He bid farewell to a friend he'd only known for a few hours, yet would likely never see again.

Suren felt a little down.

The scenery around him suddenly changed, transforming from the luxurious manor he'd been in to... ruins.

"This is... the remains of that manor?"

Although all the interior furnishings had decayed, the still-standing framework of the house suggested that this was indeed the manor he had been in earlier.

The banquet hall, corridors, study... the layout was familiar.

"It would take at least several centuries to decay like this..."

Suren found it unbelievable.

He thought he was mentally prepared, but seeing the dilapidated scene before him still made his head spin.

Could the grand mansion have been an illusion, and Pestoia and the bald man illusions as well?

But when he looked down, he saw he was holding a wooden box, the very one containing the "Rune Puppet."

And on his chest, he wore the black gem-studded butterfly brooch.

"The objects are real..."

Suren stroked the box in his hand, feeling as if he'd woken from a dream and somehow brought something back to reality with him.

"Could that brightly lit manor have been a special space, like a game dungeon?"

Suren looked around, unable to figure it out.

His understanding of this world was too limited; many questions couldn't be answered simply by thinking.

However, he now faced a new problem: where should he go from here?

His first thought was of the information on his retina.

"The original owner came here to find the so-called 'relics of Sir Isaac'..."

Now that he had some time to spare, Suren could examine the obscure information on his retina. He realized that the "treasure" the original owner was seeking was likely something extraordinary.

Coincidentally, he was also very interested in this "supernatural ability."

After thinking for a moment, Suren decided to go and take a look. He also guessed that there shouldn't be any other dangers in the manor. If there were, Pestoia would be the ultimate boss.

......

Suren, relying on his memory, found the mansion's banquet hall.

Then, counting to the left, he found the seventh room.

The door had completely rotted away, and cobwebs were everywhere, giving it a sinister appearance. But the structure of the room was still relatively stable, and apart from the mottled paint peeling off the walls, it was still recognizable as a storage room.

Suren cautiously stepped inside. Apart from the occasional squeak of mice, no terrifying monsters appeared, as in horror movies.

He took in the room's contents at a glance, spotting the hexagonal candelabrum on the wall.

Locating the correct lamp, he twisted it clockwise. He heard a series of clicks and whirring gears as a secret door appeared.

"It's been hundreds of years, and this mechanism still works..."

Suren was slightly surprised by the dark passage that appeared before him.

Without much hesitation, he stepped inside.

The passage was well-preserved, likely due to being isolated from the outside air.

He tested the air; it wasn't stuffy, and he could breathe normally.

The tunnel was made of blue bricks, and a wall lamp hung at intervals. The light emitted by the yellow gemstone, of unknown material, was faint but enough to illuminate the entire secret passage.

Suren didn't dare touch anything. Since the secret door could open normally, the mechanisms in the passage were likely still functional.

The information on his retina specifically warned him not to touch anything outside of the designated safe routes.

After walking for a while, Suren noticed that the passage around him had become strange, as if everything were exactly the same.

He knew he had entered a maze.

There were mechanisms here that caused visual interference.

He carved some essential directional markers on the ground with a stone and continued onward.

"After the first fork, left, left, right, up, down..."

Fortunately, the correct route through the maze was left on his retina, and Suren didn't encounter any trouble along the way.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, he arrived at his destination, a spacious, sealed stone chamber.

Huge, glowing gems illuminated the entire room.

"This is the 'Hermit's Altar' marked on the treasure map?"

Suren didn't rush into the stone chamber but carefully observed it.

In the center of the circular stone chamber stood five tall stone statues. They wore cloaks, concealing their entire bodies and most of their faces, making them look very mysterious. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that three of the statues had cracks, and only two were intact.

Behind the cloak of each statue was a special symbol: ⍥, §, ☽, ✹, ꧧ...

They seemed to be special codenames.

What astonished Suren was that merely gazing at these statues brought a sense of holy majesty, making him feel an urge to prostrate himself in worship.

The feeling was as if he were being watched by gods, making him feel as small as dust.

"These are truly peculiar statues..."

Suren said to himself, impressed.

The unveiled world was revealing its mysteries to him little by little, intensifying his desire to explore.

......

There was nothing superfluous in the secret chamber.

The five statues stood on each side, facing a circular altar about five meters in diameter.

The altar was carved with an eight-pointed star magic circle, surrounded by special characters and runes he couldn't understand. In the center was an engraved pattern of an ouroboros (a snake eating its tail) and scales.

"This altar holds the secret to obtaining a 'talent' that allows one's bones to withstand bullets, like that bald man's?"

Suren looked at the patterns carved on the altar, a thoughtful expression on his face.

The following passage remained on his retina:

"My dear Fick, I'm sorry you've lost everything; through deciphering, I discovered an amazing secret from the family's mysterious 【Isaac Alchemy Manuscript】: Besides natural awakening and bloodline inheritance, there's actually a third way to obtain supernatural talents, which is through targeted awakening using specific conditions... Although it's just an unconfirmed 'treasure map,' it's the best way I can think of to compensate you..."

Suren didn't dwell on this passage; the cause and effect were no longer important.

He caught a few important keywords: sacrificial medium, targeted awakening, talent.

It said that after "sacrificing one's own eyeballs," he "might" be able to obtain a very powerful S-grade talent ability. A rare ability that everyone in the alchemic world dreamed of.

If Suren had seen this on Earth, he would have dismissed it as a joke.

Dig out your own eyeballs as a sacrifice to gain superpowers?

Screw your superpowers!

But after witnessing so much supernatural power, Suren carefully considered the matter.

As for the word "might," it carried an element of gambling.

Because no one had ever tried it.

"I remember the bald man said his ability to withstand bullets was called something like 【C079-Tempered Skeleton】? 'S-grade'... seems even more powerful..."

Suren weighed his options for a moment, unsure how talent was ranked in this world.

But if he could obtain the bald man's "supernatural power," paying a price might be worth it.

Certain thoughts were already stirring in his mind.

Moreover, there was another reason that made Suren make up his mind.

He also thought that the original owner's background seemed unusual. Even the great figure who left the information on his retina used honorifics to acknowledge that the altar's specifications were extremely high, so perhaps the talent awakened here would be even stronger than that "Tempered Skeleton."

Opportunity, in any world, always involves an element of gambling.

The worst-case scenario was that he would go blind and get nothing.

Having just gone through a life-or-death battle, Suren felt that this didn't seem like an unacceptable price to pay.

To gain something, one must give something in return; this was a basic rule that applied in every world.

Thinking of this, he raised his eyebrows and comforted himself, "I've come all this way... might as well give it a try?"