Chapter 272: You Seem to Need Me More [1]

Zich turned toward the voice.

A silver haired girl stood on the other side of the teleportation hall. She wore a black combat suit, and her deep purple eyes calmly observed him. Within the shadows behind her, an enormous Nether Eye White Tiger slowly raised its head, the tightly closed vertical eye between its brows trembling slightly.

"Nadia."

Zich truly had not expected that the person who had waited for him for an entire thirty days would be her.

"It seems you still remember me," Nadia said.

"I hardly forget people, especially ones who flee from me."

Several nearby players instinctively looked over.

The smile on Cole’s face instantly stiffened. "This is not the place to discuss such things."

"I was only stating the facts." Zich looked at Nadia. "You waited thirty days for me just to reminisce about the past?"

"The Player Association classified your whereabouts at the highest level of confidentiality. Aside from knowing that you went to Central City, no one knew exactly where you were or when you would return."

Nadia paused briefly. "So I could only wait."

"You waited in the teleportation hall for thirty days?"

"I am not that stupid," Nadia replied calmly. "I came here once every day."

That sounded more reasonable.

Cole rubbed his forehead and directly led them into a private meeting room within the plaza.

After the door closed, the Nether Eye White Tiger behind Nadia suddenly opened the third eye between its brows.

A blue light emerged from the depths of its vertical pupil and instantly fell upon Zich.

Buzz!

Zich’s Graveyard Space trembled slightly.

A majestic dragon roar erupted from the depths of his soul. The Nether Eye White Tiger’s body abruptly tensed, and its third eye rapidly closed as though it had been struck by some kind of stimulation.

For the first time, obvious wariness appeared in its previously calm gaze.

Nadia’s deep purple eyes narrowed slightly.

"It really has become stronger."

"Your tiger still enjoys spying on other people." Zich sat beside the table. "If there is a next time, I cannot guarantee that Tiamant will only warn it."

A low growl emerged from the Nether Eye White Tiger’s throat.

Nadia raised her hand and pressed it against the beast’s forehead.

"Calm down."

Once the Nether Eye White Tiger lay down again, she took out a black crystal and placed it between them.

As she poured mana into it, a translucent image immediately appeared above the table.

The image showed a mountain range that had completely collapsed. Thirteen golden warships hovered above the ruins, while large numbers of figures dressed in golden armor searched every corner of the battlefield.

Zich recognized the emblem on the warships at a single glance.

It was the Locke family.

"Kane’s Soul Lamp has already gone out," Nadia said. "Although Gavin Locke failed to find his corpse, he brought an Epic grade tracking artifact with him."

The image changed, showing a middle aged man standing before the ruins of the third ancient altar, holding a cracked dark golden disc in his hand. Countless traces of soul aura remaining across the battlefield were drawn into the disc, eventually forming an extremely faint gray point of light.

"That artifact can preserve the soul signatures of those whom the deceased encountered before their soul dissipated. As long as you appear within a certain range, it may react."

How is something like this even possible? That was what Zich wanted to ask, but then he remembered he was still inside the Mountain of Ascension, whose very existence was still a mystery.

Taking a deep breath, he chose not to ask how something like this was possible and asked instead, "If they possess something like that, why haven’t they come looking for me yet?"

"Because the Voss family has been in the way, while the Player Association concealed all information regarding your whereabouts."

Nadia glanced at Cole beside her.

"But this blockade cannot last forever. Gavin has already begun investigating everyone who entered Myriad Beast Mountain. At most, it will take him seven days to trace the matter back to you."

"So that’s why President Arthur sent you here to protect me?" Zich looked at Cole.

"To be precise, we are ensuring that no family can forcibly take you away while you are inside the First Shelter," Cole said seriously. "That includes the Voss family."

Nadia did not become angry because of his words.

"If the Voss family intended to hand him over to the Locke family, I would not have stopped them from searching his memories outside Myriad Beast Mountain."

"Then what do you want?"

Zich’s fingers tapped lightly against the table.

He did not believe that the Voss family would conceal Kane’s death for no reason. Nor did he believe that Nadia would wait for him for thirty days simply to give him a warning.

Nadia dismissed the first image, and an incomplete map appeared within the black crystal.

At the center of the map was a black palace buried deep beneath the earth. Twelve enormous stone pillars surrounded the palace, each one crowned with the sculpture of a different ancient monster.

The moment Zich saw the map, the silver Inheritance Seed within the depths of his consciousness suddenly trembled.

A piece of knowledge that had never belonged to him naturally surfaced in his mind.

This was not a palace.

It was an enormous tomb built to bury the royal bloodlines of ancient monsters.

Nadia did not know that Zich had already seen through the map’s true purpose and continued, "This is another entrance to the underground royal court beneath Myriad Beast Mountain. Before leaving, the Nether Eye White Tiger memorized part of its spatial coordinates."

"The Voss family can shield you from the Locke family, provide the resources you need for your first advancement, and even grant you access to several high level summoning secret realms controlled by the family."

"What are the conditions?"

"Become a guest of the Voss family. When the underground royal court opens again, enter it with me."

As expected, it was another recruitment attempt!

If an ordinary sixteen year old player heard these conditions, they would probably have no reason to refuse.

On one side was the Locke family’s pursuit, while on the other was the protection and resources offered by one of the five great families. Anyone who was not a fool would know which choice to make.

However, Zich merely looked at the map before suddenly asking, "You cannot open the entrance, can you?"

Nadia’s gaze sharpened slightly.

"What?"

"You possess the coordinates, but you have no way to open the entrance." He paused and then added. "The true key required to enter that underground tomb can only be found within monsters with royal heritage, such as my summon."

The meeting room abruptly fell silent. Even Cole turned to look at Zich.

Nadia’s fingers, which had been resting beside the black crystal, stopped moving, trying to contain her shock at how Zich had known this.

"How did you know it was a tomb? No, scratch that, how did you even know how to access it?"