?Chapter 992: 308. Pursuing Shadows_3


    “`


    Normally, when a wizard had gotten this far, progress would have be slow.


    But!


    That was for an ordinary wizard.


    Nnd Lee had used “Death Flight”, following Nolin’s guidance to locate these metal scraps.


    He was eager to test his own reasoning ability and didn’t immediately resort to Deconstruction. <div>


    ...


    “The Magic Circle’s maximum width is 15 meters. Hmm, this is a medium-sized Magic Circle. Typically, a circle like this can’t be operated by a single wizard, at least two assistants would be needed.”


    Nnd crouched down, used [Mage’s Hand] to brush aside the metal scraps, and observed the ground beneath the Magic Circle:


    “When the magic metal chain conducted shadow energy, there was an extremely minor dissipation of shadow energy. This dissipated energy corroded the surface of the ground. The corrosion isn’t extensive; it is only about two to three millimeters deep.”


    “The people who set up the Magic Circle didn’ty a magic carpet to prevent energy corrosion, which suggests they never nned to stay here long. It was merely a temporary stop, and they showed aplete disregard for the negative impact of energy dissipation on the ground.”


    Nnd looked around and scanned the white bones nearby.


    He saw the Mole Man’s skulls, leg bones, sternums, and phnges, but not a single spine.


    As bipedal humanoid creatures, Mole Men also had spines.


    At the very least, therey the remains of two hundred Mole Men, yet no spines were to be found.


    Nnd quietly took note of this detail.


    He walked around the metal scraps, pausing now and then, and found some more clues.


    When he could no longer spot new details, he finally cast Deconstruction on the metal scraps.


    The moment he obtained the Deconstruction results, the corners of Nnd’s mouth twitched slightly.


    What can I say.


    The System is the System after all.


    Sometimes, it really does uncover more than what Nnd could find on his own.


    [System Message:]


    [You have consumed 23,000 Points of Energy and initiated Harmless Deconstruction on “Damaged Shadow Magic Circle”.]


    [Harmless Deconstruction Sessful!]


    [You have obtained the following Deconstruction Results:]


    [Name] Damaged Shadow Magic Circle


    [Item Level] Level 0


    [Description]


    The arrangers of the Magic Circle are suspected to be three wizards of the Shadows Faction, ranging from Level 55 to Level 60.


    The arrangers used approximately 3.2 tons of Level 55 magic metal chain in the construction of the Magic Circle.


    (Other Deconstruction information omitted)


    …


    The conclusions that Nnd had observed also appeared in the Deconstruction results.


    Moreover, the system even identified the strength of the wizards who had arranged the Array.


    This was as peculiar as being able to know the writer’s information simply by Deconstructing their handwriting.


    Nnd was no longer surprised by this.


    He pulled out the Death Threaded Wand from his Magic Pouch, and cast the Envement of Deceased on the skeletons on the ground.


    Now, the “Envement of Deceased” spell had reached Level 100.


    For every ten-level increment in rewards, Nnd always chose “Option One: Increase the number of Undead that can be enved”.


    A total of 200 Skeleton Undead,posed of Moleman bones, stood up from the ground to be Nnd’s subordinates.


    This was the first time Nolin had witnessed Nnd’s death magic aplishment, and she couldn’t help but marvel:


    “`


    “Wow~ Sir, you can control so many undead~ That’s amazing! Can I learn this spell?”


    Nnd Lee grinned and responded with “Mind Induction”:


    “Death spell, you can forget about learning it. For some reason, at best, you can only learn mental magic.”


    “Oh oh, it’s okay, I can help you by controlling Mechanos with mental magic,” Nolin wasn’t disheartened at all.


    She controlled twenty Mechanos to gather around Nnd Lee and asked,


    “So what do we do now? Continue searching for the whereabouts of the Shadow Creature?”


    “No,” Nnd Lee shook his head and took out the topographic map of the mining site he had drawn from his magic pouch.


    He drew several arcs on the map with a pen:


    “Nolin, control the Mechanos and follow the route I’ve marked to search for the Moleman caverns. Try to map out the distribution of the Molemen around the mining site. In the meantime, whether it’s a trace of a Shadow Creature or a Moleman, you must tell me right away.”


    “Yes, Sir,” Nolin took the order.


    Nnd Lee took a magic pouch from his waist and shook out arge number of Mechanos.


    The total number, reaching one hundred, became the objects of Nolin’s control.


    Apanied by the light sound of footsteps, the Mechanos rapidly left the cavern and set off in various directions.


    Nnd Lee’s thought process was simple.


    Firstly, he had basically determined that the underground demons appearing in the depths of the mining site were in fact Shadow Creatures.


    Secondly, it was possible that the attack on the mining site by Shadow Creatures was an ident.


    The wizard who set up the Shadow Magic Array probably intended to annihte the Molemen, turning them into shadow energy.


    Some stray shadow pupa cocoons identally got into the mining site, leading to the appearance of the so-called “underground demons.”


    If these two assumptions were correct, then Nolin would find more abandoned Moleman caverns and Moleman skeletons near the mining site.


    The skeletons, which other wizard factions might not value, would be ready-made casting materials for Nnd Lee~


    Nnd Lee chuckled and opened a magic book in his mind that he had hardly flipped through.


    The name of this magic book was the “Bone Dictionary.”


    It was obtained from the magic pouch of the Ancient Tomb Wizard Nikcat after Nnd Lee had defeated him.


    The origin of the Ancient Tomb Wizard was from the wizard forces known as the “Tomb King.”


    It was arge faction that was extremely obsessed with Bone Magic, constantly busy searching for unusual bones.


    In the eyes of the Ancient Tomb Wizard, bones were “bone material,” a type of material that grew on living creatures.


    All the bone material obtained by the Ancient Tomb Wizards would be sent to the vaults of the Tomb King.


    Nnd Lee, using the Harmless Deconstruction technique, obtained the Spell Blueprints from the “Bone Dictionary.”


    Among them was a very useful ritualistic Bone Magic:


    “Bone Seeker Ritual.”


    In the Tomb King, with so many stored bones, it was inevitable to have a situation where the correct bone couldn’t be found.


    At that time, the “Bone Seeker Ritual” came in handy.


    As long as the Magic Altar for the ritual was set up correctly and enough bone material was invested as casting materials, the ritual would detect the exact location of a specific bone.


    The good news was that the “Bone Seeker Ritual” blueprint Nnd Lee had was only 10%plete but still usable.


    The bad news was…


    The bone material needed for the ritual was ten times the normal amount.


    Nnd Lee might need to prepare thousands of Moleman skeletons to detect the location of the Moleman’s Spine.


    If the ritual’s detection was perceived by the owner of the spine during the magic ceremony, there might also be a phenomenon of magic bacsh.


    Nnd Lee nned to try the “Bone Seeker Ritual” first.


    If it failed, he would switch to another method.