Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 600 - 553: Crystal Dragon’s Nest
Still adjusting to the sunlight’s baptism, Lyle and his companions reached a clearing about a hundred meters from the Burrow Shelter. Here lay the remnants of trees destroyed by the Giant Dragon, with fog torn asunder to create a gap through which weak remnants of sunlight pierced Lyle’s eyes, painting the husks of trees with blood-red afterglow like rubies.
Magic Power spread like hoarfrost from the feet of Mr. Scholar, compressing into needle-fine threads that wove into rain, seeping into everything around. It appeared to be nothing more than a flash of silver light that one couldn’t feel, but in fact, this land had changed hands and became part of Mr. Scholar’s Array. World Construct, Mr. Scholar’s Six Locks ability. As one of the architects of the Magic Web, as long as his feet touched the ground, the Scholar could assimilate his surroundings, wielding them as easily as his own limbs. It was akin to carrying a Mage Tower with oneself, though the City of Wandering did indeed once have the strategic capability to smash our base into the enemy’s headquarters.
Mr. Scholar was expanding his Array. He looked at Lyle, his staff pointing towards a surviving patch of green grassland not far away. "We’ll set traps here, Lyle; you only need to make Kolosis and his Giant Dragon step over that patch of grass. Then your task will be complete." Lyle stared at the entrance to Ashpurin, the vast cavern not far away—roughly one to two kilometers distant without much obstruction. With Nia’s straight-line dash, it seemed fairly simple.
If not for the raging Giant Dragon that would be following them.
Zhiyan crouched nearby, scooping up a handful of soil and rock from the ground, with Runes shining in his palm as the fragile soil he analyzed crumbled from his fingertips. He patted his hands, shaking off the last bit of dust.
"No problem, Giant Dragon; the soil here is quite firm, and widespread sandification won’t affect the overall structure. Plus, it’s free of small animals."
The Dragon Priest held an exceedingly long white bone crossbar, which even in the hands of the tall Dragon Priest seemed comically long. It was like a balancing pole, but in fact, it was the Dragon Priest’s tool for measuring the land.
Upon Zhiyan’s reply, the Dragon Priest nodded.
"Then my terrain part is also no problem. The Scholar can help me stabilize the soil structure; it shouldn’t cause too much destruction."
The Dragon Priest, having put away his tool, walked over to Lyle and gently patted his shoulder.
"Do your best, my student. I’ll give him a good thrashing for you, so make sure to come back in one piece."
Lyle nodded and slowly walked forward into the sunset glow, entering Ashpurin with Mr. Zhiyan.
The two didn’t take the central, spacious road but instead used Nia’s shapeshifting abilities to stealthily move along the sloping mountain’s shadow and behind cover. The deepening darkness of night gave Nia the perfect camouflage. It was said that Kolosis usually went on his gem hunts at night, and Lyle certainly didn’t want to bump into the Dragon Priest as he stepped out. Although Destan had revealed that the hunts were waning due to the scarcity of gems. The broken redwoods and shredded earth were traces left by Kolosis’s search for the last fragments of the Dragon Crown, all left behind by the Gem Sage Destan.
Lyle and Zhiyan cautiously approached the edges of the Ashpurin cave, where a circle of Runes written in Manu script was emitting a faint light. Mr. Zhiyan’s flesh disguise had been withdrawn by Lyle halfway there because Zhiyan couldn’t control his increasingly excited heartbeat. Nia had to extend a tentacle to hold Zhiyan’s spine to prevent him from losing himself in studying the Runes as they passed by.
"Stay alert, Zhiyan, there’s even more precious knowledge inside!" Lyle whispered as loudly as he could. Tonight, the crazed Dragon Priest was not on his gem hunt, meaning Lyle and Zhiyan could infiltrate safely, but it also meant that the Dragon Crown was certainly under the Dragon Priest’s guard.
"There are Runes of Prohibition up ahead," Mr. Zhiyan held Lyle back as he was about to delve deeper into the cave, "Let me see, Twist Identification Runes, Runes of Resistance, and Runes of Vigilance. Lyle, this is a Defense Wall; even the air is excluded. If we want to go deeper, we’ll have to break the defense, but breaking it will alarm the owner..."
Mr. Zhiyan took the lead, starting to decode the Runes that flickered on and off.
"Give me some time; I should be able to crack these Runes."
Although Lyle was grateful for Mr. Zhiyan’s enthusiastic assistance, he still...
"Scatter our blood over it, turn Twist Identification into confusion, the Rune of Resistance will be desecrated, and I will devour the magic power of the Rune of Vigilance." An ominous voice echoed in Lyle’s head, as the Power of the Evil God could penetrate any shackle.
The Power of the Evil God extended at the tips of its tentacles, crawling into the runes, blossoming twisted, corrupted flowers within the light. The forbidden runes crumbled, and tentacle-laden drops of magic power dripped onto Zhiyan’s face.
"...Did you complete all your school exams by cheating?"
"I’m just rather good at establishing new rules for assessment," Lyle replied with a rogue’s smile, shrugged slightly, and stepped into Ashpurin’s cavern.
The cavern of Ashpurin looked more like a wind tunnel laboratory; in the darkness, Lyle could only feel its vastness, plunging diagonally downward into the earth, without any magical traps or decorations, only the continuous terrain gullies detected by footsteps, resembling the folds of small intestines. After walking for about twenty minutes, the downward slope gradually leveled out; ahead, light and a strange sound could be heard.
It was a continuous, irritating buzzing, like the sound of an old fluorescent tube, or like a microwave oven when heating. It seemed that even the temperature was rising, the night’s moisture already evaporated.
After traversing the last of the slope, Lyle rounded the obstacle and stared directly into the light.
There lay a sun, a sun beneath the earth.
It emitted a fiercely bright white light, outlining a magnificent underground city, Ashpurin.
The most abundant natural feature here was the stalagmites, turned white by the light, standing tall like ivory. The architecture was mostly angular, layered and compact, cutting the light and shadows into orderly shapes. An underground river ran through the city center, with building shadows falling into it, sketching ripples like swimming fish. Despite being structures of earth and stone, every surface was masterfully smoothed by the Manu Gem Artisans, which was also why the light was so blinding. This city was not too friendly to any race with eyes.
On these flat stone walls were many delicate grooves, now empty, surrendering the entire city to the white light. These once housed gems, but now, without Manu and their gems, it had become a deserted white city.
The heart of Ashpurin was, however, extraordinarily exotic and beautiful.
Below that sun-like gemstone, a base was constructed, linking thousands of gems in the ore veins. Carnelian, Cat’s Eye Stone, Sapphire, Emerald, Diamonds. They were embedded on two giant clusters of deep red crystal, spiraling like staircases guarding the central gem sun, layer upon layer.
The dazzling gems, like poison clinging to the heart, made the originally wild and magnificent red crystal clusters lose their purity.
Without a thought, Lyle understood what it was.
"Dragon’s Nest."
