Chapter 360: The Erupting Power

Chapter 360: The Erupting Power

After the Black Mist overflowed from the Canyon, without the Canyon’s natural terrain protection, the Dark Element would quickly dissipate. From far away, one might not even notice anything strange here.

Every Mining Zone was developed in isolation. Zheng Yichen had to put in quite some effort to find the entrance of this Mining Zone. After digging his way in, the inside of the entire Mine Cave was pitch black, far from being like Mining Zone No. 22. Although it wasn’t very bright there, there had been some light.

Pfft—

There was a faint sound. A light ball Magic Zheng Yichen released simply vanished into the air, lasting less than 0.1 second. He couldn’t help but knock on his own head. What was he thinking? The Dark Element inside the Canyon was so intense that it had spilled out, and he was currently deep underground in a Mine Cave. Releasing Light Element Magic in a place like this was less convenient than simply burning Mana. Fire Magic… Hmm. After a faint extinguishing sound was heard, Zheng Yichen immediately pulled a flashlight out of his Personal Space without another word.

The darkness within the Mine Cave was completely dispelled under a bright beam of light. Tsk, Earth technology was still more reliable. When it came to Magic and such, in some special environments, it just fell short.

After some thought, feeling that the flashlight could only illuminate one area, Zheng Yichen took out a large light bulb and a section of a large-size dry battery. After connecting the wires, he hung the bulb from the ceiling of the Mine Cave, thoroughly dispelling the darkness nearby.

As for the distance, one could see the faintly churning Black Mist resisting the illuminated edge. That Black Mist was the Dark Element… The reason it could be seen so clearly was simply because it happened to meet the edge of the light, similar to the distortion phenomenon produced by scorching sunlight through the air.

Without that Dark Element, the large light bulb’s illumination range could have been about half larger, Zheng Yichen estimated. He then looked at the illuminated ground around him. Not far from under his feet lay an Alchemical Puppet. The simple Disguise Skin on the surface of that Alchemical Puppet’s body had become like rags… No, like rotten skin, tattered and torn. The internal metal skeleton exposed through the skin was severely weathered and corroded.

Would Enchanted Material rust? Yes!

But that would only happen when Enchanted Material, in a special environment, lost too much of its power and degraded into ordinary material. In such specific conditions, Inferior Enchanted Material would degrade into ordinary material in one-fifth the time compared to low-grade Enchanted Material. But even so, it shouldn’t become like this in just a few days. Even an ordinary piece of iron shouldn’t turn into such debris. For things he used himself, Zheng Yichen believed he wouldn’t cut corners and create a shoddy piece of work.

Looking elsewhere, as expected, the other fallen Alchemical Puppets were in the same condition. Some had simply collapsed into a pile of debris. Judging from the somewhat intact ones, before becoming like this, they had still been in working condition. It was basically certain that all the Alchemical Puppets had instantly turned into this state.

“Huff… Could it be that some treasure appeared?” Zheng Yichen examined the internal state of one Alchemical Puppet, which was also a complete mess. Even the Mana Source had completely died out, without a trace of Mana remaining. If the Mana Source had been made based on his own Mana, it probably wouldn’t have ended up like this, right?

Thinking this, Zheng Yichen immediately stood up and walked toward another direction with his flashlight. That was where the special Alchemical Puppet was stored. Without exception, all the downed Alchemical Puppets were made of ordinary Inferior Enchanted Material. Even their Mana Sources were produced in assembly-line workshops, with the Mana naturally coming from the conversion of the Ruins left behind by Irene. So, the Mana used to drive these Alchemical Puppets had nothing to do with Zheng Yichen. However, the special Alchemical Puppet was different. At the very least, it contained a small amount of Zheng Yichen’s Mana inside. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been possible to remotely activate the Projection Spell to control it. After all, with the current production quantity of Alchemical Puppets, he couldn’t possibly complete a personally crafted step for each one.

If that were the case, there would be no time for anything else; he’d just be making Mana Sources all day long.

Arriving at the egg chamber, its disguise had also become worthless, crumbling into powder with a light touch. It was fortunate that the terrain here had long adapted to the Dark Element from the Canyon and didn’t collapse due to unknown reasons. Otherwise, it would be impossible to determine the specific situation of this place.

He shattered the shell of the egg chamber and opened it. As expected, even with the protection of the egg chamber, the Alchemical Puppet inside was on the verge of complete failure. Hmm… only on the verge, not entirely useless. The Mana Source was still operating slightly. The head of the Alchemical Puppet, which carried the Magic Rune Array engraved by Zheng Yichen and was protected by his Mana, remained relatively intact, though it showed severe signs of erosion.

After all, the Mana released outward was minimal. Even with the assimilation effect, it wasn’t absolute. Preserving forty percent of the head’s integrity was considered lucky. Even so, the Magic Rune Array inside the head had failed, which was also the reason Zheng Yichen previously couldn’t control this place remotely.

“Tsk… The Mental Energy in the Magic Rune Array has disappeared too.” Zheng Yichen clicked his tongue and gently touched the Alchemical Puppet’s head. The head fell right off from the neck. The head was preserved well, but the body had long been beyond saving. After disassembling its body, Zheng Yichen took out the Mana Source. Inside, only a faint wisp of Mana spark remained, with the entire outer shell tattered, providing the last insignificant protection.

This last wisp of Mana spark also extinguished directly as Zheng Yichen removed it from the Alchemical Puppet’s body, lacking a relatively comprehensive protective space. The corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily. Well, extinguished it was. The most important part remained preserved…

Hmm, although this Mana Source was tattered and torn, it still retained some function. The original Mana spark had been completely eroded away, but it still stored some Mana… Not the kind that kept the Mana Source operating, but Dark Element that had forcefully rushed in. This Essence of Power was so refined that just sensing it slightly made Zheng Yichen feel astonished. The refinement of this Dark Element was even higher than the Ice Crystal and fire essence he had encountered before.

And this was just a portion that had been intercepted after forcefully rushing into the Mana Source, despite thick stone walls, the Alchemical Puppet, and the protection of the egg chamber. How powerful must the erupting power have been at that time?

“Perhaps… should this dragon’s unique protagonist power, belonging to a Transmigrator, undergo an Awakening?” As before, if it wasn’t man-made, then it was the influence of a unique treasure. As for other phenomena… Hmm, if that were the case, it wouldn’t be bad either. Find a way to make use of this place.