Magic Empire's Ruins

Ding! Absorbable Life Energy Points detected. Absorb? Ding! Absorbable Mental Energy Points detected. Absorb? "Yes."

Ding! Absorbing...

Ding! Absorption complete. Obtained 200 Life Energy Points and 100 Mental Energy Points.

Name: Parr Tianxing Gender: Male Race: Human Race

Age: 10 (20)

Realm:

Intermediate Knight Apprentice (10/200)

Intermediate Magic Apprentice (0/20)

Stamina: 169/200 Mental Power: 19/20 HP: 100/100 Talents:

Prompt Wake-Up LV3 Clear Eyesight LV2 Danger Prediction LV2 Skills: Wind Wolf Basic Breathing Technique MAX Basic Wind Wolf Swordsmanship MAX Dazzling Light MAX Basic Meditation Technique LV1 Charge Punch LV1 Life Energy Points: 272 Mental Energy Points: 191

"Whoa! Why were there so many Life Energy Points this time? That adventurer I finished off just now probably only gave thirty or forty points. Could all the other Life Energy Points have come from that woman? Is being fat really that impressive?"

After grumbling for a while, Parr was still delighted inside. He could raise his Knight level again. But as before, he would not raise it unless it was a critical moment—unless he could save up enough Life Energy Points to advance another level afterward.

"The next level will most likely require three hundred."

Parr made a rough guess, then looked at his three Talents.

"What just happened showed that I simply can't dodge a mage's attacks. Danger Prediction is still a little too weak. I can raise it now..."

"Kid, what are you thinking about? Come collect the spoils."

Just as Parr hesitated over whether to upgrade Danger Prediction, John, who had already finished the battle, called out to him.

"Coming."

Parr shook his head, closed the Status Panel, and ran over. Finishing off enemies was what mattered most now.

"Kid, after a battle, if possible, collecting spoils from the enemy is something we adventurers must do."

Covered in blood, John crouched beside an adventurer's corpse. As he collected the spoils, he lectured Parr, who had run over. "When adventurers travel outside, there are plenty of places where we need money. Your level is still low, so you may not need much right now. But once you reach Peak Knight Apprentice, your breakthrough will cost quite a bit. And if you want to level up quickly after breaking through, you'll need to pile on resources. Where do resources come from? Money, of course. So from now on, you need to start saving up..."

"Uh-huh..."

Parr nodded repeatedly at John's earnest advice, but none of it truly sank in. He did not need money to level up. He only needed to cut people down.

So Parr began finishing them off. Pretending to gather spoils, he gave every corpse a stab. But they were all genuinely dead. Against so many members of the adventurer group, John could not afford to hold back. Other than the last lucky fellow he had deliberately spared, all thirteen other members had been slain by John.

"Not one of them was playing dead!"

Parr was a little disappointed. But just as he lowered his head to put away the Black Short Sword, a prompt suddenly appeared on the Status Panel:

Ding! Absorbable Life Energy Points detected. Absorb?

"Hm? Someone was playing dead? No, that's not right! Why wasn't there a prompt for Mental Energy Points? Could it be..."

As he thought, Parr's large black eyes seemed to light up. He thought of a possibility: the Black Short Sword might also be able to obtain Life Energy Points from the dead.

Parr quickly nodded.

"Yes."

Ding! Absorbing...

Ding! Absorption complete. Obtained 278 Life Energy Points.

"Emmm..."

Parr stared at the Life Energy Points he had obtained and pondered for a moment. Then he looked up at the adventurer John had subdued and tied up. It was the Overseer Adventurer. He was covered in blood, one of his legs had been broken, and the whip he had wielded so skillfully earlier had become the rope binding him.

"Thirteen adventurers, including two Bronze-level fighters, while the other eleven were at least Intermediate Apprentices. I shouldn't have gotten so few Life Energy Points! Could it be that the Black Short Sword only gets half the Life Energy Points from dead creatures?"

Parr crouched before a corpse and thought it over. In the end, he decided to test it when he had time. Later experiments showed him that the Black Short Sword really could obtain Life Energy Points from dead creatures, but at a steep discount. The longer the corpse had been dead, the greater the discount, until eventually nothing could be obtained at all. And it did not yield any Mental Energy Points either.

Still, that was enough. Parr had gained another method of obtaining Life Energy Points. From then on, Parr the finishing-blow master was officially online.

Of course, that was all in the future.

Back to the matter at hand: after closing the Status Panel, Parr began collecting spoils with John. The adventurers' coin pouches, weapons, leather armor... John stripped away anything valuable. He really knew how to live frugally.

"Alright."

Clap! Clap!

After checking the corpses Parr had searched once more, John stood and dusted off his hands. He instructed Parr, who was picking through the pile of spoils, "Kid, organize these spoils first."

"Okay!"

Parr nodded without objection. This was a good chance to learn more about the world through these spoils.

"Everyone, don't panic."

John then walked to the edge of the Mine Pit and called loudly to the miners huddled together and trembling. "I'm an Honorary Knight of the Church. I'm here to rescue you. Form a line and come up slowly. Go sit by the fire, eat something, and rest. Tomorrow morning, I'll take you out of here."

"Sir, are you really from the Church?"

One of the bolder miners asked, his eyes full of hope. He did not know what an Honorary Knight was, but he knew that people from the Church were good people.

"Mhm."

John nodded and assured them loudly, "I truly am an Honorary Knight of the Church. You can rest easy!"

John appeared very experienced at handling situations like this. He knew exactly what to say to earn the trust of these pitiful people.

Thus, the miners climbed up with mixed doubt and hope. Once they sat beside the fire and began eating the food the adventurer group had eaten earlier, tears of relief at surviving the disaster immediately streamed down their faces. They ate as they cried, thanking John, who was sorting the spoils, from time to time. Whenever that happened, John would look up and respond, soothing the miners.

"Alright, the haul isn't bad. Next comes..."

After sorting the spoils with Parr, John stood and looked toward the Mine Pit. The adventurer group had said there was a Magic Empire's Ruins inside. That was valuable stuff.

But it was also extremely dangerous. No one knew what defensive magic from the Magic Empire, which had once ruled the entire continent more than a thousand years ago, might still be functioning within its Ruins.

So when veteran adventurers like John encountered Magic Empire's Ruins, their first reaction was excitement. But they would not foolishly charge right in. They would gather information first.

"They said that mage brought them here, so she should have information about these Ruins on her."

John recalled that there had been quite a few books and papers in the little wooden cabin earlier. There should be information about the Ruins there.

John turned and headed toward the cabin.

"Kid, come help."

"Okay!"

To help, Parr had to understand the whole situation. John took the opportunity to teach him some information about Ruins.

According to the limited historical records, before the Great Calamity, there had been a colossal power on this continent: the Magic Empire.

The Magic Empire encompassed intelligent beings of every race and was incredibly powerful. Its territory covered the entire continent.

Then came the vaguely recorded Great Calamity. Heaven and earth changed color, the Magic Empire collapsed overnight, and countless beings of every race died or were injured. After the Great Calamity, the surviving population was less than one ten-thousandth of what it had been before. That showed just how terrifying the Great Calamity had been.

Because of the reduced population, altered terrain, and various other reasons, the survivors could only settle and reproduce in places that remained relatively intact. The rest was abandoned and forgotten, then claimed by vegetation, forming the continent as it was today.

During that process, the buildings and other remnants of the Magic Empire were buried by time and became Ruins in the wilderness.

The Ruins might contain objects from the era of the Magic Empire, and those were very valuable on the continent today. Many nobles were willing to purchase them at high prices to display their family's ancient heritage and prestige.

The Ruins might also contain knowledge from the Magic Empire era. Mages treasured that above all else. Because of the Great Calamity, the inheritance of mages had been interrupted for a time, and much of the magical knowledge explored by their predecessors had been lost. Modern mages might not have had to start entirely from scratch, but it was not far from the truth.

That was why Magic Empire's Ruins were so precious—something adventurers dreamed of encountering.

"So that's how it is!"

After hearing all this, Parr said happily, "Uncle John, doesn't this mean we've struck it rich?"

"That depends on what's inside these Ruins."

John smiled and rubbed Parr's little head. He was in a very good mood as well. He had not expected this trip to bring such an unexpected reward.

"Alright, let's see if there's any information here about those Ruins!"

"Mhm."

Without saying more, Parr and John began searching. There were many books and papers in the cabin, all brought by the Fat Woman, the mage.

"Hm? This is..."

Parr found a small booklet at the head of the wide Ironwood plank bed.

The booklet was about the size of an adult's palm. It had a red cover and was not very thick, with only a dozen or so pages. When Parr picked it up and flipped it open, another prompt appeared on the Status Panel.

Ding! Learnable Skill detected. Consume 50 Mental Energy Points to learn?

"Hm?"

Parr's eyes widened. It was actually a Skill, and it required fifty Mental Energy Points. What kind of Skill was this? Filled with curiosity, Parr immediately activated Bright Eyes and carefully examined the booklet. The more he read, the happier he became.

Although the contents were obscure and left Parr completely baffled, he recognized the name of the Skill!

"Fireball Spell! It's actually Fireball Spell!"

Parr cheered in his heart. It was magic! And Fireball Spell at that! How could a single man like him not be thrilled? With Fireball Spell, whenever he saw couples being all lovey-dovey together in the future, he could...

"Ahem, I don't want to burn every couple in the world to death. I just want to warm them up a little."

Amid his wild thoughts, Parr suppressed his excitement. Without further hesitation, he silently said, "Learn!"

Ding! 50 Mental Energy Points consumed. Skill learned successfully.

Then countless chaotic fragments of knowledge surfaced in Parr's mind...

A reader's comment today gave me pause. He listens to the audiobook version and said that every time he hears the Status Panel, it annoys him, even though each Status Panel does not pad out that many words.

This author is thinking that when writing the Status Panel in the future, I should omit some of the data and only keep the most important parts. I'd like to ask everyone for their opinions: dear readers, which sections of the Status Panel do you think are the most important?