Chapter 150: Where the Hell Am I?

"Wireball, put Little Spoon down."

Although Wireball did not understand Lan Qingyou's intentions, it obediently opened its mouth upon receiving the command, releasing its grip on Little Spoon's tail.

The moment Little Spoon gained its freedom, it did not flee immediately as Lan Qingyou had expected. Instead, it darted over to the four-leaf totem with a swish, squeaking frantically at her.

"Hmm? What is wrong with that totem?"

Puzzled, Lan Qingyou flew up to it with Wireball in tow.

Tap-tap-tap—

Seemingly annoyed that Lan Qingyou could not understand its squeaks, Little Spoon slapped its front paws against the ground.

Lan Qingyou stared at it in stunned silence.

Seriously? Was an A-Rank monster really this remarkably human-like?

Jokes aside, once her initial shock faded, Lan Qingyou began to ponder the meaning behind Little Spoon's actions.

Undoubtedly, the only thing she had yet to investigate was this totem-like symbol.

But the problem was that her Appraisal Glasses had not been able to identify a single thing about it.

Wait... a symbol!?

Lan Qingyou felt like she had just caught onto something crucial.

There was no denying that this mark was highly likely the totem of some tribe Ruan Qingyi had mentioned, but while it was a totem, it was still fundamentally composed of symbols, was it not?

Since it was a symbol, could there be another possibility?

With this thought in mind, Lan Qingyou slowly descended. She scooped up Little Spoon, handed it over to Wireball, and then... she injected her mana directly into the pattern.

Exactly.

Just like an enchantment or a magic circuit, if it was a symbol, it should be capable of being driven by mana.

This was what Lan Qingyou believed, and so she put it to the test.

However, after pouring in about half of her Mana Points—over a hundred points—Lan Qingyou suddenly felt her entire body go completely weightless. An instant later, a fierce gale smashed against her face.

She quickly raised a hand to shield her eyes from the stinging wind, managing to squint through a narrow slit to observe her surroundings.

"What the hell! Where did this thing send me?! Is this still the Abandoned Ruins?"

Taking in the sight of her new environment, Lan Qingyou could not help but curse out loud.

The two little critters, Wireball and Little Spoon, instantly scrambled up her body. One buried its head deep into Lan Qingyou's chest, while the other scurried straight up her cuff to hide inside her sleeve.

All around her, the world was a canvas of pristine white snow, ravaged by howling gales.

Glancing at the exposed gray rocks nearby, it was not hard to figure out what kind of place she had landed in.

From that moment of sudden weightlessness, Lan Qingyou knew she had likely been teleported.

It felt exactly the same as when she had been teleported from the Blue Star to the Kalim Continent a few months ago.

The only difference was that she currently had no idea where she was.

Braving the bone-chilling wind that scraped against her face, Lan Qingyou pulled out her Card to check her location.

As the Card completed its scan, she let out a long sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, she was still in The Abandoned Land.

However, she was no longer in the Abandoned Ruins. Instead, she found herself perched somewhere on the Abandoned Mountains.

No wonder the blizzard was so fierce here. It was a mountain range, after all. With the high altitude, heavy winds were perfectly normal.

For the sake of her own safety, Lan Qingyou decided against exploring right away. Instead, she set up her Magic Tent in a leeward hollow sheltered from the wind.

"Phew—"

Once safely inside the Magic Tent, Lan Qingyou finally allowed herself to completely relax.

She had never anticipated that sudden teleportation.

After all, it was genuine spatial teleportation!

Who would have thought that a primitive-looking totem could harbor such high-tier magic?

Of course, the most pressing questions were why this magic had sent her to this exact spot, and why the trigger had been located down in the Abandoned Ruins.

Lan Qingyou stripped off her magic robes, lay down on her bed, and stared at the ceiling of the tent, lost in thought.

She could understand the existence of that cellar-like storage room beneath the Abandoned Ruins.

After all, it was right in the center of the ruins, situated beneath a palace.

Even though Sherlock had gathered a crew to build it, there had to be an original foundation.

That meant the ruins of a palace or castle had already existed there, and Sherlock had merely rebuilt and reinforced it upon that base.

In that context, finding an underground vault in such a place was entirely logical.

But why was there a totem symbol down there? And a totem symbol equipped with a teleportation spell, no less?

In Lan Qingyou's eyes, since there was a palace or castle above it, this totem mark must have belonged to the original owners of the ruins, or perhaps it was the crest of the tribe that once lived there.

Why, then, would they embed a teleportation function into their totem?

And one that only required a little over a hundred Mana Points to activate.

Not to mention, it teleported the user to a desolate wasteland where birds would not even bother to crap.

It could not possibly be a convenient summer retreat path for the palace lords to cool off in the Abandoned Mountains, could it?

While that was a slight possibility, the chances were astronomically low.

That left only one other explanation: it was an escape route.

After all, what rich or powerful person would not leave a few back doors open for themselves?

This was perhaps the only explanation that could justify the existence of such a massive, hidden tunnel.

Realizing this, Lan Qingyou could not help but sit up abruptly.

Since those alchemical tools and the Humanoid Magic Puppet were found down there, could it mean someone had already used that route to flee to the Abandoned Mountains?

If that were true, it spawned an entirely new set of questions.

Why did they need to escape?

Who were they running from?

And where did they go after fleeing to this frozen peak?

These were all burning questions, layers of mysteries.

However, these very enigmas ignited a raging fire of curiosity within Lan Qingyou.

'Just what exactly happened on the Kalim Continent before we were all forcibly teleported here?'

This was the first time Lan Qingyou had truly confronted this overarching question.

She had harbored lingering doubts about this in the past, but one problem after another had forced her to shelve those thoughts.

But now, the question had essentially slapped her in the face. It had escalated to a point where she could no longer afford to ignore it.

Search!

She had to search!

Regardless of where those people sought refuge after teleporting here, she had to uncover the truth.

Even if only a pile of bones remained, she had to find them so she could gain a more direct understanding of this world.

Since she was already stranded in this realm—and barring any miracles, she would never be able to return to the Blue Star in her lifetime—she had no choice but to survive here.

Since long-term survival was her only option, unraveling the secrets of this world and uncovering its past had become her top priority. It was absolutely paramount.

Albert.

This mentor, whom she had unilaterally claimed as her own, had also lived during that ancient era.

He had most likely even participated in the design and development of the Magic Shield to combat the Mana Tide.

As the creator of the Magic Tent, which she had built based on her own theories, Lan Qingyou knew her structural design for the Magic Shield was leagues behind what those brilliant madmen had achieved.

So, why exactly had they been driven to invent such a thing?