Chapter 1458: Chapter 1452: Completely Unscathed

After that sudden idea struck.

Ronald didn’t interrupt Costate and Anthony’s work beside the pit. Instead, he descended to the corresponding depth in the shaft and used a Spell to dig sideways.

This kind of movement quickly drew the attention of his two companions.

But since all three of them had come up empty-handed during the recent digging, when they saw this they only thought Ronald wanted to try a different spot. They didn’t ask much.

In silence, the soil was shifted around underground.

The three people down here all quietly changed the direction of their excavation.

With a clear target in mind, Ronald was naturally the first one to make a discovery.

Going by the location where he had rescued the nun in his memories, Ronald dug through a mass of soil and soon found the traces of the church courtyard corridor again. He followed the lay of the ground and kept digging, and before long that cocoon-like stone gate reappeared before his eyes.

"This is it." Ronald let out a breath.

Just as he had expected.

Though a great deal of soil had buried this place completely, the room itself was under the protection of a Spell and hadn’t been too badly damaged.

He used the same technique as before to open the door.

What came into view next were books scattered all over the floor, and the wreckage of bookshelves that had completely disintegrated from their extreme decay under the final tremors brought by the last bout of geological changes.

"Looks like my luck’s not bad."

Ronald murmured softly.

He then stepped forward and carefully picked up a book from the ground.

Like the room itself, thanks to the protection of outside Spells, the books here had been spared much of the damage from natural causes. Apart from the paper having become very brittle, the writing on the pages was still clearly legible when he opened them.

The thing he had been seeking was right in front of him.

Ronald naturally couldn’t wait; he opened the book, sat directly on the ground, and began to read.

He had barely had time to read in detail, though, before—

Costate and Anthony, who had noticed the commotion from below, also clambered up from the shaft and followed the open doorway Ronald had found into the room.

"Mr. Ronald, I heard some noise over here..." Anthony spoke up to announce his presence.

But before Ronald could respond—

The old Caster caught sight of the room full of ancient, austere books and couldn’t help himself; he joined Ronald, picked one up from the floor, and tried to read it.

A few breaths later, the old Caster’s expression shifted from shock and excitement to confusion and disappointment.

After hesitating again and again, he finally closed the solitary volume in his hands.

His helpless gaze turned toward Ronald in front of him:

"If I’m not mistaken—these characters are extremely ancient."

"Aside from a tiny handful of seasoned scholars who specialize in cultures from before the Dark Age, I doubt anyone could even recognize what’s written here."

Anthony’s judgment came entirely from his understanding of the historical origins of these books.

He could even stake his reputation on it here.

Across the whole southern continent, all the scholars put together would amount to fewer than ten people who could actually interpret what was in this place. It was only thanks to the knowledge he had accumulated over many years that he could identify the origin of the script at all.

However, Ronald didn’t respond to Anthony.

He was completely absorbed in his reading, so focused he didn’t even notice that the old Caster was speaking to him!

Seeing Ronald like this,

Anthony unconsciously lowered his voice.

The way this young man read, clearly immersed in the content of these books, showed not the slightest hint of puzzlement or difficulty in deciphering them.

Anthony became aware of a rather outrageous reality—

This powerful Caster with a youthful face not only possessed strength far beyond what his age suggested, he could even read this ancient language with ease!

"..."

Anthony felt deeply shaken, but even more, he was baffled.

Ronald’s formidable combat ability could perhaps be chalked up to that vanishingly small yet real possibility of a power leap granted by the original text system.

But ancient writing was absolutely the kind of precious knowledge that required long-term research and accumulation across many fields before one could finally learn it.

For Ronald to have reached this level of mastery at his age—

In Anthony’s view, this was already a Tales of the Arabian Nights–style fantasy that defied common sense!

"Maybe I really am getting old... maybe there really are such geniuses in the world?" Anthony muttered twice under his breath.

Then the old man stopped dwelling on it and moved back to the spot where they had come in, sitting down on the stairs and quietly taking on the duty of guarding this space.

People with a very clear sense of their own role often act like this.

When they encounter something they can’t get involved in, they’ll naturally look for work they can do.

Compared to Anthony, Costate focused far more of her attention on Ronald.

After entering the room, the maid set the lantern used for illumination in the center of the space to create a better reading environment. Then she quietly knelt beside Ronald and began gathering up the scattered books one by one, arranging them neatly in front of him.

Costate likewise couldn’t read the characters on these books. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

After all, the era she had lived in was also the late stage of the Dark Age, long after the witch hunts.

But thanks to the advantages granted by her Gestalt-like way of thinking,

she could quickly treat the writing on the covers as images, sorting and grouping them by finding similar or related patterns.

To Costate,

being able to organize these books for Ronald so they’d be easier to find and pick out was already a very important job.

...

In the underground night, time ticked slowly by.

Ronald was engrossed in his reading, almost paying no attention to what was happening around him or on the surface.

During this time, Anthony realized that the Abyssal Lantern providing their light was a remarkable item and grew quite curious. Once Costate finished organizing the books, she readily explained it to the old Caster.

The two of them discussed the matter for a while, and the maid took the opportunity to tell him about the concept of the Dream-Ring Mirror as well.

In this way, the atmosphere in the room embedded in the earth gradually grew gentle.

Ronald knew they didn’t have much time, so when he read he only focused on the key points; about every ten minutes or so, he would put down the book in his hands and switch to another, gathering information from these ancient pages at quite a rapid pace.

Until the next morning arrived.

When the sunlight shining obliquely into the vertical shaft outside was faintly reflected down here,

Costate came to Ronald’s side and lightly patted his shoulder:

"Sir, it’s dawn."

"Huh?" Ronald was jolted from his reading by Costate, looking a bit dazed. "Dawn... Right, we really should get out of here!"

Ronald was somewhat reluctant to part with the books before him.

But given their current circumstances, he could still distinguish what mattered more and less, and he decisively carried out the decision he had already made last night.

Anthony hurried to his feet as well, stepping forward to ask about the results of Ronald’s reading:

"Mr. Ronald, what have you gained?"

Ronald answered straightforwardly:

"I’ve gotten quite a bit of important information here."

"If you want to know, wait a bit—I’ll organize it and then give you a full explanation."