Welcome to Ability Store-Chapter 97 - 96: An Unexpected Discovery

With the death of Gildre, the shop door vanished, reverting back to an ordinary broken door of a residential house.

Although Chen Xuan could use his recall ability to teleport himself into the shop, he chose not to return immediately but instead glanced at the cliff beside him...

According to the marshal, when he was a child, he discovered the cave that housed this book on the coastal side of his family’s estate. It was located west of the small chapel, less than five miles from the castle where he often stayed. And standing on this sea cliff, he could indeed see in the distant forest a grey castle, which means the cave should be right beneath this cliff.

Chen Xuan thought for a moment and decided to look below first.

The abilities he carries now are still the standard combat trio: Thousand Thoughts Sword, Divine Eye Technique, and Celestial Mist Skill. The slot for Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell had been replaced by the Celestial Thunder Order to enhance his demon-fiend banishing methods. He decided against bringing Guess the Coin because the hand that suddenly emerged last time was too horrifying, which frightened him. If he wasn’t forced to a point where he had no choice, Chen Xuan temporarily planned not to activate that eerie ability again.

To be cautious, the best option would be to return to the shop and explore with Lin Qing or Liu Shuyue. However, the reality is, Gildre is currently at his family home on Brittany Peninsula, the westernmost part of France, a geographically remote location. With the marshal dead, there’s no way to reconnect the shop here. If connected to Joan, it would likely appear near the coastline north of Paris, close to the United Kingdom, taking several days by carriage to get back to the peninsula.

So, having come this far, why not take a look?

Otherwise, the matter of this book would linger in his mind — why could a worn book found in a cave have such a significant impact on Gildre? If what he said was true, once he learned black magic, killings and brutality constantly troubled him. Would selling this ability result in the same problem?

After all, the current holder of black magic is Liu Shuyue.

Thinking of action, Chen Xuan approached the residential house in the drizzle, explaining his purpose to the local shepherds, who quickly pointed out a road leading to the base of the cliff.

Half an hour later, he successfully reached the seaside.

Looking up from here, the towering cliff felt like a towering giant, while the pointed top of the small chapel seemed like the giant’s head.

The sound of waves crashing against the rocky shore mixed with the rain, composing the only melody here.

Along the coast, Chen Xuan searched and soon discovered a nearly decayed wooden sign among the trees, with the knife-carved marks "G.D.R."

This was Gildre’s initials.

He was only ten years old when he set this sign.

A ten-year-old dare to venture to such a place, his courage and initiative were evident, quite hard to tolerate.

Following the direction indicated by the sign, after navigating a maze of shattered rocks and dense trees, he finally discovered the cave beneath a rock wall as described.

The cave entrance was indeed small, even requiring an adult to bend over to enter.

There were even two damp torches left on the ground.

However, Chen Xuan didn’t need torches; Divine Eye Technique allowed vision in low light, and Celestial Mist Skill could partially take over exploration functions. Most importantly, according to Gildre’s description, the cave was not deep at all.

Sure enough, after walking only a few steps inside, he reached the end of the cave.

To Chen Xuan’s surprise, there was a wooden door at the innermost part, with iron chains nailed at the four corners of the door frame.

Due to moisture, the door panel was severely rotted and looked as if it could fall off the frame at any moment. The handle was iron-forged, though rusted into a slender iron bar.

Who would bring a door to such a place?

Looking at the size of the cave entrance, a whole wooden door couldn’t be brought in unless materials were carried in and assembled on-site. To prevent it from being moved, the installer deliberately chained the door frame.

Gildre never mentioned the existence of this door.

He said he found the book lying on the cave floor.

Was it because he didn’t see it, or was the door nonexistent at the time?

Chen Xuan stepped forward, carefully grasping the handle and pulling it toward him.

The door creaked open.

Behind the door, he saw a phenomenon he was very familiar with—erosion. Yet, the scope of this erosion didn’t even reach half of the door frame, merely half a meter, with distorted space around it clearly outlining the erosion boundary.

Lin Qing once said, when an Ability User or Wanderer traverses an intrusion point, it causes expansion, and vice versa. This suggests the intrusion point hasn’t been touched for a long time.

Chen Xuan had never truly entered an infiltration point before; during the previous exposure plan at the Botanical Garden, he was merely observing from the sidelines. So, he was quite curious at this moment... Where exactly would such a small piece of corrupt space lead?

He took a deep breath, crouched down, and extended a hand towards it.

His fingers immediately disappeared into it, as if swallowed.

No discomfort came from over there.

Chen Xuan rolled forward directly, smoothly passing through the infiltration point.

"Whoa."

After he steadied himself, he uttered a low exclamation; this space was much larger now, transforming instantly from a dark cave into a factory-like building. Beneath his feet was a dust-covered anti-slip steel plate, and the surrounding walls were similarly made of iron plates. The ceiling was very open, with no view of the sky; by adhering to the edge of the walls, he could see many pipes, though it was unclear what they were used for. The commonality between them was that they were all rusted, clearly having been abandoned for a long time.

Yet outside the windows, it wasn’t pitch black. Light could be seen filtering through, albeit dimly, but it was enough for Chen Xuan to make out the surroundings.

About ten steps away from him, there was actually an altar.

It consisted of two candlesticks, a sacrificial basin, and a flat iron rack, whose size seemed just right to hold an open book. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Chen Xuan wasn’t wrong in thinking it was an altar, because below the basin there were many scattered pieces of bone and bloodstains—this combination alone was enough to give an ominous feeling.

Though the combination of a steel factory and an altar was ominous in itself.

He scanned the place again using his Heart Method and sensed Spiritual Qi reactions coming from above.

Under the perception of the Celestial Mist Skill, he seemed to see seven or eight clusters of light spots, hiding in the darkness above, coiling together in a tortuous manner.

What was this? A bunch of cultivators hiding on the roof? And exactly how high was the ceiling of this factory, for him to feel like he was looking up at a dark sky from the bottom of a well?

Chen Xuan thus quietly confronted the light spots for a few minutes, with no reaction from above.

It seems that whether what’s above are humans or Demon Fiends, none have noticed his arrival.

He looked behind him again, the infiltration point was overlapped with a door—though it was a wooden door in the cave, here it was an iron door with an airtight lock.

Sitting on the ground was meaningless, Chen Xuan slowly got up and walked towards the altar with the lightest steps.

The steel floor was evidently very old, proving that this place hadn’t been visited for a long time, so why hadn’t the blood completely weathered?

Was the ancient book Gildre discovered taken from this rack?

After circling the altar nearby without finding anything new, Chen Xuan turned his gaze to another door by the window. It probably wasn’t nighttime, because light was streaming in outside, though the glass hadn’t been wiped for a decade, making it impossibly unclear to see the outside world.

Opening that door was the simplest way to take a look outside.

Chen Xuan quietly moved to the door, gripping the airtight valve with both hands and twisting—surprisingly, it wasn’t completely rusted shut, and with a creak, it turned to the bottom. He even specifically glanced at the overhead, finding the light spots still in place without any changes.

Then he forcefully pushed the iron door open.

This door must have been ten centimeters thick.

The room finally connected with the outside.

Chen Xuan confirmed there was no pressure difference between inside and outside before stepping over the high threshold outside, beneath his feet was an open-air walkway, its prevent-fall railings were in disrepair.

Raising his head and looking forward, an eerie yet magnificent steel city suddenly presented itself!

Magnificent because the view was filled with buildings, some large, others small, some tall, others short, all built of steel, as evidenced by the rust-red hue covering the entire city! The structures extended into the distance, blending completely with the skyline.

Eerie because it didn’t seem like a city inhabited by people, silent as though dead. Every building was no different from the factory he was in: decrepit railings, rust-covered walls, and hazy glass windows.

He couldn’t see any signs of activity.

But the eeriest part was the sky—a vast amount of clouds hovered over the city, displaying a bizarre yellow-green hue, lightning occasionally streaking through the clouds yet no thunder heard. Meanwhile, snowflakes continuously drifted, gently dispersing across this dead silent city.