Desert Temple - 2

"There's certainly a chance of that. But if that's true, why are the walls gone? And why is there this dragging mark? How could something like that wall even be moved?"

"How should I know?!"

Gram voices his doubt, and Lilka fires back just as defiantly. Despite their bickering, set them aside for now and examine the wall with the marks on it.

Following the dent in the floor, the path leads to what appears to be an ordinary wall.

At first glance, the wall looks completely unremarkable, and upon touching it, it feels like a normal wall with no unusual sensations.

If Lilka is correct and there was a heavy wall that collapsed, there should be scattered debris or walls joined together in an unnatural way.

Therefore, it might not have been damaged after all.

If there's a moving wall, it must be inside the wall, beyond where the depression in the floor continues.

But how would one move the wall?

There's another thing I'm suspicious about.

Those embedded magic stones in the wall are suspicious. What exactly are those stones supposed to be?

The geometric patterns extend from the magic stones embedded in the wall. The patterns appear as if they've seeped in like ink. Scattered throughout are faint, cloudy blue minerals. Let's try chiseling a bit and take a closer look.

The two seem to have settled their disagreement and are now calmly arguing about something else. It's hard to tell whether they're on good terms or not— their relationship remains unclear.

Continue the investigation. The gem embedded in the wall is completely deteriorated, crumbling away with every touch.

Thanks to being preserved within the ruin for many years, its condition is still good.

If we select and restore it, we might be able to replicate whatever effect it once had.

Found it!

Though it feels a bit wasteful, press a low-grade fire gem against the degraded one to exchange the spiritual essence.

The degraded gem gradually changed color. Eventually, the gem embedded in the wall transformed into a vivid, vibrant crystal. In exchange, the low-grade fire gem crumbled and shattered into pieces.

"Good! It worked! Let's try moving this now."

"What was that just now!? It looked like the gem restored itself!"

Graam rushed over.

Oh no, this was still a technology unknown to the general public. It might be shocking to see it for the first time.

"Uh... I see. Let's focus on the ruins for now. I'll explain later."

It's not that I'm hiding anything—it's just that there are several important points to consider while researching it. I want to make sure to explain all of them thoroughly.

"Alright, fine. But you absolutely have to tell me, or I'll hold a grudge."

Now that's a pretty scary thing to say.

This technique requires a bit of finesse, so it's not surprising if Gram fails. That's why I dislike being expected to perform it perfectly. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I'll leave that for now.

Regaining my composure, I place my hand on the mana stone that has returned to its original state. At first glance, it's impossible to tell what kind of stone it is. Mana stones are identified by their appearance, color, and how they change when touched by other substances.

It's generally easy to tell the type of mana stone—light mana stones are white or transparent, fire mana stones are red, and so on—but this one here is hard to identify.

It resembles the color of a body that has been turned into mana in some way—pale blue... yet when looking at a shard, it's transparent. An odd, mysterious hue.

In situations like this, the only way forward is to rely on intuition and let mental images flow.

I let go of mental images associated with fire mana stones, then with wind mana stones, letting them pass through my mind one after another.

When I let go of the mental image associated with the healing mana stone, the embedded stone in the wall began to glow.

I felt a sensation of power being drained away rapidly—overwhelmingly so.

At the same time, the suspicious wall started vibrating, and a thick stone wall emerged from within it.

"S-super impressive. I can't believe something like this actually exists..."

Rilka stared in astonishment, her eyes wide.

The stone wall had jutted out about a meter and then stopped. The magic stone embedded in it had lost its glow and deteriorated.

I thought it had been successfully restored, but it seems only the surface was affected.

Still, this explained why the mysterious space had been hidden. There might be others like it...

"Gram, I think this is probably the wall marked on the map. What do you think?"

"Yeah, I think the same. I had no idea something like this existed. What should we do? Shall we investigate further?"

I was pondering Gram's suggestion when I felt my sleeve being tugged by Liruka.

"What is it, Liruka?"

Following the direction she pointed, I saw a creature resembling a salamander. But it was as large as a human, with magical stones growing on its body.

The magical stones protruding from its body were clear and retained a steady glow. It was likely a sub-beast. When it moved the wall, a loud noise and strong vibrations had spread through the surroundings—probably what had triggered its response.

If it were just one sub-beast, it could easily be defeated. But fighting in such a narrow space was risky. It was unlikely that the enemy, having sensed the danger, would believe it was just this one creature.

"Everyone, suspend the investigation for now. Fighting in such a tight space is far too dangerous. Let's retreat first!"

"Got it!" "Leave the rear guard to me!"

Leaving the rear to Gram, we sprint back the way we came. Mimicking our movement, the salamander leaps after us. Gram gracefully dodges aside. Overpowered by momentum, the salamander crashes into the wall and halts its advance. Yet it isn't defeated. It tries to leap at us again.

To stop it, I loaded a special bolt into my crossbow and delivered the final blow to the salamander-like creature.

Though I had to fight several more of the creatures that gathered after hearing the noise, I easily repelled them and escaped the ruin.

Although I couldn't find the legendary hero's traces said to be located deep within, it was still a good discovery.

Research into magic stones and magic should now progress smoothly.

This is something I'd like to investigate thoroughly over the course of several days.

Just as I was about to depart, satisfied, via the Dark Road Trine.

"Please wait! I have something I'd like to ask."

There stood Gram, his longsword drawn, before the Dark Road Trine.