Chapter 255 - 114: The "Arrogant and Domineering" Lynch Blackwood (Part 2)

Chapter 255: Chapter 114: The "Arrogant and Domineering" Lynch Blackwood (Part 2)

Lynch listened, completely stunned.

He had dabbled in some history during his studies at the Hurst Royal Extraordinary Academy, but his knowledge was extremely limited.

After all, aside from *The History of the Gnumbsby Empire*, which was a required course, all other history classes were electives.

As a student of the Undead System, survival had been difficult, so he had naturally focused all his energy on studying things like Meditation, summoning, crafting, and Curses. Who had the time or energy to research artistic styles from thousands of years ago?

"So, these ruins were left behind when the Ancient Elf civilization was destroyed?" Lynch asked.

"That should be right." Aus nodded, then combined this with Lynch’s description of the soul memory fragments and summarized, "According to historical records, the Ancient Elf civilization reached its zenith about thirty-eight hundred years ago. They controlled the vast Magic Power resources of the ’Well of Eternity’ and developed a highly advanced magical civilization."

"But everything that reaches a peak must eventually decline. The Elf nobles of that era lived extravagant lives, misusing Magic and recklessly squandering resources for their own pleasure. What’s worse, they constantly tried to use large-scale Magic Arrays to contact and open up Other Planes, attempting to acquire even more resources and power..."

Aus sighed. "As a result... alas, they attracted the attention of the Abyss. A portion of the Elf nobility even actively communicated with Abyssal Demons, collaborating to build a massive, cross-planar Teleportation Gate. Ultimately, this led to the infamous ’Great Abyss Invasion’ disaster."

"In that war, the Ancient Elf civilization was nearly wiped out. Although the main Teleportation Gate was later destroyed by the combined efforts of the allied races, the connection between the Main Material Plane and the Abyssal Plane could never be completely severed. To this day, the two planes remain tenuously linked..."

He paused and said with a wry smile, "This is also why those powerful Abyssal Demons can still influence and interfere with the Main Material Plane. There’s nothing to be done about it. That catastrophe left far too many wounds on the planar barriers, wounds that are difficult to heal."

Lynch was secretly flabbergasted.

He truly didn’t know much about the complex structure and history of this world.

The Main Material Plane, the Netherworld, the Celestial Divine Kingdom, the Shadow Realm, the Abyss, Hell... and all those other messy lesser planes and demi-planes. Just trying to sort out the relationships between them was enough to give him a headache.

At the academy, he had been mainly focused on learning the core business of a Necromancer. As for this "extracurricular knowledge," he knew only the barest surface.

Hearing Aus’s explanation now, he could only sigh. "The High Elf Race really dug their own grave..."

Aus shook his head with a wry smile. He didn’t disagree with Lynch’s assessment, only adding, "The Elves aren’t the only race on the Main Material Plane that likes to court disaster. The early Giant Demon Race, and even humans now—similar things have happened many times. This is far from the first world-ending crisis our Main Material Plane has faced, and I’m sure it won’t be the last."

Lynch felt that sentiment deeply.

However, all these grand narratives were far too removed from his current situation.

’I, Lynch, am just a minor player at the moment. Best to focus on my own little corner of the world first.’

"Let’s talk about the value of this loot," he said, pulling the topic back to reality.

At the mention of this, Aus immediately perked up. "Don’t be fooled by how shabby and broken this stuff looks; its overall value is quite high. Just the Star Patterned Silver, the Moonlight Fir, and these precious Gemstones... a rough estimate would put them at around twenty to thirty thousand Gold Coins."

"Of course, we’ll need to do a careful inventory for a more specific value. And we can’t sell it all at once. We’ll have to offload it slowly, in batches and in secret, to avoid attracting unwanted attention."

Twenty to thirty thousand Gold Coins?

Lynch’s eyes lit up.

That was a bit more than he had expected.

He originally thought he’d be lucky to get a few thousand Gold Coins for this big pile of "junk."

Aus explained, "My Lord, the Ancient Elves had a very high level of civilization, especially in terms of artistic achievement, far surpassing modern humans. Plus, their civilization was destroyed thousands of years ago, so not many authentic pieces have survived."

"As you know, rarity increases value. The current elites, especially human nobles, have a real taste for this sort of thing. Displaying a few Ancient Elf antiques in one’s study is a major status symbol."

"Fine." Lynch had no interest in the art pieces themselves and waved his hand dismissively. "You can handle selling them as you see fit. But set aside any rare materials for our own inventory; we can use them ourselves later."

With this calculation, plus the few Soul Crystals they had obtained and the three new Ghost Units they had subdued, they had almost recouped the entire investment in building the Teleportation Array.

Lynch then mused, "About those ruins... can you find a way to get some relevant experts over here? Preferably specialists in Ancient Elf history, runes, and ruin exploration. We could try to lure them to Lakefront Town."

"We need more detailed historical materials and research to figure out what’s going on in those ruins." Lynch’s expression grew serious. "Especially that terrifying gaze. We need to know what kind of being it is."

As the saying goes, know your enemy and know yourself, and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. If they could figure out who—or what—that thing was, they might be able to find a way to counter it.

Aus considered this. "I could ask my teacher, Kains University Scholar, to see what he can do. However, if I do that, I’ll have to tell him the truth and let him know that I’m in Lakefront Town..."

In truth, ever since the incident, Aus hadn’t contacted anyone from the Imperial Capital. He had been so busy lately that he had almost forgotten he was a Prince.