No wonder I let out that involuntary sound—the description of this item was just too strange.
Mysterious Energy Core
Remaining Energy: 0.5%
Aside from those two lines, there was no other substantial description. Holding it in my hand, it felt no different from an ordinary energy crystal.
But the words “remaining energy,” combined with the mechanical puppet’s occasional mention during battle about its power supply running low, made me think of something.
This puppet’s energy had dwindled over the years without replenishment.
By the time that player from my past life visited the third floor of Lobranch’s mage tower, it had already stopped functioning due to insufficient power—which was why the post never mentioned this Level 40 leader.
To sustain operation for hundreds of years, its daily energy consumption must have been minimal.
But combat drastically increased usage. In other words, we could have just stalled for time and let it run out of power on its own.
Or perhaps that was exactly what the designer intended—the true way to defeat the puppet. With that adaptive defense trait, few players could stand against its monstrous attack and defense.
Yet even the designer probably never imagined someone would reach the third floor of Lobranch’s mage tower at this stage, bringing along five Level 30 elite NPCs to finish it off before the energy fully depleted.
If that was the case, this Mysterious Energy Core probably had some significant use.
But no matter how I examined it, I couldn’t figure out what. Showing it to Kai and the others yielded the same blank looks, so I gave up trying to uncover its secret and tossed it into my inventory.
Compared to the second floor, the third floor didn’t have noticeably fewer rooms. After exploring several, letting Kai’s team handle a few elite monsters, we reaped a bountiful harvest.
Dozens of magic scrolls aside—some were rare utility types like group teleport or random teleport. Though not as good as proper recorded spells and limited in the number of people they could move, they still thrilled me. Scrolls like these greatly boosted survival options.
The biggest surprise came in a library-like room. On the bookshelves, I found several skill books.
Thief skills: Bleed and Fright Trap.
The former was a renowned thief DoT tool. While its per-second damage wasn’t as high as other bleed effects, the duration far exceeded the cooldown—several times over.
At high levels, repeated use on the same target stacked bleed layers. Imagine a stealthy thief applying this to an entire enemy team. Terrifying.
The latter placed an invisible trap that dealt damage on trigger while causing area-wide fear.
Short cooldown, hard to detect due to invisibility—extremely hard to defend against. Compared to Bleed, it had broader applications and suited guerrilla-style thieves even better.
Since Nightwish had become my disciple but we’d barely interacted, it was time for a master’s greeting gift.
Bleed suited Nightwish perfectly. As for Fright Trap, I planned to give it to Evin as thanks. Intentional or not, she’d at least saved my family a huge sum.
Whether that girl would treat the gift as a love token… well, that depended on how thick her skull was.
Another book was a warrior skill: Thorn Armor. While standing still, it triggered thorn counterattacks against enemies that damaged you. In my view, not as valuable as the thief books, but still solid.
Thorns were area-based, improving a frontliner’s ability to hold aggro and indirectly boosting team safety.
If possible, I could trade this to Roseheart for something good. Shuiyan and I had forged some revolutionary camaraderie, but even brothers kept clear accounts.
The last one was an arcane mage skill: Arcane Leap. Record a coordinate, then later teleport back to it—up to 500 yards. Arguably the best escape tool for arcane mages.
Powerful, but I didn’t have any arcane mage friends around. So I’d keep it as backup. Worst case, I’d make an arcane template and learn it myself.
All four were incredibly rare skill books. Add in the assorted gear and materials, and I was extremely satisfied with this run. No wonder players in my past life loved pioneering hidden maps—I could already feel the thrill.
But just as I prepared to head back, Kai and the others made a new discovery.
“Your Highness, this wall seems hollow behind it.”
Kai knocked on the wall behind the bookshelf. An unusual sound echoed back.
We’d explored half the third floor and returned to the original mechanical puppet room to rest and check our loot.
Biri, meditating against the wall, noticed the anomaly first and called the others over.
“Is there another room behind this wall?”
Curious, I walked over. After thinking for a moment, I pulled the Arcane Tunnel magic scroll from my inventory.
But the system promptly notified me it couldn’t be used.
As I’d said before, Arcane Tunnel had very limited applications.
“So we need a special method to enter?”
I frowned at the wall, which looked no different from the others.
Right then, Bemira—who’d been searching the area since discovering the oddity—seemed to find the key.
“This book feels a bit off in weight.” Bemira pulled a black book from the shelf, shook it, found nothing unusual, then flipped it open.
I leaned in like the others, but all I could see was the black cover and back looming over me like an insurmountable mountain…
So the next moment, a certain bouncy figure successfully drew everyone’s attention.
While the group was collectively slain by cuteness, Daisy’s eyes lit up. She reacted quickly.
“Um… aren’t there plenty of other ways?” I twitched at the sight of someone in a forward-bending pose of despair.
“Sorry, my body just moved on instinct.”
Only then did Daisy realize her blunder and cover her face.
Kai recovered first. Amid envious, jealous glares from Biri, Him, and Bemira, she reached out and lifted me up. “This should work, right, Your Highness?”
The simplest solution would’ve been handing me the book.
I fell silent for a moment, my suspicions about this bunch’s integrity deepening.
But curiosity won out. Under the gaze of four big and one small pair of eyes, Bemira quickly flipped through the pages.
The first few were normal, but as the pages increased, a cutout appeared in the center of each—growing larger.
At my prompting, Bemira skipped straight to the middle.
Looking at the recess formed by the stacked cutouts on both sides, that familiar shape immediately clicked in my mind.