Chapter 862: Delving Deep Into The Ruins
Although the current expedition team had assembled the top manpower of the Tower of Dusk and the Glittergold Trade Union, which were both elite forces, the fact that they were elite was precisely the reason Lin Li was reluctant to let them take any losses. Having the expedition team belonging to the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family to lead the way in front was actually a good thing for Lin Li. Hence, he obviously wouldn’t rush to follow and catch up with them.
In fact, Hoffman felt the same. He had merely asked Lin Li for his opinion out of courtesy. Even if Lin Li really wanted to go in at this moment, he would be ready to persuade him. At this moment, a sly smile again graced Hoffman’s chubby face as he heard Lin Li’s answer. “Hehe, that’s what I think too.”
Lin Li glanced at the huge snowy cemetery, and turned his head to say to his subordinates, “You won’t be going in, but don’t idle about. Look at these corpses. Many of them belong to Legendary-level magical beasts. Go and smash them and retrieve their magical crystals. It would be a waste to leave them here.”
“Yes, President,” Alan and the rest responded before taking the rest to destroy the ice sculptures immediately.
No one knew how old those frozen magical beast corpses were, but Legendary-level magical crystals would not deteriorate over the years. Instead, they would continuously absorb the surrounding magical elements over time, and gradually grow stronger like mages when they were meditating.
“Hehe, President Felic, you really…” Hoffman shook his head amusedly. The young President in front of him was just like him when he was younger. He would never let go of any benefits.
“I’ve embarrassed myself. The Tower of Dusk has just been established, and its foundation is still very weak,” Lin Li said to Hoffman very modestly. In other words, he meant for the Glittergold Trade Union not to vie with him for that small amount of profit.
Upon hearing Lin Li’s answer, Hoffman was suddenly dejected, and he thought, Others may not know how wealthy the Tower of Dusk is, but I do! Not to mention the gains from exploring the Sky Castle and Osric’s mausoleum, the wealth you’ve accumulated in the past two years is definitely not inferior to that of any top force in the Breezy Plains. You probably have about the same as the Glittergold Trade Union. How dare you say that your foundation is still very weak?
The mages of the Tower of Dusk had already begun to get busy, and although the ice had been there for an unknown number of years, it still did not take much effort for the Archmages to break it. In no time, Legendary magical crystals that were giving off strong magical waves were dug out of the ice sculptures by them.
There were thousands of magical beast corpses in the snowy cemetery, some of which were still deeply buried in the ground. During this period of time, the Tower of Dusk managed to dig up a dozen Legendary magical crystals. Legendary magical crystals were exorbitant, and they were considered a massive fortune for every force. Even Hoffman, who was rich and powerful, could not help but feel a little envious at this moment.
The Tower of Dusk had just swept through the entire snowy cemetery when there was an abrupt change in the palace all of a sudden. Next, a group of figures fled out of the palace. They belonged to the expedition team of the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family, who were the first to enter the mausoleum. However, at this moment, they all looked rather disheveled, and many of them were injured.
As a competitor, Hoffman and Lin Li ought to gloat over the misfortune that had struck the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family, and caused them to end up in a pathetic state. However, there wasn’t a single smile on their faces now. The two of them looked at each other, and saw the shock in each other’s eyes. They turned around and ordered their subordinates to change the plan. However, their subordinates were going to stay behind and settle the campground.
Soon, the tent in the center of the camp was set up, and the senior executives of the Tower of Dusk immediately entered. Hoffman and Lin Li were not the only ones. The other senior executives also had solemn expressions on their austere faces, making the atmosphere in the tent seem particularly tense.
“I really didn’t expect this. They’ve only entered for a short amount of time, yet they came out in such a pathetic state.” The sly smile on Hoffman’s chubby face turned into a frown at this moment as he was filled with indescribable anxiety.
Lin Li’s expression was just as tense. He shook his head, and said, “Yeah, their expedition team may be somewhat weaker than ours, but suffering so much damage in such a short period of time is indeed surprising.”
They knew each other’s abilities well ever since they met. Hence, after seeing how terrible of a plight the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family were in, Lin Li and Hoffman immediately made an accurate judgment. They deduced that at least a dozen powerhouses above level-15 were injured within the short period of time.
Everyone knew that the mausoleum was definitely not simple, but no one thought it would be that complicated. The Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family had more than 300 powerhouses who were above level-15 as well as 10-odd Legendary powerhouses. They were definitely not weak. However, they had only entered the mausoleum for about two to three hours, and had probably yet to delve deep when they already suffered that much damage. What would happen if they went deeper?
Although it would be inevitable for there to be losses when exploring the ruins, Hoffman and Lin Li were unwilling to see themselves suffer so many losses. For every force, talents were the most important. If they were to lose plenty of strength because of exploring the ruin, so what even if they got more wealth?
In response to the losses suffered by the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family, Lin Li, Hoffman, and the rest had no choice but to rediscuss the issue of exploring the ruins. They did not want to lose too many elites during the exploration, but they refused to give up on the mausoleum. After all, the mausoleum belonged to Prince Brahere, and once they succeeded, their gains would be astonishing.
“President, the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family have moved their camp outside the tomb. Several of the other patriarchs have also entered the tightly guarded central camp,” warned a subordinate responsible for monitoring the other party’s movements reporting to Hoffman and the rest.
Hoffman nodded, waved his hand to let his subordinates leave, and then said to Lin Li and the others, “Seems like they still haven’t given up on exploring the mausoleum.”
Although they discovered that the expedition team belonged to the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family after entering the huge canyon of Gargas in the beginning, and Hoffman was extremely upset, he did not want his opponent to withdraw. In the face of the unknown dangers in Prince Brahere’s mausoleum, who other than the Mithril Alliance and the Caesar Family could be more suitable for being the pathfinders!?
“I’m afraid they are frightened, and are waiting for us to be their pathfinders, so we still have to plan to rely on ourselves.” Lin Li did not plan to spend too much time there, because he had more important things to do. It would be impossible for him to spend all day with them. If they were really frightened, Lin Li would only have two options, and that was to either enter the mausoleum or withdraw directly and retreat to the Tower of Dusk. The ruins were not more important than the impending disaster.
“Yeah, it is best to have them to explore and pave the way for us. Without them, we’ll have to find a way to explore the mausoleum. Everyone, look at what we have now and raise any suggestions that you might have.” Hoffman gestured, and someone next to him put the materials that they brought along and the unearthed items on the table again after a while.
To be honest, the information that those things could offer was already deeply etched in their minds, and if they wanted to find any new clues, it would be akin to creating something out of nothing. Everyone smiled bitterly and looked at the objects on the table one by one with a frown, but no one spoke up for a long time.
“Just looking at these things is no longer of much use. I think we should think about it from another perspective,” said Davos who was beside Basel.
Suddenly, everyone in the tent focused their eyes on Davos, and there was some anticipation in their eyes. After all, he was an authoritative archaeologist who was well known in the Felan Kingdom, and had published countless academic works. He often had surprising and unique insights into archeology.
Facing the scorching eyes of many legendary powerhouses, Davos grabbed his fluffy beard and indifferently said, “Don’t look at me like this. I’m not working under Brahere. I don’t know more about this mausoleum than you do.”
“You must be joking, Master Davos. Please don’t hesitate to bring up any new ideas that you may have.” Although Hoffman was the President of the Glittergold Trade Union and a famous Legendary powerhouse, he was still very polite to Davos.
Magic was power, potions were power, mageweaths were power, and profound knowledge of the Abyss was also a type of power. Although Davos did not have Legendary-level strength, he had more profound knowledge than the Legendary powerhouses who had lived for hundreds of years. No one present had the slightest contempt for him.
“This is a bit difficult for me. I’ll just give you a direction that you can think in. I hope that you guys will think of something.” Although Davos was being somewhat informal, he was not unruly. He pointed at the tattered blueprint on the table, and said, “This sketch may be incomplete, but it at least tells us that the design and construction of this mausoleum were indeed done by the top craftsmen of the dwarves as mentioned in the legends. Since it was built by dwarves, some of their habits definitely influenced the construction of the tomb. I believe you can think in that direction.”
After hearing Davos’s words, everyone fell into deep thought, and realized that it was indeed something they could consider. Since it was impossible to find out the exact situation in the mausoleum, it should be possible to infer some clues about the interior based on the inherent habits of the dwarves.
“According to historical records, we can approximately estimate the time of Prince Brahere’s death. During this period, there were plenty of famous craftsmen in the Dwarf Kingdom, such as Diyak, Salve, and Moratara…” Hoffman summarized the information and listed the names of the craftsmen.
“It was said that the Guru-level Blacksmith Diyak had gone deep into the Haiga Mountain Range for several years in order to find herbs to treat his daughter’s terminal illness. If the legend is true, then he probably had no chance to take part in the construction of this mausoleum.”
“Moratara was the chief of the Bronze Furnace Tribe of the Dwarf Kingdom. It is said that he benefited a lot during the reign of Prince Brahere. He had also received a lot of help from Prince Brahere during the famine. Hence, he should have taken part in the construction of Prince Brahere’s mausoleum. Besides, given his skills, I am afraid he was one of the leading constructors.”
“Rumor has it that the original owner of this sketch is the descendant of Master Salve, so…”
Everyone exchanged opinions and mutually verified some legends about the famous craftsmen of the Dwarf Kingdom, while Hoffman circled some names with his pen. In the end, although he was not entirely certain, he was 80% sure that the famous dwarven craftsmen had participated in the construction of the mausoleum.
There were more issues to be discussed next. After all, it was a distant history, and even the serious historical materials might not be true, let alone the many wild legends. Besides, what they had to do was to find out the habits and characteristics of those Master-level craftsmen based on information or legends.
However, be it intentionally or unintentionally, everyone neglected one thing. The dwarven craftsmen were responsible for the overall construction of the mausoleum, but they were not the ones who set up the internal magic traps, magic gears, and so on. For an expedition team, the real threats were the traps that could not be defended against and the tomb guards, not the structure of the mausoleum.
The problem was that apart from discussing that and trying to find a breakthrough in that respect, they had no other solution to gain an understanding of the mausoleum. Indeed, they had Davos, an authoritative archaeologist, but he was not a god. Although he was good at seeing the truth of things from subtle clues, it would be useless if he didn’t have any useful clues.
After the intense discussion, it was dead silent again. Everyone knew that the real gains from that discussion were actually quite limited. As they discussed, the legends that could not be verified did not gradually become clearer. Instead, they were overwhelmed with more doubts.
“No, this discussion will not help at all. With limited understanding, it’s impossible for me to take risks with my subordinates.” Lin Li rubbed his forehead, feeling rather helpless.