Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 33 Relic Out of Control

The silence was profound, and seeing no one around, Shard walked toward the sofa. He didn't sit down, staying ready to leave at a moment's notice.

But his eyes once again fell upon the brass-colored metal gear box on the coffee table. According to common sense, Shard naturally wouldn't reach out for any unknown object.

However, up close, he saw not only the various sizes of gear knobs on the brass cube's surface but also a line of twisted, musical-note-like script on its upright face.

Though he had never seen them before, Shard still understood them:

"I am watching you in the darkness."

Immediately, a murmuring voice inside his mind reminded him:

[You have touched "Whisper."]

"What, this is a Relic?"

Shard exclaimed in surprise, at the same time noticing that the bright gas lamps and crystal chandeliers inside the room had started to dim.

An inexplicable sense of dread led him to look down at the brass gear box, which had silently opened without notice, with its lid askew from the body of the box.

As the lighting grew dimmer, billowing black mist emerged from it, spreading like waves in all directions.

"This is just like a scene from a horror novel... This is..."

[Relic Containment has failed.]

Shard hardly had time to react when the surging black mist snuffed out all the light inside the room.

It was pitch-black all around, as if a layer of black ink had been painted over his eyes. In the darkness, his fear intensified, causing Shard's body to tremble involuntarily.

In a world where Darkness Descends, the sense of direction had utterly vanished. Shard felt as if he had plummeted into the most terrifying abyss, both his body and spirit assaulted by fear, at times even believing he was being observed by an immense, indescribable entity within the darkness.

The extreme panic made him want to scream, but the Outlander quickly calmed himself down, knowing what was the most rational thing to do at that moment.

In the dark space, reason and emotion fought each other, this fear was not an emotional response but an instinctual one. And in the moments when the fear surged, whispers came from within the darkness.

It wasn't the pleasant sound of a woman's voice in his head, but rather a loathsome whisper of hatred and resentment from what seemed like millions of people overlapping. It sounded like white worms squirming in his ear canal, raising goosebumps on the back of his exposed hand.

"Hmm? Why can I see the back of my hand?"

He looked down at his hands to see a faint silver glow covering them, preventing him from being completely devoured by the darkness:

"Right, I'm no longer an ordinary person, I am a Circle Sorcerer."

In the midst of fear, he barely calmed down, looking at his hands and feeling the slowly rotating Brass Life Ring in his soul, summoning it forth.

The bell tolls!

The room was cooler compared to the hallway, given that the hallway itself was already cooler than the city on this summer night, and the temperature in the room seemed to be of late autumn.

"The temperature seems a bit off; I remember it was normal at the beginning. Has the aftermath of the Relic's loss of control not ended yet?"

"The power of a High Ring Sorcerer affects the environment, she must be quite angry."

"High Ring? Above Nine Rings? Wait, how do you know? Also, why is she angry? Shouldn't I be the one who's angry?"

Shard hesitated in thought when, finally, the woman's voice came from behind the door:

"You... um... probably understand what just happened, right?"

There was a tone of helplessness and indignation in her voice, and it was the first time Shard discovered he could clearly discern someone's feelings from their tone.

"The Relic lost control."

He replied honestly and then learned the truth of the recent events.

"Young sir, you... I... I don't know whether I should blame myself or blame you. That was a Poet-Level Relic, the 'Box of Darkness,' which can only be contained when the opening Spell Words are chanted, and at the same time, one possesses Light and celestial-related Spirit Runes. I only wanted to meet you; why did you do this? Don't you know that you should not lightly read unfamiliar inscriptions?"

She spoke not too quickly, in that accent-laden Northern Common Tongue, with a voice that sounded to be no older than thirty but possibly just over twenty. Her intonation was very elegant, and even Shard could hear the unadulterated anger in her tone.

As for the things she mentioned, Shard truly did not know. Although he maintained his usual caution, being new to this world, he could not have foreseen that muttering Spell Words in his mind could cause a Relic to lose control, but it was indeed an accident caused by his carelessness.

He decided to take this incident as a lesson:

"Madam, I am very sorry. I don't intend to shrug off responsibility, it's just... may I ask, what matter do you have with me?"

He didn't know how else to explain, so he could only express his apologetic attitude while probing the other party's mood.

The lady behind the door could never guess that the guest she invited could easily understand ancient texts, nor would she know the guest's Core Runes, so part of the responsibility for what had just happened definitely lay with Shard.

He wanted to mention compensation, but facing a High Rank Ring Sorcerer, he definitely couldn't afford it, so he could only inquire about her intentions.

A moment ago, both he and the other had used the power of a Circle Sorcerer, and the lady behind the door was not surprised, suggesting she knew the identity of the detective she invited to the second floor.

This puzzled Shard greatly, he had only been a sorcerer for a day, and no one should have been able to see through him.

But at the very least, the woman behind the door was not Lady Lassoya. Even without having heard Lady Lassoya's voice, Shard was certain that a person of indeterminate gender could not speak with such an elegantly calm tone.

"Never mind, an apology will suffice. I also shouldn't have left the Relic out during a reception; we both bear some responsibility. This incident has reminded me never to leave Relics lying around carelessly; otherwise, who knows what kind of people might come across them. I couldn't have imagined that you could actually read those ancient Spell Words."

The lady behind the door sighed, and Shard breathed a slight sigh of relief, not because of the issue being brushed aside, but because through this incident he realized that the High Ring Female Sorceress behind the door was a reasonable person, making it quite safe to deal with her.

"Back to the point, young sir, how should I address you?"

The woman behind the door adjusted her mood and then asked. Shard couldn't see through the room's door to the other side, but he believed that she could see him. He could fully imagine the sight of the woman sitting behind a table, conversing with him through the door.