Chapter 80 (continued)

We carefully flipped through the pieces of paper and continued to piece together the fragmented words.

"... They've fallen. They've demolished those four mage towers that held a thousand years of glory... There will probably be no more summer barbecues by the bonfire, the ones that came every year from... I miss the oysters and Arctic surf clams..."

"... I don't know how much time we have left. After all, we've been eating magic bread rolls for two months, and we're practically starving..."

"... It must have snowed up north by now; giant horned beast meat is perfect for roasting when it's snowing..."

The remaining scraps of paper were so badly damaged and weathered that no useful information could be obtained, and we were not sure whether these fragmented diaries we had just seen were of any use.

The mage who wrote in his diary devoted a large portion to complaining about the terrible taste of the magical bread, and while I completely agree with that, he also... only briefly mentioned the death of his fellow druid, though that seemed less painful than the agony he felt from eating the magical bread...

I feel a little heavy-hearted.

Mel flicked her wrist, conjuring up a dozen magical bread rolls, which she placed on top of the paper instead of the fossil. Xuefeng scurried over, grabbed one, took a bite, and exclaimed, "You mages are terrifying! This thing could practically kill a dragon!"

So, what kind of dangerous situation must this senior have encountered to eat magical bread for months on end! As far as I know, this kind of magical Create Food Spell has never produced anything good, and no matter how great a mage is, they can't make it taste good.

But the next second, the Xuefeng disappeared.

To be honest, if Goliath hadn't exclaimed "Eh!", none of us would have noticed that the Xuefeng- capped peak had disappeared. It was like a scene from a classic horror movie, Moli loves to watch: a group of people enter a haunted house, and as they walk along, someone silently disappears from the group, and no one knows how.

The Xuefeng simply vanished into thin air, as if it had never existed at all.

But we're not the reckless protagonists in horror movies, we're wizards!

I quickly scanned the room and found a few traces of Teleportation Spell.

This discovery thrilled us—teleportation magic! I don't believe an ancient mage who has lived for thousands of years could be found in an ancient ruin; that's terrifying, not only unscientific but also unmagical. The longest-lived human mage was only a few hundred years old, like Mel's teacher, whose lifespan was legendary even in the Age of Legends. Unless the mage turned himself into a lich, but liches generally only have two fates: they commit suicide out of boredom, or they are crushed by the iron hooves of the Temple... After death, human morality and conscience become increasingly indifferent with the passage of time, so many evil liches don't intentionally act badly; they simply forget the bottom line they had as humans.

I don't believe there are liches here either, otherwise my teachers would have been kept awake by the power of the undead long ago.

Therefore, this is a teleportation spell that takes effect on its own!

This will be of great help to our research on the restoration of the constant teleportation array, as well as the construction of teleportation within the mage tower!

"Where was Xuefeng teleported to?" Mel asked anxiously.

Goliath sighed and replied, "Xuefeng said, in a strange place... he said he saw..."

But Goliath suddenly stopped talking. His expression was strange, and after a moment it became even more bizarre. He asked us, "What kind of magic can make people, um, dragons hallucinate?"

"There are many," I said, "So it depends on what specific hallucinations he's experiencing."

Goliath's expression had become... indescribable. He replied, "Xuefeng saw me seducing him."

... Forehead...

Then Goliath became both amused and exasperated. He said, "Don't worry about Xuefeng, he's not in danger for now." Seeing our curious faces, Goliath shook his head, still with an indescribable expression, and said, "Xuefeng... chased after me in his hallucination, uh... climbed onto the big bed, and then uh... anyway, the hallucination disappeared, and he found himself sitting in an ice hole, so he decided to take a nap."

... Um... Although we feel that Goliath is hiding something, well... given that there are still young students present, let's just leave it at that.

"Teacher," Moli said when she saw me looking at her, "Don't you think Speaker Reynold has been missing for quite some time now?"

Why?

We turned around and looked around, and found that Reynold was indeed gone.

"There's no cell phone signal either," Anna said, putting her phone back in her pocket. "It looks like there's some kind of spell in these ruins that's causing us to split up."

"Horror theme!" Moli exclaimed happily.

Not good!

I suddenly realized that the illusion Goliath had just described was actually leading people to their deaths. It was an ice cave that made an adult white dragon feel comfortable and sleepy. If Reynold had fallen into it, we could have carried the frozen ice sculpture of Reynold back to the Federation for exhibition!

Therefore, this ruin is not without danger; it's just that the White Dragon Xuefeng that was attacked was too powerful, so it was unnecessary to pay attention to it.

Just as we were holding our breath, preparing to rescue Reynold, this guy, covered in dust, walked in from outside.

... We felt like giving him a good beating to teach him a lesson, so he'd know that if he kept running around like that, his teammates could also become dangerous!

Anna drew her curved knife in a flash, pointed it at Reynold, and demanded sharply, "Who are you! Don't try to fool us, this kind of trope in horror movies is so outdated! What kind of monster are you in disguise?"

Then Mel and I each slapped Anna.

"You're a mage!" Mel exclaimed, trembling with rage, "Not an actor!"

"Where's your detection spell?" I was furious too, and flicked her forehead hard. "Can't you use a spell to see if it's really Reynold? Where's your Revealing Spell? Where's your Mage Eye?"

"After returning home, you are forbidden from writing short stories again."

"Wow!" Anna exclaimed, "I was just kidding! Teacher, please don't ban novel writing so easily!"

Mel: "..."

Reynold, looking confused and innocent, said, "I... I just went to the next room to take a look, because you were all looking at the words here, and I couldn't squeeze in..."

No matter how he explained, Mel and I each put a magic chain around his neck.

This is our 100 million Federation Credits! We can't let it run wild!

Reynold gripped the chains, looking utterly defeated. We were quite pleased with Reynold obedience, especially compared to his previous behavior with me. The current Reynold was so well-behaved that it moved me. The old Reynold was aloof; no matter how kindly I spoke to him, he would always reply with "Stop messing around," eventually forcing me to use Confusion Spell on him.

"This place is very dangerous," I admonished him. "Your magical skills are simply not up to par for unexpected situations, so don't be reckless and run around."

Reynold's mouth moved silently, and I could tell he was probably saying, "I'm a seventh-level mage from the Federation, after all..."

Mel nodded. "Don't worry, I'll propose to the council as soon as I get back that the Federation's mage ranking system must be revised!"

Reynold shut his mouth, wearing a classic expression of utter despair, exactly like the meme Moli showed me.

"Wait!" Reynold suddenly raised his hand, like a good student speaking in class, and then said, "There's a line of text in the next room, I think I know where this is."

We filed out, with Goliath leading the way this time. Following the path Reynold pointed out, we entered a slightly larger room, which could be considered a hall. There were two long rows of stone tables on either side of the hall. The striped banners behind the stone tables were so rotten that the symbols were no longer legible, but I felt this place would be perfect for a meal.

As we entered, there was a slight ripple in the air. I instinctively focused my mental energy on my eyes, and in my Mage Eye, the scene here lit up.

Magical flames blazed on the walls, and a stone table was surrounded by people—men, women, the elderly, and a handful of children. They sat together, not looking worried, but rather lively like a party. A man with the lower body of a deer, his hands gleaming, was carrying a plate, trying to sell something to a few of them. The men who looked like mages were being chased all over the place, one of them even pulling out a handful of magical bread rolls and eating them with relish, much to the annoyance of the deer-man carrying the plate, who then ran away, just as he passed by me... Hmm, looking at his bright red and green plate, I thought I'd rather eat the magical bread rolls too.