Chapter 1071: Personnel Disappearance, Ether Detachment

—"Stay alert, let's head to the Mage Tower first!"

After conveying his judgment on this Mist Region, Xia Duo directed Luodite and the others to advance toward the Mage Tower where the relic core was located.

Although the Mage Tower was less than 100 meters away in everyone's field of vision, actually traveling there took them a considerable amount of time.

With the Relic Hunters under Luodite scouting ahead, everyone knew this Mist Region was actually quite safe, so they flew over directly while the Flight spell on them had yet to dissipate.

About five minutes later, Luodite and his group of five arrived at the foot of the Mage Tower.

Unlike the loose humus soil on the ground before, the ground here was paved entirely with orderly square stone slabs.

Perhaps due to the special environment of this area, or perhaps because Luodite's subordinates had specifically cleared it, the ground here looked very clean, with only a thin layer of floating dust, and the patterns on the floor were clearly visible.

"Luodite, where are those Relic Hunters of yours?" Luodite's friend—High Mage Weiji of Jilan Tower, suddenly asked.

"I'm puzzled too; I clearly told them to wait for us on the plaza in front of this Mage Tower."

Once these words were spoken, the expressions of the others changed instantly; although Xia Duo was not present in person, he also became somewhat nervous.

Logically speaking, it was impossible for Luodite's subordinates to betray him, so there was only one possibility: those people had encountered some kind of accident—they couldn't come, or they had come and were now gone.

—"Let's go together, circle around the plaza, and pay attention to the ground." Xia Duo instructed.

Luodite and the others followed suit; a full circle wouldn't take much time, and compared to the sudden disappearance of the Relic Hunters who had prepared in advance, no one cared about this bit of time.

Soon, Luodite and the others arrived at the foot of the Mage Tower again, looking at the deep entrance of the Mage Tower, waiting for Xia Duo's explanation.

—"I don't know if you noticed, but the ground is very clean, and apart from you, there are no other traces. Luodite, did your subordinates say anything about the situation on the plaza?"

"Huh?"

Luodite clenched his fists, rubbed his temples hard with his knuckles, and then made a sound of frustration, "They seemed to have mentioned it, but at the time my attention was focused on the interior of the Mage Tower, I don't remember what they said at all!"

"……"

Everyone was speechless for a moment, and then it was Aibuna, a student of Luodite's father who was experienced in relic exploration, who answered for him: "After receiving the teacher's order, I immediately asked Leikesi and the others; they mentioned that at one point, supplies stored on the plaza had disappeared inexplicably."

After Aibuna finished speaking, Luodite also seemed to recall something and immediately said: "I remember now, Leikesi said at the time that some supplies were missing, and I originally thought that was just an excuse for me to increase investment; I didn't expect it to be true."

—"Then it seems that Leikesi and the others might have disappeared inexplicably just like those supplies."

Xia Duo's words made Luodite and the others nervous, and they asked one after another: "What about us?"

"Lord Xia Duo, can you see any abnormalities here?"

—"I have some guesses, but before answering your questions, I need to ask one more question, let's ask Mage Aibuna; you communicated with Leikesi and the others, did they ever say what the state of this plaza was initially? Or to be more specific, was this plaza initially this clean, or was it in some other state?"

In the Mind Link, communication was very swift; Aibuna only had to recall for a moment before answering directly through active conscious information:

"They didn't say explicitly, but they did mention that they found some tower debris on the plaza, which they didn't take out because it was too heavy. Now it seems that besides the supplies, that tower debris has also disappeared."

—"Then I will state my conclusion. I mentioned before that the Mist Region completely overlaps with the Ether Plane; the plaza is undoubtedly part of the Mist Region, and even the interior of the Mage Tower counts, but now I need to adjust this conclusion slightly."

—"I suspect that the overlap state between the plaza and the Ether Plane might not be complete; perhaps at some moment the two planes separated, and the people or objects on the plaza at that time had to exist in one plane—perhaps the Main Plane, or perhaps the Ether Plane."

At this moment, Xia Duo actually didn't want to continue the exploration; not to mention that the Relic Hunters who could have served as guides had all disappeared, if Luodite and these people entered the Mage Tower now, it would be completely uncharted territory.

Inside the Mage Tower, perhaps this situation of planes overlapping and then separating would happen even more frequently than on the plaza.

Xia Duo highly suspected that this relic was on the verge of collapse, just like a very dilapidated old house that had been ransacked inside and out by a group of people several times, and now it finally couldn't hold on and was about to collapse.

And once the relic collapsed, perhaps a situation similar to a Mythallar collapse would occur, involving Plane Overlap; perhaps everything here would be cast into the Ether Plane and never return to the Main Plane.

Of course, it was also possible that nothing would happen, and instead, all hidden dangers would be resolved.

Xia Duo transmitted his guesses and suggestions into the Mind Link, and then waited peacefully for the decision of Luodite and the others.

In fact, he didn't really care much about the treasures or information that might exist inside the relic; if there were any, that would be good, but if not, he wouldn't be too disappointed.

What he really cared about was the state of the relic's existence itself.

This relic was highly likely the product of a failed Semi-plane experiment; if it could be thoroughly studied, it would definitely allow him to make a significant breakthrough in the Plane Domain.

Compared to the unknown treasures ahead, Xia Duo, having already obtained the location of the relic, had already gotten what he wanted.

Of course, if he were to give up now and come over to study the state of the relic directly, that would be somewhat unethical; if Luodite and the others insisted on exploring, he would continue to provide information analysis and command services.

Time passed bit by bit; Luodite and the others thought and weighed their options, but their footsteps had subconsciously brought them to the edge of the plaza.

Just when Xia Duo thought they were prepared to give up, Luodite said: "If Leikesi and the others are gone, then they're gone; is it possible that we, so many High Mages, cannot explore just because we are missing a few ordinary people!"

"Besides, there is still Lord Xia Duo! I believe Lord Xia Duo will definitely be able to lead us to victory!"

"……"

Xia Duo was speechless; being trusted was a good thing, but exploring a relic where abnormalities were clearly likely to occur was not necessarily a good thing.

If he hadn't already promised to participate in the exploration, and if his main body weren't still in the Watchtower, he estimated he would have headed home long ago upon encountering such a situation.

But even if they were to continue exploring, today was not a good time, so he proposed again:

"Since you insist, I will continue to fulfill my promise, but the relic is showing abnormal Plane Overlap states; for the sake of insurance, I need to make some extra preparations. Let's cancel today's operation for now; I suggest you also make more preparations, and let's meet at the Watchtower in two days!"