Dark night, absolute silence all around! Withered old trees dotted the surroundings, and a few crows perched on the branches were preening their feathers.
Bang!!!
The grass at the base of the forest parted, revealing a black passage.
Leilin was cloaked entirely in a black robe, his face hidden, making it impossible to discern his features.
A few lights still glowed in the manor not far away. The mercenary guards patrolling the grounds had no idea that their master had already slipped away in secret.
In Leilin's laboratory, there was a hidden passage leading straight outside—something Leilin had set up himself, unknown to everyone else.
"Since that Manxter serpent was an experimental subject, there must be a
Leilin's eyes flickered with thought: "That laboratory must have already been abandoned! The Wizard inside was either unable to tend to it due to other circumstances, or has already died! That's what allowed the serpent to escape!"
For Wizards, exploring ruins had always been their favorite pastime.
The remnants of ancient Wizards, the laboratories of certified Wizards—these often contained precious experimental materials, advanced fields of study, powerful spells and magical artifacts, all things that countless Wizards dreamed of obtaining.
There was no shortage of tales about some Wizard Apprentice who had been utterly worthless, only to stumble upon ruins and strike it rich.
Of course, there were also those who had failed in their explorations, their remains buried beneath ancient traps and curses.
But for Wizards, exploring ruins was still an enormously profitable endeavor.
For a Wizard's laboratory capable of producing a half-grown Manxter serpent, anything that spilled out of it could instantly make Leilin wealthy—granting him rare materials and knowledge alike, paving the way for his future advancement to certified Wizard.
"Since I've found the trail, I have to check out that laboratory!"
Leilin's gaze was resolute. He feared no adventure, especially when the risk was low and the reward was high.
For this expedition, he had prepared a great many things, enough to deal with any sudden crisis.
As for subordinates? Not only were they liable to leak information, but under a certified Wizard's traps, even Knights were nothing more than slightly larger ants—completely useless. Leilin had kept even his own people in the dark.
Leilin traveled through the night. With no outsiders around, he could employ all manner of means.
A vial of green potion splashed onto the ground, sending up a swirl of green wind-elemental energy particles that enveloped his body. His entire form seemed to transform into a gentle breeze, vanishing into the night.
The potion Leilin used was an acceleration potion he had concocted over the past few years.
As an outstanding Apothecary, Leilin was equally adept at using potions for travel and for combat.
The original cavern—the site where Leilin and the others had fought the Manxter serpent.
The scattered limbs and most of the serpent's remains had already been transported back to Polar Night City by people sent from the city lord's manor. Only the pockmarked ground and remnants of fire and ice remained, still testifying to the ferocity of the battle.
"I already recorded the situation beforehand using the crystal ball issued by the Academy. That should be more than sufficient proof of task completion."
During the last battle, Leilin had used the crystal ball to record most of the exploration task's contents, especially the Manxter serpent's corpse at the end.
With the materials from that corpse and the crystal ball's recorded proof, Leilin's mission in Polar Night City could be considered thoroughly completed.
But he had no intention of leaving whatsoever.
Setting aside the fact that Black Bone Forest Academy was currently mired in war—even if the conflict had already been decided, Leilin had no desire to return during this period.
He had just successfully developed an alternative formula for the
Meanwhile, in Polar Night City, Leilin hadn't seen a single certified Wizard, which allowed him to conduct his experiments and advance in peace.
After three years, the war at Black Bone Forest Academy would surely have settled. And with three years as a buffer, even though Leilin's advancement to Third-rank Apprentice would still be remarkably fast, it wouldn't appear quite so conspicuous!
He could then find some other excuse and easily brush any suspicion aside.
As for the apprentice corpses and such on the ground—they had long since been inspected by Leilin, who collected everything of value before departing with the gravely wounded Jackson and Meierfeile.
"But those apprentices were all paupers—none of them had more than ten Magic Stones! Only that half-beast Wizard Apprentice had something decent on him—a Frost Alchemy Rune!"
Leilin grumbled inwardly as he arrived at the center of the cavern.
Under the glow of the luminescent jellyfish above, the entire cavern was brightly lit. Leilin could see that on the ground at the center, a circle of track-like impressions was clearly visible—the marks left by the Manxter serpent's long-term nesting.
"It pressed such deep impressions. The Manxter serpent really is just as lazy as the books say!"
Leilin crouched down and ran his fingers through the soil inside the impressions.
"Chip! Record the composition!"
"Recorded. Compared to ordinary soil sample data in the database, the target contains 0.005% additional material residue. Preliminary assessment: McAlloy!"
The Chip provided its information.
McAlloy was an artificial metal created by Wizards through the use of spells, widely used in laboratory equipment such as incubation pools.
"As expected!" Joy surfaced in Leilin's eyes.
"Chip! Can you trace the serpent's trail back to its original location?"
"Scanning! Target data is heavily obscured by traces of various other beasts. Critical data insufficient. Task failed!" the Chip reported.
Leilin scanned his surroundings. The ground was covered with claw marks and other traces left by various beasts—the aftermath of the Manxter serpent's parasites running wild.
"A pity..." Leilin shook his head.
"However, based on the Manxter serpent's habits and other traces, that laboratory cannot be far from here!"
Leilin issued a command to the Chip: "Chip! Scan all surroundings!"
"Task established. Commencing imaging!"
Following the Chip's voice, a blue topographical map was projected in front of Leilin.
At the center was a massive cavern, surrounded by numerous narrow tunnels. Leilin even spotted a few surviving parasites—though how long they could survive after separating from their host was anyone's guess.
As the map expanded further and further, it finally reached the boundaries.
Leilin frowned: "Chip! Rescan! Lower the precision settings and expand the scanning range. Focus on detecting radiation concentration!"
With the command issued, the topographical map in front of Leilin became noticeably blurrier, but the range expanded dramatically, covering nearly all of the surrounding terrain.
"Maintain this range and precision!"
Leilin exited the cavern and began running in a particular direction. As he moved, the edges of the map continued to expand outward…
After several hours, Leilin arrived before a massive black rock.
"I've scanned several nearby locations. The radiation concentration is relatively high in some of them, but those are likely just places where the Manxter serpent previously lived and shed its skin!"
"The only place with no radiation that falls outside the Chip's scan range is here!"
Leilin looked at the enormous black rock before him. It stood several men tall, practically a small hill.
In the Chip's scanned map, this rock showed absolutely no traces. Even now, standing right in front of it, the Chip detected nothing.
"This kind of situation has only occurred a few times back at the Academy—each time due to spell arrays deployed by certified Wizards interfering with the Chip's operation!"
Leilin ran his hand across the surface of the black rock—cold, damp, with some parasitic moss and the like.
"But… how do I get inside?"
Leilin's right hand applied slight pressure, scraping off a bit of stone powder.
"Chip! Analyze the composition!"
"Ding! Task established. Collecting data…" The Chip's voice came in a steady stream, and a luminous panel appeared before Leilin, densely packed with the rock's compositional data.
"It looks no different from ordinary shale!" Leilin compared the composition chart, then pulled up the shale composition data from his database for a side-by-side comparison. In the end, he had to admit that the Wizard responsible for this place had done an excellent job of concealment—Leilin could find no trace of an entrance to the laboratory.
"However, the fact that the Manxter serpent was able to get out means the laboratory's defensive spell array must have developed some kind of problem. I just need more time to observe…"
Leilin stroked his chin and set up a tent beside the rock.
He had decided to stake out this location for the long term, continuously testing the defensive array's weak points in hopes of finding a passage inside.
After all, this area fell within the Withered Forest. Once the city lord's manor had dispatched people to haul away the soldiers' and apprentices' bodies along with the serpent's remains, almost no one would come here.
Leilin ate a few crackers and other provisions he had brought along, then immediately plunged into analyzing the magical array concealed within the rock.
Of course, the reason he dared do this was entirely based on his earlier observations and deductions, which had already confirmed that the laboratory's owner had long since abandoned the place—and that the unknown Wizard in question was likely already dead.
"I've been here for quite a while, and no Wizard has emerged from the rock. That raises the accuracy of my assessment by at least another 30%!"
Leilin stared at the black rock before him, his eyes burning with an almost feverish intensity.
"As long as I can neutralize the defensive array, everything inside will be mine!"
A fully intact certified Wizard's laboratory—for Leilin, who was still only a Second-rank Apprentice, this was nothing short of a colossal treasure trove!!!
"But… a certified Wizard's arrangements must be terrifyingly powerful. I absolutely cannot let greed cloud my judgment and stumble into danger!"