# Chapter 8: The Erebos Box
"You plan to leave now?"
Atanis stood up. He still had some doubts about the so-called Black Blood Plague—after all, a sudden plague appearing out of nowhere was indeed somewhat suspicious. But these doubts vanished completely when facing the man before him.
Joshua did not lie, nor was he a man capable of lying. He had said many strange things that sounded like delusions before, yet every single one of them had come true. If it were anyone else, the old bishop might have probed further, but not Joshua.
He was a warrior worthy of trust.
"More or less. I'm in good condition right now."
Standing up as well, Joshua took a deep breath. Powerful Battle Qi surged from his heart as the center, spreading through his blood vessels to every part of his body. A crimson glow circulated around him as the warrior sensed the power within his frame. He looked out the window and asked, "How's Black? I haven't seen him."
"He's too big to enter the city, so I had someone take him to Nissier Winterfell Academy. There's plenty of space there—at least enough to accommodate a dragon."
Shaking his head, Atanis seemed somewhat emotional. "He's getting bigger and bigger. What have you been feeding him lately... By the way, let me go get that thing for you first. If you go straight to the Imperial Capital like this, you'll definitely cause a massive commotion."
As if suddenly remembering something, the old bishop immediately turned and walked toward the door. He asked Joshua to wait in the room for a moment, then strode toward the staircase.
"Come to think of it, we haven't had a moment's rest lately."
Watching the old bishop leave, Ying, who had been sitting nearby, stretched lazily. The black-haired boy drawled in a languid tone, "So—busy."
"Come to think of it, that's true..."
Ying was lying on the table, speaking in a soft, limp voice. "After fighting for so long, I think I really need some proper maintenance... I can't muster any enthusiasm for dealing with plagues."
The silver-haired girl's current expression and demeanor could only be described with one word: lethargy.
"Don't worry. Plagues aren't something we need to handle."
Joshua sat back down in his chair, somewhat amused by the weary appearance of the young boy and girl. The warrior understood perfectly well—it was precisely because plagues couldn't be cut down with weapons that Ying and Ying had no interest.
After a moment's thought, Joshua comforted his two weapons. "At most, we'll deal with the plague within our own territory. When it comes to truly fighting this invisible disease, we'll have to rely on the Empire and the Church. It's not something we need to worry about."
In his previous life, the reason the plague had erupted on such a massive scale was because the Dragon Calamity had cut off the Far Sea Holy Mountain's connection to the outside world. Combined with various cultists creating chaos among the refugee tides, the Far South Kingdom's upper echelons had been distracted and failed to quarantine the infected zones in time. But in this life, the Mad Dragon Vaccine had appeared at least a year or two earlier. The pressure from the Dragon Calamity wasn't as severe, and the Far Sea Holy Mountain hadn't lost contact with the outside world. Whether the Black Blood Plague could cause such massive casualties remained an open question.
Even if it could, it wouldn't matter. His trip to the Imperial Capital was specifically to nip that possibility in the bud. Although Joshua couldn't remember how to make the specific cure, he knew what materials were needed! In the past, collecting materials for the special medicine had been a daily routine for all players in the Far South region. Even now, he could clearly recall what materials were required and their respective quantities.
Not long after, Atanis returned to the room.
He was holding a pocket watch. The casing was silver, and the chain shimmered with a warm metallic luster, showing signs of age. The old bishop directly handed the watch to Joshua, and the warrior accepted it without ceremony.
Opening it, Joshua found that it was just like a normal pocket watch—the hands moved slowly, showing the current time.
"Just inject a little Arcane Power or Battle Qi. Its function is to hinder others' perception of you."
Atanis explained the watch's effect to Joshua. "It can't change your appearance, but ordinary people affected by it won't be able to recall your features. Also, the resentment and Chaos aura residing in your body will be concealed. At the very least, this will prevent panic."
—But people will still instinctively give you a wide berth.
"Thank you."
Joshua immediately injected a bit of Battle Qi, activating its effect. A wave of magical fluctuation instantly enveloped the warrior's entire body. In that moment, Ying, Ying, and Atanis all experienced the illusion that Joshua had disappeared. Even though Joshua was standing right before their eyes, their minds kept circling the thought, 'There's nothing here.'
However, this illusion lasted only an instant. A moment later, everything returned to normal. But the warrior's overwhelming presence had indeed been significantly reduced. If before he had been like the sun—impossible to ignore once seen—now Joshua was merely an ordinary tall man. Still noticeable, even enough to make people turn their heads, but nothing more.
**[Mist Pocket Watch]**
**[High-rank Magical Artifact]**
**[Effect: Greatly reduces the wielder's presence; blocks low-rank detection spells.]**
**[—Who can recall the passerby walking through the mist, brushing past them?]**
"Not bad."
Seeing everyone's reactions, Joshua nodded in satisfaction. "Thank you for your trouble, Bishop Atanis. This suits me well."
"This was equipment I once used. When I traveled across the entire Empire back then, I had this magical item custom-made to avoid causing conflicts in certain sensitive areas."
The old bishop smiled faintly, gazing at the watch in Joshua's hand with a trace of nostalgia in his eyes. "It's been over thirty years. I never expected it to still function so well. The last time I took it out was when I was drinking with Fan."
At the mention of the name of the Radcliffe Family's previous generation steward, the room fell silent. Atanis noticed this as well and let out a self-deprecating laugh. "When a man gets old, he tends to reminisce about the past."
"The past deserves to be remembered."
Tucking the watch into his chest, Joshua shrugged, a hint of nostalgia also appearing in his eyes. He murmured softly, "Yes. The four hundred years of obsession of the Radcliffe Family have come to an end. The Chaos in the Carlis World has completely dissipated. Everything is in the past."
Perhaps he should find the time to visit the family cemetery in the Black Forest Fortress.
—To tell those departed souls that their steadfastness had received its answer.
And while the people of Moldavia were preparing to depart...
The Imperial Capital, Royal Mage Association, No. 2 Large Underground Laboratory.
In the center of the solemn, steel hall gleaming with cold light stood an enormous square crystal enclosure, dozens of meters high. Inside the crystal enclosure, gray and eerie mist filled the space.
This mist obscured all vision. Even though dozens of high-power positive energy arrays around it emitted continuous light, they could not purify it or reveal what lay behind it.
It was clear that this mist had an unknown source. Its concentration was still increasing bit by bit. If not for the high-concentration positive energy counteracting some of it, the mist might have already turned black.
Standing around this crystal enclosure were seven mages clad in white robes, their bodies radiating powerful magical auras. They watched this scene, discussing in low voices among themselves.
"Ordinary positive energy and Holy Light cannot completely purify it—they can only suppress the mist released by the 'Erebos Box.'"
An old mage with a deep voice spoke gravely to the other mages around him. "We only have ten days left before His Majesty the Emperor's three-month deadline. If we still cannot analyze this mist and open the Erebos Box, the Empire will have to hand it over to those arrogant fools from the Sky-Piercing White Tower in the East, as agreed."
"At that point, not only will His Majesty be furious, and the Association's funding will be cut, but we'll definitely be hung on the pillar of shame as useless trash."
"But we haven't even been able to make contact with it so far!"
Another middle-aged mage with an extremely poor complexion frowned. "The gray mist is pure Chaos inside. No matter what method we use, we can't approach its center. Although we've isolated the mist with white crystal, we can't even complete the first step of any experiment. How can we talk about opening the secret box at its center?"
The other mages echoed their agreement one by one. Although they were all proud mages, two and a half months of research with no leads or results had begun to make everyone doubt their own intelligence. In fact, there had originally been nearly twenty mages jointly researching this subject, but now only seven remained.
*Erebos Box.* Silently repeating this name in his mind, the old mage's expression grew even more grim.
This strange item came from beneath the now-destroyed Orc Royal Court.
Not long ago, the Empire had mobilized its full national strength to completely exterminate the Orc race, which had been a thorn in their side for centuries, occupying the northwestern Tartarus Plains. The Orc Royal Court had been burned to ashes in the great fire. During the post-war excavation, a knight discovered an extremely concealed underground tunnel at the center of the Royal Court ruins.
The tunnel's length was incalculable, winding abnormally. It led deep underground. During the exploration, everyone discovered countless strange murals on both sides of the tunnel. These murals were completely different from the totem style commonly used by Orcs, as if they were the product of another civilization.
After studying them, the accompanying mages concluded that these murals were not from the Centaur race, which had been exterminated by the Orcs, but rather the creations of a new race that had never appeared on the continent before. This immediately caused a sensation in academic circles—beneath the Orc Royal Court lay the ruins of a completely unknown new race.
Within days, mages from around the world interested in studying ancient civilizations had gathered at the Orc Royal Court ruins. Among them were members of powerful organizations like the Sky-Piercing White Tower and the Seven Luminaries Council. Even the Empire had to show them some respect.
A large-scale excavation operation was immediately launched with the support of numerous factions. After thorough preparation and traveling at least ten kilometers underground along the tunnel, the mages arrived at the tunnel's end—a massive underground cavern.
Inside the dark cavern, a putrid, nauseating stench of decay filled the air. Through various magical detection methods, the mages discovered it was littered with long-decayed, even fossilized white bones. Everyone agreed that this was the sacrificial ground of some race.
After sorting through these bones, the mages confirmed that this was indeed a new species.
Using magic to roughly reconstruct the living forms of these bones, this new creature was divided into two major categories. One category consisted of tall individuals, generally over three meters in height. The other category was extremely rare—their physiques were more robust, and they had two heads and innate spellcasting abilities.
The two-headed ones were clearly the upper echelon of this race, controlling the other single-headed individuals. The vast majority of remains were single-headed, clearly sacrificial offerings.
And at the center of this cavern, on a stone altar, rested a box that seemed to have been soaked black by countless bloodstains.
This was the Erebos Box.
At first, the Erebos Box showed no abnormalities. It wasn't until a mage carrying it was accidentally injured, allowing blood to touch it, that the blood-absorbing black box began to release endless mist. This mist possessed powerful corrosive and disorienting properties—neither Arcane Power nor Battle Qi could penetrate it. It killed several people on the spot and nearly sealed off the underground cavern's exit. The mages present tried every means to stop it but failed, ultimately forced to seal it within a crystal enclosure and transport it back to the Imperial Capital.
During this process, mages from the Sky-Piercing White Tower contributed greatly. Therefore, due to geographical reasons, the opportunity to study the black box was first given to the Empire. If the Empire produced no results, it would go to the Sky-Piercing White Tower. Because of its mist-releasing nature, the black box was given the name [Erebos].
As an object that an ancient race had sacrificed their entire civilization to create, both the Empire and the Sky-Piercing White Tower believed that the Erebos Box contained profound secrets. If they could analyze it, it would undoubtedly strengthen their own power. Setting everything else aside, even just the mist that couldn't be penetrated by magic had tremendous value for infiltration and concealment.
"Perhaps we should seek out the heir of the Kaos Family, Brandon Kaos. He possesses powerful purifying power."
One mage offered this suggestion. He looked as if he had wanted to say it for a long time but had held back for some reason. Now that the deadline was truly upon them, he could no longer restrain himself. "I know your relationship with Nostradamus isn't good, and you hold prejudice against his student. But now is not the time to worry about such things."
"...You're right."
Taking a deep breath, the leading old mage seemed somewhat irritated upon hearing the name Nostradamus, but he quickly calmed his emotions. "My personal pride naturally cannot compare to the pride of the Imperial Mage Association."
Pausing for a moment, he said in a low voice, "Invite him here."