Chapter 188 Whose Palm Print is This? (1/2)

”Not bad.”

Standing at the foot of the mountain while enjoying the cool cold wind, Joshua looked at the schematic diagram projected by Nostradamus and nodded. ”It looks good. I just don't know what it will be like to build the entire academy. However, I've never expected that you have actually completed the interior design and structure of the academy.”

The old mage smiled. But he did not speak.

In fact, he had given birth to the idea of building a new academy nearly a decade ago. In recent years, he has already completed his own preparations. He could just start the construction of his new academy after finding a suitable site. Let alone the interior design and structure of the academy, after years of feeling bored, he even put different decoration into every single classroom of the academy. There were even a few sets of alternative plans.

At the same time, Moreila was also observing the schematic diagram, also in agreement. ”It is really good. The conditions of the snowy mountains of Nissia and the location are also very suitable to build your academy.”

”This mountain is basically made up of rocks. As long as we do a good job with the foundations and the support points, we can continue to dig deep into the interior of the mountain for more space in the coming days. We do not need to concern ourselves with the expansion of the scale for the academy.” As he was saying, he also came closer and looked at the projection of the diagram more closely, ”The site is far from the Dark Forest. The terrain is also high enough, surrounded only by unmanned ice. The surroundings are not bad as well. This site is truly a location for people to carry out experiments and study at ease… In fact, it seems that the rune factory can also be built around here.”

The old dwarf seemed to have some of his own intentions. He continued to speak, ”Here, we have rivers and lakes. Magic density is just enough. If the academy is being built here, then there will be enough manpower to maintain the factory... Hence, this site is indeed very appropriate.”

After hearing Moreila's proposal, Joshua gave it some thought for a brief moment. He was also convinced that the site was indeed a good choice. After all, the rune factory was only a semi-autonomous magic furnace core and a complete set of production processes. Other than the energy source of the furnace core that needed consideration, the factory would not need much of a space. It could be built anywhere. Being built together with the academy, it would also be possible to rely on the surrounding rivers to build waterwheels, allowing parts of the production process to utilize water power to their advantages.

After all, magic energy was always precious. With other sources of energy and power available at their disposal, it would be better not to waste the usage of magic energy. Not to mention that when the factory had manufactured products in the future, they could use the river water to transport the products downstream, which would be simple and convenient.

After they had roughly finalized the site where they would build the academy, Joshua and others began to discuss the environment around Nissia's snow-capped mountains for a little while. After that, it was time to do some real business.

”Master, do you really want to go into this lake?”

Standing right above the lake that was covered by snow that was located at the foot of the mountain, Ying said with concern, ”I'm not worried about your safety… But what if you accidentally make everything around collapse?”

The girl seemed to have misunderstood her own master.

”The main purpose of exploring this ice lake is merely because I am curious.”

In the meantime, Joshua had already prepared himself and ready to enter the lake with Moreila. Then he shrugged and replied, ”But one of the reason is to survey the surrounding terrain down there—well, you will have to trust your master. I am not a saboteur who slaves on destruction. This time, I'm handling real business. And you'll just have to wait here until we come back.”

After he finished talking, Joshua and Moreila broke the surface layer of the ice lake and dived into the water right before the eyes of Ying and the old mage, and also the others around.

The first thing he felt was a chill that ate through bones.

The temperature of the lake was approximately zero degrees. However, the water would quickly take away the heat from the skin. So practically speaking, one would feel even colder than it should be. The moment when they just went into the water, Joshua noticed that the water of this ice lake was very clear and transparent to the point that there was not even a single trace of any impurity that was visible to naked eye in the water. The water seemed to be carrying a kind of inexplicable power that could sweep dirt and impurities away all the time.

Upon noticing that, Joshua could not help but to feel even more curious now. He started swimming at a speed faster than before.

When he dived to about tens of meters deep down to the lake, the surroundings became dark and opaque. No light seemed to have reached this part of the lake. Everything around him was pitch black. There was not even the slightest sense of life there. There was also no sign of any fish or other living beings. As they continued down towards the bottom of the lake, the lake seemed to be endlessly deep and dark. There was only the soundless stream of water flow gushing against the direction they were heading towards.

The further down they went, the greater the pressure of the water against them had become. When they had made it to the depth of one hundred meters down, there was not even the slightest light and sound in that area. There were only the frosty streams and the endless vigorous undercurrent.

Relying on Life Energy, Joshua could feel that the old dwarf was not far from him, and he was also swimming alongside with Joshua deep into the lake. However, strangely, both of them had already submerged more than a hundred meters into the water. However, they had yet to reach the bottom of the lake. Truthfully, wasn't it just an ordinary lake?

Hidden magic energy was coming from the bottom of the lake one layer after another, disrupting the Combat Aura that surrounded around the two. However, both Joshua and Moreila were Gold-tier warriors after all. Regardless of whether it was the disruption of the water pressure of the lake or the magic energy, they were not really affected much by those.

Although the development of the incident was somewhat unexpected, Joshua still planned to continue to explore. He would dive to the bottom just to find out what's down there. Looking at the actions of the old dwarf, it seemed that he had also made the same choice as Joshua did.

All of a sudden, the two men increased their speed as they were swimming downward, heading towards the deepest part of the lake.

Deep in the lake water, silent as if the place was dead, an ordinary man would have been overwhelmed by fear caused by the unknown factor having known that they had no way to distinguish the directions and bearings in the dark water. However, neither Joshua or the old dwarf were actually affected by that. They had experienced something that was ten times more horrifying than this one. So such an insignificant deep water and the depressive mood in its surroundings had long been put past behind their minds.

Two hundred meters, three hundred meters, four hundred meters… their speed of diving in was getting faster and faster. The pressure in the water was getting denser and denser by the moment as they pushed on. Meanwhile, they had also reached an incredibly deep point of the lake's depth. Initially, they only planned to dive down just to see what was down there. However, they had been unconsciously diving in so deep that they had reached more than five thousand meters below the surface of the lake.

That's unbelievable!

Moreila looked at the deep part of the lake that looked dark as hell with both of his eyes. The color of the deep looked just like the lifeless dark abyss that was dreadful to any living beings. He sighed deeply, and thought, Five hundred meters, this lake is like an endless pit without a bottom…. How can an ordinary lake that is formed from the melting water of the snow be so deep?!

Meanwhile, Joshua was also having the same thought. He observed the surroundings carefully. However, he could not find anything there. Up till this point, both of them had not notice or discover any surging waves of magic energy. The magic crystal vein that the old dwarf had been talking about doesn't seem to exist at all down there.

At this time, they were at approximately six hundred meters below the water level, and there was no telling how deep the lake would go. Meanwhile, Joshua felt very strange about it. According to his feelings, there were not many toxic substances in the lake by the side of a volcano. Logically speaking, this is a fertile spot where living beings can multiply. He could not help but think of the past life about something back at the Lake Baikal. It was also a huge freshwater lake in the snow. Although it was also freezing, there were many fish there. On the contrary, there was nothing, not even the slightest sign of life here in this lake.