Chapter 431: Chapter 299: Surviving Civilization (4K)

“It seems like there is no scent of any powerful monsters?”

Duo Lai specialized in offensive and destructive skills, but it also possessed its own unique insights into wilderness hunting and scouting.

The key was its sense of smell.

Perhaps due to devouring a variety of monsters (strike that) delicacies or perhaps from hunting alongside Xi Liu for so long, sometimes a whiff was all Duo Lai needed to determine whether there were any tasty… that is, powerful monsters in the vicinity.

Of course, this ability was hit or miss since not every monster could serve as a high-order ingredient.

Without letting down its guard, Duo Lai’s little face scrunched up in concern until it caught sight of a building shrouded in a faint twilight in the distance, at which point it breathed a sigh of relief.

“An unclaimed wilderness building, hooray!”

‘Hint: You’ve discovered the Profession Advancement location “Mage Tower”.’

This was a towering stone spire at least ten to twenty meters high, but it was unremarkable hidden among the surrounding high mountains and strong, tall trees.

The tower’s body was engraved with mysterious patterns, emanating an esoteric charm.

As soon as Duo Lai made contact with the stone tower, an alert sounded.

It was a place similar to the warrior Profession Advancement site back home but of a higher order.

‘Humans who meet the criteria can advance their Profession to the Rare One-Star Soldier “Mage” at the Mage Tower. A few geniuses may also have the opportunity to become an even higher-order Magic Troop Type. When operating this Miracle Building, a certain amount of materials must be invested.’

‘Note: Non-humanoid life forms without human bloodline still have a chance to advance their Profession to “Mage,” albeit with a lower probability.’

Duo Lai entered and looked around, transmitting the images back to the Territory by some means.

“A Land of Inheritance for the Mage Profession, huh.”

Mu Yuan could only say it was decent. As a Rare Level profession, Mages were indeed good, but there were probably very few Territory Citizens qualified for the profession change.

There might not be even a few among a hundred people who met the requirements.

“After all, Mages are a distinguished lot. There aren’t many real Mages in Tianyuan Territory either. Being able to change a batch of them wouldn’t be too bad… At least, those in the Mage profession have an advantage in making Scrolls of Magic and could serve as level eight technicians.”

Within the ‘Mage Tower’, aside from the grand statue placed prominently in the main position, there were also a number of silver-white podiums surrounding it. Each podium held a hexagonal crystal, clear and sparkling.

“This seems to be part of the inheritance too?”

Duo Lai murmured.

Soon, it inserted some coins and performed the verification.

Following confirmation, Mu Yuan understood the function of these hexagonal crystals—they contained a significant amount of Mage knowledge.

As is well-known, a real Mage possesses vast knowledge and intricate Techniques; a Mage who only knows how to cast Fireball cannot truly be considered a Mage and has little difference with the barbaric Alien Shamans.

This wilderness building was capable of nurturing true Mages.

“In that case, the value of this Mage Tower isn’t low.”

“Creatures like Duo Lai, wild powerhouses of the magic kind, could further their studies here… well, maybe not Duo Lai, as it always believed that brute force could create miracles, never caring for the principles or rationale behind powers as long as they work. However, the knowledge held here could also complement Tianyuan Territory’s data archives.”

In a nutshell, it wasn’t half bad.

Hearing their Lord speak so, the corners of Duo Lai’s mouth lifted slightly, finally showing a hint of conceit.

After marking this location, Duo Lai activated the final use of its Guide Compass. With a ding, the compass lit up, its pale golden needle pointing far into the distance.

…

Maybe because all the nearby wilderness buildings had already been discovered, the compass pointed to a relatively distant location this time.

After flying cautiously for two hours, Duo Lai still hadn’t reached its destination.

During the flight, the effectiveness of the Concealing Potion had worn off. Duo Lai hesitated for a moment before deciding not to drink a second dose. They only had a total of twenty potions, bought from the Mysterious Merchant, and couldn’t produce them themselves. Each use meant one less potion, so naturally, they must be used sparingly.

Slowing down, Duo Lai advanced even more carefully and cautiously.

Another half an hour passed, and the golden needle finally started to flicker.

Duo Lai’s eyes widened as its gaze swept inch by inch around the area.

Good news, it didn’t seem to smell any powerful monsters.

Bad news, it hadn’t found the wilderness building either.

“Strange, it should be nearby, right?”

It stared at the constantly flickering golden needle and shook the Guide Compass gently. The needle’s direction remained unchanged, so it was likely not broken.

It thought.

Holding the compass, it started to move around the area.

After several back-and-forths, Duo Lai realized that the needle was firmly pointing at a specific region. It narrowed down the range. It was too smart.

True to its name, Benduo!

However, there seemed to be nothing in this area.

Even when Duo Lai decreased the range to a thousand meters, three hundred meters, even one hundred meters, the area remained empty.

Surely the wilderness building couldn’t be underground? But the needle wasn’t pointing to the ground either.

Duo Lai was confused. With its limited brain capacity, it simply couldn’t understand, nor did it bother to. But as it paced back and forth in the vicinity, contemplating whether to consult the omniscient Lord, it suddenly noticed something odd about this area.

There was a disharmony.

A disharmony in space.

It didn’t know how to describe it, nor did it understand space; it had no aptitude in spatial magic at all, but it just felt something was off, strange. It was as if the area was veiled by a piece of black cloth.

Coming to this realization, its instinct was to reach out and swipe at it, and as it did so, it involuntarily used the power of Spatial Devouring.