Mystery: A Spark

No, no, Mr. Chariot once said, don't be fooled by appearances. I can't jump to conclusions so rashly. Calm down first... Derrick took two deep breaths and felt his racing heartbeat gradually subside.

First, we need to confirm one thing: Elder Lovia hasn't been on any missions recently and has been staying in Silver City... So, it's unlikely that she'll run into any trouble... Derrick analyzed calmly.

The members of the Silver City exploration team had no need for secrecy, because the only connection between the city and the outside world was the city gate. So, it was easy to find out who had recently gone out to explore with just a little inquiry.

Derrick usually pays attention to these things, so he knows that Elder Lovia hasn't been out recently.

Since they haven't gone outside, it's unlikely they'll be contaminated.

After all, if a powerful extraordinary being of Sequence 5 could be corrupted while staying in the city, then Silver City would have been finished long ago, just like those destroyed city-states outside.

Although Derrick didn't know the specifics, he could guess that Silver City must be protected by something, otherwise it would have become a monster paradise long ago.

Having figured this out, Derrick breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as Elder Lovia is not corrupted, it's a good thing that she has returned to normal.

Derrick arrived at Elder Waiter's room, knocked on the door, and only went in after receiving Elder Waiter's permission.

“You’ve arrived, Derrick. What can I do for you?” Wright asked, putting down the parchment he was holding.

“It’s like this…” Derrick repeated what he had just said to Elder Lovia to Elder Wright, and then handed the entire suitcase to Wright Hillmon.

Wheater Hillmont first curiously fiddled with the pocket watch, then took out the manufacturing blueprints that came with the suitcase and began to look at them.

Taking advantage of this moment, Derrick asked about his doubts regarding Elder Lovia.

“Oh, you’re asking about that? Lovia just gave me a parchment; you’ll see when you take a look.” Wright Hillmont handed the parchment he had just put down to Derrick.

Derrick took a look and found that the title read:

"Research on strengthening the suppression of sealed creatures in order to weaken their psychological impact."

Wright explained:

"As you know, the advancement of a Demon Hunter requires us to fight against the mind of a monster, and some warriors choose monsters that are beyond their capacity, which leads to situations similar to what happened to Lovia before."

"And the parchment in your hand is Lovia's solution to this situation, which is to suppress the sealed creatures within her body at a deeper level to weaken their influence."

"As a price, the extraordinary abilities the host borrows from the sealed creature will naturally be weakened. However, this state is reversible. We can actively remove this shackle and release the power of the sealed creature again."

Derrick nodded as if he understood, then asked:

"Elder Waiter, has the Chief been away for so long in search of a suitable sealing creature?"

“That’s right. He chose a demon that’s quite far from Silver City. If things go smoothly, he should be back by now.”

No sooner had Wright Hillmont finished speaking than he heard the guards outside speaking in a slightly excited voice:

"Elder Waiter, the Chief has returned!"

Chapter 172 Colin and Hudder

The chief is back? Derrick was immediately overjoyed.

He followed Elder Waiter and quickly walked towards the training ground on the edge of Silver City.

After each exploration team returns, they stay here for a period of time. This is not only to facilitate their communication and reporting of what they encountered in the dark depths, but also to serve as a form of isolation, preventing any strange things from attaching themselves to any member and then violently erupting when time has passed.

This is the experience that Baiyin City has explored and summarized over two thousand years. It is not complicated, but it is quite effective.

Since the chief has been away for so long, he naturally needs to abide by this rule, even though he is a powerful demigod.

Or perhaps it is precisely because of his great strength that he may bring back a greater crisis, and therefore the quarantine he needs to undergo may be even more stringent.

Upon arriving at the training ground, Derrick Berg saw Chief Colin Iliad, who had unkempt gray hair and old scars on his face.

He stood alone in the training field, his clothes, which he had worn when he left, now worn and dirty, with some bloodstains on them.

Maybe it's the monster's, maybe it's Colin's own.

"Chief!" Derrick ran over quickly and greeted Colin.

For him, Chief Colin was like a teacher, and after his parents died, Chief Colin became the person he respected and relied on the most.

However, he could not make direct contact with Colin because there was a semi-transparent but steel-like wall between them.

The material used for this wall comes from not far from Silver City and is called "Dark Amber." It is as hard as steel but also has a certain degree of transparency and good sound conductivity. It was used to isolate the newly returned members of the exploration team.

Only after all members of the exploration team have been confirmed to be safe and sound can they contact their relatives and friends in the city.

"Derrick." Colin nodded slightly in response to the boy who ran towards him.

After a month-long hunt in the dark world outside, returning to Silver City and seeing familiar faces inevitably filled Colin with emotion.

However, he has always been a calm and composed person, so he did not show too much emotion.

"Colin, how did the hunt go?" Wheat Hillmont, who had also arrived, asked eagerly.

"There were some twists and turns, but we still succeeded." Colin pulled open his collar, revealing his chest with silver-white patterns. "It's still a bit troublesome to hunt down monsters like demons. They're too slippery. Even with hidden malice and the Demon Hunter's Eye, we still almost let it escape."

Wheat Hillmont laughed:

"That's alright, anyway, we've only found this one devil, so we can't hunt it down anymore."

The reason Silver City was able to discover this demon was actually because they obtained information from the ruins of another abandoned city-state.

Then, after an exploration by a veteran demon hunter, the approximate location of the demon was finally confirmed.

Since this demon was quite far from Silver City, far beyond their exploration range, and hunting it would be time-consuming, laborious, and unprofitable, the Silver City elders ignored it and simply marked its approximate location on the map.

After all, even a powerful demon hunter like Colin took a month to successfully hunt down this demon. Without sufficient rewards, why would Silver City waste that time?

Why not do something good with this month?

Now it's different. They can seal monsters into their own bodies to gain their power, which makes hunting this demon quite profitable.

Furthermore, the upcoming temple exploration was quite important, which is why Colin finally decided to leave the city for the hunting expedition.

“Chief, now that you’re back, what about the exploration of the temple…” Derrick said with some anticipation.

"How's your Lightbringer potion going?" Colin asked.

“It shouldn’t be long,” Derrick quickly replied.

After his continuous performance over the past few days, the potion in his body has been almost completely digested.

In about a week, he should be able to be promoted to Sun Priest.

“Okay, then let’s prepare for another two weeks. We can also use this time to select other exploration team members. I also need some time to adapt to my new abilities and to make sure there are no problems on this trip.” Colin had already made plans.

“Yes, Chief.” Derrick was slightly excited.

In another week, that is, next week, he will be able to go with the chief to see the mysterious temple of the true creator.

Of course, Derrick also didn't forget to tell the Chief what Mr. "World" needed about the method to eliminate the contamination in extraordinary characteristics, and what the main ingredients of the psychiatric prescription needed by Ms. "Justice".

But these things weren't appropriate to discuss in public, so Derrick decided to wait until they got back to the Round Tower.

It took quite a while before Colin's examination was finally completed.

Of course, even though the inspection is complete, it doesn't mean we can be absolutely certain that there are no problems.

Just like the chief's brother, Huddle, the sole survivor of an exploration team decades ago, everyone knew he was definitely suspicious, but no one could find anything out.

So they had no choice but to lock him up in the dungeon, where he has remained until today.

As the strongest person in Silver City, if anything could cause Colin to go wrong without being detected, it would be a devastating blow to Silver City.

However, this possibility is not high, because of the special nature of the warrior path, their defensive capabilities and resistance can be said to be at the top level of all paths.

Colin, on the other hand, is a demigod of the warrior path.

However, just to be on the safe side, Colin offered to spend seven days in the dungeon.

"You're going to the dungeon?" Wheat Hillmont frowned.

“I’ve been away for a month. Are you really okay with that?” Colin looked at him and said calmly.

“But…” Derrick hesitated.

“Alright, you can focus on digesting the potion for the next week. Once I’m out, we’ll head to that abandoned temple,” Colin said in his deep voice.

“Well, alright…” Derrick could only watch Colin leave in silence.

……

Silver City, at the base of the round tower.

Led by two other elders guarding the dungeon, Colin arrived here.

This place is even more oppressive and stifling than the outside world; it's where Silver City uses it to detain problematic members.

"Chief, which cell do you want to be in?" one of the elders asked.

"That one will do," Colin said, looking at a particular cell.

“But that place is…” The elder was clearly taken aback.

“It’s fine, let’s just stay there.” Colin strode over.

Behind him, the elder who had spoken opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing, only sighed softly, and then left.

In the dim light of the candle, Colin arrived at the door of a small cell. Just as he was about to step inside, he heard a voice coming from the cell next door:

"Colin, it's you."

Colin paused, then calmly walked into the cell and closed the door behind him.

He placed the candle on the table, sat down on the bed beside him, closed his eyes, as if to begin meditating.

But at that moment, the sounds from the adjacent cell continued to ring out:

"Hehe, Colin, my brother, it's been so long! Don't you have anything to say to me?"

Seeing that Colin did not respond, the voice did not care and continued to speak on its own.

He talked about Colin's childhood, their experiences fighting side-by-side as adults, his own adventures, and so on...

Colin listened quietly, his eyes lowered, his expression somber, without making any response.

After a while, when the voice next door got into the conversation, Colin finally spoke.

His deep voice echoed in the small room:

Have you ever heard of the Fool?