Filled with anticipation, Feng Yue and Five Minutes landed on the black paving stones at the ancient city's south gate.
The ancient rock beneath their feet was hard and solid, without the slightest hollow feeling underfoot. Even long years submerged in lake water had failed to erode it.
After a glance revealed it was only an ordinary material from the Monster World, they abandoned the idea of prying up the paving stones.
They continued forward. Battle puppets clad in heavy armor stood solemnly on either side of the gate passage, weapons held upright at their sides. Ahead lay a fork in the road.
"I'll take the left, you take the right. There's no hurry with the Rule Node. Let's explore our way there slowly, without missing an inch," Five Minutes proposed, pointing at the roads ahead.
Feng Yue nodded vigorously, excitement on his face.
Then they split up, advancing to the left and right.
Over more than a decade, the Forum had compiled many techniques for exploring opportunity sites.
The most fundamental was this: prioritize thoroughness, not speed.
Only that way could they maximize their gains.
The main road ahead was broad and level, flanked by stretches of collapsed old buildings. Broken beams and ruined pillars lay tangled in heaps, green aquatic plants covered the walls, and tiny specks of Spirit Light occasionally drifted from the cracks.
After activating an Analysis scan, they discovered that conduits for energy circulation had once been laid inside the walls.
The conduits were also made of Spiritual Substance, but they were now severely damaged and continuously leaking some kind of golden energy.
That was also why golden light occasionally drifted out.
But Analysis listed the conduits as low-value, making them entirely unworthy of the effort of breaking them open and extracting them.
The two