Mage Legend

When Lynch's energy light ball touched the stone wall, it was like placing a scorching red coal on snow, with a clear effect. The melting stone hissed and reluctantly moved away from the position of the guardian. The mage, enduring the heat and the pungent smell, slowly moved his left hand, expanding a passageway taller than a person on the wall.

"That should do it," the mage said as he dismissed the spells around him, leading the way into the mountain wall. Zilvra and Morgan followed excitedly. After a while, Lynch turned around and used an illusion technique to disguise the area back to its original appearance. As long as the snake-men didn't try to excavate this stone wall, they would never discover the new passage.

Upon entering the cave, the rotten air inside almost made it impossible for everyone to breathe. It had been sealed for at least a hundred years, with no living creatures having entered. Dust like snowflakes covered the ground in a thick layer, feeling very soft underfoot. Lynch used his powerful wand as a lighting tool, and the gentle white light illuminated the cave.

They found themselves in a wide corridor, with shelves of stone on either side filled with various tomes. Many of the pages had been corroded by time into powder, or would completely disintegrate at the slightest breath. However, some others remained intact, with the heavy book spines still emitting a faint silvery glow from beneath the dust. Lynch handed the wand to Morgan, then pulled one of these books from the shelf.

"Whew..." He blew on it, dislodging a cloud of dust, revealing the original text. Lynch blinked and skimmed through it, "This is a ledger recording gifts to the God of Flames," he said. "The cover has a number, this one is 3250, suggesting that there are many more like it. According to what is recorded, the God of Flames must have received countless offerings, being extremely wealthy."

"Could it be the treasure buried beneath the Ridge Mountains?" the dwarf suggested, "Quick, see if it mentions where they're all kept?"

"Would it really be that simple?" Zilvra replied, "Since when do ledgers need to be preserved with materials like a magic book? I don't think anyone would be so extravagant."

"Exactly, this couldn't be a real ledger," Lynch said. "The key is that the numbers on these books are just too high. If these really were all offerings, the God of Flames would have had the treasuries of the entire Anriel Continent and more, which is clearly impossible. What information is really hidden behind these texts?"

"Don't overthink it, let's first see if there are any straightforward treasures," Zilvra suggested. "Solving the puzzle can wait for later."

So the group continued forward, while Lynch kept taking things out of the spatial bag and stuffing all the intact books inside. Now that they had reached the dwarf city, they no longer needed to carry so many supplies.

This corridor of books seemed endless; they were in there for more than three hours. Lynch's Eye of Insight was of no use, so the light from the wand was continuous. However, as they ventured further, the dust on the ground became increasingly thin, until they finally stepped onto solid land and could take the opportunity to shake the dirt from their boots.

"Have you noticed, the air here seems much better," Zilvra remarked. "I even feel a cool mist brushing my face."

"Indeed!" Morgan added. "Look! There are two droplets on my beard."

Soon enough, they reached the end of the stone corridor, where a perpetual fog rolled and swirled around, enveloping them completely. They couldn't see the path beneath them but could clearly sense a dangerous abyss nearby. Their heavy footsteps echoed around them, resonating in the valley-like environment.

"Don't move, let me see what I can do." In this environment, affected by the Absolute Curse Stone, Lynch felt the spells' effects greatly diminished. He used the Wind Creation Skill to clear a space around the three of them, barely making the ground visible.

Everyone gasped, they were now walking on a suspended bridge, with deep black ravines not far to either side. The mage tried to turn up the brightness of his powerful wand as much as possible, but still couldn't find the walls or bottom of the abyss. The dwarf sighed, "Thousands of stones! Good thing we didn't move rashly, otherwise I'd still be wondering when we'd hit the bottom!"