"Protagonist" Jason?

Jason?! Ronan frowned and took out another communication device resembling Black Bat from his Space Ring. No message came from it. He tried to contact Jason on the other end, but there was no response.

The Black Bat that delivered the Linked Ring showed signs of struggling in Ronan's hands.

Ronan easily released the Black Bat, which quickly flew away.

His eyes flickered, he weighed his options briefly, and then slowly followed.

The "escaped" Black Bat flew quickly and haphazardly above the waterway, without any direction. Ronan followed for a while, then frowned and was about to turn back when suddenly the Black Bat, which he had locked onto with his mental energy, disappeared into the darkness above him with a "whoosh," instantly causing Ronan to lose all contact with it.

Ronan paused, then went to the spot where the Black Bat had disappeared. He took out an Illumination Crystal from his Space Ring, and the crystal's light illuminated the area.

The top of the Ancient Waterway ruins is a thick rock mass, a fact that Ronan had already explored.

What he saw now was that the small area where the Black Bat had disappeared looked like it had been simply repaired; it was quite flat, with some artificially carved lines and a two-finger-wide gap that looked like a broken piece.

"Did the bat fly into this gap?"

Ronan extended his mental energy and gently swept away the dust near the gap, revealing some blurry writing.

"...[[Sin]].[[Plague]]."

Ronan read aloud the words carved on the stone slab. They were incomprehensible and very messy, as if someone had carved them casually out of boredom.

Ronan channeled his mental energy into the gap where the Black Bat had disappeared, extending it slightly inward. Suddenly, he stopped and blinked.

He actually found a hidden spell node deep inside the gap.

Ronan attempted to activate the node.

Soon, a strong spatial energy fluctuation emanated, and the entire top stone slab where the gap was located lit up with white light, quickly forming the pattern of an ancient and complex Teleportation Array.

A faint silver-white pillar of light descended from the magic circle. Ronan's eyes flickered, and he reached out to gently touch the pillar of light.

"Whoosh—"

A fleeting sense of spatial shifts.

When Ronan opened his eyes again, he found that he had left the dark and damp waterway and was now in front of a rather high and wide sky. He could not see the sun, moon and stars. It was neither bright nor dark, giving him the feeling of approaching dusk or Dawn.

Beneath my feet was a grayish-white sandy ground, in which grew some equally grayish-white, bare, twisted, and eerie vegetation.

"Are you out yet?"

Ronan casually picked up a handful of soil from under his feet. He didn't know how this grayish-white soil was formed. The surface was dry, but the inside was quite moist. It felt slightly sticky when he held it in his hand. If he squeezed it hard, a faint pinkish sap would seep out.

"It should still be in the Lost Land."

Ronan tossed aside the dust in his hand, wondering what was going on.

This eerie, grayish-white land is filled with a thick, ancient, and decaying aura, similar to the ruins of Ancient Waterway, giving it a feeling of being hidden from the sun for a long time.

He was more inclined to believe that he had probably arrived at some kind of second level of the Lost Land.

Ronan took out his communication device and tried to contact the outside world, but found that the magical signal was extremely weak and it was difficult to establish a stable magical link. Between him and Hathaway, there was only some soul connection brought about by the Master and Servant contract, which was enough to barely determine the other party's approximate location.

However, it came from somewhere overhead.

Ronan now understood why Jason had contacted him this way.

Ronan slowly tightened his grip on the Linked Ring, located the spatial magic array that had just been teleported to him. The nodes were damaged, but it could still run a few more times.

After noting the location, Ronan slowly floated upwards and looked around.

Soon, he found the Black Bat that had previously sent the message and led the way among several tangled, twisted, grayish-white plants.

As he approached, the Black Bat immediately broke free from its upside-down position, flapped its wings, and continued flying in one direction.

The landscape of the gray-white sandy area remained almost unchanged, with only occasional rolling hills. After following for an unknown amount of time, Ronan spotted a figure shrouded in a wide black robe hurrying across the sand.

The Black Bat that had been leading the way darted toward the figure with a "whoosh" and disappeared beneath his black robe. The latter looked up and, presumably, saw Ronan as well, and stopped in his tracks.

"I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly, it's unbelievable, Damien."

Ronan moved closer, and the man in the black robe reached out and took off his hood, revealing a signature bald head, pale skin, and three knife-like cuts on each side of his face.

It was Jason I hadn't seen in a long time.

"I never expected to meet you in the Lost Land, Jason."

Ronan slowly landed on the ground and walked towards Jason.

The latter stared at him, then suddenly cursed under his breath, "Damn, you've actually advanced to level four too. You still look so much stronger than me. I thought you hadn't broken through yet, and I was just trying to surprise you."

Jason muttered something, then noticed Ronan's previous answer and frowned, "So this place is called the Lost Land?"

"You don't even know this? Then how did you get in?"

"I kept running, and whenever I saw a hole in the road, I'd crawl right in, and somehow I ended up here..."

Jason shrugged and said innocently, leaving Ronan speechless.

"Enough with the nonsense."

Jason opened his arms to Ronan, his expression unusual, and said, "It's been a long time, Damien. It's great to see you again!"

Ronan's eyes flickered slightly as he gently embraced Jason.

To be honest, Jason was one of the few people in the Midwest he could call a friend.

"Alright, now you can tell me properly... why you specifically lured me here, right?"

After exchanging pleasantries, Ronan extended his hand to Jason, his palm open, revealing the silver Linked Ring lying quietly in his palm.

"Did you bring this Linked Ring because you were worried I wouldn't come?"

"Hey-hey."

Jason didn't take the ring. He scratched his bald head and smiled somewhat embarrassedly. "This godforsaken place doesn't allow Communication Stone, so this is the only way I can contact you. I knew that with your intelligence, you wouldn't fail to guess what I wanted to tell you."

"It seems you've found the location of the goblin treasure."

Ronan's eyes flickered, and he carefully put the Linked Ring away again.

When he returned the Linked Ring to Jason said that once the exact location of the Linked Ring's owner, the Silver Ear Goblin's treasure, was found, he would invite Jason to explore it together.

He deliberately took out the Linked Ring to lure Ronan over, and didn't care whether the ring was in his own possession or not, which clearly meant he already had clues about the location of the treasure.

When Ronan asked him a question, Jason smiled mysteriously and didn't answer. Instead, he said they would talk as they walked.

The two flew hastily in one direction along the gray-white sand dunes.

"... There is indeed some progress."

Jason squinted at the road ahead, talking to Ronan as they hurried along, "The treasure should be somewhere in this Lost Land you mentioned. I have a general idea of the location, but we'll need some time to pinpoint the exact spot. However, there's another problem right now, which is why I insisted you come."

"You mean the person who's chasing you?"

Ronan's eyes flickered, and he spoke.

Jason previously mentioned that he stumbled into the Lost Land by accident while escaping, most likely because he was being chased.

"Right."

Jason's expression turned slightly serious as he said, "There's a level five one."

He turned to look at Ronan, and seeing that Ronan's expression hadn't changed, he continued, "He's been clinging to me like a dog."

I plan to use the goblin treasure to shake him off completely.

"You want me to help stall him for a while, to buy you time to find the treasure's location?"

"What are you thinking? Do you think I'm that kind of person?"

Jason shook his head. "I only promised you before that we would explore the treasure together."

But given the current situation, it would be too late to go back and inform you, so I thought I'd have you come directly here to avoid any future complaints that I broke my promise."

Ronan felt a slight pang in his heart, paused for a moment, and then spoke again, "Who is chasing you?"

How did you manage to mess with Level Five Wizard?

"Who knows?"

Jason shook his head, then gritted his teeth and said, "These guys appeared out of nowhere, and my family, friends... all died at their hands! They've been relentlessly pursuing me since I was a level one wizard. At first, they sent level two wizards, and when I became a level two wizard, they sent level three wizards to hunt me down. After level three, it was Dawn."

Now that I've advanced to level four, Level Five Wizard has suddenly appeared! The people they send each time are different, and I have no idea who's behind them."

"These guys always push me to the brink, and I almost died a few times. But in a way, I should thank them."

Jason ripped open the collar of his robe, revealing several shocking scars on his neck, and sneered:

If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have reached this level today.

They forced me to switch from Plant-Type Wizard to Darkness-Type.

You might not believe Damien, but many of my resources and legacy were acquired while I was being hunted down by them.

Including the Linked Ring you're holding right now.

"If I hadn't been hunted down by a level-five hunter, I wouldn't have found clues to the goblin treasure so quickly."

Ronan frowned as he listened.

Jason's life story is so much like that of a "protagonist" in a novel—

A blood feud that suddenly descended from the sky, mindless villains lining up to deliver kills and experience points, and a series of unexpected encounters all seemed to be an invisible hand pushing Jason forward relentlessly.

This whole thing has a strange vibe to it. Ronan doesn't believe that there are really any "protagonist templates" in the world. He's more inclined to think that someone "values" Jason and is deliberately manipulating everything that's happening.

He wasn't sure if Jason had noticed this, and he didn't know how to bring it up.

If his guess is correct, this should be considered a "good thing" for Jason at present!