Chapter 1212: 383. There’s been a change_2

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“Death Energy is restless…”

“It seems like something is disturbing this river…”

“Look, look, the direction of the river water has changed!”

A mud person raised his hand and pointed to a small patch of the river surface.

In the direction he indicated, the river water that should have flowed from west to east had strangely remained stagnant, forming an island.

...

The Earth Vein Wizards began tilting their detection spells towards the river water, trying to understand the cause of the disturbance.

At that moment, numerous whirlpools appeared on the surface of the river, producing slurping noises as if countless monsters were hidden beneath.

The Earth Vein Wizards realized things were developing in an uncontrollable direction.

They wrote letters on the spot, handed them to a Magic Messenger, and sent them to the Earth Vein Pillar’s base within the city to report the condition of the Underground River.

Before receiving a reply, the Earth Vein Wizards felt they should do something.

They summoned a band of Rock Spirits and hastily assembled an Earth Rock team of over a hundred members.

Many wizards adept in Earth Rock Magic, together with the Rock Spirits, acted, casting Earth Rock Magic towards the river surface and rapidly constructing downward-thrusting earth spikes.

“Crash, crash, crash—”

The earth spikes fell like raindrops, hitting the whirlpools on the river surface, followed by an explosion that released venom and shards of stone sharp as blades.

The Earth Vein Wizards sought to use Earth Rock Magic to kill the monsters beneath the river surface.

Strangely, whether it was attacking the river with earth spikes or bombarding the river water with massive magical rocks, the whirlpools on the river surface showed no change.

The Earth Vein Wizards gritted their teeth and simply used Earth Rock Magic to elevate the riverbed, seeking to strike the source of the whirlpools.

“Boom, boom, boom—”

The black riverbed, covered with debris, slowly rose above the water, causing the river water to backwash towards the shore.

As the dark green river water reached the knees of the Earth Vein Wizards, everyone was astonished to discover that the whirlpools had drifted to the bank along with the river water.

A Rock Spirit, at the request of its master, reached out to touch the whirlpool, and nothing happened.

The Earth Vein Wizards were left confused.

It’s no wonder they couldn’t make sense of the situation.

The strongest among them was only at the Five Rings level, and had there been a Sixth Ring or Seven-Ring Wizard here, perhaps they could have solved the mystery earlier.

Fortunately, the base on Ground Level promptly sent them a reply.

The leader of the Patrol Team opened the letter and read quickly.

His terra-cotta-colored face was filled with worry.

“Mates, these whirlpools have been locked by some kind of large-scale ceremony of the Undead Cult. We won’t be able to get rid of the whirlpools or restore the river to its original state until the ritual array is destroyed,” he said.

The bad news made everyone’s heart sink.

Before they could retreat as instructed by the letter, a black hand emerged from the whirlpool, followed by a forearm and then an upper arm of the same color.

This odd creature seemed immune to the wizards’ passive sensing abilities of surrounding objects.

All the Earth Vein Wizards present failed to notice the arrival of swarms of black creatures in the dimly lit underground space.

…

…

“Here you go, Selena, another hundred Non-metal Mineral Distribution Maps.”

Noland came into Selena’s study, unceremoniously took a seat on a chair, and used [Mage’s Hand] to lift a teacup to quench his thirst.

Using a Sea Monster Form together with a Breathing Method for passive deconstruction of the Sea Area certainly was both fast and stable, but Noland inevitably ended up swallowing countless mouthfuls of dreadfully salty sea water.

Whenever he returned, he was so desperate that he almost wanted to embrace the kettle and chug it down.

Selena watched Noland wolf down his drink and couldn’t help but chuckle, so she cast Water Creation Magic to form a large blob of water for him to drink his fill.

“You’re back just in time. We’ve just received a batch of non-metallic ore in the warehouse, and you can transport them away later,” she said.

Selena briefly flipped through the Nonmetal Mineral Distribution Maps Noland had given her, while binding the documents she continued, “Lonco stopped by earlier today. He seems to have noticed that you’ve been secretly moving non-metallic ore from the warehouse, so he came to me to probe indirectly, trying to find out what you’re up to.”

Noland slurped up the water blob before him, sighed with satisfaction, and said, “I knew he would come asking. Among those non-metallic ores I brought back before, a few had been tampered with, and it must have been Lonco’s doing. Now the Spell Marks on the ores have been erased by me, and as the caster, he would naturally sense it.”

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Noland Lee tapped the table edge with his knuckle:

“Let’s not talk about that for now. How’s the transition going? Is it all going smoothly?”

Selena smiled:

“Very smoothly. Philip is a quick learner, and it’s estimated that he will be able to handle affairs on his own in at most half a year. The trouble is with the wizard forces, where quite a few people think Philip, just a green young man, may not be good at weighing the pros and cons.”

Noland Lee crossed his arms behind his head, using his clasped hands as a pillow and leaned back in his chair:

“People always need to go through trials to grow. Let Philip feel the harshness of society.”

The Philip they were discussing was Selena’s brother, the future Deputy Dean of the Deep Sea Branch.

Noland Lee had met this young man before—somewhat shy, quite earnest in his work, and like other young people, he was eager to prove himself, which made him slightly impetuous.

Considering that after Selena was stationed in the Sub-Dimensional Plane, he might deal with this young man in the future, Noland Lee naturally paid more attention to him.

Just as Noland Lee and Selena were discussing the matter of ore mining, Nolin suddenly activated “Mind Induction,” sending an urgent message from the Sub-Dimensional Plane to Noland Lee in the natural world:

“Sir! There’s trouble in Revival City!”

Noland Lee jolted up from his chair and said to Selena’s puzzled gaze:

“There’s an emergency. I have to go.”

“Alright,” Selena nodded and asked,

“Do you need my help?”

Noland Lee waved his hand, manipulated something in his mind, and his form disappeared in a flash of light.

No sooner had Noland Lee left than the Miniature Ocean nearby began to show ripples, as someone was attempting to teleport in.

Selena snapped her fingers, activating the Miniature Ocean.

Lonco emerged from the Miniature Ocean, his face wearing an awkward expression, as if he had something to say but dared not to speak up.

“What’s the matter, brother?” Selena asked with her arms folded.

Lonco stroked his chin and pulled out a chair to sit down.

Following suit, Selena passed over the Non-metallic Mineral Distribution Map that Noland Lee had just brought, informing him that Noland Lee had fulfilled his obligation according to the contract.

However, Lonco was clearly preoccupied, merely uttering a few non-committal grunts.

“Do you have something you want to say?” Selena asked.

Lonco took a deep breath:

“Alright, the truth is, yes. Father sent me to ask if Noland Lee Jarvis has his own Sub-Dimensional Plane now?”

Selena tugged at the corner of her mouth, giving a forced smile as she spoke:

“You should ask him yourself.”

Lonco’s expression stiffened for a moment, worry flashing in his eyes:

“Father anticipated your reaction. That means Jarvis really does have his own Sub-Dimensional Plane.”

Lonco said in a heavy tone:

“His Sub-Dimensional Plane is very dangerous, Selena, extremely dangerous. By dangerous, I’m not just referring to the Sub-Dimensional Plane itself, but also to the way he acquired it. He may have used illegal means to obtain that Sub-Dimensional Plane, do you understand what I’m saying?”

“No idea, speak plainly,” Selena responded coldly.

Lonco opened his mouth but became speechless, only managing to stand up slowly, ready to leave.

Before leaving, Lonco stressed with gravity:

“Stay away from Jarvis. He’s in trouble; there are people looking for him.”

Lonco reached into his pocket, fetched a scroll, and tossed it over, then stepped back into the Miniature Ocean.

Selena unrolled the scroll—it was a reward order from the Pure Light Court.

The Pure Light Court hardly ever issued public rewards because it would make outsiders think the Light Wizards were incompetent.

Once someone was listed on a reward order from the Pure Light Court, it meant at the very least they were of Sin Witch Level criminality.

The scroll in Selena’s hands clearly stated that a group of audacious thieves had stolen something very precious from the Pure Light Court—a whole box full of Soul Gems.

Any individual who could provide clues to the Pure Light Court could share a Reward worth a Billion Coins.

Obviously, after a long time without results, the Pure Light Court had made the scandal that occurred in Revival City public, determined to find the so-called thieves to cleanse their shame.