Chapter 116 (1/2)

Chapter 116Ch. 116: Exploring after Arrival

As Dia had guessed, the group reached the ruins at dawn.

It was a bunch of stone foundations that looked like they had been some sort of manmade buildings in the middle of the plains, and to Loren and Lapis, it didn’t look like a place to make a base of operation.

“Is this the place?”

Dia was the only one who knew the exact location, and all Loren and Lapis did was follow her, so they had no idea if their current location was their destination.

“This is the place, no doubt.”

Dia responded with confidence.

There weren’t any noticeable ruins, so Loren couldn’t help but think they were in the wrong place.

“There’s nothing here, though.”

He had heard that the destination itself didn’t always become a base, so the state of their destination didn’t bother him much, and it that case there would be something that would guide them to the actual location of the future base, but with nothing there, Loren was starting to get worried if they were in the right place.

“It appears that searching for what we need is part of the exam as well.”

“Searching, huh…”

All that was around them was rocks and dirt.

The place looked like it had been abandoned for years, and with everything crumbled down, it seemed impossible to find anything.

He thought of the possibility of it being buried underground, but then it would mean digging through the whole area, which they didn’t have enough people to do so.

“Of course, we’re going to investigate first. Digging without thinking will take too much time.”

As Loren made a tired face, Dia scolded him as she snapped her thin fingers.

The sound was so small, Loren only heard it because he was talking with Dia, while Lapis, who was looking around, couldn’t hear it.

“It seems like this place could be used as a base by itself. There’s a large space underground.”

“You could tell with just that?”

As Lapis asked Dia, sounding impressed, Dia puffed out her chest and said to her.

“It’s a spell for probing underground or whatever’s around you by letting off a small soundwave and enlarging it with magic. It’s quite useful so I won’t mind teaching…well, you’re a priestess, no?”

“Yes, unfortunately.”

Priests in general couldn’t use magic.

It wasn’t that they didn’t have the ability to, but since they served their own gods and learned Divine Arts, the general mindset was that they didn’t have the time to hone other skills.

Dia thought that Lapis, who could use both Divine Arts and magic at a high level because of her natural abilities, if a spell that a vampire had developed was added to that, her abilities might overflow.

The only one who knew what exactly would happen was Lapis herself, but since she immediately gave up on the thought, Loren guessed that Dia wasn’t wrong, but the words that came after changed his mind immediately.

“It seems quite dull, anyway.”

Loren wondered if her standard for learning spells was based on how flashy it was, but since it was Lapis’ abilities they were talking about, he wasn’t going to say anything about it.

“Well, there should be an entrance that leads below somewhere.”

As Dia started to search around the area, Loren and Lapis just followed her.

It was because since they had managed to make it here, they didn’t want to be wandering around alone and then be ambushed or anything of the sort.

Although they didn’t see any enemies around them, it didn’t hurt to be cautious, and since Dia was immersed in trying to find the entrance, they had to keep watch for any possible dangers in her stead.

“There’s nowhere to hide anything, isn’t there?”

Dia, who had walked aimlessly around the area for a while, still couldn’t find anything, with time passing by.

Loren wasn’t experienced at all when it came to these things, so there was no advice he could give to Dia, while Lapis was keeping watch around them, uninterested in what Dia was doing.

“It’s hard to think that there’s anything meaningful placed in the space below. So, looking for the entrance must be the end of the test.”

“Your magic abilities are greater than your master’s no? Can’t you just find it already?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. No matter the difference in magic abilities, of course the one who hid it has the advantage here.”

It would’ve been easier if it was in a smaller, limited space, but Dia was looking for a wide space somewhere in the middle of the ruins.

And since they didn’t know what it was exactly and how it was hidden, there was more to investigate, and there was no way they could find it immediately.

“I guess we’ll just have to take step by step and look for it.”

“Sounds like it’ll take a while. You think we’ll find it before our lifespan ends?”

“If it took that long I’ll have failed the test already.”

“We should still look to be here one or two days.”

Dia bared her teeth slightly at Loren’s sarcasm.

At Lapis’ words, the two of them looked at her.

“What we’re looking for might not be confined to one exact location, or it might only be here at a certain point in the day.”

“So, you’re saying that it might not be here depending on the time?”