After putting the skill card away, Jingliu searched the room once more. Finding nothing else, she left and entered the next room.
This room had a completely different layout. Bookshelves lined the walls, packed full of books, all coated in thick layers of dust.
"So many…"
After finding a skill card tucked inside a notebook earlier, Jingliu couldn't help but hope there might be another one here.
But with this many books, who knew how long it would take to search them all?
She could only call out to her companions outside and gather them over.
Fortunately, Arataki Itto and Bronya were on the same floor. When they heard that Jingliu had found a skill card hidden inside a notebook, they immediately joined the book-flipping operation.
One book after another was pulled out. No one cared about the contents—they flipped through them roughly, and if nothing fell out, they moved on.
Before long, piles of books had formed around the three of them.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Bronya let out a puzzled sound.
"Did you find a skill?" Jingliu asked.
"No," Bronya shook her head, then added, "But I found a blueprint."
She pulled out a folded sheet of paper. When it was unfolded, it turned out to be a floor plan.
"This… what is this? I can't make sense of it," Arataki Itto said, confused.
Jingliu, however, walked over to Bronya, her gaze locking onto the drawing.
"So big…"
With just a glance, she could tell—it was the architectural blueprint of the castle.
But the scale shown on it was enormous.
From the markings, Jingliu realized that the area they were currently in was merely the visitor section.
Elsewhere, there were banquet halls, chapels, laboratories… even an armory.
And beneath the castle, there was a winding underground maze.
"This is extremely useful."
Jingliu silently praised Bronya. Finding something like this was invaluable—having the layout would greatly aid their future exploration.
"Mm."
Bronya agreed and carefully folded the blueprint away.
They had already agreed earlier: no matter what they discovered, everyone would gather in the dining hall at 5 p.m.
There, they would exchange information, eat, and prepare for the coming night.
"What's this… looks familiar."
Arataki Itto wasn't interested in the blueprint at all. Instead, he had opened another box and found several golden-yellow coins inside. The more he looked at them, the more familiar they seemed.
"Let me see." Bronya leaned in, and her eyes immediately lit up. "Points!"
She knew these well—weren't these the same points Valerius always handed out?
Four coins lay quietly in the box.
That meant Arataki Itto had found four points in one go.
"Nice! I've got four points now!"
Arataki Itto was thrilled. Points really were easy to find!
At this rate, after seven days, wouldn't he be drawing rewards nonstop?
"Give me one."
Since Arataki Itto had found them, they were technically his. But Jingliu had a skill and would need points to use it, so she reached out without hesitation.
"Here. One for each of you, I'll keep two."
Out of the four coins, Arataki Itto generously handed one to Jingliu and one to Bronya, keeping the remaining two for himself.
Live Chat
[Yae Miko]: What is this idiot doing?!
[Kamisato Ayaka]: Jingliu has a skill—giving her points makes sense.
[Yae Miko]: Then why does Bronya get one? She's just showing off!
[Kujou Sara]: Exactly.
[Jing Yuan]: Aren't they a team right now? What's wrong with sharing points?
[Jade]: It's a valuable investment. No issues there.
[Kamisato Ayato]: The key point is—Arataki Itto isn't even thinking about investing.
[Topaz]: Then why share them?
[Kuki Shinobu]: Showing off, obviously.
[Thoma]: Showing off, obviously.
[Gorou]: The foolish son of a rich landlord.
[Raiden Ei]: This is infuriating—just handing points away like that!
The Inazuma crowd was speechless.
Giving Jingliu points was understandable—she had skills. But Bronya had none. Holding points served no immediate purpose.
Worse still, if danger struck at night, Bronya would likely be on the front line.
If she got eliminated, those points would be lost.
With points found, the three grew even more motivated and completely turned the small study upside down.
Unfortunately, even after searching every single book, they found nothing else—no items, no clues.
"There's nothing left here. Let's move to the next room," Jingliu said.
"Maybe we should check here."
Bronya pulled out the map and pointed to a massive room. "This is the library. There should be tons of books there."
"Not yet." Jingliu shook her head. "The library is too large. Just the three of us won't be enough."
"It's already getting late. We'll finish searching here today and gather everyone tomorrow to search the library together."
"…Mm, okay."
Bronya thought it over and agreed.
She was sure the library held something, but going now risked missing things here.
Better to clear this area first, then mobilize everyone for the library later—it would be far more efficient.
After that, the three searched every remaining room thoroughly, but still found nothing—not even a clue.
5:00 p.m.
Everyone gathered in the dining hall and sat in a circle.
"I didn't find anything useful—just two points. What about you all?"
Keqing spoke first, then looked around expectantly.
"I found something odd," Luocha said, standing up. "This place feels wrong. It might just be my imagination, but the sense of time feels off."
He then described something that puzzled everyone.
"I found what looked like a ballroom. I searched it carefully and found no useful clues. But something felt wrong."
"When I entered, I checked the time—it was 2:21 p.m."
"When I finished searching the stage and came back out, the time showed 2:27."
Luocha's expression turned strange.
"That huge hall… I only spent six minutes."
"That just means you didn't search carefully enough."
Arataki Itto waved his hand dismissively. "You cleared a whole hall that fast? You were definitely slacking."
Everyone else collectively looked at him, then silently turned their heads away, completely ignoring the idiot.
"The space and time here are abnormal."
At that moment, Jingliu took out the notebook she'd found and handed it over.
"Hiss—!"
"Even space is messed up?"
"And there's a monster? What kind… Valerius?"
After reading the notebook, unease spread through the group.
This game… suddenly felt far from simple.
To Read 160+ advanced Chapters, head over to P@treon
patreon.com/DarkVerse146