Chapter 158 Ancient Ruins’ Palace

"We have received more than 100,000 military merit points each, and didn't even sell a single book we retrieved from the towers, let alone any of the stronger runic armaments…that's crazy!"

Mathias was exhilarated with the number of military merit points they possessed.

Each merit point was worth far more than 100$. In fact, one couldn't even compare military merit points with dollars because there were only a limited number of goods that you could purchase using the merit points of the military.

Even influential families usually faced difficulties while purchasing certain treasures. However, these restrictions were either loosened when purchasing them with merit points or were completely lifted.

Thus, even Bella was quite satisfied with the high number of military merit points they possessed.

"Should we focus on increasing our combat prowess now?" Mathias felt that their wealth was more than enough to focus on enlarging their mana core, purchase techniques that were difficult to get their hands on under normal circumstances, and further improve their knowledge about Runiciers.

If they were to start studying earlier, they might even become the first batch of Runiciers. This would make it much easier for them to produce runic armaments and to create a constant supply of goods to earn a fortune.

But both Bella and Nial had a different opinion, which was why they shook their heads the moment Mathias finished asking his question.

"You saw the palace, right?" Bella asked while intently looking at Mathias, who could only return her gaze with a nod.

"Of course, I saw the palace. It's not like it's possible to overlook it. But what about it?"

Nial could only smile at Mathias' foolishness. Sometimes he really wondered how Mathias was even able to participate in the Teradan military camp.

But after giving it some thought Nial could only smile, recalling that he had been able to join the Teradan military camp as well despite being blind.

Somehow, it was refreshing when Mathias acted like a fool. Nial knew that Mathias was far from being dumb, which made it even more ridiculous in his opinion.

"Well, the palace should have many Tier-1 runic armaments, numerous books, and it's not unlikely to find Tier-2 runic armaments hidden in it as well. At least, I'm pretty certain about that!"

Bella was enthusiastic while talking about Tier-2 runic armaments. She had yet to wield a Tier-2 runic armament, but the information she read about such armaments was quite terrifying, to put it in simple terms.

While Tier-1 runic armaments were already a dozen or so times stronger than Tier-0 runic armaments, roughly the same could be said about the difference between Tier-1 and Tier-2 runic armaments.

Of course, there were always exceptions but that was not Bella's main focus!

Nial could only agree to what Bella said as he added,

"If mankind were to be able to produce Tier-2 runic armaments anytime soon, I would propose to focus on strengthening our body and to learn some martial art techniques.

But until an Original learns how to create Tier-2 runic armaments more than a year might pass. In my opinion, it should take even longer!

That means we need to get our hands on them to become the most powerful Originals as quickly as possible!

Tier-2 runic armaments might not be something we can wield properly for now, but the moment we enter the Prym rank, this will change!"

One might be unable to wield Tier-2 runic armaments with only one Basic or Intermediate Origin ring, but this fact was not something that concerned Nial or his two friends.

They would create Advanced Origin rings, at the bare minimum, which meant that they would be able to wield Tier-2 runic armaments the moment they advanced in their rank!

Mathias was able to understand his friends' reasoning but he was a little bit uncomfortable about entering the palace.

Too many Originals had entered the palace, meaning that there would be fierce competition to claim the resources inside. This could lead to even more dangers, even if he didn't include the threat of the installed traps and the monsters that inhabited the palace!

Yet, the more Mathias thought about it, the more logical his friends' reasoning became.

They required the best equipment to advance as quickly as possible. Waiting for a year or longer before the first Tier-2 runic armament was to be manufactured was simply a waste of time.

And they wouldn't even be certain whether these runic armaments would attract some buyers, let alone if they could pay the demanded price!

Mathias clenched his fist at this thought, nodding his head subconsciously.

He turned in the direction of the ancient ruins dungeon portal after a few seconds and took a deep breath.

"Alright, you're right. We should return to the ancient ruins dungeon and plunder the palace!!"

That being said, Mathias was the first one to make his way to the dungeon portal.

Bella could only smile faintly seeing this, while Nial quickly followed suit.

A slow smile crept up his lips and he could barely hide how excited he felt.

The towers might have provided them with wealth, but it had been quite boring after killing the Goblins and understanding the mechanism behind the installed traps.

As such, when they entered the ancient ruins dungeon, Nial's expectations about the ancient ruins' palace could be said to be quite high.

Bella was not really interested in the palace itself but more about the goods they should be able to procure from within the palace.

Thus, she wanted to barge inside it from the main entrance without caring about the other Originals, who had already chosen the same path to enter the palace.

"Let's enter the palace through a different path!" Nial suddenly shouted while passing by one of the towers that surrounded the palace.

They were only a few hundred meters away from the huge, seemingly unscathed palace. As such, it was time for them to think about a proper plan.

Bella's idea of barging into the palace was certainly not great. The other Originals must have either activated the traps in certain pathways or already ransacked some halls.

Thus, it was a waste of time for them to follow in their footsteps.

With that in mind, Nial shared the plan he had come up with.

"How about we…" He spend less than a minute sharing what he was thinking about, only to receive baffled expressions as answers.

Nial was not able to see them but the eerily unmoving mana fluctuations of his friends were more than enough to tell that Bella and Mathias were dumbfounded.

"Even if that works, you know that we won't have a single way of escape…right?"

Bella had been excited to get her hands on numerous treasures, which would help her become stronger than everyone else at a rapid pace.

But even then, her mind was sending her blaring signals, warning her that Nial's idea was simply reckless.

It might be an exceptional plan that would reward them with numerous treasures but the dangers were, at the very least, several times higher as it would be the case by entering the palace through the front gate.

Thus, Bella's excitement died down for a moment, and a complex mixture of emotions swamped her mind.

On the other hand, Mathias could only stare at Nial as if he had gone insane.

"Do you really think I'm capable enough? I mean, if I were to make a single mistake all of us might die even before we enter the palace!"

Mathias was worried, and Nial could understand this. But he just smiled before replying,

"Didn't you get your hands on the Tier-1 Blackwood wand? Use your Innate ability through the Blackwood wand, and follow up with your Earth affinity. Afterward, everything should be fine!"

Every word spoken by Nial was filled with confidence. He trusted Mathias' capabilities and knew what his friend was capable of.

As such, there was no need to worry about anything.

Nial was not even sure why Bella and Mathias were suddenly being such scaredy-cats…or was it just him being confident; unreasonably confident at that?

He had no idea but it didn't really matter. Rather, his lifeless eyes stared in the depth of Mathias' soul just for the young Original to nod his head faintly.

"Alright…if you believe I can do it, let's go all in!"

The moment Mathias said this, Nial extended his hands towards them before pulling both Mathias and Bella to the side.

Rather than showing everyone what they were about to do, Nial pulled everyone to the side of the palace. There was no entrance, only the huge towering walls.

If he estimated it properly, the towering walls were more than 80 meters in height.

Of course, this was not something Nial was not able to tell for sure as he could merely visualize everything.

However, that was more than enough to know that Mathias would be capable of achieving what he had in mind.

More than half an hour had passed until Nial stopped dragging his friends ahead.

They finally found a decent location where no jungle tree roots peeked to the surface of the ground. This was pretty important owing to the task Nial had given Mathias.

Pulling both Mathias and Bella toward him, Nial smiled faintly.

"Mathias, you can start now!"

Standing right next to the towering wall, Nial stood in between his friends, holding their hands. On the other hand, Mathias had closed his eyes while holding the Tier-1 Blackwood wand.

Large amounts of mana coursed through the Blackwood wand as Mathias started with his task.

At first, nothing happened but after a few seconds, the ground below the three friends began to rumble.

All of a sudden, the ground below them moved, slowly pushing them upward.

Mathias was creating an Earthen pillar to allow them to cross the towering walls. Nial's plan had been to enter the palace from the rooftop, allowing them to get their hands on more places that had yet to be reached by the other participants of the Teradan military camp.

His plan wasn't foolproof as it didn't provide a way of escape if something were to happen, but the treasures they may obtain were certainly worth the threats they would get exposed to.

Even Bella understood this clearly, which was why her initial excitement returned the moment Mathias' pillar reached a height of more than 35 meters.

Using the towering wall as a means of support, Mathias pushed the pillar against it.

This prevented the tower from falling, or so Mathias believed. In the end, a pillar that was a few meters thick would never be able to reach a height of more than 30 meters if not for Nial's help.

The gravitational force was more than enough to break everything apart.

However, Mathias faced no such struggle right now, otherwise, he would not only be drenched in a cold sweat but also scared witless.

He had no clue that Nial had used his dark energy from the moment the Earthen pillar moved them up the wall.

Instead of using his dark energy to destroy things and intimidate someone, which was what he could do rather easily, Nial began to use his power calmly, without rushing anything.

Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye, but they finally reached the top of the castle. Not a single accident happened, and everything went by rather smoothly.

This was more than enough for Mathias to smile brightly with pride filling his entire being.

"Finally on top." He could only mumble. His face was pale, while his mana was completely drained.

He was totally exhausted but still smiled proudly because everything had worked out even better than he could have hoped for.

However, the moment he looked up, Mathias was able to see Nial's paper-white. His friend was swaying a bit as if all the blood had left his body.

Cold sweat ran down his cheeks, only to see him smiling at Mathias.

"You did a great job, Mathias!" Nial merely said, without answering the unspoken question in Mathias' eyes, of why he looked even more miserable than Mathias.

This washed away some of Mathias' exhaustion as he released the remaining faint traces of mana that were left in his mana core.

And it was at this moment that Mathias noticed what his friend had done.

'Did he…use all his strength and mana to forcefully attach my Earthen tower to the towering wall??'

Several hundred small dark energy hooks had pierced through the Earthen tower and the towering wall, holding it in place, while simultaneously allowing Mathias to keep creating the Earthen tower at a greater height.

'Just…how much mental strength does he have to achieve this?!'

**

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