54: How to unlock the seal

In the dead of night.

Ron sighed faintly, feeling a bit helpless.

"It looks like from now on, I can only rely on wits, not brute force..."

Ron thought to himself, then touched his money pouch and the sharp dagger.

"Tomorrow, I'll go to the Saar Family first to see if I can redeem my sister."

"If they agree, that would naturally be for the best, but what if they find an excuse to refuse..."

At this moment, Ron turned over and opened his eyes.

He looked at the bright and soft moonlight outside the window, his gaze revealing a hint of coldness.

After a while, Ron continued to browse the intelligence.

"Dr. Gavin is in a bad mood, his research has hit a bottleneck?"

Ron's heart stirred, and he couldn't help but feel a little curious.

Yesterday, after Doctor Litton received Gavin's letter, he had carefully introduced his senior student.

According to him, Gavin was once the most outstanding student in the entire grade, and even the entire school.

Not only was he exceptionally intelligent and had excellent grades, but he also had a certain talent in the Mental Energy domain.

Therefore, when Doctor Litton and the others learned that Gavin had gone to study under a Potion Master, they all agreed that Gavin would surely become a respected Potion Master in the future.

However, later on, although Gavin activated his spiritual talent and became a Potion Master apprentice, he remained stuck at the advanced Potion Master apprentice level for over a decade, unable to become a true Potion Master.

Doctor Litton also told Ron that Gavin's later research direction seemed to be about breakthroughs in the Mental Energy domain.

However, as for the research results, Gavin had always kept them secret, and Doctor Litton was unaware of them.

"Doctor Litton will visit tomorrow, I wonder if the arrival of an old friend will make Dr. Gavin feel better?"

Ron thought to himself, but didn't dwell on it further, moving on to the next piece of intelligence.

"Hmm? That sealed coin surprisingly has no effect on the human body?"

Ron raised an eyebrow, incredibly surprised.

One must know that most sealed items carry some negative effects.

Even if a small portion of sealed items do not cause permanent harm to the human body, they still consume physical strength or Mental Energy as an energy source when unsealed or activated.

However, this sealed coin, whether unsealed or not, has no effect on the human body... Thinking of this, Ron's heart suddenly stirred.

"Wait, it doesn't affect the human body, but that doesn't mean it won't affect something else!"

"For example, the rumored Mand Kingdom's royal family's heirloom, passed down through generations—the Gate of the Underworld."

Legend has it that hundreds or even thousands of years ago, the Mand Kingdom's royal family, to protect their descendants, gathered the kingdom's top Alchemists.

Together, they refined a top-tier alchemy construct called the [Gate of the Underworld].

As the name suggests, this sealed item is a gate, and behind this gate hides a desolate space, not existing in reality, like the Underworld.

Within this desolate space, a large number of sarcophagi are stored, entirely crafted from extremely cold, solid ice.

Each generation of royal powerhouses, when their lifespan was nearing its end, would pass through the Gate of the Underworld and enter the desolate space.

Then, they would lie in the ice coffins and undergo self-sealing.

In this desolate space, time seems to be stagnant, and its flow is greatly slowed.

One day in the outside world would be magnified dozens or even hundreds of times within this desolate space.

The alchemy ice coffins would keep the physical body from decaying and active, while the consciousness would fall into slumber.

If, in the future, the Mand royal family encountered a crisis that could lead to their demise, the current king or direct heir could open the [Gate of the Underworld] through a secret ritual.

Then, they would open the ice coffins, awaken the powerful ancestors of past generations, and have them assist in battles to resolve the crisis.

The cost of opening the Gate of the Underworld, however, was the consumption of a large amount of resources.

Aside from that, it would not cause any effect on the human body.

Of course, this was merely a folk legend; the exact situation was naturally unknown to ordinary people.

"Could it be that this sealed item, like the Gate of the Underworld, is also a top-tier alchemy construct?"

Ron couldn't help but murmur to himself.

At this moment, the corner of his eye swept over the remaining few pieces of intelligence.

"Hmm? The method to unseal the sealed item..."

Ron perked up and quickly read through it carefully.

"Indeed, activating it not only requires carving a magic array and chanting an incantation, but also a large number of magic crystals as an energy source?"

Ron's gaze shifted to the sixth piece of intelligence.

"Coincidentally, tomorrow the Exchange will have a batch of energy crystals for sale..."

On the God-Given Continent, generally speaking, there are two sources of energy crystals.

One type is natural ore containing magical energy, mined from the earth's veins.

The other type is energy crystals charged and refined by mages or Alchemists themselves.

Although these two types of energy stones come from different sources, there is almost no difference in their use.

"However, these energy stones are expensive, and I wonder how much I can buy with the gold coins I have?"

Ron thought to himself, but then something came to mind, and his eyes lit up.

"That's right, one of Barto's hidden stashes of gold is right here in Kura City!"

Ron remembered that the intelligence had shown three locations for Barto's hidden gold.

One of them was in a bank in Kura City, an unregistered safe deposit box.

Such a safe deposit box required no identification; as long as one could state the safe deposit box number and password, and present an identification item, they could retrieve the contents of the safe deposit box.

"If I don't have enough money tomorrow, I'll withdraw the gold from the bank..."

Ron calculated, and after planning his actions for the next day, he rested peacefully.

The next morning, the sun rose.

After Ron woke up, he had a simple breakfast with Doctor Litton.

Then, they called an open-top two-wheeled light carriage to take them to the noble residential area of Kura City.

Although Dr. Gavin was not a noble, he was highly regarded by many nobles because of his exquisite medical skills and his status as an advanced Potion Master apprentice, which allowed him to rent and conduct business there.

At this moment, the carriage slowly stopped in front of a bustling street-side shop.

This shop occupied a considerable area, appearing to be at least a hundred square meters.

After getting out of the carriage, Doctor Litton and Ron entered the shop.

Inside, the decor was exquisite, clean, and tidy, with several medical staff in white coats serving patients.

Doctor Litton walked forward and spoke to a young female nurse.

"Hello, Susie, is Dr. Gavin in? I have an appointment to meet him today."

The female nurse looked up, saw Doctor Litton, and immediately smiled, saying, "Oh, it's Mr. Litton. Dr. Gavin hasn't arrived yet. Please wait a moment."