Chapter 135: Almost There (Part 2)
"Master Muria." When Muria, transformed into human form, landed on the castle's cloud terrace, the golden-haired head maid Sophia was already waiting on the side. Her appearance was the same as when Muria first saw her as a young girl, unchanged by time, seemingly leaving no trace on her.
"Sophia." Muria smiled slightly at the sight of the seemingly youthful and beautiful golden-haired girl, who, unknown to many, had lived for a very long time and had watched him grow up.
"Master Muria, are you here to switch out some books again?"
"Yes, I've finished a part of them and am ready to change them out." Muria nodded. "I'll pick them out myself, no need to have the dragon-born maids follow me."
"Understood, please feel free, I will take my leave now." The golden-haired head maid bowed slightly to Muria and then left with a team of maids following her.
After seeing the head maid Sophia leave, Muria's small body also slightly floated up, hovering about half a meter off the ground, and flew into the castle, heading straight for the library.
"Master Muria!"
"Master Muria!"
... Along the way, Muria encountered many dragon-born maids. These ageless maids, upon seeing Muria's small figure, would respectfully salute and greet him, and Muria would nod and glance in response.
"Phew! Finally found a place with no one around." After turning a corner, Muria looked around, seeing no one and not a single dragon-born maid passing by. He swiftly slipped into an exhibition hall.
This castle, built primarily from elemental crystals, was managed by the head maid Sophia along with over twelve hundred dragon-born maidens. Nevertheless, in such a massive crystal castle, it was often possible to not encounter any dragon-born maids at all.
"What kind of monster's remains are these?" Muria frowned as he looked at the huge metallic-gleaming beast skeleton in the exhibition hall he was in.
Even lying down, the skeleton was not much shorter than his titan form, indicative of the immense size of the beast. An adult titan would not even match its size, suggesting that the beast's strength during its lifetime must have been formidable, at the very least physically.
"What a pity, you are already dead." Muria looked up at the empty skull of the skeleton with a hint of regret. Such a creature, if it were alive today, would surely excite many titans. Judging by its size alone, its strength when alive must have been significant.
However, it seemed that this type of creature had been extinct for many ages. Muria, though not a scholar of all books, had a good grasp of many "basic facts" and knew of all the legendary creatures recorded to date, yet none matched the beast remains before him.
So, Muria was almost certain that this was a legendary creature whose lineage had been cut off long ago, as it had not produced descendants who survived to the present, and thus no books contained any records of it.
"Sorry, I'm not some scholar interested in your origins." Muria approached the huge beast's remains, slowly extending his hand forward, "I'm just a kid trying to retrieve something of mine."
"Buzz!" Before Muria's palm could touch the skeleton, a light screen with complex and mystical runes appeared, stopping his palm from getting any closer.
Muria, recognizing the familiar runes on the light screen, narrowed his eyes. A faint spiritual light enveloped his small palm, and he continued to reach forward, breaking the runes silently one by one.
As his palm extended, layers of runes quietly shattered, increasing the pressure on Muria significantly. The protective magic circle guarding the remains seemed to be a mere single layer but was in fact hundreds of layers of interwoven runes, which continued to change over time, making Muria's task of deciphering them even more challenging.
Muria, now with black hair and golden eyes like a delicately sculpted child, began to sweat, his forehead glistening and his face turning increasingly red.
"Just a bit more." Muria clenched his teeth; most of his palm was already through the light screen, seemingly about to break through and touch the giant beast's remains.
"Just a little more." Large beads of sweat fell from Muria's face, and steam began to rise from his head. His once delicate features twisted slightly with determination.
"Bang!" A faint thudding sound echoed, and Muria's small floating figure sharply recoiled backwards.
"Failed again." Muria clenched his fists, gritting his white teeth. "Just the last few layers left. If I had a bit more time, I could definitely break it; the last few layers change too quickly. Before I can decipher them, they change again."
"Sigh!" Muria took a deep breath, trying to suppress the frustration of failing to
break the magic circle, and started to motivate and reflect upon himself.
"This is a legendary compound magic circle. Twelve years of effort and getting this far is already quite an achievement. I've recorded the runes that just appeared; next time I come, I will definitely break it."
The crystal castle of the golden dragon lady Atreis was enveloped by a massive legendary compound magic circle, protecting everything in the castle, especially those rare items placed prominently in corridors and passageways.
Muria, after obtaining a "Deciphering Manual" from the golden dragon lady's library and studying it for several years, began attempting to break the castle's magic circles.
The complexity of a legendary magic circle far exceeded the imagination of ordinary mages. Without a diagram of the circle, attempting to break a legendary magic circle directly was like a fool's dream.
To better attempt breaking the circle, Muria initially stayed directly in the crystal castle, using every means to linger and not leave. Then, seizing the opportunity to touch and trigger the magic circle, he memorized each rune that appeared.
Then, Muria would return to the titan lands, pondering how to break each rune. After figuring it out, he would go to the crystal castle to try, but unfortunately, each attempt to break the magic circle resulted in new rune changes appearing, firmly blocking his palm just before the thin layer of light, preventing any progress.