Exploring Technology in a Wizard World

After a journey of exploration, overcoming numerous obstacles, the three of them finally appeared in front of a narrow secret room within the cave.

Avoiding the many demonized spiders frozen into popsicles in front, they walked into a secret room no more than ten square meters, seeing it was covered in dust, with a box quietly sitting on a stone table.

The box was over twenty centimeters in length and width, and five to six centimeters high, entirely pitch black, dull on the surface, showing no sign of anything special.

Upon seeing it, Joseph's eyes lit up, and he stepped forward, waved his hand, and quickly dusted off the floating dust on the box's surface using a spell, observing closely.

After a while of observation, Joseph turned and looked at Richard and Bobbobovic, nodding slightly as he confirmed, "It seems we have acquired the target item."

"This box?" Bobbobovic asked, still somewhat incredulous, as the box looked too ordinary.

"Yes, this box." Joseph affirmed, taking out a folded silver patterned black cloth, about a meter square, from his bosom, carefully wrapped the box, and held it in his arms.

After doing all this, Joseph said, "Alright, this mission is successfully completed, we can head back now."

"Head back now?" Richard interjected, "We haven't finished exploring the ruins, have we?"

The ruins indeed hadn't been fully explored, they explored at most half, leaving many areas unexplored. Leaving now, it would easily give the impression of a halfway effort.

Listening to Richard, Joseph looked at him and said seriously, "Wizard Richard, there's indeed room for further exploration in the ruins, but we no longer need to. Just like you said earlier, freezing those demonized spiders in place is enough, no need to kill them. Our goal was just to get this box from the ruins, and it's most important to quickly return it to the organization. There's no need to explore any further."

Hearing Joseph's words, Richard blinked, feeling that Joseph's logic was somewhat unnatural and unreasonable.

An ancient relic signifies a huge treasury for any organization, potentially yielding valuable finds. If possible, an organization would eagerly scour through the entire ancient ruin; why abandon it halfway?

Looking at Joseph, Richard tentatively asked, "Wizard Joseph, if for personal reasons, out of curiosity, I wanted to stay and continue exploring?"

"This!" Joseph's face slightly changed, quickly returning to normal, and smiling at Richard, "Theoretically, of course, you can, but practically, there might be some issues."

"Such as?" Richard raised an eyebrow and asked.

Joseph sighed, "Wizard Richard, you've heard me say this before, this ruin was discovered by other wizards of the organization. It belongs to the entire Truth Society, considered common wealth for all members. So, if you want to explore it, you must get the organization's approval.

For this mission, the organization only required us to retrieve this box I'm holding and bring it back, which we've now accomplished. Continuing to explore without the organization's permission may invite trouble, so… it's best not to do so."

"Wizard Joseph, are you suggesting that even if there's no harm, to explore a relic belonging to the organization, permission is absolutely necessary, right?" Richard inquired.

"Some procedures always need to be followed," Joseph said softly.

"Then, can I apply to explore this relic later?" Richard asked.

"Of course, you can." Joseph replied, "But whether the application will be approved is another issue."

"Alright, I understand." Richard said. Having somewhat guessed the Truth Society's way of managing and restricting lower-tier members, it seemed the organization mostly utilized the lower-tier members rather than allowing them too much initiative.

"As long as you understand." Joseph said, unsure of what exactly Richard understood, but Richard's cessation of inquiries made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"Actually, Wizard Richard, if you truly are interested in relics, strive to enter the organization's core, and with its resources, you'll have plenty of ancient ruins to explore." Joseph said.

Is this to not discourage enthusiasm too much?

Richard thought at heart, looking at Joseph with an interested expression and nodded, "That would be great, I greatly look forward to that time."

"Believe me, it won't be that long."

"Hopefully."

"Well, since we've finished the mission now, let's head out." Bobbobovic suggested from the side.

"Alright." Richard agreed.

"Alright." Joseph naturally did not refuse.

Afterwards, without further delay, the three of them walked out of the secret room and headed towards the exit of the ruins.

...

Over half an hour later.

Richard, Bobbobovic, and Joseph left the ruins, emerging from the exit.

It was already noon, the sun was hanging right in the center of the sky, the surroundings were very quiet, and a four-wheeled carriage that brought the trio was parked not far away, looking almost unchanged from when they entered the ruins.

Joseph held in his left arm the box wrapped in silver patterned black cloth, while his right hand gestured towards the ruins' exit. Along with a recitation of spell incantations and spell cast, cracked stones flew up from the ground and assembled together. After a series of "ka-ka-ka" sounds, the exit quickly reverted to a complete stone wall.

Bobbobovic stood nearby, took a deep breath of the outside air, and exclaimed, "Being outside is indeed better."

Having sealed the exit, Joseph turned and spoke to Bobbobovic, "Who said it isn't, though compared to this place, Delan is even better. When we return to Delan, I'll report the details of this mission to Canon Steward, and have you both formally join the Truth Society, that would be the best, right, Wizard Richard?" As he finished, Joseph turned to look at Richard.

"Indeed…" Richard echoed, only half through his sentence, his head suddenly turned towards the northwest direction.

Joseph and Bobbobovic both sensed something, following suit, turning towards the northwest direction.

"Whoosh!"

A group of dazzling white light burst in the northwestern sky, its brightness nearly overshadowing the midday sun, and then quickly vanished.

Subsequently, after a long while, a muffled "boom" echoed from the same direction.

The muffled sound wasn't loud; if not listened to carefully, it would easily blend with the surrounding insect chirping. However, considering the distance from the incident site to here, it was already astonishing.

Richard, Bobbobovic, and Joseph all showed expressions of surprise.

Richard spoke, deducing, "It should be the effect of some rare high-circle magic."

"Definitely done by a Level 4 Wizard." Bobbobovic followed.

"Perhaps two Level 4 Wizards were fighting, one was forced to use a secret technique, resulting in what we saw." Richard stated.

"But why though?" Bobbobovic was somewhat puzzled, "Battles between Level 4 Wizards are rare, right…"

As Richard and Bobbobovic continued their dialogue, Joseph did not interject, eyes looking at the northwestern sky, lips pursed, seemingly having thought of something.

In a barely audible voice, he muttered, "That direction, could it be…"