Chapter 1079: No Blind Spots, Bizarre Fusion

"Lord Xia Duo, this area has already been searched many times by Leikesi and his team. We will now head to an area suspected to be a warehouse; protective spells still exist there to this day, and perhaps we will have new gains there."

"Very well."

Luodite and the others had a plan, and Xia Duo was happy to be at leisure. In fact, due to the influence of the previous two failed exploration operations, Luodite and the others had become incomparably cautious this time.

Every time they reached a place, they would insist on using Force Field spells to clear the way, only continuing forward after isolating a certain amount of space; as for lighting, that went without saying.

The matrix of bright light orbs flying out from the cross-section of the 【Dazzling Light Orb】 never left the top of Luodite and the others' heads for even a single second!

Entering through a portal on the left wall of the hall and passing through a long, narrow corridor, the five of Luodite arrived at a room filled with rubble.

Calling it a room was not entirely accurate, because there were no walls left on any side here, only hazy light mist that grew stronger in presence from near to far, eventually evolving into a pale giant screen.

Luodite unfolded the map in his hand, and after comparing it several times, he said to everyone: "The terrain has not changed. Behind this ruin should be the warehouse that Leikesi and his team could not break through!"

"The rubble on the ground varies in shape, so there will inevitably be blind spots in the lighting, and walking is not very convenient. Let's fly over!"

Saying this, Luodite pulled a 【Group Flight】 scroll from his Scroll Case, cast it on everyone, and then used a Force Field to clear the way, constructing a relatively spacious enclosed passage before flying over with the others.

Xia Duo saw this scene through the Mind Link and had to sigh that the cautious Luodite and his team were truly without any blind spots, though this also made things much easier for him.

If he could stay this relaxed until the end of the exploration, that would not be bad at all!

……

In front of a stone door without any decoration, seeing the flickering Magic Aura on the door, Luodite finally understood why the Leikesi team, who were Senior Relic Hunters, could not handle this place.

And the reason why, after several hundred years, the protective spells here were still effective!

"In addition to the protective spells in the original Mage Tower system, the Element Pool of this Mage Tower has also appeared here due to some unknown reason!"

As Senior Relic Hunters specially trained by Lord Collins to explore true ancient ruins, the Leikesi team had also received Magic Education.

It was just that because they could not directly access the Deep Weave, they were far inferior to normal High Mages in terms of actual observation and operation.

But as Senior Relic Hunters, their sensitivity in certain aspects was far beyond that of normal High Mages, such as this phenomenon of the Element Pool shifting.

Perhaps they did not understand the true reason behind this phenomenon, but they knew that wanting to explore the area behind the stone door was already completely beyond their capabilities.

"Lord Xia Duo, what do you think—"

"Let's go check other unexplored areas first; I will consider it."

To be honest, Xia Duo had never seen such a bizarre situation!

Whether it was a warehouse behind the stone door, there was no need to doubt that; this was a ruin left by a Netherese Mage from the Age of Discovery, and it had only been a few hundred years until now.

Although the specific purpose was not marked on the door, through his understanding of current Mage Towers, it was not difficult to discover that this was very likely a warehouse.

Nowadays, Mage Towers in Netheril that have the effect of spatial folding are considered a minority; if this Mage Tower were intact, it might not lag much behind even today.

Perhaps it would just lack some new functions, such as a 【Plane Exploration Array】, but other core components would be completely fine.

Xia Duo felt this place was bizarre, which had nothing to do with whether it was a warehouse behind the stone door. The real reason was that as a relatively precise Magic Creation, the Element Pool Magic Array of this Mage Tower had somehow been stripped out.

If it had merely been stripped out, that would be one thing, but it happened to be fused with the protection system on this stone door, and it was operating in a very bizarre state of equilibrium.

This was like taking one cylinder of an engine out of a car, connecting it to the headlights, and actually being able to make the headlights shine.

Or like taking a region of an integrated circuit, stripping it out, and sticking it onto another region, yet the circuit remained intact and the relevant functions still existed.

This was truly somewhat bizarre.

Xia Duo guessed that either it was a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse, happening to hit the one possibility out of countless possibilities that allowed the Element Pool and the protection system to still work.

Or there existed a more complex spatial form here; the Element Pool appeared to be here, but in reality, it was still in its original position, just a spatial transformation that made people mistakenly think a bizarre fusion had occurred.

Which one it was would require going to other areas with protective spells to see if they were also the same as the warehouse here.

……

Soon, Luodite and the others arrived at the next unexplored area; according to the judgment of the Leikesi team, this might still be a warehouse.

"Leikesi's judgment of this place might be wrong; I think it is more likely to be the private residence of a mage in the Mage Tower at that time."

Aibuna pointed to some carvings on the wall outside the door frame and said, "If nothing goes wrong, these should be the marks left for the Constant Magic (doorbell) alarm. If it were a warehouse, there would be no need to do this."

Regarding Aibuna's judgment, everyone expressed their approval, but more problems also came—

This door, or more accurately, the protection system of this area, was also fused with the Element Pool.

Afterwards, Luodite and the others continued to check the remaining few areas where protective spells still existed, and all of them showed the phenomenon of fusion with the Element Pool.

Among them, there were two areas that also seemed to be private residences of mages, where the protection systems were already tending toward chaos and collapse, and their fusion with the Element Pool was also in an unstable state, seemingly likely to have an elemental discharge accident at any time.

……

Returning to the first warehouse door, which was closest to the entrance hall, Luodite voiced his conjecture: "Could the abnormalities in these areas be some kind of emergency avoidance measure after a failed experiment at the time?"

"Lord Xia Duo, what is your take?"

Sitting and watching!

Xia Duo had indeed been sitting and watching Luodite and the others act in a relatively leisurely manner; if everything went smoothly, it would even end with him sitting leisurely.

He could see that among the five of Luodite, Weiji was probably just here to play around, while Fulanke and Aibuna were there to escort Luodite, and as for Sidier, he was the main force of this exploration operation.

Of course, this main force was mostly manifested in cracking the protection system of the Mage Tower.

It was just a pity that the protection system here, although it did not look difficult to crack, had become even more thorny because of the bizarre fusion state with the Element Pool.

From the fact that Sidier had not said a word until now, one could tell how much confidence he had.

Because of this, Xia Duo became Luodite's last resort; if Xia Duo was also at a loss here, then this exploration would end in failure again.

As for next time, there very likely would not be a next time.