Chapter 231: Entering the Ruins

The next day, the first thing Xia Duo did upon waking was run to the riverbank and look at the opposite shore. Sure enough, that piece of wood was still there, so now it all depended on the situation at the treasure site!

After arranging tasks for everyone at the camp and setting up a Magic Alarm nearby, Xia Duo took his shield and Adamantine Sword and ducked into the forest.

It was still the same straight line from the camp to the treasure site; he didn't know if it was an illusion, but Xia Duo actually felt that the conceptual existence of "Flow" and "Moist" along this "path" had suddenly increased.

"There must have been a change over there!"

Thinking this, Xia Duo quickened his pace and arrived at the location where he had felled the tree yesterday in a moment.

He saw a large tree that would take two people to embrace lying in the forest, having even crushed some smaller trees nearby; Xia Duo rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

"This doesn't look any different from yesterday!"

It was indeed no different; the felled tree was still lying where it was, the sword marks on it were clearly visible, and even the branch he had cut off a piece of yesterday showed no changes at all.

Except that the leaves seemed to look a bit more wilted.

There was no recovery as he had expected, nor did any extraordinary phenomena appear; it was just very ordinary—a tree had been cut down, and there was no change.

However, for Xia Duo, the lack of change was already a change in itself.

"These trees are real trees, not an Illusion!" After circling the area, Xia Duo carefully inspected it with Magic Vision, hoping to deduce the secrets of this tree from the changes in the surrounding Magic Net environment.

But there was no change in the nearby Magic Net either; it seemed to truly be the most ordinary logging site.

Yet Xia Duo knew that this felled tree had indeed been able to restore itself before; he didn't know if it was because the damage it sustained was too great, or because a branch had been taken away, that caused it to be unable to recover.

After walking around twice without finding anything, Xia Duo walked toward the tree roots, preparing to dig them up to see if there was any secret underground.

At this moment, Lao Nier's secret treasure was no longer on his mind; he discovered that this area itself was extremely interesting.

Xia Duo weighed the Adamantine Sword in his hand and walked toward the roots, muttering to himself: "Sorry to you again today."

The Adamantine Sword naturally wouldn't respond to him, but the eerie environment here might not be the same.

Just as Xia Duo approached within two meters of the tree roots, having already stepped on the part that spread out and was exposed, he suddenly felt the surrounding space shift, and his vision blurred.

Although it was only for an instant, when Xia Duo could clearly see the scene around him again, everything had changed its appearance—

At this moment, he felt as if he were in a ruin that had been abandoned for a long time; everywhere there were withered branches and fallen leaves, broken walls and ruined pillars, and the air was filled with an aura of decay and withered death.

Almost subconsciously, Xia Duo was about to draw on the Magic Net to isolate the smell, but what made him almost lose his soul in terror was that the Magic Net here did not respond to his Control.

The Magic Net environment here was completely different from the outside world; it was as calm as in a Spell Laboratory, yet it revealed a sense of dead silence and mechanical coldness.

It was clearly visible and tangible, yet he just couldn't control it!

A Mage, once separated from the Magic Net, is just an ordinary person who is slightly smarter, and losing the magic power they have always been proud of can even make a Mage perform worse than an ordinary person due to the psychological gap.

Xia Duo wasn't quite that pathetic, but he also subconsciously gripped the sword in his hand; at this moment, perhaps only this Adamantine Sword, which he had tortured for so long, could bring him a shred of security.

There was no time to regret or reflect on his rashness; the most important thing right now was to leave this place alive!

He was originally an ordinary person who had only obtained magic power for a year, so Xia Duo quickly adjusted his mindset and first checked the items he was carrying.

The ordinary items were mostly—two swords (his own sword as a backup), a shield, a rope tied around his waist, Spell Notes, and a pen.

As for the Magic Item, he hadn't noticed just now, but the Focus Ring had become a dead object upon arriving here; although it still appeared to have a Magic Aura, it had no effect whatsoever.

Of course, even if it were useful, it wouldn't be of much significance now, because the Focus Ring only passively enhanced the user's focus and had no active abilities.

As for the Magic Scroll, Xia Duo felt heartbroken looking at the Magic Scroll that was showing signs of its aura dissipating; fortunately, they were just some low-level scrolls he had made himself.

If they were high-level goods he had bought, it would be a total loss! Magic Scrolls themselves have a shelf life, but in a normal Magic Net environment, the so-called shelf life is almost negligible; however, here, the magic power on the scrolls seemed to be accelerating its "evaporation."

Xia Duo activated a 【Magic Alert】 scroll, and as he expected, activating it only caused the scroll to fail rapidly; the so-called alert effect was naturally gone as well.

Magic could not be relied upon, but he still had his Bloodline Ability; although his Spellcasting ability was dormant because the Magic Net did not respond, his inherent strength and physique could not be stripped away.

Holding his shield in one hand and his sword in the other, Xia Duo began to cautiously explore this ruined land.

The ground was a thick carpet of mud mixed with rotten leaves and dust; it felt soft underfoot, and every step he took emitted a slight hissing sound.

The original forms of the surrounding buildings could no longer be identified, but combined with the few remaining broken walls and the large number of decaying trees nearby, Xia Duo roughly deduced that this was an Elf Ruins.

After all, apart from Elves, there were probably few races that would plant trees all around their buildings, and some building ruins were even piled together with the remains of trees.

Xia Duo couldn't help but associate it with the tree-top buildings of the Elves.

As he walked, the overall appearance of these ruins gradually appeared in Xia Duo's mind; the area of these ruins was not large, roughly the size of a football field.

Of course, this only referred to the area of the ruins with buildings.

The location where he first appeared was by a collapsed, decaying stone wall.

And surrounding the building ruins was a circle of decaying forest; some had already fallen, while others were still standing. Through the gaps in the forest, Xia Duo saw that there seemed to be green appearing further out!

"Plants?!"

Xia Duo's spirits lifted; what he feared most was being trapped in an unchanging ruin. Having change was better than no change.

Choosing a direction closer to the edge, he passed through the building ruins and tree remains, and what came into view was actually plants—living plants! Trees growing sturdily, along with the grass and stones on the ground; all of this made Xia Duo feel as if the ruins just now were a dream, and he was still in the Green Pearl Forest.

But when he turned his head, not far away were trees that had already decayed and collapsed, most of which were only half-stumps, and further away, the suspected Elf Ruins clearly reminded him—

This was not a dream! There seemed to be a clear dividing line between life and decay, and if he crossed that line, could he leave this place?

Xia Duo wasn't sure, but searching within the building ruins would also mean facing the unknown; now, he could only take a gamble.

(End of chapter)