Hidden Gems

Nova was speechless at how much money one could spend on normal wine. Even if North Cardinal Castle was two hundred miles away from the nearest human settlement, one bottle that would cost several Silvers normally couldn't cost seventy to eighty Gold Coins here, right...?

Nova needed to brew an antidote to the Black Finger Poison that was coursing through his bloodstream. If he had been an Archmage, not to mention this Black Finger Poison, even the aphrodisiac of a Lust Dragon would have been burnt by the sheer amount of Magic inside his blood.

However, Nova had to admit that this Edwin was ingenious. To concoct his own poison where the access to ingredients was so restricted, back when he was a Noviciate he didn't think he could have done the same. Nova's Archmage Law Comprehension was in Fire after all, and he wasn't so good in other aspects.

Ice River Salmon...

Mountain Sun Flower...

Tundra Bear Fang...

Nova spent about twenty Spirit Orbs purchasing several Magical Herbs to cure the Black Finger Poison. Already, black spots could be seen on his finger- and toenails, not to mention that his knuckles were tingling. Nova was about to return to his room to brew when he spotted something.

Ancient Faery Runes!

It was written on an old parchment yellowed with the years and some Runes had faded away. However, these Runes were so valuable that each was worth around one million Spirit Orbs, and there was an entire page worth of them!

Nova purchased this "Ancient Relic" for seven Spirit Orbs. If he offered a higher price, the shopkeeper might become suspicious, but this price coupled with his spendthrift reputation was enough to be inconspicuous.

It took him seven hours to brew the antidote. There was insufficient Magic within him to finish in one sitting so he had to break for an hour to recover before resuming. Meanwhile, Nova began to study the Ancient Faery Runes.

These Runes each contained the mysteries of the Laws inside them. Most Cardinals knew how to read several Ancient Languages, but the Ancient Faery Runes were one of the five exceptions. It was not difficult to learn or hard to pronounce with our Human chords, but because each word contained Laws inside, unless you comprehended that specific part of the Law, you wouldn't be able to speak or write it.

The Cardinals and Prime Magicians had nicknamed it as a Lost Secret, while the Archmages chuckled about their Juniors' ignorance. It would be abnormal if anybody in this forgotten castle knew about Ancient Faery Runes, much less recognise them.

Nova had categorised the Runes written on this sheet of papyrus. There were seven intact Runes, but eleven incomplete or broken Runes.

Lucerna, which meant Candle, Ardet which meant Burn, Orbis which meant World, Arbor which meant Tree, Impetus which meant Attack, and Peri-It which meant Gone. Nova was somewhat fluent in their Runes and knew this meant: The Candle which burns the World Tree has attacked... gone. It was near impossible to read the incomplete Runes which could mean anything from kidneys to monkey.

Hmm... If Nova ever needed funding he could sell this off for around twenty million. This parchment was from the First War of Gods when the Beast Kingdom and the Faery Kingdom were fighting. This must have been a message from a Faery, spreading the news of the demise of their World Tree.

However, Nova remembered something important. He had forgotten to ask the shopkeeper where he had picked up this piece of parchment!