Chapter 730: The Wizard and the Magic Tower (7)
“A manager of the Blood-Thought Scribe, huh… I see.”
Lennok turned away from the screen displaying the access log, speaking.
“I didn’t realize the Second Secretary of the Elder Council was someone who pursued such dramatic encounters.”
Lennok chuckled, glancing at the server room.
“Or perhaps it’s because you were involved with the Project?”
Lennok understood with that one answer why Lucifos had immediately read his actions and contacted him.
It was the Blood-Thought Scribe, Zyble, gifted to Lennok by Madam.
It was originally said to be used to contact those managing Kaiser’s body, but it seemed its true purpose lay elsewhere.
This notebook was a sentient recording device that stored and managed information related to blood and living species.
Could Lucifos have succeeded in preemptively reading Lennok’s actions based on his experience managing this Blood-Thought Scribe?
‘If he could read the Blood-Thought Scribe’s search history, he would have tried to contact me long ago.’
It had been months since Lennok used the Blood-Thought Scribe to learn about the rendezvous schedule in Sector 6.
If Lucifos had been aware of it, he should have acted to contact Lennok immediately.
But why did he appear only now, asking about the circumstances of that past event?
‘He might have been aware of its operation, but couldn’t ascertain specific search records or users. That level of authority would be granted to a former manager.’
Lucifos knew that the Blood-Thought Scribe had been accessed multiple times, but he didn’t know the specific search records or the user.
Therefore, it made sense that he had been periodically watching Sector 6 after the rendezvous, attempting to locate the Blood-Thought Scribe’s owner.
To deduce one’s actions just by perceiving the Scribe’s activation… his opponent was clearly no ordinary individual, possessing unusual experience and insight.
But something else piqued Lennok’s interest more.
“Honestly, I’m not particularly curious about your origins or background.”
Lennok stepped forward, slowly stroking the table.
As a long finger emerged from his coat sleeve and caressed the table’s edge, the Second Secretary’s gaze naturally followed.
An 8-level Archmage. A transcendent who surpassed Hierarchy through their own power, without any formal learning or study.
Even a single gesture from a wizard who has undergone countless real battles cannot be lightly dismissed.
Lennok tilted his head, observing Lucifos’s resolute expression.
“I heard there are still those in the Elder Council who possess emergency powers granted during the city’s early days. You must be one of them, wielding such authority.”
When he met Kaiser in Sector 25, a restricted area, he had met one of the Elder Council members.
Lucinder, the Keymaster. A survivor of the giant race, thought to be extinct, and a member of the Giant Automaton Corps that has existed for over 200 years.
An eccentric who kept the entry permissions for all of Vulcan’s sectors stored as bio-codes within his own body. Lennok had obtained access to Sector 25 from him.
The Elder Council wasn’t merely a small gathering of old power brokers, nor a group that validated the status of retired, withered old forces.
They were the custodians of special knowledge and authority that couldn’t be transferred within the city’s order, preserving the legacies of an old era that could no longer be passed down.
Nominally, they coexisted with the formidable power brokers of the Central Council, maintaining a relationship of non-interference.
“The other contact I met in this sector. Where are they?”
Lennok slowly tapped the table and asked.
“If you’re playing games like this and can’t give me a satisfactory answer, I’ll be quite disappointed.”
“You…”
Lucifos shook his head, as if dumbfounded.
“I heard you disregard laws and procedures, but I never imagined you’d be so outrageous.”
The Second Secretary stared at Lennok with sharp eyes.
“The Deputy Director of the Agents granting you entry clearance was a decision made for the city’s peace and order. Are you not ashamed to abuse such consideration in this manner?”
“……”
His opponent knew that Lennok had come without hiding his identity as Adamant Thunder.
At the Second Secretary’s words, which unhesitatingly brought up confidential matters from that time, Lennok’s eyes changed.
“I thought I had already paid enough for that consideration, but it seems the Elder Council doesn’t agree.”
“What?”
“The magical particle exposure incident in Sector 25. Wasn’t that entrusted to me precisely because I had previously entered that restricted zone?”
“……”
“I paid the price by keeping the confidential details of that incident unspoken, and I have no desire to be lectured now, using that fact as an excuse.”
Seeing Lucifos frown, Lennok crossed his arms and asked.
“I understand you don’t want to share information about the other contact. But why did you bother to appear in person and reveal your existence to me?”
“……It seems you don’t care much about what people think of you outside.”
Lucifos gave a bitter smile.
“I merely wanted to avoid the worst-case scenario where innocent managers would die.”
“Well. If you truly prioritized people’s safety, you would have called me aside to talk the moment you became aware of my actions.”
Lennok immediately cut off the Second Secretary’s words, scoffing.
A plausible answer at first glance: he personally intervened to prevent chaos in Sector 6 due to Adamant Thunder’s notoriety.
But Lennok knew that statement was a lie, devoid of even a sliver of sincerity.
“But you watched the situation unfold, appearing belatedly, and even observed me searching for data in this server room. That must have been to confirm if I actually possessed the ability to extract data from a restricted zone, and how I managed to get this far.”
Lennok smiled.
“You just want to know how I got my hands on the Blood-Thought Scribe, and how I managed to dig so deeply into the Project. Isn’t that right?”
“……”
Lucifos said nothing.
He merely stared at him, neither affirming nor denying.
As if silently contemplating something, the Second Secretary, who had stood wordlessly for a long time, slowly opened his mouth.
“We had to bury the tragedy that occurred then. Even at that moment when everything came to ruin, that one decision was something everyone agreed on.”
Lucifos murmured quietly.
“The only prohibition agreed upon at the end of the failed project. It uses that contradiction as its strength, binding our mouths more powerfully than anything else.”
The Second Secretary, staring intently at Lennok, slowly walked forward.
“But you began digging into the Project after you confronted and defeated Madrich Onnion. What could be learned through him was obvious.”
Lucifos’s aged gaze swept over Lennok’s entire body as he whispered.
“That Onnion violated the prohibition and told you the truth. Olivera must have helped him with that.”
“……”
“Onnion was a just and impartial man, but deep down, he wished for someone to succeed him. It’s not strange that he felt something towards a wizard like you. But—”
Only the old man’s self-reflection echoed in the silent server room.
“But your acquisition of the Blood-Thought Scribe is an entirely different matter.”
“……”
“That is a journal penned by the Duke of Feared Blood for the long-lived beings, and a contract recording the genealogy of true blood… For them, all of this is merely a promise.”
“What do you want?”
“Shall we make a deal?”
The Second Secretary spoke.
He shrugged, his gaze fixed on Lennok, unreadable.
“I have something I’m curious about regarding you, and you, too, have something you wish to ask me. Wouldn’t it be a reasonable deal if we exchanged one secret each?”
“……”
Did he mean they should exchange questions and answers, as if writing in a shared journal?
He had suspected it since Lucifos revealed himself as a former manager of the Blood-Thought Scribe, but it seemed Lucifos wanted to use the Blood-Thought Scribe once more.
Whether he understood Lennok’s thoughts or not, Lucifos calmly continued his explanation.
“I don’t know how you’ve handled the Blood-Thought Scribe so far, but I will teach you how to use it, drawing from my experience as a manager.”
“You’ll teach me?”
“If handled properly, that item can liberate one from the shackles of the mortal realm.”
Lucifos gave a strange smile.
“If you employ the right tricks, it can even convey relatively accurate information, circumventing the prohibitions placed upon us.”
“……”
A Q&A, directly exchanging secrets with someone involved in the Project.
Of course, if he asked a question, the other party wouldn’t necessarily give a straightforward answer.
Considering the power of the prohibition, it was highly likely he would speak in convoluted ways that Lennok couldn’t understand, or openly use metaphors.
Yet, it was also true that there seemed to be a way to break the Second Secretary’s confidence in this deal.
Lennok nodded.
“Alright. But I’ll ask my question first.”
“Of course. Then, would you show me the Blood-Thought Scribe first?”
As Lennok pulled out the small notebook from his pocket, Lucifos’s eyes shone intensely.
“Yes. So that’s how it looks this time…”
Leaving the Second Secretary, whose complex expression never left the notebook, Lennok immediately opened a page.
“Let’s begin. What did you discuss at the rendezvous?”
“……”
“If you can bypass the prohibition through the Blood-Thought Scribe’s power, then answer this question first.”
Lennok’s words implied that the very existence of the Blood-Thought Scribe, Zyble, was the answer.
Understanding his meaning, Lucifos silently bit his finger.
With a hand stained with drops of blood, the Second Secretary calmly wrote down his answer in blood.
[One of the Project’s personnel was murdered in a foreign land. This rendezvous was about that matter.]
“……”
At that moment, the characters Lucifos had written vanished, and new text appeared below them.
[New information entry confirmed.]
New information consistent with the Blood-Thought Scribe’s search history.
The mere fact that it could be entered was proof that the information Lucifos provided was true.
Using the Blood-Thought Scribe’s recording ability in this way allowed them to determine whether each other’s statements were lies or truths.
The content was borderline relevant, yet managed to avoid directly mentioning the Project.
It was likely that this was the best one could achieve when circumventing the prohibition.
“It’s my turn.”
Lucifos said, pointing back to the notebook.
“Why were you able to access the Blood-Thought Scribe?”
Lucifos asked.
“To someone without the proper qualifications, it is merely a simple means of communication. If you can’t awaken the recording device’s self-aware consciousness, you can only use it to send simple signals.”
“……”
“Even I can only barely use it, leveraging the Second Secretary’s authority I obtained in Vulcan’s early days. It’s a precious artifact that has become a burden even to vampires.”
“Your question is below my expectations.”
Lennok scoffed.
“Is that more curious to you than how I uncovered the Project’s secrets?”
“As I said, this very item is one of the extremely rare means by which one can circumvent the prohibition.”
Lucifos carefully stroked the notebook’s page as he spoke.
“Show me how you use the Blood-Thought Scribe, here before me.”
“And if I refuse?”
Lucifos’s eyes shone coldly.
“Then I will personally command the Blood-Thought Scribe to prevent you from accessing any more confidential matters. For knowledge granted to the unqualified is no different from a curse.”
“Knowledge granted to the unqualified is a curse…”
Lennok chuckled the moment he heard those words.
He could sense the strong pride in that statement, and understand what kind of life Lucifos had lived as Second Secretary.
Pricking his finger to draw blood, Lennok applied it to the Blood-Thought Scribe and said,
“I had intended to show some courtesy since you claimed to be involved with the Project, but it seems there’s no need for that now.”
[Zyble. Remove all unnecessary embellishments and answer only my question.]
The Blood-Thought Scribe treated Lennok as an Ascendant. There was no need to share that fact with Lucifos.
Lennok added a simple command to prevent the Blood-Thought Scribe from mentioning ‘Ascendant’, then wrote down his message again.
[Information about past Blood-Thought Scribe managers. How much access authority is required?]
Immediately, blood-stained characters appeared on the notebook’s paper.
[Information regarding the Blood-Thought Scribe’s author, the Duke of Feared Blood, and its managers, is inaccessible.]
“Good.”
Lennok immediately wrote down a new message.
The blood writing descending onto the page was not a question, but a command.
[Retrieve all personal details and search history for the Blood-Thought Scribe’s former manager, Lucifos Phillion.]
“……You’re doing something pointless.”
Lucifos shook his head with a bitter smile.
“Perhaps you’re trying to pretend you can handle the Blood-Thought Scribe now—”
[Confirmed.]
“……!!!”
The moment Lucifos stiffened and his eyes widened.
Blood-stained characters rapidly began appearing on the pages of the old notebook.