The Wizard's Secret Journey

Chapter 251 Within the Ruins (4.2k)

hum-

After a humming sound, the airship finished its climb and flew steadily above the clouds.

The cabin was extremely quiet; only the wizards could be heard talking, but almost no other conversation could be heard.

Once they reach the formal wizard stage, they will usually set up a soundproof magic array when they are talking, unless they are using telepathy.

After all, formal wizards generally have good hearing thanks to the enhancement of witchcraft. Even those with poor hearing can hear the buzzing of mosquitoes and flies within a hundred meters... No wizard would want their conversation to be overheard by others, even if the content of the conversation is not important.

As for why telepathic communication is not prioritized, it is mainly because telepathic communication requires mental contact, which is a more intimate way of communicating, somewhat like whispering in someone's ear while holding their shoulder.

If it's a close friend, that's fine, but if it's an unfamiliar wizard, they're usually unwilling to use telepathy unless absolutely necessary.

Lynn sat quietly in his seat, and the three McKinley wizards beside him remained silent.

After he revealed that he was only a newly promoted first-tier intermediate wizard and not skilled in combat, the McKinley School wizards lost much of their interest in him.

Lynn was quite happy with it and felt no remorse whatsoever.

This is partly because his public persona is that he has only recently been promoted to a first-tier intermediate wizard, so he has no way to reveal his true strength.

On the other hand, it was because these McKinley wizards didn't tell him the truth at all.

Lynn glanced at the witch Vivian out of the corner of his eye.

The witch just said she was only a first-tier intermediate wizard, but in Lynn's perfect-level "Secondary Reality Vision," she was clearly a first-tier advanced wizard!
Moreover, although her aura was slightly weaker than that of Weiss, who had reached the peak of the first rank on the left, it was stronger than that of Chalt on the far right!
At this moment, the powerful witch leaned against Chalt's shoulder like a little bird, her face showing a melancholy and timid expression.

If Lynn hadn't possessed such powerful investigative magic, he probably would have been fooled by Vivian's superb disguise.

However, Lynn didn't know whether Weiss and Charles knew Vivian's true strength. He had no way of knowing whether Vivian had only lied to him or to everyone.

As for Weiss and Charles, neither wizard concealed their true level; both were advanced first-tier wizards. However, Weiss had already reached the peak of the first tier, which, in Lynn's case, would mean that on the Insightful Light Screen, the progress of an advanced first-tier wizard had reached (100/100).

'Weiss possesses a powerful physique and is skilled in force field magic, while Chartreau excels in evocation magic, especially fire and lightning types… I wonder if this is true or not.'

Lynn pondered silently, then took the initiative to start a conversation.

"My lords, I read in the mission description that these mutated creatures and energy turbulence were caused by the gray-white catastrophe of the past."

"But the Gray-White Catastrophe has been over for quite some time now, so why would Silver Ring Academy make such a judgment?"

Since they would be carrying out a mission together later, the three McKinley School wizards, though they looked down on his abilities, still maintained a superficial politeness.

“I’m not quite sure,” Weiss shook his head first, then looked at Vivian and Charter, “What do you two know?”

Both wizards shook their heads in unison, but Vivian thought for a moment and said, "Since the adults at Silver Ring Academy have made such a judgment, they must have their reasons. For us, that's not important; what's more important are those monsters and strange occurrences."

She looked at the three wizards and said, "According to the mission description, most of the monsters are mutated spirits and rotten beasts that have been resurrected from the dead. The bizarre ones are much more complicated, including dangerous turbulent currents and many more strange beings."

"It probably won't be easy for us to clean them up then."

This was a very objective statement, and the attention of all four wizards shifted to this new topic, including Lynn's.

“I’ve encountered spirits quite a few times,” Chartreau said, frowning as he pulled out the quest crystal to check. “However, regardless of the type of spirit, they all generally possess one or more fatal weaknesses, known as the spectral core. Moreover, while they are highly resistant to physical attacks, they are generally less resistant to evocation magic.”

"But the mission crystal clearly states that they do not have any specific fatal weaknesses, nor are they poorly resistant to any type of attack."

Weiss nodded slowly and concluded, "The mutated spirits in the Gray Forest Ruins are not ordinary ghosts."

“I’m afraid that’s true.” Vivian sighed, shrinking back slightly, a fleeting look of fear crossing her face. “And there are even more troublesome rotten beasts.”

Charles noticed Vivian's fear, put his arm around the witch's shoulder, and softly comforted her.

Vivian nodded gently in his arms, occasionally glancing up at Charles, her watery eyes sparkling with a hint of admiration and gratitude.

This look pleased Charles greatly, and he spoke even louder in his comforting voice, pounding his chest.

"...I've always heard of spirits and other such entities, but I've never heard of the existence of a rotten beast," Lynn said, pretending not to have seen anything.

“I don’t know much about it either,” Chartre said, shaking his head as he came to his senses.

“According to the description in the quest crystal, this rotten beast is somewhat similar to an undead,” Weiss continued, but then added somewhat uncertainly, “However, like spirits, undead also have weaknesses. They can be easily destroyed by extinguishing their soul fire. This is completely different from the description in the quest crystal.”

The undead was once a very popular wizarding path, but its advantages and disadvantages are obvious. The biggest disadvantage is that maintaining the soul fire requires a lot of resources.

As a result, this school of thought gradually declined, and now very few wizards follow the path of necromancers; at most, they learn one or two necromancy spells to enrich their abilities.

"It seems these monsters are all new types that have never appeared before," Lynn concluded.

The four of them talked for a long time, and this was the only conclusion they came to.

This situation made all four of them fall silent, and they even lost the will to continue discussing the more complex and bizarre events.

"Looks like this is going to be a physically demanding job," Weiss said with a smile, taking the initiative to ease the tense atmosphere.

The understanding Vivian was the first to speak up. She smiled sweetly and encouraged them, "That's right. These monsters just don't have any fatal weaknesses, they're not invincible. They're just like we haven't found the core of a spirit or the core of an elemental creature."

Weiss smiled and changed the subject:
"On the bright side, at least this time we have the opportunity to go deep into the Grey Forest ruins."

Lynn nodded silently, a sense of anticipation rising in his heart.

He looked to his left, his gaze passing over Weiss, through the porthole, and down to the vast expanse of clouds.

Through some thin gaps in the clouds, Lynn was able to clearly see a corner of the Gray Forest ruins below, thanks to his powerful eyesight.

He had seen those massive, dilapidated buildings from afar at Watchtower 16-8, but had never been so close.

Weiss is right. On the bright side, although they came here on a mission, it also gave them a chance to enter the Gray Forest Ruins.

Just as Lynn was silently gazing into the distance, Vivian on his right spoke up again:

"I heard that the valuable areas of Grey Forest are divided into five rings from the inside out."

"In contrast, the camps and watchtowers where we usually stay are located about ten rings away, and all the way to the fifth ring is a large area of ​​ruins with little value."

"But this time, the area we are responsible for should be within the Third Ring Road, if I'm not mistaken."

Lynn turned her head and looked at Vivian with surprise.

He had never heard of the Graywood Ruins being divided in this way; this witch was indeed a master of disguise.

However, the five rings and ten rings... this sounds somewhat like the concept of cities from my previous life, and according to Vivian, the specific meaning is also similar to that of my previous life. But the specific criteria for dividing the boundaries of each ring are probably different from those in my previous life.

Similarly, Charles and Weiss were also somewhat surprised by the information Vianne revealed, clearly unaware of it either.

Vivian smiled sweetly and explained, "I heard this from Lord Imogen by chance."

"However, although there are some valuable things within the fifth ring, to find something truly useful to us first-tier wizards, we need to be within the third ring at least."

"We were quite lucky, as we happened to be on the Third Ring Road."

"If we go further out, the valuable resources will be greatly reduced; if we go further in, the level of danger will increase dramatically."

“Lord Imogen.” Charles nodded, and Vesdo glanced at Vivian, no longer doubting the truth of her words.

Imogen is a powerful second-tier wizard of the McKinley School. However, Vivian wasn't his student, so it was unexpected that they managed to connect.

"I wonder if we'll still have a chance to explore the Gray Forest Ruins then," Vivian said softly, her eyes filled with undisguised longing.

I don't know if it was a pretense or a genuine expression of emotion.

Regardless, Vivian's words were exceptionally persuasive.

Both Chalt and Weiss couldn't help but start fantasizing about the adventures they might have in the Ashwood Ruins.

After all, Silver Ring Academy did not prohibit wizards from exploring ruins during missions, which basically meant that it tacitly approved of such behavior.

This mission was also unpaid, or rather, the right to explore was itself the reward.

It must be said that Silver Ring Academy remains as stingy as ever.

However, Lynn felt an instinctive resistance to Vivian's words, but after thinking for a moment, he said in a deep voice:
"Exploring the Graywood Ruins would be great, but all of this is contingent on us being able to complete our mission and eliminate any threats in the area."

Charles looked displeased upon hearing Lynn's discouraging words, while Weiss, having regained some composure, nodded slightly.

Vivian looked at Lynn, nodded seriously, and echoed, "Lord Lynn is right. We need to eliminate all threats before we can consider anything else."

There were no further incidents during the rest of the voyage.

The airship would hover from time to time, and each time this happened, a group of wizards would open the hatch and drift away.

Finally, after a long voyage, it was Lynn and his group's turn.

"Team 6, you have reached your assigned area. You may land now."

The airship slowly came to a stop amidst a suppressed hum.

Lynn stood up. Since he was sitting in the aisle and Vivian was a step behind him, he walked to the front, exactly the opposite of how he came.

Lynn strode forward to the nearest central hatch.

With a whirring sound of machinery, the hatch opened rapidly. A cold wind, mixed with decaying dust and some indescribable stale, fishy smell, rushed in.

Amidst the raging wind, Lynn glanced back at Weiss and the others behind him, then cast a golden mist spell on himself.

His body began to transform into a pale golden mist from his feet up to his chest.

In fact, given Lynn's current level of skill and his mastery of the Golden Mist Shadow Technique, he could already transform his entire body into a golden mist shadow; he was merely concealing his true abilities.

The Golden Mist Shadow Technique was of high quality, as could be seen from its performance alone. The three behind him, Weiss, sized up Lynn and nodded to themselves, thinking that the wizard's claim of being skilled in flight magic wasn't entirely unfounded.

It all sounds like a long story, but it was actually just a fleeting moment.

Lynn floated out, not in a hurry to descend, but instead staring at her feet, as if she were observing something.

"Let's go."

Finally, Weiss's voice arrived late, and Lynn "suddenly" turned around, following the three wizards as they descended towards the ruins below.

At this point, it was Charles's turn to fly at the front, Lynn in second place, alongside Vivian, and Weiss in last place.

Weiss watched Lynn's retreating figure, his eyes half-closed, pondering whether Lynn's pause earlier was unintentional or if he had seen through their plans.

Although Weiss hadn't made any special arrangements with Vivian and Charles, when Lynn took the lead, the three of them tacitly agreed to let Lynn go first.

Therefore, they lingered at the hatch for a few more seconds.

However, after Lynn flew out of the cabin, he did not descend, but instead observed something.

Weiss and his two companions couldn't keep dawdling, so they had no choice but to give up and follow.

call--

Lynn passed through the clouds, and the Grey Forest ruins beneath his feet became clearer.

As far as the eye could see, there was a level of decay and distortion that far exceeded what was visible from the outside.

The sense of fading reaches its peak here, as if the entire world has been drained of color, leaving only varying shades of gray and deathly black. The massive architectural ruins, like the skeletons of a colossal beast, lean askew towards the sky.

But Lynn did not see any moving monsters at his feet.

But this discovery did not reassure him; instead, it made him even more vigilant, and he silently cast a protective spell on himself.

The three McKinley wizards also became solemn, an invisible pressure enveloping each of them.

rustle--

Finally, Lynn and the other three landed successfully.

It was only then that Lynn realized the ground beneath his feet wasn't solid soil, but covered with a fine layer of ash that made a rough sound when stepped on. Occasionally, he could glimpse the cracked, darker layers of decaying rock below.

A deathly silence filled the air, broken only by faint, inhuman, and beastly whimpers and the hissing sound of unstable energy. The twisted buildings and withered branches around them resembled giant hands pointing towards the gloomy sky.

Vivian instinctively moved closer to Charles, her eyes scanning the surroundings warily.

Weiss's expression was solemn as he quickly scanned the coordinates on the mission crystal and the surrounding environment. His force field fluctuated slightly as he prepared for battle.

He was about to say something.

Click!

Just then, a crisp sound suddenly came from the side!
(End of this chapter)