Chapter 295
: Genuine and affordable?
Chapter 295: Genuine and affordable?
Wade stood silently beside Professor Murray, and heard the professor urging him, "You don't have to follow me, Wade, you can be more casual and look at the items you like."
Vader shook his head, said nothing, and did not leave.
——After all, he is still a child.
Professor Murray thought to himself, smiled gently, and stopped urging Wade to act alone.
While admiring the stone tablet with inscriptions, he whispered to Wade:
"Gul had told us before about the items he was going to exhibit this time. This is one of them... a stone tablet unearthed from ancient Egypt. It is said that it may have been engraved by Democritus himself."
"The magic of that era was very simple and pure, much closer to the essence of magic and the truth of nature than it is now. It is said that there was a magical technology at that time that could make humans equal to gods."
"Like this slab?" Vader asked.
Professor Murray smiled and said, "Of course, this needs to be translated and studied before we can know what it actually says. But I can interpret part of it for now..."
As he spoke, Professor Murray began to carefully study the text, muttering to himself and gesturing with his fingers to understand its contents.
The text on the stone slab is different from any known one, and ancient characters can often express complex meanings with a simple symbol.
Professor Murray had great difficulty interpreting it. After a few minutes, he muttered, "What's going on... It's so strange..."
The old professor went back and reinterpreted it.
"Strange... That's right... Could it be that these words were carved wrong?"
He looked at the stone slab that showed obvious signs of aging, pondered for a moment, and suddenly sighed.
"What's wrong, Professor?" Vader asked.
"The text is not right." He turned to Wade and said, "Maybe Gul was deceived. This is a fake. Let's go and see something else."
Vader turned his head and saw the red-robed wizard standing next to the wooden bronze mirror with a smile on his face, talking to Orlando of Beauxbatons. There were also several young alchemists standing around, looking at the mirror with awe from time to time.
The elevator leading into here has been closed, and the floor display screen above is also dark, with no text.
Wade could see that chain-like magic patterns were coiled around the elevator door. It would definitely not be easy to open that door.
Looking closely, it was found that the ancient portraits hanging on the wall were originally in a normal sleeping state, but at this moment, a small half of them had opened their eyes, and some of them were squinting as if they were secretly observing.
Even the position of the statue has undergone some subtle changes.
But the alchemists in the hall were so engrossed in the exhibits that no one noticed these changes.
So Wade withdrew his gaze and did not tell anyone about his discovery. Instead, he followed Professor Murray and continued to look at the wreath of thorns.
"It looks like an ordinary wreath, but in fact, it may be related to the legendary great wizard Merlin..."
Professor Murray once again introduced the background information:
"The Fairy of the Lake, Vivian, used the wreath of thorns on her head to trap Merlin, making him lose his way and finally imprisoning him forever in an oak tree..."
Suddenly, his voice paused, and he stared at the wreath in the barrier for a long time without being able to utter a word.
Under the magical barrier protecting the exhibits, the alchemists could not use detection magic to further inspect the exhibits, and could only appreciate and imagine them with their own eyes. However, for an experienced alchemist like Professor Mori, he had an almost intuitive sense of alchemical items, and even if he only saw the appearance, he could sense something strange.
Professor Murray's fingers slid lightly in the air, tracing the shape of the thorn wreath through the barrier.
Then the old man laughed out of anger.
"How could this be something from a thousand or two thousand years ago... Could it have been made just a day or two ago?"
Professor Murray's expression became fierce. "Wade, how could an alchemist who has been in this field for thirty or forty years make mistakes twice in a row?"
Wade said softly, "Under the circumstances of being threatened or controlled by someone? Look, Professor, others have also discovered the problem... We'd better not act rashly."
Professor Murray originally thought that the red wizard Gul was cheating by gambling his reputation for decades and was very angry. But after hearing what Wade said, he immediately calmed down.
Then he also discovered the problem.
While the young people were still walking around admiring the exhibits, the older alchemists almost all frowned and exchanged glances with each other.
Only Orlando was still discussing the legend of the god of death with Gul, trying to find out in a roundabout way whether he could get a discount on the mirror.
An old man with wrinkled clothes and a spotty face quickly looked at all the exhibits, then walked over and interrupted their conversation.
"Gul!" he asked in a nasty tone, "What the hell are you exhibiting? Do you expect to deceive our eyes with this?"
It seemed that rather than being angry that the exhibits were all fakes, he was more angry that someone actually thought such things could slip past his eyes.
Guld paused, then smiled and asked, "What? Mr. Mathias, which one are you referring to?"
"All of them!" the old wizard said angrily, "Just like that damn mirror in front of you! It's not a magic mirror at all!"
"What?!" Orlando was shocked and immediately jumped onto the barrier to observe carefully.
Gul paused again, still smiling warmly: "How could that be? This mirror comes from ancient times and has the function of communicating with the dead. If you are interested, I can introduce it to you in detail..."
"I'm not interested in fakes at all!" Wizard Matthias shouted, "Did you hear what I'm saying?!"
Gul's smiling expression changed slightly, and then the corners of his mouth curved up again, and he asked back:
"Are you doubting my professionalism? I have been in this business for thirty-nine years! My friend, please believe me - if I had not identified the authenticity in advance, I would never put it in my exhibition."
Wizard Mathias did not refute this time. He stared at Gul blankly for a while, and then became even more furious: "The Imperius Curse?! Who dares to use the Imperius Curse on others?!"
Before he finished speaking, a "thump" sound was heard in the hall.
A young wizard suddenly fell down.
Then the second, the third...
The alchemists fell one after another, and some hit their heads on the stone platform, causing blood to flow.
Gul pretended not to see it and continued to say with a smile: "... You can rest assured, I guarantee with my life that the exhibits I sell are genuine!"
Someone shouted, "Run!"
(End of this chapter)