Chapter 2656: Chapter 2657: What Object Becomes Spirit

What exactly is assembled from these silver objects?

While everyone was speculating, Dox looked at Angel and said with a slightly teasing tone: "Do you still think this is a dagger now?"

Dox’s words made everyone freeze for a moment.

Yes, Angel previously mentioned that his mentor lost a dagger while exploring the Underground Labyrinth. And the dagger had the enigmatic emblem found on the special Ghosteye Witch.

Therefore, at the time, Angel was very certain that the silver pendant on the Ghosteye Witch originated from the dagger lost by Sanders.

It was precisely because it belonged to Sanders that Angel spent some time trying to obtain this pendant.

But now piecing it together... there’s no trace of a dagger at all.

If it were the dagger’s hilt, that would also be impossible—too large and cumbersome. Even when taken apart, one cannot imagine it as a dagger.

However, the emblem on the silver pendant is difficult to fake, nearly certifying that it is Sanders’ possession, or a belonging of the Iguro family.

Considering the overall integrity of this item, the Silver Ring should be part of the silver pendant, so it likely belongs to the Iguro family.

Yet according to Cicia, the only object of great value on the Wood Spirit is that Silver Ring.

This becomes intriguing.

Both belonging to the Iguro family and to the Wood Spirit. There is definitely some trickery here.

Angel: "I admit that I guessed wrong before; this indeed doesn’t look like a dagger. As for what it is, I have a guess in mind."

Dox: "What’s your guess?"

Angel extended his hand, gently stroking the bizarre object in the Hand of Magic.

Like the most intimate lover, he slowly slid down, down, until he reached the bottom of the ring, and his hand continued downward.

As Angel’s hand moved downward, a black short staff emitting a faint glow appeared out of nowhere beneath the ring.

The short staff and ring connected perfectly.

At this point, everyone understood what Angel meant to convey.

This peculiar-looking silver object is, in fact, the head of a short staff.

"Saying it’s a dagger is definitely wrong. But saying it’s a short staff has some possibility," Dox said as he looked at the complete short staff Angel simulated with illusion.

It must be said, with the staff added below, the originally strange object suddenly becomes harmonious. The possibility of it being a staff head is very, very high.

Black Earl: "You’re not speculating without reason, are you?"

Angel smiled: "Indeed, Lord Black Earl sees it clearly. I guess so because I previously inquired about the form of the Wood Spirit with Cicia."

Black Earl: "I asked Cicia the same question, and her answer was that the Wood Spirit’s talent allows it to transform at will to better evade danger. Therefore, she didn’t know the specific form of the Wood Spirit either."

Hearing Black Earl’s words, Angel was slightly surprised. He originally thought Black Earl would only inquire about Noah’s predecessors, but unexpectedly, he also asked about the Wood Spirit’s situation. Apparently, Black Earl is very concerned about this exploration of the ruins... or maybe he has already noticed that the destination is certainly related to Noah’s predecessors, hence his active involvement?

"Cicia gave me the same answer as yours, only I asked Cicia in detail about what forms the Wood Spirit transformed into on the platform, and among them, what was the most ordinary and unremarkable form," Angel said.

The birth of the Wood Spirit Fuyi occurred in the working area of the Ghosteye Witch. If the Wood Spirit had changed form at that time, it might have been discovered by those wandering Ghosteye Witches.

Thus, the Wood Spirit’s original form must be ordinary and unremarkable. Moreover, even lying on the ground casually wouldn’t attract much attention.

Later, no matter how the Wood Spirit concealed itself, it must have used the original form as a blueprint for transformation.

With this thought process, Angel finally got an answer from Cicia: "Its most ordinary and unremarkable form was a pitch-black stick. That was its shape when it lay on the platform pretending to be dead."

A black stick is first difficult to distinguish as wooden. Additionally, because of the constant emergence of dark aura in the underground, much of the working area’s surface has been tainted black, turning pitch-dark, and some constructions also stained black.

Thus, a black wooden stick hidden among them is not conspicuous.

Moreover, Cicia explicitly stated that the Wood Spirit transformed into a stick when it pretended to be dead on the platform. At that time, the Wood Spirit must have sensed that Cicia would not harm it, making the platform a safe haven.

Hence, when most relaxed, the Wood Spirit reverted to its original form, a logic that makes sense.

Therefore, Angel treats the form of the stick as the Wood Spirit’s original appearance.

With the Wood Spirit’s appearance identified, attaching this series of silver ornaments forms the present short staff.

The black staff body, appearing unremarkable alone, becomes eye-catching when paired with that splendid and intricate crown authority.

Yet, this doesn’t mean Angel is more thorough-thinking than Black Earl. It merely reflects the differential depth of Angel and Black Earl’s relationship with Cicia, allowing Angel to extract more information from her. Though Black Earl is indeed Noah’s descendant, he isn’t Noah himself. The best he can get are sparse insights from Cicia, certainly not a detailed description of all the Wood Spirit’s appearances.

"According to your saying, the Wood Spirit was birthed from a staff?" Dox asked.

Angel nodded: "Without surprises, very likely. Because when mortals use staves without special functions, solely for personal identity assertion, a wooden staff is often favored for its lightness, making it easier to hold."

"Therefore, it’s likely that the Wood Spirit was birthed from a wooden staff body."

Kaier: "I have often heard that the birth of a Spirit is quite difficult, rumored to be World Will accidentally leaving spirit intelligence in the world. If it’s truly so hard to birth, a mere ordinary wooden staff birthing a Wood Spirit, I still find a bit odd."

Before Kaier’s voice even faded, Black Earl’s voice emerged: "The birth of a Spirit is indeed difficult, a fact. However, given an item resides in a harmonious energy environment long-term, or the item is imbued with heavy meaning, the likelihood of Spirit birth increases relatively."

"And the wooden staff aligns with the first condition. Though this place is abandoned, it’s under the protection of a magical energy array, with an energy environment much better than outside. Coupled with the continuous emergence of dark polluted power underground, all always pervasive around the wooden staff, elevating its potential for birthing spirit intelligence again. Only..."

Vay: "Only what?"

Black Earl: "It’s just that, from this logic’s perspective, there’s a matter I can’t fathom. Regularly encircled by dark polluted energy, a Spirit birthed should be prone to bad habits. Yet that Wood Spirit seems to have no malicious intent apart from a little cowardice?"

Were there truly malicious intent, that Wood Spirit wouldn’t hold such a simple thought, nor would it pretend dead for decades, and definitely wouldn’t desperately refuse when Wise Sovereign extended an olive branch, preferring to quietly abide in the tranquil Hanging Jail Stairway, briefly and silently spending its life.

This is the peculiar point about the Black Earl, the Wood Spirit is a bit too naive.

Angel tentatively replied: "Timidity, cowardice, and reclusiveness are not necessarily vices. These vices target oneself rather than others, so they don’t count as evil thoughts."

The Black Earl thought for a moment: "That might be possible."

After speaking, the Black Earl didn’t continue further, stopping as he deemed necessary.

The Black Earl stopped, and Doxes immediately picked up the conversation:

"It’s now generally certain that the wooden staff is the original form of the Wood Spirit, but beyond that, there are still some preliminary issues unresolved," Doxes said. "Firstly, if these rings, pendants, and crowns all belong to the Wood Spirit, why were they scattered around different places later on?"

"Secondly, if these ornaments don’t belong to the Wood Spirit, why does the Wood Spirit cherish them so much, even unwilling to hand them to Cicia in exchange for a ticket?"

"As for the third," Doxes looked at Angel: "If this silver staff head belongs to the Wood Spirit, then according to the family crest on it, the wooden staff is very likely from the Iguro family. Considering the timeline, could it possibly come from your mentor, the Illusion Master?"

The three questions raised by Doxes were of concern to everyone, especially the third question.

If it truly originated from Sanders, then Angel had previously claimed that Sanders lost a "dagger," so what was going on?

Angel pondered for a moment and said: "I can’t answer the first question, but judging only from the ornaments, they’re actually quite conspicuous. I personally speculate that given the timid and cowardly nature of the Wood Spirit, it would never leave such conspicuous items to let the Ghosteye Witch notice it, maybe it just discarded them."

"Of course, it’s more likely that before the Wood Spirit was born, meaning when it was just an ordinary staff, these ornaments were mostly scraped off by the Ghosteye Witch. For a certain special Ghosteye Witch, these ornaments seemed quite beautiful, it collected those nice ones and then casually discarded the dark staff body of the Wood Spirit, which is a plausible scenario."

"As for the ownership issue of small circles and large rings... this can also be inferred from that special Ghosteye Witch. It removed the crown, thinking it looked good, but the small circle inside was quite an eyesore, so it casually discarded it, only to be picked up by another Ghosteye Witch. In the end, it benefited Speedy."

"And the large ring, which doesn’t look so great at first glance, the special Ghosteye Witch took the ornaments and left, leaving a lone large ring on the Wood Spirit, it’s also possible."

"However, all of this is based on speculation, I can’t provide a definite answer."

Angel’s answer to the first question, although based on speculation, was logically coherent. After listening, everyone thought about it and felt that Angel’s speculation was not impossible.

That Doxes didn’t continue to delve into the issue further shows that he actually agreed with the inference.

"The second question is essentially an extension of the first. If that special Ghosteye Witch only valued the beauty of the ornaments, then taking off the crown for collection and wearing the oval pendants is reasonable. As for the large ring, since it’s not very pretty and hard to remove, so it was left on the Wood Spirit."

"If the Wood Spirit was born after the staff head was taken, seeing the large ring on itself, it would naturally consider it as its own and love it dearly."

"If the Wood Spirit was born early, given its timid nature, it couldn’t resist and could only let the staff head be taken apart. The final lonely ring naturally became its treasured item."

The second question didn’t require much explanation, everyone could understand it, so Angel simply mentioned it and moved on.

He also knew that what others cared most about wasn’t these two questions, but the third question raised by Doxes.

"As for the third question..." Angel rubbed his brow with a bitter expression: "Asking me confuses me as well."

"According to the information from my mentor, what he lost here was indeed a dagger. Moreover, I’ve even seen the appearance of that dagger through Illusion Technique. The hilt of the dagger is indeed quite similar to that oval pendant, engraved with the Iguro family’s crest. This is also the reason why I misunderstood the pendant on the Ghosteye Witch, thinking it might be polished from the dagger’s hilt."

"Moreover, my mentor never mentioned any short staff from the Iguro family."

To prove his words, Angel even voluntarily asked the Black Earl to perform the Divination to verify.

The result of the Divination was as Angel said, he didn’t know about the existence of the short staff.

Doxes: "If the Illusion Master didn’t tell you about a short staff, could it have been left here by another member of the Iguro family?"

Angel: "I don’t know."

However, Angel felt himself that it should be unlikely. The Iguro family is not a Wizard Family but just a traditional noble family of mortals. Although Sanders became a powerful True Knowledge Wizard, he hadn’t married or left any heirs, nor did he care much about the development of the Iguro family... under such circumstances, it would be difficult for the Iguro family to produce another Transcendent.

Moreover, without being a Transcendent, it would be almost impossible to reach this region.

So, Angel was also puzzled by this. He leaned towards the short staff still being Sanders’, but Sanders had never mentioned that he lost a staff.

What’s more important is that in the Nightmare Realm, Angel once encountered a "youthful version of Sanders," who was also holding a dagger rather than a staff.

So where did this staff come from?

Could it be that all of Angel’s previous inferences were wrong, and the Wood Spirit’s body wasn’t a wooden staff? Or was the so-called staff head unrelated to the Wood Spirit?

Angel let out a long sigh and said: "This is the intriguing part I mentioned, because I also don’t know what the answer is, what the truth is."

"Only by finding the Wood Spirit, or finding a way to make the Wise Sovereign speak, might we learn the truth."

At this point, Angel brought up the initial issue again.

"By the way, regardless of whether this ring belongs to the Wood Spirit, it’s something Cicia took from the Wood Spirit. Does no one know any spell technique to track the object?"

After speaking, Angel looked directly at the Black Earl. Although he said "you all," Angel was only referring to one person, the Black Earl.

Because others who knew similar prophecy methods would have mentioned it already. The Black Earl had demonstrated prophecy before, so he was the most likely candidate.

This time, the Black Earl did not remain silent like last time but responded calmly: "It’s still too early to discuss this; we can talk about it after arriving at the Hanging Jail Stairway and if we can’t find the Wood Spirit."

"Since Cicia said, the Wood Spirit values this ring highly, maybe we won’t even need to search directly. Holding this Silver Ring, it might come to us."

Angel: "And what if none of that works?"

The Black Earl: "If all methods fail, then we can discuss tracking."

Although the Black Earl did not give a direct promise, he indirectly indicated that he would use tracking methods if necessary.

These words were quite sufficient.

Angel: "Let’s hope that it will be just like the Black Earl said, and the Wood Spirit will willingly reveal itself upon seeing the ring..."

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