Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2817: Chapter 2818: Clownfish

Not long after, they encountered another crossroads.

Compared to the previous crossroads, this one had a larger area that was shattered, and the falling stones almost blocked half of the road. Only through the cracks in the walls could they determine that this road branched off to the left and right.

The left path was barely passable, while the right had completely collapsed.

Upon seeing this crossroads, Vay, who had been bickering with Dox along the way, suddenly felt a jolt in his heart.

”Why is there another crossroads?” Vay pondered to himself. Could it be that Dox was right?

The Magical Energy Array had burst at the crossroads, with rocks rolling and chaotic energy, making this area quite unpredictable. Adanis might have truly set the trap at the crossroads.

Remembering Dox’s strong inspiration, Vay’s mental scale slowly began to tilt.

However, after their careful inspection, they did not find anything suspicious on this crossroads.

With doubts lingering, the group continued forward. For the next part of the journey, they did not encounter any more crossroads. Just as Vay began to relax, a weak voice emerged from the Mind Ribbon.

”M-My lord, look at this...”

It was Kaier speaking.

Since leaving the Hall of Wisdom, Kaier had been silent, keeping his head down and holding the Photostone without speaking. At first, Kaier was reading the recorded books from the Hall of Wisdom, looking so engrossed that no one bothered him. Additionally, Angel had dispatched Speedy to protect Kaier, so there was no danger.

However, later on, Kaier seemed to stop reading and was, as before, using the Photostone to record their journey.

These recorded images were very valuable firsthand materials for a wizard like Kaier who was passionate about exploring ruins.

The group turned their gaze to Kaier, and Dox asked in confusion, ”What’s wrong?”

Kaier took out the Photostone and displayed the recorded images to the group.

The Photostone recorded their inspections at the previous crossroads.

Their inspections found nothing wrong, and from the Photostone, it appeared that nothing was amiss either.

”What’s the problem in this picture?” Dox just skimmed through it and began asking Kaier, mainly because he didn’t think Kaier could find anything.

Kaier: ”I also initially thought there was no problem, but my lord look here.”

Kaier continued to play the footage from the Photostone. Shortly after they left the crossroads, the footage began to show 360-degree spins.

This was because Kaier wanted to document every detail of the journey, from the ceiling’s details to the patterns on the ground, scrutinizing all around, causing the footage to spin continuously.

Although watching it all at once made one dizzy, when Kaier analyzed it frame by frame, one wouldn’t feel uncomfortable and could avoid missing any detail.

Not long after playing the footage, Kaier pressed ”pause.”

As the footage continued, every now and then Kaier would pause it, pressing pause three times consecutively.

Each of the three pauses had the same perspective: facing the crossroads.

From the footage, it appeared they were facing the crossroads. However, recalling the situation at the time, they were actually back-facing the crossroads.

Because of this, they couldn’t observe the changes at the crossroads after they left.

To be precise, the crossroads itself hadn’t changed; the change was due to the different perspective distances, leading to different visible contents.

Here, the said ”contents” were the cracks on the walls.

Moreover, the cracks involved more than one wall—not just one, but three walls at the corner. They were perpendicular to each other, forming a corner.

Previously, when viewed up close, they were observing cracks on different walls, which at first glance appeared unremarkable.

But when Kaier put the ”panorama” before them, the cracks on the three walls merged like a plane, forming a ”pattern.”

It was precisely this pattern that Kaier noticed, prompting him to speak up.

”I feel like this pattern doesn’t seem naturally formed... but I really can’t tell what it is, which is why I wanted to ask my lord.” Kaier said.

This so-called ”pattern,” at first glance, indeed seemed perplexing.

It resembled a teardrop, with a long sharp tip at the top and an oval at the bottom. However, the ”sharp” part at the top seemed excessively curved... or rather ”alluring.”

Looking at it upside down, it resembled a tadpole.

Although currently, it’s unclear what the pattern represents, the smoothness and coherence of the lines suggest it’s definitely not naturally formed. Kaier, who discovered the pattern, did so inadvertently, but based on the results, since no one else noticed it, the credit belongs to him.

Dox praised Kaier: ”Not bad, although not quite up to my level, you certainly outperform the other apprentices here.”

There were only two apprentices present, so Dox was praising one while belittling another. Kaier was unsure how to respond and could only smile awkwardly.

Vay couldn’t be bothered to argue with Dox and instead focused his gaze on Angel: ”My lord, have you figured out what this is?”

Angel and the Black Earl had been observing the pattern, and Vay dared not ask his own master, so he asked Angel.

Angel hesitated for a moment, then stretched out his hand and pointed, causing the pattern from the Photostone to suspend in front of the group.

The pattern on the Photostone was fairly fixed. Although one could see some anomalies, it clearly wasn’t as clear as Angel’s illusion.

Angel adjusted the illusion several times, finally orienting it to a very special angle, where the top was a semicircle and the bottom was a long, alluring curve.

Upon seeing this angle, Angel pointed a dot on the semicircle.

At this moment, when the group looked at the pattern again, they started to see something emerge.

”This looks like a creature with a tail?” Vay questioned.

The top circular part was the head, and the lower part was the body and tail. When Angel pointed to the circular part, it was like adding the finishing touch, directing the pattern towards a ”creature” transformation.

”It does look a bit like a tailed creature, but this eye, the wall originally didn’t have it, did it?” Dox asked Angel.

Angel: ”It didn’t, but...”

Before he finished speaking, Angel seemed to realize something: ”Let’s go back and take a look.”

”What’s going on?” Looking at Angel’s retreating figure, although puzzled, the group still followed suit.

Angel explained while walking: ”If I’m not mistaken, the pattern’s eye area seems to be an extinct Magical Energy Array Power node.”

”So the eye area is an energy node? But since you’re sure of that, we don’t necessarily need to go back and look again, right?” Dox replied.

Angel furrowed his brow: ”I’ve read some cases in books where the Magical Energy Array gets damaged, and if the energy from the damaged part still has surplus, that energy is very likely to accumulate at the energy nodes and eventually crystallize.”

”Crystallize... You mean forming Energy Crystals? Magic Crystals?” Dox was a bit puzzled: ”You’re going back just for a bit of Magic Crystals? How did you become even stingier than me?”

Angel couldn’t be bothered to respond, but Vay chimed in: ”You’re the one who’s blinded by money, always thinking Magic Crystals are money, completely ignoring that Magic Crystals are also crystals!”

”Crystals...” Dox paused for a moment, then quickly understood Vay’s meaning.

Crystals mean facets, and facets, as long as they’re slightly smooth, can reflect light and display images, essentially becoming a special kind of mirror!

This means they might have passed by a hidden mirror surface!

Now Dox understood why Angel suddenly turned back. If it truly is a mirror surface, then regardless of whether it has issues, it needs to be dealt with first.

They retreated rapidly and soon saw the previous crossroads.

From a distance, it indeed looked exactly like the image reflected by Kaier’s Photostone, with the patterns on the three walls forming a strange design due to the angles.

When they actually saw this design, an eerie feeling suddenly spread around.

”Be careful.” Black Earl reminded in the Mind Ribbon, while also returning to Vay’s side, which was a form of protection for Vay.

Everyone naturally didn’t dare to be careless, secretly preparing Defense Spells while looking for any signs of anomalies around.

However, they couldn’t find any anomalies; all the abnormalities, including the unsettling feeling, all originated from the cracks on the three walls.

”So cunningly hidden.” Dox couldn’t help but curse in the Mind Ribbon as he stared at those cracks, ”Angel, can you now confirm if there are Energy Crystals inside?”

”I can basically confirm.” Angel still didn’t give a definite answer.

But now, whether or not they could confirm didn’t matter anymore. The eerie atmosphere permeating around was enough to indicate that there was definitely a problem here.

The reason they didn’t discover the issue before was that they hadn’t paid attention to it. Now, as everyone’s eyes were focused on the cracks on the three walls, the problem naturally surfaced.

”What should we do?” Dox asked.

Angel: ”Destroy the wall and take out the crystals inside.”

Dox intended to say ”I’ll handle it,” but before he could speak, Angel intervened: ”I’ll do it. Even though the Magical Energy Array has collapsed, hidden traps remain, and mishandling could result in energy backlash.”

Hearing Angel’s words, Dox swallowed back the words that had reached his throat.

Angel walked to the bottom of the wall, pinpointing the location where energy had accumulated through the direction of the cracks.

”Be careful, I have a feeling there might be...”

Angel’s words were interrupted by a familiar voice.

”I didn’t expect your observation skills to be quite good, but this is where it ends. Clownfish, you previously promised not to be discovered, but now it seems like a joke.”

The voice was cold, source unknown, as if it echoed from all directions. Yet, they were familiar with this voice—

”Adanis!” Angel exclaimed.

”Humph, that old guy indeed still collaborated with you. But he should have told you that I hate this name.” After Adanis finished speaking, she raised her voice: ”Clownfish, act now!”

With her words, a spatial disturbance appeared on the surrounding walls, and although they were cracked, they suddenly displayed a mirror-like appearance.

Seeing this, everyone reacted immediately. According to the Wise Sovereign’s suggestion, they must not stay in the area reflected by the mirror, so it wasn’t time to resist, instead, they needed to leave the mirror reflection area first.

They had only two choices: the route before they retreated or heading back to the way they came, toward the direction of the Hall of Wisdom.

Weighing their options, they chose the direction towards the Hall of Wisdom without hesitation.

The place Black Earl mentioned to intercept the scent hadn’t been reached, and if Angel’s guess was correct, it meant more traps laid by Adanis lay ahead. Thus, a strategic retreat was the best choice for now.

However, when they tried to retreat, they found a transparent water wall, invisible to the naked eye, blocking their path.

Behind the water wall stood none other than Adanis, staring coldly at them!

This water wall hadn’t been there when they arrived, meaning it was set up by Adanis after they left.

The water wall fully sealed off this path.

If it was simply an ordinary water wall, they could find a way to break through it. But with Adanis standing behind it, it meant the water wall was a medium for mirrors.

Whether burying it in earth or flooding it with water, it would all fall into the mirror without threatening the mirror medium.

Previously, the Wise Sovereign mentioned that Angel could enter the mirror bare-handed, perhaps even break the channel between the mirror and the outside world.

But exactly how to break it, the Wise Sovereign didn’t know either.

Moreover, the stronger the caster of the mirror medium, the harder it would be to break. With Adanis standing behind the water wall, who even the Wise Sovereign had to avoid within the Mirror Domain.

So, there’s no need to think; they couldn’t break this water wall.

Since they couldn’t break the water wall, their only option now was to continue along the previous route.

And when they changed routes, Adanis neither spoke nor stopped them.

This showed that continuing forward might also bring ”shocks” waiting for them.

Even knowing there was an issue ahead, they had no choice now.

They quickly sped forward on the path, Angel glancing back at Dox while running.

Dox quickly said: ”You don’t have to say it, I know. Plane Corridor, I’ve already prepared it, just say the word and I’ll deploy it immediately.”

Dox now understood Angel well; a disagreement meant using Plane Corridor to escape.

In any case, he would have to follow Angel eventually, and Dox had accepted this fate, trusting that Angel wouldn’t make him bear the costs of the Plane Corridor materials without reimbursement.

Angel opened his mouth but didn’t end up speaking. He indeed intended to instruct Dox to prepare for the final step, avoiding truly falling into a trap.

But unexpectedly, Dox would answer ahead... This made him feel slightly aggrieved.

As they hurriedly moved forward, a voice suddenly echoed in the surrounding space, and it came with resonance.

”I told you not to call me Clownfish, I am the Mermaid Princess. If you call me Clownfish again, I’ll call you by that strange name!”