Chapter 131: Malcador's Private Collection

"Follow me."

Ninglu picked up the parchment scroll and followed Malcador out of the Observatorium.

Walking through the Imperial Palace along the marble path, Malcador, in a good mood, asked Ninglu.

"Are you adapting well to living in the courtyard?"

"It's quite good; they were prepared for us."

Ninglu spoke; the plaza's building complex consisted of twenty structures, their dimensions far exceeding those of mortals and also surpassing the stature of Astartes.

Malcador's eyes were profound as memories flashed once more.

"The Emperor once hoped that before the Great Crusade officially launched, you could grow here and learn the skills he needed you to master."

"But we never did that."

Ninglu silently added in his heart: 【Perhaps Alpharius is an exception.】

"Strictly speaking, no," Malcador said. "At least not for the original intent."

After the Sigillite grieved for a moment over the painstaking efforts of his servant being ruined, he continued.

"Horus once lived in his courtyard for a short period, and now it is you; I think your brothers will all stay there temporarily in the future."

As they spoke, they arrived in front of a building.

This was a quaint structure, its bronze spiral plates glowing with a dim light under the illumination.

Malcador pushed open the door, leading Ninglu to view his private collection.

"My most precious collections are two ancient paintings found during the disasters of the 'Age of Strife': Leonardo da Vinci's *Mona Lisa* and Vincent van Gogh's *Sunflowers*."

Ninglu's gaze lingered for a moment on these two masterpieces he had never seen in person in his past life, but after noticing they were well-preserved within a Stasis Field yet lacked any aura of Spirituality, he moved his gaze away.

Despite marveling at the masters' art, he was not extravagant enough to choose non-Potion Material.

"I do not take what others love."

Seeing that Ninglu had no interest in the two master paintings, Malcador breathed a sigh of relief and led Ninglu to continue viewing the private collection.

Ninglu noticed that compared to the Emperor, Malcador's collection was primarily composed of art pieces.

This actually aligned with the Primarch's impression of Malcador; he supported the Remembrancers joining the expedition fleets to record the great achievements of the "Great Crusade" from an artistic perspective.

Malcador also instructed the Administration Department to take over the "Civilization Preservation Project" founded by Caspar Hauser.

After looking at twelve items, Ninglu discovered the first object with an aura of Spirituality; he stopped in front of an old manuscript.

Just by glancing at it, he could see that its contents clearly belonged to a different language family than Gothic.

It looked like some kind of unintentionally generated garbled code, but as the Primarch took it into his mind, he felt it contained a certain internal logic, written in the form of a cipher.

Malcador noticed Ninglu's movement and began to introduce it.

"That is the *Voynich Manuscript*; it was written between the 15th and 16th centuries. Its content is unknown, its author is anonymous, and it is named after the bookseller who discovered it in 1912."

"Perhaps only he could know who wrote this and what the content is."

Ninglu's eyes flashed; he had just witnessed Malcador's prophetic ability not long ago, which was absolutely among the best of humanity.

And since prophecy could obtain information from objects, a manuscript from which even Malcador could not obtain information—or at least not complete information—must be a high-Tier Potion Material.

【Pages; the first thing that comes to mind is the "White Tower" pathway, but it could also be the "Perfecter" pathway, or even related to the "Fool" pathway's Sequence 3 "Scholar of Yore".】

【At least there is a baseline; if there is no better choice, I could choose it; at least it wouldn't be a waste of this opportunity.】

"Do you want to choose it?"

Malcador asked, and Ninglu shook his head slightly.

"If the Sigillite is not in a hurry, I would like to look through everything before making a choice."

"I am not in a hurry; you may look through everything before making a choice."

"I will introduce every piece in the collection to you."

Malcador said patiently; although there were many urgent matters, since he had already promised Ninglu to choose, he did not urge him.

Ninglu stepped forward and looked at Malcador's collection; he stopped from time to time, not only in front of those Potion Materials but also lingering for a moment in front of other items.

Each time he stopped, the duration was similar, showing the same degree of interest in these items.

When Ninglu stopped for the thirty-third time, his eyes were fixed on a trihedron.

It appeared to be formed from some kind of purple alloy, and on each of its faces, there were eyes of vastly different forms.

One face was a cold, indifferent eye without eyelashes, containing countless brilliant stars.

Another face was a black mass covered in countless eyes.

The final face was a deep, blank eye that had clearly lost its focus.

Ninglu almost immediately associated it with the "Hermit" pathway.

The eye on the first face reminded him of the eye in the symbolic icon of the "Hermit" pathway.

The black mass of countless eyes was the Mythical Creature Form of the "Hermit" pathway.

The last face reminded him of the state when a Sequence 3 "Soothsayer" used extraordinary abilities.

【It is almost certain that the extraordinary characteristic contained within is the "Hermit" pathway's Sequence 3 "Soothsayer".】

For the first time among the many collections of Huang Laohan and Malcador, Ninglu pinpointed an item to a specific sequence.

"It comes from a cross-galactic civilization that has already perished; I call that civilization Ariadne, and their Warriors used blood-red spears."

"I call it the Prophecy Dice; it is thrown once every three years. When it stops, its top face projects a screen of light, displaying scenes and text symbols."

"During the three years, throwing it yields no results, as if it needs three years to recharge."

"Just like most prophetic psychics, when peeking at fate, they only passively see a corner of it; the projected images are also blurry and passive."

Ninglu's eyes flashed, and he pressed further.

"Cannot be controlled?"

"There is no way; I have tried many methods, including but not limited to psychic manipulation, setting up directional Psychic Arrays, and using Divination Focus among many other means, but there is no way to make it display according to my will."

"To me, it is somewhat of a chicken rib; the random results rely on ethereal luck, and it is not even as effective as my own prophecies."

Ninglu nodded slightly; as a powerful psyker, the Prophecy Dice were indeed of little use to Malcador.

It was impossible to actively control the prophecy.

Was there really no way?

【Assuming the Prophecy Dice contain a Beyonder item of Sequence 3 level, then its prophecies would indeed be undisturbed.】

But if there is absolute suppression of status, then making it prophesy according to one's will is also possible.

And I, who possess the "Kingdom of Disorder," happen to have this possibility, and the third layer of Real Space also has a special effect for establishing connections.

Compared to other choices, the Prophecy Dice, which can determine a specific sequence, are a better option.】

Thinking of this, Ninglu had already decided; unless he saw something special later, he would choose it.

He stepped forward and continued to examine the other collections.

After Ninglu had looked over all the collections, Malcador spoke up and asked.

"Have you made a decision?"

"I have."

He came before that three-sided die once more, "I want the Prophecy Dice."

"Very well."

"How much longer until it can be used?"

After a few seconds of silence, Malcador spoke and replied.

"Eleven months."

Ninglu then picked up the transparent, glass-like box, inside of which the Prophecy Dice were placed.

Before they parted ways, Malcador spoke to remind the Primarch of his schedule.

"I have arranged for the Imperium's finest sculptors; they will meet with you tomorrow."

"They need to record your appearance, even though this is a tremendous challenge to their willpower."

"They will use sculptures to restore your likeness; even if it is only a part, it is necessary, as they once did for Horus."

"Afterward, the statue will be placed in Hero Square; it will be the second statue to stand in that vast open-air plaza."

Ninglu nodded slightly, "I will cooperate with them."

On the way back to the courtyard, he thought to himself.

【That black shadow, that mythical creature, Terra still has many valuable things that should be explored by people sent for that purpose.】

(End of this chapter)