Chapter 173: Bones in the Stone House

Compared to the Ancient Tree of War, the combat style of the Ancient Tree of Wind primarily relied on wind-attribute magic.

Although it was slightly more troublesome to deal with than the Ancient Tree of War, in Lan Qingyou's mind, it was not even worth mentioning compared to the Ancient Tree of Life.

How should she put it.

It was just utterly disgusting.

Whenever she attacked it, it simply healed itself.

Until its four-digit Mana Points were completely depleted, its Health Points would absolutely not decrease.

She had spent less than half an hour on the Ancient Tree of War and around forty minutes on the Ancient Tree of Wind, but when it came to the Ancient Tree of Life, it took Lan Qingyou a full hour and a half to finally grind it down.

In comparison, the Ancient Tree of Knowledge was much more straightforward, even though its attack methods were far more varied and endless than the other ancient trees.

Relying on its mastery of magic arrays, it constantly unleashed all sorts of bizarre spells.

When pushed to the brink, the Ancient Tree of Knowledge could even activate a magic array that completely rejuvenated the entire area.

An overwhelming, massive magic array almost covered the entire ceiling of the cavern, causing weeds and wildflowers to grow wildly in the previously scorched earth.

In the end, the whole area looked as though no battle had ever taken place.

If it were not for the missing timber and the corpses of the other three ancient trees lying on the ground, Lan Qingyou would have thought she had never fought in this place at all.

Wait, no.

If she had not personally collected the saplings of those War Treants, that single magic array would have been enough to let those monsters regrow completely.

Tsk tsk, it seemed this guy was the true master of the cycle of life within this little world.

Thus, Lan Qingyou attacked even more fiercely.

She did not even want to rest, only stopping her assault when her Mana Points were barely enough to sustain her flight.

A little over two hundred Mana Points could not withstand such rapid consumption to begin with.

Fortunately, in Lan Qingyou's eyes, that was the extent of its capabilities. With the help of the half-crippled Steel Grass, she used the Funnels to unleash a barrage of laser attacks, slowly chipping away at it like Scrape Sha, and eventually managed to bring the ancient tree down.

From start to finish, the fight took her an hour.

It could not be helped; the magic from those arrays was simply too bizarre.

"Phew! It is finally over."

Watching the Ancient Tree of Knowledge crash to the ground, Lan Qingyou finally breathed a sigh of relief.

For nearly five hours, her Spirit had been pushed to its absolute limit, strung completely tight.

Why five hours?

Because she had spent more than two of those hours taking breaks. After all, no one could endure chugging potions non-stop.

Even during her halftime breaks, she never once let her guard down.

After all, those flames still needed to be maintained. She had to keep an especially close eye on things whenever the Ancient Tree of Knowledge used water-attribute magic through its arrays.

It was safe to say that the Ancient Tree of Knowledge was the greatest test of Lan Qingyou's Spirit.

And the vast majority of her current exhaustion stemmed from it.

Sitting on the fallen trunk of the Ancient Tree of Knowledge, Lan Qingyou and the two little ones ate some food. After a brief rest, they headed toward the stone house.

The exterior of the stone house was quite ordinary, looking just like the wooden cabins seen everywhere in this place.

But the inside was a completely different world.

Whether it was the stone furnishings or the murals carved into the surrounding walls, one could tell this was likely a place meant for worship or sacrifice.

It just lacked an actual altar.

Of course, the most striking thing was the massive number of neatly arranged bones inside this stone house.

They were entirely different from the monster bones she had encountered previously.

These remains looked more human, or at least like animals that walked upright on two legs.

However, her Appraisal Glasses did not display a single shred of information about these bones.

The only explanation Lan Qingyou could come up with was that these remains held absolutely no value, which was why they could not be appraised.

But just to be safe, Lan Qingyou mailed a piece—roughly the size of a thigh bone—to Shang Chuan, asking him to appraise it using the Magic Desk.

The result yielded the exact same conclusion: absolutely nothing.

This left Lan Qingyou, Shang Chuan, and even the people in the group chat in dead silence.

Given the Magic Desk's usual personality, it could appraise a simple Stone and still manage to throw in a sarcastic comment.

Yet it completely failed to appraise a bone this large?

How could the members of Tarot Manor not be surprised by this?

Or could it be that these bones were far too weathered, losing whatever appraisal value they once held?

"This is not simple..."

Staring at the remains before her, Lan Qingyou muttered softly. She snapped a few photos of the stone house's interior and sent them over.

Not even the Magic Desk could identify who these remains once belonged to, but one thing was certain: these people definitely had inextricable ties to the survivors who fled from the Abandoned City.

It was highly likely they were either the escapees themselves or their direct descendants.

After all, other than refugees, who in their right mind would think to establish a village in a place like this?

However, looking at the size of this village, only a small fraction of the Abandoned City's population managed to escape here. A hundred? Maybe two hundred?

Lan Qingyou shook her head, then swept her gaze across every corner of the stone house.

Since she did not know what these bones were, she should at least find something useful inside the building, right?

It was impossible that those treants and ancient trees existed solely to guard a pile of bones.

Thus, Lan Qingyou scanned the entire stone house like a radar, but ultimately failed to discover anything of value.

"Little Spoon, is there any good stuff hidden in here?"

Finally giving up on figuring it out herself, Lan Qingyou turned to Little Spoon. The creature looked at her with its bright, beady black eyes before leaping down. It darted straight toward the stone table in the center of the room, coming to a halt at the stone pillar supporting it.

Lan Qingyou bent down slightly to investigate, just in time to see Little Spoon jump and hook its claws onto something.

Click.

In an instant, a small gap opened in the stone pillar, and Little Spoon tumbled down.

It could not be helped; Little Spoon's body weight was simply not enough to fully pull open the small stone door.

Seeing this, Lan Qingyou reached out, pulled the door open the rest of the way, and fished out a book from inside.

Perhaps due to the passage of time, it bore faint traces of weathering and was caked in quite a bit of dust.

However, whether due to an applied protection spell or simply the design of the stone table, it was still preserved reasonably well.

Lan Qingyou patted the dust off the cover, revealing the Karim script written across it: "Magic Array Drawing Study".

"Whew!!"

Lan Qingyou let out a sharp whistle. If nothing else, obtaining just this one book made her feel like she had hit the jackpot.

Why did the fight with the Ancient Tree of Knowledge drag on for so long?

Was it not precisely because of its mastery over bizarre magic arrays?

However, as Lan Qingyou flipped open the book and skimmed through its contents, disappointment washed over her.

The principles of Drawing magic arrays were functionally similar to Symbology. Both taught the practitioner how to trace out specific patterns, the underlying meaning behind each shape, and the operational rules governing them.

There was certainly no shortage of material that could elevate Lan Qingyou's personal combat power.

But that meant she would have to research and develop all the actual magic arrays—whether for attack, defense, or support—completely on her own.