Chapter 614: A Treasury of His Own

Golden light fell across the faces of the ten young Awakened.

In front of them stood a massive curtain of light, whose ends could be seen neither on the ground nor in the sky.

Streams of light descended from unknown heights and moved along the surface of the curtain, sometimes passing slowly by one another, and sometimes meeting at a single point and creating a brighter glow.

Lian raised his head slightly.

Even after several minutes, he still couldn’t tell how tall this structure really was.

The curtain was so vast that it covered a large part of the sky, and no matter how far he looked to either side, he could only see the endless stretch of golden light.

This really is strange.

He had seen teleportation gates, rifts between worlds, and very complex mana structures before, but none of them could compare to what stood in front of him in terms of size.

On the other hand, unlike many powerful structures, he couldn’t feel any threatening pressure coming from the curtain.

Even the mana around it was unusually calm.

"All permits have been approved."

The voice of one of the entrance officials caught everyone’s attention.

A man wearing the official uniform of the Awakened Association stood beside the passage, and after receiving the final confirmation, the ten Chosen were allowed to enter the designated area at the base of the curtain.

Lian briefly looked behind him.

The escort convoy had stopped some distance away, and the guard groups were still checking the remaining supplies and equipment.

Their mission was to safely escort the Chosen to the border of the Land of the First Dawn, from this point onward, the main exploration would begin.

"The map of the explored areas and the restrictions on collecting resources have been provided to you." The entrance official continued after checking the final marks. "As long as you operate within the permitted areas, you can choose your own routes, just make sure to report your location before the end of the day."

Rindo gave a slight nod.

Roderick also moved toward the passage without asking any questions.

Lian gave the curtain one last look before stepping forward with the other Chosen.

At the moment of contact, a gentle warmth settled on his skin.

There was no feeling of falling, no strong transfer pressure, and not even the brief dizziness he sometimes experienced when passing through spatial gates.

There was only pure mana flowing around his body for a moment.

The young Vorhelm took a second step, and streams of golden light passed by his shoulders, covering his vision for a fraction of a second.

But when he took his third step, the scene in front of him had completely changed.

A vast plain covered in tall, green grass stretched toward the slopes of distant hills, a clear river flowed through the grassland, and the golden light in the sky shone on the surface of the water.

Farther away, a forest of tall trees could be seen, their leaves were a bright golden color.

A gentle wind moved through the branches, and the small leaves made a soft sound whenever the wind blew.

White flowers grew among the grass.

Some stones were covered in layers of golden moss, and along the slopes, streams of water flowed down between white rocks.

He stood still for a few seconds, the air here felt noticeably different from the air outside the curtain.

It was neither cold nor hot, the temperature seemed so balanced that he felt comfortable even without using mana.

But the most important difference was not something he could see, the mana in the environment was unusually pure.

Lian took a calm breath.

Even without training, he could feel that absorbing energy naturally and recovering his mana reserves were easier in this environment.

For someone who had spent a long time working in the Ruined Realm, this difference was very noticeable.

He moved his gaze across the river, the water was so clear that he could see the white stones on its bed even from a fairly long distance.

Beside the river, several small birds were searching for food among the grass, but there were no clear signs of attacking monsters.

There were no remains of prey, no trees split open by huge claws, and not even any pressure from the presence of powerful monsters.

Is this really part of the Ruined Realm?

But what caught Lian’s attention more than all the beautiful scenery of the land was something in the sky.

At a great height in the distance, an enormous golden sun was shining, a sun that looked nothing like anything he had seen on Earth or others parts of Ruined realm

Unlike ordinary suns, its center was completely empty, and only a thick ring of golden light shone around the empty space, as if someone had pulled the heart out of the sun and left only its shining shell in the sky.

Thin lines of light moved along the ring, and a golden glow spread around it. Its light covered the entire land, but surprisingly, it did not produce any uncomfortable heat.

However, the longer Lian looked at it, the stranger the feeling inside him became.

That empty space in the center of the sun, surrounded by all that golden light, seemed far too unnatural

It was as if something important had been taken from there, something no one was supposed to realize was missing.

Lian stared at the enormous ring for a few more seconds, then turned his gaze back to the plains ahead.

The Hollow Sun...

They chose a suitable name for it.

He still did not know why, but among all the beauty of this land, the only thing that truly made him feel uneasy was that golden sun.

"Unbelievable..."

Noah’s voice came from the left.

The young Frenchman had placed his folded umbrella over his shoulder and was looking at the scenery with an obvious smile.

"The reports said this place was beautiful, but I didn’t think it would be this different."

Another Chosen nodded when he heard this.

Even Roderick spent longer than usual examining the scenery.

"At least the weather is really nice here." Lian raised the corner of his mouth.

Noah laughed.

"If the treasures are as good as the scenery, I think we have an amazing journey ahead of us."

The young Vorhelm looked toward the golden forest.

"I hope so."

Although unlike Noah, he had something that could answer this question very soon.

After their initial inspection of the area, the Chosen began choosing their own routes.

All ten of them were not supposed to travel as a single group.

The areas near the entrance had been explored many times over the past seven months, and there were relatively safe routes through the plains, springs, and the outer parts of the forest.

Some of the Chosen decided to head toward the recorded ancient sites.

Two others chose the northern springs, while another group planned to check the quality of the area’s mana before moving farther away from the entrance.

Lian preferred not to rush.

He still had no intention of spending valuable exploration time accompanying people whose goals were different from his own.

So after briefly checking the routes, he headed toward one of the low hills.

When he had moved far enough away from the others’ direct line of sight, he stopped beside a white rock and took the Celestial Book of Treasure out of his storage space.

The book’s cover gave off a gentle glow under the golden light of the surroundings.

He opened it.

Then his eyebrows rose slightly.

Several golden points had appeared on the map inside the book.

A considerable number of markers could be seen in different parts of the map.

Some were dim, while others shone more brightly, and a few points were also visible near the edge of the area shown on the map.

He looked at them for a few seconds before smiling.

"Well, well..."

Ever since he had obtained this book, he had used its ability to detect treasures many times.

But he usually had to travel a considerable distance to find a valuable resource.

Here?

Less than an hour had passed since he entered, and several resources had already been marked at relatively short distances.

It seems this place’s reputation is well deserved.

He compared the markers’ positions with the recorded routes in the area, the nearest point was beside one of the river’s branches.

The second marker was near the edge of the golden forest, and the third point was a little farther away, near one of the springs.

He thought about the time for a moment, a large part of the day still remained, and if he chose his routes carefully, he could probably find several valuable treasures before evening.

He closed the book and put it back into storage.

"Well, I’d better start with the nearest one."

The first destination was a shallow branch of the river.

In this area, water flowed between smooth stones, and several short trees with white roots grew along the riverbank.

After arriving, Lian briefly checked his surroundings.

At first glance, there was nothing special, just some green plants, white flowers, and patches of tall grass bending in the wind.

But when he looked at one of the stones near the water, he noticed golden lines among the plants.

He moved closer.

Between two stones, a small plant with narrow leaves was growing, golden lines stretched from the base of its stem to the tips of its leaves, and whenever water flowed past it, a faint light moved across their surfaces.

He knelt beside it.

He checked the information identified by the book.

[Dawnvein Orchid]

[Rank: B]

According to the description, after proper refinement, this plant could increase the quality of mana flow through the body’s channels for a limited time.

Lian examined its leaves for a moment.

Not bad.

Considering that some of his skills consumed a large amount of mana, any resource that could improve the performance of his mana channels was valuable to him.

Besides, selling it or keeping it would both be fine, even though he had considerable wealth, having more wealth was never a bad thing.

On the other hand, having the Celestial Book of Treasure and not trying to build something like the Celestial Treasury that the Vorhelms had would be foolish.

Since he had such a book, he should use it properly and build his own Treasury.

Since he had no plans to return to the Vorhelm Family or join other forces and families, perhaps establishing a major force of his own in the future would not be a bad decision.

And that would be when this Treasury would show its true value.

He carefully moved the soil around the plant aside, three specimens were growing between the stones, one was fully mature, while the other two appeared to be smaller and still growing.

After examining them, he picked all three and placed them in his storage space.