The reason they went to London instead of heading home was simple: they had a few lectures to give there. As Liang En's reputation grew, many universities were eager to invite him to speak.
Most of these invitations were declined by Liang En because he felt that his talks were highly specialized, not general science lectures, and thus, the audience should ideally be professionals.
However, not all of these invitations were rejected. When specialized institutions extended an invitation, he would gladly accept and share substantial insights with the attending faculty and students.
To Liang En's surprise, this selective approach actually enhanced his reputation. People began to regard him as a scholar with rigorous academic standards and great integrity.
In the public eye, each of his lectures offered valuable content, and the infrequency of his appearances was seen as a commitment to quality rather than a desire to placate the audience.
Liang En found these comments both amusing and frustrating because he knew that the real reason he lectured so infrequently was simply due to laziness. Nonetheless, since this was how people viewed him, he didn't bother to correct them.
Aside from London, they also had to head north to Edinburgh and Glasgow to give lectures and discuss the latest developments in archaeology.
However, just as Liang En completed three lectures and was preparing to head to Glasgow for the final one, the Golden Dawn suddenly issued an emergency notice, using a recruitment method reserved for the most critical situations.
"What on earth happened?" Liang En quickly made his way to London, arriving at the gathering place, where he immediately began questioning those who had already arrived.
"We don't know either," Nelson, who was sitting beside him, whispered.
"But one thing is certain: something significant has occurred, something we're unaware of. Such urgent summoning is extremely rare, only used in cases of severe issues."
After some brief inquiries, Liang En discovered that he wasn't the only one clueless about the situation. None of the Golden Dawn members summoned this time knew what had happened.
Fortunately, this state of confusion didn't last long. Soon, President Charles and several senior members of the Golden Dawn arrived in the meeting room, one of them carrying a large shock-resistant briefcase.
"It looks like someone has found something incredibly valuable," Nelson murmured, his eyes fixed on the metal case being placed on the table as he quietly explained to Liang En.
"Such gatherings occur on average once every five or six years, and each time, they lead to the discovery of something capable of altering history. I think this time will be no exception. However, I haven't heard of any major excavations recently."
"Sorry for the urgent summoning, but the discovery this time is so important that we had no choice but to ask you to drop everything and come here immediately—"
Once everyone who needed to be there had arrived, President Charles began explaining the reason for the summons.
According to him, although the exact intentions of the Thule Society were still unclear, due to their recent attacks, the Golden Dawn had launched a counteroffensive.
This counterattack was a large-scale, comprehensive operation, catching the Thule Society off guard. As a result, several key locations in Munich and Berlin were successfully raided.
Although the Golden Dawn had leveraged some local official forces, they still managed to retrieve a considerable amount of important items from the Thule Society.
Naturally, the illegally obtained artifacts were handed over to the authorities, but some of the legally acquired items of the Thule Society ended up in the hands of the Golden Dawn.
Most of these items were just ordinary artifacts, which the Golden Dawn could easily handle. However, there was one exception—something so unusual that it necessitated the emergency summoning.
"This is what we found," President Charles gestured for his colleague to open the case as he spoke. "It's completely different from anything we've discovered before. I hope everyone can take a look and see if you recognize it."
As he spoke, the case was slowly opened, revealing its contents: a shiny, seemingly new silver plate, intricately engraved with various exquisite patterns.
"According to the information we gathered, this item was excavated from a coal mine in the Saxony region of central Germany, where it had been concealed within the coal seams," President Charles explained as everyone stepped forward to examine the object.
"We know that many artifacts come with incredible legends, but those stories aren't necessarily true. Therefore, these legends should only be taken as references."
No matter where in the world you are, items related to religion and mysticism often come with a host of legends, most of which are embellishments by later generations.
Among these, the most commonly preserved to this day are Christian relics, such as fragments of the True Cross, the Holy Grail, the Holy Blood, and saints' relics.
However, if you carefully examine these so-called relics, you'll find that neither their history nor their content matches up. It's clear that they were forgeries created during the Middle Ages for personal gain.
For instance, in southern Germany, some so-called saints' relics were scientifically tested, only to reveal that they were nothing more than ancient Egyptian mummies from the Middle Kingdom period.
This means that these items are certainly not what people claim them to be—Christian relics—since Christianity didn't even exist at that time, and these mummies could not possibly be Christian saints.
Therefore, while President Charles valued the artifact treasured by the Thule Society, he wasn't overly concerned, as past experience had taught them that many mystical items were full of falsehoods.
The real reason for presenting the item wasn't because it held intrinsic significance, but rather because it might provide clues about the Thule Society. They wanted to pool their knowledge to see if anyone had any insights.
However, as Liang En examined the object closely, he was stunned. The material of the plate was identical to the mithril described in the inheritance he had received.
This magical metal, although almost indistinguishable from silver according to modern physics, had a noticeable difference to someone with extraordinary abilities like Liang En. He could clearly see a blue glow emanating from the plate that others couldn't detect—a glow that only objects imbued with extraordinary power would emit.
"How is this possible?" Liang En muttered to himself, his voice barely audible. He had always believed that he was the only one in this world who possessed extraordinary powers, but now it seemed that the situation was far more complicated than he had previously imagined.
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