Chapter 1 Hao Ren's First Visit

Hao Ren stepped into a real magic tower for the first time, but the environment inside wasn't as gloomy and bizarre as he had imagined. In fact, it was like a well-planned, clean, and bright research facility. Each floor of the tower was a data room or laboratory, and the apprentices lived in tidy and orderly dormitories. There was even a dormitory supervisor, an old werewolf lady...

Of course, there were also many things that matched the term "magic," such as the magic lamps floating in mid-air and the alchemical brooms that automatically swept the floor. You could often see faint arcane aberrations wandering around, short-lived and harmless secondary lifeforms that had escaped from the magic tower's energy well. But these things just made the magic tower seem novel and interesting, not weird or scary at all.

"I thought the mages who lived in towers were all gloomy, and the towers were full of cobwebs and years of grease, and even the floors were black," Hao Ren muttered to Becky. "That's how it is in the movies."

"Even the most old-fashioned high tower mages aren't like that," Becky rolled her eyes. "Besides, the association is a fusion of high tower and academy mages, so it can't be gloomy. And this is an academic facility, a place for research. How can you work if it's not bright?"

Aofra was walking next to Hao Ren, so of course she heard their conversation and couldn't help but laugh. "Do you know whose magic tower is the brightest?"

"Whose?" Hao Ren asked casually. "Someone researching holy light?"

Aofra shook her head. "Master Dubay's magic tower. It's been brightly lit for a whole century, and Master Dubay is one of the most outstanding necromancers on the continent."

Hao Ren was dumbfounded. "What?"

Aofra shrugged. "Because surgery needs bright lights, and you need a good eye to check the decay of corpses and bones."

Hao Ren suddenly felt like he had opened the door to a new world and his worldview had been reshaped. Vivian, who wasn't far away, didn't feel surprised at all. "That's normal. The necromancers on Earth work in hospitals. Do you know how powerful the shadowless lamps are there?"

Hao Ren: "... Holy crap, that makes sense!"

Finally, the group was taken to the teleportation hall on the second floor of the tower, which also happened to be the "fracture point" where the magic tower had been drawn into the other dimension. The ceiling of the hall was covered with a shattered sky, and blue magic energy lines crisscrossed in the cracks, maintaining the magic tower's energy integrity. Rudolph clapped his hands to stop the guests from chatting. "Thanks to that accident back then, activating this magic array is cheaper than anywhere else. Now please stand inside the white circle, hold onto your luggage, do not use alchemical items, and do not walk around. There will be a slight dizziness during the teleportation, but..."

With a flash of white light, everyone in the teleportation array disappeared from the hall.

Rudolph shrugged. "But anyway, you've all been teleported away, so you can't protest to me."

A young mage apprentice who was responsible for the daily maintenance of the teleportation array stepped forward to check the condition of the power-supply crystal. After hearing his mentor's words, he couldn't help but mutter, "Mentor, you should be serious sometimes. After all, you're the most..."

Rudolph glanced at his apprentice. "Oh, Seer, you're right. Then let's seriously discuss the issue of finding your sister's underwear in your closet, and discuss your adolescence."

The young apprentice staggered. "Th-this... Mentor, as you know, it's because of the spatial mapping of the seventh-floor dormitory area!"

"Oh, then let's discuss spatial mapping, and bring me your assignment from the other day, and the five-year spellcasting, ten-year simulation workbook."

"... Mentor, I think my adolescence needs your guidance!"

The two mages' academic dispute was temporarily put aside. Hao Ren and the others had already arrived in an instant at the eastern border, thousands of kilometers away from the royal capital. In this easternmost land, bordering the coastline, lay one of the world's most unsettling ancient miracles.

The Sunset Volcano, created by the werewolf magic emperor Sanu'er, another "artificial miracle" on par with the Dragonspine Mountains.

After the white light of teleportation flashed, the group arrived at the Grayrock Fortress, which was only a stone's throw away from the Sunset Mountains. The teleportation point was set up in one of the fortress's watchtowers. Everyone swayed around for a while, feeling dizzy. It seemed that the several civil officials would have to continue swaying for a few more minutes, while Hao Ren and the others, who were strong and sturdy, had already recovered. Lily wagged her tail to regain her balance and muttered with some regret, "It feels just as dizzy as the terminal's teleportation."

The data terminal's voice immediately rang in everyone's minds: "But this machine has strong performance and stable function. Teleporting twenty million light-years at a time is just as dizzy! Can the technology of a cottage factory compare to the technology of the Empire?"

"That's the Sunset Volcano," Aofra nodded to the Grayrock Fortress soldiers who were coming forward to greet them, then motioned for Hao Ren to look into the distance. "A geological spectacle created by another magic emperor."

A wide observation port opened in the rocky outer wall of the room, offering an unobstructed view of the Sunset Volcano in the distance.

On the flat, boulder-strewn wilderness, a massive conical volcano stood abruptly, its size unknown. All that was known was that it almost blotted out the sky from this distance. The volcano was jet-black, like a piece of cooled black iron, and in the distance, one could see the vast, boundless ocean.

About a third of the Sunset Volcano extended into the ocean, and deep underground, part of its obsidian mountain mass was even fused with the continental shelf.

And at the top of this huge black cone, one could see a patch of crimson.

Hao Ren couldn't see the top of the volcano from here, but he could see a mass of fiery red light burning fiercely there. This light even dyed the sky blood-red, making one wonder if even the distant dome was about to be ignited by the red light. There was no lava flowing around the volcano, but even so, that single mass of fiery light was enough to make one feel an unbearable heat coming from the depths of one's soul.

It was as if a sun had fallen into the crater—that was the origin of the name Sunset Volcano.

To be honest, Hao Ren hadn't initially expected that the location of one of the sacred caverns would be so coincidentally in the Sunset Volcano. He was very familiar with this place name. It was a giant creation created by the magic emperor Sanu'er of the ancient era, who used powerful witchcraft to draw power from the depths of the earth. Compared with the already dead Tree of Life and the long-dormant Dragonspine Mountains, the Sunset Volcano had never been extinguished. It still burned fiercely today, as if it possessed an incredible, vigorous "vitality." Therefore, the area around it was sparsely populated, and only an impregnable fortress watched over the awe-inspiring ancient miracle from afar.

He didn't expect that a First Born would also be suppressed underneath it.

But now, after knowing that the second sacred cavern was located under the Sunset Volcano, he seemed to have grasped a certain pattern.

"The location of the third sacred cavern is under the 'Tree of Life'?" Hao Ren looked at Aofra. "Under the Tree of Life created by the elven queen Lorisa of the ancient era?"

As expected, Aofra nodded slowly. "That's right."

Among the many miracles created by ancient magic emperors through human power, the three most magnificent that have been passed down to this day include the Dragonspine Mountains in the west of the kingdom, the Sunset Volcano in the east of the kingdom, and the giant Tree of Life in the south of the kingdom. Holletta is located on the site of the ancient magic empire, so these three relics are all within the kingdom.

They corresponded to the three First Born.

And the ancient magic empire was precisely the "main battlefield" of these three First Born.

All the clues connected logically.

"We have always known the location of the sacred caverns," Archbishop Auben said in a low voice, "but we didn't know the true meaning of the sacred caverns. We thought that the sacred caverns were located under the three 'relics of sin' because the goddess had brought down punishment in these three places, or that the magic emperors had used artificial miracles to challenge the goddess's authority, but the truth is—they are seals used to suppress the First Born."

"The ancient magic emperors were innocent. They didn't commit any blasphemous sins," Hao Ren shook his head. "But I'll explain it to you in detail when we get back. Now let's go take a look at the sleeping First Born. Hopefully, it's sleeping soundly."

(I suddenly realized that there are double votes at the end of this month... Sure enough, it's a tragedy. I knew there was a problem with me not forgetting to ask for votes this month!)