Wizard: Starting with Dealing with Magical Plants

Chapter 246 The Silent Field

"I need the latest topographical map of the Silent Corridor and all your anomaly monitoring data, especially the coordinates where these special energy patterns have appeared."

"Rolin said."

Walker didn't ask any further questions and simply nodded: "Okay, the map is on that shelf over there, just take it yourself."

"The monitoring data will take a little time to process; I can give it to you before dinner." He glanced at Rolin's equipment. "When are you planning to go in? Do you need a guide?"

"Although our people are not familiar with the deeper areas, they have a fairly good understanding of the outer terrain."

"We'll set off first thing tomorrow morning." Luo Lin calculated the time. "We don't need a guide. The target area might be quite deep, and having too many people might attract unnecessary attention."

"Just give me a detailed list of precautions and potential risks."

"Okay." Walker stood up. "That's settled then. The room is downstairs, the first one on the left, it's already ready."

"Dinner will be delivered. If you need anything else, just let me know."

Life at the outpost was so simple it was almost monotonous.

Dinner consisted of stewed, mushy meat from some unknown animal and rock-hard bread; the taste was, to put it mildly, not bad.

The soldier who delivered the food was a young man who didn't talk much. He put down the tray and left.

Luo Lin ate a simple meal in the room, then took the honeysuckle seedlings out of the incubator and placed them by the bedside.

The little guy has a soft, silvery glow and seems to be quite adapted to the relatively stable energy environment here.

Baha was perched on the windowsill, preening his feathers.

He unfolded the map Walker had given him.

The map was drawn rather crudely, with many areas only having rough outlines and marked with words such as "unknown", "high-risk spatial folds", and "strong silence field".

The points where the abnormal energy patterns detected by the outpost appeared were circled in red. They were distributed in a relatively concentrated area in the northern part of the corridor, with about seven or eight points.

Rowling compared the clues provided by the arbitrator, several abstract landmark descriptions, and energy frequency characteristics with the map.

One of the descriptions of a bowl-shaped depression surrounded by three sloping stone pillars seems to match a place marked on the map as Three Pillars Valley, and there is a red circle nearby.

Another clue, the vortex of dormant energy, whose portal can be seen by going against the current, appears even more obscure.

There are several marked "low energy points" or "stagnant zones" on the map, but it's hard to say which one is the so-called vortex of silence.

It seems that once inside the corridor, we will have to rely more on Moon Silver Flower's senses and our own judgment.

He put away the map and began his daily meditation, nurturing his spiritual and astral power.

With his recovery at Santa's headquarters and the rest he's had during this time, along with the aid of medication, his condition has essentially returned to its peak.

The lingering pain in my body had almost disappeared, and the model of [Disintegration of Order] had become stable and bright again. In fact, due to the previous extreme application and a deeper understanding of the rules, the structure of the model seemed to be more condensed.

【Quiet Dust Star】continues to operate steadily, constantly settling and purifying the trace amounts of chaotic energy in the surrounding environment, bringing a sense of inner peace.

Luo Lin could sense that the power of this natal star seemed particularly suited to dealing with the special environment of the Silent Corridor.

After finishing his meditation, he checked his equipment again: spare potions, energy crystals, detectors, the concealment and interference amulet given by Master Veranika, the encryption crystal for communicating with the Arbitrator, and some special items for dealing with extreme environments and spatial anomalies.

As for weapons, aside from magic, he only carried a spare adamantite dagger.

Everything is ready.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Luo Lin packed his belongings and went to the exit of the outpost.

Station Master Walker was already waiting there, holding a data crystal and a small leather bag.

"The data is all in here, including the latest monitoring from last night. Point 7 experienced another slight fluctuation." He handed the crystal to Rolin. "This small bag contains several specially made energy beacons. One beacon is activated every ten miles. It can help you record the path and maintain a minimum one-way communication with the receiver in the station within a certain range."

"In case of an emergency, crush the beacon and we will receive an alarm, but—don't get your hopes up too high, the signal is hard to get through from deep in the corridor."

"Understood, thank you." Luo Lin took the items and put them away.

Walker patted him on the shoulder and said nothing more, only pointing to the heavy gate leading to the ground: "Go south after you go out, and you'll see the entrance to the corridor in about three miles."

"Those black stone peaks are the landmark."

"Good luck, wizard! Come back alive."

The gate slowly opened with a dull groan, and a cooler, dusty air rushed in.

Outside, the landscape resembles the typical southern part of the Scorching Hell: under the dark red sky, the earth takes on a sickly grayish-brown hue, covered with cracked and weathered rocks. In the distance, a black shadow, like a forest of giant tombstones, stands silently on the horizon—that is the Silent Corridor.

Luo Lin checked the moonflower in the incubator one last time; the little guy's silvery light was stable.

Baha on his shoulder also raised his head warily.

He stepped out of the outpost, the heavy gate slowly closing behind him, shutting out the faint artificial light and warmth.

Alone, facing an unknown, silent labyrinth.

The journey to the entrance of the corridor was eerily peaceful.

Beneath my feet lies hard gravel ground, with almost no plants in sight, and even the common low-level fire elemental spirits or small monsters have vanished.

The free energy particles in the air are extremely rare and inert, resulting in pitifully low readings from the detector.

Only the towering, black stone peaks in the distance, drawing ever closer, brought an invisible yet increasingly intense sense of oppression.

The three-mile journey was completed quickly.

Only by standing at the edge of the corridor can one truly appreciate its uniqueness.

Before them were countless enormous black stone pillars, ranging in diameter from several meters to tens of meters and incalculable in height. They were arranged irregularly, with gaps between them forming passages of varying widths, winding and twisting into an endless darkness.

The surface of the stone peak was unusually smooth, reflecting the dark red sunlight and giving it a cold, metallic feel.

The most peculiar thing is the sound, or rather, the silence.

Standing here, even the sound of the wind seems to disappear. My own breathing and heartbeat are amplified, yet they also seem to be partially absorbed by some invisible force, leaving them feeling somewhat hollow.

The readings on the detector representing ambient sound were almost zero.

This is the field of silence.

Rolin activated the first energy beacon, embedding it in a conspicuous rock crevice at the entrance.

The beacon emitted a faint, almost invisible blue halo that vanished in a flash.

He didn't immediately delve deeper, but instead closed his eyes and carefully sensed the surroundings.

As the mental energy extended outward, a sticky feeling was immediately felt.

It felt as if what was being probed was not air, but some kind of transparent gel with extremely high density.

The sensing range has been severely compressed, from the usual hundreds of meters to less than fifty meters.

Moreover, within this range, the energy feedback is extremely weak and indistinct, with many details being swallowed up or distorted by the silent force field.

Sure enough.