Chapter 257

"What's wrong, Master?"

The AI girl at his side tilted her head.

Or rather, the projected interactive interface's avatar made a gesture expressing doubt.

"Hard to say, just suddenly had a strange feeling..."

The young man rarely revealed a trace of a suspicious expression.

"\"Feeling, \" huh..." The Huifeng Miss wearing Lie Kexingdun's wife's appearance couldn't help but purse her lips, even though this was also a simulation.

"My feelings are based only on sensors."

"But here, my 'senses' are too lacking."

Just now at the goblin camp, a deployment was carried out, and the vast majority of sub-individuals separated out and began executing proliferation commands, copying themselves continuously.

The nano-units currently carried by Xia Zhi only maintain the basic scale of a personal terminal.

The sensor array is naturally the same; whether range or precision, they temporarily possess only the most basic functions, as if restored to factory settings.

"Let's go take a look first——"

Xia Zhi didn't say much more, but walked directly toward the direction of that flower.

He recalled a unique talent of his own, not from Otherworld knowledge, nor from simulated learning, but an ability awakened after he himself stepped onto the extraordinary path.

——That is a special perception of magic power...

It did not disappear, but on the wizard's evolutionary path, accompanying life's leap, it became part of his essence of existence.

Just that even though perception also became increasingly sharp, numerical values increasingly high...

However, as he also successively unlocked more and more diverse extraordinary sensory perceptions, from gravity fields to biofields, to the causal vision of the time dimension...

So magic power perception inevitably had little presence, easy to make one forget there was still such a passive.

But this doesn't mean it has no use.

"Doesn't feel anything special, although it's an unrecorded tree species, it's just like other plants..."

Huifeng muttered softly, using the current scanning function, scanning who knows how many times back and forth in an instant, temporarily discovering nothing worth paying attention to.

"This world is full of magic, all existences are permeated with magic's power."

"Every stone, every stream, every creature, even the air itself, contains undeveloped potential original magic power..."

Xia Zhi expressed neither agreement nor disagreement, just spoke calmly——

"These original magic powers are the raw materials of creation, and also the still silent existence consciousness; it permeates every point of matter, and manifests in the world in various energy forms."

In such a situation, material phenomena are actually magic phenomena.

Before the phenomenon has occurred, Huifeng being unable to detect any abnormal parameters is actually quite normal.

If not for his magic power perception being extremely sharp, he probably also would have no way to easily grasp the key and directly perceive something was wrong.

While speaking, he also crossed the huge rift valley and arrived atop the cliff.

A crooked strange tree species grew along the cliff edge, with a rather intricate feeling; its branches and leaves were not very lush, but its root trunk was sufficiently thick and gnarled.

——And that tree flower blooming with blue gloomy light was just so lonely decorating it.

——Blue light illuminated a small surrounding area.

At first glance, it seemed somewhat different, but considering this is the Underdark, thinking this way, it instead seemed to become normal all at once.

Isn't it just a luminous plant? On the Surface World perhaps hard to see, but the Underground World is basically full of them, and there are even man-eating, poison-spraying, exploding ones...

In this treacherous underground cave cluster ecosphere, almost all kinds of bizarre plants can be found.

Compared to them, Surface World plants' combat power is simply weak to the extreme.

Unless they are the outrageous types from Plants vs. Zombies, otherwise they simply can't compete on the same stage.

"..."

"..."

A bout of strange silence.

Huifeng's projected interface squatted there, studied for a while, then raised its head:

"Master, have you seen anything?"

"..."

"..."

Xia Zhi didn't speak, but gently extended a finger, fingertip pointing toward that lone flower on the cliff.

Immediately——

Nothing happened.

"?"

Huifeng Miss tilted her head again; is this striking a pose? Then should she help Master take a photo, save it as a memento?

"I cast a Fireball." The young man spoke calmly.

"Hah?"

On Huifeng Miss's anthropomorphic interface, she also couldn't help but frown, a blank look on her face.

When did this happen? How did I not detect it? Was the packet lost due to unknown reasons?

"It was silenced..."

The wizard shook his head, gaze slightly bizarre as he stared at the tree flower before him: "Although I forcibly released it, I can still cast it out, but..."

He suspects the vast majority of spellcasters in this world don't have this ability.

This thing's effect is a bit astonishing, is it some purely natural wizard-killer?

——Anti-Magic Aura?

——Anti-Magic Field?

He thought seriously, his gaze upon this tree flower growing increasingly strange.

"Based on the tree flower's characteristics, a targeted scan reveals findings in the foremost Hovering Return Line quantum signal feedback; the same plant discovered nearby..."

Miss AI also turned serious, swiftly beginning to integrate intelligence.

"But the quantity is extremely scarce; only three grow naturally in the wild, and among them one has not grown a tree flower."

"Meaning, there are non-wild ones?" Xia Zhi raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, the farthest-reaching Hovering Return Line discovered an abandoned underground tower; traces of this special tree species were found there, with signs of artificial cultivation."

Huifeng nodded in confirmation: "We may be able to find some relevant data there."

………………

Originally prepared to go search for Mithral ore.

Now, because of an accidental discovery, the original plan was directly changed.

However, the new discovery indeed has such value; at present, the tree flower's strategic significance is even more major than the existence of Mithral.

After determining that tower's orientation, Xia Zhi directly teleported there.

The tower adjoined an underground lake; due to years of neglect, it bore the appearance of long abandonment.

Although the surrounding security systems were not offline, several magic cannon turrets completely covered every directional passage around; the slightest approach could be immediately sensed, then precisely locked on and attacked—

The road to the tower was strewn with white bones; unknown how many underground creatures had died.

To the extent this area directly became a forbidden death zone; nearby underground creatures no longer dared easily approach, no matter what.

Only a pity, that could only guard against ordinary petty thieves; for Xia Zhi, it served no blocking function.

Such a thing simply did not exist.

He entered the tower as if into an uninhabited realm; like returning home, he proficiently screened everything from top to bottom.

From the rearmost garden at the lowest level, all the way to the terrace at the highest—

Throughout, whether magic cannon turrets or automated guardians, these still-operating tower defense mechanisms acted as if completely unable to detect his existence, or perhaps acknowledged his existence by default.

Collecting all manuscripts, books, and casually scribbled notes in the tower, Xia Zhi also quickly obtained the information he wanted.

That special tree species was named Whispering Tree.

A tree species extremely rare even in the Underdark.

As for on the surface, it is almost impossible to find, because it withers under sunlight.

The tower's previous owner conducted extensive research on the Whispering Tree, achieving notable results, among them the achievement of using Whispering Tree flowers as an energy source.

"So you're saying, its nature likely absorbs surrounding magic, causing local magical environment dysfunction?"

Huifeng swiftly analyzed: "If so, as long as a method is found, it should also be reversible, releasing the magical power it absorbed..."

Otherwise, it is hard to explain how a thing possessing anti-magic properties could become a magic tower's energy source.

"Perhaps, but using it as an energy source is a bit too wasteful."

The youth nodded noncommittally, glancing at the reaction furnace not far away.

If the tower records are correct, just placing a Whispering Tree flower into the reaction furnace seems able to supply magic power to the entire tower, driving internal facilities back online.

"Also..."

"Just a pity it cannot be brought to the surface; this is a drawback."

"But even if it only functions in the underground world, it is already very good."

Miss AI nodded in agreement, then sized up his expression, and tried proposing—

"Master, we may attempt to analyze this anti-magic force field's principle, but before technologization and application, large-scale cultivation may still be needed..."

"..."

"..."

"What you say is very reasonable, but—"

The Wizard shook his head, gently picked up a Whispering Tree flower, snapped his fingers, and shook all impurities away.

"Actually, there's no need to be so troublesome."

"I learn things very fast now, especially in biology-related aspects, I learn even faster."

Saying this, under Huifeng's slightly strange gaze, he raised the tree flower in hand and took a bite.

Just like eating a snack, so direct, yet so matter-of-course.

—Right, why be so troublesome.

—Just need to directly "predate," don't you?

Just as Mr. Spider can, through predation, then mimic the abilities of absorbed creatures, so if he predated the Fantasy Tree, he could replace "Crystal Valley."

Convert all Earth's plants into Fantasy Trees, turn the entire world into the largest, most evil Imaginary Tree Sea.

Xia Zhi can also do the same thing.

Then, now "predating" the Whispering Tree... seems a matter-of-course option.

"Not tasty, texture not great either..."

Simply giving an evaluation, the Wizard revealed a satisfied smile: "However, so that's its nature."

"..."

"..."

"How is it, Master?" Huifeng Miss hesitated a moment, asked softly.

"Very good."

Xia Zhi replied in a lighthearted tone: "Ancient words also say, at sixty one's ears are obedient, at seventy one follows one's heart's desire..."

"Eh, our Gold Equipment coverage rate hasn't even started yet."

"That doesn't matter, I mean another aspect; for example, conservatively speaking—I mean conservatively speaking—if I could directly prohibit over seventy percent of magical phenomena on the Material Plane..."

The Magic User explained with a smile, yet Cold Light seemed to flash in his pupils.

"What do you think will happen?"

Next Moment, the instant the words fell...

Spirit Light belonging to the Whispering Tree Flower burst forth from his body, diffusing outward at extreme speed!

Planet-level Anti-Magic Force Field... rise!

(Chapter End)