Published at 2nd of March 2026 7:31 am

Chapter 1547 Dark Truth

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The last time Adam was on Coral Island, he didn't have his vision.

However, now, he could more than just see. His perception had significantly improved since the most recent transformation, allowing him to sense clues he might have otherwise overlooked.

But even then, it took him another month just to uncover the clues to the inheritance's entrance.

Floating high above the island, Adam had a frown on his face as he looked down at Tebu's shell in its entirety. The hems of his dark robes fluttered in the wind as he remained motionless mid-air.

"That's strange," he murmured.

"What is?" Perched on his shoulder, an adorable gray cat gracefully licked his paw and asked.

"Usually, when a Magus sets up their inheritance, they'd want it to be found by future generations, yeah?" Adam began.

"Although inheritance grounds are covert, serving as a kind of test for the inheritor to uncover clues to opening them, but at the same time, they aren't supposed to be deeply hidden. That would defeat the whole purpose of setting the inheritance in the first place."

Valerian yawned lazily. "I don't understand what you mean."

"The entrance to Wagner's inheritance," Adam said, "is so carefully hidden, it's almost as if..."

"He doesn't want it to be found?" Valerian said with a tilt of his head.

"Yes." Adam nodded. "It's strange."

"But you did find it, right?" Valerian asked.

"I did," Adam answered. He then pointed toward the far edge of the island. "Do you see those four hills there?"

"Myu."

Adam shifted his finger to trace the sun's path across the sky. "The entrance to the inheritance lies at the midpoint of two intersections. The first is where the lines drawn between four hills converge. The second is where the paths of the twin moons and the sun align."

He paused for a moment, then added. "If one didn't have sufficient knowledge of runic formation and astronomy, it would be nearly impossible for them to uncover clues to the entrance."

"Is that so?" Valerian yawned again.

The corner of Adam's lips twitched. "Pay attention, you brat!"

"Yes, yes!" the young dragon sat upright.

Adam couldn't help but roll his eyes. He then slowly flew towards the entrance of the inheritance, the one he had carefully calculated over the course of the past month.

Somewhere in his heart, he couldn't help but feel a vague sense of unease.

Why would Wagner go to such lengths to hide the entrance to his inheritance? He wondered.

I recall Lord Tebu mentioning something related to this. Apparently, Wagner had even cast a spell on him, ensuring that the ancient turtle remained blind to the true resting place of his inheritance.

Why go that far? Does Wagner not want his legacy to be found at all? Or did he simply set impossibly strict standards for whoever sought to inherit it?

I also cannot ignore the other possibility either.

Wagner had gone mad by the time he laid down his inheritance. Perhaps paranoia had driven him to hide it so thoroughly, fearing that anyone unworthy or dangerous might one day claim it.

Yeah, that could probably be the reason...

Adam finally landed on the island and walked toward a massive tree formed entirely of coral, its trunk thick and branching like petrified reef.

At the base of the tree, the entrance lay hidden.

A runic formation woven into the coral projected a layered illusion, making solid ground appear seamless and untouched. To the untrained eye, there was nothing there. No gap, no door, not even a distortion.

Only when viewed through a lens of runic logic did the illusion reveal its flaws, exposing the concealed passage beneath the roots.

"Val, get back inside." Adam stopped before the base of the tree, stroking his chin in deep thought.

"Myu!" A gray light flashed, and the little guy obediently entered Adam's spirit

sea.

Meanwhile, Adam's eyes squinted as he studied the runic formation.

Extracting mana from the air and using it as a pow source to fuel the

formation, he thought.

Such knowledge of runic formation isn't found on Tron. As I thought, this was

indeed carved by Wagner.

With anticipation burning in his eyes, Adam walked straight through the roots of the giant tree, disappearing beyond them like a mirage.

Adam moved through a long, winding tunnel that spiralled deeper into the ancient turtle's shell. The passage was narrow and uneven. Every few steps, faint runes glowed along the walls and the floor.

Roughly every ten meters, he was forced to stop. Some traps were obvious, while others were extremely subtle, designed to activate only after long exposure. Adam disabled each one in turn, working carefully and without haste. With every step deeper into the tunnel, the intent behind the inheritance became clearer.

This was not a place meant to be discovered. No. Whoever had created it had layered defence upon defense, as if determined to keep the world away rather than invite a successor inside.

Then, there was another thing...

Why do all these traps feel so familiar? Adam thought to himself, his heart pounding wildly inside his chest.

These traps... they reminded him of the runic formations he had come across while dealing with the teleportation portals in Ulier, Mabi, and Yen-Lu!

A possibility emerged in his mind, but he quickly strangled that thought.

No! That's impossible!

A drop of cold sweat trickled down the side of his forehead, and his lips curled into a wide, unsettling smile.

The tunnel finally opened into a wide chamber where a pair of massive stone doors stood sealed at the far end. They stood silently, ancient and unyielding.

This area was dense with runes, more than anywhere else Adam had passed through. Traps overlapped, some layered on top of others, each designed to punish even the smallest mistake.

Adam took his time, fear and anxiety gripping his heart as realization slowly but surely began to dawn on him.

"No, no, no..." He mumbled repeatedly in denial.

He studied every marking, traced the flow of mana, and dismantled the

mechanisms one by one. It was a very slow process, requiring focus and patience. Several times, he stopped entirely, trying to calm down his raging emotions and reassess before moving again.

After a long time, when the last trap was safely neutralized, he stepped forward

and pushed the doors open.

Adam's mind was a mess, and he felt like he had returned to the days when he

swam in the murky waters of insanity. His worldview was slowly crumbling

down.

He stepped into a small chamber beyond the doors.

It was empty.

At the center stood a single coffin, made entirely of crystal.

No treasures. No ancient books. No spell scrolls. No magical artifacts.

There was no inheritance waiting here.

Just a coffin.

All this while, the dark truth had been staring Adam right in the face. But he

didn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it.

His figure trembled from the shock and horror of this realization as he slowly

walked toward the center of the room.

At last, he arrived beside the coffin.

Inside, lay a middle-aged man, his features calm, almost peaceful, as if merely

asleep. He was unmistakably dead, yet his body showed no signs of decay.

The crystal coffin preserved him perfectly, sustained by magic that kept his

flesh intact and whole.

This was not an inheritance ground.

It was a tomb.

And it was not the tomb of Aldo Wagner.

Adam gazed at the corpse encassed with the coffin, his lips curling into a wide,

unnatural grin.

He knew this person. After all, he had seen a portrait of this man not long ago.

The person inside the coffin... was Bartholomew.

Adam's smile turned wider and wider, his worldview crumbling before his very

eyes.

If Bartholomew was dead, then who was the Cult Leader of the Cult of Bones?

The answer was clear. It always had been.

Adam's lips parted, and he laughed in deep sorrow and anguish.

The Winter Lord's words echoed in his mind:

The relationship between the Cult and the Brotherhood is deeper than you

think, Magus.

Adam laughed and laughed and laughed.

He understood everything now.

The Cult Leader was never Bartholomew.

It had always been the founder of the Twilight Brotherhood.

It had always been... Aldo Wagner. (End of Volume 7-Faceless Magus)

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