Ever since the underground fortress trip, Liang En and his companions began accessing the most confidential secrets of the Golden Dawn, primarily involving a series of records on various extraordinary entities. However, the final confirmation of genuinely extraordinary items was rare—perhaps only one in thirty or forty—while the remainder were mostly doubtful.
Among these doubtful items, most were unique artifacts, placed in certain religious settings, leading to their suspicion. However, using already confirmed extraordinary items, it was quickly determined that these were not of an extraordinary nature.
Another portion consisted of counterfeit items made to imitate extraordinary artifacts. Clearly, in ancient times, anything related to the extraordinary was considered a divine gift, leading to the production of many imitations.
These counterfeits were often easily identified, as the materials used revealed a significant gap compared to the genuine items.
Yet, they never understood one thing—many items, after losing their extraordinary power over time, would become ordinary objects, leading to the oversight of some that were once truly extraordinary.
For instance, a silver plate had been identified as an imitation of a real mundane item because it appeared indistinguishable from an ordinary silver dish.
Only someone like Liang En, who had mastered extraordinary power, could see the unique pale blue glow of mithril emerging from it and discover things that only he could understand.
Because this item was believed to be a counterfeit, it was made available for exchange through merits, otherwise, even someone of Liang En's core status would at most be able to view it.
According to the records, some had speculated that these items had lost their power due to the absence of energy, and attempts were made to recharge them. Unfortunately, without magic, no energy would work.
Upon becoming a core member, Liang En immediately applied to visit the Golden Dawn’s core storeroom, where he studied five items believed to be related to extraordinary powers.
Through his appraisal, he found that four of these items were created by humans on Earth, two of which were mere fabrications.
However, one item was a short sword that had completely lost its power. Unfortunately, this short sword had been on Earth for so long that it had not only lost all its energy but had also rusted into an iron rod.
If not for his inheritance of the alchemist's legacy, Liang En would never have sensed the lingering power within it, let alone identified it.
Afterward, he inquired about the origin of the iron rod and learned that it was excavated from a swamp in the Black Forest of Germany and was previously stored in a finely crafted golden box.
Regrettably, the box was not sealed, allowing swamp water to seep in. Even in the swamp's constant temperature and low-oxygen environment, the short sword had still turned into a piece of scrap iron.
"Next, we need to work towards acquiring that silver plate." After the meeting ended, Liang En immediately shared his findings with his historical aides and then assigned the next tasks.
"So, there is still a trace of the extraordinary. It seems the differences between worlds may be greater than what we see, but fortunately, the overall changes are not too significant," Elizabeth concluded after hearing their accounts.
"However, the next mission won’t be easy. Although the enemy hides like moles, it's undeniable that any organization that has survived for over half a century in such secrecy is not an easy opponent."
"We'll mobilize all available resources for reconnaissance, but I can't guarantee the results. All I can promise is to do our best."
"That’s enough. Although we've indeed built up some power over time, there's still a significant gap compared to the influence the Golden Dawn has accumulated over the past century."
Despite wielding extraordinary power, Liang En was well aware of his own limitations and never arrogant, knowing that this world does not revolve around the extraordinary. At least at his level, it was nearly impossible to use extraordinary power to gain fame and fortune.
This is why he understood the true strength of organizations that had been established for decades or even centuries, leading him to strive for the best possible outcome without being fixated on achieving a specific goal.
Just like now with the task of tracking the Thule Society, he merely sent people out for reconnaissance, while inwardly pinning his hopes on the Golden Dawn.
He knew he was better suited for large-scale search operations, so once the Golden Dawn figured out what the Thule Society was up to, he would be able to complete the task of thwarting their plans.
Fortunately, the situation was unfolding as planned. Despite the Thule Society's best efforts to cover their tracks during the early stages of the search, their objectives were eventually exposed once they began their operations.
At the beginning of February, the Golden Dawn finally confirmed that the Thule Society’s next target was located in Turkey.
"Does anyone know the specific target of their operation?" Upon seeing this intelligence at the Golden Dawn meeting, Liang En raised his hand to voice his concern.
"Turkey is not a small country. If the target area is only narrowed down to Turkey, it would be difficult to determine what the enemy's objective is."
"We've received a concrete lead that the target is in a remote area in northwestern Turkey, near a small village named Bunarbashi at the foot of Hisarlik Mountain."
Nelson, who was in charge of this intelligence, stood up and pointed to the map with a laser pointer, providing a detailed explanation of the intelligence the Golden Dawn had confirmed.
"The enemy obtained the exploration rights to the entire mountain range from the Turks. Given the historical ties between Turkey and Germany from World War I to World War II, we only confirmed their location after they had completed all the formalities."
"—I see." Liang En nodded slightly, then looked at the map with a thoughtful expression. "But what’s in that place that would make them go to such great lengths to conduct excavation work?"
"We haven't gathered much intelligence on that front because those details are only known to the enemy's core members, making it impossible for us to infiltrate," Nelson said, shaking his head somewhat helplessly, before adding as if something had just occurred to him.
"However, we do have an unconfirmed report that someone on their side mentioned they were searching for a relic truly belonging to legend, something capable of completely overturning history."
"Overturn history?" Liang En echoed, deep in thought. "Can you send me the detailed geographical information of the area they are searching?"
"We'll try our best. The area is quite remote, so even Turkey itself doesn’t have much detailed geographical data," Nelson said as he opened a file.
"This is all the intelligence we've gathered. Unless we risk infiltrating the area controlled by the Thule Society, it's unlikely we’ll obtain anything more detailed."
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