Chapter 456 - 430: Magic Net Disturbance Detector

Chapter 456: Chapter 430: Magic Net Disturbance Detector

Although he hadn’t known Duraga for long, their shared experiences were enough for Roland to place absolute trust in the Gray Dwarf leader’s judgment.

Besides, Duraga’s primary purpose for this journey was to find the legendary "Forging Fire Realm" of his people. He had no reason to invent an excuse to linger on the ominous Aiselon Continent.

Therefore, when Duraga concluded that the space around them was sealed, Roland’s heart sank, but he didn’t doubt him.

Dwelling on a problem they couldn’t immediately solve was pointless.

They would just have to adapt to their circumstances.

Finding a way to leave this sealed continent could wait. The most urgent matter at hand was...

Roland’s gaze swept over their surroundings.

According to Hagry’s halting confession, the Aiselon Continent was now seemingly shrouded in a mysterious "Curse."

The bodies of all the natives living here were slowly undergoing uncontrollable mutations, and his own wretched appearance was a living example.

What was more terrifying was that the Demons on this land had also mutated. But unlike the humanoid Races, who were often weakened by it, the Demons had instead grown more ferocious, powerful, and bizarre.

Leaving the massive Shell Ship and everyone exposed in this wide-open, unsheltered area was undoubtedly making themselves a conspicuous target for potential predators.

Finding a relatively safe base where they could rest and plan their next move was of the utmost urgency.

At this thought, Roland crouched down, his gaze falling once more upon the weak, grimacing Hagry on the ground. He interrogated him in a low voice.

"Is there a place nearby where we can take shelter for a while?"

Hagry gasped for breath, his two remaining arms trembling slightly from the pain.

He lifted his cloudy eyes, looked in a certain direction, and spoke haltingly in a hoarse voice.

"In... in that direction... about half a day’s journey... you’ll see a... a place... built from scrap metal and stone... We call it... ’Rusted Town’..."

After confirming the destination, Roland quickly discussed his plan with Duraga and the others. No one objected, so the group set off immediately.

Fortunately, although Duraga couldn’t perform interplanar travel, the Shell Ship itself could still fly at a low altitude in this stagnant Magic Power environment by relying on its adjusted Rune Circuits.

The massive hull slowly ascended with a dull hum, heading in the direction of Rusted Town as Hagry had indicated.

The name "Rusted Town" itself, even without Hagry spelling it out, was enough for Roland to guess that it was most likely the main base of the Rusted Knight Order.

Just in case, and to avoid flying such a conspicuous Shell Ship directly into a potential enemy camp, Roland decided to go on ahead and scout.

Relying on his swift speed, it took him less than half a day for the silhouette of a vast settlement—haphazardly built from twisted metal, broken stone, and all sorts of junk—to appear on the horizon.

As he drew closer, Roland proceeded with increasing caution, moving stealthily.

However, the scene he had expected—of heavy guards and patrolling Knights—did not appear.

The main gate of Rusted Town was wide open, and even slightly askew, as if it had been rammed open in a hurry and never repaired.

The town seemed unusually empty and...

Silent.

Only a few sallow, emaciated civilians in ragged clothes moved numbly through the ruins. When they saw Roland, a stranger, they merely shot him a brief, empty glance before returning to their meager livelihoods, as if they had lost all interest in or vigilance toward outsiders.

Suspicion welled up in Roland’s mind. He stopped an old man who was struggling to pry a screw from a metal plate and asked in a low voice.

"Excuse me, sir. Where are the Rusted Knights?"

The old man lifted his cloudy eyes and gave Roland a vacant look, then answered in a hoarse voice, as if he hadn’t spoken in a long time.

"Gone... all gone... Lord Tangde took them, all of them..."

"Gone? Where did they go?"

The old man shook his head, his face a mask of detached numbness.

"Don’t know... no one knows. They took everything they could carry. Food, supplies, those big things that puff smoke... From the looks of it, they’re not planning on coming back."

Roland’s interest was piqued. He went on to ask several other people and received more or less the same answer.

The Rusted Knight Order, under the leadership of Tangde, had carried out an extremely hasty and thorough evacuation, taking almost all valuable supplies. Their destination was a mystery.

To confirm this information, Roland carefully infiltrated deeper into the town, eventually arriving before the most prominent building, known as the "Gear Hall."

The Hall’s doors were wide open, revealing a complete mess inside. Only items that were too heavy to move or already damaged had been abandoned, making the place look as if it had been ransacked.

Roland stepped into the spacious and dim hall, his footsteps producing soft Echoes on the metal floor.

His gaze swept over the abandoned junk, finally drawn to a peculiar apparatus in the center of the hall, one that was tightly integrated with the building’s main structure.

It was a device about the height of a person. Its base, which appeared to be made of some dark material that was neither metal nor stone, was seamlessly integrated with the floor.

The upper part of the device was a slanted, curved panel embedded with countless tiny, cloudy crystal slivers. The panel was surrounded by dull, tarnished metal dials and several motionless pointers.

A few lusterless Energy conduits drooped from the back of the device like withered vines.

The entire apparatus had an ancient yet intricate design, exuding a sense of technology from a distant era that was completely out of place in this dilapidated town.

Roland could faintly sense a trace of extremely weak Energy fluctuation remaining within the device. It was of the same origin as the ambient energy, yet more concentrated.

But its specific purpose and how to operate it remained unknown.

At dusk, the silence of the Gear Hall was broken by a clamor of footsteps and the characteristically gruff voices of Gray Dwarfs.

Duraga and the others entered the empty building, bringing the closely guarded Hagry with them.

The Gray Dwarf leader immediately spotted the central apparatus that Roland had been examining earlier.

He strode forward, stroking his braided beard with a rough hand, his scarlet eyes glittering with the discerning light unique to a craftsman.

"This thing..."

He murmured, seemingly searching his memory for corresponding knowledge.

"Judging by its structure and material, it looks a bit like..."

"It’s a ’Magic Net Disturbance Detector’! Or rather, some kind of ancient Magic Guidance Device with a similar function!"

An excited voice cut in.

Bronson practically threw himself at the device.

His usually weary face was now flushed with the feverish glow of one who had discovered a priceless treasure.

He circled the device, his fingers hovering in the air, not daring to touch it as if afraid of disturbing a slumbering ancient soul. Then, he began to explain rapidly, his voice trembling slightly with excitement.

"According to descriptions I’ve read in some ancient texts, this kind of device isn’t used to directly observe stars or physical space. It’s for detecting and visualizing the Magic Flow, distribution density, and abnormal disturbances in a specific area... usually an extremely vast one! These crystal slivers..."

The scholar pointed at the slanted, curved panel.

"Should be able to react to subtle changes in the ambient Magic Power and display them in some form!"

After hearing Bronson’s explanation, a flash of understanding crossed Roland’s eyes. He looked at Duraga and Bronson.

"So, do you know how to activate it?"

Duraga grunted and stepped forward with Dwarven confidence.

"The principle doesn’t sound too complicated. It’s just Energy channeling and Rune mapping. Give me some time..."

With that, he and Bronson put their heads together. One worked with his intuitive understanding of Energy circuits and Rune structures, while the other verified and supplemented with his extensive knowledge of ancient lore. They began to tinker with the silent device, discussing in low voices.

After a short while, they removed a rusted panel on the side of the device, revealing a complex but mostly damaged network of pipes and wires inside.

Duraga grumbled and cursed as he cleaned away the grime and rust, while Bronson carefully identified the meanings of the ancient Runes at several key nodes.

After a series of breathtaking attempts and adjustments...

"VMMM!"

A low hum, as if from a distant age, emanated from within the device.

Immediately after, on the dust-covered curved panel, the countless tiny crystal slivers began to light up one by one, emitting a mysterious, pulsing blue radiance that seemed to breathe.

The lights grew brighter, eventually converging at the top of the panel into a soft pillar of light that shot upward.

On the ceiling of the Gear Hall, it spread out to form a massive, slowly revolving, ethereal blue screen of light.

Countless tiny points of light were scattered across the screen like stars.

Some points were sparse and dim, floating in isolation.

Others gathered in clusters, slowly rotating like nebulae, their light relatively bright and stable.

In some areas, the points of light glowed an ominous scarlet or flickered violently, as if representing extreme Chaos or danger in the Energy.

"It worked! Haha!"

Duraga excitedly slapped his thigh and looked up at the enormous Energy Spectrogram.

"I can’t believe this old relic still works! With the Energy flow and node distribution this thing displays, I can reverse-engineer it with the Shell Ship’s Navigation Array... I might even be able to find the pattern of the interference, or even locate hidden coordinates and anchor points!"

With that said, he immediately pulled over the equally excited Bronson, and they began to discuss heatedly while pointing at different areas on the light screen.

Watching the two of them, deep in Concentration, the tension that had gripped Roland’s heart finally eased slightly, and he let out a long sigh of relief.

Duraga’s original destination had been the Forging Fire Realm. He was trapped here now largely because he had been escorting Roland.

Seeing that there was now a glimmer of Hope for leaving this sealed continent, the guilt in Roland’s heart lessened considerably.

’Now that there’s finally a lead on this matter and it’s in the hands of professionals,’ Roland mused, ’I should get to my own business, then.’

With this in mind, he turned and walked toward Hagry, who was imprisoned in a corner.

"Hagry."

Roland’s voice startled the figure of the Earthling huddled on the ground.

"Tell me everything you know about the ancient ruins in the ’Big Pit’."

However, Hagry’s answer was disappointing.

He struggled to lift his head, his two remaining arms hanging limply, and said weakly.

"The... the Big Pit... I... I never went down there with Tangde... I only know... it’s to the northwest, very far... That place... is cursed..."

A flicker of residual Fear passed through his eyes.

"The teams that went down to explore... every time they came back... they had heavy casualties... They said down there... it’s not just ruins... there’s also... a ’living’ Darkness, and... metal that moves... as if it has... a will of its own..."