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And then the first day ended. I had found nothing. I even looked through the sky, but it was no use.

 

With the power of Legs of the Forest Wolf, I could run in the air. I could explore where no one else could. No one could search this world inhabited by the birds…I think. Probably.

I ran up directly over the ruins. As there was a danger of me running into an invisible wall, I created several ice shields above me as protection. And like that, I went up as high as my body would allow me. It became cold very quickly, and I couldn’t breathe… Still, I found nothing. Though the view was quite nice. It was so surprsingingly beautiful, in fact, that I wanted to show it to Daniela next time.

This world was certainly round, I thought, as I descended, having depleted quite a lot of magical energy. And so the first day ended.

 

I was very tired as I searched for a place to sleep. I had given everything to Daniela, so the only thing to do was to make some vine ropes and sleep in a tree. It would be impossible, if there were any blood apes around, but they have never been known to live around here. They stayed in the northern forests of Replant.

Still, I set up some animal traps on the ground before climing the tree. Besides, if something got caught in it, I would have something to eat later… Well, I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high. And with that, I tied the vines around my body so I was secure, and closed my eyes.

 

The next morning, I woke up without having had any dinner the previous day. I sighed as I looked down to untie the rope around my stomach, when I noticed there was a racoon caught in the trap below me. Oh, so I suppose there would be breakfast after all. I untied the ropes and then launched an ice arrow into the brain of the squirming animal. I landed on the ground and saw that it had died with one hit. After joining my hands in front of it respectfully, I began to gut it. Then I gathered some branches together and used way too much magic to create a fire. I disliked fire magic a lot… I understood it for the most part, but I didn’t have the right attributes, which made it irritating to use. Otherwise, I would be causing explosions with a snap of my fingers… Well, maybe I would just have to settle with freezing things.

 

Freezing an entire area with a snap… That would be so cool…

 

The fire went out as such stupid thoughts distracted my mind. I felt very miserable as I wasted even more energy in making the fire again.

 

I walked around the ruins while stuffing racoon meat in my mouth. If it wasn’t in the sky, then it must be in the ground. After all, things always tend to be buried when it comes to ruins. They were always excavating things on TV. Buried gold or earthenware. All underground. If it was one thousand years ago, it could easily be buried, with trees growing over it.

 

Of course, that was my view as a modern man, and that wasn’t very useful here. After all, this ruin wasn’t even underground. It didn’t matter if it was a thousand years ago.

Unless they hid it underground from the beginning. They hid it there and built a building on top. Yes. They put a building here to draw all the attention, all the while hiding what is really important. But they still wanted someone to find it, so they left a hint. Otherwise, why leave any kind of marking on the surface?

In that case, what ever is hidden must be incredibly valuable. I told myself this as I spat out the bones from the meat and marked the place that I would dig.

 

I couldn’t turn the whole place upside down. I would concentrate on one point and cause an explosive wind with Legs of the Forest Wolf. Obviously, it would use a lot of magical energy, so I would not be able to do it many times.

 

First, the center of the ruins. That is where I would dig. I used Jack of all Trades, Master of None to visualize it. It allowed me to try different methods through simulation, and pick which method would be the most effective. The unique skill was really good for that reason…now if only my techniques could catch up with it.

 

After a few minutes, I concentrated the green and silver wind around my legs to the underside of my feet as I levitated in the air. It went from my legs to a single point below me. It was like piercing the ground with a needle and allowing the energy to explode from that point. The power of the Forest Wolf caused a great wind directed towards the ground. I was blown up into the air by the force of it, but it was all according to my predictions.

 

“Hmmm… It must be a success then…”

 

The dust slowly blows away in the wind. And the hole in the ground shows itseld. It worked. There was now a two meter deep hole there. However, there were no visible traces of anything being hidden. Once the dust had settled completely, I went down and inspected it.

 

“Hmm…mmm…? What’s this?”

 

I had tried using Presence Detection, and that’s when I noticed that there was magic flowing inside the ground.

I wondered if maybe I had made a mistake, and so I tried again after getting out of the hole, but everything was normal again. So then I went back in the hole and activated Presence Detection. Same strage feeling. It was like I was inside of a dragon vein.

 

“Is there some magic at work here…?”

 

Maybe this was the preservation magic? But I wasn’t strong enough to be able to analyze it. Though, there was definitely something here. I knew that. The ruins were quite broken down, and yet, it was somehow still a vehicle for this magic. It was when I thought this, that something  started to bother me.

 

“Could it be…that it was made like that from the beginning?”

 

How…aged it looked. Broken down…that atmosphere. And that ancient elven crest that had been flipped over almost purposefully. What if it acted as some kind of magic circle?

I was afraid to find out. What if I destroyed it and it exploded… No thanks. I didn’t want to meddle with it if it really was what was preserving the place. Someone who knew about these things should look at it. But then again, no such person existed in this world anymore.

 

“If there is preservation magic, and I can dig up the earth here. That means the ground is not protected…so it only affects manmade things?”

 

I should dig a little more. This is the place where the crest had been. Maybe I would find something. Treasure Hunter Asagi smirked as he gathered a second wind to his feet.

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