The black sun hangs high

Chapter 243 Downwards, and onwards

In Vaan, the grade of crystal ores has long been strictly defined, and the key to influencing these grades lies in the concentration of magic they contain.

Almost all mages of the Stream level and above can be appraisers of crystal mineral quality. After all, this job is too simple for spellcasters. As long as they have a certain level of magical power, they can easily make an accurate assessment of the state of these magical crystals.

For the elite mages of the Law Committee and the Council, this task was even simpler. In addition, many of them had worked in relevant departments within the organization, so they were fully capable of making a preliminary assessment and judgment of a large, unmined crystal mine based on their first impression and basic magical perception.

But now, everyone fell silent before that glittering vein of magical crystals.

The magic within them and the knowledge they possessed revealed a fact to them: the crystal mine before them was an extremely rare existence, even in the entire Vaan region. They were so special that the mages could sense the extraordinary magic within these crystal mines at first glance—they were restless, like some kind of invisible life with life and consciousness, trapped in a container. They were constantly wandering and colliding within the crystal mine vein, but were always blocked by the solid surface of the crystal ore.

In the eyes of mages, this situation should not have occurred at all, because it fundamentally violates the rules of basic magic laws and people's basic understanding of magical crystal minerals over thousands of years.

With the help of ropes, a mage from the Melinler and the Legal Committee descended to a protruding crystal mine. He had previously been in charge of matters related to the notarization of crystal mine transactions, and his familiarity with this type of magical ore was already outrageous. Therefore, as soon as he arrived at these ores, he couldn't help but widen his eyes.

He couldn't believe that he had actually seen such a large-scale, magically abundant, yet generally stable mineral vein in his lifetime.

Logically speaking, the stability of crystal minerals is inversely proportional to the amount of magic they possess. In other words, the more magic a crystal contains, the more fragile it becomes, and the more easily it will crack or even explode due to fluctuations in magic.

The mage raised his hand and casually cast a light spell, bringing the magical orb close to the ore vein. With this action, the originally perfectly round orb immediately began to twist and deform. Under the influence of the restless magic inside the ore vein, the orb could not maintain its stability and was stretched into an indescribable shape. Finally, it dissipated on the spot due to the collapse of the magic structure.

"The magical disturbance within the vein has reached such a level that the vein as a whole remains stable and has not collapsed as a result... It's simply incredible."

Merlinle and the mage murmured, then turned to the others: "What was written in the logs of the last team? Has anyone read this far? Recite it!"

Two seconds later, the mage leader of the Highland Council also landed beside him. He examined the unusual mineral vein in front of him and then replied, "The first team's log did mention a large-scale crystallization vein, but they did not mention any abnormalities in the vein. They only recorded that it should be a very large deep vein with a quality close to top-grade... There are no other relevant records."

Facing the skeptical gaze of the legal committee's monks, the council monks said in a deep voice, "These records were made by your colleagues, Mellinler. If you trust their abilities in this area, you shouldn't be showing such an expression."

"..."

Upon hearing this, the mage from the North paused briefly, but then nodded and continued, "If there's a problem with the mine, I believe they would be able to tell... But if the log is indeed correct, then that means that in such a short time, such an astonishingly large mine has undergone some kind of anomaly? Am I right?"

I agree with your point of view.

The council leader nodded solemnly: "But if it's just an abnormal mineral vein, it probably wouldn't be enough to cause the first team to disappear. Moreover, they deliberately cut their ropes, which means they must have encountered some situation beyond our understanding... Report these situations. We need to continue downwards and cannot stay here."

Before anyone else could react, soldiers from the Ymir Legion nearby had already begun their operation. With the help of two mages, they successfully removed a small piece of the mutated ore from the rock wall. Subsequently, a younger mage from the Law Committee was chosen to carry this unusual discovery back to the upper camp and explain the situation to the chief commander.

So the line continued downwards.

The extremely unstable magic constantly exerted strong interference on the inside of the crack. The magic tricks used by the mages for illumination were the first to be affected. As the number of mutated crystal minerals in the vicinity continued to increase, even mages of the Stream level and above could no longer maintain the stability of their illumination tricks. Under the continuous influence, they were even unable to maintain the integrity of their magical models. The wildly fluctuating magic was like a storm blowing across the sea, wantonly tearing everything around it.

Before long, a significant portion of the crystal lamps used for lighting also began to flicker and go out. This was due to the magical chain reaction of the magical crystal ore, a situation described in the famous proverb in Vaan: "A bad crystal ore can destroy an entire vein."

Of course, this proverb is still a bit of an exaggeration.

The reality is that highly concentrated and condensed magic often subtly alters the properties of surrounding magical objects with weaker power. As a result, the magical crystals and magical components embedded in those lamps are malfunctioning, and some of the lamps worn by Ymir soldiers are even experiencing flashing and cracking.

Faced with this situation, the team leaders immediately took appropriate measures.

The mages immediately assembled and began to actively construct a ritual field that could stabilize the magical environment using the arcane tools they carried. Although the coverage area of ​​the ritual field was very limited due to the influence of the mine, as long as they stayed within the range, the use of magic and tools could be restored to normal, and the relevant information was quickly transmitted back to the camp above.

Faced with this unexpected change, the orders issued in the camp remained firm.

"Down, keep going down."

Before the response arrived, all the volunteers in the team already knew the answer. After completing the proper procedures, they immediately began their work. Under the protection of the ritual site, the team continued to move deeper into the crevice.

The second volunteer team had many more members than the first team, but even so, they still appeared extremely small in this incredibly huge and astonishing rift. This dark world underground was like a wound that some terrible being had created on the land of Vaan with a sharp blade. Dozens or even hundreds of people were thrown into this darkness, just like pebbles falling into the ocean, not even making a ripple.

It's 10:00 AM.

Five hours had passed since the second batch of volunteers came into contact with the mutated crystal mine. During these five hours, they rested several times, ate a simple meal, and, as required, repeatedly transmitted the intelligence they had gathered to the camp above.

The traces left by the previous team could still be easily found, and some mages even found two sentences left by a predecessor on the cracked stone wall.

"I sneaked into the night, and the wine glass fell into the dawn."

These are lines from a poem left by a famous poet from the North a century ago. It is said to be his last work before he drank poison and committed suicide. Now, appearing here, they take on a different meaning. They convey a sense of resolute solitude, a step into a desolate landscape, never to return.

And this is exactly the state of most people in the second team at this moment.

Although they haven't encountered any particularly dangerous situations so far, being in such a strange and oppressive dark environment for a long time will inevitably cause changes in the psychological state of anyone. Even the usually silent Ymir soldiers are now starting to whisper to their comrades in order to relieve the immense pressure that is lingering around them.

"Down, keep going down!"

The orders in the camp remained unchanged, and everyone could feel the resolve in those brief commands. Therefore, the volunteers in the abyss had no other choice. After a brief morale boost, they continued their ascent.

Now, they have crossed the last rest stop left by the first team, which means that danger may appear at any time on the "journey" ahead.

The group's pace began to slow. Now, they had finally crossed the mutated mineral vein, but strangely, the interference and influence of magic still existed.

After receiving orders from their leader, several Ymir soldiers took out sets of metal parts from their packs. Soon, an exceptionally large crystal spotlight was assembled. As the magic crystal was embedded, the bright light pierced directly into the bottomless darkness below.

Meanwhile, a mage drank a potion that enhanced his vision, and by the bright light of the spotlight, he immediately made a discovery.

"Look there! Move it down a little more!"

He quickly gave instructions, and then the spotlights focused on a section of stone wall diagonally below. Everyone immediately noticed that a slightly narrow path had appeared on that stone wall, which seemed to have been naturally formed when the ground cracked open. On this platform with extremely limited space, traces of the first team's activities could also be seen.

This is a truly amazing discovery.

Because almost everyone saw that a simple cryptic device for communicating with the camp above had been set up at this temporary rest stop. However, according to the logs, they ultimately did not use the device, or rather, the device itself malfunctioned, causing their message to fail to reach the Rift Camp.

What's even more chilling is another fact revealed by this temporary rest stop—the first team was still operating normally up to this depth, but shortly after they arrived, they deliberately cut their ropes for some reason and disappeared.

Two mages and ten Ymir soldiers landed at the temporary station first. They carefully inspected the surrounding area and verified the status of the simple cryptic device. They were then puzzled to find that everything inside the temporary station was normal. In a corner, they found a pile of canned food, indicating that the first team had rested for a considerable period of time after arriving here. Judging from the number of empty cans, they had not suffered any unexpected casualties.

Soon, the two mages used a simple cryptic instrument to transmit the new information to the camp above, and before long, the camp responded.

"Received."

"Down, keep going down!"

The answer was still the same two incredibly brief sentences, but this time, it made almost everyone frown.

This is not a normal response. They have now found the last traces of the first team's activities, which means that the second group of volunteers is very close to the unknown source of danger. Under such circumstances, the camp should at least give some reminders and issue some new instructions, instead of just urging them to move forward.

So the two leaders of the Legal Committee and the Council quickly discussed the matter and then immediately decided to personally set about rebuilding the cryptex and use the new cryptex to send a message to the camp above again.

Soon, everything was ready.

Subsequently, a magical message containing a specific coded message, intended to probe the situation, was successfully sent.

"At 10:46 a.m., we arrived at the rest stop for the advance team. During the journey, an accident occurred and a wounded soldier was escorted to safety by two soldiers. May the Sea of ​​Sinnar remain peaceful."

Most of the time, messages within the Legal Committee end with "May Goddess Mel protect us," but before setting out on an operation, the two parties that need to communicate can convey certain messages by changing the ending text.

This is certainly not a secretive or sophisticated method of probing, but it can be extremely simple and effective in certain situations.

After a short wait, both the old and new secret instruments at the temporary site received a response message simultaneously.

Its contents, however, sent chills down everyone's spine.

Faced with the pre-arranged code word symbolizing "encountering an unknown threat and needing to confirm the situation," the camp above made no statement whatsoever. The message they sent back remained unchanged, and they didn't even inquire about the vague casualty figures.

The message was simply a repetition of what had been said before.

"Received."

"Down, keep going down!"

(End of this chapter)