Wizard: Starting with Dealing with Magical Plants

Chapter 355 The Skeletons in the Stone Chamber

The platform, about half the size of a basketball court, is embedded in a steep rock face, with a surging sea of ​​energy mist at its edge.

The moonlight barely illuminated the side of the platform closest to the walkway.

The traces of human intervention are very faint, almost completely erased by time and wind erosion.

But Rowling still noticed that near the base of the rock face, the edges of several rocks were too regular, as if they had been roughly chiseled by some kind of tool.

There are also several shallow grooves on the ground, almost filled with dust, vaguely forming a broken circular pattern about two meters in diameter.

It wasn't the cold, geometric patterns of the Observer civilization; it was more like some kind of primitive, crude ritual array, or—a mark?

Luo Lin squatted down and used his fingers to brush away the dust from the groove.

The fingertips felt rough and cold to the touch, and the grooves had fine, metallic-like scratches on the edges, indicating they were old.

Someone has been here.

A long time ago.

Who is it?

Adventurers exploring the canyon?

Or is it—the person with the pale hand?

He stood up and glanced at the rest of the platform.

Apart from this faint trace of a magic circle, nothing else of note was found.

On the other side of the platform, there appears to be an inward-curving shadow on the rock wall, like another crack or hole.

Rowling gripped his short blade tightly, tiptoed, and walked toward the shadows.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that it was not a simple depression, but an opening partially obscured by several collapsed boulders.

The gaps between the boulders are so small that only one person can squeeze in sideways.

The crevice was pitch black, from which a faint airflow escaped, carrying a faint, indescribable smell of metal and dust.

It wasn't the rotten, fishy smell of a centipede's nest; it was more like the smell of a closed space that hadn't been opened for a long time.

He stopped in front of the gap, cautiously probing in with his mental energy.

After extending inwards for several meters, the gap seemed to connect to a larger space.

The energy environment inside is more stable than outside, and the chaotic currents of the canyon are almost imperceptible.

No obvious life or energy response was detected.

After hesitating for a moment, Luo Lin squeezed in sideways.

The gap was very short, only two or three meters. After squeezing past the last rock blocking the way, the view opened up again.

A small natural stone chamber, slightly smaller than the outer platform.

A few luminous mosses covered the ceiling of the stone chamber, providing extremely dim light. In one corner of the chamber, some items were piled up.

The moment he saw those things clearly, Rolin's breath hitched slightly.

Those were several—wrecked remains.

It wasn't a monster like the bone centipede, nor was it the metal debris of an observer unit.

It is humanoid.

Or rather, it used to be in human form.

Three nearly completely skeletal skeletons sat leaning against each other in the corner of the stone chamber, with some tattered pieces of cloth still hanging on their bodies, barely recognizable as being made of grayish-black material.

The skeletons were contorted in shape, some with broken arm bones and others with collapsed sternums, clearly indicating that they had engaged in a fierce struggle or suffered severe injuries before their deaths.

Beside the skeleton, some miscellaneous items were scattered:

A metal kettle so rusted it's almost unrecognizable, several copper coins that have long lost their luster, and a shovel that's only half intact...

The iron sword was covered in rust, and there was also a palm-sized, relatively intact pouch made of some kind of dark leather.

What caught Rolin's eye was something tightly clutched in the hand of one of the skeletons.

It was a short metal staff, about a foot long, completely black, with no signs of rust on its surface.

One end of the short staff is relatively rounded, while the other end has a small, beak-like curved hook structure, on which a few dull, dark red crystals the size of rice grains are inlaid.

This short staff stands in stark contrast to the rusted debris around it.

Roland did not immediately approach. He carefully scanned every corner of the stone chamber with his mental energy, confirming that there were no traps or hidden dangers before slowly approaching the skeletons.

The bones looked very old, at least several decades old, or even older.

Aside from external injuries, there appeared to be no other obvious abnormalities in the cause of death.

His gaze finally settled on the black short staff.

After a moment's hesitation, he reached out and gently removed the short staff from between the skeleton's tightly clenched fingers.

It feels slightly heavy and cool to the touch.

The material is neither gold nor wood, and it has a delicate feel. The black surface of the short staff seems to absorb light, making it appear exceptionally deep in the dim stone chamber.

The dark red crystal on the bird's beak showed no energy response and remained completely still.

Try to infuse a tiny bit of star power into the short staff.

hum-

The short staff gave a slight tremor.

A long-dormant device is activated by a weak electric current, causing an extremely subtle internal resonance.

Immediately afterwards, the dark red crystal on the bird's beak hook lit up very slowly and faintly, like a candle flickering in the wind, before quickly dimming again, as if it had exhausted its last bit of strength.

At the same time, Rolin sensed that inside the short staff, there seemed to be an extremely tiny, precise, but severely damaged energy circuit that had briefly "come alive" under the stimulation of the star power, transmitting a very vague and intermittent fragment of thought.

"Beacon—Guiding—The Way Home—"

Exhausted—unable to return—

"Watch out—the eyes lurking in the shadows—"

The fragmented information abruptly ended.

The short staff returned to complete stillness, and no matter how much star power was injected, there was no reaction.

Rowling gripped his short cane, his brow furrowed slightly.

beacon?

Guide the way home?

Are these people explorers?

Lost in the canyon, eventually dying from exhaustion?

What does "eyes in the dark" refer to?

Bone centipede?

Or something else?

There is too little information to make a judgment.

He weighed the short staff in his hand and then looked at the skeletons.

After a brief silence, he bowed slightly to the skeleton as a sign of respect.

Whoever they were, they are now dust to dust.

Then, Rowling's attention turned to the dark leather waist bag.

The fanny pack was relatively well preserved, except that the leather had hardened somewhat.

Carefully open it; there's not much inside:

A few dried and pulverized, unidentified leaves;

A small roll of animal hide bound with animal sinews and covered with blurry writing;

There was also a thumb-sized, sealed tube that appeared to be made of crystal.

Pick up the roll of parchment and untie the threads.

The paper was so fragile it seemed it would crumble at the slightest touch. The writing on it was done with some kind of dark ink, and it had faded and become blurred, but it was still barely legible.

It is not a universal language, but an older script with many pictographic symbols.

Rowling had seen similar things in Master Veranica's notes and in the Parliament Library, belonging to some ancient, extinct...

A tribal language skilled in exploration and astronomy.

I can understand part of it by guessing and some guesswork.

"Follow the guidance of the ancient star map—enter the Howling Wind's Throat—"

"Searching for the fragments of the tranquil star—breaking through the fog—"

"The passage lies beneath the eye of the storm — three keys are needed —"

"We've found the first one—the Staff of Sleep—"

The text becomes extremely illegible here, and it seems to describe an attack by some kind of unseen predator that resulted in heavy casualties, forcing them to take refuge in this stone chamber. Ultimately, the story ends there.

The Star of Tranquility?

Eye of the Storm?

key?

Rowling's gaze fell on the black short staff in his hand.

The Staff of Sleep?

Is this what you mean?

It sounds like these people are searching for some ruin or passage hidden deep in Howling Canyon, which requires three keys to open.

They found one of them, this short staff, but were attacked en route and their entire army was wiped out.

If the records are true, then this seemingly unremarkable short staff may be a rather important ancient relic, related to a fragment of a tranquil star.

And "the passage is right below the eye of the storm."

Eye of the Storm —

Rowling recalled the canyon terrain he had observed from the air.

Howling Canyon is generally shaped like a huge tear, but in the north-central part of the canyon, there seems to be an area where energy turbulence is particularly concentrated, like a vortex. From above, it does look a bit like an eye made of storm.

Could that be our destination?