Jellyfish Town.
Evelyn's ruins.
Bang!
Another black stone wall was pierced by an invisible attack, shattering with a loud boom to leave a massive hole.
Leon walked at the very front, stepping through the newly made breach in the wall.
Behind him, Titus, Ratahn, and the others followed closely, their expressions somewhat numb.
This was the first time they had ever explored ruins like this.
Normally, the process of exploring ruins involved gathering intelligence beforehand and confirming the era of the ruins.
Then, alchemical golems would be sent in first to scout out a relatively safe path and clear any traps that might be present.
Finally, fully armed explorers would advance along the secured path until they found the treasures within.
Yet, following Leon to explore the ruins was nothing like that.
The actual process of following Leon went like this:
Encounter a black stone wall? Tear it down!
Encounter a layer of packed earth blocking a room? Smash it open!
Encounter enemies? Kill them!
Sometimes, an enemy would still be over a hundred meters away, separated by several rooms.
But before the enemy could even sense their presence, Leon would shoot an invisible arrow in that direction.
A few seconds later, the arrow would pierce through multiple walls and hit the target dead-on.
At the same time, the arrow would carry an seemingly unquenchable Sacred Flame, incinerating every enemy in that room.
By the time Leon led them into the room, nothing remained but a pile of burnt alchemical parts, with not an enemy in sight.
This relentless rampage left Titus and the newly joined Limit warriors completely dumbfounded.
“Is Young Master Leon not worried about exhausting his mental power?”
One Limit warrior finally could not help but whisper to his companion.
The other Limit warrior was also wondering about this, but looking at Leon's face, there was absolutely no sign of the weakness that came from overexerting one's mental power.
There was only a calm demeanor, as if he were simply eating or drinking water.
“Perhaps... that is what a genius is...”
The other warrior could not figure it out either, so he could only attribute it all to Leon's extraordinary talent.
Boom!
After blasting through yet another black stone wall, Leon led the group out of the labyrinth and finally entered the true interior of the ruins.
Upon entering, the concentration of the mana mist surged dramatically, to the point that Ratahn and the other Bronze rank warriors began to show slight signs of Mana Intoxication.
“Use your Battle Qi to resist the mana surge!”
Sensing that something was wrong, Ratahn quickly circulated his Battle Qi to protect his body and resist the mana's influence.
Hearing this, the other lower-ranked warriors followed suit, using their Battle Qi to shield themselves.
Even Titus and the other Silver rank warriors activated their Battle Qi after feeling a slight discomfort.
Only Leon remained entirely unbothered, continuing to walk through the thick mana mist.
“Judging by the concentration of mana, we should be close to the mana focus.”
Leon's perception extended outward as he led the group forward.
After entering the inner ruins, the surrounding walls were no longer made of black stone.
Instead, they had transitioned into rooms constructed from pure white moonrock.
Even after a thousand years, the layout of the rooms still faintly hinted at their original functions.
One room, scattered with parts and featuring a research table, was likely Evelyn's laboratory.
Another room, packed with parts, alchemical equipment, and creations, resembled a dedicated alchemical storage room.
There were also magic laboratories, living quarters, and a crop room where plants still grew under the protection of a magic circle even after a millennium.
The entire ruins looked like a miniature estate, complete with everything one could possibly need.
Leon had no interest in these things. He continued forward and finally perceived a strange fissure in the floor of a room ahead.
“Is this... the mana focus?”
Leon frowned, leading the group into the room where the fissure lay.
On the outer walls of this room, complex and mysterious magical patterns were engraved, forming a special magic circle.
At the top of this magic circle, an energy storage unit was connected, transmitting the mana inside to areas further back through thick mana transmission lines.
Additionally, a magic screen was mounted at the top, flashing with a red warning light.
【Abnormal stored mana detected!】
【Suspected mana contamination at the focus!】
【Please activate the mana purification device immediately! Please activate the mana purification device immediately! Please activate the mana purification device immediately!】
On the magic screen, the text written in the common tongue glowed red, as if warning anyone who looked at it.
However, after a thousand years, Evelyn was long dead, and there was no one else in the entire ruins besides Leon and his group.
“No, Evelyn's friend came to organize her research findings.”
Leon's eyes flickered as he noticed a key detail:
“Suspected mana contamination at the focus... When did this contamination occur?”
It certainly wasn't a thousand years ago when Evelyn was still alive.
Had she seen the warning, Evelyn would have surely activated the mana purification device.
Nor could it have been a month ago. If the contaminated mana had been channeled into the protective barrier, the barrier would have been eroded by the contaminated energy and quickly decayed.
A month ago, the gap in the ruins' barrier had appeared because the magic circle had deteriorated with age.
If it had been mana erosion, the magic barrier could not have lasted so long without collapsing.
Therefore...
“It happened within this past month!”
Leon recalled the mana surge from over half a month ago, which had driven the dragon into a frenzy and caused it to attack Stormveil City.
He also thought of the Black and White Hand's scheme. The goal of their operation was to destroy the mana-sensing devices and prevent the magic research team from investigating the cause of the abnormal mana surge...
“Did the Black and White Hand deliberately contaminate the mana?”
Leon frowned again.
If they were behind it, what was their motive?
Even if no one noticed at first, the moment the contaminated mana was absorbed by a mage or any magic circle, someone would definitely detect the anomaly.
Trying to cover it up by simply destroying the mana-sensing devices... wasn't that a bit too naive?
He turned it over in his mind, but with the current information, he still couldn't determine if the mana contamination was indeed the work of the Black and White Hand, let alone figure out their ultimate goal.
Ultimately, Leon decided to stop thinking about it.
If the sky fell, the tall folks would hold it up. He was just a sweet, innocent sixteen-year-old boy who had been a priest for less than a year.
No matter what went wrong, it wasn't his job to step up and save the day, right?
“I'll write a letter to the old man once I get back...”
Leon decided to dump the problem straight onto the Sage King.
Having made his decision, he expanded his perception and located the so-called 【mana purification device】 in a corner of the room.
However, under the erosion of a thousand years, this 【mana purification device】 had also malfunctioned.
The internal magic circle's pathways were broken. Although they seemed like minor breaks, it was not something a group of priests, bloodline warriors, and thieves could repair.
Come to think of it, my team really is lacking a powerful mage...
Leon thought to himself.
He would have to find an opportunity to capture a few talented mages like Pokémon to join his team...
Wait, actually, there was a mage in the team.
Leon turned his gaze toward Scott and asked:
“Do you know how to repair this magic circle?”
Scott shook his head awkwardly. “Mana purification magic is within the domain of the Silver rank. I'm only a Bronze rank mage, and... to be honest, my talent in magic isn't very high...”
Well, then.
There was nothing to hesitate about.
Leon ignored the contaminated mana focus and continued deeper into the ruins.
Since no one could resolve it right now, they would have to wait until they left the ruins and let Tobias and the others take a look.
Rate on N.U.
