"You should have long since forgotten about him. He's just an unpromising student; there was no need for you to waste your emotions on him in the first place."
Hearing Lin Ruo's words, Medici, while toying with the dark key, said mockingly, "With that excess energy, you might as well think about how to mess with your path to godhood."
"What about you then? Have you forgotten about that matter?" Lin Ruo didn't care about his Yin and Yang remarks. He just looked up at Medici, suddenly wanting to ask a question, a question that had troubled him for a long time.
So Lin Ruo asked, "Have you ever hated me?"
"Hmph!" Medici was stunned for a moment, then he scoffed and, with lightning speed, gave Lin Ruo a resounding smack on the head.
"Ouch!"
Lin Ruo instantly cried out in pain, covering his head with his hand while recoiling three feet back.
"Holy crap, are you sick?!"
Lin Ruo grimaced, rubbing the spot where he was hit. Feeling the large lump that had quickly risen there, he gritted his teeth and looked at Medici, saying, "If you're sick, take your medicine!"
While saying this, Lin Ruo made a mental note to Medici in his little book, determined to concoct ten or so melodramatic love stories between Medici and a witch later and then submit them to the True Creator, letting A'zao understand the private life of his most capable Red Angel.
"Are you clear-headed now?" Medici remained completely unhurried, as if the person who had just knocked Lin Ruo's head wasn't him at all.
He looked at Lin Ruo, his blood-red eyes carrying a hint of helplessness, and said irritably:
"If you're not clear-headed, I don't mind doing it a couple more times."
"I'm clear, I'm clear! I know you don't hate me anymore." Lin Ruo, seeing that Medici would truly follow through, immediately chose to yield.
"Heh!" Medici sneered, saying nothing more.
Lin Ruo, meanwhile, quickly switched to the Moon pathway to heal himself, then glanced at Medici again and asked, "Speaking of which, do you want to read this letter?"
Although the only mention of Medici in the letter was in the second-to-last sentence, and it was a perfunctory "apology" that Lin Ruo could tell was insincere without even thinking, it was still a letter left by Alista. Lin Ruo felt that Medici might still be curious.
"Read it, why not read it." Medici said, with his usual Yin and Yang tone, "I'm also curious what kind of last words that lunatic left behind."
Lin Ruo immediately handed over the letter. The latter took it and read it ten lines at a glance, scoffing unceremoniously at the end.
"To do such things and then leave these words, I never knew Tudor, that lunatic, was such a pretentious fellow."
After speaking, Medici paused, then, remembering something else, continued with his sarcastic tone, "That's right, if we only look at it from the perspective of hypocrisy, it does align with his usual conduct."
Lin Ruo remained noncommittal. He simply looked at the puppet, which had been sitting obediently in its seat, trying to minimize its presence since they started reading the letter, and asked, "What was the second task Alista gave you?"
Medici also looked at the puppet, which closely resembled Alista. Although he said nothing, the overwhelming sense of pressure made the puppet flinch.
"The second task my main body gave me was to hand over the Treasure Trove in this ruin to you." As the puppet spoke, it patted the seat beneath it, and immediately the seat moved backward, revealing a dark passage.
"In the secret chamber beneath the throne, there are various treasures brought by my main body, including gold, silver, and jewels usable in the mundane world, and various Beyonder items, spiritual Materials, and some documents, etc. My main body used a special method to preserve them, so you don't have to worry about these things deteriorating." The puppet honestly introduced, "Of course, I am also part of the Treasure Trove. The key to controlling me is the one you hold."
"My main body said this is his gift to Teacher, a return gift from a student for many years of care."
Lin Ruo raised an eyebrow, exchanged a glance with Medici, and then said, "Lead us down to see."
"Alright." The puppet immediately got up and, without any hesitation, led the way down to the basement. Lin Ruo and Medici followed behind it. After walking down a long and narrow staircase, they arrived at a secret chamber that appeared even larger than the previous hall.
Lin Ruo's gaze swept across the room, and he saw numerous boxes of various sizes piled up in the secret chamber. These boxes were mostly metal, inscribed with patterns possessing mystical power, and all were sealed.
"The items are all stored in these boxes. Because of the power left by my main body, only Your Excellency Lin Ruo can open these boxes," the puppet introduced.
Lin Ruo walked towards a box and saw that the Sealed Artifact seemed to be a special parchment, on which was written a line of words:
"To My Esteemed Teacher."
He raised an eyebrow, first glancing at Medici. Seeing the latter nod slightly, he peeled off the Sealed Artifact and opened the box.
"Whoosh—"
A golden light instantly filled Lin Ruo's vision. He blinked, looking at the box of gold coins before him, feeling dazzled.
Lin Ruo was not a person who lacked money, but even so, he had to admit that the visual impact of such a quantity of gold coins was truly different.
If Klein were here, he might jump up with joy… Lin Ruo couldn't help but internally tease his student, then continued to open the other boxes.
Gold coins… gems… antiques?
Beyonder items from the Sun pathway… Hmm? Is this a characteristic? It seems to be from the Storm Pathway… Lin Ruo opened several boxes consecutively, and indeed, as the puppet said, there were both gold, silver, and jewels in the mundane sense, and various mystical items.
It is worth noting that the quality of the items was not very high, mostly equivalent to the level of Sealed Artifact of grades 2 and 3, but the quantity was quite substantial. There were only three grade 1 Sealed Artifact at the demigod level.
After counting, Lin Ruo came to a conclusion—these items would be useless for increasing the strength of a King of Angels, but they would be just right for arming a church. While they couldn't make the church instantly comparable to those orthodox deity churches, they could save a large amount of Early Stage accumulation time.
The same applied if used to arm an army.
Alista had specifically prepared them this way.
Lin Ruo recognized this point with utmost clarity.
That's right, he must know I plan a revolution in the future… Lin Ruo thought this, his gaze sweeping over the puppet beside him, and suddenly asked, "Do you have a name?"
"Uh, no…" The puppet clearly didn't expect Lin Ruo to ask this so suddenly. It paused for a moment, then shook its head and said, "My main body didn't give me a name; he usually just called me 'puppet'."
After speaking, the puppet looked at Lin Ruo curiously, asking with a mix of doubt and anticipation, "Teacher… Your Excellency Lin Ruo, do you want to give me a name?"
"Illysmil Keer, what do you think of this name?"