As expected, a mere Sub-Priest identity wasn’t enough to walk openly into the Marsmo royal palace.

Vinny, plaque in hand, turned back from the gate and glanced toward the inner-city guard line, thinking to himself.

These Royal Guards who defended the royal city were certainly not the same as those ordinary Marsmo soldiers patrolling the outer walls and overseeing slaves. You could feel it from their presence alone—the seasoned, battlefield-killing chill and the absolute confidence that came with it.

“Looks like there’s no way to get into the palace by normal means.” Vinny let out a light sigh. “Classmate Isatia, you really did hand me a tough one. Trying to stroll all over the Marsmo royal palace right under these guards’ eyelids—yeah, that difficulty is sky-high.”

“Do you have anything else in your pendant that could help?” Vinny followed up.

“Most of what I carry is related to survey work and recording historical ruins,” Isatia replied from Vinny’s back. “Of course there are things that could help—but it’s not time to use them yet.”

“Ah. Okay. Then do you have a good idea?” Vinny patted his own pockets, wondering if he’d brought any secret treasure on this trip.

But then he thought again—what secret treasure would he even have? If he had a whole load of alchemy elixirs and magic scrolls like Aesphyra, would he have come this deep into a buried secret realm in the first place??

Wait—when he first went into the deep buried realm, didn’t Aesphyra throw him a handful of magic scrolls and alchemy elixirs??

The thought hit Vinny.

He went into the city district, found a long bench, set Isatia down, and rummaged in his coat to pull out the elixirs Aesphyra had tossed him earlier.

What were they, anyway? Hopefully she didn’t give him only healing elixirs??

Vinny held the vials up under the sun. The color wasn’t the hue of healing elixirs at all—it was a delicate gray.

“That’s an Invisibility Elixir,” Isatia said just as Vinny was about to check the label.

“Hm?? You mean, an invisibility elixir??”

“Barring surprises, yes,” Isatia answered.

Vinny looked at the label—and sure enough, it read “High-Grade Invisibility Elixir.”

Mm. Aesphyra really was considerate. Even though she knew perfectly well what each elixir did, she still labeled them one by one.

Vinny remembered there was an unscrupulous alchemist at their academy who slapped random labels on his own elixirs. He knew them all by sight and wasn’t afraid of mixing them up himself—so he’d deliberately mislabel his brews: put a “poison” label on a body-strengthening elixir and slap “detergent” on a virulent toxin.

When others asked him why, he said he didn’t want to get killed out on the road one day and have whoever picked up his elixirs be able to use them right away. Hence the scrambled labels—so he could die with a smile. Neurotic? Maybe. But not entirely without logic; as a parting joke, it did sort of have an effect.

By contrast, Aesphyra really didn’t need that kind of deranged caution.

Across the whole continent, who could kill a Fated Heroine under destiny’s favor?? Even if someone could, odds are she would meet a destined benefactor at the last second and be whisked away—or, for all sorts of reasons, narrowly escape, grow stronger through misfortune, and come back for revenge.

Mm. Gotta admit, that White-Haired Nut (Ball) was as reliable and meticulous as ever—really thorough. She’d given him nothing but highly practical elixirs, all leaning toward life-saving types, and even handed over extremely expensive High-Grade Invisibility Elixirs. The invisibility effect concealed body, voice, and footsteps, and could pull up to three people invisible together.

That meant the two of them could enter the royal palace unimpeded. After all, Marsmo’s ancient era was a low-magic age. Alchemy might only have been getting started back then—let alone advanced enough to refine a high-grade invisibility brew that required a mature alchemical foundation.

But another problem cropped up.

“Only two High-Grade Invisibility Elixirs,” Isatia pointed out. “At most we get one hour of invisibility.”

“Yeah, just two.” Vinny frowned.

Aesphyra had probably handed over every Invisibility Elixir she’d brought. No one could have predicted what they’d face after entering the deep buried realm.

One hour—could they walk the entire underground royal palace of Marsmo?

Obviously impossible. If that sea of sand really had been the former Marsmo royal palace, Vinny couldn’t even imagine how they could ever traverse it all. Even with days, they might fail.

“What do we do?”

“One step at a time. Let’s go,” Isatia’s voice came from behind him. “I’ll see you back safe.”

“Alright.” Vinny pressed his lips together, vanished from the Royal Guards’ line of sight, looped around, came to the base of a wall corner, twisted a cap, and drank an Invisibility Elixir.

After a brief activation period, Vinny drew Isatia—still on his back—into invisibility with him.

He hadn’t drunk this sort of thing much and was curious about the reaction. After he drank it, his body turned transparent—still visible to his own eyes, and he could see the Isatia he was carrying as well.

Could other people not see them?

Vinny walked to the palace gate and shuffled forward in small steps. He waved an arm a few times right under a guard’s nose. When the guard didn’t react at all, Vinny finally exhaled.

Seemed the elixir had taken effect—and judging by Marsmo’s development level with Spirit Souls and alchemy, the palace had no way to detect an Invisibility Elixir. Back then, “invisibility” was practically an obscure term; no one could actually do it. Otherwise the Marsmo royal capital would’ve been assassinated into oblivion.

The Camella royal palace today was different. The Dragon-Knights’ Dragon Eye alone could spot someone invisible.

They slipped smoothly into the inner city; entering the palace after that became a practiced routine.

Why? Because Vinny had seen Marsmo’s palace before—back in the shallow secret realm. It had been heavily ruined then, but enough to learn the layout. And he had Isatia, an expert on Marsmo studies, acting as a navigator. There was no way he’d get lost.

So this was what Marsmo’s palace looked like in its prime?

Watching the back-and-forth patrols of the Royal Guards and the watchtowers appearing every set distance, Vinny couldn’t help thinking.

Isatia, too, was observing the palace—both the patrolling Royal Guards and the palace furnishings.

With the Invisibility Elixir on them, these gold-armored guards might as well have been blind. Slipping past them right under their eyelids was no challenge at all.

Once they walked openly into the palace, the two descended the stairs. They saw the two familiar wolf-head statues—one savagely facing those who entered through the main doors, one loyally gazing toward the king within the throne hall, as if determined to slay every visitor to the palace.

They followed the steps to the bottom. The light grew stronger, and the view opened wide.

This time, unlike the ruined hall they’d seen before, the place was resplendent. All kinds of rare treasures—who knew from which plunder—were arrayed across the vast hall, like the King of Marsmo flaunting his spoils and a ledger of conquests to every guest.

And in truth, that was exactly what it was.

On either side of the hall stood a row of straight-backed guards clad in ornate, bejeweled armor. From them emanated a battle-tested steadiness—as if any disturbance in the palace would still see the king perfectly protected.

The mural behind the throne was no longer in tatters or ownerless.

Pristine now, it showed a dark-skinned, powerfully built man draped in gauze woven of pure gold and gems, seated high upon the throne. He ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) wore a golden lion mask that hid his features; only the cold gleam in the eyes under that mask leaked through, carrying a wordless aura of command.

When Vinny stepped into the throne hall, the very first thing he saw was him—and his gaze met the king’s. Vinny froze, forgetting even to move his feet, as if the air around that figure had congealed.

“Classmate Vinny.”

Only when Isatia’s cool voice called his mind back did he snap out of it.

“Are you alright?”

“Ah—yeah.” Vinny shook his head. “I… I don’t know why, but I felt like that King of Marsmo on the throne was looking at me.”

“Did you.”

“It’s probably my imagination.” Vinny thought so too. How could the other side possibly notice him? Marsmo’s development of Spirit Souls wasn’t remotely that advanced.

He walked straight into the hall, thought for a moment, then veered right.

Last time, going right had led straight to the Sheared Edge sandstorm.

That should be the side they needed to explore; the rest, Isatia had likely already seen.

Isatia had no objections. Together they entered the right side of the palace—only for Vinny to realize it wouldn’t be that simple. The right wing was riddled with branching corridors, and many guards patrolled there as well.

So the predecessor of the sea of sand really was a part of Marsmo’s royal palace.

Vinny’s heart dipped.

Then how big was this palace? How long would it take to reach the end??

If he remembered right, even falling from here to the very bottom had taken a good while. He could hardly imagine how vast the palace truly was.

He shook his head and moved on. He knew he couldn’t waste time—they only had one hour of invisibility. Every second counted.

Vinny carried Isatia into the right wing.

A small wrongness tugged at him. He felt like they’d forgotten something—and after a moment, it hit him.

“Classmate Isatia, haven’t we… not eaten since we entered the deep buried realm?” Vinny asked.

“This is a realm of Eternal Repetition created by Divine Authority. I imagine it has something to do with that,” Isatia answered, most of her attention on observing the palace of Marsmo.

“We won’t be able to walk the entire palace.”

“I know. However much we can see is however much we can see,” Isatia replied.

“Classmate Isatia, I’m not someone who likes prying into others’ secrets, but given where we are, I think I need to understand your plan,” Vinny said.

“Classmate Vinny, do you know what our Lanteville Family’s [Saint’s Favor] is?” Isatia didn’t intend to hide it.

“I don’t know, but I’m guessing it’s related to ‘history,’” Vinny said.

“Correct. More precisely, it’s related to ‘civilization.’”

“It’s complicated to explain right now, so I’ll outline it. I need to sufficiently understand the Marsmo civilization—its architectural style, administrative system, history, customs, and the complete construction of the city-state and royal palace. Only then can I construct a Marsmo civilization within my [Saint’s Favor].”

“Ah??” Okay, that was complicated enough that even the outline made his head spin.

First, what did “sufficiently understand” even mean? Down to every last detail? Every inscription on every ruin recorded without missing a single character??

Vinny thought of what Isatia had been doing this whole trip—constantly recording the relics of Marsmo: idols, stelae, and the text carved upon them—everything had to be written down.

If that was the bar, the requirement to construct a Marsmo civilization inside her [Saint’s Favor] was terrifying.

Was that something a normal human could even memorize?

Oh—he almost forgot. Isatia wasn’t normal. With that photographic memory alone, she was anything but.

“There is a better, faster way,” Isatia said.

“What way?”

“To defeat and conquer the civilization,” Isatia said slowly. “To be precise, strike down the king who instituted Marsmo’s slave system. But obviously, we can’t do that—Marsmo civilization is already extinct. What’s manifest before us now is only a remnant, a false dream named ‘Continuance and Eternity’ created by a broken Divine Authority.”

“The real Marsmo has long since vanished from the Tyrelis Continent. We cannot truly overthrow Marsmo’s tyrant here.”

“So all we can do is get you sufficiently familiar with the palace layout of Marsmo, to increase your understanding of Marsmo?”

“Barring surprises, that’s the only method. This isn’t our world, and Marsmo civilization hasn’t yet been fully constructed within my [Saint’s Favor],” Isatia answered.

Fully constructed??

Vinny felt like he understood.

So that was it.

He now knew why Isatia understood Marsmo so well.

Most likely, Marsmo civilization already had a ‘foundation’ constructed within Isatia’s [Saint’s Favor]. That foundation must have formed because Isatia had acquired a great deal of information on Marsmo through certain channels and gained a baseline understanding.

And that foundation made it easier for her to delve further—letting her pull far ahead of other researchers in Marsmo studies.

“Then how much have you constructed so far?” Vinny asked.

“More than half,” Isatia said. “For the rest—however much we can learn, we learn.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep