Broad World

The "Scroll of Netheril" is composed of a hundred golden scrolls, divided into two volumes of precious antiquities in groups of fifty. One set looked very dated and dull, while the other had a pale golden glow. No one knows who invented these things, and there is no way to even identify the materials used to make them.

It was found in the old ruins west of the Far Horn Forest, where it is said to have once been inhabited by an ancient species known to moderns as the Creator Race. These intelligent life evolved from birds, reptiles, and seabed creatures. They once created an incomparably brilliant civilization, but for some reason, most of them disappeared in the end. Even the few that survive have degenerated into primitive tribal forms, becoming savage and bloodthirsty.

The "Book of Netheril" is the knowledge recorded by the creators in their own words, and almost every mage can interpret different meanings from it. After all, they are too old, and even the best historians can't complete a complete and accurate translation, and can only rely on people to understand slowly.

It can be said that this set of scrolls ushered in the great age of Netheril, and almost all magic can be found on it. However, the more precious something is, the easier it is to attract greedy robbers, and the Netheril scroll is no exception. Two sets of scrolls were stolen one after the other, and no one knows who did it or where they were taken.

The only clue the arcanists could get was that the thief passed through the secret door sealed by powerful magic, neither triggered the alarm device nor stepped on any traps, and the scroll just disappeared out of thin air. It's as if the creator race came to retrieve their great wisdom in person, except for a few occasional sporadic ones since then. He never appeared in front of the world again.

Now the main target of Henry and his party is one of this set of scrolls. Its value is comparable to a precious artifact. This is something that even the gods would spy on. The knowledge recorded inside is enough to drive all spellcasters into madness. Of course, it is very difficult to decipher the words of the creator race, as long as there is a slight error, there will be unpredictable consequences.

Along the spacious passage, everyone found a secret door that was blown open on the wall at the end, and after cleaning it, they found this path leading to the ground. Judging from the age of the murals, it has a history of at least two thousand years, which can be traced back to the time when Askatla was only established.

Along the way, they cleaned up a dozen or so lumbering mummies. There are also some shadow creatures that appear on the Material Plane for unknown reasons. But these are not important anymore, because at the end of one of the forked roads, Henry saw a towering sarcophagus, and the strong negative energy emanating from it could be seen even by a blind person.

Edwin apparently noticed this too. He carefully compared the signs recorded on the parchment and shouted excitedly: "This is it! It's here! The Netheril scroll is in that coffin! But be careful, according to the information I got, a powerful lich is guarding it."

"You don't need to remind me about this kind of thing. Unless you are blind, it is impossible not to see the black mist shrouded above..."

Before Viconia could finish her words, the lid of the sarcophagus was slowly opened, and a lich wrapped in shabby robes came out slowly.他先是警惕的看了所有人一眼，立刻像受到惊吓的普通人一样发出了尖叫：“啊啊啊啊啊啊……这……这不可能！难道……难道蒙面法师来找上我了……？过了这么多年……终于……终于被发现了吗？”

Look at this somewhat nervous lich. Henry once again felt the powerful power of the masked mage. Look at what the poor fellow has been driven into, almost like a frightened mouse. no doubt. The spellcasting level of the lich in front of him is not low. It is estimated that it is between seventeen and eighteen, and it already has a ninth-level spell slot. Although it is not legendary yet, its combat effectiveness will not be too bad.

"That's right! You've been discovered! Hurry up and hand over the Netheril scroll, or you'll face the wrath of the Masked Mages Guild." Edwin threatened with a pretentious air. If he wasn't afraid that the scroll would be damaged if he fought, he might have grabbed it directly.

"No! No! No...it's been so long! I...I'm going to resist to the end!!" The lich became more and more excited as he spoke, and finally fell like crazy. It activated the trigger spell without hesitation, and in the blink of an eye, it blessed itself with more than ten magic protections.

Edwin stood there dumbstruck, still muttering in a low voice: "Oh! Damn... I screwed up again."

The sharp-eared Viconia obviously heard this, and sneered: "Ha! That's right, the red-robed mage. So far, your only role in the team is to amuse and cause trouble. Compared with the team leader, you are simply a clown."

"That's right. This juggler has always been useless. If it continues like this, I don't mind adding an ax in the next battle." Korgan echoed loudly with his mouth open.

Henry knew that he couldn't wait any longer, and the slightest damage to the scroll would not be worth the loss. Thinking of this, he immediately began to chant spells loudly, and before the Lich had completed the first attack magic, he completed the ninth-level magic "Spell Bash". The powerful magical energy instantly stripped away all the protection on the enemy, and Viconia took the opportunity to rush over and smash "Years" on her withered arm, forcibly interrupting the spell being cast.

As the saying goes, never miss an opportunity. Henry quickly pulled out the "Day Star" and strode forward, directly activating the daily seventh-level divine art "Yang Yan Explosion" on the sword. The extremely powerful positive energy illuminated the entire room, followed by an explosion that ripped the Lich's body to pieces. He raised the long sword in his hand and slashed down hard, splitting the only well-preserved skull in half.

The bright light hurt everyone's eyes except Viconia. As a dark elf, she should have reacted the most intensely, but the powerful magic cloak played a protective role, and the energy of the shadows neutralized all positive energy. It seems that Shar has done a lot of hands and feet on this cloak, maybe after wearing it for a long time, it will naturally fall into darkness.

Henry ignored his teammates who were covering their eyes and cursing. Instead, he opened the sarcophagus and started searching. It didn't take long to find a scroll with a slightly golden glow. There is also a magic dagger studded with gems beside it, no need to ask, it must be the phylactery of the Lich. It seems that this guy regards this place as his own home, hiding inside and desperately deciphering the words on it.

He directly put the dagger into the dimension belt, and then impatiently identified the golden scroll.

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Scroll of Resilience:

This is one of the two sets of color-resistant scrolls, and judging from the gloss, it should be the newer set. It must have been protected with the utmost care, without even a wrinkle. It is covered with strange symbols and letters, and if you look at it for too long, your eyes will hurt and you will cry. Even more puzzling, if you try to read the scroll, it feels like something is reading you at the same time.

There is also a note in Common. Written in extremely small script, it reads in full as follows:

Purchase agreement:

This is not your Nether Scroll. While you've just spent all your money on it, mortgaged your property, and sold all your relatives (living and deceased) into slavery to raise funds for the first monthly payment, don't think it's that easy. Incompetents like you just bought the right to use it.

Copying is prohibited, and backups are not allowed, even in a safe place like your own library (of course, I don't think you have this ability). If you dare to break the code, count on a visit from a member of the Baator Justice Bureau (a bureaucracy of the devils for those who don't keep their contracts) that will end in whippings and burning coke. You're also not allowed to modify it, sell it, or sublet it, or even even think about it. The Justice Bureau is very dedicated to their work.

Furthermore, you have absolutely no right to complain if anything should go wrong with this Scroll of Nether, causing irreparable damage to you, your family, your dog, or your entire continent. Hey, you're the one who bought it! Is it our fault if you're stupid enough to believe we're going to release a fully working version and pass up the chance to make a fortune selling an upgrade later on? Of course not, it's just that the DOJ isn't happy to point it out to you. In fact, we risk revealing this kind of thing to you, and you should pay us.

Finally, once you get a vague error message for the first time (and you definitely will, trust us), don't expect it to mean anything. Those words are intentionally convoluted by us just because we like to burn your little brain to death trying to decipher them. (Probably they're just words thrown together.) Mmm ha ha ha ha ha!

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"What a naughty devil, but I like this guy very much." Henry smiled and said to Viconia. Obviously, this scroll was manipulated by some ignorant devil in hell to cheat more souls. But this is not a problem for him, he only needs to erase the patterns added later around the scroll, as well as the traces of tampering with special invisible ink.

Of course, all this will be dealt with after Edwin has read it. Before the eyesight of the other people recovered, he quickly erased the part written in common language with magic. Now no one knows that this is a tampered scroll of Netheril. I believe that what is deciphered must be very joyful.

After seeing this little move, the Queen of Poison Tongue showed an excited expression on her face. Betrayal and lies are the dark elves' forte. There is a saying in their proverb: the dagger is always the best one that cannot be seen. (to be continued..)