Chapter 9 - The House's Mysteries (2)

Nathan brought Theodore to continue exploring the house. Nathan did the investigation and occasionally explained the formation to Theodore, who followed.

He tracked the clue from the mana path and reached a wall signaling a dead end.

Nathan frowned slightly; he had encountered a lot during his travel, so he could guess there must be a discreet arrangement nearby.

He closed his eyes to sense the mana more carefully.

When Nathan opened his eyes again, he looked at a portrait in a frame filled with ornaments hanging nearby.

Although covered, he felt mana remnants barely detectable, making it more suspicious.

Nathan walked to the picture and touched a marble sphere in the frame's decoration.

He waited, but nothing happened.

He investigated again, but the result was the same.

When Nathan contemplated, Theodore came to his side and asked, "Teacher, can I try?"

Seeing Nathan nod, Theodore bit his finger and smeared the blood on that ordinary-looking marble.

This time, the marble changed; it absorbed Theodore's blood until no traces were left; the wall also split into two sides, showing the stair down to a lower floor.

Theodore knew from his future memory that many arrangements in this house required blood verification that the person involved belonged to the Hale family.

Nathan glanced at Theodore's action thoughtfully but did not press for Theodore's secret.

Theodore was relieved by Nathan's expression.

Nathan and Theodore continued their exploration; they walked down the single path and reached a hall covered in another powerful protective formation.

They both stopped outside the formation and looked inside.

The most noticeable object in the hall was the formation's core; various complicated patterns surrounded it.

Theodore was stunned the moment he first caught sight of the core; it was a statue of a heroic young man holding a sword with its size slightly bigger than Nathan's figure.

The main issue was that its entire material was platinum!

All the currency humans used was from the same kind of ore; however, different ore absorbed mana with different degrees depending on their forming environment.

Copper was the result of the ore that did not absorb mana. Among the five currencies, platinum contained ore with the highest purity.

The size of the ore determines the quantity of mana it could contain, and the type of currency specifies the purity of mana the ore hold.

The platinum used for this sculpture was enough for kingdoms to fight wars to get it.

From Nathan's earlier explanation, Theodore also understood the function of the core in the formation: to supply energy.

'How extravagant,' Theodore expressed privately to himself.

The mana user who created this formation did not use such big platinum in the military or critical defensive operation but instead managed a normal-looking house.

He deduced that the mana in the statue could at least destroy a few cities in war or cover a whole kingdom for decades when used for defensive purposes.

While pondering, Theodore found another issue, so he hesitantly asked Nathan, "Teacher, every time someone uses the mana utensils in the house without applying mana, it will consume from this core instead?"

Nathan bemusedly nodded when he heard Theodore's question. Even with his vision, he felt it was outrageous to do such a thing.

Seeing Nathan's reaction, Theodore also lamented that it was too wasteful.

Knowing this fact, he would never be able to use the toilet with peace of mind; each time he did so, he would consume such precious resources.

He would rather pay to have attendants do these trivial things for him, like his time in the Hale mansion.

He further understood why most nobles hire servants rather than using a more convenient mana device.

It was not that these nobles were stingy; it was because it was much cheaper.

Paying regular people required only copper coins, which was not a resource for cultivation, so why would they not?

Theodore could only imagine a few people becoming as flashy as the house's creator.

Discerning Theodore's frugal and regretful thoughts, Nathan lightly laughed. He handed his disciple a normal-looking bracelet with an ordinary-looking bead in the middle.

"I transferred my mana to this bracelet; it contains three moves of attack from me. Considered it a gift from me for accepting you as my disciple." Nathan explained the function of this accessory to Theodore.

Seeing Theodore hesitate, Nathan smiled and persuaded, "You can use it as a replacement for mana when using the utensils. You can come to me to fill it up when its mana runs out."

Theodore respectfully received the bracelet and sincerely expressed his gratitude. "Teacher, thank you very much."

While saying so, Theodore hid his shock and moaned bitterly in his heart. He secretly thought, 'Teacher is as exaggerated as the house's creator.'

He had also received it in his previous life, which helped him survive many crises.

The main point was that Theodore knew what the bead was.

It was a diamond!!!

Although small, it was indeed a diamond, the most precious ore in this world.

People did not consider diamonds a currency but a precious resource; no one would exchange them unless necessary.

The most valuable function of the diamond was that it could keep the mana transferred from others while maintaining the purity equivalent to mana from the platinum.

Diamond was much more valuable than platinum of the same size because there was no way to refill mana to the platinum; once used up the mana, it was no longer usable.

Theodore would not feel better utilizing a diamond when using a toilet than consuming the platinum core; they were both too precious!

After recalling, he glanced at Nathan and found that his teacher already continued with his investigation.

Nathan did want to go in for exploration, but directly breaking in may cause the formation to collapse.

He guessed only the descendant of the Hale, who was strong enough, could go inside; therefore, he could only probe from the outside.

Except for all the patterns complementing the formation, Nathan found an old, dull-looking sign; however, even Nathan was unsure what material it was made of. On it was written, "Breezy Lodge."

'It might be the name given to this house.' Nathan muttered to himself and decided to research more about it later.

...

After Nathan and Theodore finished their investigation, they returned to Theodore's room.

Nathan demonstrated how to use each device respectively.

All the devices worked by transforming mana into elements for operations.

One example was the bathtub; it absorbed mana and produced water filling the tub. After finishing, transfer mana again to use the fire element to evaporate the water and clean the bathtub.

Theodore listened carefully and did not interrupt Nathan, even though he knew some of their use.

After Nathan completed the demonstrations, he let Theodore try using his bracelet. Seeing that Theodore was fine, he returned to his room.

Theodore did not take long to finish cleaning himself up and was ready to rest.

It was a long and fulfilling day for Theodore; he hoped his examination would go well the following day as he fell asleep.