NOVPUB
Chapter 108: 016: A Whole New World
Avery’s expression seemed a bit unnatural, and her gaze slightly avoided Lynch’s when their eyes met.
But she quickly adjusted and regained her composure.
She avoided looking into Lynch’s eyes and instead turned her head to examine the surrounding environment, asking weakly, "Where are we now?"
Lynch replied, "A mountain cave."
He paused and glanced at Avery’s expression, somewhat unsure if she actually remembered what had happened earlier.
After some thought, he decided to explain, "You just fainted and suffered hypothermia; I tried to..."
"Got it!"
A blush spread across Avery’s cheeks, quickly running along her pale neck. Hastily changing the subject, she said, "There’s no need to go into such irrelevant details; let’s talk about the situation. Where are we now?"
Irrelevant? It nearly cost your life, come on!
Lynch nodded and continued, "We’re roughly at the front section of the Ice Sealed Mountain Range, about 200 kilometers from where we entered the mountains."
There’s still 1800 kilometers left to the Dark Forest.
Avery slowly stood up from the ground. It was clear she was still very weak, even swaying slightly as she rose.
She walked to the edge of the cave and looked out at the wind and snow.
Then, she frowned and asked, "We can’t move forward?"
Lynch shrugged, "If you pass out again, I might not be able to wake you up this time."
Avery paused in silence.
Soon, she returned to the fire pit and sat down again.
Another round of silence.
Neither of them spoke by the fire pit, and even Parker had run deeper into the cave. The atmosphere was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Finally.
Avery couldn’t hold back any longer, awkwardly saying, "Aren’t you... going to cultivate?"
Lynch said, "Just finished a round of meditation."
He also found it uncomfortable to sit there doing nothing with her, but he wasn’t sure how to change the subject.
As the tension grew in the room, suddenly.
"Boom!" A muffled sound came from deeper inside the cave.
Both of them froze.
Lynch stood up and said, "I’ll go take a look."
Avery also stood up immediately, "I’ll go with you. Don’t worry about me. Aside from feeling weak, I’m perfectly fine now."
Lynch nodded, "Alright."
The two walked deeper into the cave together. About fifty meters in, they arrived at the cave’s end.
Here, Parker had its mouth open, spraying Flame Breath onto the cave wall. The earlier booming sound came from the flames hitting the wall.
When Parker saw Lynch approaching, it stopped breathing fire, then circled the wall, chirping incessantly.
Is there something here?
Lynch walked over curiously to inspect the wall, and after a closer look, he quickly noticed something unusual.
There was a door here!
Yes, embedded in the wall was a stone gate.
Exchanging glances, Lynch and Avery simultaneously spoke the same word: "Ruins!"
Finding a man-made stone gate in a snow-covered cave like this could only mean they’d stumbled upon the legendary ruins.
This wasn’t surprising, given the world had a history spanning tens of thousands of years, with countless Wizards having existed.
Wizards, known for their independence, often traveled to collect materials and knowledge for their craft. Roaming far and wide was the norm.
Many Wizards would build residences in places they deemed suitable for cultivation or exploration.
When Wizards couldn’t overcome their life’s limits through cultivation and ultimately passed away, those abodes turned into forgotten ruins.
"There seems to be a pattern here."
After examining the wall, Lynch discovered a pattern on the stone surface.
Avery took a look and quickly identified it: "This is... the insignia of the Ice Castle?"
Lynch asked curiously, "You recognize it?"
"Sort of." Avery nodded, "They were a Wizard Organization in the eastern region of the Ancient Ruins. They were prosperous for a time, producing a few Wizards, but then they declined. Now I think it’s just one Wizard left with a few apprentices."
She then smirked and asked, "What? Want to go inside and take a look?"
Lynch nodded, "What about you?"
Judging by her tone, he thought she wouldn’t be interested in ruins of this level.
To his surprise, Avery enthusiastically replied, "Of course, I’ll join in. Exploring ruins is fun and exciting; how could I miss it?"
Then she cheerfully added, "You can keep the artifacts; I’ll just tag along for the thrill."
Lynch asked puzzlingly, "What do you want out of this then?"
Avery said, "If it’s just for myself, then I don’t have to always expect everything I do to yield benefits. You know, sailing a Wizard Ship to a remote uninhabited island to search for treasure based on a treasure map—that was my favorite dream as a kid."
Alright,
Lynch felt he’d just uncovered a new side of this young lady.
Back to the ruins.
Lynch began scrutinizing the situation seriously.
Most ruins were Wizards’ hidden residences, typically filled with traps and protective mechanisms. A thorough risk assessment was imperative before entering.
Judging from Avery’s information, the Ice Castle Wizard Organization seemed fairly modest, with unlikely chances of housing anything of Wizard Level. The rough craftsmanship of the stone gate suggested Apprentice Level Strength.
In other words, the ruins were likely of the apprentice level.
That said, apprentice level only meant relatively low danger, not a complete lack of danger.
After some consideration, Lynch retrieved several skeletons from his Space Ring—ones he’d previously gathered from the Undead Castle.
Corpse Control!
With the infusion of a ghostly blue Soul Flame, the skeletons rose with the sound of bones grinding.
Three skeletons in total.
"Buzz buzz!"
The sound of bees’ wings echoed as Lynch released several Alchemy Fireflies, their soft glow illuminating the dark surroundings.
Lynch then pulled out a Mid-level Defense Scroll for a Rock Shield and tore it open, summoning the shield to protect both of them.
He’d bought the scroll before, but now that he’d mastered Multi-element Shield and Elemental Voidification, it had lost its usefulness. Instead of leaving it in the ring to gather dust, he decided to use it to safeguard the now-magic-depleted Avery.
"Is this another of your specialties?" Seeing his professional demeanor, Avery couldn’t resist teasing.
"If I told you I’m still chasing the same childhood dream you had, would you believe me?" Lynch replied, nodding to the years he’d spent studying ruins exploration to one day find the site mentioned in Richard’s journal.
Avery paused.
She said, "Really? That’s enviable."
Lynch asked, puzzled, "What’s enviable about that?"
Exploring ruins seemed like a fairly standard thing for Wizards, after all?
"It is."
Avery sighed softly and said wistfully, "My family wouldn’t allow me to go on adventures myself. Even if there was something I wanted to explore, they’d just station me at the back and send a team to retrieve everything for me."
Lynch twitched slightly. Oh wow, so she was a humblebrag pro...
"Stop talking already,"
he muttered in slight annoyance as he controlled the skeletons to step forward and push open the ancient stone gate...
