Remains

Jialan moved silently through the ruins alone, every step he took exceedingly careful. After all, this place was filled with unknown dangers. Though his Mana Pool had expanded greatly, it still seemed insignificant within these ancient ruins.

After passing through a narrow passage, Jialan arrived in a vast underground cavern. At its center lay a tranquil lake, its water an eerie ink-green that gave off a faint phosphorescent glow. A thin mist drifted across the surface, creating an unreal atmosphere.

"Here..." Jialan's spiritual power sensed a powerful energy fluctuation, its source located at the center of the lake.

He cautiously approached the shore and discovered several glowing creatures swimming in the water. They looked like fish, but their bodies were translucent, and what seemed to be runes flowed within them.

"These aren't ordinary creatures." Jialan warily stepped back. "They're made of pure magical energy."

He tried to communicate with the creatures using his spiritual power, but the response he received was a chaotic, violent surge of energy. Clearly, these creatures had already lost their minds.

Jialan did not dare provoke them. After thinking for a moment, he decided to try a bold method. He closed his eyes, murmuring softly as his hands formed seals. A Frost Shield slowly took shape around him. After a brief pause, he began casting another spell. The lake's surface started to freeze, and the ice crystals formed a temporary path leading directly to its center.

Jialan carefully stepped onto the icy path. With every step, he could feel energy fluctuations rising from beneath his feet. The magical creatures seemed drawn to the ice crystals and swam over one after another, but they did not attack him.

When he reached the center of the lake, Jialan saw a floating humanoid skeleton. It was shrouded in a faint glow. Though its body had long decayed, it still radiated a suffocating pressure that made his heart tremble. Jialan's face showed shock. He had only felt such an aura at the Magic Academy, from senior officials at the department head level. Yet this was merely the aura emitted by a corpse. He estimated that it had been at least a Magus-level existence in life. Such a figure would have been the strongest force in some smaller kingdoms.

That aura spread outward like invisible tides, wave after wave, as though even the surrounding air trembled. The skeleton's clothing was plain, its fabric long since worn into tatters by time. Its hands were folded over its chest, tightly clutching a small green bottle. The bottle appeared utterly ordinary, with no patterns or symbols on its surface, as though it were merely a common glass vial. The liquid inside swayed slightly, giving off a faint green glow, yet it emitted no dangerous aura.

Jialan took a deep breath and cautiously approached the skeleton, each step taken with extreme care for fear of triggering some unknown restriction. When he finally stood before it, the aura grew even stronger, as if an invisible force were pressing against his nerves. He reached out, and his fingertips touched the small green bottle. The icy sensation made him shudder slightly.

The instant he removed the bottle, the skeleton suddenly let out a low sigh, as though it had come from a distant time and space. Then its decayed body began to collapse, like grains of sand scattered by the wind, flaking away bit by bit into fine ash. The ashes drifted away on the wind and fell into the lake, sending ripples spreading across its surface...

Jialan tightened his grip around the small bottle, unease stirring faintly in his heart. Before he could examine the liquid inside, the ice beneath his feet suddenly began to shake violently. The entire Elf Ruins seemed to be jolted by some immense force. The surrounding stone walls rumbled deeply, and fragments of rock fell from the ceiling, striking the ice and lake with dull thuds. The ice beneath Jialan's feet instantly cracked apart, and lake water burst from the fissures, splashing his face with freezing spray.

"Not good!" Jialan's heart jolted as he tried to steady himself. However, the ruins shook more and more violently, as if the entire space were collapsing...

A low buzzing filled his ears, and the space before him began to distort, as though it were being torn apart by an invisible hand. He felt a powerful force envelop him, and his body was helplessly dragged into the void.

In the instant of teleportation, Jialan's vision blurred. The scenery around him twisted and churned like disturbed lake water. He vaguely sensed the figures of his other companions flash past in the void, as though they too had been teleported away by the same force. His heart relaxed slightly, but then a powerful wave of dizziness struck him, and his consciousness began to fade.

When he regained consciousness, he was already standing in an unfamiliar forest. Just as he raised a hand to rub his aching, dizzy head from the teleportation,

At that moment, a deafening boom sounded in the distance. Jialan spun around and saw an enormous column of smoke rising at the horizon. Even from so far away, he could feel the powerful energy fluctuations. The ruins were collapsing...

The Misty Forest was especially quiet after the snowfall. Thick snow blanketed the ground, while glittering icicles hung from the branches. Sunlight pierced the thin clouds, casting mottled patches of light and shadow across the snow. Jialan stood beneath an ancient tree and took a deep breath. Cold air flooded his lungs, refreshing his mind. Though he was far from the ruins, he knew this area was equally dangerous. Magical beasts often became more active after snowfall because they needed to search for food.

Jialan carefully observed his surroundings. The sun had already risen to the middle of the sky. Based on its position and the distribution of moss on the tree trunks, he roughly determined his direction.

"The ruins are now about a hundred kilometers northwest of me," he muttered, drawing a simple map in the snow with his finger. "Then the border garrison camp is to the southwest, around three hundred and fifty kilometers away. That really is far—nearly ten days of walking. It would be nice if I could fly." Jialan thought of that Wind Element High Mage.

What reassured him slightly was that although the camp was still quite far away, at least he was moving away from the Aus Empire's border. That area might already be filled with patrols from the enemy nation.

Jialan tightened his robe and began heading southwest. Every step sank deeply into the snow with a crunching sound. He had to find a safe shelter as quickly as possible.

After walking for about an hour, Jialan found a cave half-buried in snow. He cautiously approached and carefully cast a detection spell. Pale blue ripples of magical power spread out, thoroughly probing the cave's interior. Only after confirming that there were no magical beasts or dangerous magical traps did Jialan carefully crawl inside.