Underground Exploration: Part One

"I am a scholar…"

Illusion Card + Voice Card, paired with The Love—Adam would call it feeling like old friends at first sight.

Gandalf’s words were so convincing that, in order to let him understand the current situation and join them, the two poured out everything they knew like beans from a jar.

That included the areas they had already explored, what they had encountered along the way, and their current base.

"You found a mountain range?"

Adam’s eyes lit up.

"Which direction?"

"Uh… over there."

Zola pointed in a direction, then hesitated.

"But the mountains looked too massive. We were worried there might be danger inside, so we didn’t continue exploring any farther…"

"Thank you. I plan to take a look over there. Would you like to come with me?"

Having gotten the information he wanted, Adam immediately planned to set out.

"Sure…"

The two agreed without a second thought. But after following Gandalf for quite a while, they suddenly came to their senses—they had seemed to be trying to recruit him for cooperation just now, hadn’t they?

They exchanged glances, then looked at Gandalf. Forget it. They had been here for so long without any leads, so they might as well follow this scholar. Maybe he could find a way out.

"Plants are starting to appear here, so we can turn up the lights."

When the two saw plants beginning to appear by the roadside, they took out the lanterns they had extinguished while fleeing earlier and lit them again. After some adjustments, the lanterns shone much more brightly than before.

They could illuminate roughly a dozen paces around them, slightly better than Lumos.

Adam glanced at the magical item with some disdain, then used the Light Card’s magic to create dozens of balls of light.

"…"

The two extinguished their lanterns and casually put them away, silently cursing the logistics department.

To avoid the awkwardness, Zola explained, "There are some light-seeking flying insects around the lake we passed earlier. We don’t know what kind of creatures they are, but they’re highly venomous, so we almost never use lights. Even when we do, we don’t make them too bright."

Adam thoughtfully glanced back over his shoulder. Perhaps Professor Scamander would be interested in this place too?

Youwei immediately added, "But those insects won’t enter areas with plants… Look."

Following the direction Youwei pointed, Adam saw clusters of weedlike plants growing from the ground. A slender stalk rose from the center of each cluster, topped with a bright red fruit.

"These fruits are edible, and they’re everywhere in this area. We only survived by eating them."

As Youwei spoke, he picked one and tossed it into his mouth. His features immediately scrunched up.

"Other than being a little sour, they have no drawbacks."

"Thank you."

Gandalf picked a fruit, rolled it between his fingers, then tossed it into his mouth.

Adam put the fruits into his shoulder bag and continued onward with the two.

"Don’t eat these carelessly. Let me study them when I get back."

Growing in a place without any light was not much of a concern. Many magical plants could do that, such as Devil’s Snare. But they were growing a noticeable distance away from the water source… either the plants were the problem, or the water was.

Considering that those insects would not fly over here… it was most likely the plants.

Inside the shoulder bag, Suppi and Kero pawed at the fruit with their paw pads. Sensing the magic within it, their expressions turned solemn.

"Okay~"

Adam nodded to himself.

As they continued onward, the variety of plants noticeably increased, and light began to appear all around them. A kind of plant resembling a glow stick began to grow nearby; when it was not glowing, it looked somewhat like sweet flag.

"Beautiful, isn’t it?"

Zola and Youwei smiled and reached out to pinch the glowing rod-like structures. Specks of light sprayed from their tips like pollen, and Adam activated the Shield Card to block all the pollen outside.

Even magical creatures followed certain laws of evolution. If this plant glowed, there had to be a reason for it—was it attracting something to spread its pollen… or attracting food?

"You’d better be careful."

Adam kindly reminded them. With how these two touched everything they saw, they apparently would not be able to lead the way for very long… Before he found Eugene’s parents, he was counting on them to scout ahead for him.

"It’s fine. We’ve been here before. There’s no danger all the way to the mountains."

Zola waved his hand.

"Some explorers believe these plants were ornamental and edible varieties deliberately cultivated by the wizards who built the Hanging Gardens. There are even more ahead…"

That guess did make some sense.

Adam sighed. He had asked the two earlier, but neither of them knew Eugene’s parents.

These people had not united the moment they entered the underground ruins. At first, they had schemed and fought among themselves. But after surviving in the ruins’ wilderness for over a month, they finally gathered at the base closest to the entrance and reached a consensus. By then, compared with when they first entered the ruins, they had already lost an unknown number of people.

Eugene’s parents had probably met with trouble during that period.

"Are there trees ahead?"

To the left of the mountain, to the right of the water, above the tree, beneath the soil.

They now had clues for both the mountain and the water. Though he could not say whether they were this mountain and this water, it would be even better if there were trees as well.

"Trees… there should be."

Youwei thought for a moment.

"That mountain range is completely barren, without any grass or trees. But we saw bird droppings along the way. There should be trees nearby for them to build nests in, right? We just didn’t see any before."

Birds… but birds did not necessarily need trees to build nests.

Still, Adam planned to go and take a look.

"Please lead the way."

"Adam, how did it go?"

Although he knew Adam always returned on time, Eugene had still waited on the sofa early. The moment Adam appeared, he hurried over to ask.

"I found information about the mountain range, but I haven’t reached it yet."

A mountain might look close, but it could take forever to reach. And Adam could not even see it yet—he had only heard of it.

"But don’t worry. If there is danger in the ruins, it’s extremely dangerous. According to the people I met, every danger they encountered could kill someone very quickly, like the monster in the lake or those highly venomous flying insects."

Adam comforted Eugene.

"When I divined before, your parents were clearly still alive, so nothing should happen to them anytime soon."

It was still some comfort, at least. Eugene nodded.

"By the way, where’s Mirror?"

Adam looked around. Why was Mirror not here today?