From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 435 The Blood of Losanda
The grease in the brown glass bottle slowly seeped into the crevices of the base of the Losanda statue, providing lubrication for the gear parts that had rusted together due to years of neglect.

Karak quickly turned the statue in the correct direction.

After a series of clanging sounds, a stone wall rose from behind the wooden barrels piled in the corner, revealing a doorway just wide enough for one person to pass through.

All adventurers know that this must be the secret passage leading to the Blood of Losanda.

The monks built such an elaborate underground structure, yet they still felt it wasn't safe.

The dusty steps continued downwards, where another heavy double iron gate blocked the way. On the gate, the slightly faded metal formed the emblem of Los Santos—a sun rising above the horizon.

The passageway behind the Gate of Dawn was not damaged by the Gisyanki and is therefore well preserved. The corridor is full of metal decorations with distinctive Losanda religious characteristics, braziers and door lintels. Above the door lintels are pure white mosaic glass, which together form the image of the high priest of the Losanda Church, the Lord of Dawn.

As the adventurers stepped through the gate, the dormant brazier was suddenly lit, and layers of golden light formed barriers that divided the passage into different sections, separating the divine blood of Losanda from the adventurers.

"Is this the tight defense measures mentioned in the letter?" Xie Nian looked up suspiciously. The rhomboid crystals, emitting a soft glow, were arranged into a simple pattern by metal and hung openly next to the blazing brazier.

"Placing the solar barrier's power source in such a conspicuous location is practically an invitation for us to sabotage it," Gale thought, finding the design very strange.

The metal gate, adorned with a mosaic lintel of the Dawn Lord, was shrouded in a golden magical barrier. Given Losanda's title as the God of Dawn, everyone believed that the barrier would unleash a scorching power like the sun.

In Ivy's arcane vision, the energy pathway of the solar barrier was indeed connected to the device hanging next to the brazier, a protective measure that even a child could figure out how to break.

“Should I take it apart?” Leezel raised his bow and arrow, seeking Ivy’s opinion. “That thing doesn’t look very sturdy; one arrow will take care of it.”

"Leave it to me. I think this is a good research subject." Ivy summoned two mage hands, used magic to cut off the power supply pipe, and carefully took down the power supply device hanging next to the brazier.

The power supply unit has a brass metal base with three diamond-shaped crystals inserted on top. The energy in the crystals is directed to the gate through pipes on the base. Simply destroying the power supply unit or removing the crystals will automatically dissipate the solar barrier blocking the way.

After examining it closely, Ivy concluded that the overall design of the power supply was still based on the emblem of Losanda. The three diamond-shaped crystals symbolized the radiance of the sun at dawn, suggesting that it was a solar-powered device that utilized sunlight.

“Very good, let’s move on.” Ivy nodded in satisfaction. If he could successfully reverse engineer this technology of the Church of Losanda, he might be able to create a legion of golems powered by solar energy.

"Do you need me to hold it for you?" Although she asked for his opinion, Karak had already placed her hand on the brass casing of the power supply, which resembled a lamp holder. "I will be very careful."

“Thank you then, Karak. The more important thing is these three crystals; I’ll use magic to lighten your weight.” After casting a levitation spell, Ivy followed the others through the first door.

Leading the way was still Evil Thoughts, an expert in picking locks and disarming traps, and a fanatical interest in the treasures buried deep in tombs and labyrinths.

However, this interest did not lower her guard. She had just passed through the barrier and disappeared through the gate when she reached out to stop Lyezel beside her: "There's a trap!"

From the moment you enter the Gate of Dawn, one of the walls in the corridor disappears, replaced by a bottomless abyss.

Opposite the bottomless abyss, in the middle of the corridor, there is a metal structure connected to the pillars. Like the other objects in the Losanda Temple, it has a strong religious character.

The monks of Losanda used brass rings and spokes to create a radiant sun shape. At the center and base of this sun was the same material as the crystal power source. It was this detail that made the evil thought stop.

She flicked the hidden blade from her hand, pried a brick off the ground, and threw it in the middle of the passageway.

For a few seconds after the bricks hit the ground, nothing happened, but the evil thought still prevented Leezel from passing.

Sure enough, the brass sun in the middle of the corridor suddenly triggered a strong shockwave, sending the bricks that the evil thought had thrown earlier flying. They crashed heavily against the mountain wall, turning into a pile of fresh construction debris.

If a person had been standing where the brick had just been, they would probably have been thrown into the abyss by now.

“This is finally starting to get interesting.” The evil thought turned to look at Ivy. “Are you going to stay and study this too?”

"It's just converting energy into shockwaves, nothing particularly novel. As long as the crystal in the middle is preserved intact, that's fine." Ivy was very interested in this crystal and decided to collect more as samples.

“Other thieves definitely couldn’t do this. But me… hehe.” Xie Nian confidently rubbed her nose and popped out the tools that Ivy had installed in the prosthetic arm one by one. She was already quite skilled at using the multi-purpose prosthetic arm, and the metal that Ivy had carefully crafted was obviously superior in strength and toughness to the brass that the Losanda monks used to make the Dawnbreaker traps.

In no time, the evil thought had dismantled the core of the Dawnbreaker Trap and led everyone into the second corridor.

It's the same familiar formula, the same familiar setting.

This time, however, the monks of Losanda placed the solar barrier's functional components behind the door.

But this still couldn't stop the adventurers who were skilled at scaling walls and climbing high and low. After using magic to help the evil thoughts take a slightly different route, the solar barriers in the last two sections of the corridor disappeared, and Ivy obtained even more crystal samples.

“Finally…” Asdallen sighed as he stepped onto the last step. “That must be the artifact we’ve been searching for, right? I can feel its gentle power, like the most beautiful morning light of the day.” “You’ve only just left the sunlight, and you’re already missing it? As a vampire descendant, you actually like the sun.” Minsara leaned against the stone pedestal of Losanda. Although she had been living under the sun as a drow for quite some time, she still couldn’t feel any affection for this fireball that always emitted golden light. “This team certainly doesn’t lack oddballs.”

The Blood of Losanda was placed on a gleaming golden circular platform, the brass decorations on the ground still forming the shape of a sun. At the center of the sun pattern, radiating a soft light, was a gleaming golden mace. Behind the mace was a doorway-like structure, but apart from a small foothold, there was no room to move forward.

The ornate mace floated in its metal base, bathed in a dazzling beam of light. At the junction of its handle and the hammerhead, a fist-sized piece of amber, speckled with deep red, was fixed in metal and was now radiating its own light.

The amber contains the blood of Losanda, the blood of the Lord of Dawn himself.

It seems to have maintained this form for a long time, waiting for a qualified person to lift it up, take it to achieve great things, and strike at Los Santos's mortal enemy.

Unfortunately, it was met by Ivy, a mage with a deep-seated curiosity about anything unusual. If this sacred mace had fallen into his hands, the only outcome would have been that it would have become expendable material for Ivy's research into the divinity and power of Losanda.

"Be careful!" Yingxin couldn't help but say to Ivy, who was reaching into the golden light to retrieve the blood of Losanda, "The Losanda monks' letter mentioned protective measures that could destroy the entire building, but we haven't encountered anything yet! Don't let your guard down!"

Ivy smiled reassuringly at the half-elf: "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Having said that, Ivy no longer hesitated, reaching into the light and grasping the metal handle of the mace.

An unknown force was maintaining the original posture of the mace, creating a counterforce against the force with which Ivy had taken it out.

Although Ivy was only a spellcaster with 13 strength, she was not exactly weak and easily took it out.

But the change occurred after Ivy took the blood of Losanda from the pillar of light.

The metal ring on the floor, symbolizing the sun's radiance, suddenly rose up, projecting an orange barrier that separated Ivy and the other adventurers.

The metal ring above the dome, which also represents the sun, detached from the ceiling and rapidly deformed above the base where the blood of Losanda was stored, forming a universal structure with three nested rings.

This structure is common in celestial globes and globes, usually used to simulate the circular orbits of planets. But here, it is a special device for guiding solar energy.

"Get out of there! DOOM!" Minsara, who had been leaning against the stone statue below the platform, rushed to the outside of the orange barrier, pounding the magical barrier with her arm covered in adamantite, while shouting to attract Ivy's attention, "Use your damn magic! Or use your brain! Tell us what to do!"

The sound of machinery echoed in the cave dug by devout believers. Four more pillars rose from the abyss around the circular platform, each topped with a crystal for power. The light they emitted was constantly increasing in brightness, soon becoming indistinguishable from real sunlight.

"The emblem! Use that emblem!" Shadowheart had already arrived outside the barrier that had locked Ivy inside. Her mind was racing, and she had already connected it to the Rose Morning Emblem she had found in the stained-glass hall. "There must be somewhere we can use it! Maybe it's shaped like a keyhole!"

Ivy remained still, simply looking up at the constantly rotating omnidirectional wheel above.

The light emanating from the surrounding crystal pillars was no different from, or even more dazzling than, the midday sun. They all projected beams of light that were blinding, towards the omnidirectional wheel above Ivy's head.

After being gathered and transformed by the omnidirectional wheel, a brighter beam of light suddenly shot out, extending into the doorway that had previously led to the void.

Like shattered golden glass, the seemingly empty door turned out to be an energy portal, redirecting the high-heat beams extending into it a second time, heading straight for the large mechanical device that had stood atop the Guichen Monastery for a long time, now covered in vines and moss.

The device looks like a giant telescope made up of gears and a turntable, except that where the lenses were originally placed, there are now several cone-shaped crystals with low transparency.

Driven by the gears, the tip of the conical crystal now points towards the Crimson Monastery, towards Ivy Doom, who is trapped inside the Sun Barrier and holds the Losanda Relic.

This is not an astronomical telescope, but a magical cannon used to guide the sun's violent energy—the Dawn Cannon of Losanda!

"We should run!" The adventurers scattered across the circular platform had already felt the immense threat posed by the Dawn Cannon, but it was Asdalon, who had been longing for the sunlight, who first raised this point. "Ivy is powerful; he'll definitely find a way to survive, but we might not!"

Before Mingsala and Yingxin could voice their objections, Asderon quickly explained, "At least the evil thoughts must escape! That way, we can resurrect others from the gravedigger! It only costs two hundred gold coins, and we can even steal them back to buy another person's life!"

Gale, who had been resurrected multiple times, didn't say much. He took out several bundles of scrolls from his satchel and tossed them to the equally anxious Evil Thought: "Scrolls of the Mysterious Steps! You'll need them! Asdallen was right! You should run as far as you can!"

Without a word, the evil spirit who took the magic scroll turned around immediately, but she had only run a few steps when she heard her companions arguing behind her.

"Are you serious? Are you trying to scare us all to death?" Border Blade rolled his eyes dramatically, stopping his actions of guiding the sect leader's power. He had already figured out that the crystals at the top of the four pillars were the power supply devices for the Dawn Cannon, and was about to use magic energy blasts to identify them one by one. But just a second before the force field ray was activated, the crystals at the top of the pillars suddenly stopped, no longer gathering the high-heat solar beams.

Ivy had already inserted the previously obtained Dawn Emblem into the groove of the metal base, terminating the activation process of the Dawn Cannon.

“Sorry,” Ivy apologized insincerely, “I was just trying to observe how it worked. You know what? I suddenly had a brilliant idea. If these facilities were originally intended to destroy the Crimson Dawn Monastery to bury the thieves under the ruins, why don’t we direct that force at the foundations of the Moonrise Tower?”

(End of this chapter)