From MC’s Perspective:
I continued to observe the underground shelter. I used the system again to confirm the wizard’s strength.
The system revealed that the dying, frail, and elderly person was a level-9 wizard. This result brought relief.
Since the dying wizard was a level-9 wizard, he was not the wanted criminal. Nevertheless, I decided to plunder his valuables.
It had been so ti since I last killed soone for this.
"Swoosh!"
I retreated a few steps backward, putting a couple hundred ters between and the underground shelter.
I wasn’t sure if the wizard hiding inside had sensed my presence. I waited for a few seconds.
There was no sound coming from the shelter. Deciding to act, I prepared to cast a magic spell.
"Gravity Blast!"
A wisp of gray-colored magic shot from my forefinger, amplified to the sixth stage.
The spell streaked in a straight line and struck the top cover of the underground shelter.
Boom!
An explosion followed. The gravity magic blasted away the shelter’s top cover.
With the cover gone, the shockwave uprooted nearby vegetation, and dust rose from the ground.
"Aaaahh!"
A scream of pain echoed from inside the shelter, indicating soone was hurt.
I used the system function to check.
[Ding! The level-9 wizard is dead.]
The chanical voice sounded in my mind. I sighed inwardly with relief. Then, I used the system to scan the area.
The results confird there were no traps inside the underground shelter. Reassured, I moved forward to enter.
I appeared before the shelter. The top cover was gone, replaced by a massive hole leading inside.
Daylight filtered into the shelter, providing so illumination. I slowly levitated in mid-air before descending inside.
"Tud!"
I landed on the ground. My gaze wandered until I spotted a wizard leaning against the wall.
Approaching him, I saw an almost skeletal figure. His skin was dry, suggesting he hadn’t eaten before dying.
My eyes shifted to his chest, and my heart skipped a beat. There was a hole in it.
"What’s going on?" I muttered to myself.
The injury appeared to have been caused by soone. I moved closer to inspect. The hole pierced through to his back, revealing the wall behind.
There was no mana core. My expression grew grim. It seed the wizard had died of old age, likely due to the absence of his mana core.
If a wizard’s mana core is damaged or removed, they beco crippled. So, he was likely crippled before his death.
"Sigh!"
I sighed, then used the system to check for traps again. The system confird the area was safe.
I began searching for his belongings. Beside his body, I found a small diary. I picked it up and opened it.
The text was written in a different language. I stored the diary in my system space.
My gaze turned to the rest of the shelter. All the small necessity items were expired. There wasn’t even a spare set of clothes.
My goal was to find anything related to magic, but nothing stood out. I turned my attention back to the corpse.
The only place I hadn’t checked was the body itself. I approached the corpse again and began inspecting its belongings.
I found an old cloth. I picked it up and unfolded it. As I expected, it was no ordinary cloth—it was a map.
From the drawings and markings, it was clear that the wizard had drawn it during his travels. This type of personal map is more valuable than an official one.
My gaze imdiately darted to the habitable area within the forbidden zone. My next destination was this habitable area.
As ti passed, I noticed that most of the places on the map matched the official one. However, certain locations, absent from the official map, were drawn here.
Then I noticed a particular spot circled on the map.
"Is this blood?" I muttered.
Using the system function to check, I confird that the spot was indeed marked in blood. A hint of seriousness flashed in my eyes.
I turned toward the corpse, which lacked a core. I couldn’t help but connect the dots.
Collecting my thoughts, I stored the map in the system space. I left the corpse in the underground shelter.
Swoosh!
I appeared outside and covered the entrance with tree branches. After concealing it, I resud my journey.
Instead of traveling through the air, I began walking on foot. Moving through the air could attract monsters.
As I trekked through the forest, the system occasionally displayed ssages warning of hidden dangers, such as poisonous plants and insects. Any of these could be deadly to wizards.
This is why forbidden areas are considered dangerous, not only because of monsters or other powerful entities but because the environnt itself can kill wizards.
In the previous forbidden area, I had encountered corrupted mana in the environnt. Here, the mana was fine, but the other dangers persisted.
I treaded carefully through the terrain. The next habitable area should be safe, so I planned to stay there for the night.
Fortunately, there was no ti limit for the mission. However, it was a pity I couldn’t report back to the Silver Tower.
In a way, this was a good thing, I had enemies there, and I didn’t want them following here. Without them, I could focus on the task at hand.
I gathered my thoughts and continued toward my destination.
Rustle!
Suddenly, I heard a rustling sound. Hearing it, I froze in place. The rustling continued, growing closer. I didn’t know what to do. The system hadn’t responded yet.
So, I queried the system.
[Ding! Danger!]
[A 10th-Order Tree Monster has sensed the host]
A chanical voice echoed in my mind. Imdiately, I teleported inside Gregor Mansion and rushed to the control room to investigate.
In the control mirror, I saw sothing incredible. A powerful root erged from nowhere and struck the spot where I had been standing.
Boom!
A shockwave erupted, and dust rose from the ground. The once-quiet forest beca noisy again.
My expression turned serious.
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