Chapter 390: Wandering Dawning Crown (22)

Night.

Luosen returned silently to the inn room where he had previously stayed, continuing to disguise himself as a wandering Cologne knight.

In the dimly lit room, he placed his hands behind his head, closed his eyes, recalled his previous experiences, and began to sum up the gains and losses of battle.

This is the homework he must do each time.

After finishing the summary, he will add these experiences to the Heart of the War God and conduct simulated use.

If the simulation passes, confirming it can improve combat win rate and survival odds, it will be upgraded to a formal combat tactic to further perfect the Heart of the War God.

This took about an hour and a bit.

One hour later, Luosen began to study the newly obtained powerful divine technique, the Insight Spike.

'Take an extremely fine, extremely strong spacetime probe, feel out the outline of the A-element domain. This is somewhat similar to Earth's scanning tunneling microscope.'

Obviously, to obtain as clear and concrete an outline as possible in the shortest time, there are two ways to improve.

One is to use better 'spikes'; the other is to use more 'spikes'.

The former exceeds Luosen's current ability limit, making it hard to improve for now, but the latter perfectly matches Laifu's strength.

Luosen made a rough estimate.

"This Insight Spike technique isn't that difficult; the computing power consumed by each spell is roughly equivalent to the limit of one-fifth line combat."

"Laifu with full computing power has a 310-line limit of operational ability, meaning he can simultaneously condense 1,550 spikes."

"Even using only half the computing power, there are over 700 spikes, making the detection speed quite fast."

"Then I will use this technique as a basis to train a new ability for Laifu."

"The ability would be called the True God's Eye. No, that's wrong—since it can not only see but also operate, it should be called the True God's Finger."

Having thought of it, he just did it.

As he was concentrating on doing it, his heart gave a slight jolt, feeling a faint tremor of a thread of time.

Before he could check, a familiar voice sounded in his mind.

"Your Majesty, do you have time now?"

It was Adela, and she was right near the inn.

Luosen blinked slightly, responding, "Why have you come to find me now?"

Adela did not respond, but after a moment the door was gently pushed open.

Immediately after, a familiar figure in nightclothes flashed into the room—it was Adela.

As soon as she entered, she bolted the door, then softly crept toward Luosen.

"Your Majesty, I couldn't wait to see you; I want to have a good talk with you."

The room had a faint candlelight seeping through the cracks in the wooden walls.

By that faint light, Luosen saw Adela's cheeks slightly flushed, her eyes full of spring water, his heart stirred, and he understood her intention.

She might indeed have legitimate business, but she also wanted to use this opportunity to catch up with him.

It must be said, once a woman's true feelings are stirred, her passion becomes as fierce as a blazing fire.

Luosen naturally would not refuse this initiative-delivered feast; his mind twitched slightly, he cast a silent barrier in the room, then smiled and asked, "Miss, which mouth do you intend to use to talk with me?"

The crude words of endearment made Adela blush all over, feeling hot.

She leaned into Luosen's embrace, emitting a mosquito-like shy voice: "Your Majesty~ you're really a bastard."

Although she said that, she kept pressing herself against Luosen, seeming unwilling to do anything but merge with him immediately.

Well then, let's have a good chat.

After a heated talk mixed with thrusts and strikes, Adela, satisfied, whispered: "Your Majesty, do you still remember that I told you the Dark Brothers Society would make a big move recently?"

Luosen, still somewhat unsatisfied, had one hand still feeling around: "Of course I remember; have you figured it out now?"

"Can't say it's completely clear, but I've basically understood."

She reached out and firmly grabbed Luosen's meddling hand, then spoke solemnly about the details.

"We have found that the emperor of the Dawning Empire, Aolaites, is likely to have met with misfortune—either dead or fallen into a deep sleep."

"Because of the emperor's absence, this half-plane has lost its ruler, and the Eternal Blazing Sun Church has lost its leader; not only is its reaction to the outside world greatly slowed, but its combat power has also plummeted."

Luosen had already sensed this; he grew serious: "And then?"

"Similarly, due to the emperor's absence, the Dawning Imperial Palace seems to have fallen into much chaos. A noble in the palace betrayed the emperor and even stole the Dawning Crown from the palace."

When the highest power holder meets with mishap, the power structure immediately reorganizes, so the palace's chaos is only natural.

Luosen immediately asked: "The Dawning Crown? What specific use does it have?"

"It is said to be one of the three imperial regalia of the Dawning Empire, besides the Light Scepter and the Noble Seal."

"Each regalia contains a portion of the Dawning Imperial Authority. Moreover, as long as the three regalia are gathered and one possesses the Blood of Safennuos, one can obtain complete Dawning Imperial Authority, which includes the right to control this half-plane."

Luosen's heart stirred upon hearing: "The Dark Brothers Society has obtained Xisailuo and already possesses the Blood of Safennuos."

"That's right."

Luosen immediately asked: "So where is the Dawning Crown now?"

"That Dawning noble is extremely cunning, and the Dawning Crown's power is also immensely strong."

"Using the crown's power, that noble has almost perfectly concealed himself, leaving only very vague traces."

"Judging from the clues obtained so far, that Dawning noble is likely wandering around the Blue Stone City area."

While saying these words, Adela's expression showed considerable uncertainty.

Luosen pondered, then continued asking: "What do you think, besides us and the Dark Brothers Society, who else knows about the Dawning Crown?"

Adela became even more uncertain: "I don't know, but there shouldn't be few; it's likely that anyone with some ability in this half-plane already knows, and they will surely be greatly tempted."

"After all, even a single Dawning Crown is a very powerful divine artifact—pay attention, it is a divine artifact! Luosen didn't quite understand: 'Just how divine is it?'"

These days, anyone with a bit of ability likes to label the magic items they forge as divine artifacts, in order to scare those ignorant mortals.

Adela found Luosen's way of asking very amusing, couldn't help letting out a little "Pfft" laugh, but immediately resumed seriousness.

"As far as I know, it was forged from a powerful material beyond the 23rd ring. Its source is unknown, and it is said to be one of the Dawn Empire's highest secrets, known only to royal family members."

If that's the case, then the Dawn Crown truly makes one's heart flutter.

Especially this demi‑plane: once entered, you either return to the abyss or have to stay in this damned place forever, essentially a prison.

Now that the hope of gaining freedom is visible, naturally everyone's heart is stirred.

But Luosen, who shares the same profession as Emperor Sa Fen Nuo Si, vaguely sensed something amiss.

After a moment of contemplation, he said, "Adela, this matter is quite dangerous. It is highly likely a trap set by Ao Laite Si."

Adela's expression froze for a moment, but she quickly understood: "Your Majesty, you mean Ao Laite Si spent centuries meticulously setting a trap to catch all the invaders of this demi‑plane in one net?"

"Yes. Therefore, the Wizards' Guild should not get involved at all; if they must, they should proceed very cautiously."

Adela was somewhat conflicted: "But what if the story is true and the Dawn Crown actually exists?"

If it is real, and the Dark Brotherhood obtains the Dawn Crown, gaining partial control rights over this demi‑plane, then their Wizards' Guild would be even less able to oppose them.

If it were earlier, Luosen would also be conflicted, since the Crown is indeed too powerful for him to gamble on.

But now, he knows the situation of the other world and also knows that in this demi‑plane true relics are not that rare or powerful.

At the same time, using the Insight Spike divine art, he believes he will achieve a leap‑forward boost in power.

All these factors combined gave him enough confidence.

His mood naturally became much more calm.

He smiled and began to reassure Adela.

"The Dark Brotherhood may not be the strongest force in this demi‑plane; many other powers can contend with them."

"Even if the Dark Brotherhood does seize the Crown, it doesn't matter, because the most anxious party isn't us but the Dawn Emperor. He will certainly devise every means to reclaim the Crown."

"We only need to hide in the shadows and watch the drama, wait until they are exhausted, then step out to clean up the mess."

Seeing Adela still conflicted, Luosen urged again: "Dear, trust that I'm not wrong."

"If I am indeed wrong, I will personally go and seize back the Dawn Crown."

At that point, Adela gritted her teeth and said, "Fine, I'll follow your lead."

As one of the heads of the Wizards' Guild, having invested a great price early on, to suddenly abandon the contest now requires great resolve and will meet strong resistance.

Luosen naturally knew this wouldn't be easy; the other's willingness to agree shows how much they value him.

To boost her confidence, he whispered in her ear: "I've recently acquired a brand‑new spell that can observe spacetime structures at the sub‑elemental scale."

Adela felt a slight tremor in her heart: "In this demi‑plane, you can observe that too?"

Observing sub‑elemental structures is very difficult; even the ancient Eternal Empire needed the entire empire's massive resources to build ultra‑high‑energy labs to accomplish it.

Now, with the demi‑plane's magical restrictions, laboratories are impossible, personal power is greatly weakened, so she found it utterly astonishing.

If anyone else said that to her, she would definitely think the speaker was lying.

But Luosen, of course, is different.

Thus, she was half‑believing, half‑doubting.

Luosen smiled brightly and said, "Of course it's very hard, but my method is extremely clever. Just saying it wouldn't make you believe, so let me tell you directly."

He directly shared the spellbook of Insight Spike.

Honestly, in the hands of an ordinary time‑strong individual, this divine art is useful but unlikely to be of great use.

Probably for this reason, the blood‑drinker Cirokaved took it out for trade.

Thus, Luosen didn't mind sharing at all.

On the other hand, Adela took the spellbook, examined it closely, and after a while she remarked, "It doesn't seem very useful."

Luosen immediately replied, "How could that be? I find it extremely useful."

In fact, based on this divine art, he already has a brilliant enhancement plan.

In Adela's eyes, Luosen is a peerless magical genius.

Since he says it's useful, she believes he can definitely produce something astonishingly good.

Thus, her confidence surged: "If Your Majesty finds it useful, it couldn't be better."

After saying that, she added, "Your Majesty, I still have to rush back to the city later, perhaps..."

Before she could finish, Luosen acted immediately.

After a fierce battle, Adela felt satisfied yet reluctant to leave.

Luosen continued training the True God's Finger.

It wasn't difficult; with Laifu's current computing power, in less than two hours he mastered the advanced usage of multiple spike linkages.

It was just after two o'clock in the morning.

Luosen still felt no sleepiness.

Since he now had a handy tool, he began his research outright.

There were two research goals.

One was the ultra‑23rd‑level true relic, the Time Pearl, that he currently possessed; the other was his own time talent.

As the saying goes, a craftsman must first sharpen his tools; his time talent is currently his most powerful instrument.

He wanted to see exactly what his time talent was like and how far it could be optimized. (End of chapter)