Volume 6, Chapter 71 – The Fourth Underground Level, the Library

Although ordinary black gunpowder has a large gap in power compared to Tier 3 magic, the time and financial resources required to train a Tier 3 magic caster are much greater than those needed to make a musket. Any healthy adult, as long as they get their hands on a musket, will know how to use it in a few hours. With a few more months of rigorous training, they can become a qualified warrior. A magic caster, on the other hand, is limited by their own talent, which is something that cannot be changed.

Of course, this is not to say that gunpowder is stronger than magic, but that it is more versatile. The only problem that needs to be considered is probably her own thoughts—how to give gunpowder to Evelyn to use, but not let the production method spread.

Hmm… if that day really comes, I can consider how to make puppets, then have the puppets mass-produce gunpowder, and then give the gunpowder to others.

Evelyn raised her eyebrows with interest.

“A weapon that can turn the tide of a battle? Then I’ll be looking forward to it. I’ll send someone to find you before the divine bestowment ceremony. Remember to bring Mary, Camilla, and Tiffany with you. If I don’t see you that day, I will definitely tie you up and bring you to the church.”

“I know.”

Waving at Evelyn, Yisi turned and pushed open the temple gate.

Exceptionally bright light shone into her eyes. Yisi subconsciously squinted. Without lingering at the temple gate, she quickly disappeared into the crowd.

There were still things waiting for her.

Calmly taking out a fingernail-sized white crystal from her inventory, Yisi activated her teleportation magic.

◇

After parting with Yisi, Evelyn gradually put away the cheerful expression on her face and let out a long breath.

“Hah… there’s still a lot to do…”

Although she had become the Pope, it did not mean that everything was settled. Just as Yisi had said, the cardinals who disliked her would surely try to obstruct her in every possible way. In the past, she could have ignored them, but now she had to understand everything about the church to prepare for the future confrontation with the cardinals.

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And the best way to understand the church was to go to the fourth underground level and read all the materials related to the church from its establishment to the present. There was the church’s largest library and treasure vault. Besides Julius and herself, only the cardinals could enter. But the cardinals Julius had promoted were all incompetent people who would never go to such a boring place. Moreover, the fourth underground level was guarded by puppet golems. Only the Pope or those with special permission from the Pope were qualified to take things out from inside, which further discouraged the cardinals from going.

Besides that, Evelyn had another purpose.

If there were a crystal with teleportation magic embedded in it, it would be even better. Evelyn wanted to go to the fourth underground level to see if there were any magic books that recorded teleportation magic. What was on the fifth underground level… This was something that had been troubling her, and something she could absolutely not tell Julius.

Without much hesitation, Evelyn made her way to the fourth underground level with practiced ease.

It was a vast space with only dim lighting, lacking in decoration, and could even be called simple. Besides the magic lamps that emitted a faint yellow light on both sides of the spacious corridor, there were only a few oil paintings. The shabby decoration made it hard to imagine that this was the largest library in the human world.

“I remember it’s here…”

Taking down an oil painting, Evelyn placed her hand on a wall where there was nothing. Immediately after, with the dull sound of a stone door being pushed open from not far away, the door to the library appeared before her.

She rarely came to the library herself. It wasn’t because the things inside were unattractive, but in that deathly quiet, enclosed place with no windows or ventilation, like a prison, it was hard for one to calm down and read. She always had a strange sense of unease, as if she would never be able to get out if she stayed any longer.

“□□—[Light].”

Shaking her head and driving the miscellaneous thoughts from her mind, Evelyn let out a soft breath and stepped inside the stone door.

Just like in the past, this was a place with many huge bookshelves, emitting the smell of paper mixed with a hint of mildew. There were no lighting facilities in the vast underground space. The magic light she had actively lit before she came in was the only source of light.

“Is it still that unpleasant darkness…”

Uncontrollably, Evelyn glanced at the depths of the library.

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The pitch-black, gloomy depths were like a giant, living mouth, as if something would jump out at any moment, or as if it would swallow her whole in one gulp. Although Evelyn had mustered up the courage to confirm that there were no living creatures in the library in the past, the feeling of being watched still made her very uncomfortable. In addition, the books in the library could not be taken outside, so Evelyn rarely came here anymore.

“I remember there should be a puppet golem to greet me when I come in. Why isn’t there one today…?”

Under the light of the Staff of Divine Retribution, Evelyn’s deep green eyes were filled with confusion. She couldn’t help but turn and look behind her. Generally speaking, the puppet golem would stand by the door and confirm her identity the moment she entered.

Then, Evelyn saw a scene that made her want to turn and run.

The puppet golem had been smashed.

It had either been pierced through its magic core, the source of its power, by some sharp, tubular object, or it had lost its human shape and had simply turned into a pile of rubble. Of the six puppet golems in total, four had been destroyed, and the other two had disappeared. And there were no traces of damage on the ground or the surrounding bookshelves. It was as if someone had taken advantage of the puppet golems’ inattention and defeated them all in an instant.

“How is that possible…”

The puppet golems guarding this place, if not of the highest grade, were at least high-level puppets. Each of them had the strength equivalent to a level 40 to 50 warrior. And they were not afraid of most magic. The hardness of their bodies was by no means just like stone, as their appearance suggested. The magic formulas inscribed in their bodies had strengthened their bodies to the point where they would not shatter even if they were hit by a dragon’s tail.

The only ones in Evelyn’s perception who could destroy them, besides Julius, were the three Demon Lords.

But how could those three Demon Lords be here?

An alarm bell rang in her heart. Evelyn subconsciously wanted to scream and quickly run away. But just as she took a step towards the main gate, her body involuntarily made her stop.

Isn’t this an opportunity?

Without the protection of the puppet golems, she could take out anything, whether it was books or magical items. Although she would become the Pope in three days, and these things would sooner or later be hers to take out as she pleased, she couldn’t even wait these three days. She wanted to get the treasures inside faster.

“Mmm…”

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As if to suppress the fear in her heart, Evelyn swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Perhaps she should confirm the time of death of these puppet golems. But the burning anxiety in her heart made it impossible for her to calm down. A voice was constantly echoing in her mind: get out of here quickly.

Forcibly suppressing her weak and trembling legs, Evelyn slammed the divine staff heavily on the ground.

“I am the 24th Pope of the Ymir Church. I should not be afraid of the death of a mere golem… but I swear, I will definitely have someone fill this place with magic lamps in the future.”

Immediately after, Evelyn walked to the nearest bookshelf. Without an index, she could only look through the books one by one from the nearest place. At this moment, she only hated that she had not learned storage magic. Otherwise, she could have just stuffed everything here into her storage space.

When she picked up the first book, her fingers suddenly touched something. But Evelyn clearly remembered that there was nothing on the bookshelf when she had reached out her hand, as if the item she had touched had appeared out of thin air.

And then—

Clack.

The sound of a glass ball falling to the ground.

“Eek!”

A cry of terror involuntarily escaped from her throat. Evelyn’s whole body tensed up, and she held the Staff of Divine Retribution in front of her, almost using an attack spell.

However, before her eyes was only a thumb-sized white crystal that was slowly rolling on the ground and finally came to a stop.

“A magic crystal?”

Evelyn was no stranger to magic crystals. To be precise, a little deeper in the library, there were piles of them. A crystal of only this size was only equivalent to Tier 2 to Tier 3 magic. Compared to the other crystals in the library, it was not the type that was powerful enough to make one bend down.

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However, this crystal seemed to have a magical power that attracted one’s gaze. Evelyn’s eyes could not move away from it. It seemed that there was something called fate guiding her, making her interested in this crystal.

She cautiously withdrew her divine staff, bent down, picked up the crystal from the ground, and held it in her palm to examine it under the magic light.

“A white magic crystal… space magic?”

Each magic element had its own representative color. For example, cyan represented wind, and red represented water. Although this magic light was not absolute—for example, holy magic and light magic could also emit the white light of space magic or the red light of fire magic—but in general, magic light followed the color of its element, and white meant space magic.

“An attack spell? Or a restrictive spell?”

Space magic was not a lost art like time magic. It was still passed down to this day. It was just that the most practical spells in space magic, [Teleportation] and [Blink], had disappeared from this world at some point.

Driven by curiosity, Evelyn went to an empty space without bookshelves and tried to inject magic power into the crystal.

The thumb-sized crystal gradually lit up with a white light. Immediately after, a slight pulling sensation was felt on her skin. Evelyn could clearly see that the tip of her finger holding the crystal was distorted, but she did not feel any pain.

“Hmm?”

The strange scene reminded Evelyn of a certain spell. She immediately stopped outputting magic power to the crystal.

“This is… [Spatial Teleportation]? Tsk, I thought it would take at least a few days to find it, but it turned out to be so easy. In that case, I’d better leave this place quickly today. Let Julius investigate the reason for the destruction of these puppet golems. The matter of dealing with the cardinals can be left for the future. With only one crystal missing, Julius won’t notice anything unusual.”

Her legs involuntarily moved towards the main gate. Driven by the constant sense of urgency in her heart, Evelyn quickly left the library.

She did not hear, the moment the main gate closed, a sigh of relief sounded in the library.