CHAPTER 182: GREAT DEMON GENERAL’S SEAL

’White quartz—isn’t that just regular old rock you’d find in any stone layer?’

Carlos examined the white crystals in the jars.

’So this is what I was feeding it before.’

Yep, just ordinary white quartz. Common as dirt.

"Well, I’ll thank you on Uto’s behalf for the hookup."

Carlos took them.

This would save him a pretty penny on feeding costs.

Sure, silver coins weren’t exactly breaking the bank for Carlos, but over time, they’d add up to some serious cash.

Carlos grabbed a chunk of white quartz and tried dropping it into the disc.

But Gauwo’s Eye didn’t melt and soak it up like before—seemed to think it was beneath its standards completely.

Seeing Carlos looking all confused, Pergina kept her cool:

"No worries. A few days of being hungry will straighten that attitude right out."

"Got it."

Carlos nodded. That made perfect sense—alchemical creatures were still living things, and when they got hungry enough, they’d stop being picky eaters.

"Uto! Uto!"

With its sabotage plan totally blown, the big eyeball shot its former owner a look that could kill.

It never figured that just a few days into the sweet life, this former owner would personally screw it over!

So ticked off! Beyond ticked off!

The eyeball turned red, faint bloodshot streaks showing up as it started seeing red with rage!

Seeing this mess, Carlos figured things had gone far enough—he couldn’t let Gauwo’s Eye blow a gasket for real.

"Alright! Alright! As long as you keep up the good work, silver coins are still on the table, and hell, gold coins aren’t totally off the menu either."

"Uto!!!"

Gauwo’s Eye practically bounced with joy.

It had figured it would never get to taste silver coins again, but its master was nothing like this old cheapskate—generous and knew how to feed the good stuff.

It started blinking at Carlos like a lovesick puppy, basically promising it would bust its ass twice as hard from now on!

Leave everything to it—no sweat!

Pergina ’helpfully’ chimed in:

"Ah, Young Master Carlos, you really shouldn’t spoil it rotten."

"Uto! Uto!"

The big eyeball’s eyes went wide as saucers.

Listen to that—was this really coming from its once ’beloved’ owner?

"Miss Pergina, you know what Uto can do—it’s pretty damn impressive. A few silver coins are worth every penny. Right, Uto?"

Carlos took the chance to show his faith in Uto.

"Uto! Uto!"

The big eyeball immediately started bobbing up and down like crazy, showing just how useful it was and that master’s silver coins were absolutely worth every cent!

Feeling like words alone might not seal the deal, the eyeball rolled around and fired up its spatial detection mojo.

"Uto!"

It kept making noise toward the upper right, basically saying there was something good over there.

"?"

Carlos looked at the shop owner.

Uto’s weird behavior probably just revealed some hidden stash belonging to this alchemical master.

"?"

Pergina was just as baffled.

What the hell was going on? How come she didn’t know there was anything there?

Also, Uto, when you were living here before, why didn’t you pick up on this?

For a hot minute, the shop went dead quiet.

This couldn’t drag on.

Pergina was dying to know what might be there too, so she told her lovestruck apprentice:

"Demi, get your butt over there and check out whatever spatial thing Uto’s pointing at!"

"Huh? Me?"

What did this have to do with her?

Demi looked totally lost—wasn’t that something her master had stashed there?

"Move it!"

If not you, should master go herself?

Pergina was supposed to be a master alchemist right now—she couldn’t go poking around herself.

Well... mainly she was scared that doing it herself might blow her cover.

"Yes, Master!"

Demi did as she was told.

Following Uto’s directions, she zeroed in on a space between two counters.

"Right here."

Demi pulled out a ball-shaped alchemical gadget.

"Pop!"

She crushed it.

Right away, light gray mist spread out until it covered the space between the two counters.

Kind of hazy-like, a palm-sized round space showed up.

"So tiny!"

Seeing the hidden space pop into view, Demi’s face got all serious.

Psionic energy immediately started flowing from her fingertips, drawing out complicated linking runes.

"Space Breaking!"

The runes lit up like the Fourth of July, and the round space instantly dropped into reality.

"Clatter!"

A yellow key hit the floor.

"It’s a key?"

The key had simple designs on it—just a few lines, but they sketched out some mysterious doorway.

Demi scooped it up.

The style was just like the red key her master had given her, only a different color.

’Figures, this space was master’s handiwork. She’s pulling one of her sneaky tricks again!’

As an apprentice, in this situation, she couldn’t blow the whistle and had to play along.

"Young Master Carlos, Master, it’s a yellow key."

She showed off the key.

’Huh? Another one?’

When Pergina bought this shop, during the fix-up, she’d stumbled across that red key by accident.

She thought it looked cool, so to go with it, she’d specially made a matching lock.

’Who’s got enough time on their hands to hide a key in a space bubble?’

Pergina couldn’t care less about this yellow key—it obviously looked like the same deal as the red key.

Anyway, she’d poked at it for ages back then without figuring out squat.

Just then, Carlos spoke up:

"Mind if I take a look?"

"Here you go, Young Master Carlos!"

Demi didn’t think twice and immediately passed over the key.

Carlos took the key and started checking out the simple designs on it.

The outlined doorway gave off this vague vibe of tragic violence.

On the key’s back were several complicated symbols.

"This is symbol code!"

Carlos’s brain went into overdrive as he started cracking it...

’Great Demon General’s Seal Yellow Key!’

The second he finished decoding, Carlos’s eyes went wide, his face behind the mask turning dead serious.

’Holy crap, it’s actually a key for breaking a Great Demon General’s seal!’

Throughout history, there’d been no shortage of badass monsters invading the Material Realm from the deep dark mist planes.

Some were especially nasty and got called Great Demon Generals by their buddies.

With the human firepower back in those days, they couldn’t wipe them out at all and could only use forbidden magic to lock them up.

They hoped that when future humans got stronger and had enough confidence, they could unseal and totally wipe out the Great Demon Generals inside!

No seal lasted forever—even without someone actively breaking them, they’d fail over time.

So the humans back then left keys that could actively break the seals, keeping control over when to let these things loose.

Each key meant the seal of one Great Demon General!

’How the hell did the Great Demon General’s Seal Yellow Key end up here?’

In his memory, hadn’t the Great Demon General’s Seal Yellow Key always been kept by the Northern Hero?

Carlos dug through the official info in his head.

Northern Hero—unknown type of being, mostly showed up looking like a young girl.

When she publicly announced the Great Demon General takedown mission, she’d said the yellow seal key was a gift from her master.

’Gift from master...’

Carlos suddenly looked up, staring hard at the woman in front of him.

’Could it be that she... she’s the Northern Hero’s master?’