There are unknown threats in unknown maps. This is a normal setting in the mind of every player in the free world. The more valuable an adventure place is and where treasures are everywhere, the associated threats will naturally become more and more intense. For serious. This point has also played an important role in the history of the development of Sky City. You can get a glimpse of it by looking at the disgraced faces of the players who constantly enter and exit the teleportation circle in the central square and travel to and from the adventure area of Sky City. However, As time goes by, and players understand and explore this magical city more and more deeply, the mechanical guards that rule the ancient ruins, the cleverly connected magic traps, and the endless mechanisms and devices have become more and more important in the eyes of players and the Council of Mages. Gradually it became less scary.
The mystery after the veil is lifted is no longer a mystery, and the fear of the unknown is naturally quickly eliminated because of the "known" - these situations that should occur, but do not appear in this pioneering team that is about to go deep underground.
"What are you doing?"
The scope of the light moved with the movement of the team, and it also illuminated the corners of every passage the team was passing through extremely clearly. Duan Qing, who was walking at the back of the team, also focused his attention on the same location. Auro, who was behind, seemed to be quite interested in the caution and preparedness he showed at this time: "Are you making any preparations?"
"Yes, be careful when sailing a thousand-year-old ship - this seems to be something you adventurers often say." The movement of 'gesturing' along the rock and soil walls that he passed paused for a moment, and the voice paused and Oro said to Duan Qing responded with a reassuring smile: "Even if this is the last unknown point in the Sky City, we can't relax our vigilance. If a bunch of mechanical guards suddenly appear -"
"The possibility of a large number of mechanical guards hiding here is very small." He interrupted the other party's words, and Xuyu Liushang, who was also following the team, explained in a calm tone: "This is not a geographically strong point, even if it is. , it is not a wise move to deliberately stuff mechanical monsters underground, as that will greatly weaken their power."
"Unless there is something like the giant mechanical snake that once appeared under the wasteland in the core area." Duan Qing also laughed: "But this is not a place where earth-moving mechanical monsters are allowed to move at will. Otherwise, the underground structure and The magic circuit has been destroyed a long time ago, no one would shoot themselves in the foot like this."
"That won't work, what if there is that kind of small mechanical monster." He made a terrifying gesture towards the two people, and Oro described it in an exaggerated manner: "You have never seen that kind of spider-like reptile. How scary are these small machines, they are hard and fast, they can easily jump into people's faces, and then - Katcha."
"Are there any monsters like this?" Duan Qing looked at Xu Yu Liushang and responded in a low voice, "Don't you have a magic shield?"
"Of course, ordinary magic shields can't stop this kind of human-eating mechanical insect swarm." Auro, who was baring his teeth and claws, continued to describe in a lively voice: "It must be at least level six protective magic, or special protection against mechanical monsters. Only magic defense can be achieved! The former Council of Mages suffered a big defeat in front of these monsters, and the spirits of those surviving magicians are a little abnormal... Tsk, tsk, tsk, you definitely don’t want to experience it yourself again."
"If such mechanical creatures really exist, the possibility of them appearing here is very small." Xuyu Liushang pinched his chin and pondered: "To cause effective damage, such clusters of mechanical creatures must form a certain number of scales. That’s right, under the premise that the unknown exploration scope has been reduced to the present, it is impossible for them to be hidden to the point where no one can find it——”
"It doesn't matter, at this time it's my magic clay puppet's turn to appear!"
Reaching out to grab the wall at the edge of the passage, Oro's deliberately amplified voice also sounded in Duan Qing's ears: "Use 'inhuman' to fight 'inhuman' - this is the most suitable and effective way! Earth puppets are not restricted by their bodies, and their strength, agility, and defense capabilities are not compromised. Even if they are destroyed or damaged, they can quickly recover with the addition of elemental power, and they will not feel distressed!"
"This is the enhanced result of my painstaking study and careful design." Speaking of this, Oro Tokavis stretched out his fingers, as if he turned into an enthusiastic salesman: "I even designed Do you want a portable version that has certain automatic recognition and autonomous action capabilities?"
"Uh, no need." Duan Qing took the brunt of the promotion and showed his own wry smile: "If I take away your proud work, won't your protective measures become even less? And as a person For outsiders, if they want to control this kind of clay puppet freely, the conditions must be very complicated and troublesome."
"Don't worry, as long as certain preparations are made, the clay puppet will become a good partner of every magician." The excitement in Oro's expression has not diminished: "As for the quantity... Although it is true that it has not been mass-produced now, but the distribution There must be no problem for either of you! If you don’t want to buy, you can also rent it. The rent is... one thousand gold coins per hour, a friendly price!"
"Is he usually like this?"
Duan Qing, who seemed to be unable to withstand the unbridled sales pitch from the magician in front of him, turned his eyes for help to Shireen Feis behind him with his hands raised: "Your Excellency Shireen, are you too?" Been 'bought his work?"
"Of course not, I'm not an earth magician." What answered him was Shireen's witch hat swinging back and forth as she shook her head, and her indifferent voice that had nothing to do with her: "Magic clay dolls are probably only for those who like to play with earth and rocks. Only guys are interested in designing and researching, and this research direction has never had much prospect in the past Mages Council. Even a great magician of Romulus's level can only increase its power to a 'considerable' level. .”
"The self-proclaimed master of Golemology, right?" Then the murmuring gaze fell on Oro again: "Is it possible that Mr. Oro is also an apprentice under Lord Romulus?"
"Well, that's right." Oro, who was walking in front, finally put away his enthusiasm: "I did practice with that master for a period of time, but whether he thinks highly of my academic skills and level, that's That’s another story…but I’m very grateful for his guidance and help.”
"These remaining traces of magic do have some flavor of Romulus in them." Shireen Faith turned around and glanced at the walls that Oro had moved before: "There is such an earth magician If we follow you in underground operations, the safety will indeed be improved a lot...well."
Her words paused for a moment, just because there were new changes in the illuminated part in front of the passage. Noah Brett, who was in the middle of the team, turned around first and pointed expressionlessly at another corner of the passage ahead. Side deep: "Stop talking nonsense, there is a situation."
"This is...the hall?"
Looking at the square space inside the passage that was gradually illuminated by light and the walls that had obviously been artificially repaired, Duan Qing, who followed the team forward, quickly described the scene he saw in front of him: "In other words, the storage room and warehouse are more To make it more appropriate—are those storage cabinets?”
"Even if it's a storage cabinet, there shouldn't be anything stored in it." Without any fear of unknown danger, Shirin, who kept looking up and down, took the lead in stepping into this area: "Thousands of years have passed. Over time, no matter how hard the metal is, it will be corroded by time, and no matter how good the quality magic gem is, it will turn into pale soil."
"Professionals, they hit the nail on the head." Auro also shook his head and followed into the room. The movement of tracing magic lines did not stop: "Of all the expected discoveries, this result has already been calculated." It’s worse, because there won’t be many valuable things left—well, wait, how come this place hasn’t been discovered before?”
"The magic mechanism shows signs of being destroyed."
Standing up from the corner of the wall where Duan Qing could not see, Oldman Royner, who had always been frivolous, also showed a solemn and serious expression in the light and shadow corner of the square space: "Someone should have arrived before. After passing here, we first explored and searched."
"No wonder you opened the door without much effort." Prad, who was walking at the front of the team, replied with disdain: "It seems that it will be difficult for us to gain anything from this place."
"Thieves only look at those valuable items, and their ability to identify may not be better than ours." Shilin stepped forward and reminded the others in a low voice: "It's better to check those ancient items that are more valuable. Documents and records are not of interest to thieves.”
"The Eye of Truth."
Lowering her head and reciting a spell, Shireen sprinkled a silver-white light on every corner of the underground space. The metal shelves and lifeless metal cabinets arranged in layers were also illuminated by this silver-white magic. There was a hazy light underneath, and some of the messy items placed inside became translucent as if they were covered with a layer of fluorescent powder: "...Okay, let's start searching."
"This team is indeed a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger."
Dragging his feet carefully, he came to one of the corners of the square space. Duan Qing, who had also entered the search state, also met Xue Ling Huan Bing again. He picked up an illuminated magic stone slab in this corner. In his hand, while observing the magic remnants on the stone slab, he said in a low voice: "It is simply too luxurious to use the ninth-level magic 'Eye of Truth' to conduct a blanket search."
"Based on the descriptions and records currently left in the free world, the factions and methods of understanding this magic have never been identified." Looking back at the witch who was directing others to carry out search missions and was busy herself, she squatted The whispers on the ground also lowered their voices: "Only a small number of magicians have understood this mysterious magic and enjoyed the benefits brought by the Eye of Truth - it is said that magicians who have obtained this 'eye' can see The origin of the world, he can easily identify objects and materials, see through the structure of any element, analyze and understand the principles and composition of every magic, he can be said to be a genius among magicians and a conjurer of fate."
"Now we can only pray that this team, including Shilin, has few of our enemies." Duan Qing, who was also secretly observing the others, sighed involuntarily: "I just took advantage of the opportunity to be alone to express my gratitude to you. She hinted that whether we can respond or not depends on our own luck...the same goes for Auro."
"One of Romulus's students - based on this alone, I feel that we have little hope." Xu Yu Liushang said sharply: "This shows that he and Prad are at least from the same sect."
"Fighting an earth magician in this kind of space is no different from committing suicide."
Reluctantly, he temporarily put away the magic slate in his hand, and Duan Qingyang pretended to pick up the remains of a mechanical device that fell at his feet: "It's a pity that this place has been trampled over again, whether it's enemy units or traps. They’ve all been cleared out, otherwise we might be able to make some use of them.”
"A trap of this level should not play a decisive role." Shaking his head, Xu Yu Liushang continued to judge the chips between the enemy and ourselves under the assumed conditions: "Aren't you also an earth magician? In the same situation In a confrontation in the environment, these advantages should be equally effective for you, right?"
"I'm not a brother who specializes in earth and stone control. My fine control of magic can only work within a very small range." It seemed that the inspection was completed, and Duan Qing dropped the remains of the mechanism in his hand on the ground: "Compared to professionals like these people, you can say that I am inherently at a disadvantage - well, what are you looking at?"
"Is this... magic text on it?" He had already picked up another magic stone slab from the corner. He pointed at the neat magic lines emerging on it and asked, "Do you understand?"
"..."
With an expression of disbelief on his face, Duan Qing took the magic stone slab from the opponent's hand. The ancient magic lines that appeared on the stone slab were also arranged in rows in the entanglement and combination of each other. It looked like Like words trying to convey meaning: "This is -"
"Magic runes."
A low voice appeared in the ears of the two of them. Shireen Feis, who walked up to them at some point, pointed to the slate in Duan Qing's hand and explained in a low voice: "It's the same as the slate we found on the other side, with all the inscriptions on it. With the same magic runes."
"Can magic runes be used as written records?" Duan Qing, who was stunned for a long time, subconsciously asked the biggest question in his heart: "Those ghostly symbols... Ahem, I mean those runes actually have their own meaning?"
"As long as it is a 'mark', it naturally has its own 'meaning'. This is common sense and is also a treasure for exploring civilization and history." Xilin looked at Duan Qing with a sigh and her expression became a little softer: " Although it is a bit taboo to say it, I know that you are also the apprentice of the Lord of Violet, and you have learned some relevant knowledge under her."
"You should be able to 'interpret' it, right?"
