While Archer[Quinn] was at the tenth castle, he didn't want to be seen by any of the others. After all, he didn't plan on staying here for a long time. He knew how much the vampires respected leaders and how much a morale boost it would be if he was here, but he didn't want to get their hopes up. Learning that everything was going okay and there had been no problems was enough for Archer[Quinn].
"Charles[Bryce] didn't inform the others of my return did he?" Archer[Quinn] wondered, as he walked down the castle stairs with Fiza[Kazz]. It had been a while since the two of them talked, but ever since the fight with Charles[Bryce] and the time he had spent with her, he felt like the two of them were now on neutral ground.
At least no longer enemies that were trying to rip each other's throat out.
"I don't know how much I'm permitted to tell you." Fiza[Kazz] replied. "However, I will say that Charles[Bryce] seems to be doing more than he is allowed for you. Something like this would usefully have to be voted on by the council and then the king would get a say, or the King can ask for a vote, but no such thing happened. This agreement for you to search the castle is a secret."
Although Archer[Quinn] wondered why such a thing needed to be kept a secret, he was fine if it did. He would rather not have the other family members know what he was doing in the first place. Because of this, Archer[Quinn] carefully used his shadow travel to move between the tenth castle to the fourteenth castle.
From the outside, it was an impressive piece of work. Nearly all the castles looked identical apart from three. One of them being the king's castle in the centre, it was larger than the others but still fit in style, the other was the castle they were staring at now.
Rat[Rat]her than being created with rugged spikes and gothic features it had a more classic castle feel with several cylinder towers and long walls. One of the most noticeable things were the giant black chains that would lead up to the very top of the main castle.
"Do they have a particular use or are they just for show?" Archer[Quinn] asked.
"Isn't that what you here to find out?" Fiza[Kazz] replied. She stood there looking at Archer[Quinn] as if he was waiting to do something, but even he didn't know where to start.
The last castle that looked different from the others, was now the tenth castle with its new and improved upgrades from the system.
Before approaching the door, a voice in Archer[Quinn]'s head was heard.
'Careful Archer[Quinn], remember the tower that William[Arthur] had slept in last time? He had set up a trial for anyone who dared to climb it, perhaps there is something similar in his castle.' Odom[Vincent] warned.
Taking the warning onboard, Archer[Quinn] proceeded cautiously.
"Has anyone else entered the fourteenth castle, since William[Arthur] and us?" Archer[Quinn] asked. Remembering there was one time that Archer[Quinn] had been brought along, and that was when he had learnt of William[Arthur]'s tale as well.
"As I said before, Usually with these types of matters a vote would be cast. After all, one leader entering another's castle is the equivalent of declaring war. Whenever a vote would take place, the result was always the same, to leave it be.
"You see, some thought that maybe going inside the castle would activate something. Warn the Punishers out there that something was up, and the one thing many of the vampires didn't want was for them to come back. While others respected the Punishers and thought it should be left untouched for their rightful owners."
Now, Archer[Quinn] was starting to understand why Charles[Bryce] had decided to agree to all of this behind their backs, but as long as it benefited Archer[Quinn], he wouldn't care.
Going up to the door, Archer[Quinn] could see the normal strange lock-like combination. One that was on all of the other castles.
"You don't happen to know the code do you? Or got it from Hulian[Muka]?" Archer[Quinn] asked.
Hearing this answer, Fiza[Kazz] didn't reply but she was kind of disappointed. It didn't matter though, because with the skill shadow travel, one was able to travel on the ground and they could get past any wall. Another frightening thing about the Punishers to the other vampires.
After using shadow travel one more time, the two of them popped up in the castle, and the automatic light crystals started to light up as they entered each room and walked down each hallway. Although the outside might have looked different, the inside of the castle reminded Archer[Quinn] a lot of his. Untouched, unused and not lived in.
The search through the castle was quite a tedious one, as there were many rooms and the whole place was vast and large. Archer[Quinn] would have liked the help of others, but couldn't trust someone else in case they missed something, and at the same time, Fiza[Kazz] wasn't leaving Archer[Quinn]'s side even for a second.
Luckily, Archer[Quinn] found that with his system, using the inspect skill would usually show him if there was anything worth looking at in certain rooms. Going through each of the floors, searching them physically and using his inspect skill, Archer[Quinn] was finding it hard to find anything.
'It would make sense, when the Punishers left this place they probably took everything important with them.'
Eventually though, near the top floor, Archer[Quinn] had stumbled across something. It was either a library room, or an office. It was hard to tell because there was a desk but the room was filled with books from side to side.
It wasn't long either until he stumbled across something. His inspection skill revealed that behind the bookshelf, there was something else, as if it was a hidden room. Using the great vampire strength. It didn't take much for him to move the shelf.
'That certainly seems a bit lax of security to be hiding something like this?' Odom[Vincent] thought.
However, when they got inside and found out what was in it, Archer[Quinn] understood why. There were no treasures, skill[ability] books or secret powerful weapons. Instead, it was more like another library inside the hidden room. A library where all the books were written by William[Arthur] himself.
Going to the dusty shelf, Archer[Quinn] had grabbed about five of them, grouping them together, and then sat on the floor crossed leg. Placing the pile of his books to one side and taking one of them.
"What are you doing, are those useful?" Fiza[Kazz] asked.
"Not really?" Archer[Quinn] said as he started to skim through the first few pages. "It seems like all these books are William[Arthur]'s personal journal during his life."
"Then why are you reading them?" Fiza[Kazz] asked.
"Because I need to know what type of person William[Arthur] is."
One by one, Archer[Quinn] would read through the journals and as expected it really was William[Arthur] doc.u.menting his life. What was even more impressive, was the starting journals were written about the time before he had been turned into a vampire.
"Did the vampires do something to them?" Archer[Quinn] wondered. "Is that what set him off? It would make sense if he learnt about the past or something like that?"
Still, only reading the starting journals, Archer[Quinn] was unable to find out much. Only how William[Arthur] felt, but soon they had gone into a time when William[Arthur] had been turned into a Punisher. It seemed like it had become a habit for William[Arthur] to doc.u.ment everything. They weren't details of everyday life, but details of crucial events or important memories for himself.
He even wrote about the day that he was turned, and when he found all his knights being hurt. Everything was how William[Arthur] had described it to them, and what Archer[Quinn] had seen in the vision the Buffan[Boneclaw] had given him.
'I guess when you have lived that long, it's nice to have a hobby and do something like this.'
Archer[Quinn] sat down there reading every single little bit, going through all the journals. He was able to read at a faster pace than a human, as he could process information faster, while fl.i.c.k.i.n.g through the pages and seeing the words, but it still took quite a long time.
Even Fiza[Kazz] had opened one of the books, but after reading it for a short while she closed it, realising there really wasn't anything important.
However, soon Archer[Quinn] stumbled across an interesting subject that William[Arthur] was looking into. It seemed like William[Arthur] was researching where abilities had originally come from, and when was the first appearance of an skill[ability], even among originals.
Linking to this, there were a few main things, one he had written details about the True first king, not the Ryo[Eno] family king, but the one before that who had the shadow skill[ability].
'The True King was only captured and not dead. No longer has their skill[ability], but could still be dangerous if woken up. Ryo[Eno] advises to never wake up the True King. Even without an skill[ability] he has the power to overcome them all.'
For some reason, knowing that this was written by William[Arthur], made Archer[Quinn] shiver thinking about the true king's strength.
'The strongest of the original vampires, but where did he get his skill[ability]?' William[Arthur] wrote.
Lastly though, it seemed like he had found a link, but was never able to explore it.
'First abilities, linked back to a giant stone tablet.'
Archer[Quinn] had never thought much about the world learning about abilities, he just thought humans naturally evolved to learn them, and many kept them a secret, but now knowing what William[Arthur] had found, it seemed like it was more likely to have come from something, or someone.
'Giant stone tablet, that reminds me a lot of that giant stone table that was on the Blade island as well...'
To be continued....
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