Richard continued observing the hall, approaching one of the statues and touching it.
"Ohh..." He was immediately astonished.
What he touched was the sole of the statue’s foot.
He thought it was made of stone, but after touching it, he realized it was actually skin that seemed to have dried.
"So they were actually living beings. What about that dragon?" Richard stared at the dragon behind the throne, walking toward it.
If it were the dragon, he couldn’t believe it had been a living creature.
He climbed the steps since the dragon statue was on a slightly higher platform.
There was no aura or danger, so he touched it without hesitation.
"Mm..." His eyes widened in amazement after touching it for a moment.
The dragon was indeed made of iron, but when he touched it, he was given an illusion as if he were the dragon itself, even though the illusion showed nothing but the sensation.
He touched it again, feeling that same sensation, a feeling filled with pride, looking down on all beings, considering them nothing but dust that could be erased.
Richard withdrew his hand, his brows furrowing.
As a human, he felt that such a feeling was far too excessive.
However, possessing the sensation of a dragon seemed to make it easier for him to master the Codex of the Dragon Emperor.
’It seems this was what the Dragon Knight relied on to master the Codex, but even he shouldn’t have mastered it one hundred percent since there were no records of him actually turning into a dragon,’ Richard thought.
’If only I used the Dark Black Rose while touching this dragon statue, the result would likely be higher.’
He felt regret, yet it was something already done.
His gaze returned to the door the tree man had entered.
Mr. Joe suddenly came out of it alone.
Richard was slightly surprised because he noticed that beside each of his eyes, there were strange black scales.
For an old man, those two black scales managed to make him look more dignified.
"Boss!" Mr. Joe called out cheerfully.
Richard quickly approached him.
"Where is that tree man?" Richard asked, since he didn’t see him emerge behind Mr. Joe.
"He suddenly scattered into green light," Mr. Joe replied.
Despite his change, he still hadn’t been able to alter his loyalty toward Richard.
This was what Richard wanted, so he felt satisfied.
"What did you get?" Richard asked again.
"I was given the Codex of the Dragon Emperor and dozens of Arcane Arts," Mr. Joe answered.
"And this, which was said to control this Dragon Hall."
Mr. Joe then showed a token in the shape of a small dragon’s head that seemed to be made of iron.
"I can feel the entire hall when holding this," he added.
"Give it to me," Richard said, immediately taking the token from his hand.
The moment he held the token, he was stunned.
The hall—he could feel it.
Its size was only as far as the eye could see, with several rooms, whether bedrooms or training chambers, and the training chamber seemed to have some mechanism that absorbed Aether from outside and gathered it into the room so that training could be faster than anywhere else.
More intriguingly, this entire hall seemed to be hidden inside a very small world sphere.
And that world sphere was inside the mouth of the dragon outside, protected by a magic formation.
Richard could leave if he wanted to, and the world sphere would follow him as long as he held the controlling token.
Of course, if he left, that meant he would have to face the people waiting for him.
Even though he was inside the hall, he could now see the scenery outside.
He didn’t rush, instead making more detailed observations of the Dragon Hall through the token.
He realized that it also had a basement beneath it.
Peeking into the basement, he gasped upon discovering a massive pile of Nature Spirits.
They couldn’t be counted in mere hundreds of thousands. Their number might be in the tens of millions.
So many Nature Spirits—it was practically the wealth of a nation.
But compared to the Nature Spirits, Richard was more astonished by a branch that couldn’t be called large, at most only as long as a human arm.
Yet that branch emitted endless golden light, as if it were an infinite source of radiance. This content belongs to novel•fire.net
Richard felt the most oppressive aura from that golden light, an aura that seemed capable of tearing the sky itself apart.
It was said that the leaders of World Magic Aether, when touching something, even the most ordinary object, a trace of their power would be stored within it.
Anyone who held that object could unleash the stored power.
However, this was more like a bomb. The power could be released but not controlled.
Even those who unleashed it could be struck by the force themselves.
It could be said this was more often used as a card to intimidate enemies.
Unfortunately, Richard didn’t see any weapons or artifacts.
Although this Dragon Hall itself was a priceless artifact, he felt he had gained too little if this was all he obtained from the secret place left by the Dragon Knight.
It seemed the latter merely intended to help one descendant of his clan become a true genius by relying on his Blood Essence.
Who knew if it would succeed, for in the end, the one who gained the opportunity was an old man like Mr. Joe.
’At least if danger comes, I can hide inside this hall,’ Richard thought.
Now he began to think about what he should do once he went out.
"What?"
Just as he thought about that and peeked outside, he was stunned by a figure that suddenly appeared.
"Rebecca," he muttered softly.
The figure was a pale-skinned woman with black hair, wearing an elegant long black gown, standing indifferently among the crowd, letting the night wind blow through her hair.
She seemed to have appeared there out of nowhere, enough to terrify everyone until their legs trembled without end, as if wondering how she had suddenly entered their small territory.
Unfortunately, her overwhelming beauty did nothing to erase their fear.
The strongest Magi had agreed to seal the information about this secret place, but it seemed the news had still leaked to the Moonshadow Clan, causing their Lady to arrive in such a short time.
Night Valley City might seem far from Apple Town, but for a Magus as strong as Rebecca, the journey could be shortened many times over. In the end, she could even fly through the skies with her current Realm.
Seven years had certainly not changed her appearance.
She was still the same as when Richard last saw her, looking as if in her twenties, yet her aura now felt sharper and more oppressive.