Chapter 113: Arrtefacts and machinery (2/2)

Once the magical energy was condensed enough, it would pass through a set of similiar crystals… Only to end up just as thin as it was before. From that point on, this thinned-out magic would move all the way to the back only to be infused into the heavenly arch which would in turn spew out rapid flux of magic, closing the circle of reaction.

”And that means, the crux of this machine lays in those strange stones,” Layn thought, analyzing the crystals that caught his attention. Then, unable to figure out anything else from just looking, he moved his hand forward, touching the crystal.

”ARGH!” In an instant, Layn's hand was set alight. Not with fire, but with the magical burn of a power too condensed to realistically exist. His fingers were melting, filling his mind with an unbearable pain.

”FUCK!” Layn shouted, backing out from the stones. In a desperate act, he released all the magical energy stored in his cultivation and aura alike, forming a tiny but overwhelmingly powerful spear of condensed magic and firing it away in a random direction.

With all the magic leaving his body, the burn on his fingers instantly stopped. The insanely condensed magic that transferred over to his fingers from when he touched those strange crystals, started to diffuse all over his body.

'Just like expected,' Layn thought while tightening his jaws. As ingenious as it was to allow this ungodly condensed magic to spread out to his entire body rather than containing it in a single part of his flesh, it didn't mean it was easy.

Because while his body stopped melting apart, the excruciating pain of the overwhelming force tearing him from within remained.

”Fuck,  fuck, fuck!” Under the onslaught of the immense pain, Layn could only crash around the place while trying to cope with the pain. 'At least I'm sane enough to steer clear from those stones,' Layn thought while casting a pained glance to the source of his current torture.

Those crystals didn't look all that strange on their own. Just a set of eight, greenish, glass-like structures, each around the size of a man's fist. But the problem with those stones didn't lay in their appearance. Or rather, it wasn't about the first thing one would notice when looking at them.

Once the torture finally came to an end when Layn's body finally managed to rein the insane energy in before assimilating it, the archmage finally could focus his mind on the task at hand. Leaning over the stones, he could finally see what was so puzzling about the color of those stones.

Because those crystals weren't green at all.

”Are they… transparent?” The closer Layn looked, the more mysterious those stones turned out to be. Because just as Layn observed, they didn't have any color on their own. But that gave birth to another question. ”Just what gives them this greenish hue then?”

As much as Layn wanted to figure out the answer to that, there was no way he could do it on the spot. And with every moment he was inside this place,  the chances of his construction site getting overrun by the monsters were growing bigger and bigger.

”I guess that will be it for today's visit,” Layn muttered in disappointment. He came here in hopes of obtaining materials that would allow him to quickly transform the small settlement he had into a magnificent sect where he could teach others the truth about the world.

Yet, even though he made a fair share of mistakes in his scientific career, Layn wasn't stupid enough to risk upsetting such a precise and powerful mechanism in attempts to just get some of its parts!

”Well, I will profit more off it if I learn how it works,” Layn said, finally coming to a decision. But just as he turned around with the intention to leave, a small flash of green light suddenly drew his attention.

It didn't come from the machinery itself, but from somewhere underneath it. Puzzled by the situation, Layn laid down on the floor, trying to find the source of the light.

And then he saw it.

A single, green crystal laid in a small, circular depression underneath the entire machinery above.

And it wasn't connected to the machinery by any way or form.

”I guess I won't need to return empty-handed!” Tom muttered with joy, while his mind frantically attempted to find a way to transport this stone without burning his entire body with its condensed magic.