Chapter 330 - 42: The Legendary Strong Person’s Laboratory (Part 2)

Chapter 330: Chapter 42: The Legendary Strong Person’s Laboratory (Part 2)

Perhaps thirty thousand years ago, a massive, towering stone pillar really did stand here.

But the pillar wasn’t protected by Magic Power, and the great force of time reshaped the terrain in this area.

The pillar continuously weathered, dust gradually accumulated, and with generations of thriving plant life, it was eventually sculpted into a hill.

Mo Ning naturally reached a conclusion. "Flower, this Adventurer’s Guild must have obtained an ancient artifact that can guide them to the relic’s exact location, right?"

Relying on something like a map alone, it would be absolutely impossible to find the location of the Furnace Castle.

Tens of thousands of long years are enough to create completely different geographical features; no one would be able to recognize it.

The only answer is that the artifact is essentially a "Relic Compass," which points the Adventurer’s Guild in the right direction by sensing a specific item within the ruins.

"Yes, you possess very strong insight. I completely agree with your judgment!"

Flower gave its praise without reservation.

As a creation of a Third Level Wizard, if the Artificial Soul agreed with this view, then the probability of the judgment being wrong was infinitesimal.

Mo Ning smiled faintly. "I know what I need to do."

The task at hand was simple: "borrow" the Relic Compass and then drive this bunch out of here.

An even simpler approach would be to mercilessly slaughter everyone in the Adventurer’s Guild, but that would violate his code of conduct.

Besides, the academy had clear rules: rape and plunder were strictly forbidden, as was the indiscriminate killing of innocents. Violators would be sentenced to permanent exile by the Arbitration Court.

Mo Ning had no intention of entering the ruins to explore.

He was well aware of his own limits and would never be like these Adventurers, blinded by greed, recklessly barging into the ruins of a laboratory built by a Legendary Wizard.

If he accidentally triggered some "minor" mechanism, even a Third Level Wizard likely wouldn’t be able to handle the consequences.

Soon, the Triangular Wing arrived above the target area and began circling the stone pillar.

The [Insightful Secret Eye], at maximum resolution, scanned the ground, searching for any trace left by the Adventurer’s Guild.

Before long, the corners of Mo Ning’s mouth turned up slightly. "These Adventurers are quite cautious, even carefully cleaning up their tracks."

This practice could avoid attracting the attention of monsters, but it couldn’t fool the scan from his "cheat."

By analyzing the subtle traces on the ground, the "cheat" even clearly deduced the Adventurers’ path of advance.

Namely—they had trekked from a nearby river valley, bypassed a mountain, and instead of taking the most direct route, had passed through another valley to arrive near the stone pillar.

That valley just so happened to be the easiest path to traverse.

Mo Ning instantly came to a conclusion:

’The Adventurer’s Guild likely has an avian animal companion or something similar. That would allow them to observe the ground from the air and find the best route directly.’

He immediately adjusted his observation strategy, adding the surrounding birds to his priority surveillance list.

A minute later, the [Insightful Secret Eye] indeed made a discovery.

A Gray Falcon was circling three small hills, and the center of its circling pattern was precisely the stone pillar.

This was clearly not a coincidence.

Mo Ning made another judgment. ’The entrance to the ruins should be at the base of the stone pillar, which is now buried deep underground. The Adventurer’s Guild is probably trying to find that entrance right now.’

This was an arduous task requiring a lot of manpower, which is why they had their animal companion keep watch for any unusual activity in the vicinity.

If this group had already successfully entered the ruins, there would be no need for the Gray Falcon to waste its energy like this.

Mo Ning looked through the [Insightful Secret Eye]’s field of vision toward an area at the foot of the hill—the place with the most residual traces.

The Adventurer’s Guild had dug an opening leading to the buried stone pillar. The entrance was also concealed, but a lot of soil with significantly higher moisture content was scattered around it.

There had been no rain in the last half-month, so the surface soil was relatively dry. That moist earth was undoubtedly the product of the Adventurer’s Guild’s diligent digging.

His judgment was confirmed.

Mo Ning began to deduce the composition of the Adventurer’s Guild to prepare for the upcoming battle:

’The Adventurer’s Guild has most likely recruited one or two Second Level Apprentices; otherwise, they wouldn’t dare to venture so deep into the Yatu Plateau.

’A Third Level Apprentice has a chance to become an Official Wizard, so they almost never leave the academy. But quite a few Second Level Apprentices do leave. Old Buck is a typical example.

’According to historical records, during the Era of the Floating City, it was very popular for Wizards to use the "Life Praise Ceremony" to extend their lifespans.

’It’s said that successfully performing the ceremony once can extend an Apprentice’s life by thirty years. This is extremely tempting for a Second Level Apprentice in their later years.

’Besides them, this Adventurer’s Guild probably has Silver Knights as well.

’A Silver Knight’s combat power is barely enough to challenge a Second Level Apprentice. At the same time, they help maintain the team’s balance, preventing the Adventurer’s Guild from becoming a mere appendage of the Second Level Apprentices.’

When a Black Iron Knight’s "Qi and Blood Core" evolves into a "Heart of Qi and Blood," and they master the more powerful Qi and Blood Fury Flame, they join the ranks of the Silver Knights.

The most outstanding ability of a Silver Knight is that they can use Group Attack Qi and Blood Combat Skills.

In contrast, Black Iron Knights can only use Single-Target Combat Skills.

A flock of thoughts wheeled rapidly in the depths of Mo Ning’s mind:

’From a balance perspective, the number of Silver Knights should at least equal the number of Second Level Apprentices, or more likely, exceed them by one.

’Therefore, the most likely configuration for the Adventurer’s Guild’s core combat power is two Second Level Apprentices and three Silver Knights.

’Two Second Level Apprentices would make the team stronger, and if you hired two Apprentices who don’t get along well, you could even have them keep each other in check.

’If I were the team’s organizer, I’d do the same thing.

’Besides the Second Level Apprentices and Silver Knights, there are probably a few First Level Apprentices. The number of Black Iron Knights and Warriors is likely even greater, but they don’t pose much of a threat to me.

’With a team configured like this, plus the guidance of the Relic Compass, they would indeed have enough strength to venture deep into the perilous Yatu Plateau.’

With only extremely limited information, Mo Ning managed to deduce the approximate composition of the Adventurer’s Guild.

This demonstrated a meticulousness of thought far beyond that of an ordinary person.

A flicker of a smile crossed his eyes as more conjectures formed in his mind:

’The organizer of this Adventurer’s Guild is very likely some great noble with deep pockets.

’Only a great noble would have the connections necessary to organize so many Strong Persons to enter the ruins.

’The Relic Compass must have been in circulation for quite some time. It’s likely that no one had noticed its secret until it fell into the hands of a great noble.

’Great nobles have extensive networks. They can ask naturalists to determine an item’s age and hire scholars skilled in decryption to crack its mystery, ultimately unearthing the clues about the ruins.

’This artifact might contain some hidden record stating that extremely valuable items are hidden within the ruins, which is why the noble organized a powerful Adventurer’s Guild to come here.

’Of course, they might not know that these ruins are connected to the legendary Furnace Castle.’

Mo Ning went over the line of logic several times and was inclined to believe that this was the full picture.

Even if there were some discrepancies, they wouldn’t be significant.

He muttered to himself, ’The organizer of the Adventurer’s Guild couldn’t be the Royal Family of some Kingdom, could it?’

If it really was the Royal Family, it would likely involve internal power struggles.

If this expedition into the ruins succeeded, it might profoundly affect the power structure of that Kingdom.

But none of this had anything to do with him, and he had no intention of digging any deeper.

Mo Ning recited silently, ’Begin combat simulation!’

The [Eye of Truth] immediately began operating, simulating the battle’s outcome based on the preset conditions.

To account for a safety margin, he set the number of Second Level Apprentices to four and Silver Knights to six—doubling both.

「Three seconds later.」

The 100th simulation concluded.

A smile appeared on Mo Ning’s face.

Although the Adventurer’s Guild had strength in numbers, so much so that a Third Level Apprentice would have no choice but to retreat, he saw a glimmer of hope for victory.

The tactic he adopted was very simple—a direct, head-on assault.

Step one: kill the Gray Falcon.

"WHOOSH—"

The Triangular Wing immediately banked, swooping toward the Gray Falcon like a bird of prey.

Before it had flown a hundred meters, the Gray Falcon suddenly let out a startled "CHIRP!", its cry filled with alarm.

It flapped its wings powerfully and dived toward the river valley, clearly trying to escape into the dense forest.

Mo Ning showed a surprised expression. "Looks like this Adventurer’s Guild has quite a few capable people!"

He saw the inside story at a glance: the Gray Falcon’s Tamer was most likely a Second Level Apprentice who had used some kind of technique on the falcon.

When the Gray Falcon was targeted, this person would immediately sense it and then command the falcon to flee.

From this small detail, he could tell that this Second Level Apprentice’s strength was likely among the best of their level.