Chapter 76, Exhibition (2)
After that, we encountered and looked at many more Mysteries.
Seven new Mysteries had already been added to Lucy.
Some of them made me want to own them, while others were things I wouldn't particularly want even if someone gave them to me for free.
Surprisingly, after the Runestone, only one Mystery truly caught my interest.
I wasn't sure whether my standards were too high or whether the Mysteries on display were simply low-quality.
By the time I finished looking around the exhibition hall themed around stone, only two Mysteries had been added to my mental list.
One was the Runestone.
The other was [Scq119, Giant's Double-Edged Sword].
The Giant's Double-Edged Sword was an enormous stone sword with the ability to freely alter its own weight and size.
For someone like me, who was close to being a swordsman, it was a perfectly suitable Mystery.
Being able to control a weapon's weight and size was an ability that could create countless variables during battle.
Other than that, I liked the [Primordial Stone], which possessed the property of being absolutely indestructible, and the [Alchemy Stone], which temporarily turned anything it touched into gold.
That was everything I saw in the stone exhibition hall.
The next hall had an entirely different theme.
“This theme is... what exactly?”
“Wow! Dad, it's so pretty here!”
“Hmm...”
The second exhibition hall was a space made entirely of glass, causing light to scatter and reflect everywhere.
It was beautiful, but also dizzying.
My reflection appeared countless times between the polished pieces of glass.
The images reflected so chaotically that it looked as though dozens of versions of me were moving at the same time.
It felt like entering a room decorated with hundreds of mirrors.
Every direction was covered in glass, making it difficult to even figure out where we were going.
Somehow, we managed to find our direction and continue forward.
Soon, we encountered the first exhibit in the new hall.
[Scq190, Light-Eating Orb]
The object displayed on the glass stand was a single orb.
The only reason we could tell that it was an orb was because of the nameplate.
Its actual shape was difficult to see.
It simply looked like a single pitch-black dot floating in midair.
A point completely soaked in ink.
According to the explanation, it was an orb that absorbed the light around it.
That was probably why it looked like that.
Being here made me realize something again.
Not every Mystery was useful.
Versatile Mysteries like Lucy or the book were actually quite rare.
Once again, I realized just how lucky I had been to obtain Lucy back when I still hadn't properly adapted to the changed world.
Feeling grateful, I stroked Lucy inside my clothes.
Lucy happily wriggled.
Judging from the intent I could feel from her, she was wondering why I had suddenly started petting her, but she was also extremely pleased.
I stroked Lucy a few more times before focusing on the exhibition again.
“It seems this theme is light.”
“Considering the surroundings are decorated with mirrors, that definitely seems likely. Light, huh... I'm curious what kind of things we'll see.”
Dividing the exhibition into themes definitely made it fun to guess what kind of Mysteries would appear within each one.
I walked while thinking carefully about what might come next.
Nothing especially remarkable appeared afterward.
As Arlin had guessed, the theme of this hall was light.
There were Mysteries that distorted light like a prism, and there was even one similar to the Invisibility Cloak I owned.
We saw quite a lot of Mysteries in this hall, but none of them made me think I wanted them.
They all felt merely decent.
“Still, they're definitely fun to look at. I'm glad we came.”
Arlin nodded at my words.
Seeing such a wide variety of Mysteries was genuinely entertaining.
It was useful too, since I could learn about all kinds of different Mystery types.
Bias and Arlin, who had come with me, also seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Before long, we had already passed through the third exhibition hall, whose theme was Elements, and only the fourth hall remained.
The theme of the fourth exhibition hall was Mythology.
It was personally the theme I had been looking forward to the most, so I entered with my heart pounding in anticipation.
And then I saw it.
[Scq909, Eye of Ra]
A Mystery displayed near the far end of the fourth hall.
It appeared just as I was beginning to feel disappointed that we had almost finished seeing the entire exhibition without finding anything more impressive.
It was an accessory shaped like a human eye.
Gold was its main color, mixed elegantly with white and red.
It had been crafted from precisely cut gemstones.
In terms of appearance alone, it might have been the most beautiful Mystery I had seen today.
No.
It might have been the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life.
A faint red radiance rested over its surface, reminding me of the warmth of the sun.
It felt so sacred that it almost reminded me of looking at an angel.
The moment I saw it, the urge to kneel and worship sprouted inside me so strongly that my knees actually bent slightly.
I slowly straightened myself and stared at the Mystery before us.
“Holy shit...”
“...”
“Wow!”
When we first discovered it, Arlin cursed under her breath.
I fell silent.
