Chapter 234: Take It All Away

Chapter 234: Take It All Away

“How did this Ruins come about again?” Zheng Yichen frowned slightly as he thought about it. At that time, he hadn’t looked carefully. It was just an old, unimportant diary used as a desk pad, with little substantial content. So, Zheng Yichen hadn’t examined it closely back then. Witches generally had Personal Spaces. If they didn’t want a place anymore, they could completely empty it out.

“It seemed to be created for some magic research.” As for the specifics, Zheng Yichen didn’t think too deeply either. If he had the time, he could simply use the Projection left at Irene’s place to go take a look. That diary was still there, propping up the desk.

He just needed to follow and see for himself. What it was, he would know by seeing it with his own eyes. It seemed Witches had this habit of leaving something behind after staying somewhere.

After the adventurer Oss found the Ruins marked on the map, he smoothly located the entrance here following the route shown. The entire entrance was mechanism-based. Its age did not affect its exquisite structure. However, it was just this entrance that proved troublesome. This frustrated Oss, who had made many preparations. He had been ready to face many dangers, but this situation made him regret the money he had spent earlier. If only he had known there were no such dangers.

The antidotes and other things he bought were really a waste. He wondered if he could sell them back at the original price after returning.

Oh… he was starting to remember a bit. Zheng Yichen, who was following, felt the patterns on the wall. These patterns still contained faint Mana Fluctuations. This research site seemed to be the location for Irene’s research on that deep blue crystal. According to the diary’s records, the research here seemed to have failed. However, because some experience was summarized, Irene simply preserved this place. Her idea was probably that it might be useful someday.

As for others finding this place, it didn’t matter. The deep blue Mana Crystal, like Fate-Killer, was something unique to Witches. Others simply couldn’t produce it. Therefore, even if this place was discovered, very few people could uncover its secrets. But if he remembered correctly, whoever found this place could gain significant benefits. This point depended on luck.

He walked cautiously through the passage inside the Ruins. The entire passage was very quiet. The faint, shimmering deep blue Mana light flowing on the walls from time to time provided some illumination, but it created a rather eerie atmosphere. This kept reminding him that even though he hadn’t encountered any danger along the way, he must be extra careful!

Watching his state, Zheng Yichen scratched his head. He really wanted to tell the other person that there were no traps here at all. Being this cautious, it would take him half a day just to get anywhere.

Yawning, Zheng Yichen shifted his attention back to his main body. Nothing significant would happen here for now, so he’d better focus more on his own matters. In his large bedroom, Zheng Yichen yawned, feeling a bit curious about what could be discovered in the Ruins. For the moment, he wasn’t very sleepy.

“Cough, no need for corpses for now.” As soon as he entered the Laboratory, Zheng Yichen saw a Ghost Maid waiting by the door. He remembered this Ghost Maid; wasn’t she the one who had brought the corpses earlier?

The Ghost Maid nodded silently and stood to the side. There were many Ghost Maids at the Castle. Loris sending a batch here didn’t cause any issues. Hmm… indeed, no issues. After they arrived, they simply took over the work of the Alchemical Puppets. Consequently, all the freed-up Alchemical Puppets were sent by Zheng Yichen to go mining.

Back in the Laboratory, Zheng Yichen studied the rough notes from the previous dissection. Every structure had detailed annotations: “Hmm… what should be used to replace the muscle parts?”

Zheng Yichen pinched his chin and picked up a biological record book placed nearby. It documented many traits specific to beasts or Magical Beasts. Zheng Yichen found a spot, squatted down, and searched through it for a long time. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, he checked the time and couldn’t help but twitch his mouth. Tsk, he had lost track and it was already late at night. Putting down the book filled with bookmarks, he lazily stretched his body and shifted his attention to the Projection near Oss.

Unlike Oss’s caution, he flew swiftly along the passage. He had placed an extremely hidden Tracking Spell on Oss. That spell was something Zheng Yichen had specifically asked Irene to cast, making it very difficult to detect. Relying on this Tracking Spell, Zheng Yichen quickly found Oss. At this moment, her condition didn’t look too good.

She was enveloped in a faint blue environment. It looked as if lights were on here. In reality, those colors were the product of highly concentrated Mana gathered together. Highly concentrated Mana confined in a narrow space, accumulating over time, would produce a mist-like effect… then liquefaction, and finally crystallization.

Huh, he initially thought this was just Earth-knowledge imagination. But after learning about this aspect from Irene, Zheng Yichen’s mouth twitched a little. It looked strangely familiar no matter how he thought about it. But upon consideration, it seemed any form of power could undergo these evolutionary steps?

The environment Oss was in was the process of Mana evolving. Right now, she was enveloped in a faint blood mist, resisting the pressure generated by the Mana environment. The concentration of that blood mist was continuously increasing, forcing her to gradually boost her own power to counter the pressure. Her target was a stone platform at the center of this space. In the center of the platform was a groove with deep blue liquid flowing within. At the center of the liquid, a few Mana Crystals lay settled. They looked similar in color to the Mana Crystal Irene had once shown. Actually, these were just ordinary Mana Crystals.

Their controllability was even rather poor; otherwise, Irene wouldn’t have abandoned this place.

Overall, Oss’s luck was good. By the time she arrived, new Mana Crystals had already accumulated here again. Yawning, Zheng Yichen watched her struggle for a long time before finally managing to retrieve the Mana Crystals. Zheng Yichen scratched his ear. In the past, he might have been interested in what Oss obtained. But now, with higher-level items on him, he looked down on such ‘ordinary’ stuff.

The quality of the Mana Crystals in her hand wasn’t even as good as the three strands of Irene’s hair Zheng Yichen carried with him. The only thing that interested him was the function of this Ruins.

The lines carved around that platform spread out across the entire space, connecting almost the whole Ruins. So, the entire Ruins might actually be a large ‘machine’ for gathering magical power, constantly drawing vast amounts of Mana here. Yet, strangely, no Mana Fluctuations radiated outward from this place. Just for this reason alone, Zheng Yichen wanted to take it all away!

He had his own ideas. Having read so many novels, the first thing Zheng Yichen thought of when he saw the liquid magical power in the platform’s groove was an Elemental Pool… After all, in his Workshop, although there were designs like light bulbs, they all required maintenance. Every so often, the engraved Magic Arrays needed to be infused with Mana. It was very troublesome.

The Magic Weapon Summoning Book was convenient, but that thing was now his main tool. If he didn’t find ways to continuously enhance its power, using it for such consumption aspects felt somewhat embarrassing to mention. Even though using it now didn’t incur much consumption, that was only for the present. In the future, with more research and development, continuing to use the Magic Weapon Summoning Book would naturally increase the load.

So, Zheng Yichen had previously thought about finding some alternative energy sources. A large-scale Mana-gathering Magic Array was a good method, but the emitted magical fluctuations were too strong. Even if concealed by some means, the flow generated by the Mana gathering outside the concealed area could still be detected.

“What exactly is this?” Oss looked down at the several irregular deep blue Mana Crystals in her hand. She knew nothing about Magic and had no related knowledge. Bloodline Power was different from any magical power. Even though she was now dozens of times stronger than her former self, she couldn’t understand magical power without doing anything.

The only thing Oss could feel was that these crystals in her hand contained exceptionally terrifying power fluctuations. It seemed that with just a little stimulation, they could flatten the entire Ruins!

Something this terrifying… must be very valuable, right?

She glanced somewhat reluctantly at the liquid inside the platform. Even if its contents weren’t as good as the crystals in her hand, they should still be quite powerful. Unfortunately, by the time she retrieved these things, she had already exhausted most of her power and had no time to collect the liquid. Touching her cheek,

Oss’s mouth twitched involuntarily, revealing a bitter smile. Bloodline Power was formidable, but when used outside of bloody combat, there were consequences. Burning large amounts of blood essence resulted in bodily withering. To recover, besides natural restoration, one needed to find powerful beasts or Magical Beasts to plunder their Blood Essence to replenish the loss.

“He finally left.” Watching Oss leave the Ruins, Zheng Yichen, who had nearly fallen asleep waiting, perked up. Rubbing his claws together, he sensed through the Tracking Spell that Oss was far away from here. Presumably, the Infiltrator from the Sanctuary Church following her had also left. Only then did he dart out from the Ruins, taking a deep breath. His extremely miniaturized body immediately grew large. Magic threads extended from his claws, quickly weaving into a large-scale Magic Rune Array. The scale of this Magic Rune Array directly covered the entire Ruins! Just this step’s Mana consumption drained more than half of Zheng Yichen’s Mana!

This was a High-Rank Earth Magic of the siege type. If a powerful Mage used this spell and wasn’t countered in time, that city’s walls could be overturned in an instant!

City walls had extremely deep foundations. Using spells like the Earthquake Spell to affect such deeply rooted walls? Good luck shaking them slowly!

When casting this magic, Zheng Yichen felt more like shouting “Planetary Devastation”…

Ahem, in short, he now wanted to take the entire Ruins away!

The idea was somewhat crazy, but with the Mana support of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, Zheng Yichen had the foundation to do this. While setting up the Magic Rune Array, the consumption came from Zheng Yichen’s own Mana. Later, when activating this magic, Zheng Yichen directly transferred the remaining Mana consumption to the Magic Weapon Summoning Book.

The earth trembled deeply under the effect of this Earth Magic. The ground at the edges of the Ruins cracked rapidly. Most of the Ruins, buried deep underground, were forcibly dragged out. A black fissure slowly swallowed the Ruins. After finishing all this, Zheng Yichen didn’t even bother checking the consumption in the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. He directly dissipated both the Magic Weapon Summoning Book and this Projection of his. His actions were swift, decisive, without any hesitation. Just as he finished, several Streams of Light cut through the night sky, quickly arriving here. Looking at the massive crater before them and the intense Mana Fluctuations lingering on-site, they fell into silent speechlessness.

Which madman was making trouble here? What was the purpose of creating such a huge pit!?

“Huh? Something seems off down there!” The few powerful individuals who arrived sensed subtle, unusual fluctuations within the intense residual magical waves. After briefly exchanging glances, they swiftly descended into the underground crater. Although the magical fluctuations here were terrifying, their purity wasn’t high. Even if not dispersed, they would completely vanish without a trace in at most a day or two.

With their active dispersal, the residual fluctuations immediately disappeared: “It seems there’s a Mana Ore Vein down here?”

“Seal off this area!” The few people quickly discussed and directly decided the ownership of whatever lay buried below. They were from different families in nearby cities. If a Mana Ore Vein was truly hidden here, regardless of the type of mineral, it would involve significant interests.

Moreover, this was an unowned place. Of course, it belonged to whoever discovered it first!

“Phew… tired like a dog!” In the Laboratory, Zheng Yichen panted. It wasn’t just about his Mana being more than half depleted. The consumption from the magic’s activation process, the Ruins themselves, and opening a sufficiently large fissure to his Personal Space was mostly borne by the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. However, some crucial costs were unavoidable, such as Mental Energy. The entire magic required Zheng Yichen’s active control to complete all guidance. He didn’t want to pull out a ruined Ruins.

Glancing at the Ruins occupying a considerable space in his Personal Space, Zheng Yichen roughly estimated its specifications and immediately issued an order to some idle Alchemical Avatars: go dig a pit!

After all, his Workshop was underground. When space became insufficient, he just needed to dig deeper. If they dug up something strange, it could serve as research material. If he couldn’t handle it himself… there was a Witch living here permanently. There truly weren’t many things they couldn’t handle, unless this place was exposed and the Sanctuary Church sent forces to besiege them.

But they were currently locked in a fierce struggle with the Undying Witch, so nothing major should happen on his side for now.

— New Plan: Comprehensive Base Automation Upgrade…

After adding this line to the plan, Zheng Yichen couldn’t be bothered to return to the bedroom. He simply flopped down in the Laboratory and fell into a deep sleep. Moving that small Ruins had really exhausted him.