A chat group for a certain tower warlock

"A trace of essence?"

“Yes, I have stored a portion of her essence within my staff. I can activate that essence and unleash even greater power,” Mostima said calmly. “It’s just a means of self-preservation. Don’t you also have some means of self-preservation?”

“Well… that’s true, but mine is very simple, it’s just my real name.” Yarman said somewhat awkwardly. This method of self-preservation was indeed a bit simple and crude, although it was very useful.

“That’s it! Let’s go, I’m getting a little curious now!” Mostima looked at the bottomless stairwell in front of her, a smile of excitement spreading across her face. It had been a long time since she had explored new places.

Just as Yarman enjoys doing research and conducting humanities and social science surveys, she loves to travel all over the world, exploring new worlds that are rarely visited and full of dangers.

So she became a messenger of natural disasters and also a messenger of all nations, spending Lateran's public funds to travel around. Isn't that better than raising her own money to travel around?

But after that magical trip to another world, she rarely went out to wander around anymore. After all, once you've seen the ocean, you can't be impressed by a river. Having seen the world of another world, the scenery of Terra no longer seemed so exciting.

Now, in this entirely new world, this exploration has reignited her long-cooled blood.

Watching Mostima run off happily, Yarman scratched his head. What was so exciting about this? It was so dangerous! But he still quickly caught up with her. "Don't go so fast, wait for me!"

Why are you walking so slowly?

"Why are you walking so fast!" Yarman said with some dissatisfaction, holding his staff and carrying a flashlight, shining it on the dark surroundings. "It's so dangerous here!"

“Danger? Not necessarily!” Mostima looked around and said with a smile, “You’re just afraid of the unknown. The only danger here right now is the radiation, but that doesn’t affect you!”

"Don't give me that nonsense, just don't run around!" Yarman said helplessly. He held his staff and walked up to Mostima. "According to the information they provided, there is a steel platform 500 meters underground, which was originally where workers produced steel."

"Now, you, follow behind me! Do you understand?"

"Alright, alright." Mostima nodded indifferently, then said in a low, sarcastic tone, "You go first, I'll go behind. You're the Great Wizard, I'm the Legendary Wizard. If we really encounter danger, we won't even know who's protecting whom, right, Yarman?"

"...You really are something else, I'm just going to go first anyway."

"Alright, my little boy, you can go first!"

"What little boy! I'm older than you! My original age is almost 500 years old!"

"My true self is currently traversing the river of time, and by calculation, I am already 50000 years old!"

"..."

"So, I'm 49500 years older than you. Calling you 'boy' would be an overstatement."

Chapter 150: The Sage Cast into a Steel Ingot

"Aren't we there yet? We've been walking for so long." Mostima was getting a little annoyed. She picked up her staff and gently waved it upwards, casting a levitation spell on herself. "I can't go on like this. If we keep walking like this, I'll be exhausted before we even find out why."

Are you tired so quickly?

“A little bit. You’ve already walked over a hundred meters vertically, aren’t you tired yet?” Mostima asked curiously, “Why are you so fit?”

“That’s not it.” Yarman shook his head, raising his staff to reveal its magical glow. “My body underwent magical modifications a long time ago. With just a little magical energy, I can maintain my stamina and walk all day long.”

When did you make the magical modifications?

“I did it when I first arrived.” Yarman shrugged and said casually, “It was just a few simple transformation arrays, nothing much, it was done in no time.”

"Never mind, let's keep going."

"Row."

The two continued walking downwards, and after another fifty meters or so, Yarman couldn't hold back any longer. He began to complain to Mostima, "I'm starting to regret taking this mission. Just getting to the mission location is annoying enough, and we've been walking for so long, and we still haven't reached the first point!"

“The enthusiasm for the journey is often exhausted during the tedious travel itself.” Mostima was numb by now. She calmly looked ahead, floating beside Yarman. “I’m getting a little annoyed too. This is just too far. How many layers have they piled up?”

“I don’t know, let’s keep going.” Yarman shook his head helplessly. “But as long as we get down to the steel platform, there’s a direct elevator to the lower level.”

"So...why don't they build an elevator that goes directly to the steel platform?" Mostima asked, somewhat puzzled. "Wouldn't it take time to walk down from up to work?"

"Who said they go to work down here from up here?" Yarman looked at her suspiciously, then pointed down. "Those people live down here and only go up here occasionally."

"……what?!"

“Yes, the workers down there live directly down there,” Yarman said calmly, pointing to the deep hole below. “According to the information, they live down there. Because they live in darkness for a long time, their bodies have mutated, and to avoid being seen, they can’t keep up.”

"Later, an unidentified radiation outbreak occurred. When people organized personnel to go down and observe, they could no longer find any trace of them. In addition, a new steel plant had already been built, so they simply shut down the steel platform."

After hearing Yarman's words, Mostima was at a loss for words. In the end, he could only sigh. They were all pitiful people who had worked and lived underground for too long and ended up never being able to come out again. Then, radiation from who knows where suddenly struck, and everyone disappeared without a trace.

“Let’s not talk about this anymore. It’s been so long. What are your thoughts on this so-called radiation?” Yarman continued down the stairs and said to Mostima beside him, “After analyzing it for so long, I now feel that it’s not radiation, but rather a leakage of some kind of power.”

Upon hearing Yarman's words, Mostima also became serious. She slightly raised her staff, and extremely thin beams of magical light shone in the air. The spell that should have frozen time seemed to have failed, and the large amount of energy that formed the spell quickly dissipated in the air.

“I…I feel like we’re in trouble,” Mostima said gravely, her face filled with regret. She had been too careless and hadn’t noticed the changes in the surrounding laws of time.

She put down her staff and said seriously to Yarman beside her, "There is no time here. My time magic is basically ineffective here, and..."

"what?"

“Have you noticed that our emotions have become abnormal?” Mostima looked at him with an unnatural seriousness on his face. “Our emotions have started to become extremely extreme.”

"This..." Yarman also thought about his situation and was surprised to find that his patience seemed to have become exceptionally poor, and he started to get annoyed even after walking just a few steps.

He was then even more surprised to find that he was so surprised by this matter that he was almost delirious.

"This place is so eerie!" Yarman tried to calm himself down, but all sorts of emotions were surging in his heart like a flood.

Slowly raising his staff, Yarman gently waved it forward, and a powerful energy spread outwards, but it had no effect. Seeing this, he slowly raised his staff, and a magical barrier enveloped the two of them.

"Phew...that's much better." Mostima looked at the visible blue transparent barrier in front of her, then glanced at Yarman beside her, whose expression remained grave. "What's wrong?"

"The external environment is draining my energy," Yarman said calmly. "The entire environment here has major problems. I finally understand why so many experts have disappeared!"

How much longer can you hold on?

“…Five hours.” Yarman said slowly. He raised his hand, tapped Mostima’s forehead, and transmitted a message, “I’m going to remove the protective barrier from the protective spell I just came up with.”

"Row!"

Glancing at the spell covering his body, Yarman continued walking forward. "We need to hurry."

"Let's go!" Without saying a word, Mostima cast a levitation spell on Yarman, and she lifted Yarman and began to fly down the stairs.

Feeling the strong wind rushing past him, Yarman glanced at Mostima beside him. He was about to say something when his mouth was filled with wind, so he had no choice but to shut up.

With her speed boost, the two quickly arrived at the steel platform 500 meters below the ground. Mostima gently lowered Yarman down, looked at him, and asked, "What were you about to say?"

"I...I'm fine." Yarman shook his head. He actually wanted her to slow down, but now they had arrived.

Yarman gently stepped on the steel platform beneath his feet and looked around. The entire platform was covered in rust, and the air was filled with the smell of rust and mildew.

He touched the machine beside him, which had been idle for who knows how long, and was about to leave when suddenly the machine roared and its electronic screen lit up, the old operating system still functioning normally.

"Beep~~~ Heavy Hammer Type IIII steel ingot casting machine started! Please add raw materials and remove finished products..."

"..."×2

"Please add the raw materials and take out the finished product..."

"How did this thing start?" Mostima asked, looking at Yarman beside him. "Did you do it?"

"I just touched it," Yarman said innocently. He stepped forward, about to turn it off, when suddenly his curiosity got the better of him. He walked to the machine and opened the temporary storage area.

"..."

Yarman stared silently at the life forms before him, cut and cast into standard rectangular rectangles, a mixture of steel and metal. Judging from the few fragments of clothing and remnants of magical energy on them, it was certain…

The missing sage of combustion mentioned in the documents is most likely lying in this room.

Chapter 151: The Byproducts of the Dream Realm Appear

"What are you looking at... this..."

Mostima stepped forward and stood beside Yarman, looking at the mixture of steel and flesh before him, and frowned slightly. "The file said, how long has this person been missing?"

“About three months,” Yalman said slowly. He bent down and dragged out a strip of flesh and steel. He shook the cold blood off his hands and looked at the strip of flesh before him, saying, “According to the records, his life card turned to ashes two months ago, which means…”

“This person has been dead for two months.” Mostima looked at the strip of meat in front of him with a serious expression. Judging from the appearance of the meat strip, it was obviously cut recently. Even the blood on it had not dried yet. It did not look like a strip of fresh meat that had been sitting for two months.

"..."×2

Yarman silently threw the meat strips back into the machine, then closed the door to the temporary storage area. He pulled Mostima aside, faced the machine in front of him, and slowly raised his staff. Soon, a huge exploding fireball appeared at the tip of the staff and then flew out!

"Whoosh~~~bong!!"

The enormous fireball instantly engulfed the entire machine. The flames, as hot as magma from the Earth's core, melted the machine and the meat strips inside into ashes. As the machine melted, a plume of black smoke rose from it, condensing into a bizarre, twisted creature in the air.

The twisted, fleshy creature, entirely black except for its red-glowing eyes, floated in the air and began to roar madly at the two of them, but they paid no attention.

The reason is simple: the flames of Yarman's Explosive Fireball had already spread along the machine and burned onto his body. The flames were like fierce fire from the abyss, determined to burn him completely. As they spread, the flames grew stronger and stronger, turning the creature into a torch.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

In despair, the twisted creature roared to the sky, its pitch-black body exploding like a grenade. A large amount of black gas, carrying flames, along with endless extreme emotions and Originium energy, sprayed outwards, leveling the entire steel platform.

"..."×2

“What a strange creature…” Mostima said slowly. She was about to say “creature,” but seeing the thing’s appearance, she felt that it couldn’t be a normal creature.

Meanwhile, Yarman, watching the exploding creature, fell into deep thought. This energy flow, this peculiar biological form, and this extremely chaotic flow of emotions—he suddenly had an idea.

Could it be that the real person did something bad?

Yarman stood there, lost in thought. The creature before him reminded him of a plan that had yet to be completed, and one of its byproducts was this very thing.

"What are you thinking?"

"Ah? I just thought of something." Yarman shook his head and said with a smile, "I just have some guesses about these things. We'll know what's going on when we get down to the bottom."

"Going down again!" Mostima frowned. To be honest, she didn't want to go down. This awful place was disgusting and made her feel physically uncomfortable.

In particular, the energy flow mixed with emotions just now actually broke her protective spell, allowing her to smell the fart, which immediately put her in a bad mood.

Looking at Mostima beside him, Yarman asked in confusion, "What's wrong with you?"

“I feel really bad right now after being bombarded with negative emotions,” Mostima sighed, slumped his shoulders, and said listlessly, “I feel completely unmotivated.”

“This… I…” Yarman thought for a moment, then carefully said, “Why don’t you go back first, and I’ll go down alone. I’ll be quick…”

"I don't want to! I'm telling you!"

"..."×2

Yarman was startled by Mostima's sudden outburst. He stood there in a daze for a moment, his lips trembling slightly, his hands twitching slightly but not moving, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say.

Seeing that Yarman was frightened by her, Mosti felt a pang of apology. This apology then lingered in her heart, growing stronger with each passing second. In just a few dozen seconds, she rushed forward and hugged Yarman, who was looking at her in bewilderment, and burst into tears.

What... what's going on here?

Yarman was completely dumbfounded. What was going on? Why did he suddenly start crying? Why? [Laetanian curse] This place is really creepy!

Just as he was about to comfort Mostima, she immediately stopped crying, snuggled against him, and then stood up straight again. Her eyes were red, but her tone was very calm. "Okay, I've vented. I'm fine now. Let's continue down."

"...Maybe we shouldn't go any further." For the first time, Yarman sincerely hoped to leave this place. This place was just too strange, how could it have turned Mostima into this state? Let the real Yarman handle it.

"No, I want to go down!"

"Alright, alright, let's continue down, let's continue down." Yarman said helplessly, then he led Mostima toward the elevator with its frame knocked off not far away. "So, shall we head straight to floor 666? And attack their lair?"

“This one works too!” Mostima nodded seriously.

The two waited together for the elevator. Compared to the dilapidated steel platform outside, the elevator they were in was extremely luxurious and magnificent. The soft, scarlet carpet felt like walking on clouds, and the main color of the surroundings was golden yellow. The entire elevator had a matte finish.

Under the bright overhead lights, everything reflected a dull, golden glow, as if one were in a golden palace, unconsciously immersing oneself in a world of extravagance and decadence, unable to extricate oneself.

Looking at the equally gold-plated elevator buttons, Yalman lightly pressed the bottom button, 666th floor. He chuckled and said, "666th floor, I really don't know what they were thinking, such a floor number..."

The elevator slowly started moving, and the numbers on the gold digital screen above kept changing. However, the two people inside the elevator felt nothing at all, and had no sense of moving up or down.

"Is this elevator really moving?" Mostima asked hesitantly, as she couldn't feel any movement.

Yarman pointed to the screen above, "At least it's beating there."

"Isn't that thing supposed to let you jump however you want?"

“Well…we don’t have any other choice!” Yarman shrugged, pointing to the golden elevator doors in front of him. “We can’t just kick these doors down and jump out, can we?”

“That… is a great idea!” Mostima looked at Yarman and patted him on the shoulder with delight. “You really are a genius, Yarman! You truly are worthy of being my righteous one!”

"...You want to...No, no, no! No way!"

"Let's go! Don't hesitate!" Mostima grabbed Yarman's hand, stepped forward and kicked the heavy, golden door away, then pulled Yarman out!

"Alas~~~~~~!"

"Ahhhhhhhh!"