I Really Was Just Trying to Talk You into Coming

After who knew how long, the two of them finally emerged from the long passage and arrived in an incomparably vast world.

A slightly damp breeze blew over, brushing against Li Mo's face and making him unable to resist raising his head to look into the distance.

And once he looked, he could no longer stop!

In the distance lay a magnificent expanse, mountains rising and falling like a mountain range on the surface world. Countless glowing plants filled the hills. When a breeze from somewhere unknown gently swept past, clusters of fluorescent, dandelion-like plants drifted into the air. Looking up again, there was no sun overhead, yet neither was there bare rock. Instead, countless sparkling crystals flickered endlessly like a night sky full of stars.

"Is this the Spirit Tomb?"

So Brishisan's earlier explanation had been right. This place and the surface world were fundamentally two separate spaces!

At that moment, Li Mo stood dazed, immersed in the beauty of this underground world.

"Mō-san."

Behind him, Brishisan's gentle voice drifted over softly.

"What is it, Teacher?" Li Mo turned around.

Brishisan moved his lips, about to speak, but for some reason calmed down again and merely stared blankly at Li Mo.

"Teacher, are you leaving after seeing me this far?" Li Mo suddenly guessed what Brishisan had wanted to say.

Brishisan nodded, then took a piece of magecraft-treated parchment from his robe. "This is a map of the route from the Clock Tower to the surface exit. Be sure not to take a wrong turn when you come out."

What would happen if he took a wrong turn?

Li Mo had a mischievous thought, but his expression remained perfectly serious as he reached out and accepted the parchment map.

"Eh?!"

After sweeping his eyes over it, Li Mo, who had been about to put the map in his pocket, suddenly cried out.

My sharp eyes have spotted something important!

"Teacher, why isn't the Excavation City on here?"

Wasn't the Spirit Tomb made up of four parts—the Excavation City, the Grand Mage Circuits, the Ancient Dragon Heart, and the Fae Domain? Why was there no Excavation City on the map?

Of course, if Li Mo looked carefully, he would find that the Fae Domain was only marked as a shaded area as well...

Brishisan smiled softly. "I thought you knew."

In truth, strictly speaking, Spirit Tomb Albion only consisted of the Grand Mage Circuits, the Ancient Dragon Heart, and the Fae Domain. That was because all three were parts of the Fallen Dragon's remains and existed within the space known as Albion. As for the Excavation City...

It was like a designated region where the land around it was included within that region's definition, but did not truly belong to it?

Anyway, it was the unloved one outside the space~

Li Mo stared in astonishment. So the so-called Excavation City really was just an underground mining site, except what it mined was not ore?

Damn! He had been planning to swing a few hoes and see whether he could dig up a couple of divine artifacts!

Though he knew that was typical wishful thinking, who said he was not allowed to dream in broad daylight?

After all, the protagonists in those novels from the main world not only cut divine beasts out of stones, but some could even stumble across divine artifacts while walking. He, Li Mo, was a transmigrator too. Why should he be any worse than them?

Just look at him: 365 Magic Circuits, heir to the Flower Mage, the man who projected the sun, inheritor of the Second Magic. This was a proper protagonist template. Why could he not dig up a divine artifact?

That made sense, right?

But since there was none, there was nothing he could do...

"Teacher, then I'm leaving?" Li Mo looked at Brishisan and spoke.

"Mhm. Go on, and be careful." Specks of faint light fell upon Brishisan's golden hair, casting strands of shifting colors across it. He raised his right hand and gently waved at Li Mo, his gaze tender as water, like an elder seeing off a child.

"Uh... then I'm really going!" Li Mo lifted one foot and made as if to leave.

"Mhm, really go."

"I..." Li Mo pulled a miserable face, desperately trying to squeeze a few tears from his eyes.

"Teacher, do you really not have anything to give me?"

Uh...?

Brishisan was stunned. Was there something else on him that this brat had his eye on?

Seeing Brishisan's expression, Li Mo sighed with a smile, then turned and strode forward.

Little sister, march boldly onward~

"Mō-san!"

"Hm?" Li Mo looked back.

"I'll buy chicken and wait for you to come back!"

Li Mo: I'm not going to war, damn it!

Why make it sound so tragic? Li Mo covered his face.

But...

"Alright, Teacher. It's almost New Year's, so remember to buy the couplets and stuff too!"

Half an hour later, inside a forest made of glowing plants.

"Where the hell is this place?!"

Li Mo stood beneath a tree... well, let's call it a tree. Holding the parchment map Brishisan had given him, he looked it over from left to right, but could not make heads or tails of it.

He... was lost!

Yes, he had a map, but the things written on it—Ancient Dragon's tail, Ancient Dragon's left leg, right leg, Ancient Dragon's buttocks, and so on... Was this supposed to help someone cook?

Braised Fallen Dragon?

"Where exactly am I?" With that question in mind, Li Mo fell into deep thought.

Because when they had entered, Brishisan had never told him where they were. Before they could even clear things up, he had left with the heroic air of a doomed warrior...

Smack! Why could he never control these legs?

Life was hard. Li Mo was in tears.

As an outstanding student of the Clock Tower, who would believe this if he told them?

"If only I had..."

Sadly, there were no ifs, and there was no going back!

And according to Brishisan, countless Phantasmal Species lived within the Spirit Tomb. Li Mo did not even dare shout for help... Well, it was not that he did not dare. It just seemed inappropriate to start fighting right after arriving, didn't it?

But he still needed to find someone to ask for directions, right?

At that moment, Li Mo finally remembered the humanoid cheat code he had forgotten for so long—3... Pah, pah, pah, what cheat code? Merlin!

He could not panic at a time like this. If he used his brain, there would always be a way!

"Great Merlin, are you there?"

Not here.

"Great Merlin, if you're there, say something!"

Not here!

"Mer—"

"What do you need me for?" A magnetic voice finally echoed softly in Li Mo's mind, making Li Mo, who had been pulling a long face and preparing to suffer for the whole world to see, perk up.

"Great Merlin, do you know where I am right now?" Li Mo asked, his voice as gentle as could be.

"I... Fou-fou-fou—ugh!!!"

Silence...

"How could I... Fou—ugh..."

"Casterly Rock, get over here!!!"

Silence...

Li Mo: ???

Was that Fou's voice?

After a while, seemingly having escaped the clutches of the Fourth Adorable Beast, Merlin's voice sounded again.

"Hello, hello, can you hear me?"

Li Mo: ...

"I can hear you..."

"Oh, oh. What did you need me for? I was just getting ready to pack up and head out!"

Merlin, Humanity's Oldest simp and shut-in, was actually going out?

Li Mo felt like he had just heard the greatest secret in history!

"You're coming out of Avalon?"

"Yeah. Didn't you say I should get out more and see the world?" Sensing the surprise in Li Mo's words, Merlin patiently explained.

Li Mo covered his forehead, not knowing what to say...

Back then, I really was just trying to talk you into it!