"Target thirteen identified: ancient exotic beast, Ghost Chariot Bird. Threat level: four-star..."
"Target thirty-two identified: ancient exotic beast, Mongolian Elephant. Threat level: three-and-a-half-star..."
"Target eighty-six identified: ancient exotic beast, Owl-Cry Bird. Threat level: three-star..."
"Target seventy identified: Bloodthirsty Demon Vine of unknown species. Threat level: three-and-a-half-star..."
One after another, reports came back from the Reconnaissance Flying Discs, intelligence purchased at the cost of their own destruction.
These Flying Discs were inexpensive to manufacture. At most, the floating gold used to refine them and the Eye Crystals that served as their onboard cores were worth a few hundred Talisman Coins. But with Li Chen producing his own mineral materials and refining them on a large scale, he had driven the cost extremely low. He had acquired, at virtually no expense, crucial intelligence that ordinary Ruins Seekers might need long stretches of time and more than a dozen lives to uncover.
By now, Li Chen and the others had safely passed through the forest and were traveling in a long column across the vast plain.
Mountains rose and fell in the distance, seemingly still thousands of li away. Li Chen compiled the reports as he conducted meticulous analyses and deductions.
"Most of them are exotic beasts and spirit plants! The ecosystem here fits the characteristics of an Ancient Cultivator estate ruin perfectly."
Mei Xuan had also been given access to the intelligence, but poring over it left her with a headache. Her voice came through the communication artifact. "How do you know so much? Do you recognize everything those scouts have seen?"
Li Chen glanced at her and pointed to his head. "Puppet Masters excel at making use of external things. Even thinking and memory can be aided by tools."
"It never hurts to remember more. Over these past ten years,