As Basil walked closer to the thing that attracted his attention in front of him, Deacon, who had been silent as a statue, suddenly jumped down from his shoulder, then blocked his path.
Basil stopped in his track as, though Deacon looked cute, he was conveying a very solemn mood through their [Link]. Basil immediately got what he was worrying about, then shooed him away.
"Help Iliana collect the treasures—I don't need you to stand in my way."
"Master, although I don't know what it is, I can tell that it is something Cursed. Just the aura it is exuding alone is enough indication of that!"
"I am not someone who you shall worry over, Deacon. Move away."
"What about if it is a trap, Master?"
Basil hummed lowly to himself as he mused about how adamant Deacon was. He could also already feel Iliana's gaze on his back, so he was sure she would also come to stop him in any time.
Looking at the golden goblet in front of him, he calculated about the possibility of it being something dangerous to him—he found none. Although it looked dangerous, he was absolute that it was not something that would harm him.
Mages were naturally an efficient individual. Therefore when they died, if they really didn't want their belongings to be found, they would destroy their belongings in a heartbeat; they would never make a dummy Legacy.
In other words, everything that was contained inside the Alternate Dimension was harmless ... At least, if it was utilized correctly.
'Since it is set on an altar, I believe the goblet is filled with something—it's a ritual. That means, I have to drink whatever inside it to complete the ritual, and get the Legacy that is kept here.'
Basil had seen a couple of things prepared to perform a ritual, so he was sure that the golden goblet on the altar contained the Legacy that was hidden in the Alternate Dimension.
He didn't know whether he could actually handle this Legacy since this wasn't the Legacy he had been looking for. The Legacy he had been looking for had belonged to a Braxtein Kingdom's Mage, who hadn't been a Mage of this caliber.
Regardless, he was determined to take it.
"Being cautious is good, but sometimes you need to take the risk."
"Master..."
"I need not your concern, Deacon. Move away before I lay my hands on you."
Deacon hesitated at first, but he moved away in the end. He knew his Master would definitely do what he said, and he didn't want to ruin their relationship that way.
'When I notice that the situation is not good, I will bring Master to safety,' he thought as he watched Basil walked towards the altar.
Iliana arrived beside him not long after, and they watched the scene together, anticipating the worst to come. It didn't last long however, as the moment Basil stopped right in front of the alter, he immediately looked at them.
"I am not suicidal enough to die. Stop worrying over me, and collect the treasures."
Basil said his words calmly, but the gleam in his eyes managed to make the two of them flinch. In the end, they nodded their head and proceed to do what Basil ordered them to ... Of course, they were still worrying over him.
'Hmph! I need not the concern from kids. This experienced man knows what he does.' Basil shook his head faintly as he looked at Iliana and Deacon who were giving him furtive glances from time to time.
Basil turned his head towards the goblet on the altar that was just a few centimeters away from him, then hummed the moment he looked at the reddish black liquid in it. He could smell nothing from it, but he was sure it was not something to drink.
Being not something to drink, however, doesn't mean that it was dangerous for him. He was just disgusted at the thought of drinking it considering how it looked and how it would probably taste.
"It is good to see that this Mage is not superstitious."
Luckily, Basil didn't have to drink the unknown substance in the goblet, since he found there was a Rune Carved on the inside of the goblet.
The substance was probably there to trick the imbeciles who believed too much in superstition to drink it, and the Rune was what hiding the Legacy.
Rituals, unlike Spells, they were not something necessary to Magic. Although sometimes Spells also weren't needed to use Magic, it was something that really had something to do with Magic.
Rituals, on the other hand, were just a formality—the way of doing things. They were nothing more than an etiquette in Magic that conservative people believed would increase the effect of one's Spell—an utter nonsense.
The same case happened to the liquid in the goblet; drinking the liquid inside a golden goblet is a part of the ritual of inheriting a Legacy that conservative people practiced. It was unnecessary and stupid, so Basil would never do that.
Upon activating the Rune Carved on the goblet however, Basil immediately frowned as his thought was proven to be false. The original owner of the Legacy was as superstitious as those conservative people he ridiculed.
"Why do I have to drink this liquid?" Basil frowned as he stared at the message Carved on the altar. "The Rune does nothing other than stirring this liquid and give me this message ... To think that such a well Carved Rune is wasted this way..."
Basil sighed as he looked at the intricate Rune inside the goblet that was now shining in gold.
One definitely needed to be a Rune Grandmaster to Carve the Rune, and such a Rune was definitely Carved using, at least, a Seventh Grade Magic Beast's blood as the Catalyst.
Basil couldn't believe that such an intricate and complicated Rune merely functioned as something that stirred an unknown liquid.
"Hoh? It does more than it looks."
At least, the moment Basil keenly looked at what it was really doing, his interest was attracted once again. The liquid that was being stirred by the Rune was gradually turning clear, while simultaneously accumulating residue in the bottom of the goblet.
'Guide, what is the goblet in front of me doing?' Basil didn't have any particular reason to ask—he was merely curious of what was actually happening.
[Ding!]
[Solving the Host's puzzlement...]
[Solomon's Goblet of Concoction is now in the process of Concocting a Pill. The Pill that is being Concocted is called Pure Essence that...]
Just by hearing the name of the goblet itself was enough to make Basil's eyes widen in shock. Therefore upon hearing the name of the Pill that was being Concocted, his eyes widened even further.
He knew how to make Pure Essence. Although he hadn't made one even in his past life, the Guide had told him about it as one of the best Pills he could make.
He wanted to make it in the far future despite already knowing how to do it, simply because the ingredients needed to make it—Dragon's blood. Although he knew where to find it, he simply lacked the power to obtain it.
Killing a Dragon was not something he could do until he became an Eight Circle Mage or a Middle Stage Purple Core Knight. He had experienced how life threatening it had been to fight a Dragon in his past life, so he didn't dare to bet.
This is the reason why the moment he heard what the Guide said about the Pill that was being Concocted, he felt like the world was joking with him. Too many good things happened to him at once, he was afraid of the future.
Gulp.
"Since Solomon's Goblet of Concoction is here, the goblet must be the Legacy. There is no way that..."
Basil trailed off his word as he looked at the newly appeared message on the altar. He soon frowned in contemplation as he wondered whether to do what the message said or just be satisfied of what he had already obtained.
[Gulp the Pill of Pure Essence, and my true legacy shall belong to you.]
Considering who Solomon was, Basil was sure that everything belonged to Solomon that even Solomon himself claimed was crappy would definitely be more than helpful to the current him.
He honestly didn't care whether he got the true Legacy or not; getting the goblet was enough already. He could Concoct many Pills and Catalyst to assist him in advancing his Mastery in both Principles with it.
He wasn't being greedy, but since there was a Legacy he could get without doing anything bothersome, it would be stupid of him to waste such an opportunity.
Therefore, when the liquid inside the goblet turned completely clear—when the Concoction process was finished—he immediately took the marble sized Pill that was submerged in the now clear liquid, then gulped it in one go.
Pure Essence was a Pill that was specially intended for Knights to purge impurities off their Core, so it naturally contained a highly concentrated Qi. Therefore moment Basil gulped it, he was quickly surrounded by Qi.
Boom!
"Blimey! It kicks harder than I thought."
His Natural Core trembled, and he could feel his Qi that was stored inside was being stirred up and purified. His blood also rushed as his Core heated up along with his entire body.
The feeling was overwhelming, but instead of panicking, Basil handled all the Qi coursing through his entire body calmly. He even had a smile on his face as if saying that he was already used to it.
He was indeed—dealing with an overwhelming amount of Qi in his body, that is.
As he had already gulped the Pure Essence just like what the message had told him to, he immediately turned his head towards the goblet. He expected the goblet to give out something, but such a thing didn't happen.
He was slightly disappointed as he thought he had been tricked. He was about to leave, but another message appeared on the altar stopping him in his track.
[Shall thou wash thy face with the water in my goblet, may thou see great things.]
"Is this another one of his scam?"
Basil didn't want to do what the message said at first, but he decided to bet his luck in the end. He washed his face with the liquid in the goblet, and he was glad he did that.