Chapter 128: Elf Conspiracy

Amon got back inside his room and closed the door behind him.

He looked at the ruined bed for a few seconds before releasing a tired sigh.

"Looks like I’m cleaning this again."

He spent the next several minutes replacing the sheets and wiping down the mattress until everything was reasonably clean.

Once he was done, Amon stood close to the entrance and touched the spatial bracelet on his wrist.

A faint ripple of spatial energy appeared in front of him.

The next moment, a large crystal suddenly materialized from the bracelet and heavily landed on the floor.

Thud!

Amon flinched slightly. "I hope that didn’t mess up my floor."

He glanced down at the floor before looking back at the crystal.

The transparent surface reflected the room’s light, but what caught Amon’s attention wasn’t the crystal itself.

It was the elven woman sealed inside.

Amon stared at her silently.

Her features were delicate, and her long hair floated slightly around her as though she were submerged underwater.

There was no visible injury on her body.

Amon slowly crouched down. ’What are you?’

He had no answer.

The only reason he had brought her out of the ancient section of the ice dungeon was because something about her had felt completely wrong.

The Truthseeker’s Eye had shown an abnormal result. The Merchant’s Divine Insight had treated her as an item.

And now that Amon was looking at her again, he couldn’t shake the strange feeling that she was connected to something much larger.

His thoughts returned to Nadya and the massive dungeon that would appear in the centre of the capital.

Amon stared at the sealed girl. ’Could you be related to all of this?’

It was nothing more than a wild guess.

There was no evidence connecting her to the future Nadya had described, yet Amon’s instincts kept telling him that this woman was important.

He wondered if she might even be connected to the war between humans and elves.

’Maybe I’m overthinking this.’ Amon scratched his cheek.

That was certainly possible.

He had spent too much time thinking about Nadya’s memories.

Now his brain was probably trying to connect every strange thing he encountered to the future she had described.

Still, even if he was completely wrong, Amon wanted to know who this woman was.

More importantly, he wanted to bring her out.

There was always a possibility that she possessed some ridiculously powerful skill, bloodline, or ability that could help him become stronger.

Amon’s eyes narrowed slightly, but there was another possibility. ’She could also kill me.’

The woman had been sealed inside an ancient crystal for who knew how many years.

There was no guarantee that she would wake up peacefully and thank him for freeing her.

She might wake up and immediately turn him into dust.

Amon wasn’t particularly interested in discovering whether that was possible.

He sat down on the floor in front of the crystal and stared at her for a while.

He finally spoke. "System, is there a way to bring her out?"

A notification immediately appeared.

[Yes.]

Amon’s eyebrows rose. "That’s it?"

[The crystal can be broken.]

Amon stared at the message. "...How?"

The System responded almost immediately.

[Recommended method has been added to the System Shop.]

Amon opened the System Shop and a new item appeared before him.

---

[Origin Shattering Hammer]

[Grade: Divine]

[Description: A hammer forged from the condensed fragments of an ancient world’s Origin Core. Its strikes can break objects protected by extremely powerful spatial, temporal, magical, and spiritual laws.]

[Special Effect: Origin Break]

[Can forcibly destroy sealed objects and barriers regardless of their original creator.]

[Price: 500,000,000 System Points]

---

Amon stared at the price, and his expression slowly became blank.

"...Five hundred million?" He looked at the crystal. "I can’t even afford the handle."

The System remained silent.

Amon closed the shop with a defeated expression. "Could’ve at least given me something affordable."

[.....]

Amon sighed and stood up. "If money won’t work, I’ll use the traditional method."

He clenched his fist. Amon walked toward the crystal and raised his hand.

He punched it.

Bang!

The crystal barely moved as Amon stared at his fist. "Ow."

He shook his hand before throwing another punch.

Bang! Bang!

Soon, the quiet room was filled with the dull sound of his fists striking the crystal.

The crystal didn’t seem particularly interested in cooperating.

Amon wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the woman inside.

She still hadn’t moved.

"You better be worth this." He raised his fist again and continued punching.

---

[The Next Afternoon.]

The streets of the old village were almost completely empty.

Amon rode through them on his Trailbreaker X2 Mana Bike, the quiet hum of its mana core barely audible beneath the artificial engine sound required by law.

The morning air was cool, and the old buildings lining the road looked as though they hadn’t been renovated in decades.

Amon’s thoughts briefly returned to home.

’...Something had been strange about Ambrosia this morning.’

She had acted unusually awkward around him after yesterday’s conversation, avoiding eye contact whenever he looked at her.

Even more strangely, whenever Sidney tried to get close to him, Ambrosia had found some excuse to call her away.

Amon had noticed it several times.

At one point, Sidney had tried to sit beside him during breakfast, only for Ambrosia to suddenly ask her to help with something in the kitchen.

Amon had stared at them both. ’What is going on with these two?’

He had decided not to think about it.

Whatever strange mood Ambrosia was in, he was certain it would eventually benefit him.

Amon turned his attention back toward the road. The village became quieter as he moved farther from the main road.

After several minutes, he finally reached the location Felicia had sent him.

Amon slowed the bike before parking it beside an old stone building.

He stepped off and looked around. The area looked completely ordinary.

There were a few old houses, some overgrown fields, and a narrow dirt road leading toward the outskirts of the village.

Amon narrowed his eyes. "Let’s see."

He activated his Merchant’s Divine Insight.

His vision changed slightly as information began appearing around him.

He looked at the surrounding land and inspected the old buildings and the soil beneath them.

Amon’s expression slowly became annoyed.

He deactivated the ability. "Another dead end."

He pulled out his phone and opened the list of locations Felicia had given him.

Several marked areas remained.

Amon scrolled through them before noticing another location nearby.

He zoomed in on the map. ’...Not too far, I guess.’

In fact, it was close enough that he could reach it within a few minutes on his bike.

Amon stared at the location for a moment before releasing a long breath.

"Alright." He put the phone away and climbed back onto the bike. "This will be the last place I check."

The mana core hummed as he started the engine.

Amon looked toward the road leading deeper into the old village.

He accelerated toward the next marked location.