Chapter 696 - A Silver Compass
Chapter 696: A Silver Compass
The unremarkable silver compass in Xia Fei’s hand left Oro frustrated. He originally thought that Xia Fei had not managed to discover the most valuable of the several thousand items, but it was now apparent that Xia Fei had not missed out at all, and he was so sinister as to only ask about it last.
Gritting his teeth, Oro feigned nonchalance. “Who knows what it is? It looks like a compass and the cheapest sort at that. Pure junk.”
When Oro said the word ‘junk’, his heart convulsed and his expression became unnatural. Xia Fei was very sensitive, and he was also observing Oro’s every action. Even the subtlest movement could not escape Xia Fei’s sharp eyes.
“Junk? It doesn’t seem that simple to me. This compass is probably very old, and its size-weight ratio is completely off. It’s only the size of my palm, but it weighs several dozen kilograms! I suspect that this compass is made from the legendary Star Mithril,” Xia Fei smiled and said.
Oro snorted. “Absolute nonsense. Star Mithril is known as the Law Realm’s number one heavy metal, and it has a miraculous ability to store law power. Unless their brain was fried, who would use this precious metal to create a compass?”
Xia Fei casually stroked the compass. “I’ve never seen Star Mithril, but some people must have seen it before. If I have a chance in the future, I’ll have someone appraise this.”
Oro’s heart thumped, but he continued to keep control of his face. He began to think about how he could draw Xia Fei’s attention away from the silver compass so that he would not need to divulge even more secrets.
Alas, Xia Fei was more stubborn than he expected. Once something had his attention, he would have to examine it carefully. Despite Oro’s glib comments, Xia Fei was still entirely focused on the compass.
“It has a simple structure, but it’s actually not simple at all. It appears absolutely seamless and hasn’t been work on, so I actually took it for raw metal when I first saw it. Designers of the highest class always seek the simple and plain. Only cheap items use an excessive number of unnecessary decorations, making things too gaudy. Only true experts understand that designs don’t get better the prettier they are.”
Saying this, Xia Fei turned the silver compass over and looked at its back.
“Yes, it’s perfect.” Xia Fei’s eyes flashed with sharp light as he praised. “I would wager that a top-class master created the natural design for this compass.”
Oro began to panic a little, and he hastily said, “Your argument doesn’t have any legs. Quinn stored the truly valuable things in exquisite packaging, but this thing doesn’t even have a box. From this, we can conclude that it’s not some high-class item.”
The more frantically Oro denied it, the more interested Xia Fei became. Blinking his eyes, Xia Fei seriously stated, “It’s not that Quinn didn’t want to put it in a fancy box, but to him, no box was worthy of storing it. That’s because its design is just too perfect, as if it’s a product of nature. Any sort of excessive decoration will be profaning it.
“Plus, it’s extremely tough and doesn’t need to worry about any sort of damage, so putting it in a box will be excessive.”
Saying this, Xia Fei took out the Blood Crystal and stabbed the silver compass!
*Whoosh!*
Xia Fei put all of his strength into this stab!
As a speed ability user, Xia Fei still possessed considerable strength and this attack carried incredible force!
*Clank!*
The crisp clang of colliding metals resounded through the hall, causing the sleeping Furball to raise his head and look around. He noticed that his master had hacked at the compass in his hand, so he relaxed and fell back to sleep.
Oro’s heart instantly leapt to his throat, and he almost yelled.
However, that silver compass was utterly unharmed, not even suffering the shallowest scratch. On the contrary, Xia Fei’s arm ended up numbing a little.
Tough!
Incomparably tough!
Oro rolled his eyes at Xia Fei. “Even if it’s very tough, that doesn’t mean anything.”
Xia Fei ignored Oro and flipped the silver compass back to its front side.
“There’s no button to input coordinates, meaning that this compass must lead to some special place. That’s why it doesn’t require coordinates. Its purpose is to take someone to a certain place and then take them back,” Xia Fei commented.
“Who said that? The compass’s front side clearly has a place to input coordinates,” Oro retorted.
“That’s not for coordinates but rather for a password, a 128-bit encrypted password, which just so happens to match with the standard numbers for coordinates. Even I can see through a little trick like this,” Xia Fei answered with a laugh.
Xia Fei had a decent basis in mechanics, so he only needed to look at the compass for a little while and he could see how it worked.
In short, this silver compass was similar to a passcard. It could send a person to some mysterious set of coordinates and then send them back. Activating it was rather troublesome, requiring a gene lock and a 128-bit complex password.
This compass had been fashioned into an ordinary item clearly as a sort of smokescreen, but Xia Fei had been able to see the skill of a master in the details. To make such an ordinary item seem like it had sprung from nature was the highest level of artistry in Xia Fei’s eyes, so he had picked out this item from the several thousand other items at a single glance.
Moreover, a compass with a fixed set of coordinates did not make sense, and it also had several more conditions to activate. This silver compass was clearly something special.
As Oro listened to Xia Fei’s analysis, he grew more and more shocked. He knew that even if he managed to hide the truth from Xia Fei once, one day, Xia Fei would find out the secret of the compass.
“Your eyes truly are very sharp,” Oro muttered, bitterly chuckling.
Xia Fei waved around the silver compass and lightly said, “Then I presume that all my guesses were correct. This is the item that you so desperately want to send back to the Lionheart Royalty.”
Oro nodded. He decided to stop hiding the truth. After all, Xia Fei’s intuition had already discovered a lot, and continuing to try and hide the truth would just make Oro seem narrow-minded.
Through their time spent together, Oro more and more wanted to pull Xia Fei to his side. Although he was no longer the king of the Lionheart Race, he was always thinking about his clan. This was a firmly rooted principle that he had never changed. Chen Dong being sent to the Lionheart Clan served as an excellent example.
“Yes, among the items Quinn stole, other than the Law of Life, this compass is the most valuable. While Enigmatic Autumn Sun is formidable, it’s not irreplaceable in our royal clan. Only the complete version of the Law of Life and this compass can’t be lost.” Oro’s eyes became grim as he recalled the past.
“Then what place does this compass send someone to?” Xia Fei curiously asked.
“An ancient battlefield, a place where the God and Demon Races once fought a war,” Oro sternly said, his expression solemn.
“The God Race and Demon Races have always gotten along like fire and water. Long ago, there was a time when the two races, so as to avoid the war continuing to expand in scope, set up a hidden dimension. The two sides agreed that they would send ten thousand warriors every ten years to fight to the death!
“The loser would have to follow the orders of the winner for the next ten years, until the ten years were up and another battle was held to decide the next winner.”
“What, is this considered a tournament? The God and Demon Races have plenty of space, so why would they set up this battlefield?” Xia Fei asked with a frown.
Oro mysteriously said, “It’s not that simple. At that time, the God and Demon Races had just gone their separate ways, and they hated each other immensely. Every day, they would fight without end, and there’s so much chaos that the two races couldn’t focus their energy and develop.
“Although this sort of tournament wasn’t exactly fair, it would prevent everyone from fighting against one another, and those with grudges against others could resolve them on the battleground. The person with the tougher fist would have the power. It was a rather sensible solution.”
Xia Fei became very curious about this tournament held in ancient times by the two supreme races. He asked, “Then who won more times on this ancient battlefield?”
“Each side had their wins and losses. The God and Demon Races were the two elite warrior organizations in the Law Realm, and there was little difference in their strength. I recall that more than seven thousand of such a tournament were held, meaning that this went on for more than seventy thousand years with neither side getting much of an advantage.
“Later, the scope of the conflict expanded, and a tournament held once every decade was no longer enough to resolve the problem. Thus, the first war between gods and demons in the history of the Law Realm took place, lasting for ten thousand years. Both sides lost countless allies, but there was still no definitive outcome. Thus, this first war was left undecided, the supreme races leaving the conflict badly wounded.
“After recuperating for about one hundred thousand years, the gods and demons began their second war, but they ended up fighting again for ten thousand years without a result. Thus, they rested once more and reconsolidated for a third war.” Oro frankly recounted the history of the Law Realm.
Xia Fei was transfixed by the story. It turned out that the Law Realm would experience protracted war with intervals of tens of thousands of years—a pattern that had existed since it had been established.
Looking back on the past, this was a history of suffering between the two races. Several dozen wars, all of them ending inconclusively? What could be said about this?
Once the war was over, the two races would rest, and when they were recovered, they would fight again. They never tired of this endless cycle, a classic example of forgetting past pains once the wound had healed.
Xia Fei pursed his lips and said, “The two supreme races seem to have way too much free time. Since fighting doesn’t decide anything, why even fight? Every time they fight, countless warriors lose their lives and the foundation of the Law Realm only gets shaken. Truly, the gains don’t make up for the losses. Even the tournament then was a better alternative.”
Oro shook his head. “I don’t get it, either. Since they won’t rest until they kill each other, they should just fight to the last man and force an outcome, but once the two races lose too many warriors that their foundations are shaken, those old monsters will immediately stop the war. It’s like they share a mutual understanding.”
Xia Fei questioned, “You still haven’t said what sort of secret is in this compass that can send someone to the ancient battlefield? Why is it so important?”
Oro’s eyes erupted with light. “This is a pass that will allow you entry into the ancient battlefield. Think about it. Numerous top-class warriors fought on that battlefield. They’re dead now, but their possessions are still there.”
Xia Fei was stunned, then he delightedly said, “Entering that battlefield means a chance to get the relics left behind by the two peak races from that ancient era?!”