Chapter 150: A Microcosm of Energy Depletion, the Dragon Skeleton Tower

Chapter 150: A Microcosm of Energy Depletion, the Dragon Skeleton Tower

The Forest Lodge!

The traveler was momentarily taken aback, then quickly recalled in his mind.

Scepter? Skeleton? Or Heart?

None of them seemed right!

It didn’t seem to match Black Forest or Owl either.

Suddenly, a flash of insight struck the traveler, and he blurted out, "You're a Player!"

Not long ago, Owl had contacted him, inquiring about his long absence from the gatherings.

He remembered that Owl mentioned a new member at the Forest Lodge named Player, a very powerful third-level wizard apprentice.

Could it be this person in front of him?

"Looks like Owl has already told you about me, which makes things easier."

S Nan said, taking out the key to the Forest Lodge.

Seeing the unique key shaped like a trading house, the traveler finally confirmed the identity of the person in front of him. He felt a wave of relief, and the wary look in his eyes dissipated significantly.

No matter what, they were both members of the Forest Lodge. Even if they weren’t friends, they certainly weren’t enemies.

"Did you see the battle earlier?" the traveler asked.

"I happened to come across it," S Nan replied, sitting down opposite the traveler.

"Then you must have heard that those two were from the Immortality Society."

The traveler gave S Nan a deep look.

"You know the Immortality Society’s style. Getting close to me at this time isn’t a good idea. You didn’t come to me because we’re in the same organization and wanted to help out of a sense of duty, did you?"

S Nan chuckled, "I came to you because I need some information, about this ecological garden."

"You’ve been here for a while, haven’t you?"

From the way the traveler silently lured the multi-necked dragon and then found this canyon without stopping, it was clear he was familiar with the area, having stayed for at least a few months.

The traveler nodded, acknowledging S Nan’s observation.

"Time is short, so I’ll get straight to the point."

"I can tell you about the ecological garden, but in return, you need to help me fend off Hand of Magic and Bloodmouth, ensuring I can leave the ecological garden safely."

"Deal!" S Nan agreed without hesitation.

Seeing how quickly S Nan agreed, the traveler gave him a surprised look, thinking that Owl was right—Players were indeed very strong. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so confident after witnessing the power of Hand of Magic and Bloodmouth.

The two of them promptly signed a vow contract.

With the contract in place, the traveler felt a weight lifted from his shoulders.

Now, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

With a powerful ally, they stood a chance even if Hand of Magic and Bloodmouth came after them again.

Even if they couldn’t win, they should be able to escape.

With the vow contract as a guarantee, the traveler completely let down his guard and continued meditating in front of S Nan.

About two hours later, the traveler opened his eyes, his gaze clear and sharp, indicating his mental energy had fully recovered.

"Now, can you tell me about the ecological garden?" S Nan asked.

The traveler chuckled and stood up.

"Words alone won’t do it justice. I’ll show you some things, and I’ll explain on the way."

The two left the cave and flew over the canyon.

After a brief orientation, the traveler led the way.

"Based on my exploration, this ecological garden is divided into three different zones."

"The outermost area is Zone 1, where mostly sub-dragon species are found. The multi-necked dragon, for example, is at the top of the food chain in Zone 1."

"We’re heading to Zone 2 next, where the creatures are much more powerful."

More powerful than high-level sub-dragons?

S Nan’s heart skipped a beat.

Could it be pure-blood dragons?

If that were the case, entering Zone 2 would be no different from courting death.

Adult pure-blood dragons were only matchable by full-fledged wizards!

But the traveler’s relaxed demeanor suggested otherwise.

Seeing S Nan’s puzzled look, the traveler smiled but didn’t explain, teasing, "You’ll see when we get there."

Soon, the traveler pointed ahead and said, "Beyond that is Zone 2."

S Nan followed his gaze and, upon closer inspection, noticed a faint, almost invisible light membrane several hundred meters away.

Under the sunlight, it was nearly transparent, impossible to spot without careful observation.

From a distance, the scenery beyond the light membrane looked ordinary, still a lush forest.

But the moment they crossed the light membrane, the scenery changed dramatically.

The vibrant forest instantly transformed into a desolate wasteland.

The ground was cracked like a spider web, dotted with bare, withered trees and pale skeletons.

Everything in sight exuded a profound sense of desolation and death.

It was a stark contrast to the thriving Zone 1.

Just a thin layer of light membrane separated two vastly different environments. This sudden change left Su Nan stunned for a moment before he finally came to his senses.

He looked at the traveler, who shrugged his hands.

"When I arrived, Zone 2 was already like this."

"I haven’t figured out the exact reason yet, but it’s most likely due to insufficient energy."

Su Nan pondered this, then landed in front of a pale skeleton and began to examine it closely.

As he did, his eyes widened in shock.

"Dragon skeleton!"

This time, it was the traveler's turn to be surprised.

"You’ve seen a dragon skeleton before?"

He had known these skeletons belonged to dragons because he had gathered some information before entering the ecological garden, but how did the player know?

It was difficult to distinguish between pure-blood dragons and sub-dragons just by appearance.

"I’ve seen it in books," Su Nan said casually.

For someone with his "extensive experience," it was easy to tell the difference between sub-dragons and true dragons, as there were many subtle distinctions.

The traveler clearly didn’t believe this flimsy excuse, but seeing that Su Nan wasn’t going to elaborate, he didn’t press further.

"So, the powerful creatures you mentioned that live in Zone 2 are these dragons?" Su Nan pointed to the skeleton.

"Exactly." The traveler nodded, looking around with a wistful expression. "Zone 2 of this ecological garden was originally designed for breeding dragons. Perhaps due to insufficient energy, this area gradually deteriorated, and the dragons eventually died out."

Su Nan raised an eyebrow. "The barrier we just crossed?"

The traveler understood what he meant. "I tested it. It seems only humans can pass through the barrier. Sub-dragons can’t, and the dead dragons likely couldn’t either."

"Also," the traveler pointed to the surrounding skeletons, "you can see that the essence of these skeletons has been completely drained."

Su Nan inspected them and found it to be true. The dragon bones were completely drained of their essence and crumbled at the slightest touch.

He felt a pang of regret.

Pure-blood dragon bones were extremely rare and valuable materials, but now they had been reduced to worthless waste.

However, he quickly realized that if it weren’t for this, the traveler would have already taken the dragon skeletons away, and they wouldn’t be left here.

"Based on my speculation, this ecological garden was built by wizards a thousand years ago, and the builder is likely long dead, leaving only the garden behind."

"Inside the garden, there must be some kind of array that can extract the energy from living creatures. When the sub-dragons and dragons die, their soul and physical energy are extracted by the garden to sustain its operation."

"Through this method, the garden has formed an almost perfect energy cycle system, allowing it to function for a thousand years."

"However, even the most precise energy cycle system will experience losses during the energy transfer process. Over time, the garden’s energy began to dwindle, and it started reducing energy supply according to its programmed settings, leading to a decrease in energy particle density. This caused the creatures in the high-energy-consuming Zone 2 to die in large numbers, and their deaths provided the garden with a large amount of energy, allowing the lower-energy-consuming Zone 1 to sustain itself to this day!"

The traveler spoke confidently.

This was his hypothesis, based on the information he had gathered outside and the clues he had found inside the garden over the past few days.

He was confident that his hypothesis was very close to the truth.

He expected Su Nan to be shocked by this revelation.

However, when he turned to look at Su Nan, he saw a completely calm expression, as if Su Nan already knew this information.

"You don’t seem surprised at all."

Su Nan glanced at him and said coolly, "When I saw those dragon skeletons, I already guessed what you were about to say. Do you have any more information?"

The traveler was now thoroughly amazed.

If it was just a coincidence that Su Nan recognized the dragon skeletons, then his ability to deduce the truth of the garden from just a few clues couldn’t be explained by coincidence alone!

The player must have extensive knowledge of large-scale breeding facilities like this ecological garden!

He had stumbled upon a wizard’s manual about the garden, but did the player have the same information?

In fact, after seeing the unusual conditions of the bloodlight and the narrow-jawed dragon corpses, Su Nan had already guessed the reason the garden could function for a thousand years.

The appearance of the dragon skeletons only confirmed his suspicions.

"Next, we’ll go to Zone 3, the center of the garden and the location of the power system."

The traveler, regaining his composure, gave Su Nan a complex look and then flew deeper into the wasteland.

Along the way, they encountered numerous skeletons, with at least one every few dozen meters. It made them imagine what Zone 2 must have been like when the ecological garden was still intact.

The number of dragons that must have lived here must have been in the tens of thousands!

This realization raised Su Nan's estimation of the builder's rank even higher.

The only ones capable of raising so many dragons would be True Spirit Wizards!

"The entire ecological garden is a microcosm of the energy depletion on the Starlight Continent."

"If those wizards hadn't had the ability to explore the multiverse and had been trapped on the Starlight Continent, they might have met the same fate as these dragons."

About half an hour later, the two crossed another barrier.

The environment changed once again, from a desolate wasteland to a lush, green meadow.

In the distance, the outline of what appeared to be a tall tower stood erect.

It was too far away for Su Nan to see clearly.

"That's the core of the ecological garden," the traveler pointed to the distant tower.

They flew toward the tower.

As they drew closer, Su Nan gradually made out the true form of the outline and was stunned to realize that the so-called tower was actually a massive, skeletal dragon!

A dragon skeleton over a thousand meters tall!

The entire skeleton coiled and twisted, standing tall like a tower. The massive dragon skull and the fearsome horns on its head pointed skyward, exuding a majestic and indescribable grandeur.

The hollow dragon eyes seemed to gaze at him, as if they held a divine essence, watching him through the passage of time.

"This dragon skeleton tower is likely the control center of the ecological garden. However, it's protected by an array, and without the key, I can't enter," the traveler said, a hint of regret in his voice.

Su Nan approached the dragon skeleton tower.

Below the dragon's head was a spine-like column of bones, with a tightly shut bone door at the bottom.

Su Nan took out a stone golem and ordered it to push the door.

The moment the stone golem's hand touched the bone door, it was engulfed by a sudden surge of flames.

The intense, sulfur-scented flames instantly reduced the stone golem to ashes.

Su Nan's eyes narrowed.

The power of this flame was far stronger than the breath of a Crystal Sword Dragon!

Even an elite stone golem would likely be burned to ashes in an instant!

"It's no use. The defensive array of the dragon skeleton tower is very powerful. I've tried many times and couldn't break it," the traveler said, glancing at Su Nan's hands with some surprise.

Where did that stone golem come from?

Even a minor spatial magic item couldn't store a stone golem, could it?

Su Nan wasn't surprised.

After all, the builder of the ecological garden was likely a True Spirit Wizard. The defensive arrays set up by such a powerful being wouldn't be easily breached, even by a third-level wizard apprentice or a full-fledged wizard.

This was probably just the outermost defensive array.

Of course, if Su Nan really wanted to break through, he could.

The simplest, though most tedious, method would be to use a vast number of puppets to drain the ecological garden's energy until it was exhausted, rendering the defensive arrays ineffective.

However, despite the current energy shortage, the remaining energy was still a vast amount. Using puppets to drain it would require an astronomical number of them.

Su Nan estimated that even the combined resources of his base and the entire Starlight Kingdom wouldn't be enough.

Alternatively, he could wait a century or more for the energy shortage to worsen, making it easier to breach the defenses.

However, doing so would severely damage the ecological garden's ecosystem and food chain. More importantly, the Immortality Society had already discovered this place.

Those people wouldn't let the ecological garden slip through their fingers.

It would be best to take control of the ecological garden before the Immortality Society got involved.

"It seems we need to find the key to enter," Su Nan thought to himself.

But where was the key?

He turned to the traveler, who shrugged.

"Don't look at me. I've already told you, I don't know where the key is."

"How did you get all this information about the ecological garden?" Su Nan asked.

The traveler wasn't like him, with a player interface. It was unlikely he had gathered all this information just through exploration.

Bound by the vow contract, the traveler didn't hide anything and explained:

"I stumbled upon a wizard's manual that described the ecological garden. It provided the clues I needed to find this place after a long search in the underground world."

"However, the manual didn't mention where the key was. If it had, I would have taken control of the ecological garden long ago."

Su Nan believed him.

If the traveler had the key, he would have had many ways to drive off Hand of Magic and Bloodmouth, rather than being chased so desperately.

Just then, both of them suddenly sensed something and turned to look in the direction they had come from.

Two figures were rapidly approaching from the distance, flying through the sky.

They were none other than Hand of Magic and Bloodmouth, who the traveler had just managed to shake off!

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end