[Lord of Abundance] Chapter 40: Ancient Elven Ruins

 Chapter 40: Ancient Elven Ruins

“Water Tornado!”

Six surging streams of water burst upward from the ground, intertwining and spiraling together in midair to form an even larger vortex of water.

—

As the water tornado slowly advanced, the countless white bones covering the ground were swept upward like dust sucked into a vacuum.

Blue currents and white skeletons intertwined in the sky, forming a bizarre and horrifying spectacle.

—

When the vast plain of bones was finally swept away, a gigantic bottomless tunnel was revealed beneath it.

Looking at the unmistakable signs of artificial excavation, shock filled Kun’s face.

—

It wasn’t a natural underground cavern.

Nor was it some subterranean fissure.

It was a deep tunnel constructed from long rectangular bricks that looked half like stone and half like wood.

The surrounding ruins and collapsed walls indicated that there had originally been buildings above ground, only for them to be completely destroyed over time, leaving behind this tunnel alone.

—

Kun guessed that countless generations of Blood Terror Demon Wolves had accidentally discovered this place long ago and turned it into a fixed breeding nest for their pack.

The enormous bone plain above was proof enough—it clearly hadn’t formed in mere years or even decades.

—

Dawn touched the fresh claw marks along the tunnel walls.

Calling them “marks” was inaccurate.

Each gouge was thicker than his thigh.

—

“The earth dragon probably expanded the tunnel by force.”

“In the process, it collapsed the mountain of bones piled up by the demon wolves.”

“Bones become brittle over time.”

“The weathered bones at the bottom could support the wolves’ weight, but not the rampage of a massive earth dragon.”

“The collapse buried the entrance and erased the dragon’s tracks.”

“No wonder we couldn’t find anything no matter how hard we searched.”

—

Kun nodded.

Dawn’s deductions were nearly identical to his own.

There was no need to say more.

—

“Let’s go.”

“We’re heading down too.”

—

“My lord, do you think there’s treasure inside?”

—

Kun laughed.

“Whether there’s treasure or not, I can’t say.”

“But I do know there’s definitely an Ancient Dragon and a Blood Terror Demon Wolf Queen waiting for us below.”

“Stay alert.”

“It’d be truly idiotic if we failed to obtain any treasure and instead got bitten to death by dying magical beasts.”

—

With a wave of his staff, a glowing sphere of pale white light popped into existence beside him.

It bounced cheerfully around him like a playful little spirit.

—

Illumination.

A basic light-element spell capable of providing stable lighting while slightly dispelling miasma, undead aura, and other negative energies.

Not particularly practical.

—

Very few light mages bothered learning it.

Low-tier mages possessed limited mana to begin with, so wasting precious magical power on such a flashy but impractical spell was far less efficient than simply carrying a magic-stone lantern.

—

Kun, however, was different.

His mana reserves were absurdly large, and his recovery speed even more ridiculous.

Even if he cast ten Illumination spells in a row, the mana consumed wouldn’t equal what he naturally regenerated in a single breath.

The expenditure was practically negligible.

—

As a result, Kun never carried magic-stone lamps.

His storage ring didn’t even contain a single magic crystal.

—

Not only light magic—

Water, earth, even dark-element magic—

Kun could use them all.

And without chanting, no less.

It looked extremely impressive.

A true all-element mage.

—

In reality, it was mostly bluffing.

Any Legendary Mage above the third tier could accomplish similar feats.

The limitation was that they could only imitate basic spells from each element.

—

The reason Kun appeared so overwhelmingly versatile was because the multiplier of law power he wielded was absurdly high.

That created the illusion that he had mastered every magical system.

—

For example, the “Water Tornado” he had used earlier.

It looked grand and sophisticated, but in truth it was simply six basic Torrent Spells combined together.

—

Kun had spent enormous effort researching foundational magic for a reason.

He hoped that one day, by drawing parallels across systems, he might discover the missing “coolant” of magic—

The true universal medium of spellcasting.

—

Unfortunately, progress had been painfully slow.

Though perhaps that was only natural.

If it were easy to find, it wouldn’t have remained hidden for so long.

Generation after generation of brilliant Grand Mages throughout magical history had unconsciously ignored its existence.

There wasn’t even the faintest conceptual framework for it.

As though the thing simply did not exist in this world at all.

—

Before entering, Kun wisely refrained from redundantly throwing fireballs into the tunnel first.

Since the Blood Terror Demon Wolves had used this place as a nest, ventilation clearly wasn’t an issue.

Any defensive mechanisms or magical traps likely once present had probably long since been dismantled by the wolves anyway.

—

After entering the underground passage, Kun’s position within the formation remained unchanged.

He stayed protected at the center.

No one could predict what dangers lay ahead.

—

This time, the vanguard was no longer Dawn.

Instead, two defensive warriors carrying magic-stone lanterns led the way.

—

Though only the size of drinking cups and roughly half the size of normal lanterns, the magic-stone lamps emitted brilliant continuous light, illuminating the tunnel brightly enough for three Azure Armored Bear Kings to walk through side by side.

—

Despite their small size, magic-stone lamps were expensive.

The kingdom’s fixed price was one gold coin per lamp.

Yet the actual material cost—magic crystals and cheap crystal panels—barely amounted to a silver coin.

The real expense came from labor.

Mage apprentices had to inscribe mana activation runes within each lamp.

It was essentially the same principle as the magic crystal ornaments embedded in noble clothing.

A business monopolized entirely by the Mage Association.

—

As the group descended deeper underground, the once-broad tunnel gradually narrowed.

Fresh claw marks left by the earth dragon appeared more and more frequently along the walls.

Yet what astonished everyone was that no matter how numerous the scratches became, they remained shallow.

None penetrated deep enough to damage the tunnel’s structural integrity.

—

“What material was this tunnel built from?”

“It’s so hard even an Ancient Dragon’s claws can’t pierce it?”

—

Filled with curiosity, Kun reached out and knocked against the endless underground corridor.

“Knock knock knock—”

A crisp metallic resonance echoed throughout the passage.

—

“A solid mineral ore cut into blocks…?”

“No, that doesn’t seem right either.”

—

The texture beneath his fingers felt strange.

Smooth like jade.

Stone-like.

Yet the sound it produced was hollow and crystalline.

—

“This is…”

—

Ignoring the dirt completely, Kun practically pressed himself against the wall.

Excitement flooded his face.

Translucent stone.

Agate-colored.

Fine tree-ring patterns within the material.

—

This was absolutely Cobalt Jadewood.

—

Cobalt Jadewood wasn’t actually a species of tree.

It was a phenomenon similar to petrified wood.

A form of fossilized wood.

—

Ordinary petrified wood formed when trees were buried deep underground in special environments where they failed to decay.

Over countless years, mineral compounds gradually replaced the cellulose fibers, transforming wood into stone.

—

But “Ten-Thousand-Year Wood” was entirely different.

It formed when trees soaked in pure elemental liquid for millennia, continuously refined and washed by elemental forces.

—

In theory, if atmospheric elemental concentration became dense enough, it could liquefy.

If such elemental liquid remained stable and seeped into surrounding stone over countless ages, it would eventually form a magic crystal vein.

—

But reality was another matter.

Magic crystal veins could not regenerate in short periods.

Artificially creating one was outright impossible.

Even precious elemental liquids gathered through special devices would constantly be diluted by the world itself—

Just as Kun, originally from Blue Star, was constantly being diluted by this world’s laws.

—

Natural elemental convergence zones were already rare.

Cobalt Jadewood was rarer still.

—

And now…

Such absurdly precious material had been used as ordinary construction bricks?

—

For a moment, Kun didn’t know whether to curse the builders for wasting heavenly treasures…

Or thank them for being blind fools.

—

“My lord?”

—

“Ahem. It’s nothing.”

“Let’s continue downward.”

—

Unlike the earth dragon whose existence was widely known, Cobalt Jadewood was legendary even among legendary materials.

Aside from Kun, even someone as well-traveled as Dawn probably couldn’t identify what these “stone bricks” truly were.

—

Wealth was best kept hidden whenever possible.

This underground corridor stretched more than two hundred meters already, with no visible end—

And the entire thing was paved with Ten-Thousand-Year Wood.

Even Kun, a fourth-tier Grand Mage, suddenly felt the treasure in front of him was almost too valuable to touch.

—

What was treasure?

This.

This was treasure.

—

And this was merely the hallway leading to the true treasure vault.

The discovery filled Kun with anticipation for what awaited deeper inside.

—

“There’s light ahead!”

One of the warriors at the front suddenly shouted a warning.

—

The sloping stairway finally ended.

After crossing a short platform, the group arrived before the gates of the underground ruins.

—

The half-meter-thick granite doors had long since been destroyed.

Only half a shattered stone gate remained standing.

Engraved upon it was a winged magical beast.

Unfortunately, the carvings were too damaged for Kun to identify the creature.

—

“Judging from the decorative patterns around the gate, this is clearly ancient elven architecture.”

—

The Ancient Elves—

The so-called Sun Elves and Moon Elves—

Were semi-elemental, semi-flesh beings born from the Mother Tree of Life.

Like dragons, they naturally matured into third-tier beings upon adulthood.

Long-lived.

Innately powerful.

Entirely different from modern elves.

The relationship between them was closer to that of humans and demi-humans.

—

During the era when the Ancient Elves ruled Eternal Dawn Continent, not only modern elves but even humans and dwarves had all been classified as “sub-elven races.”

Their status was equivalent to modern beastfolk.

Those attractive enough were enslaved.

Those ugly or useless ranked lower than livestock.

—

A truly powerful civilization had never been merciful.

—

“So… we may have discovered ruins left behind from the Elven Empire era?”

—

Excitement spread across everyone’s faces.

The Elven Empire had been the most glorious civilization in all recorded history on Eternal Dawn Continent.

Even coins from that era carried anti-counterfeit magic and unique serial inscriptions, making them priceless collector’s items.

—

If they could find lost elven tomes, magical artifacts, or standard-issue imperial magic swords here…

The rewards would be unimaginable.

—

“My lord, we should hurry inside—”

—

Before the excited warrior could finish speaking, a flash of sword light suddenly slashed toward him.

Instinctively, he raised his magic-stone lamp to block.

—

The fragile lamp split in half instantly beneath the blade.

The sword continued forward and stabbed into the warrior’s arm.

Fortunately, it didn’t sever the limb completely.

—

“Lucas! What are you doing?!”

“Have you gone mad?!”

—

Lucas’s eyes were unfocused.

He ignored everyone’s shouts entirely, muttering repeatedly to himself:

“Treasure…”

“Treasure…”

“It’s all mine…”

“Mine…”

—

Dawn’s expression darkened.

“He’s probably triggered a trap and been mentally controlled.”

“Subdue him.”

“Don’t touch any suspicious objects on him.”

“Move!”

—

But while the guards cautiously surrounded the frenzied Lucas, another warrior suddenly succumbed as well.

Without warning, he swung his sword at a nearby comrade.

Fortunately, Dawn had remained vigilant the entire time.

No tragedy occurred.

The maddened warrior was personally subdued by Dawn.

—

The two insane guards were tightly bound and gagged—shoes stuffed into their mouths to prevent them from harming themselves—before being dragged before Kun.

—

“My lord, do you think they’ve been affected by magic?”

—

Kun examined them carefully.

“It’s not Racial Charm.”

“And not Mental Interference either.”

“Green pupils…”

“These are symptoms of spirit possession.”

—

Kun slowly raised his head, staring into the dark corners untouched by lantern light.

Though invisible to the naked eye, he was certain countless pairs of green eyes were lurking there right now—

Watching the living with hatred.

—

“To possess trained warriors…”

“There must be quite a few of them.”

“How convenient.”

“Exactly what I needed.”

“Not a single one of you is escaping.”

“You’ll all stay behind and contribute to my territory.”

—

A cold smile curved across Kun’s lips.

—

Spirits were merely condensed negative mental energy left behind by creatures that died tragically.

One must never pity them.

They were nothing more than aggregates of resentment.

They did not truly represent the beings they once were.

—

And these wretched things always behaved the same way.

Even after becoming spirits, they never dared seek revenge against the ones who killed them.

Instead, they only preyed upon innocent passersby after the true culprits had long departed.

—

Kun reached into his spatial ring and retrieved a shriveled gray-white seed.

Casually tossing it onto the ground, he cast:

—

“Life Magic — Vine Growth!”

—

A green magic array instantly formed.

Countless emerald vines erupted from the dried seed, spreading wildly through the chamber like a gigantic woven net.

Then, from those vines, innumerable white flower buds bloomed.

—

Little Joel thought the tiny unopened flowers looked rather cute and instinctively leaned closer for a better look.

At that exact moment—

The flowers bloomed.

—

Crunch.

—

Little Joel jerked backward in terror, cold sweat pouring down his face.

The once-cute white blossoms had transformed into grotesque horrors filled with razor-sharp fangs.

His nose had nearly been bitten off.

—

These were flowers?!

—

The entire chamber was filled with white demonic flowers snapping wildly at empty air, jaws opening and closing in madness like a carnival of demons.

Such horrifying absurdity was something Little Joel had previously only seen in nightmares.

—

Kun smiled reassuringly at the terrified group.

“Relax.”

“These White Nightmare Flowers only look frightening.”

“They can only bite spirit bodies.”

“They pose no threat whatsoever to living creatures with flesh.”

“They’re really just flowers.”

“Even if one bites you, it won’t break the skin.”

—

“Mm. Done already.”

—

The grotesque white flowers withered instantly.

Then the emerald vines rapidly dried up one after another.

Plants created through life magic behaved this way—

Once mana supply ceased, they died immediately.

—

Meanwhile, the crystal bottle in Kun’s hand had gained over half a bottle of white sand.