“Norton, you bastard. You finally awake?”
Hearing that familiar, emotionless mechanical voice, Li finally let out a sigh of relief. He’d thought it had disappeared because he’d blown up his Authority, but thank goodness—it was still here...
After Li came to this world, he first heard Norton’s voice when he was about four. At the time, he thought he was imagining it. But after he gradually got used to it, he realized that he, a so-called transmigrator, had ended up with the same kind of thing as the protagonists in all those other novels.
A cheat system—Norton.
Back when Li was still writing novels in his old world, he’d given the protagonist’s weapon that name. Though, really, he’d just borrowed it.
With Norton’s help, Li really had grown at an astonishing rate, far beyond that of an ordinary person. The one thing Norton couldn’t help him control, though, was his Authority.
Power that’s too great can sometimes become an enormous burden and a shackle.
But given Li’s personality, Norton had plenty of complaints about this Master of his.
After all, Li had blown up his own Authority without listening to a word of Norton’s warnings.
【Ah... You really are the worst Master in the world.】
“Just give me the thing first. You managed to find it for me, right?”
【Yes, Master.】
A black magic circle opened above Li’s head. He held out his hand, and the ring—lost for who knew how long—fell from the circle onto his finger.
Once he’d put the ring back on, Li let out a sigh of relief. He’d thought it was gone for good. It was one of Norton’s vessels, after all, and Li had spent a lot of materials making it. It was also a tool that could help Apostles of Authority activate their Authorities.
【I’ve never met a Master who dared blow up their own Authority and drive me into a corner. You’re the first.】
“Maybe there’ll be another one someday. Anyway, now that you’re back, let’s get up to speed. I’m in the Abyss of the Underworld, and all my abilities have been reset. By the way, did you lock away all my Authorities?”
Li swiped a hand, bringing up the system interface. His base stats were already quite high, which meant his physical abilities had reached a formidable level. Li didn’t know what the average human in this world was like, but according to his teacher, Picas, his body was far stronger than any human’s should be.
【Mm. Master forcibly blew up your Authority. You recovered with the help of the system and outside forces, but I hope you won’t do something so reckless again. If you die, I’ll die too.】
“At the time, I didn’t have the luxury of thinking things through. My body’s reverted to how it was when I was younger. Anything unusual?”
【System scan initiated... 10%... 20%... 100%. No abnormalities detected.】
Good...
As long as there was nothing wrong, that was fine. Even though he’d ended up like this, there was still a chance he could recover. But that old geezer had disappeared without saying a word.
Li wanted to find out what had happened, but that old geezer had vanished completely. He didn’t even know if he could find him.
The stone box. Anyway, he should take a look at the stone box the old man had left behind. Maybe there was something inside.
Inside the box lay a golden key, a letter, and a necklace with a white crow pendant.
Li took the letter out of the stone box and glanced inside. There was nothing else at the bottom.
“Hortons’ treasure... What could it be?”
Curious, Li opened the letter.
