Behind the door was a very short corridor, ending in a stone chamber.
The stone chamber was not large, capable of holding only about ten people. The four walls were covered in ice crystals, and the temperature inside was much lower than outside.
In the center stood a short stone pillar. Atop the pillar rested a fist-sized blue crystal, with a pale-green magic barrier enveloping it and masking its aura.
Loviki stepped closer, carefully examining the crystal. “Is this the source of the frost-steel ore in this dungeon? It just looks like a slightly larger blue crystal.”
Chen Mian reached his hand toward the green barrier. The moment his finger touched it, the pale-green light rippled outward like water before the entire barrier slowly dissipated, revealing the ice-blue crystal inside.
The crystal was an irregular polyhedron, its surface covered in fine, natural patterns.
The moment the barrier vanished, the temperature in the chamber plummeted. A fine mist filled the air, and a bone-chilling cold instantly spread throughout the room.
“So cold,” Loviki said, wrapping her clothes tighter around herself.
Chen Mian picked up the crystal. The instant his fingers touched its surface, another hidden green energy barrier slowly dissolved, and ice-blue patterns of light lit up from deep within the crystal.
But in the next instant, they quickly dimmed as Chen Mian used magic to seal the blue crystal off from the outside world once more.
“There's a note underneath,” Flora said, pointing to the base of the stone pillar where the blue crystal had sat. A folded piece of parchment lay there.
Chen Mian stored the crystal in his storage space, picked up the parchment, and unfolded it.
【Oh my, you got it! Congratulations, lucky adventurer! This Frost-Steel Core is something I found deep within the icy abyss of the Far North back in the day. That place... let alone adventurers, even snow monsters don't want to go there. It took me half a day to borrow it from an ice dragon!】
【You ask what I wanted it for? Just boredom, really! It was convenient! It's actually quite good for freezing fruit and wine!】
【Of course, this core is capable of far more than just refrigeration. It can nurture frost-steel ore. If you place it in an area with minerals, frost-steel ore will slowly condense around it over a few years. If left long enough, the entire mining area will turn into a frost-steel vein! Of course, it's yours now, so you can do whatever you want with it~】
【Well, now that the origin and use of the Frost-Steel Core are out of the way, I have a question for you next. Just write your answer on the paper using magic.】
The handwriting suddenly became much neater, as if the person writing these words had experienced a shift in mood.
【Why do you learn magic? In pursuit of power? To protect those you cherish? Or... simply because everyone else is learning magic, so you mindlessly followed suit?】
【I have lived for a very, very long time—so long that I can't remember my own age. My initial purpose for cultivating was simple: to extend the blooming period of the windbell flowers my mother planted. Later, it was for a better life. After that, to be revered by others... and finally, to live forever.】
【My goals were always changing, but in truth, the immortality I ultimately pursued is incredibly boring. It even feels like a curse. There is too much time, so much that it's inexhaustible. Things I did hundreds of years ago are forgotten, only to be done all over again once they're forgotten, like spinning in place.】
【So is this really what I wanted? To become stronger, I traveled everywhere. The people I met along my journey aged and passed away one by one, while I seemed to remain frozen in place forever. My perception of time has grown increasingly numb. Perhaps I'll just spend some time on a bit of research out of boredom, and in that span, a friend will have aged from a young girl into an old crone.】
【So, I want to ask the adventurer who obtains this core: take a moment to think, what was your original intention when you began cultivating magic?】
The writing stopped there, changing no further.
Silence lingered in the stone chamber for a long time.
Loviki stared at the words. She didn't speak, simply gazing quietly at those few lines of text as she fell into thought.
Standing beside her, Flora fell into deep thought as well.
Loviki turned her head to look at Flora. “What do you think? Is immortality really that lonely?”
Flora looked up, her gaze falling on the floating lines of text. “I only spent twenty-two years in the secret realm, but I can understand that... feeling of time stretching out. Every day is the same: waking up, cultivating, eating, sleeping. There is nothing new, and no waves. If life had to be lived like that forever, then I think immortality would indeed be very lonely.”
She paused, her lips curving into a tiny smile. “But if it's days like the ones we're having now, I actually wouldn't be afraid.”
Chen Mian picked up the parchment, wrote his answer on it using mana, and then folded it back up and returned it to its place.
“Let's go,” he said, taking the lead toward the exit.
“Hey! What did you write?” Loviki followed behind him, taking two steps before looking back at the parchment resting on the short stone pillar.
“Take a guess.”
Flora withdrew her gaze, a slight smile gracing her lips as she quickened her pace to catch up with the person ahead. “What did Mr. Chen Mian write, after all?”
“You guess, too.”
The three of them returned the way they came, navigating the complex corridors of the dungeon's third floor.
By now, some of the adventurers in the dungeon had already left, and campfires were even scarcer. There was only the dim yellow glow from the magic lamps on both sides of the corridors, and the huddled groups of weary adventurers sitting outside the stone chambers. Of course, some adventurers had pitched tents inside the stone chambers.
These adventurer parties were generally experienced and confident in their own strength. After all, with such a heinous incident having occurred just last night, there was no telling when the culprit hiding in the dungeon might strike again.
“Let's rest for today,” Chen Mian said, looking at both sides of the corridor. “We'll enter the fourth floor tomorrow.”
Loviki nodded. Drawing out the criminal organization hidden on this floor was one aspect, but after walking the entire day, she was indeed quite tired.
Their decision drew a bit of attention from the nearby adventurers, but no one said much.
The three of them found an empty stone chamber in a less crowded area.
The chamber was reasonably spacious, with only some dry straw and loose gravel on the stone floor.
Chen Mian raised his hand and carved a very faint rune onto the doorframe, which could roughly withstand an attack from a Platinum Rank adventurer.
Then, he took out some mats from his storage space and spread them across the floor.
“Will they really take the bait like this?” Loviki asked softly.
“I suppressed both my own and Flora's auras. On the surface, you are the strongest magic user here. You didn't cover your face outside just now. If it's a criminal organization, they'll definitely have information on you. If they can't even resist the temptation of frost-steel ore, how could they pass up the opportunity to kidnap a genius young lady like you and demand benefits from the Lawrence Family?” Chen Mian answered as he laid out the mats.
Loviki nodded.
“When we first met, you pretended to be a Black Iron Rank adventurer, and now you're posing as Gold Rank with Flora.” Loviki squatted down to help clear away the gravel on the floor, then looked up at Chen Mian in slight confusion. “Posing as Gold Rank adventurers is to lure the criminal organization into taking the bait. But when we first met, why did you pretend to be a novice?”
Flora stopped packing her bag and looked toward Chen Mian, her curiosity piqued as well.
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