"Being called grandfather by a young man not much smaller than me is truly a strange experience."
The young man in the painting blinked. "What"s your name? Are you Jean or Miller"s child?
"I"m Marvin. My father is Jean," Marvin answered simply.
"Are they okay?" The man in the painting anxiously fretted, "After I left, I didn"t pay attention to White River Valley for a very long time. I gave the valley to your father, but his innate talent isn"t very outstanding. I always worried about you guys."
"After you left?" Marvin was shocked.
"Could it be that you haven"t died?"
The young man laughed for a bit. "Of course, it"s just a prank. But it seems I won"t be able to return for a little while. To let everyone think I"m dead might have been for the best."
Marvin suddenly felt a bit dizzy.
His own grandfather… Was actually still alive?
He firmly believed that this scroll was an alchemy item with a [Message Image] enchantment attached to it. The man inside and his words would have been recorded in advance.
But he hadn"t expected that his own grandfather was actually still alive.
That painting....
"This painting will burn in a few minutes. You might not see me for a very long time, Marvin."
A trace of benevolence flashed through the young man"s eyes as he watched Marvin. Despite Marvin feeling that kindness was a bit out of sorts, he still forced himself to accept it.
He was his grandfather after all.
"Communication across planes is a very troublesome matter unless you can find someone able to reproduce a similar item."
The young man gravely said, "We don"t have much time. I know you have a lot of questions, but I have to answer to the most important ones."
Then, the young man kept talking for two and a half minutes, and Marvin listened, recording every word in his heart.
The content was really too shocking.
Marvin kept thinking about it, confirming it in his heart, making sure his grandfather didn"t make a mistake.
Once the time came, the lower half of the painting began to burn on its own.
"Seems like our discussion has reached its end." The young man gently smiled. "Although I"m surprised you didn"t become a Wizard, but Ranger with the Shapes.h.i.+ft Sorcerer subcla.s.s is also a very fascinating path. I also noticed many powerful blessings on your body. You seem to be shouldering many people"s expectations."
"I am proud of you."
"This painting will ultimately leave a remnant behind. That remnant is the plane"s mark. If you can get a hold of an item to communicate between planes, you can try to get in touch with me. I know you still have many questions, but for now you can only go by yourself and gradually explore…"
That last word had yet to be finished when the painting finished burning.
Marvin cautiously walked over and picked out a small crystal from the ashes.
This was the plane mark his grandfather mentioned.
He suddenly heard a coughing voice behind him!
The powerful Ice Angel finally got rid of the petrification state.
She was extremely angry as she looked at the absolutely empty stone platform. She lost her self-control and asked Marvin, "What have you done?"
Marvin calmly looked at Daniela. "I took what my grandfather gave me."
"That"s all."
Daniela rushed in disbelief and grabbed Marvin"s wrists.
The ice cold feeling from her body could be felt.
"You really... equipped it?" Daniela"s tone was extremely dispirited.
She ground her teeth and glared at Marvin, "Why is it you!"
"My father obviously told me it belonged to me!"
"It should be mine."
She then seemed lose her spirit.
Marvin lightly patted her shoulder. "Don"t take offense, your father might have made a wrong guess."
"Regardless, we are family, aren"t we?"
That pair of bracelets wasn"t a treasure in itself, but only people with enough talent in the Cridland clan could put them on.
Their effect was to control the true treasure.
And after putting it on, Cridland"s clansmen couldn"t harm him. This was a bloodline restriction.
Marvin"s grandfather also made use of that point in those days. He stole the treasure and ran away unhindered out of the Lavis Kingdom.
In the Cridland family, there was a rumor that the one who put on this pair of bracelets would become the ruler of the North.
Marvin"s grandfather had put on those bracelets, but he wasn"t interested in becoming the ruler of the North. A few decades after escaping to the South, he left this world.
That"s right, he left this world, left Feinan.
But that didn"t mean he died.
Marvin recalled that day in his childhood when his father and Uncle Miller held a funeral. They hadn"t looked very sad.
They must have known their father had disappeared, but hadn"t died.
He left this world. And as for where he was now, he hadn"t had time to tell Marvin, but according to Marvin"s guess... he most likely was in h.e.l.l.
The secret of the Numen, Cridland clan"s most valuable treasure... Marvin finally knew what the h.e.l.l that thing was!
That was the head of an Archdevil!
Despite his grandfather mentioning the countless ancient seals on it, Marvin was still startled.
The Archdevil head was still the real thing, and it was now calmly lying in that secret path.
Thinking of this, Marvin didn"t even dare to sleep in his castle.
His grandfather truly had a big heart. He actually buried a ticking time bomb like that under White River Valley. Wasn"t he worried that a time bomb like that, whose seals weren"t reinforced by strong casters, could lead to many calamities?
In fact, the calamities White River Valley met this past half year were due to this sealed head.
That black-clothed old man was a phantom forcefully condensed by the Archdevil. It had countless years of knowledge from the Archdevil, but no strength.
This guy was also pitiful. His head was originally cut down by the first Numen, and they absorbed knowledge and bloodline"s strength from the Archdevil"s head. They successfully made the first man-made bloodline Sorcerer. Those people were the first Numen.
They were extremely powerful and tyrannized countless worlds, a group of crazy mad scientists. They were obsessed with making artificial bloodlines and loved to imprison all kinds of powerful lifeforms to absorb their power.
This Archdevil was one of the unlucky targets.
He had been used by the Cridland clan for many generations, relying on his unparalleled vitality and his ability to draw power from the void. He kept struggling at death"s door.
A lot of seals were placed on his head, leaving him unable to use his considerable powers.
Helpless, he could only begin to resort to schemes, which also happened to be what he was the best at.
He tried countless times, and eventually succeeded.
He bewitched Marvin"s grandfather into taking him away from the Cridland clan"s hidden grounds.
But he had also failed. Marvin"s grandfather was the most outstanding talent from the Cridland clan (or so the young man had said). Even if others believed he was merely a 3rd rank Wizard, in fact, his Sorcerer cla.s.s was higher leveled than his Wizard cla.s.s. Even if it wasn"t publicly known, Marvin estimated that his grandfather was at least a Legend.
He saw through the Devil"s trick and imprisoned it in a small region like White River Valley before relying on his mighty strength to replace the seals.
The Archdevil thoroughly calmed down.
But he didn"t give up.
The two sides made a bet, and put it on a contract. That time, the always conceited young man lost and had to follow the contract, so he was forced to leave Feinan.
He thought he could come back very quickly, but he was trapped.
Thus, so many years flew past.
Up till today when Marvin, with the help of Daniela, realized the truth.
Because Marvin"s grandfather left, the seals on the Archdevil"s head began to loosen up.
Little by little, he was able to condense a phantom. And even if it was only a small step, it already gave him the prerequisite to help him escape.
He used the black-clothed man"s ident.i.ty to bewitch Tos.h.i.+roya, King Cobra, Miller, and the Ogres. He hadn"t dared to look for stronger people because they would have been able to see through him.
He was hoping these people could rescue him, though of course, he had enticed them with lies.
But Marvin arrived in this world, making everything impossible.
Marvin equipped that pair of bracelets named [Ancestor"s Mystery]. The bracelets" power was reinvigorated, once again activating many seals that had previously worn off a for long time back on that Archdevil"s head.
From his grandfather"s words, the Archdevil"s head shouldn"t be able to recreate a phantom for another half a year.
Naturally, he also warned Marvin to not touch the head for the time being, unless he was able to go through the hidden chamber"s willpower check on his own.
That Great Devil"s head was an reproduction of the actual Archdevil"s head made by his grandfather using alchemy. Only by using his own power to withstand its effects would he be able to resist the Archdevil"s bewitchment.
Thus Marvin set aside the idea to go check on the Archdevil"s head for the time being.
However, he apparently found a completely new path for his Shapes.h.i.+ft Sorcerer advancement.
In any case, Marvin finally figured out the origin of the black-clothed man, and temporarily removed the crisis on his territory.
As for Daniela, she was extremely dispirited. She had pledged that if she couldn"t get the Archdevil"s head, she wouldn"t go back to the North.
She sent Oren back to Lavis" Dukedom to inform her father.
Marvin couldn"t say anything about this.
He wasn"t worried about Daniela staying in his territory. After all, with the Ancestor"s Mystery in his hand, she wouldn"t be foolish enough to get in contact with the Archdevil"s head. She would only be controlled by that kind of crafty Devil.
But what Marvin didn"t expect was that just one day later, he would be pleasantly surprised by Daniela.
The next day, in the meeting room.
Marvin gathered everyone, mainly to discuss what would happen after the war and how to develop White River Valley.
He shared a bit of his thoughts when suddenly, Daniela stood up.
"In any case, I have nothing else to do here."
"Building a country is something I"ve been learning since I was a child. If you trust me, as your fiancée, let me deal with this matter."
Everyone looked at each other in dismay, feeling doubtful of Daniela.
Marvin slightly hesitated.
"Tell me what you are thinking first."