Chapter 316: True Knowledge

Chapter 316: Chapter 316: True Knowledge

Alaric Hawthorn’s face was a shifting canvas of colors, paling and flushing in turns.

Just a moment ago, he had confidently sworn to force his way through, yet he barely even scuffed the door’s surface. And now this teammate—the one who had barely registered, the one he’d mentally written off as a nuisance who was probably all talk—had, with a single kick...

The contrast was so stark it made him question his reality.

Seraphina Sinclair ignored her teammates’ shock.

There was a reason she had been able to kick the door down.

The Lucky Wood Carving may have cracked, but the Legendary Trait, [True Knowledge], was still active.

Once [True Knowledge] activated, a line appeared before Seraphina Sinclair’s eyes.

It was a faint golden line, starkly visible against her normal vision. It started from the edge of the door’s lock, followed the grain of the wood, and stretched all the way to the corner where the wall met the floor.

In her [True Knowledge] vision, the line was exceptionally conspicuous, as if silently pointing: ’Destroy this. This is the weak point.’

She had simply followed that line and precisely kicked that exact spot with the tip of her boot.

And thus, the incredible scene the others had just witnessed came to be.

Seraphina Sinclair ignored her teammates’ shock.

She cautiously peered into the pitch-black room first. After confirming there was no immediate danger, she bent down and slipped inside.

The others exchanged a glance and quickly followed.

The room was even dimmer than the corridor. Only a sliver of light from the doorway pierced the darkness, barely outlining the interior.

The air was thick with the musty smell of old dust, mixed with a strange scent of disinfectant.

The acrid smell made Seraphina Sinclair’s brow furrow the moment she breathed it in. The vision granted by her [Mystic Insight] allowed her to quickly identify it as a small room, like an office or a storeroom.

A heavy wooden desk sat against the wall, its surface scattered with indistinct scraps of paper and an overturned ink bottle. In the corner were several dust-covered cardboard boxes.

But what was most eye-catching was the person standing before the desk, directly facing the door.

When Seraphina Sinclair first entered the room and glimpsed this figure, she had instinctively drawn her longsword.

But after a closer look, she immediately realized something was wrong.

The "person’s" silhouette was bizarre and stiff, its head tilted to one side at an unnatural angle.

’Besides, if this thing were alive, it probably would have attacked the moment our group came in.’

With that thought, Seraphina Sinclair quietly sheathed her longsword and moved closer to inspect the thing.

"It’s too dark, I can’t see a thing," Fayestar complained as he followed Seraphina inside. He turned back and asked, "Did any of you bring a flashlight or something?"

After a soft rustling, a beam of light suddenly cut through the darkness.

The light came from Lyra Lowell.

He pulled an old-fashioned brass flashlight from a small pouch at his waist. He twisted it on, and the beam sliced through the darkness, precisely illuminating the rigid figure.

The light stripped away the blurry shadows, revealing skin-crawling details.

It was a preserved corpse.

Waxy, sallow skin was stretched taut over its bones like a layer of cheap leather. Its eye sockets were just two deep, black holes, staring emptily at the intruders.

Its mouth was slightly agape, revealing teeth and shrunken gums, as if fixed in a smiling expression.

Sparse hair was stuck to its scalp, with a few strands hanging over its forehead.

It wore white clothing, now identifiable as some kind of stain-soaked linen, which clung tightly to its desiccated body, outlining its jagged ribs and sunken abdomen.

Even more bizarrely, it wasn’t standing on its own. It was held in place before the desk by several thin, rusted metal wires hanging from the ceiling.

Seraphina Sinclair leaned in for a closer look and saw that its neck was also cinched by a thicker metal collar, which was why its head was tilted.

Under the flashlight’s beam, the wires and collar glinted coldly.

The mixed scent of disinfectant and a strange, rank odor in the air originated from it.

"Ugh."

Fayestar slapped a hand over his mouth and staggered back, his face instantly turning deathly pale.

Alaric Hawthorn sucked in a sharp breath. His long spear hit the ground with a CLANG as he braced himself against his instinct to retreat, his pupils contracting.

Even Lyra Lowell, who always maintained a gentle expression, let the flashlight beam waver almost imperceptibly. The color drained from his face, and his lips pressed into a thin line.

Dead silence.

Only the fine dust motes floating in the flashlight beam and the ragged, uneven breathing of the group could be heard.

Seraphina Sinclair, however, was calm.

After all, she had seen the thing as soon as she entered, not been startled by its sudden appearance when the flashlight turned on.

It was precisely this lack of fear that allowed Seraphina Sinclair to calmly consider the significance of its presence here.

The name of the instance was "Embers of the Abyssal Mine."

But whether it was the corridor outside or the strange corpse before her now, Seraphina Sinclair couldn’t find the slightest connection to a mine.

Seraphina Sinclair’s gaze returned to the meticulously displayed desiccated corpse.

’Its hollow eye sockets, tilted head, rigid posture... It doesn’t look like a miner. It’s more like a... specimen?’

’Or some kind of warning?’

Seraphina Sinclair’s eyes lingered on the corpse for a moment. After confirming that it posed no threat, she turned toward the direction indicated by [True Knowledge]—the heavy wooden desk.

She shifted the Sunflower in her arms to a more secure position, freeing a hand to sweep away the thick layer of dust on the desk.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Alaric Hawthorn hissed in disbelief. "What are you messing with? We don’t know anything yet! Acting rashly will get us all killed!"

Seraphina Sinclair paused, turning her head to glance at Alaric Hawthorn with her calm, placid eyes.

"Looking for something."

Her reply was concise, but her hands didn’t stop. She continued to carefully push aside the brittle paper ash.

Alaric was choked by her nonchalant attitude, his expression darkening. "Who knows if messing around will trigger some kind of trap? In a place like this..."

"For that to happen, there would have to be something to trigger," Lyra Lowell interrupted Alaric’s protest. He aimed the flashlight to help illuminate a corner of the desk for Seraphina, his tone thoughtful. "Besides, this..."

He paused, seeming to deliberate on how to address her. "Since Miss Serafelle Sinclair was able to break through the door so precisely, perhaps she has her own way of knowing what’s safe to touch."

His words seemed intended to smooth things over, yet they also carried a hint of probing curiosity.

Seraphina Sinclair didn’t reply. Her hand pushed aside the last layer of shredded paper, and her fingers finally touched a Stone Tablet.

Lyra Lowell stood nearby, watching Seraphina’s every move. Seeing her pause, he immediately stepped forward and asked, "Did you find something?"

As he spoke, he started to move the flashlight to illuminate the entire desktop.

The other two also looked over.

For some reason, in the split second before the light reached it, Seraphina Sinclair subconsciously stored the True Knowledge Stone Plate into her Silver Moon Earrings.