"Is this a private mine?" Kaya, who had been silent all this time, suddenly asked.
Minerals must belong to the state, this was the idea on Earth. In the Labyrinth, the ownership of mineral veins was the same as that of Earth's gangsters fighting for territory. Whoever had the biggest fist would have it. However, in most cases, the state-level organizations had the biggest fist, so they naturally had the ownership of minerals.
But when it came to newly discovered mineral veins, some of the more scheming and ambitious discoverers would find ways to pocket them and reap the greatest benefits from them. They would find ways to hide it for as long as they could, until the day they could no longer hide it. In order to achieve this goal, they would not hesitate even if they had to kill people …
It seems that I've encountered such a group of people. Lin nodded and agreed with Kaya's statement, because this was the answer he thought was closest to the truth. However, he still said conservatively: "Although I vaguely guessed that this is a private mine, but I don't know what kind of mine it is. But for them to not hesitate to kill people, it should be a very valuable mineral. Otherwise, they would risk offending Wizards. As long as they don't have the corresponding martial strength, then the surviving Wizards could easily wipe out their village. "
As the master and apprentice trio chatted, they continued to go deeper into the tunnel. If they only relied on torches or the fluorescence of Halloumi's Illuminate, then they would have to be careful and grope their way forward. But Lin's improved version of Illuminate illuminated the entire tunnel as if they were walking in a tunnel full of electric lights in the 21st century.
It was abnormally bright, with almost no blind spots, and could directly illuminate the bottom of the tunnel. Of course, it was unrealistic to expect the light to turn a corner and shine into the tunnel behind the corner. At best, Lin illuminated the area as far as the eye could see.
For this reason, there were many geckos, lizards, and other small creatures in the cave, constantly avoiding the sudden light. Their fleeing figures were clearly visible under the sufficient illumination.
Although this would also alert the enemy, if there were any lying in ambush. But the greater benefit was that it eliminated the sense of oppression and mystery of the dark cave, so that people would no longer be afraid of the things in the dark corners. And some forks and passages also became visible under the illumination.
In the past, when exploring caves or tunnels, the most common problem was whether the cave wall was a passage leading to a fork in the road, or just an indented mountain wall. Relying on the dim torches or the weak light from the Illuminating Spell, it was impossible to tell them apart without looking closely. If they ignored the fork in the road, they might be ambushed from behind, so they had to be careful.
Now, the entire passageway was illuminated. Occasionally, the blind spots created by the rocks couldn't hide any threatening creatures.
However, the deeper they went, there was a strange energy fluctuation that was faintly spreading in the air. At the same time, the mineral deposits in this tunnel gradually revealed themselves.
The rock walls were inlaid with sparkling and translucent crystals of various colors. It had not been polished, but it was full of magical power and authority. In the Maze Lands, magic stones, as an associated mineral, were sparsely dotted around the main mineral veins. It was a very common thing. However, if he could find a mine that produced magic stones, he would make a fortune. It was like digging for oil on Earth.
The place in front of him … looked like a magic stone mineral vein, with all kinds of crystals exposed to the outside. From red, to orange, to yellow, it gradually changed, and occasionally it was dotted with crystals that were close to green.
Because he had not seen other magic stone mineral veins, he could not compare the value of this mineral vein in front of him. Honestly, he had no idea how to process raw stones into magic stones of a standard size.
But no matter what, it was still money. It was said that in some places in the Maze Lands, magic stones were used as the currency for large transactions. And no matter how the value of magic stones fluctuated based on their appearance, it would not be too low.
Most importantly, this mineral vein explained why the group of people were willing to take the risk of offending the spellcasters and kill them. Even if it was just a stranger passing by, it seemed that they did not intend to let him leave.
Thinking of this, Lin could not help but sigh. At first, he did not have the intention to explore the village's secrets, so of course, he did not know about this mineral vein. If they did not have the intention to kill and just let him go, what happened next would not have happened.
Now that he was trapped in the tunnel, even if he did not see what happened outside with his own eyes. But just thinking about it, Lin felt that he should be able to guess most of it. It was impossible that the group of villagers did not search the carriage, and it was also impossible that they did not disturb the Lich in the carriage. And if they could escape with their lives after offending the former Demon King, that would be a miracle.
But he did not want to care about those trivial matters outside. Lin clenched his magic staff, turned to the two girls who were blinded by the magic stone mineral vein and said, "Cover your ears. You may not be able to hear that voice, but it might be uncomfortable. So it's better to cover your ears, although it might not be useful. "
After being scolded, the two girls obediently covered their ears with their hands and looked at their teacher in confusion. Lin, on the other hand, struck the ground with his magic staff and muttered an incantation. This was the detection spell that he used in the Vampire's Castle. It used the feedback of supersonic waves to detect the buildings and the terrain of the maze.
In the midst of the incantation, waves of sound waves spread out and reflected back. In this continuous process, a topographic map of the tunnel gradually took shape in front of Lin.
Because he had to continue casting the spell, Lin put his forehead on the magic staff, closed his eyes, and focused on chanting the incantation. But in the eyes of the two girls, this magic stone mineral vein seemed to be resonating with something, and it started to vibrate slightly. The gravel on the ground lightly bounced, and even the color of the magic stone mineral vein seemed to be flowing, faintly changing.
When the incantation ended, Lin opened his eyes and looked at the topographic map of the tunnel in the air in front of him. He looked at it carefully and said to himself, "How strange, there are some differences in the drawn map."
Because there were many points of reference in the maze, it was easy to mark his location on the map. Lin looked at his position on the map and the actual cave he was in, and studied the abnormality that appeared in the difference. He suddenly realized that the part of the map with the difference in color could be compared to the exposed magic stone mineral vein.
"Could it be that this spell can also be used to explore mines?" Lin was only surprised for a moment, and then he felt relieved. Different materials had different reactions to the reflected sound waves, and because of the difference in the feedback time, the program that originally only measured the distance and then drew the point had an unexpected function.
But the detection of sound waves should only be used on the surface, how could it enter the solid interior? He did not use a pile driver to transmit shock waves inside, and even with Earth's advanced technology, it was not easy to detect the interior of a solid. Could it be that there was an unexpected reaction because of the use of magic? "Looks like I can focus on exploring this function in the future."
It was not the first time the two girls had seen such a building and maze map, so of course, they could clearly see the structure of the tunnel at a glance. The tunnel was not deep, but there were a lot of forks, and it looked like it had been mined for some time. In addition to the mine they were in, there were a few other mines that also had similar reactions to the magic stone mineral vein. One of them was not only bigger, but also had a stronger reaction to the magic stone than here.
"Teacher, do you want to take a look here?" It was Kaya who spoke. She pointed at the largest mine and asked.
Lin nodded, and let the two girls lead the way into the deepest part of the large mine. Along the way, they could see many damaged tools abandoned in more hidden corners. The air was filled with a high concentration of authority, as if it was about to take physical form and liquefy. If they meditated in such an environment, they should be able to achieve twice the effect with half the effort.
And this made Lin Xiang think of another problem. From what he had encountered, it should not be the first time that the villagers had done this. But among the people they killed, there should not be any mages, or the mages would have been buried by the earth and rocks at the entrance of the tunnel because they had made the wrong choice.
Because in an environment like this, compared to the accumulation of authority through meditation, for official mages, the recovery speed of authority after using magic was more efficient. If they still felt that it was not fast enough, then they could just grab a magic stone. Even if it had not been cut, the authority contained in it was genuine.
In other words, in this place, Mages could be considered to have unlimited magical power. A passage blocked by earth and rocks was really not a big problem. Or they could take a gamble and use the Third Circle Apprentice spell, Anywhere Door, to open in a place outside their field of vision. It was also possible to leave.
But considering that the Anywhere Door would cause too much of a commotion, a spatial portal had to be opened first before mages could pass through. If they did so, they would be easily targeted by the people guarding outside.
In short, it was really unrealistic to want to trap a mage in such an environment.
Walking into the largest mine, it was full of the aura of authority. And the magic stone veins exposed outside the rock walls even began to glow, showing a riot of colors. It looked beautiful, but in fact, it was not a good thing. This meant that the authority of this place could no longer be stored and was beginning to overflow. However, this also meant that there might be high-quality magic stones in this place.
Lin groped the rock walls and veins of this place, thinking to see if there was a way to get that "high-quality" magic stone. But the two girls quickly jumped out of the dazzling scenery in front of them. Because there was a strange feeling that flashed through their minds.
Carefully looking around, the attentive Kaya was the first to notice the slight trembling of the gravel on the ground. Hallumi pressed her hand to the ground, trying to find the source of the tremor.
But the source did not seem to need to be investigated. Because the tremor was getting louder and louder, and they could feel that "it" was moving toward this place.
"Teacher!" Hallumi shouted, reminding a certain someone.
And that certain someone was not completely unaware of what was happening. At least after seeing the two girls' strange behavior, he paid more attention to the surroundings and also noticed this inexplicable tremor. He slammed his staff into the ground, sending out an even stronger tremor that went straight into the ground. He hoped to use this method to detect the situation inside the solid.
But this action seemed to have angered the existence hiding in the ground even more.
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