Compared to the Ancient of War, the Ancient of Wind primarily fought using wind magic.
Although it was a bit more troublesome to deal with than the Ancient of War, in Lan Qingyou's mind, it was nothing compared to the Ancient of Life.
How should she put it?
It was just plain disgusting.
You hit it, and it heals itself.
Until its four-digit mana pool was exhausted, its health wouldn't drop at all.
It took her less than half an hour for the Ancient of War and about forty minutes for the Ancient of Wind, but for the Ancient of Life, Lan Qingyou spent a full hour and a half grinding it down.
By comparison, the Ancient of Knowledge was much simpler. Compared to the other ancients, its methods of attack were endless.
Relying on its mastery of magic circles, it constantly used strange and bizarre spells.
Things like making withered trees sprout new shoots for a binding attack were child's play.
When driven into a corner, the Ancient of Knowledge could even use a magic circle that rejuvenated the entire area.
A massive magic circle practically covered the entire cavern ceiling, causing weeds and wildflowers to grow frantically in the scorched areas.
In the end, the entire area looked as if nothing had ever happened.
If not for the corpses of the three other ancients on the ground and the missing trees, Lan Qingyou would have thought she had never fought here at all.
No, wait. If she hadn't taken the War Treant saplings, that single magic circle would have been enough to let those treants regrow.
Tsk, tsk. It seemed this guy was the one truly in control of the cycle of life in this small world.
So, Lan Qingyou attacked even more fiercely.
She didn't even want to rest, refusing to stop until her mana points were only enough to keep her airborne.
Her pool of over two hundred mana points didn't last long to begin with.
Fortunately, as far as Lan Qingyou was concerned, that was the extent of it. With the help of the battered Steel-grath and the laser-chipping of the floating cannons, she finally brought this ancient down as well.
It took about an hour from start to finish.
It couldn't be helped; the spells from those magic circles were just too eerie.
“Whew! It's finally over.”
Watching the Ancient of Knowledge collapse with a boom, Lan Qingyou finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Her nerves had been taut for nearly five hours.
Why five hours?
Because she spent more than two hours of that time taking breaks; after all, no one could handle chugging potions indefinitely.
But even during the breaks, she didn't let down her guard.
After all, the fires needed to be maintained, especially when she had to watch out for the Ancient of Knowledge's magic circles using water spells.
It could be said that the Ancient of Knowledge was the greatest test of Lan Qingyou's mental endurance.
Most of her current exhaustion came from it.
Sitting on the fallen trunk of the Ancient of Knowledge, Lan Qingyou and the two little ones ate some food. After a short rest, she headed toward the stone house.
The exterior of the stone house was very ordinary, just like the wooden houses seen everywhere in this place.
But inside, it was a whole different world.
From the stone furnishings to the murals carved on the walls, it was clear that this was likely a place of ritual.
It just lacked an altar.
Of course, the most striking thing was the large number of neatly arranged skeletons inside the stone house.
Unlike the monster skeletons she had encountered before...
These skeletons looked more like humans, or perhaps bipedal animals.
However, the identification glasses provided no information about these skeletons.
The only explanation Lan Qingyou could come up with was that these skeletons might have no value at all, which was why they weren't being identified.
But just to be safe, Lan Qingyou mailed a bone—roughly a femur—to Shang Chuan to have it identified using the magic desk.
The result was the same: nothing.
This left Lan Qingyou, Shang Chuan, and even the people in the group in silence.
Given the magic desk's usual temperament, it would identify even a pebble and throw in a snarky comment.
Yet, it couldn't identify a bone this large?
How could the people of Tarot Villa not be surprised?
Or was it that the skeletons were so severely weathered that they no longer had any value for identification?
“This isn't simple...”
Looking at the skeletons before her, Lan Qingyou muttered softly and took a photo of the stone house's interior to send over.
No one knew who these skeletons had been—not even the magic desk could tell—but one thing was certain: these people were undoubtedly linked to those who had escaped from the Abandoned City.
It was highly likely they were either the escapees themselves or their descendants.
After all, who besides refugees would think of establishing a village in a place like this?
However, judging by the size of the village, only a small number of people from the Abandoned City could have made it here—maybe a hundred or two?
Lan Qingyou shook her head, then scanned every corner of the stone house.
Since she didn't know what the skeletons were, she had to find at least something else in the stone house, right?
It wasn't as if all those treants and ancients were just guarding skeletons.
So, Lan Qingyou scanned the entire stone house like a radar, but she found nothing of value.
“Spoon, is there anything good in here?”
Finally giving up on her own search, Lan Qingyou asked Spoon. The rat looked at her with its bright, black eyes, hopped down, and ran straight to the stone table in the center of the room, stopping at the pillar beneath it.
Lan Qingyou leaned down to look and saw Spoon jump, its claws catching onto something.
Click.
In an instant, a slit opened in the stone pillar, and Spoon tumbled down.
It couldn't be helped; Spoon's weight was a bit insufficient to fully open even a small stone door.
Seeing this, Lan Qingyou reached out to open it and pulled out a book.
Due to the passage of time, it showed signs of weathering and was covered in dust.
However, perhaps due to a protective spell or the stone table itself, it was relatively well-preserved.
Lan Qingyou patted the dust off the cover and saw the Kalim text: 《Magic Circle Drawing》.
Whistle!
Lan Qingyou let out a whistle. If nothing else, getting this book alone made the whole trip feel worth it.
Why did the fight with the Ancient of Knowledge take so long?
Wasn't it exactly because of its strange and bizarre magic circles?
However, when Lan Qingyou opened the book and skimmed through its contents, she was disappointed.
The principles of drawing magic circles were similar to semiotics; it taught how to draw shapes, the meanings represented by each symbol, the rules of operation, and so on.
There were quite a few things that could potentially improve Lan Qingyou's personal combat power.
However, that meant all the magic circles—whether for attack, defense, or support—had to be researched by herself.
Rate on N.U.
