novelraw Chapter 182-1: Challenge the Starvault Tower, Memories of the Starry Sky (1)
Chapter 182-1: Challenge the Starvault Tower, Memories of the Starry Sky (1)
“Forget it, I’ll settle my debts first… I still owe the lady boss four divine items.”
Whether Li Xingyue’s application for legendary-grade divine items would succeed remained uncertain, but Lin Xun knew she would surely do everything in her power to help him obtain them.
That would inevitably require her to use her own channels and resources.
Whatever gaps he could fill himself, he had to try to cover. He couldn’t leave the black stocking lady to carry everything alone, striving together was the responsible thing to do.
With that thought, he continued his journey to hunt wild behemoths.
There were no behemoths left in the city, so he could only head out into the wilderness, wandering back and forth between the Abyssal Cave and the Starvault Tower.
Judging by travel times, the two locations were not far from the city, nor was the road between them especially long.
—
[Endless starlight erupted as the colossal creature crashed to the ground, filling the ruins with billowing dust…]
[You defeated the Knowledge-Seeking Veiled Aberration. Your experience increased significantly.][You obtained Crystalline Core of the Veiled Aberration (Rare+ Item)]
Lin Xun let out a long breath.
He glanced out the window. Night had already fallen.
After a whole day of effort, he had only encountered two behemoths.
He’d kept the carriage door wide open the entire drive, the compartment filled with Refined Copper stuffed with eyeballs, relying on their scent to lure in behemoths.
Unfortunately, the number of wild behemoths was far fewer than those in the city.
Behemoths were drawn by the scent of eyeballs and would devour each other. The more populated the area, the more behemoths there were.
In the deserted wilderness, their numbers were predictably sparse.
Lin Xun guessed that if he went farther from Sophia City, the behemoths might disappear completely.
The only stroke of luck was that both behemoths had dropped divine items, and he hadn’t run into the bad luck of getting nothing.
“Feels like I’ve just about finished harvesting all the behemoths in the wild. No idea if I can get even one more divine item.”
[Starlight fell in sheets. The Refined Copper carriage waited at the edge of the ruin-strewn wasteland.]
[Do you want to board the carriage and leave the Starvault Tower Ruins?]
Lin Xun was just about to click ‘Yes’ when he suddenly felt he’d forgotten something.
He opened his inventory, where a certain item was quietly lying.
[Celestial Vault Key (Item): A shining five-pointed star, buried beneath the ruins for many years… When used at a specific location, it will trigger an unexpected and wondrous event.]
This was the item he’d found in the laboratory after killing the Multivision President.
He had planned to use it in the Starvault Tower ruins right after leaving the lab, but he’d gotten distracted saying farewell to Rona and forgotten.
“It’s not too late to use it now.”
[You take out the Celestial Vault Key. The five-pointed star’s glow is dazzling against the night.]
[Perhaps it’s your imagination, but you feel the Celestial Vault Key shines even more brightly amid the ruins.]
[Do you want to use the Celestial Vault Key?]
[The flashing five-pointed star radiates a blinding brilliance. The Celestial Vault Key dissolves into countless motes of starlight and disappears.]
[Your vision brightened. Not far ahead, a towering spire rose into the sky, its tip piercing into the mists so high you couldn’t judge its true height.]
[The endless starlight seemed drawn to this spire. The tower’s surface glimmered dazzlingly, as though countless stars were set into it.]
[You looked around. All the scattered rubble and bricks had vanished. Everything around you was layered in ghostly afterimages, like a faded, mottled memory.]
[You have entered the Residual Illusion of Knowledge…]
[The illusion around you quivered and wavered, appearing extremely unstable.]
[You understood that if you were expelled or died within the illusion, the vision of the Starvault Tower would likely disappear for good.]
[Do you wish to enter the Starvault Tower and begin the ascent?]
Lin Xun’s eyes widened.
Using the Celestial Vault Key above the ruins had actually activated a knowledge illusion, letting him enter the Starvault Tower as it once existed.
Rona had once said the tower was so tall it could truly be called sky-piercing, reaching up into unknown realms.
Many scholars who attempted to climb it were drawn in by the starry sky and lost their way, and eventually the soaring tower had to be toppled and destroyed.
According to the text, the illusion of the Starvault Tower was extremely unstable. If he died inside, it would never appear again.
“So that means I only have one chance to challenge it.”
[While you were hesitating before the tower, the great door at the base slowly opened. A scholar wearing a wide ceremonial hat emerged.]
[You noticed it wore a black robe trimmed with gold embroidery, the chest marked with the Direct Vision School’s single-eye emblem.]
[The Knowledge-Seeking Grand Scholar of the Direct Vision Association saw you. It lifted the brim of its broad hat, revealing a dejected face, and gave you a deep bow.]
[It greeted you sincerely, asking if you, too, had come drawn by reputation, hoping to climb to the tower’s peak and gaze upon the stars to gain knowledge.]
[When you gave a slight nod, it continued, telling you that during its own attempt to reach the ninety-ninth floor, it had collapsed after only reaching the twenty-fifth.]
[The guardians of each floor grew stronger with every level. Climbing to the ninety-ninth floor was simply too difficult.]
[The Knowledge-Seeking Grand Scholar of the Direct Vision Association sighed faintly. Perhaps, it said, it was simply too ignorant and weak, and that was why it had failed.]
[Although the Multivision Grand Scholar had reached fewer floors than it, the local Multivision President had climbed three floors higher, reaching the thirty-ninth floor.]
[This had left the always-proud Direct Vision Association unable to hold its head up.]
[It added frankly that although it had never met you before, it could tell by your robe that you were the Direct Vision Association President of a distant city. As a stronger President of the Association, you would surely surpass this city’s Multivision President.]
[It bowed to you repeatedly, declaring that it would notify this city’s Direct Vision President to come here as well, so they could all witness your magnificent feat of climbing the tower. If you could reach the fortieth floor, the Association would hold a grand banquet to celebrate your triumph.]
[Having said this, the Knowledge-Seeking Grand Scholar of the Direct Vision Association waved farewell to you, its figure growing smaller as it receded. Then, at the edge of the illusion, its form began to waver and blur before vanishing altogether…]
[Do you wish to enter the Starvault Tower and begin your ascent?]
Anyone who could become an Association President undoubtedly possessed Knowledge beyond measure, far surpassing Lin Xun’s.
Even they had only managed to climb as high as the thirty-ninth floor. It was easy to imagine how steeply the difficulty increased beyond that.
Attempting to use his one and only chance to reach the ninety-ninth floor of the Starvault Tower was, realistically, an impossible task.
“Pretty annoying… If I quit the illusion now to go improve my strength outside, according to the text, the illusion would vanish and never reappear…”
As Lin Xun was struggling with indecision, he suddenly thought of something.
He opened his inventory and looked at an item.
[Book Containing Illusion – Grand Scholar Rona’s Bathing Recording (Item)… But the illusions inside the book have been erased, and mysterious characters left behind by the Grand Scholar are inscribed on the pages.]
[Carrying this item will allow you to record any Residual Illusion of Knowledge you witness. By clicking on the item, you can enter the illusions that have been recorded.]
“Rona must have given me the blank illusion book so I could record the Starvault Tower illusion and gain the chance to enter it repeatedly.”
Thinking this, he selected the item to use it.