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Chapter 476 477-Eternal Flame
Chapter 476 477-Eternal Flame
Chapter 476 Chapter477-Eternal Flame
Nula wasn't a ranger or a thief; she was a magus.
While she had a deep understanding of spells, her capabilities were limited beyond that realm.
Frowning in thought for a few seconds, Nula decided to try using her mana sensing.
Mana sensing is always reciprocal; releasing one's sensory perception means other magi have the opportunity to capture your mana sensing, thereby potentially pinpointing your location.
Although Nula was here for a confrontation, unnecessary battles were best avoided if possible.
She mobilized her mana, slowly expanding her mana sensing.
Her expansion was deliberate, aimed at sidestepping any potential traps.
Mana sensing isn't as direct as visual observation, but its advantage lies in detecting what can't be seen by the naked eye, much like radar, easily uncovering secrets hidden in the details.
The first floor was covered without result; Nula continued to extend her sensing, maintaining the area of each floor constant while increasing the height.
The second floor was quickly encompassed entirely, yielding nothing.
Though the expansion hadn't reached Nula's limits yet, she started feeling a tad weary, wondering if the intelligence agents had made a mistake.
Moving upwards, the third floor was also completely within Nula's perception, still without any findings.
Nula sighed.
It wasn't the first time her efforts had come to naught, but if things continued this way, she would have to start considering how to leave with Howard.
The guy with a few screws loose in his head probably wouldn't be content to just walk away.
On the fourth floor.
Just as Nula was about to give up, a piece of her mana sensing suddenly vanished! Nula was startled, realizing she might have discovered something extraordinary.
Essentially, mana sensing is akin to using mana for perception, somewhat similar to how bats use sonar for navigation.
Magi have a clear sense of each portion of their mana.
Through this connection, mana can serve as a novel means of perception.
Normally, mana acts like an all-penetrating film.
However, within Nula's current mana sensing, there emerged an undetectable void!
Something had absorbed the mana in that area.
Nula looked up, pinpointing the location where mana was absorbed and started moving.
Two minutes later, Nula stood in front of a wall that appeared utterly ordinary.
The wall had aged, with moss beginning to spread, looking just like any other stone wall.
But.
Nula placed her hand against the wall, pushing her mana deeper.
A structure capable of absorbing mana was hidden beneath the surface.
It appeared to be a spell matrix, its function unknown, but likely non-aggressive since Nula didn't sense any conversion of mana.
As mana continued to be fed into it, a ring of text gradually became visible.
Nula glanced over it, her pupils narrowing - she had found it!
The inscriptions on the wall were not in any human language but were once used by elves.
This ancient script inherently possesses mana and can become a substitute for runes through specific evolution, employed in spell construction.
Hence, the earliest magi were actually elves who used transformed elvish incantations to construct and wield spells.
However, due to the extreme difficulty in learning this transformed script, humans, after acquiring the knowledge, embarked on simplifying it, leading to the evolution of the current rune system.
Yet, due to some of its ancient characteristics, in spell matrices that demand stability and long-term operation, elvish script is predominantly used as the foundation.
Such was the case at hand.
Nula deciphered the ring of text, realizing it formed a transportation spell matrix.
Once activated, this matrix could direct the user to an unknown location, with the transportation distance varying from several hundred meters to hundreds of kilometers, depending on the mana requirements.
Of course, a teleportation spell matrix capable of transporting someone hundreds of kilometers wouldn't fit on a single wall.
Judging by the size of this spell matrix, the transportation distance wouldn't exceed ten kilometers, and it might even be within five kilometers - essentially, in the surrounding area of Rodel City.
It was likely the den of those people, or if not the den, then certainly a significant node.
Otherwise, there would be no need to go through such trouble to set up this teleportation array with such intricacy.
After checking her equipment, Nula decisively… applied over a dozen buffs to herself.
Vision enhancement…
Stamina enhancement…
Perception enhancement…
Mana shield…
Rapid recovery spell…
Fortune's favor…
She even utilized the seldom-used Great Strength Spell.
If mana was insufficient, she would consume potions.
After applying this array of buffs, Nula felt like she had transformed into a warrior bearing a spell shield.
Fully prepared, Nula finally activated the spell matrix.
With continuous mana input, the circle of elvish characters that formed the matrix's core lit up one by one, emitting a soft white glow.
A delicate humming sound followed, and a white vortex unfolded before Nula.
This was a phenomenon entirely composed of mana, with the distinct properties of mana vividly manifesting in the grey-
white swirl.
Nula's gaze lingered on the vortex for a few seconds, she sighed, stepped forward, and entered the vortex.
With a flash of white light, Nula's figure vanished into the vortex.
…
After a moment of dizziness lasting a second or two, Nula appeared in a dimly lit cave, where torches inserted into small holes in the cave walls burned silently, emitting a faint glow.
Upon landing, Nula quickly assessed her surroundings.
Years of training allowed her to swiftly transition into a state of combat readiness.
The air circulated slightly, free of toxins or foreign substances, and there were no enemy ambushes or mana traps in sight.
It appeared to be an ordinary, developed cave with only one path forward, seemingly a natural hollow formed within the mountain.
This made Nula curious about how the first magus had entered this place.
Or perhaps it wasn't a magus who first entered, but something else that had exited?
With this question in mind, Nula cautiously proceeded.
Her steps were light, each movement careful.
This place could very well be the enemy's stronghold.
Although she carried many valuable items and her own strength was sufficient to ensure she could make good use of those items, saving resources whenever possible was a principle every magus understood.
In the dimly lit cave, Nula moved forward with caution.
Even though she hadn't encountered a single enemy so far, this didn't mean she could afford to be careless.
According to intelligence passed by the intelligence corps, those hiding in the shadows of Rodel City belonged to a cult known as "Eternal Flame."
Nula had never encountered this sect before, but she had heard rumors about it.
Originally, the Eternal Flame was a natural phenomenon in the northern territories of the Avala Continent.
Flames would appear out of nowhere, burning slowly without igniting anything else or emitting heat, as if they were pure illusions.
These illusions always emerged at the transition between spring and summer, and the more vibrant the life in a place, the more frequently they appeared.
Nobody knew how these illusions came into being, nor did anyone understand what their appearance signified.
Over time, a theory began to circulate among the nations of the north.
The phantom flame was thought to be an incarnation of the god of life, descending to visit the creatures of the earth.
Where this theory originated is now lost to history, but it gained widespread acceptance.
To the people of the north, if the divine was eternal, then the flame must be more than just an illusion.
Hence, the phantom flame acquired a new name—Eternal Flame.
The period of spring and summer, when the Eternal Flame appeared most frequently, became a festival in the north.
The God of Life Festival, a week-long celebration of exuberance.
Nula didn't know what connection there was, if any, between this Eternal Flame and the one in the north.
While the northern Eternal Flame also represented a belief, it was based on the real presence of the phantom flames and hadn't developed into a religion but remained a collection of folk customs.
However, the Eternal Flame she was dealing with now was entirely different.
It was an outright cult.
Believing they had penetrated the essence of the world, but in reality, they were nothing but madmen's ramblings.
The identity of the cult's leader was shrouded in layers of darkness, and under the name "Eternal Flame," they had amassed considerable benefits.
According to intelligence from the information corps, there were four instances where human sacrifices on the scale of hundreds could be confirmed as the work of the Eternal Flame cult!
Not to mention those small villages that vanished without a single survivor, deemed to have been wiped out by natural disasters.