The next morning, Starlight and his group bid a simple farewell to the Rift Dragon King, ready to embark on a new journey.
They had originally intended to say goodbye to Little Gold as well, but he was currently swamped with directing his clansmen in the restoration of the Dragon Nest’s hatching chamber. Left with no other choice, they asked Yserazor to pass on their regards.
The group followed the same tunnel they had discovered the previous day, once again descending deep underground.
As they pushed forward, the light from the surface was quickly swallowed by absolute darkness. The light orbs cast by Starlight and the searchlight on the probe’s head intertwined, casting flickering shadows against the damp rock walls.
After only a few hours of walking, Starlight and Po Kong were completely disoriented by the complex underground routes. Even the usually sharp Xia Duo was somewhat unsure whether they were currently heading upward or downward.
In times like these, the innate talent of the dwarves became evident.
With just a glance, Stark and Maela could tell which fork in the road they had already passed and which tunnels might hold potential danger.
Under the guidance of the two dwarves and the probe, their progress was unexpectedly smooth. There were no thorns of a dense forest or the perils of a steep valley—only the eternal silence of the tunnels.
“The environment is a bit lacking, but this way of traveling is certainly more comfortable than trekking through the snow.”
Stretching his muscles as he yawned, Po Kong spoke while the Sacred Wood Phantom on his back emitted a faint glow in the dim air. It was impossible to tell how long they had been walking.
“True. It’s just that underground, there’s no way to distinguish day from night. I have no idea what time it is,” Starlight agreed with a nod.
To answer their questions, Stark pulled a glowing pocket watch from his bag. With a light press of his hand, a row of numbers materialized in mid-air.
“So far, eighty-two hours and nineteen minutes have passed since we set off. We have covered a distance of approximately 310.4 kilometers.”
“In that case, it should be the evening of the fourth day? Should we rest for a bit?” Moen asked.
“I agree. There’s an underground river about half an hour ahead; we can rest there for a while,” Maela added.
Sure enough, before long, the faint sound of gurgling water echoed from deep within the tunnel. The group instinctively quickened their pace toward the source of the water.
Without the influence of the Dragon Nest’s barrier, the underground environment was cold and damp. To set up a camp in such a place, extensive preparation was necessary.
Fortunately, there were three magic users in the party, so creating a relatively comfortable environment wasn’t difficult.
Starlight raised a warm fire for the camp, while Moen encouraged the growth of shimmering moss on the rock walls. Maela used her mana to generate crystals, which she fashioned into shiny tables, chairs, and benches.
After the simple camp was set up, Starlight noticed Stark taking apart the casing of the probe again as he prepared to cook. He seemed to be tinkering with something.
Curious, Starlight approached and found the young dwarf muttering quietly to himself.
“Hmm… no problem with this circuit, and the scanning system is normal. So why isn’t it working?”
“Maybe I should try restructuring circuit four? But if it shorts out, I don’t have any spare parts left.”
“Hey, Mr. Iron-Heart, what are you doing? Do you need any help?”
Starlight’s sudden greeting made Stark jump, and his wrench fell to the ground with a clang. He turned around flustered, answering with some hesitation.
“Ah! Mr. Starlight… I was just checking the probe’s settings. It was working fine before, but I don’t know what happened this time.”
Starlight looked over Stark’s shoulder and saw the intricate mechanical structure inside the probe gleaming under the light of his orbs.
Countless tiny gears and glowing runes meshed together, forming an amazing mechanical tapestry that vibrated slightly as energy flowed through it.
“I didn’t expect the internal structure of this thing to be so complex!” Starlight praised sincerely, then frowned as a thought occurred to him. “It couldn’t be that my previous freezing magic caused some damage, could it?”
“Probably not.” Stark shook his head. “The latitude of Cinder City is very high, so it’s quite cold for half the year. I took freezing issues into account during the design. Even in a blizzard, the probe should be able to operate normally for several hours.”
“Then could it be the influence of the water elements? Maybe they caused… well… rust?” Starlight carefully chose his words as he proposed his theory.
Stark raised an eyebrow and opened another cover plate. After a careful inspection, he said, “Unlikely. This probe is powered by mana. A few water elements shouldn’t be enough to affect the scanning.”
“Powered by mana? Didn’t you say before that your magic talent wasn’t high? I haven’t seen you intentionally using magic either. How do you make it move?”
“Ah! You mean that! Let me show you!”
At the mention of this, Stark’s eyes immediately lit up, and his voice rose an octave. He excitedly pulled a transparent container from his tool bag, inside which several glowing blue crystals were suspended.
“Look! This is the ‘mana battery’ I invented! Although my spellcasting level is poor, I can store biological mana within special crystals. I can charge it slowly myself, and of course… in emergencies, I can ask Maela for help.”
“When it needs to be driven, the mana released by the crystals passes through these conversion circuits…”
Stark rambled on, his eyes sparkling with pride, completely devoid of his usual timidness.
“While some of the technical details are over my head, the concept is truly remarkable. Why haven’t you promoted these inventions?” Starlight asked genuinely.
The light in Stark’s eyes suddenly dimmed. He slowly closed the probe’s casing, his fingers lightly tracing the scratches on the surface. “Because the elders in the clan all say… this is ‘heterodox nonsense.’ They believe a true dwarf should speak with a forging hammer, not these… flashy machines.”
He gave a bitter smile and shook his slender arms. “A ‘failure’ like me, who can’t even lift a proper forging hammer, has no voice in the clan. If Maela hadn’t been supporting me, this probe probably wouldn’t even…”
Just then, Maela’s voice called out from the campfire. “Bookworm! Stop fussing over that machine and sort it out when we get back. Come over and eat something.”
Stark jumped in surprise and quickly gave Starlight a slight bow. Before he even had time to pack his tools, he dashed toward the campfire.
Starlight watched the young dwarf’s retreating figure and then looked back at the probe standing quietly to the side.
The mottled scratches on the mechanical shell seemed to tell the story of the countless setbacks its owner had faced.
“Heterodox nonsense… is it really? But these things are clearly very useful…” He let out a sigh and followed after him.
...
Since they had no way to distinguish day from night, the group rested for a few hours before resuming their journey along the deep underground tunnel.
Whether it was due to Stark’s adjustments or not, the probe leading the way was running even smoother than before. The searchlight on its head cast a solid beam of light, illuminating the intricate terrain ahead.
As she walked, Maela occasionally pressed her palm against the rock walls to sense the surroundings, hoping to find some useful materials by chance.
Meanwhile, Stark sat atop the probe, constantly using a controller in his hand to adjust their direction and record parameters.
Just as the long trek was beginning to feel tedious, the group arrived at a fork in the road. One of the paths was completely blocked by a massive pile of collapsed boulders, with a cold draft seeping through the gaps in the rubble.
“Huh? That’s strange. Why is it…” Maela was surprised, as there was a special mark she had left on the blocked entrance. Clearly, this was the path they had taken to get here.
Stark pulled out his map, looked at it carefully, and said, “Should we take a detour? We should be able to get through via the other side, though it might take a bit more time.”
Before they could reach a decision, Xia Duo’s brow furrowed slightly, and she made a shushing gesture.
“Shh… there’s something behind this pile of stones…”
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