Tracing Footsteps in the Underground Palace

"Lumos!" To prevent any unforeseen circumstances, Allen transformed his Miaomiao Wizard Robe into a protective suit, then lifted the tapestry behind the children's bookshelf and crawled into the tunnel, hunched over.

The tunnel walls were incredibly smooth, appearing to have been treated with magic, making them stable and solid.

Allen descended the tunnel step by step, traversing several stretches of flat ground intermittently.

He didn't walk for long before Allen saw light.

It was a small, cramped utility room where the afternoon sun shone straight down from a skylight in the roof, hitting exactly where Allen had crawled out.

Allen instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes, only adapting to the brightness after a long moment.

Pushing the door open to step outside, he found a deserted garden, with thick snow piled high across the uneven ground.

Leaving the garden, the surroundings were desolate and bleak, with farmhouses built of wood, mud, and straw scattered sparsely across the wilderness.

Allen looked back, and not far from the farmhouses, a manor enclosed by high walls stood imposingly.

From here, one could see the snow on the manor's castle roof gathering rays of scattered sunlight, shimmering brightly.

Behind the manor, several towering peaks pierced the clouds, looking like reefs in the sea from a distance.

Allen checked the time; Emily would likely be waking up soon, so he quickly returned the way he came, a rough plan already forming in his mind.

Restoring the tapestry to its original state, he arrived before the bedroom door. The little girl in red who kept a toad appeared on the door again; she glanced at Allen quickly before vanishing in an instant.

Allen pushed the door and entered. Aunt Josephine was nowhere to be seen, but fortunately, Emily was still fast asleep.

Allen tiptoed over, gently climbed onto the bed, lay down beside Emily, closed his eyes, and summoned the system.

"What does the Host require?" An ethereal voice rang out; a truly good system, always at his beck and call.

"Regarding the previous Lizard-man mission, you provided me with a map. Will all subsequent missions have map assistance?" Allen asked.

"Yes, to help the Host complete missions more effectively, map assistance will be provided."

"Then, can I actively request missions?" Allen continued.

"The Host may initiate active missions. However, the system will determine the difficulty, and rewards will be pending."

"Very well. Please help me initiate a mission to find Albert Harris."

Allen was truly cunning, peeling back layers to get the result he wanted.

"Please wait patiently, Host. Mission difficulty is being assessed."

"The system has determined the difficulty is too low. It is suggested that the mission be generated as 'Obtain the Moonstone'. Does the Host accept this mission?"

"Accept." Allen was concise. He felt Emily's small hand shift; the little girl was about to wake up.

"As this is an active mission, the system imposes no time limit. Please continue your efforts, Host." The system was equally direct, and the map appeared instantly in Allen's mind.

There is no need to mention how Allen spent the afternoon playing with Emily or chatting with Aunt Josephine.

At 9:00 PM, after lulling Emily back to sleep, Allen cast the "Good Sleep Charm" on the little girl. According to the Encyclopedia of Spells, this was a charm invented by a wizard who suffered greatly from insomnia.

Kissing Emily on the forehead, Allen turned and left.

Stepping out of the farmhouse once more, Allen retrieved Neptune from his storage grid, swung onto it, and sped off into the distance at top speed.

The cold night wind howled against Allen's sides. Fortunately, he had prepared in advance, transforming his Miaomiao Wizard Robe into a form-fitting, windproof, and warm suit with goggles.

Luckily, the moon was bright and the stars sparse. Through the thin clouds drifting by, the farmhouses on the ground looked as if they had been flattened and spread out. Allen sped along at an incredible pace. As he approached his destination in the hazy night, a bell tower reaching into the clouds came into view.

When Allen's feet touched the ground, he felt as if he were stepping on cotton.

Allen secretly decided that upon returning to Hogwarts, he must sneak a peek at the upper-year Apparition training.

Following the bell tower steps upward, an outdoor staircase spiraled around the spire like a long snake in the air.

Even standing at the very top of the bell tower, Allen did not find a single trace of Albert or the Moonstone.

But the target location on the map was supposed to be in this general area?

Looking out, the direction of the target was completely barren.

Could this gem possibly fly to the heavens or burrow into the earth?

Wait, seeing such a towering bell tower, Allen's first reaction was to climb it; perhaps he needed to do the exact opposite!

How would he know if it worked without trying?

Allen quickly dashed back down the stairs.

Sure enough, in the plaza outside the first floor of the bell tower, Allen found an abandoned dry well. He sensed traces of magic upon it.

How brilliant; with such a tall building standing right before one's eyes, who would pay attention to a discarded well!

As the saying goes, great skill makes for great courage. Relying on the protection of his Miaomiao Wizard Robe, Allen slid down the well wall.

He didn't know how long he spent in the darkness before Allen finally stopped his descent. A narrow, dark passage led to a massive stone cavern ahead. The pitch-black entrance looked like a giant mouth, ready to swallow everything.

"Lumos." The wand emitted a ghostly blue light that offered no sense of security; paired with the pitch-black cave, it only made the place feel fraught with danger.

Yet, Allen felt excited. There was no other reason than the fact that the map in his mind once again provided a clear path.

Allen threw himself into the stone cave without hesitation to continue his search.

The craggy stone walls were rough and uneven, and he successfully traversed a stretch of flat, packed earth.

Slowly, the ground became increasingly muddy; if a Muggle were to pass through here, they would surely find it difficult to take a single step.

Streams frequently blocked Allen's path, forcing him to wade across them.

This underground labyrinth seemed to have nothing special about it: muddy earth, monotonous scenery, and a stifling atmosphere.

Yet, reflecting on his journey, Allen realized that without the map as a guide, he would have long since been lost among the endless branching paths, as the scenery of the stone walls rarely differed from one to the next.

All things considered, everything had gone quite smoothly so far.

Aside from the boredom, he really had no reason to complain.

Suddenly, the path took a sharp turn, and a steep slope led Allen deeper underground. The incline was terrifyingly sheer, forcing Allen to focus intently on maintaining his balance.

After a series of descents, the slope gradually leveled out. In the vast underground palace, there was no sound other than Allen's own breathing and footsteps—a deathly silence.

Winding, crisscrossing paths intersected in every direction, and Allen even lost his sense of time amidst the monotonous trek.

Just then, Allen heard a loud sound, like a burst of intermittent, muffled thunder, which then gradually faded away into the unknown darkness.