Chapter 160 The Signature
Aleshia turned at the sound of Kailey's voice. "Yeah, I found something intriguing," she replied, stemming her mana to prevent the circle from activating. "Look at this small magic circle here," Aleshia said, gesturing toward the ink on the desk.
Kailey followed Aleshia's gaze and noticed the magic circle she had mentioned. "It looks like a brand or something over the magic circle. If I could take a closer look, maybe I could identify the maker," Kailey speculated.
Aleshia gave Kailey the tool she held and said, "Take a look at this. It's the device that copied the magic circle over there. At one of the ends, there's an engraving of the circle, along with what I assume is the maker's signature."
Kailey followed Aleshia's instructions and turned the tool over until she found the end with the engraving. She noticed a strange sheen on the surface and asked, "What's this shiny liquid in the impression?"
"The shiny liquid is a mana-infused ink," Aleshia said as she picked up a bottle from the desk and held it out to Kailey. "Here, take this."
Kailey took the bottle and handed back the tool, examining it closely. She poked a finger inside, and when she withdrew it, she noticed that it had the same sheen as the magic circle tool Aleshia had given her. Having confirmed it, Kailey placed the bottle back on the table and returned to inspect the signature on the magic circle tool. After contemplating for a moment, she made a sound of recognition.
"I've seen a signature like this before. It was on another artifact with a similar engraving that I found, although it was from a different ruin and appeared much older. I tried researching the signature on the artifact and discovered that it belonged to a long-dead artificer. I can't recall their name, but I remember learning that they were said to have created many items long ago. There are no signs of them producing new artifacts anymore, which suggests that they are no longer alive, and their works have been considered rare and valuable," Kailey told Aleshia.
A spark of greed flickered in Kailey's mind. 'Is it possible for us to bring items from this 'soul space' into the real world? If we could do that, we would have two identical items existing in the same space—we could keep or sell the real one while still using the powers of the fake.' Kailey's thoughts continued to swirl as she considered the implications. 'Since this place is a replica of somewhere I've been before, everything we've discovered here must be real.' She was particularly excited by the thought of duplicating rare books