leonardwarren Chapter 127 Traces of the Wizard
Chapter 127 Traces of the Wizard
Chapter 127 Traces of the Wizard
In the days that followed, Rowling and his two companions were nominally under the command of the Prophet Mog.
The prophet spent most of his time in a secluded stone chamber within the fortress, studying the ancient scrolls he had brought and performing certain rituals. Occasionally, he would summon Rolin to inquire about details such as the characteristics of the Ash Ring spell and the energy environment of the mines.
His questions often hit the nail on the head, demonstrating his profound knowledge and deep understanding of energy.
Rolin answered cautiously, demonstrating the insight expected of a Flame Master without revealing his true abilities. He noticed that this prophet seemed particularly interested in stars, order, and exotic energies.
One day, the prophet Mog gave Lorin a task: "Go to the Burnt Market in the east of the city and buy me a few things."
He handed over a list and a small bag of Imperial metal coins. The list listed the names of several uncommon minerals and animal materials, including a type of color-changing eyeball called the Fire Lizard.
Burnmark Market is the largest trading market in Obsidian City, located on a relatively open lava plateau in the city's eastern district.
This place is a melting pot of all sorts of people. Besides the regular shops, there are many itinerant vendors and merchants from all over the empire and even other tribes, trading various ores, crystals, animal materials, weapons, slaves, and strange items of unknown origin.
Rolin, along with the boy Garu, disguised themselves once again and arrived at the bustling market.
The air was thick with a mixture of smells: the smoky aroma of roasting meat, the earthy smell of minerals, the stench of animals, sweat, and sulfur. The sounds of vendors hawking their wares, haggling over prices, and the neighing of livestock filled the air.
Following the list, Rolin quickly purchased most of the materials from several regular shops, leaving only less common items like the fire lizard's color-changing eyeballs.
According to the shop owner, the Fire Lizard is a cunning creature deep in the Burning Mountains, difficult to catch. Its eyes are used as materials for certain special potions and illusion items, and adventurers occasionally bring them to the market to sell, but they are extremely rare.
Luo Lin had no choice but to slowly search through the market's stalls. The items there were even more varied and difficult to distinguish between genuine and fake, requiring a keen eye.
As he walked, he used the faint sensing of his echo unit to scan the items on the stall, mainly sensing energy fluctuations and looking for things that might contain special energy.
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks in front of an inconspicuous stall made of a few broken planks.
The stall owner was an old, hunched-over Tujia man with a dim soul flame, huddled in a tattered fur coat. In front of him were several stones of different colors, a few animal bones, and some odds and ends.
What caught Rolin's attention was a palm-sized, grime-covered, and chipped metal piece in the pile of junk. The metal itself was of ordinary material, but a tiny rune, almost completely obscured by dirt, was engraved on it, causing Rolin's resonant unit to resonate clearly!
The structure of the runes did not belong to the rugged fire rune system of this indigenous empire, nor was it the style of the Ash Ring that leaned towards destruction and control, and it was also different from any common rune school in the Prime Material Plane that Rolin knew of.
It is more concise, elegant, and carries an indescribable sense of precision and—ancient.
Moreover, the residual energy fluctuations of the runes were extremely weak, yet they carried a kind of spiritual imprint that Rolin was somewhat familiar with, a characteristic belonging to orthodox wizards!
Although it's very light, it's definitely not wrong!
This is not native, nor is it from the Ash Ring, nor is it from the Shadow Raven Tower!
This is another, unknown wizard rune system!
Suppressing his shock, Luo Lin squatted down, pretending to casually browse the items on the stall. Finally, he picked up the dirty metal piece and asked in a rough voice in the local language, "How much for this?"
The old man raised his murky soul fire, glanced at the metal piece, and weakly quoted a very low price, clearly not thinking the junk was worth anything.
Rowling readily paid, buying the metal sheet along with a few other inexpensive trinkets, and then left without making a sound.
Back in the stone house, I immediately closed the door and carefully cleaned the dirt off the metal plates.
The incomplete rune was fully revealed, about one-third the size of the complete rune, with fine engravings, rounded edges, and the marks of time.
Roland attempted to inject an extremely weak stellar energy.
Buzz————
The metal plate vibrated slightly, and the incomplete runes actually lit up with an extremely dim, almost white light!
A faint but clear stream of information flowed into Rolin's consciousness through the star power connection.
It's not specific knowledge or magic, but rather a feedback signal similar to "identity verification failed" or "energy circuit incomplete"!
This metal piece was actually a fragment of something resembling an identity token or information storage device that required specific energy or mental power to activate!
Its technological level is clearly superior to that of this indigenous civilization, and even comparable to some sophisticated enchanted items in the material world!
"This is neither a local product nor something that fell recently," Rowling concluded.
"The degree of wear and energy decay indicates that it has been here for a considerable period of time, perhaps decades or even longer."
A chilling hypothesis came to mind:
Long before the Ash Ring and Shadow Raven Tower were discovered and entered, other wizards may have already been in this scorched hell fragment!
And it left traces!
These wizards may come from other unknown forces in the material plane, or they may come from other worlds!
This discovery shocked Rowling even more than finding the embers of the star's core.
This means that the history and potential value of this fragmented world are far more complex and profound than we currently understand!
We must trace the origin of this metal piece!
The next day, Rowling returned to the Burnt Market and found the old indigenous stall owner.
He paid extra and inquired about the origin of the metal sheet.
The old, indigenous man took the money, thought for a long time, and then said in a muffled voice, "It seems to be—a few years ago, I traded it with a group of scavengers who returned from the depths of the Ash Plains—"
They said they found it on the edge of the plain, in an ancient ruin half-buried by quicksand—they thought it was worthless and just gave it to me—”
Ash Plains?
Ancient ruins?
A scavenger?
Rowling noted down these keywords.
It seems necessary to visit Ash Plains, a place considered a place of exile and a junkyard.
Perhaps there lies a secret about even earlier foreign wizards.
All of this requires careful planning and must be done in the absence of the Ash Ring and the eyes and ears of the Indigenous Empire.
The discovery of the metal fragments was temporarily suppressed by Rowling.
The city of Obsidian is currently in a state of high alert, with Prophet Mog in command and Lord Karug mobilizing a large army, clearly preparing to deal with a possible large-scale operation by the Ash Ring.
Proposing to explore some ancient ruins in the Ash Plains at this time would not only be inappropriate, but could also arouse unnecessary suspicion.
Lorin carefully put away the fragments and continued to play the role of the Fire Cleanser, working with Prophet Mog to observe and record the energy environment of the mine.