An Ancient Scholar (Part One)

After spending several hours, Reilo reestablished contact with his true body. Only once his strength had returned to its peak did he continue flying toward where the canary was.

The space inside the Death Abyss was far more vast than Reilo had imagined.

By his estimate, the area of its floor could rival the combined territory of the Grand Duchy and the Xilan Duchy.

Along the way.

Besides the frozen corpses of ancient creatures in the ice—creatures currently ravaging Dubit and the surrounding provinces—Reilo also saw many frozen high-grade Magic Materials. But time was short, so he did not stop.

At last, Reilo arrived in front of a cave.

"A barrier?"

Standing before the cave, he sensed the barrier's energy fluctuations.

The protective barrier's energy remained concealed, yet it gave Reilo an overwhelming sense of mortal danger.

A protective magic ward capable of making Reilo feel such danger had to be at least as powerful as the secret protective wards of the High Tower of the Sun Furnace. It had clearly been set up by a master of wards, who might even have settled here.

"Could this be the home of a reclusive Great Warlock King!?"

Reilo speculated.

If the canary had not happened to be inside, the ward was so well hidden that Reilo might not have noticed it even if he had passed nearby.

Taking out his Crystal Ball, Reilo tried to contact the person inside.

Bzzzz...

After severe interference, the image signal actually connected to Reilo's. A disheveled, bearded old man appeared on the screen, looking as if he had not seen another person in a very long time.

"Master, one of my companions got lost here. Is he inside?"

Reilo naturally had no desire to antagonize this mysterious old man.

But the old man seemed quite