Chapter 304: The Secret Vault

Silvermoon City was considered a medium-sized city within Seranthiel—not too big, but not small either.

Naturally, it had its own secret vault, though it didn’t contain the most top-tier items.

However, for Helag, the Silvermoon City vault was more than enough to supply him with resources for a long time.

Even if he had access to the highest-level items, he wouldn’t have much use for them at the moment, so they weren’t relevant to him right now.

The items in the vault could only be exchanged using two currencies: magic stones and contribution points.

Magic stones were always required, but contribution points were not mandatory.

However, you needed to meet a certain contribution point threshold to exchange for higher-tier resources.

Helag thought it was a good time to visit the vault since things had calmed down after the Max incident, with only some cleanup work remaining.

He decided to use this period to visit the vault and gather some resources to strengthen himself.

The location of Silvermoon City’s vault surprised Helag—it was situated on the western side of the city, right next to the prison.

Having learned from his previous experience, Helag hired a carriage this time. Upon arrival, he asked the driver to wait for him, offering extra payment.

Last time, when he left the prison, there hadn’t been a single carriage in sight, making it inconvenient to leave.

The vault was housed in a modest-looking castle-like structure next to the prison.

It was surrounded by tall walls, and though the building resembled a castle, it appeared simple and unassuming.

The last time Helag had passed by, he had assumed it was just another part of the prison. He hadn’t realized it was Seranthiel’s secret vault.

The vault was encircled by high walls, with only one entrance at the front.

Helag looked up at the walls, which were about 20 meters high and very thick.

The gate was a heavy black metal door, its surface gleaming with an unusual sheen.

After observing for a moment, Helag noticed that both the walls and the gate were inscribed with complex wizard arrays.

These arrays were dormant most of the time, so an ordinary person wouldn’t notice anything unusual.

The gate was tightly shut, and there was no sound from behind it.

There were no people around, not even a single bird in sight. The silence was almost eerie.

Helag approached the gate and knocked.

A dull metallic sound echoed, but after waiting for a while, there was no response from the other side.

Just as he was starting to feel puzzled, he noticed a humanoid figure emerge on the surface of the black metal door. Upon closer inspection, it seemed as though the figure was moving within the door itself.

“Who are you?” The figure spoke in the voice of a young woman.

Helag couldn’t make out any specific features, only the outline of a person swimming across the surface of the black metal door, like a fish in water.

“I’m Helag Merlin. I have an appointment to visit the vault today,” Helag replied.

Entering the vault required an appointment. Formal members of Seranthiel could find the entry point in their communication stones, and as long as their historical contribution points reached 300, they could make a reservation.

“Hold on, I’ll check,” the figure said in a pleasant voice before sinking into the black metal door, disappearing as if submerged in water.

A moment later, the figure reappeared and said softly, “You may enter, but you must leave before sunset.”

The black metal door slowly opened with a heavy creak.

Helag stepped through the gate, and it closed automatically behind him.

He glanced back and saw the humanoid figure flash briefly within the door before disappearing again. He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of entity resided within the door.

Turning his attention forward, Helag saw the castle ahead. It was a square structure with a large entrance at the front.

A yellow stone path led to the entrance, with each stone spaced evenly.

Helag stepped onto the stone path.

“Oooh~”

A strange sound came from beneath his feet. Looking down, Helag realized it was the stone itself making the noise.

He suddenly remembered reading about something like this in an ancient text—these were called “Screaming Stones.”

As he recalled the information, Helag continued walking.

Each time he stepped on a stone, the Screaming Stone beneath him let out a bizarre cry.

Whoever had paved this path with Screaming Stones clearly had a unique sense of humor.

When Helag reached the castle entrance, he noticed that the castle didn’t even have a door—it was completely open.

He couldn’t understand why a vault containing so many valuable items would be left wide open like this.

Upon entering, Helag found himself in what appeared to be a hall, with a red carpet laid out on the floor.

Rows of chairs lined the sides of the carpet, making the space resemble a ceremonial hall.

Ahead was a wall, and there was no visible way to proceed further.

Helag looked around but couldn’t find any doors leading to other areas.

He walked over to a window and glanced outside, surprised to see a vast ocean beyond.

From the view, it seemed as though the castle was perched on a cliff overlooking the sea.

Turning back, Helag saw the same stone path he had walked on earlier, and the scenery around him was completely different from the view outside the window.

The windows couldn’t be opened, and only small holes allowed air to pass through, so Helag couldn’t tell if the view outside was real or just a moving painting.

He suspected that the ocean outside wasn’t real, as the Land of Dawn was entirely inland, with no connection to the sea.

So, the scene outside was most likely an illusion.

“Beautiful view, isn’t it?” A girl’s voice suddenly spoke from behind him, soft and pleasant, identical to the voice he had heard from the gate.

Helag’s breath caught as he quickly turned around, finding a young girl in a floral dress holding a basket of daisies, smiling at him.

He hadn’t noticed when she had appeared behind him.

“You can call me Alice. I’m one of the vault’s caretakers. This is your first time here, isn’t it?” Alice asked, holding her basket of freshly picked daisies.

However, there were no places around the vault where daisies could grow, leaving Helag to wonder where she had gathered them.

“Hello, Miss Alice. Yes, this is my first time here,” Helag replied honestly.

He couldn’t sense Alice’s strength, nor could he even be sure if she was human.

The only thing he was certain of was that this was someone he shouldn’t mess with. It was best to be respectful.

Alice smiled gently, sensing Helag’s nervousness. “No need to be tense. I won’t do anything to you. It’s been a while since I’ve met a newcomer. Are all the new members this cute nowadays? Now, open your communication stone and go to your contribution points section.”