On the other side of the door was a small room constructed out of stones. A wide stone pillar noiselessly sat at a corner. There was a yellow rune spinning slowly above a magic circle.
A bed of blooming red and green flowers was planted on a stone platform right in the middle of the room. The leaves of spider plants entwined with several dried plant veins were hanging down the platform. Mushrooms of purple and white colors were growing in the gaps between the flowers.
Four red crystal runes were embedded into each wall.
The pattern of the rune looked like a large anchor with chains surrounding it. The crystal was glowing, and the red light illuminated the stone room.
Vivian walked to the yellow rune and moved her hands around it carefully.
The once-fading light of the rune became bright once more when she finished restoring the energy.
After several minutes, she straightened her back and turned to Angele. "Climb up the pillar and stand at the center of the magic circle. I still need you to participate in a few more tests."
Angele abided in her order and he stood at the center of the magic circle.
Vivian explained in a calm tone, "This magical matrix will be used to verify your identity. If you are indeed master Henn’s student, the magic circle will release a ray of eye-blinding yellow light. It can also be used to test your connections with certain creatures or people. There are several things I need to…"
A ray of yellow light suddenly illuminated out of the magic circle before Vivian could even finish her explanation and immediately turned into a cylinder of light, shooting to the top of the room.
Vivian seemed surprised. Nonetheless, she remained calm and was about to pull Angele out of the yellow cylinder of light.
*CHI*
Suddenly, the magic circle started reacting again.
A ray of red light pierced through the yellow light and illuminated on Vivian’s face.
"Wait…how is that even possible?!" Vivian’s expression drastically changed causing her to grit her teeth. "The red light represents…me. It should be my first time meeting you, yet the reaction of the magic circle indicates that you’re…related to me."
Several seconds later, Vivian narrowed her eyes and gradually calmed down. She quickly tapped on the surface of the stone pillar.
*CHI*
The cylinder made of light produced strange noises as it began to shrink. Soundlessly, Angele was still standing at the center of the magic circle.
"Congratulations, you passed the first test." Vivian had a blank expression on her face, but still, Angele could see the struggle in her eyes. "There is still something else I must ask you. Stay there and do not move."
"Sure." Angele already knew what Vivian was thinking and knew that Henn’s plan had indeed worked.
Vivian pointed at Angele’s shoulders.
*CHI*
A red light glimmered around Angele’s ‘birthmark’.
"It is real…" As Vivian muttered this under her breath, she took out a small black ring from her pouch and threw it into the air.
The black ring flew toward Angele and started spinning at an insanely fast speed.
It almost sounded like the ring was vibrating after being thrown, with its noise echoing throughout the entire room.
The noise gave Angele a headache and for some reason, his body started resonating with the ring. His skull numbed and his skin vibrated.
The vibration of the ring was getting stronger and the echoing noise was turning deeper.
Several seconds later, a black scorpion appeared at the center of the ring.
A column of sharp black spikes was on the back of the scorpion.
Vivian looked surprised and, at the same time, happy when the scorpion appeared.
She took a deep breath and pointed at the ring.
*CHI*
The scorpion disappeared from the center of the ring and the ring returned to Vivian’s hand.
"You really are…" Vivian did
not finish her words. She herself knew that it was not time yet to speak of it. There was now a gentle smile on her face as she stared at Angele with a loving gaze.
"Your name is Angele, right?" She lowered her voice.
"Yes." Angele knew why Vivian was now talking to him in a different tone and a different expression. Everything was going as planned.
"Do you remember what your mother looks like?" Vivian asked in a light tone.
"Master Vivian…I…don’t." Angele’s expression immediately changed as soon as he heard the question. His face was now filled with confusion. "Why do you ask?"
"I know it’s a weird question to ask…but…" Vivian was not certain about how to make things clear. "Well, I want you to help me complete an important ritual later and I will award you with a magic device. What do you think?" She stopped for a moment before continuing, "You can leave the pillar now. Actually, can you tell me more about the things you have done recently and your experiences with master Henn?"
"Of course." Angele nodded and jumped off the stone pillar.
Vivian waved her right hand and two black rocks rose from the floor. These rocks immediately reformed themselves into two black chairs.
She told Angele to sit down and she started asking questions about everything Angele had gone through over the recent years.
Angele used his own experiences combined with the detailed information on Vivian’s son to answer all the questions. He did not speak about the Nightmare Realm and the ancient bloodlines, however, as those were his most guarded secrets. He had never seen his mother of this world upon reincarnating in this world anyway. From the narration of his story, it seemed that Vivian did not find any flaw.
Vivian asked a load of questions that required him to give more details but she still respected Angele’s privacy, which helped Angele to dodge several hard questions. Angele did not know the exact age of Vivian, but her social skills were far better than most wizards’.
Time quickly flew by as they continued to talk in the stone room.
Angele almost narrated his entire life story to Vivian but suddenly heard something exploding outside. However, nothing had seemingly happened.
He checked the time through his chip. It was already 2 o’clock in the morning.
"It is quite late already. I think I should leave now," Angele politely said as he stood up.
"You went here all the way from Bass River, right? You can stay and rest here. Follow me and I will find a room for you." Vivian grasped Angele’s hand and smiled. "This place is an abandoned ruin of the ancient times which was built beneath the crater. Master Henn found this ruin and transformed it into our secret base. This place is much larger than you expect it to be. There’s a laboratory, a garden, and even an ecological zone here. Everything is being powered by heat. The current supplies in the ruin can support more than twenty people at a time."
"Thank you, master Vivian. Is this place truly an ancient ruin?" Angele was curious. "What kind of ruin?"
"Follow me. I’ll show you around." Vivian was no longer smiling but she still continued to hold Angele’s hand.
They left the stone room together and the stone gate closed by itself.
The two wizards walked to the end of the tunnel and went downstairs. Several times they turned around corners before they arrived at a dark red hallway.
"This is the residential area." Vivian pointed at the hallway. "Do you see the ladders on both sides? Climb up the ladder and you will see a stone door leading to the respective bedroom. Pick whichever you want."
Angele observed the hallway.
There were about 20 red ladders in total and on top of each ladder, there was a dark red stone door with different numbers marked on it.
Vivian then took him to the garden. Countless plants and flowers were inside. Angele could hear birds chirping as soon as Vivian opened the door. The atmosphere was warm and humid. The fragrance of flowers permeated the air. Angele could even see fireflies flying around.
Inside the dark garden, the blue fireflies were moving around like glowing raindrops. Watching such a beautiful scene made Angele feel relaxed.
The ecological zone and laboratory were nothing special. They looked like the ones Angele had back in the Six Ring Area.
Angele returned to the residential area with Vivian after visiting all the areas in the ruin. She left the hallway and headed to the laboratory after asking Angele to pick any room he wanted.
Angele sat in the hallway quietly and made sure that Vivian had left the area. He turned around, and climbing up a random ladder, he opened the stone door.
*KA*
It did not require too much force to open the door and Angele entered the room quickly.
The room was simple but spacious.
Two diamond-shaped glowing rubies brightened up the room and there was a large white bed beside the wall. The red light from the rubies illuminated on the white blanket which almost made it seem like the color pink.
On the other side of the room, there was a table and a black cabinet.
Angele closed the door and locked it right away.
‘She’s gone.’ He changed the mentality frequency and tried to talk to Henn. ‘Alright. Henn, you’re not resting, are you? What’s your real plan? Just tell me.’
‘Real plan?’ Henn responded right away. ‘What real plan? Vivian is preparing the complete soul pattern ritual. She hasn’t fully trust you yet and she will ask someone to check your background and validate the information you told her.’
‘I’m not sure about this.’ Angele knitted his eyebrows.
‘Don’t worry, kid. I’m the person who knows her the most in this tragic world,’ Henn answered. ‘And after the ritual, she will believe all the things you said, then you will know what a great decision it was that you made.’
‘What rank is Vivian at? You know everything about her, right? I’m having trouble checking her mentality level.’ Angele walked to the black cabinet and pulled the drawer open. There were several long robes of varieties inside.
‘I don’t know how strong she is now, but she had already reached rank 3 when I left. Umm… She should at least a rank 4 wizard now after all those years…’ Angele was shocked at Henn’s conjecture.
‘Rank 4…? Dawn Wizard…’ He thought, his expression changing at the same time.