The next mont, a dimly lit world unfolded before his eyes.
It was a barren wasteland.
As far as the eye could see, not a single blade of grass grew. The ground was covered in dry, cracked earth and scattered with dull, lifeless chunks of tal and stone—most of them so faded they looked more like chalk than anything valuable. The sight made several people twitch at the corners of their mouths. So just went numb.
"This is it?!"
So the old saying was true after all—high hopes lead to crushing disappointnt.
Before arriving, he’d had big expectations for this Plane World. He’d even brushed off Cicero’s earlier "friendly warning," thinking it was just the guy being overly cautious.
And now? Great. Just great. The place was a total dump.
Seriously, was his luck really this bad?
His very first Plane World, and he ends up in this godforsaken wasteland?
No way he was that cursed... right?
Ethan couldn’t help but feel a little deflated. The excitent that had been buzzing in his chest just monts ago now sat like a rock in his gut.
But then, out of nowhere, the Bronze Golem—Karnak—squatted down. He stared at the dull, chalky-looking tal scattered across the ground, his expression twisting into one of surprise.
"These rocks... they look kinda familiar..."
"Really?" Hearing that, Archmage Eldrin crouched down as well, casually picking up a chunk of the unknown tal ore and giving it a quick once-over... and then, his expression suddenly shifted. His eyes widened in shock.
"This... this is Bronzesteel residue?!"
"Bronzesteel residue? What the hell is that?" Ethan blinked, caught off guard, and quickly asked.
"My Lord," Eldrin began, his tone turning serious, "in the Tower faction, many archmages conduct all sorts of bizarre experints. Take this Special Resource—Bronzesteel—for example. Every Special Resource contains a unique magical Primordial Force. When that force is extracted, what’s left behind is... well, this. A pile of residue."
His eyes glead as he looked around at the desolate landscape.
"Could this Plane World have once been the testing ground of a powerful archmage?"
In the Tower faction, so of the most powerful archmages were practically on par with gods. So the idea of one of them carving out an entire Plane World just to use as a lab—while it sounded wild and unbelievable—wasn’t actually that far-fetched.
In fact, from what Eldrin knew, it happened more often than people thought. Especially among those ancient monsters who’d earned the title of Supre Mage—most of them had not just one, but multiple Plane Worlds set aside for their experints.
And with that realization, Eldrin’s eyes lit up with fiery excitent.
Because for soone like him, this was huge.
A Supre Mage’s abandoned testing ground? That was a treasure trove waiting to be uncovered.
No doubt about it.
"My Lord," Eldrin said, turning to Ethan, "I suspect this place was once a Supre Mage’s lab. It looks like it’s been abandoned for a long ti, but if we search the area, we might find so clues."
"A testing ground?" Ethan echoed, stunned for a second. Then he nodded quickly. "Alright, everyone spread out. If you find anything, report back to ."
"I’ll stay here and guard the Lord," Elynn said without hesitation.
The others nodded and began to fan out in different directions.
It wasn’t long before Cicero returned first. "My Lord, I found a few abandoned Creature Dwellings up ahead. Judging by the layout, they look like tal Golem Foundries—Tower faction style."
"Knew it..." Ethan muttered, a knowing look flashing across his face. He nodded. "Alright, let’s go check it out."
Led by Cicero, they soon arrived at what could only be described as a ruin. The place was in shambles—crumbling walls, shattered structures, and most of it half-buried under layers of windblown sand.
At first glance, it looked like a forgotten graveyard of machines.
"These are really Creature Dwellings?" Ethan muttered to himself, a bit disappointed as he stepped closer to the dilapidated foundry.
But just then, a system prompt chid in his ear.
"Congratulations, player Valkarion, you’ve discovered a Creature Dwelling—Ebonite Bronze Golem Foundry! Would you like to activate and recruit?"
Ethan froze.
Ebonite Bronze Golem?
What the hell is that?
"Activate. Recruit!" he said without hesitation.
But the mont he made the choice, the bad news hit.
Ding!
"Sorry. This Creature Dwelling is not a standard type. The structure is damaged and cannot support effective recruitnt or summoning... Your occupation attempt has failed."
It felt like soone had dumped a bucket of ice water over his head.
Ethan went quiet for a mont.
Honestly... this was the first ti he’d ever failed to recruit from a Creature Dwelling. It caught him off guard. But now that the initial shock had passed, he wasn’t taking it too hard. He’d already braced himself for the worst.
"Cicero," Ethan said, breaking the silence, "do you know anything about the Ebonite Bronze Golem unit?"
"Ebonite Bronze Golem?" Cicero’s eyes flickered with a strange look, but he shook his head. "I’ve never heard of that specific unit. But... I do know about Ebonite Crystal."
"Ebonite Crystal? What’s that?" Ethan asked, curiosity piqued.
"It’s a Special Resource—artificially created, though its existence hasn’t been fully confird yet," Cicero explained. "Rumor has it, this crystal has insanely high magical conductivity, and near-perfect fusion and compatibility properties. Supposedly, even tal Golems with Magic Immunity can gain magical enhancents through it."
"Seriously? That powerful?" Ethan raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Well, that’s the rumor," Cicero said with a shrug. "There’s no solid proof. At least, not that I’ve seen. As far as I know, no one’s actually managed to use it like that."
Ethan exhaled and gave a small shake of his head. "Alright, let’s keep looking. This place is huge. No way a full-blown Plane World only has this kind of scrap lying around..."
He nodded to himself, his mindset slowly settling back into place.
Yeah, he’d been disappointed—mostly because he’d co in with sky-high expectations. That kind of letdown always hit harder. But now that he’d had a mont to breathe, he was back on track. If they found sothing valuable, great. If not? No big deal.
He wasn’t gonna force it.
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