Sutton then shook his head, a rare look of solemnity appearing in his single eye.
“That kind of thing, I’ve only heard of it.”
His voice was kept very low, as if mentioning some kind of taboo.
“There are very few people... who have actually seen it with their own eyes.”
The eerie blue glow of the cold-light stones in the passage flickered slightly, casting the long, distorted shadows of the three men. The air was still thick with the dusty scent left behind by the collapsed earth golem, mixed with a faint, lingering earthy-yellow energy fluctuation.
Hearing this, Matthew felt a jolt in his heart.
He subconsciously lowered his head and looked at the cloth pouch in his hand.
The mouth of the pouch was slightly open, and two medium magic stones lay quietly inside, their faint earthy-yellow glow leaking through the gaps like two compressed, sealed fires of energy.
His breathing accelerated slightly.
Two medium magic stones, plus thirty ordinary magic stones. Just roughly converting their value in his mind made Matthew's fingertips tingle.
This was already close to the value of fifty ordinary magic stones.
Fifty magic stones.
To a true Official Wizard, this number might be nothing, but to a newly advanced Second-Grade Apprentice who usually had to budget carefully even for experimental materials, it was a massive fortune capable of completely changing his cultivation progress.
Ordinary apprentices often had to risk taking on academy missions, processing materials for others, or even hunting low-level monsters just to save up a single magic stone.
Yet now—with just a single exploration of the ruins, and just a single life-threatening battle—the resources he had obtained already surpassed his total accumulation over the past few years.
This stark contrast gave Matthew a sense of unreality.
It felt as if he were still lingering in that cold, cramped stone room at the academy, worrying about his next experimental potion, rather than standing deep inside an ancient tomb, holding a staggeringly valuable share of the spoils.
Sutton clearly noticed his emotional state.
The one-eyed apprentice let out a low, raspy chuckle.
“Don't think this is an exaggeration.”
He reached out and took a medium magic stone from Matthew's hand, slowly rubbing it in his palm.
Under the cold blue light, faint streams of energy seemed to spin slowly inside the magic stone.
“You're still just a Second-Grade Apprentice, so your demand for high-quality magic stones isn't that deep yet. Once you truly start conducting complex experiments, brewing official potions, or constructing stable magic circles...”
He paused, raising his single eye.
“You'll understand why this stuff is so expensive.”
Herbert also spoke up flatly:
“The energy in ordinary magic stones is mixed and unstable. If the mana output fluctuates even slightly halfway through many experiments—”
“Bang.”
He spoke with absolute calmness, even raising his hand to mimic an explosion.
“The materials will be completely ruined. In worse cases, you'll lose your life as well.”
Matthew's eyelids twitched slightly.
Sutton took over, his tone deep:
“But medium magic stones are different.”
He tapped the surface of the magic stone gently with his finger.
“The mana purity inside is higher, and the storage capacity is deeper. Most importantly—they are stable.”
“When conducting experiments, many Third-Grade Apprentices would rather pay three or five times the price than use low-quality magic stones. This is because the loss from a single failed experiment is often far greater than the cost of a few magic stones.”
Matthew nodded slowly.
He finally truly realized what the items in his hands represented.
This was not just wealth, but his future—his ticket to higher-level experiments and knowledge.
Then, his gaze involuntarily fell upon another item.
The two dark-silver metal plates.
Compared to the magic stones, he actually cared more about this.
Since earlier, he had vaguely felt a very peculiar energy connection existing inside them.
Even though they had been detached from the earth golem, that faint, elusive sense of resonance had not completely dissipated.
It was as if some kind of “activity” still lingered within.
Matthew couldn't help but ask in a low voice:
“What about these? What kind of material is this exactly?”
Hearing this, Sutton's expression became noticeably more serious than before.
He remained silent for a couple of seconds before reaching out to take one of the metal plates.
Under the cold light, dense, natural patterns appeared on the dark-silver surface. They did not look like artificial carvings, but rather resembled biological meridians.
Sutton's finger slowly traced along those patterns.
“Strictly speaking... it shouldn't be considered a pure metal.”
Matthew was slightly startled.
“Not a metal?”
“It's more like a linking substance.”
“Linking?”
“Yes,” Sutton nodded.
“You can think of it as—energy nerves. The reason an earth golem can move doesn't just rely on its core. What truly allows energy to circulate throughout its body and drive every part are these interlocking structures.”
He raised the dark-silver metal plate as he spoke.
“Just like the blood vessels and nerves in a human body. Without them, no matter how powerful the energy in the core is, it's nothing more than a dead object.”
Matthew's eyes gradually brightened as he listened.
Alchemy, puppets, and energy transmission—these terms rapidly connected in his mind.
Sutton continued:
“The greatest characteristic of this material is its extremely strong mana conductivity, and it is incredibly stable. Similar structures are used inside many alchemical devices, puppet cores, and enchanted weapons. This is especially true when multiple parts need to operate in coordination.”
At this moment, Herbert suddenly added flatly:
“For truly expensive alchemy puppets, the value of the internal linking materials alone can equal an advanced spell model.”
Matthew's heart leaped violently.
An advanced spell model was something only Third-Grade Apprentices, or even some Fourth-Grade Apprentices, could access.
In other words—the value of the two items in his hands might far exceed those two medium magic stones.
At this thought, he looked down at the dark-silver metal plates in his palm.
The fine patterns on the surface gleamed with a faint, eerie glow in the dim light.
As his Spirit gently touched them, an extremely weak but heavy and stable fluctuation vaguely emanated from within, like a slow pulse beating deep underground.
Matthew's heart rate quickened slightly.
This thing... was probably even more precious than he had imagined.
He carefully stowed the metal plates away, his movements even gentler than when he had packed the magic stones.
On the other side, Sutton and Herbert had already begun processing the rest of the ruined stone puppets.
Although those things were not as valuable as the giant golem, they were still worth quite a bit.
Their movements were swift and practiced.
Clearly, this was not their first time doing this.
Herbert lifted half of a stone arm with one hand and held his short blade in the other, precisely cutting at the interlocking joint.
With the sound of falling rock fragments, a fist-sized reinforced rock block with a grayish-yellow glow inside was extracted.
Sutton squatted on the other side, carefully peeling away a few runic fragments that were not completely destroyed from the shattered chest cavity.
Faint traces of mana still lingered on the edges of those fragments.
“Don't look down on these,” Sutton said as he gathered the runic fragments.
“Some alchemists specifically buy these ancient runic fragments at high prices. Their research value is far higher than the materials themselves.”
Herbert snorted softly:
“Only if you can understand them.”
Sutton grinned.
“Even if you can't, you can still sell them for money.”
The atmosphere among the three had noticeably eased compared to when they had first entered the tomb, especially after having gone through that fierce battle together.
A subtle sense of trust was gradually forming.
Once the entire burial chamber hall was thoroughly searched and they confirmed that no hidden compartments or interstitial spaces had been missed, the three of them finally stopped their movements.
...
...
Rate on N.U.
