Chapter 48: Priceless Treasure
With every step Sam took, the stone lamps hanging on either side of the corridor lit up like crimson flames, casting eerie shadows and revealing the long path ahead.
"This place is so ancient, yet it looks as if it was made yesterday," Isabelle remarked, glancing back occasionally as if she sensed someone following them.
"This place is imbued with magic to keep it from deteriorating or even gathering dust. Even if another thousand years were to pass, it would remain as pristine as it is today," Sam replied.
He alone could see the souls creeping in every corner.
Sam didn't want to unsettle the girls by revealing that dozens of souls still surrounding them so close them, silently observing with dark, featureless faces hidden beneath shadowy, black clothing.
What Sam found so unsettling was that, even though he could see the souls, he couldn't distinguish between them.
All the souls looked identical, resembling shaded figures in dark, black clothing that covered their entire bodies, with only darkness where their faces should be.
After passing through the doorway, the souls stopped talking to him, and had been silent ever since, as Sam and his girls walked down the solitary path undisturbed.
After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at a chamber filled with what seemed to be large stone boxes, there were hundreds of them.
Sam approached one of the stone boxes and finally realized what they were.
"These are sarcophagi," Sam said, narrowing his eyes.
"What's a sarcophagi?" Isabelle asked, her tone uneasy.
"They're like coffins used in ancient times to house the deceased, except sarcophagi are not buried but hidden in some place... They were often used to safeguard something from escaping," Sam explained.
"These are what now?" Lucy asked, her expression growing solemn as she instinctively drew closer to Sam.
Yuki and Isabelle mirrored her unease, staying near Sam for comfort.
Something about the word 'Coffins' made them uncomfortable.
The sarcophagi were rectangular with flat bases and sides that rose to a certain height, capable of fitting about three people at once.
They were anthropoids, shaped to resemble the person resting inside.
Sam calmly examined one of the sarcophagi and noticed one of the souls appearing beside him, silently staring, making him uncomfortable.
He doubted the souls would even listen to him, if he asked them to not do that.
Then a thought occurred to him.
He looked at the soul near him. "Are you the soul of the person inside this sarcophagus?"
A faint murmur, audible only to Sam, emanated from the soul.
He understood that he was right, that the soul standing before him belonged to the person sealed within the sarcophagus.
Sam then noticed the symbol of the Tachibana clan on each of the sarcophagi. "These are the sarcophagi of the Tachibana clan members..."
He turned his gaze to the souls scattered throughout the chamber. "And these are the souls of the fallen Tachibana clan members."
"Your ancestors?" Isabelle asked.
"Yes." Sam's attention shifted back to the souls as he heard their eerie whispers overlapping.
The indistinguishable murmurs of dozens of souls were incomprehensible to most, but somehow, Sam understood everything they were saying.
His furrowed brows did not go unnoticed by the girls.
"What's wrong, Sam?" Isabelle asked, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"Is it the souls? Are they telling you something?" Lucy inquired, observing that whenever Sam communicated with the souls, his naturally blue eyes would turn a neon metallic blue.
At this moment, his eyes were indeed that bright neon blue.
Sam nodded as he listened intently to the souls.
"What are they telling you?" Yuki asked.
"They... um, they are telling me they know I am the person spoken of in the prophecy of the progenitor, and you guys are the saintesses. They say they can sense the mark of the saintess on you." Sam translated the essence of what the souls were conveying to him and shared it with the girls.
"Is that why they allowed us to come with you?" Isabelle muttered, glancing around as if trying to see the souls.
"I guess so," Sam sighed.
His neon metallic blue eyes turned back to the souls as he heard another round of whispering murmurs.
"Hmm... they are telling me to follow them. They want to show me something."
Sam followed the souls as they led him to the other side of the chamber, where they encountered another massive, thick-walled double door, much like the one they had entered through.
"Whoa... this door looks even creepier than the one we entered through," Isabelle muttered, clutching Sam's T-shirt.
"Yeah... this door is protected by even more complex spells. At least with the main door, I understood what those spells were for, but this... this is beyond my understanding," Sam said slowly, still listening to the souls.
"Hmmm... it seems I have to use my 'force' again." Sam immediately activated his 'force,' creating a domain before making a turning gesture with his hand.
A metallic clanking noise came from the door as the magic circles and patterns on it began to glow with a crimson light for a few seconds before it opened on its own.
As soon as it opened, Sam sensed even more souls inside, along with something else that felt vastly different from the presence of the souls.
"What is this place?" Lucy asked. Neither she, Yuki, nor Isabelle dared to move from Sam's side.
They were acutely aware of the souls monitoring them from all corners.
Even as his saintesses, the Tachibana clan souls wouldn't allow them free reign. Only Sam could move as he pleased.
"Stay close to me," Sam instructed, as he walked into the room and began to explore.
The girls nodded, remaining close to him.
This room was smaller than the tomb chamber.
There were no sarcophagi here, but it was filled with scrolls, books, and various pieces of equipment.
The sheer volume of materials rivaled the entire library of the academy.
Sam approached a particular shelf lined with hundreds of books, all with similar leather covers and bearing the Tachibana clan's symbol.
He grabbed one of the books, read it for a couple of minutes, and then said, "These are journals belonging to the Tachibana clan members..."
Opening another journal, he read the first page. "The journal of Ria Tachibana."
"My ancestors... The Tachibana clan members recorded everything that happened in their lives in these. Each one of these journals belonged to a member of the clan. They documented significant events, their experiences, even their techniques... These are priceless," Sam said, his eyes glowing with excitement.
"Take it..."
"Yours it is..."
"Your inheritance..."
He heard the whispers of the souls, urging him to claim the journals.
"Thank you..." Sam smiled and bowed to the spirits.
He was profoundly touched by how the souls treated him as one of their own.
Despite not being from the direct bloodline, merely inheriting and awakening the bloodline from his grandmother, they seemed to be embracing him as family.
Even in death, the Tachibana clan remained prideful and true to their principles of caring for their own.
Sam noted to himself that he would read the journals after finishing his business here.
He and the girls moved to another shelf filled with neatly stacked scrolls, numbering literally in the thousands.
"Are these scrolls containing techniques of the Tachibana clan?" Isabelle asked with a curious expression.
Sam opened one of the scrolls, his eyes widening in surprise. "These are not techniques... they are spell scrolls. each of these scrolls contain magic spells."
He unscrolled a couple of them and read through. "These are very old magic... I don't even recognize them or understand them."
"This chamber... it's a priceless treasure. If news of its existence got out, it would cause significant disturbances between heroes and mages," Sam muttered slowly, hopping through the scrolls with excitement.
Despite receiving several books on higher-grade magic spells from his eldest sister and occasional teachings from his elder twin sisters, Tasha and Sasha, Sam had never received proper training in magic like he did in cultivation under his grandfather, Jin, who had made him a genius in that field.
In magic, his knowledge was self-taught, showcasing his innate talent.
Even without formal mentorship, he was adept, but he couldn't help but imagine how much more he could have grown with proper guidance.
Now, with these ancient scrolls, everything was about to change.
These scrolls contained not only traditional and powerful spells from legendary mages, but also breathwork practices, energy control methods, training manuals, meditation techniques, visualization exercises, self-regulation methods, holistic wellness practices, and more.
Magic was the one area where Sam had lagged behind the others. But with these scrolls, he could turn the tide in his favor.
All he needed to do was absorb the knowledge within these scrolls and perfect his magic to rival his mastery in cultivation.
Mages were usually weaker than their counterparts, the heroes, in terms of level.
Meaning, if a hero and a mage of the same level were to duel, the hero would win as easily as swatting away a bug.
The effectiveness of levels between heroes and mages differed greatly.
However, to balance this disparity, nature allowed mages to break through levels more easily than heroes.
It seemed nature was impartial to everyone.
Even though Sam's mage level was higher than his hero level, his mage side was still much weaker than his hero side.
It would take at least ten to fifteen levels to even out this disparity. Even then, skills and techniques mattered.
In terms of skills, his hero side was at its peak for his level, while his mage side was on the amateur side of the scale.
His curiosity about the scrolls led him to question their origin.
How did they get here in the first place?
He looked to the souls for answers.
Some of the souls appeared before him, whispering things into his ears, which made him narrow his eyebrows in surprise.