Alright, where should I go next? The ruler’s not giving me any hints, but I already know what to do thanks to that serious-looking woman. Before the ruler let her go, I got a map out of her! No, it wasn’t extortion. All I did was ask if she had anything useful for exploring Atlantis. Out of the kindness of her heart, she gave me a whole interspatial ring full of stuff, all of the things inside perfect for exploration. She said she didn’t need it anymore since the majority of her group perished in a freak accident. She tried to blame it on me, but accidents are accidents; no one’s to blame when they happen.
There weren’t any instructions on the map, but luckily, Sir Pot knew how to use it. All I have to do is insert some spiritual energy into the map like this, and…! It didn’t work? “Teacher, help!”
“You have to spread out your divine sense,” the ruler said. “Then, you channel your will into the map. It’ll automatically fill it out based on what you see.”
Mm? Based on what I see with my divine sense? Doesn’t that make the map useless? If I have to see it first to know it’s there, then wouldn’t I find it without the map?
“It’ll help prevent you from getting lost,” the ruler said. “And it has a terrain-identifying property. If you teleport in a random direction and spread out your divine sense while using the map, it’ll match any area with the same topography, so you might be lost, but if the map recognizes a tiny bit of the area you’ve mapped before at your new location, it’ll fill in your respective location. That way, you don’t have to consciously pay attention to every little detail your divine sense picks up.”
Mm, the map doesn’t sound impressive anymore, but if it’s good enough for the representative of one of the seven great sects, then it’s good enough for me. “Puppers, navigate.”
Puppers appeared by my side and took the map I was holding out. “Yes, Lucia.” His eyes squinted as he stared at the piece of paper. Then, he took a look around. After a bit, he pointed off to the side. “There’s another point of interest in that direction. Are these red dots on the map people? It seems quite crowded there.”
Oh, so that’s what the red dots were. I noticed a lot of them on the map, but none of them were moving. If this map is basically drawing my divine sense, then it makes sense for the dots not to move. Unless I constantly pour in my divine sense to update the map, it’ll count people as stationary. Anyway, the direction Puppers pointed out is promising. Where there’s people, there’s treasure! Whenever I encounter people, I usually end up richer by the time it’s time to say goodbye. Onwards, to the next point of interest!
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
“Hang on a second.”
Mm? What happened? “What’s wrong, Teacher?”
“We can’t go around in this,” the ruler said and gestured towards the flying boat I took out of my interspatial ring. There must’ve been some sort of rule against flying vehicles in here. There’re always weird restrictions in place when it comes to ruins, tombs, and all that boring stuff. It’s too hard to remember which place has which rules, so I don’t even bother trying. “If we’re going to take a flying boat rather than traveling with our own power, we’re going to need one of these.”
I’m sorry my boat isn’t bougie enough for you, Teacher. Of course, I’m not going to say that out loud! I’ll just have to brace myself to be hit when she reads my mind later. Mm, I’ll probably forget about it, and she’ll cause a fuss about it later, and I’ll have no idea why she’s upset because I’ll have forgotten it already. Mm? Instead of taking out a fancy boat or method of transportation, the ruler grabbed me and teleported me somewhere else! It’s a good thing I have this map. I’ll search the area with my divine sense and channel what I see into the map, like this! And … we’re in an unconnected region with no red dots nearby. “Teacher, where are we?”
“Patriarch Atlantis’ garage,” the ruler said and looked around. It seemed like we were underground. That makes sense. For some reason, everything above ground was all gray and damaged. If anything useful is left in Atlantis, then it has to be underground or hidden in a secret pocket realm. Mm? Everything above ground being gray and damaged might be a clue to figuring out what happened to the place? I’ll, uh, keep that in mind. I’m sure I won’t forget when the time comes. “Patriarch Atlantis was what we nowadays call a really fat cash cow. And when I say fat, I mean morbidly obese. With all the inventions he came up with, everyone wanted to buy his products to deal with his other products. It’s a little similar to how Ilya sells anti-Lucia cannons and anti-Lucia cannon barriers. Now that I think about it, Patriarch Atlantis did have a lot of offspring too. It’s possible Ilya’s one of his billions of descendants given how similar they are.”
Ah? I found Ilya’s ancestor? Mm, if the ruler says it’s true, then it must be true. Atlantis belonged to Ilya’s great-great-who-knows-how-many-greats-great-grandfather. By the natural laws of society, since Ilya’s ancestor died, then, legally, everything belongs to Ilya since she’s his remaining descendant. Ah? There’re billions of other descendants? Well, Ilya’s the only one I know, so the rest don’t matter. Right, since all of the things inside this ancient ruin belongs to Ilya, that means everyone present is a robber! They’re here to steal Ilya’s stuff before I can get it all to return it to her. In that case, if I rob these robbers, I won’t be committing a crime! I’ll be lauded as a good person for defending my best friend’s property. It seems to me like no matter what I do while I’m here, I’m the good guy! Way to go, brain; I’ll count on you more in the future.