Chapter 672: Layers

Chapter 672: Layers



Sylas stood over a familiar Aether Stone mine.

Not much had changed in the Woodland Territory at all. Because of Sylas' efforts, everything had remained stable, and there was no sign of an overflow of Demons just yet.

If there was anything that changed, it was the fact that Tasia had successfully made him a very rich man once again.

'The mines can be very dangerous,' Sylas said lightly.

He had left Cole and his family behind in the System City for that reason. He didn't have any real confidence in mining this Aether Stone mine himself, but he would have to at least give it a try. Maybe his Luck would be able to warn him.

But he would only do this if he found what he needed down below.

Sylas needed two things from this mine. The first thing was enough Aether Stone to help the Basilisk King complete its next evolution, and the second was the 10,000 F-Grade Gold Aether Stones he needed to use his Temporal Lock Treasure.

He was fairly certain the mine had enough for the first, judging by his Insight Path Talent, but not for the second. In fact, he wasn't sure if the mine even had a single Gold Aether Stone to begin with. He had only seen Fragmented ones at the surface.

The only way to find out was to go in himself.

Sylas entered the mine and began to make his way deeper.

According to his understanding, the mine would only be dangerous if he started to dig. So he should be fine for now.

'Deadend...'

Sylas went another direction, but he continued to find dead ends.

'About as expected. If there were going to be any higher-level Aether Stones, they would be buried deeper. The ones nearer the surface had the chance to dissipate some of their strength somewhat...'

'Good. I can finally sense Common Aether Stones, there's even a line of Bronze Aether Stones, and I still haven't reached the end.'

After seeing this, Sylas made a decision and turned to leave.

Mining this with a mere introductory booklet was far too dangerous. The eruption of a mere Fragmented Aether Stone had killed Demons with decently powerful bodies. What would the eruption of a Common or higher Aether Stone do?

Instead, Sylas planned to return to Cassarae to retrieve the Basilisk Skin Armor; only then would he come back here.

He would then use the Basilisk's evolution to drain the topsoil Aether Stones.

Once they were nothing more than normal rock, there would be no danger in chipping them away.

Depending on how much the Basilisk King took, he might be able to get down the Bronze Layer immediately and check again.

'Judging by the sheer thickness of the Fragmented and Common Layers, there's almost certainly a Silver Layer. But whether there's a Gold Layer is still up in the air... Luckily, the lower Layers tend to be much thinner. So after clearing the top, it will be far easier to confirm.'

...

Sylas returned to the System City and took Tasia and the family of three along with him on a trip into the desert.

The peacock could at most carry one other person, so instead Sylas splurged on a few FF+ Level 30 Mounts that were adept at moving across troubling terrain like sand. Each had a Speed and Dexterity Limit of over 1500, and that made things far more convenient.

It wasn't long before Sylas had found the location Alex told him about. The group didn't hesitate to enter the Portal.

The location was an icy land that was quite familiar to Sylas. This was the very same region he had found the Frostbane Sylph Dungeon in, and also the home of the Arctic King Beasts. This also happened to be the location of a Portal back to his hometown. It would just take some travel to get there.

But he was also aware that his alma mater was in that location. And the reason that was important... was because it was also the stomping grounds of Legacy.

Depending on how things had changed, he was going to have to be cautious. But first, he would pick up his fellow professor, Morgan, along with Sunniva. Luckily, that process went much smoother than Sylas thought it would.