Alchemy Tower.

The prince silently recited the name.

Looking at the ancient and mysterious building in front of him, looking at the broken but vaguely recognizable "eye" emblem on the stone pillar, and feeling the ubiquitous coldness, Tails was in a trance.

It was as if he had gone back to six years ago, to that icy night, to the moment when the nervous big-nosed doctor drew those three strange patterns around the campfire in the murderous barracks of the Grand Duke of Black Sand.

Three magic towers.

Tails looked at the emblem representing the Alchemy Tower in a daze, and sighed softly, and the memories of the old days slowly came to his heart.

Ever since the night of the dragon's blood six years ago, Ramon, the former Brotherhood Dark Doctor, died tragically at the hands of the Blood Magire (Tails can't help but think of the seamstress Kez Ramon's grin when she mentions her long-missing father), Tails has lost an important channel to explore the legendary magic and mage, and Ashda may be another source, but neither his long uncertainty nor his reservations in teaching will satisfy the inquisitive prince.

For six years, Tails had to stay in the library of Necaru as much as he could, with the help of Selma, to pursue the long-lost taboo from the books, and at the same time to avoid the spying and surveillance of Nicolas and Lysbane in every possible way, so as not to attract disasters - according to Ramon's death, since magic and calamity are taboos that this world has tried to forget for hundreds of years, such as "The Prince of the Stars is obsessed with mystical knowledge" and "The legend of the Calamity is obsessed with Tyres" It is better that such news does not appear on the tables of the major intelligence agencies.

"Alchemy Tower?"

Just as Tails was dazed and immersed in his own memories, Russell on the other side couldn't help but speak: "Alchemy? What is it? What does it have to do with alchemy balls?"

No one paid attention to him, of course, perhaps because no one knew the answer.

Semir kicked a pile of rubble under his feet and frowned: "You say, this is the legendary Alchemy Tower?"

"Where are the alchemy balls, anti-demon weapons, and all sorts of knick-knacks of the secret department?"

Ricky shook his head.

"Of course it's not the headquarters," Ricky looked around with a torch, looking at the desolation of this floor, and seemed to sigh: "Legend has it that the headquarters of the Alchemy Tower has more than a hundred magical towers, covering a vast area, extremely magnificent, how can this simple underground building be compared." ”

More than a hundred towers......

Tails looked around, thoughtful.

"Simple," Semmir snorted, illuminating the stone staircase behind them with a torch, looking down at the bottomless road below, "you call this 'Simple'?"

Ricky smiled wryly and didn't answer.

He turned around and walked down the spiral staircase: "Let's go, let's go to the next floor." ”

The mercenaries, who were immersed in shock, came to their senses.

"It's true. ”

As he passed by the drill, Tails noticed that the Shadow Shield's Assassin Shadow Shield's Assassin looked around in amazement, his hand gently touching the dusty stone pillar, muttering to himself.

"Mage, magic, those legends and stories," Hammer looked down at Ricky:

"It turned out to be true. ”

Drill's eyes moved: "Maybe we can find more and more valuable things...... Alchemy balls, anti-demon armaments, and even ......"

"Don't be delusional. Semir walked past him and interrupted him.

"I don't know how long ago, the Kingdom of Stars turned this place into a 'black prison' of the White Bone Prison, dedicated to imprisoning their felons," the former flag officer of the royal family guard said coldly: "Whether it is rebuilt or demolished, do you think the Kingdom Secret Department will leave anything valuable to people like you?"

The drill was silent.

The group continued downward.

In the face of the strange unknown, the whispers of the crowd quietly sounded in the darkness.

"I remember, mage," Russell's voice came from behind the narrow passage, "there are some miscellaneous books that mention it slightly, but I always thought it was ......"

"Think that's just nonsense?" replied with a chuckle.

Russell stopped talking.

Tails listened to their conversation, but was absent-minded.

Even as a hostage, after six years of searching, the prince has not found nothing, but "magic" and "mage" have left Tails with more and more suspicions.

Obviously, any book that existed before the end of the war will more or less mention magic and mages, such as:

The Biography of the Knight Joseph Needham during the period of the Kings mentions that the wise [mage] Levin blocked the path of the six knights, stopped them from robbing the court of unwisdom, and gave them advice in a barn;

"Martyrs of the Northlands" contains "In the face of the grim situation, the [mage] advisers suggested and retreated, but King Anset sternly refused, and he decided to lead his troops to stay in the sixth outpost and use the terrain to block the main force of the Ember Clan";

The Union of Kings states that the Templar Guards, the Myojin priests, and the Mage's representatives did their best to mediate the meeting by having the irascible King Naki and the haughty King Philon sit in the seats farthest apart;

The long bard poem "Tellega" mentions that "in the face of the princess's illness, the court [mages] were helpless."

In fact, in the heroic biographies and troubadours of the Kings period, whether fighting against orcs or elves, in the context of these battles against aliens, the image of mages as wise men appears from time to time, and many of them are even important advisors around princes and nobles.

However, by the time of the Empire, the number of mages and magic began to decline, and the images became more mysterious, evil, and terrifying.

In the Travels of Saint Losona during the Ancient Empire, it is mentioned that Saint Losona was treated horribly in the land of the [mage], his eyes lost their light, and his hands and feet trembled.

The Northland Expedition mentions an illegal expedition, and the Duke of Arend wrote to the people behind the [mage] expedition, sternly denouncing their trespass into the forbidden land as "a violation of the Convention" and would bring disaster to mankind;

The Knights' Temple, one of the ancient books of the Knights' Temple, describes a great battle between the knights and the cultists, one of whom lamented that their enemies were "stranger and more evil than the mages", and the general history of the Templars mentions that "the Northern Templars had to surrender themselves to the Empire to curb the mages' insatiable greed";

The Plague of Sword Lake City even wrote: "The terrible witches warned the lord of the city, claiming that his contempt for [magic] would cost him, but the powerful lord laughed it off, and that night, the lord's daughter developed a high fever."

More recently, after the fall of the Ancient Empire, the figure of the mage only appears in a very small number of records in the books of the final imperial period.

That was the end of Tails' efforts: all there was to the news about the mage's magic.

It stands to reason that these few words should indicate the existence of the mage community, but even after the end of the battle, the king of Exeter, Nekaru, smiled for the queen of the sky and gathered the strength of the whole country to search for a large number of texts, Tails could not find any positive record of magic and mages.

From the change in the description and description of the mage, to the gradual reduction of their figures, to their complete disappearance, to the absence of a trace......

It's like......

Tails sighed.

He rubbed against the dusty wall and followed the man in front of him down the stone staircase.

It's like a certain person, you can see the footprints he left everywhere in your life, the things he used, the records he wrote, the information he saved, the photos he took, but when you really go back to this person, everyone around you will tell you in unison: No, there has never been such a person, he does not exist.

Even in the group photo, there is only a blank space in the shape of a human figure.

This is the mage.

This can't help but give Tails a strange sense of horror, even when he sits alone in the library, he can't help but feel a chill behind him.

And today......

Tails couldn't help but raise his head, looking over the shoulders of the people in front of him and at Ricky's figure.

Today, he truly stepped into the fabled Tower of Magic, albeit a branch, and perhaps the birthplace of the anti-demon forces, according to him.

At this point, the chisel spoke again, interrupting Tails' thoughts:

"How did you find the key, Crassus?"

"I don't think the Stellar people would keep a lock that can be opened with two keys and keep it as a prison for felons. ”

This question piqued Tails' interest.

Ricky's footsteps as he walked ahead paused.

"The people of the stars thought they had control of this place, just like they thought they had covered up history and sent magic and mages to the grave," Ricky's laugh slowly rang out. "A grave known only to gravediggers. ”

"The problem is, they're not the only gravediggers. ”

"There are no fewer records in the Tower of the End than they do. ”

"So," said the hammer's voice suddenly raised in the darkness, "You were once a member of the Tower of the End?"

Ricky didn't speak, as if he had suddenly realized his gaffe.

Tails looked grimacing.

"Well, that explains," Tyers could imagine the corners of his mouth curled in the darkness, "Why did you storm the Tower of the End so much so long ago?" ”

Time passed minute by minute, the coldness around the body became more and more unbearable, and in the vision illuminated by the torches, there were still only layers of stairs.

Tails' feet were once again on the ground.

They came to the next floor.

Ricky kicked away a piece of waste wood in his way and raised his torch.

What still appeared in front of me was the central stone pillar with the emblem of the Alchemy Tower, the familiar architectural pattern, and the nine cells with only the pitiful bones remaining.

Wait, nine?

But Tails noticed that the room was a little larger than the one on the previous floor.

"Still no one. ”

Ricky withdrew his torch and shook his head in disappointment:

"Keep going down. ”

Tails put away his curious gaze, put away his desire to take a closer look at the place, and was pushed forward again by Marina behind him.

The third floor was still empty, with only bones remaining.

4th floor, 5th floor, 6th floor......

With each floor, there are more and more cells, and the rooms are getting bigger and bigger.

Black Prison - Tails said to himself: It's like a cone buried in the ground.

With the fluttering, the disappointment, and the same dim scenes, just as Tails trudged through the desert, he found that the people in the team were gradually affected.

In the boundless darkness, the voices of the people gradually became less, only the sound of footsteps was vivid, and the atmosphere became more and more depressing.

They came to another cell.

"This is the tenth floor. Clay exhaled, "If we can't find it again, maybe, it's time for us to think about the way back." ”

As soon as these words came out, the expressions of the Swords of Calamity sank in unison.

"Hmm," Russell looked at the drill at his side, "Kind of makes sense." ”

The chisel didn't answer, just glanced at Ricky.

Ricky frowned lightly and said to Semir:

"Maybe it's further down, maybe—are you sure he's still alive?"

Semir walked to the cells, bent down with torches, and carefully examined the bones.

"I'm sure," his voice stiffened slightly, "I'm sure." ”

"He must be alive. ”

He?

Tails saw that Clay shrugged his shoulders and gave Josh a disapproving look.

Josh understood what he meant.

"Do you know how much incarceration can do to a person?"

Josh folded his arms and said to Semir: "Especially in the black cell, you can only live alone, miserable, miserable, from the time you are locked up until you die, you will be cut off from all contact with the outside world, and no one will hear your wailing." ”

"Believe me, I've been in a lot of cells — very few people last that long. ”

Semir paused slightly, and stood up.

But seconds passed, and the former royal guard simply shook his head firmly.

"If it were him, he would have survived, no matter what kind of injury. ”

Tails' heart skipped a beat.

He?

Josh smiled.

"Do you know what is the most terrible punishment for a man?"

"Not death, not injury, not torture," Josh sighed softly, as if with emotion:

"It's isolation. ”

Semir stood on the ground, motionless.

Tails could only see his back fluttering slightly.

Josh paced slowly.

"When you lose all communication with the outside world, you are completely closed off, no one listens to you or talks to you, no one reacts to you or waits for you to react, no one interacts with you or takes you to interact, you can't see new things, you can't hear new sounds, you can't feel new things, everything around you includes yourself, it's like this, day after day, back and forth, forever and ......ever."

Josh's voice widened in the darkness, with a slight hatred and a low tone that was uncomfortable.

Tails saw that Semir's fist slowly tightened.

"On the first day, you can still deal with the past. ”

"On the third day, you're sick and irritable, jumping up and down, hitting the wall. ”

"After a week, you'll start talking to yourself, looking sluggish, and going your own way like a madman. ”

"For two weeks, you ushered in the final despair and madness, doing everything you would never have thought of after you had beaten your mother's womb. ”

Josh smiled softly, his eyes wandering, as if he remembered something.

By the time a month had passed, the vast majority of people had become slurred and confused. ”

"They tend to be emotionally deprived, intellectually degraded, and the whole person collapses into a beast, and even if you release them, it's useless. ”

Josh's voice was low, as if telling a story with a bad ending:

"They are forever lost in the empty void of solitude, never to come back. ”

Josh's voice slowly faded away.

The atmosphere among the crowd was also suppressed to the peak.

Semir was silent for a long time.

Ricky didn't rush him, just watched silently.

After a few seconds, Semir took a deep breath.

"He must still be there. ”

Semir turned around sharply: "He taught me how to fight, how to persevere, how to ......"

"He can. ”

A fire burst into his eyes.

Besides, only he knew what it was. ”

Josh shrugged his shoulders at Clay and made a "powerless" expression.

The prince frowned: who was the person they were looking for, and what did that person know?

He's not the only one who asks.

"Who the hell are you looking for?"

Russell overheard their conversation and asked in displeasure, "You know, we're in a hurry." ”

"Yes. Semir pointed to the stairs and snorted coldly:

"If you want to go first, no one will stop you. ”

Russell was momentarily speechless.

Ricky sighed, "Go ahead." ”

And so they started the downward cycle again.

Step by step, layer by layer.

Finally, after passing through an unknown number of empty cells, they came to a room with a dozen cells on the first floor—no, this room was so large that it could be called a "hall".

Ricky stood in this hall.

"What's wrong?"

Clay stepped forward in disgust, raised his torch and looked around, revealing many cells and bones.

"It's still the same, nothing but dead people. ”

But Tails noticed something different.

Of the dozen or so cells separated by metal fences, there was one cell that was particularly strange.

It is all black.

You can't see the fence, you can't see the bones, you can't see everything behind you.

It was only pitch black.

It's like...... It's like putting a black curtain on the outside

Soon, others noticed this.

Ricky's eyes narrowed.

"The other cells are only fences," he said, stepping forward slowly, stepping into the rubble, holding a torch and slowly approaching the room covered by the 'curtain': "But this one ......"

"Be careful. ”

Semir approached from the other side and said with a frown, "You don't know how many things from the Alchemy Tower have been inherited by the Star People. ”

Ricky nodded, and he stood in front of the odd cell, stretched out his torch, and carefully tapped the thick "curtain".

Bang, bang.

A dull, thick voice echoed through the cramped black cell.

Everyone subconsciously held down their weapons, alert for possible surprises.

But seconds passed, and nothing happened.

The cell was silent.

The crowd breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's made of iron, rising or lowering from a crack in the ground outside the fence," Ricky half-critted, carefully observing the point of contact between the iron curtain and the ground, "at least some kind of metal, I think, this thing separates this cell from the hall outside." ”

He looked up and asked Semir on the other side:

"Is that it?"

Semir was standing on the edge of the Iron Curtain, looking at an iron plaque of unknown material hanging on the wall.

"No," Semir said calmly, as he read the words on it:

"This sign says that this is a lone thief who roamed the south of the kingdom more than twenty years ago. ”

Russell narrowed his eyes: "Big thief?"

However, the iron curtain suddenly trembled!

"Knock! knock!"

Everyone shook violently and took a step back in unison!

In the extremely oppressive darkness, a frightening dull sound suddenly came: "Knock! knock!"

"Calm down—" Ricky instantly drew his sword in his hand, looking warily at the Iron Curtain that continued to tremble with a muffled sound.

Clay's face turned pale: "This is ......"

The frightened crowd looked at each other.

Right now.

"Woo-ah-"

A faint scream seemed to come from a distance of dozens of meters.

Echoing in the darkness.

(End of chapter)