PFC Chapter 1365 Surprise and Change
Chapter 1365 Surprise and Change
Without any warning, an unfamiliar energy wave suddenly swept over, causing everyone to look horrified.
Although this energy fluctuation is extremely slight and cannot be perceived by ordinary strong people, it is very obvious to our people with keen perception.
"What is this? Is it possible that a summoning circle or magic trap has been activated?"
A solemn look suddenly appeared on Fanny's fair face, and she blurted out.
"No, this is not in line with the Dark Elves' method of casting spells. With the methods of the ancient Dark Elves, it would never be easy for people to sense that the magic circle has been activated."
Ruth waved her hand, carefully sensing her surroundings, and frowned as she said, "Also, in this energy fluctuation, I seem to sense a breath of vitality."
"Miss is right. Although the other party is obviously trying hard to hide himself, there is indeed a breath of vitality."
Myron stroked his neatly trimmed gray beard, holding a gleaming golden longbow as he echoed the words.
"The breath of life?"
Broy controlled two sixth-level alchemical puppets that looked a little embarrassed and had not yet been fully repaired, standing on guard and frowning, he asked, "What does this mean?"
"That is to say, the ones emitting energy fluctuations are not summoned magical creatures such as golems or puppets, but some real life forms."
Ruth looked solemn as she explained, "Unfortunately, the strange energy wave just passed by so quickly that we were unable to locate its exact location."
"But this is an ancient relic from before the Blank Age. It has been sealed for more than three thousand years. How could there still be real life here?"
Broy shivered involuntarily and leaned towards Lei Xiao again.
"Perhaps it was some kind of magical beast that accidentally broke in."
Chris thought for a moment and said thoughtfully, "After all, this place is not covered by an absolute defense barrier or magic prohibition. If there are some magical beasts that can go deep underground, they can easily enter here and even use this place as a nest."
"This is the most reasonable explanation. In the documents and records of the exploration of various ancient ruins, there are indeed cases of magical beasts breaking in and even building nests."
Ruth nodded slightly, then frowned and said, "It's just that this energy fluctuation is too special, so we should be careful."
"That's right. Now that we know there are other unknown beings here besides us, we really can't be careless at all."
Lei Xiao stroked his chin gently, looking thoughtful.
For me, the first thing that came to my mind regarding this unknown life form was naturally the "eclipse" that I had just encountered not long ago.
However, "Eclipse" hardly emits any energy fluctuations. Only when attacking will it be filled with obvious violence and disorder, which is obviously completely different from this unknown energy fluctuation.
However, from the situation of the White Knight, we can see that there is obviously more than one kind of "eclipse", so this possibility cannot be completely ruled out.
As for what others have said about a monster building a nest, it is a reasonable speculation. However, the unknown energy fluctuations are obviously deliberately hiding themselves and are extremely vigilant. If it is really a monster, it is probably extremely difficult to deal with.
"Besides that, as to whether there are other possibilities, it is still unknown, but I always feel that things are not that simple."
Thinking of this in his heart, Lei Xiao gathered his thoughts, nodded to everyone and said: "The most urgent task is to find the location of the mineral vein as soon as possible and ensure a safe passage for us to mine. Let's move on."
"Your Majesty is right. No matter how big this ancient mine is, it will eventually come to an end. As we move forward, that unknown entity will surely reveal itself soon."
Ruth took a deep breath and then walked to the front of the team again with a group of powerful half-elves and dragonborn warriors.
Lei Xiao and his team followed closely, assisting Ruth and others in detection and vigilance.
Cautious footsteps echoed softly in the huge mine. The deeper they went into the ancient mine, the more they felt that this place was much larger than they had imagined.
In each level of the mining area, there are miners' rest areas, tool storage areas, smelting areas, warehouse areas, and interconnected corridors. It is like an intricate ant nest, distributed in every corner of the mine.
Fortunately, what Ruth said was correct. There were almost no magic traps and summoning arrays in the largest area of the mine. However, there were many magic traps and summoning arrays distributed in the surrounding areas, especially in the area leading to the outside of the mine. This was obviously to prevent other forces from getting involved.
Since many of the magic circles had fallen into disrepair, and the light half-elves were very skilled, the process of breaking them had been extremely smooth.
In addition, several earth-attribute great magicians of the wood fairies and flower fairies, including Chris, worked together to use a special recording magic crystal ball to gradually construct a detailed topographic map of the mine, just like a magic sand table, and it is still being improved step by step.
Seeing that everything was proceeding in an orderly manner, Lei Xiao focused his attention entirely on the scene of this ancient mine.
Just like what you saw at the beginning, there were scattered tools and crooked mine carts all over the place, some of which were even filled with ore that had just been mined.
However, these ores mined from shallow layers are relatively common and are not important resources, so Lei Xiao did not go close to collect them one by one. He just turned back and asked our people who had entered in batches to gather them together.
What Lei Xiao cared about most was the scene in the mine itself.
At first, Lei Xiao thought that the dark elves at that time left in a hurry and did not even have time to put away the final results and mining tools.
But as his observation deepened, Lei Xiao made further discoveries.
It would be more accurate to say that the dark elves seemed to have suddenly disappeared from the mine rather than leaving in a hurry, as many mine carts even blocked key positions at the entrances of various passages, which was clearly not logical.
It can be imagined that judging from the number of tools scattered on the ground and the size of the mine carts, the number of dark elves mining here must be extremely large.
If a large number of people need to evacuate quickly due to some emergency, the mine cart blocking the road should be pushed away so as not to block the evacuation route. Why is it still standing there without moving?
"Your Majesty, there is indeed a strong sense of disharmony here."
Bing Lao's face was full of solemnity. He frowned and said, "Not only are there many mine carts blocking the key locations of the entrances to the passages, but there are no traces of the dark elves at that time. This is simply unbelievable."
"Old Master Bing, you may not know that the abnormal position of the mine cart is indeed noteworthy. It does not fit the scene of the dark elves evacuating in a hurry, but the lack of footprints is not a rare thing."
Gray Old Man stroked his gray beard and explained, "Because according to the Lost Relics Effect, in the ancient ruins from before the Blank Age, not only have no ancient corpses been found, but also no normal ancient footprints have been found."
"Never found normal ancient footprints?"
When Old Bing heard the voice, a look of doubt emerged on his face. Having just awakened from Bingshi City, he obviously knew very little about the mysterious effects left over from these blank eras.
"That's right. Whether in the human territory or in the vast world of the outside world, in all the ancient ruins before the blank era, most of them have no footprints at all, just like the situation here. A few have disordered footprints, such as footprints not appearing on the ground, but on the walls or even the ceiling, and many footprints are not symmetrical."
Gray Elder nodded heavily and responded, "Since this strange disappearance is very similar to the phenomenon of the non-existence of ancient corpses, it has also been classified as the Lost Relics Effect. This has been reached a consensus among all races today."
After Gray Old Man finished speaking, Broy, Chris and Fanny all nodded, obviously they all understood it very well.
As for Lei Xiao, who has done extensive research on these mysterious effects, he naturally knows this.
"Not only are there no ancient corpses, but there are no footprints at all? There are even some footprints that are misplaced and out of order. This is becoming more and more puzzling."
The confusion on Old Bing's face became more and more obvious, and he looked at Lei Xiao again and asked, "Your Majesty, what is going on?"
"Unfortunately, this remains a mystery. No one knows why the ancient corpses and ancient footprints disappeared and where they went. Anyway, these do not exist in today's era."
Lei Xiao shrugged helplessly and responded: "As for the few dislocated and disordered footprints, some people believe that there is some connection with the dislocated objects, but it is just speculation, and there is no substantial evidence to support it."
After saying this, the helplessness on Lei Xiao's face became more and more obvious.
It has to be said that whether it is the corpses or the footprints, how they disappeared is indeed puzzling. It is indeed one of the mysterious phenomena left over from the blank era.
If the disappearance of the corpse could be wiped out by some powerful existence, then why did the footprints also disappear? Even appearing disordered and chaotic?
"Your Majesty, do you think the answer to the Lost Ruins Effect could be in this ancient mine? After all, judging from the traces here, it seems that these ancient dark elves who were mining also disappeared in the mine."
Broy stroked his chin gently and said thoughtfully: "If we understand how these ancient dark elves disappeared, perhaps we can understand the truth of the Lost Ruins Effect."
"That's true, but unfortunately we don't know where to start."
Lei Xiao looked at the rotten tools scattered on the ground around him and shook his head helplessly.
But as soon as Lei Xiao finished speaking, a sudden change occurred.
The originally chaotic and dilapidated scene around suddenly changed. The mottled metal tracks became shiny, and the originally crooked and dilapidated mine carts were all completely renewed, running slowly and automatically on the tracks. Judging from the flashing magic patterns on the surface of the mine carts, they were obviously blessed with some kind of automatic operation spell.
What is even more surprising is that not only have all the rotten tools scattered on the ground disappeared, but a large number of footprints have appeared on the ground, and one can even hear the crackling sound of mining, which sounds endless.
Although all this happened extremely suddenly, everyone on our side immediately realized that this was obviously the scene when the mine was still operating normally.
However, the group is currently in a hall connecting the mine and the rest area, with a limited view and has not seen anything else.
"Your Majesty, did you see that?"
Ruth, who was exploring the way ahead, ran back with Myron, Nar and other strong men, and said in amazement: "Everything here suddenly looks brand new!"
"We, we have gone back to the past, haven't we?"
Broy almost hugged Lei Xiao's thighs, his face also filled with an expression of surprise that was difficult to conceal.
"It's impossible. There's suddenly a faint illusion here."
Lei Xiao patted Broy's shoulder gently, and then said: "If I'm not mistaken, we should be trapped in the scene of the mine back then."
After hearing Lei Xiao's words, everyone focused their minds and mobilized the energy in their bodies to respond.
As expected, as the five senses strengthened, the dilapidated scene around them appeared vaguely in front of everyone, forming a sharp contrast with the sudden illusion before their eyes, as if they were two completely different worlds.
"It is indeed an illusion, and there is no trace of artificial creation. So, is this a naturally formed mirage?"
Fanny nodded thoughtfully and analyzed, "It seems that it is very likely that our arrival has changed the energy flow here, which has led to this sudden mirage!"
"That makes sense. Since we can see the scene inside the mine back then, we certainly can't miss it."
Lei Xiao snapped his fingers lightly and walked towards the mine area outside the hall. He said, "This is the best opportunity to learn more about this mine. If this mirage records the last period of time of the mine, perhaps we can discover some unknown secrets."
"Your Majesty is right. As long as we figure out whether these ancient dark elves disappeared suddenly and what happened to them in the end, we will be one step closer to the truth of the blank era!"
Broy nodded emphatically, looking eager to try, and said, "Even if we don't find anything, this will greatly help us understand the Silver Moon Era!"
After Broy finished speaking, Fanny, Chris, and even Ruth, Nar and others all nodded, with excited looks on their faces.
Looking at the excited expressions on everyone's faces, Lei Xiao smiled faintly.
Since the human race has only recently stepped out of the outer realm, he has not yet shared with everyone the Winged Man barrier area hidden in the human territory. After all, that is the true living fossil of the Silver Moon Era.
"In any case, this opportunity is also extremely rare. Let me take a good look at the true appearance of this ancient mine."
Lei Xiao thought so, and he had already passed through the passage he had come from, returning to the vast area of the main mine. (End of this chapter)