Witch Monastery

Cuibisi did not find any treasures related to poison, so she began to count the treasures such as gold bars, pearls, gems and artworks in a very frugal manner. There were not many things in Sanasa's private treasury that could be exchanged for money, but it was enough for her to count for a while.

Celine picked up a set of optical instruments, including plane mirrors, convex lenses, concave lenses, transparent triangular prisms, etc., and looked at them curiously. She was surprised that the Eye Demon would collect such things, and she couldn't take her eyes away for a while.

As for Andrei,

Willow and Adele didn't find much in the treasure house that interested them, so the three of them followed Hawthorne and went straight to the deepest part of the treasure house.

Here, in a transparent square glass cover, a stone with a gray color similar to cement, roughly in the shape of a slender quadrangular pyramid but with relatively rounded edges, lies quietly on a piece of red cloth.

Hawthorne walked closer and looked down at it. A smile gradually formed on the corners of his mouth.

This is the purpose of his trip, the Stone of Gral.

He then stretched out his hands and gently took off the glass cover, but did not touch it, leaving it there.

Behind him, Adele stared at the stone curiously and asked, "Is this little thing the target you are looking for? What is its use?"

As she said this, she stretched out her hand to touch it.

Hawthorne quickly held her hand down: "Don't touch it!"

The two of them touched hands, which was a normal behavior, but Adele's expression suddenly became a little unnatural. She clenched her hands subconsciously, and her palms were full of sweat.

Hawthorne had no such thoughts. He looked at the stone with great caution while saying, "This thing is alive."

Behind them, Willow also came around and looked at the stone, saying in surprise: "Alive? Wait, you mean it's..."

Hawthorne nodded slightly: "Yes, it is not an ordinary stone, but an aboleth."

The Stone of Gral is essentially the appearance of a demon fish named Gral after being cast into magic.

Aboleths can read the memories of any creature that has a telepathic link with them, and after being turned to stone, Gral's memories can also be read by outsiders.

Therefore, it has now become the best information storage device, which can help its owner store those huge secrets that should not be made public.

Adele quickly withdrew her hand. Apparently, she had also heard about the power of the Aboleth and was unwilling to come into contact with such a terrifying creature.

Hawthorne called out to the back: "Heidi!"

Behind him, the Deep Sea Witch came slowly. Following his instructions, she used the magician's hand to slowly pick up the stone and put it into Hawthorne's space bag.

After completing this step, Hawthorne breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a sense of relief that his money was safe.

Chapter 450: Heart Flayer Nishiro

Several decades ago, the corrupt former mayor of Port Liber amassed a huge fortune for himself. After the truth was revealed, part of his property was transferred away in advance, and the rest was confiscated by the city hall.

However, what people don't know is that the former city lord also used the power at hand to secretly build a huge treasure house for himself, in which he stored his favorite collections.

These include various types of jewelry and artworks, as well as 500,000 pieces of silver dragon gold that are no longer in circulation on the market today. Once upon a time, the silver dragons living in the Sein Empire also wanted to issue their own currency, but eventually had to give up with the decline of the empire.

Therefore, these gold coins are limited and out of print. Considering their collection value, the total value of this treasure trove will be inestimable.

The information related to the treasury was stored in the Graol Stone by the former city lord. However, the incident was exposed too suddenly, and he was exiled afterwards, so the stone was not taken away in time.

Among the soldiers responsible for searching his house, an unlucky guy touched the stone and immediately established a mental link with the bottom-dwelling demon fish. Then, under the impact of its massive memory, he turned into a madman and threw the stone into the sewer.

In the following time, the stone passed through several hands and finally fell into the hands of Shannasa. However, although this beholder can cast an anti-magic force field, it is its innate ability and its own magical attainments are limited. Therefore, no method has been found to safely read the memory of the bottom demon fish.

Moreover, after guessing that the stone was involved in a huge secret, it was even more reluctant to risk being exposed and hand over this treasure to others.

It itself does not have the ability to figure out the reason, so this thing, along with the huge treasure involved, can only gather dust here, and it is unknown when it will see the light of day again.

And now, it belongs to Hawthorne.

After collecting the Stone of Gral, Cuibis, Celine and others also packed up most of the valuable collections in the treasure house.

Not wanting to stay any longer in this dirty and smelly sewer, Hawthorne waved his hand and said, "Let's go out and go back to the monastery to rest!"

No one objected to this, and the trip to the sewer was considered a complete success.

However, just as Hawthorne was about to step out of the treasury, a tall and thin figure in a blue cloak suddenly blocked the iron gate of the treasury.

Hawthorne paused and shone his light magic forward. He took a closer look through the hole he had blasted in the iron door and discovered that the guy's skin was actually blue-green, with a few tentacles on his chin that were swaying gently like octopus tentacles.

Immediately, he understood the other party's identity.

It was a mind flayer, a terrifying creature that controlled psychic energy and liked to feed on the brains of highly intelligent people!

Hawthorne's expression was extremely serious. He could not ignore the power of the mind flayers.

In ancient times, before the ancient elven empire was established, the mind flayers

They have already been sailing through the star realm and across various dimensions in their huge spiral-shell ships.

They used mental magic to enslave countless races and established a vast empire spanning the multiverse, and for a time they were unrivaled in their glory.

However, where there is oppression, there is resistance. The various races that could not bear the oppression of the mind flayers secretly accumulated strength and finally launched a huge uprising. The huge mind flayer empire collapsed almost overnight and disappeared in the universe. Only a very small number of remnants hid in the material world, in the dark underworld where there was no sunlight, and survived.

The enslaved people were freed and started a new life. However, all signs indicate that there was another reason behind the fall of the Mind Flayer Empire: no mainstream theory can explain why such a large empire collapsed so quickly, and their main fleet, which included several giant star destroyers, never showed up, as if they had no interest in protecting their country.

What is even more suspicious is that many of the super-large interstellar cities and demiplanes built by the mind flayers disappeared after the war and have not been found to this day.

All the doubts here are very intriguing, but it’s a pity that Hawthorne traveled through time before the subsequent versions were updated, and I don’t know how the creators are going to fill this hole.

However, even if we put all this aside, the Mind Flayers are powerful creatures that are capable of mastering mental magic, so we must never underestimate them!

Later, the girls also knew how powerful this mind flayer was. Suddenly, everyone who had just wanted to relax became alert again, each holding their weapons or staffs, ready for a new battle.

However, just when Hawthorne was considering whether to strike first, he saw the mind flayer waving his dry and slender hands. Then, a gentle male voice sounded directly in the minds of several people: "Everyone, don't be nervous, I have no ill intentions."

"My name is Nishiro, and I'm a scholar. I came to the surface this time just to do some academic research on magic."

Hawthorne sneered, looking very unwilling to cooperate: "Researching how to eat human brains in the most delicious way?"

Hearing this, the mind flayer who called himself Nisilo said with a hint of helplessness in his voice: "I think you must have some prejudice against us, Mr. Nigel Hawthorne."

Hawthorne's expression changed: "You know my name?"

The Mind Flayer nodded slightly: "Yes, and I also know that you are the real one, the number one contributor to the killing of the Abyss Lord Monbot. It is unfair for Shannasa and her lackeys to smear your reputation."

Hawthorne was slightly surprised, and then he heard the mind flayer continue to telepathically communicate: "On the day when you eliminated the Abyss Lord, I was actually at the scene and observed with magic. But I am just a psychic, I don't have the powerful power like you, so I can only observe in secret, hoping to find a way to banish the Abyss Lord."

"I saw with my own eyes Mr. Nigel Hawthorne destroy the Lord of the Abyss with that explosion of magical energy. I admire you very much and have noticed your name. You are a well-deserved hero."

This mind flayer lowered his posture very low, and after such a series of compliments, even a person with a heart of stone would find it difficult to maintain his original cold attitude.

Hawthorne's expression eased slightly. Considering the complex distribution of power in the Underdark, maybe this Mind Flayer was really a guy with whom he could make friends.

However, he said he was looking for a way to banish the Abyss Lord...

Hawthorne's eyes rolled, his expression thoughtful: "Are you a member of the Guangyao Society?"

Suddenly, Nishiro's voice sounded very surprised: "You know of our existence?"

Hawthorne nodded slightly: "I know a thing or two."

This is actually the truth. Because Hawthorne is too lazy to read the lengthy background information in the game, he really can't say that he knows much about the Guangyao Society, an organization that only appears a few times.

He only knew that the Society of Glory was a non-profit organization composed of magicians from the Underdark. They had been conducting various research related to demonic pollution and conducting experiments everywhere to eliminate this thing.

Of course, the mess these guys made was no less troublesome than the trouble they solved. The outrageous experiments of magicians were always the most common source of danger in the fantasy world.

However, although what he said was indeed the truth, this attitude was naturally seen as modesty by the mind flayer.

Suddenly, the respect in this guy's tone became stronger: "I didn't expect you to be so knowledgeable. I am really ashamed of myself."

Chapter 451: Moonlit Night, Willow in the Garden (I)

Hawthorne smiled secretly in his heart, but he still maintained a serious attitude: "Well, so, Mr. Nishiro from the Guangyao Society, why did you suddenly come to me at this time?"

Talking about the serious business of this trip, the mind flayer became serious again: "I came to the surface this time to use the racial characteristics of the eye demons to conduct research on chaotic energy and find a way to remove the demon pollution."

"However, due to Shannasa's stubbornness, the plan suffered some setbacks and may even have caused some disasters. Ah, I am really sorry about this!"

Hawthorne almost blurted out: Oh, so those primitive demons were created by you, kid.

Come!

I was wondering why Shannasa, who was originally the king of the sewers, suddenly colluded with the devil!

At this point, Hawthorne wanted to loudly rebuke him for his random experiments, which had brought immeasurable pollution and harm to the material world.

But then he changed his mind and realized that there was no point in verbally accusing him here, after all, the matter was already settled.

The important thing is to find a way to make this mind flayer realize how much harm he has caused, and then have all the people from the Radiant Society come to Port Liberl as soon as possible to resolve the pollution.

As he was thinking about this, Nishiro continued in front of him: "And I noticed that the eye demon seems to have been tamed by you. In the next period of time, it should become more stable and controllable."

"So, Mr. Nigel Hawthorne," he said thoughtfully, "In this case, how about we reach a cooperation?"

"I believe that what I have studied will definitely be helpful to your career in the future."

Hawthorne's eyes flickered.

This is true. After all, although the Guangyao Society often causes trouble, it must be said that once there are real research results, they are indeed extremely useful.

Risks always come with new opportunities.

Originally in Hawthorne's own development plan, he had not intended to deal with the forces of the Underdark so early, let alone cooperate with the Glorious Society.

But now, since the port of Liberl is in such a mess, the forces of the Underdark will inevitably enter the port one after another. When he even came, he encountered a group of dark elves operating in secret.

Plans cannot keep up with changes, and everything in the future will probably have to be adapted to circumstances. So now, having one more ally is always an additional favorable option and an additional way out in the future.

What's more, the pollution here has to be solved by the Guangyao Society. I don't want to deal with it for them. That would be too much of a complaint.

Thinking of this, facing the expectant gaze of the mind flayer, Hawthorne nodded slightly and said, "Okay, then let's leave each other a spell of the communication stone."

……

The moment Hawthorne came out of the stinking sewer and breathed the fresh air of Port Liber again, he even had an urge to cry.

Wow, the air on the ground is still fresh. Although it is winter, the sea breeze is so pleasant.

I really can’t understand how the guys from the Shannasa Guild can endure the environment in the sewers and live in such a place for a long time!

Alas, perhaps this is the world of criminals that I cannot understand.

It was already late, and the sun was about to set. Hawthorne and the others were all dirty and smelly, so they did not delay and hurried back to the monastery.

They first took turns taking a long bath in each bathroom, cleaned up their personal hygiene, and took care of their evening meals. Then they called the witches to the study to count today's specific gains.

The first thing to be counted is naturally the gains in purification points. The points that each original demon can provide him are actually not that many, with the least being only three or four hundred, and the most being only about seven or eight hundred.

However, their number was considerable, adding up to nearly 10,000 points. In addition, he also gained a large amount of points when he purified the Eye Demon, so his savings now reached 20,000 points.

As for Shannasa's collection, it was naturally quite rich. The treasure house contained a total of about 30,000 gold coins worth of gold, all stored in the form of pure gold bars. No matter where they were placed, they were extremely hard currency.

In addition, there are various high-quality gems. Hawthorne doesn't know much about these precious jewels, but according to Die's estimation, the total value of these gems should be more than 10,000 gold coins.

In addition to these, there are also various works of art, such as silver wine glasses inlaid with moonstones, small statues of the goddess of wealth made of pure gold, and ancient golden war masks.

The total value of these artworks is about 10,000 gold coins. If they can all be disposed of smoothly, the monetary gain from this trip to the sewers alone will exceed 50,000 gold coins.

It’s enough to pay a down payment in the central area.

In addition to these, Shannasa's treasure house also contains various magical items, such as a ring that can make people invisible, as well as various magic books and spell scrolls.

Apparently, this guy had tried to study magic seriously, but it seemed like he had failed in the end.

So now, all these things are cheap for Hawthorne.

Of course, the total wealth of the Shannasa Guild is definitely not that much. This cunning beholder hid the guild's supplies in different warehouses, which were managed by different leaders.

Those materials are actually the real bulk of the guild's wealth. Now they are just Shannasa's personal collection.

But it is conceivable that when the boss died suddenly, several disloyal leaders all fled, and the stored items in those scattered warehouses must have been looted by these leaders and their subordinates, and it was not Hawthorne's turn to take them.

He didn't care about those things. With these hard currencies, his gains were enough.

As they counted the spoils, everyone was filled with joy. Although 50,000 gold coins was not much compared to the value of the treasure house involved in the Gral Stone, it was definitely a lot for him now.

huge sum of money.

Moreover, although the amount of treasure recorded in the Stone of Graol was huge, Hawthorne did not intend to take it for himself. Firstly, there were many dangerous traps in the treasure house. With his current strength, it would be almost like committing suicide to go there. He had to wait until the later stage to go there.

Secondly, although this wealth of tens of millions of gold coins is tempting, it is not an indispensable thing when it comes to the later stages of the game.

In the long run, it is better to give it to another person now and use the money to exchange for something that money cannot buy...

Based on his experience in the game, he already had a plan in mind.

The collections in the Shannasa Treasury were huge in number and complex in variety. By the time they had finished counting them all, it was already late at night.

After turning off the light in the study, Hawthorne did not delay and planned to return to their rooms to rest.

But just as he walked out of the study, he saw a figure wearing a robe the color of withered yellow leaves standing alone under the moonlight in the courtyard of the monastery full of flowers and plants. He looked lonely and cold.