, this is on an extrely huge scale. Only magic can do that."

Leon returned to the center of the room and looked at the inscriptions on the ground. They were ford in a circle and had many lines pointing in directions."

"Read!" He then spoke the magic words.

At first, it felt like his thoughts were extrely swift and unbothered, then suddenly, his brain felt like it was being grasped into sothing very tight that it almost felt like bursting.

"ARGH!" Leon held his head imdiately and groaned from pain.

"LEON!" Vadim ran close to him but Leon held his hand up to tell him to stop.

After a few seconds, Leon ca back to his senses with a ssage in front of his face.

< (Heresy) has been activated! >

This skill again, the one that protects his mind from outside influences.

"I can't believe it." Loen said with a smile, "This thing has so sort of chanism to negate Knowledge Magic."

"Yeah" Vadim looked at him with a serious face, "That's not very uncommon."

"Except that it doesn't try to bite my brain off when I try to Read." Leon replied, "This thing countered my Read. It felt like it got fashioned to resist it."

"What?" Vadim made a funny face, "But that's strange I've never heard of your Read spell before which ans it is not just rare. Who would prepare for it?"

"Soone who knows about it." Leon said and sat on his ass while thinking deeply.

"Whatever you're thinking about, let's just leave it be and go on our way." Vadim finally wanted to entertain Leon's dungeon-crawling hobby no longer and wanted to drag him out.

"No no no no, wait!" Leon suddenly thought of sothing good, "Let do this one thing one last ti."

"Sigh!" Vadim felt annoyed but his policy was Leon was not to force him on anything unless it is to get him out of harm's way.

Leon sat on one knee and put his right palm on the inscriptions on the ground. With a mischievous smile, he said the second magic word.

"Write!"

< Loading >

Nothing happened in the room itself but a ssage appeared in front of Leon's face.

"Nothing happened. Let's"

"Shush! Shushushushush!" Leon imdiately went into full focus while watching the 3 dots following the word focus flash in order. A light laugh broke his code of silence when another ssage appeared.

< Stone Lift System! Access Approved! >

< Identity: Ring Bearer! >

< Due to a staff shortage, you will fill the next available Authority level. >

< Authority Promoted: Guest Staff >

< Authority Promoted: Staff Manager >

< Authority Promoted: Manager Administrator >

< Welco, Administrator Ring Bearer! >

< Please, input your new Password. >

Leon stood up with his face no longer able to contain his wide grin facing Vadim.

"Open, Sesa!"

A/n: Help reach my Goal on P4treon & Join Discord! slinktr.ee/donovel or Google "Donovel Linktree''