“Steel Wool, put Spoon down.”
Steel Wool didn't understand Lan Qingyou’s plan, but it followed the order and released the little rat’s tail from its mouth.
The moment it regained its freedom, Spoon didn't flee as Lan Qingyou expected. Instead, it scurried onto the four-leaf totem and squeaked wildly at her.
“Hmm? What’s wrong with that totem?”
Perplexed, Lan Qingyou flew over with Steel Wool.
Pat, pat, pat—
Spoon seemed a bit angry that Lan Qingyou didn't understand its words, and it began slapping the ground with its front paws.
Lan Qingyou stared at it, dumbfounded.
Wait, is an A-grade monster already this human-like? It even knows how to get angry?
Jokes aside, while she was taken aback, Lan Qingyou also considered the meaning behind Spoon’s actions.
Without a doubt, the only thing she hadn't taken yet was this totem-style symbol.
The problem was that her identification glasses hadn't picked up anything from it.
Wait... a symbol!?
Lan Qingyou felt like she had grasped something.
There was no denying that this symbol was very likely the totem of some race, just as Ruan Qingyi had suggested. But while it was a totem, it was also composed of symbols, wasn't it?
Since it was made of symbols, could there be another possibility?
With that thought, Lan Qingyou slowly descended. She picked Spoon up and handed it back to Steel Wool before injecting her mana into the pattern.
Exactly.
Just like an enchantment or a circuit, if it was a symbol, it should be capable of being driven by mana.
That was Lan Qingyou's hypothesis, and she put it to the test.
However, after injecting about half of her mana—roughly a hundred points—Lan Qingyou suddenly felt her entire body become weightless. The next moment, a violent gale hit her in the face.
She quickly used her hand to shield her eyes from the wind, squinting through a narrow slit to observe her surroundings.
“What the hell?! Where the hell did this send me! Am I still in the Abandoned Ruins?”
When she saw what her surroundings had become, Lan Qingyou couldn't help but curse out loud.
Steel Wool and Spoon immediately scrambled onto her. One buried its head in her arms, while the other scurried straight up her sleeve to hide.
Everywhere she looked was covered in white snow, and a fierce wind was howling.
The gray rocks nearby made it clear what kind of place she was in.
From the weightless sensation earlier, Lan Qingyou knew she had likely been teleported.
It was exactly like when she was teleported from Blue Star to the Kalim continent months ago.
She just didn't know where she was yet.
Lan Qingyou braved the biting wind and pulled out her card to check.
After scanning with the card, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, she was still in the Abandoned Land.
However, she was no longer in the Abandoned Ruins; she was now in the Abandoned Mountains.
No wonder the snow and wind were so heavy. It was a mountain range, after all. It was normal for the altitude to be high and the wind to be strong.
For her own safety, Lan Qingyou didn't plan on exploring for the moment. Instead, she set up her magic tent in a spot on the leeward side of a mountain hollow.
“Phew—”
Only after entering the magic tent did Lan Qingyou completely relax.
The teleportation just now was something she hadn't anticipated.
After all, this was teleportation!
Who would have thought that a totem-like object would contain such high-level magic?
Of course, the most important questions were why such a spell would send her here, and why it was located in the Abandoned Ruins in the first place.
Lan Qingyou took off her witch's robe and lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling of the tent as she began to think.
She could understand the cellar-like storage room beneath the Abandoned Ruins.
It was in the center of the ruins, and there was a palace there.
Even though Sherlock had gathered people to build it, there had to be some sort of foundation to start with.
In other words, there should have been the ruins of a palace or castle there originally, and Sherlock had simply built and reinforced upon that foundation.
In that case, the existence of an underground warehouse in such a place was perfectly reasonable.
But the question remained: why was there a totem symbol there, especially one with a built-in teleportation function?
In Lan Qingyou's view, since there was a palace or castle above, this totem symbol must have belonged to the original owner of the ruins, or the tribe that lived there.
So why did they add a teleportation function to their totem?
Furthermore, it only required about a hundred mana points to trigger.
And it sent her to such a godforsaken place.
It couldn't possibly have been for the convenience of the palace owner to come to the Abandoned Mountains for some cool air every summer, could it?
While that was a possibility, it was a very unlikely one.
That left only one other possibility: it was an escape route.
After all, what wealthy person wouldn't leave a few back doors for themselves?
Only an explanation like that could account for why such a long tunnel existed.
At this thought, Lan Qingyou sat up again.
Since those alchemy tools and humanoid golems were found there, could it be understood that someone had already used that path to flee to the Abandoned Mountains?
If that was the case, then new questions arose.
Why did they flee?
Who were they fleeing from?
And where did they go after arriving here?
These were all questions, all mysteries.
But these matters piqued Lan Qingyou's curiosity.
“What exactly happened on the Kalim continent before we were forcibly teleported here?”
This was the first time Lan Qingyou had seriously looked at this question.
She had harbored some doubts about this before, but they had always been set aside due to various other issues.
Now, the problem had been shoved right in her face, reaching a point where she could no longer ignore it.
She had to search!
She had to find them!
Regardless of where those people went to take refuge after being teleported here, she had to find them.
Even if only a pile of bones remained, she had to find them so she could gain a more direct understanding of this world.
Since she had already come to this world, and in all likelihood wouldn't be able to return to Blue Star in her lifetime, she could only survive here.
Since she was going to live here long-term, understanding this world and what had happened before became a top priority—an urgent matter, even.
Albert.
The teacher she had unilaterally claimed for herself had also lived in that era.
He might have even participated in the design and development of magic shields to combat the mana tide.
As someone who had created a magic tent based on her own ideas, Lan Qingyou felt that the construction of her magic shield was far inferior to those “zealots.”
So, why did they design such things?
Rate on N.U.
