章 24: The ruins
The day had arrived for the ruins to open. Rebecca wouldn't be attending but Johnny would be. Lucius had already promised Jack to protect him and since the dangers of the ruins were minimal if you were careful and were not reckless, Jack assented. Rebecca and Milly would be arranging the wedding as the prince had relinquished the responsibility to Rebecca. The royal family would be footing the bill and would be arranging who attended the wedding so Rebecca would have to decide on the location, cuisine, seating arrangements and the decorations. Jack and the other colonels were currently at the borderlands, cleansing the Horde. They didn't need to send off their kids as that would be overseen by the Brigadier General, Jamal Gold. The Gold estate was built next to the ruins so the royal family could have complete control over it, so the ruins were at the edge of Gold Heart. The ruins would end at the sea in the north so the capital city was located in the extreme north of the continent as the city walls went along the outside of the ruins and bordered the sea too. When the youths had arrived they were met with Jamal who gave them a communication talisman that would alert him if they needed any assistance. The ruins would be opening at 8 AM as it did every year and it was currently 7:50 AM so they still had 10 minutes before the barrier would open. The barrier was a massive dome that was a bluish white and when the time came a gate would open up.
Since they had 10 minutes to spare, Johnny began pointing out the important faces in the crowd. The most significant of those present was Prince Hugart, he was a somewhat short young man at around 5'4. He had brown skin and black hair. He wasn't even comparable to Lucius' handsomeness but he was slightly better than Johnny. He was layered in lavish clothing that Lucius thought as cumbersome and distasteful. However, the most glaring and obvious symbol of his identity was the plethora of jewellery all over his body, at every conceivable place one could wear jewellery. He had ear rings, nose rings, bracelets, rings, a tiara, anklets and a heavy chain embedded with gems. All of these articles were made of pure gold, signifying his status as royalty since only the royal family could use or wear gold. All of the gold within the extensive reach of the Gold Kingdom was contained within the Gold estate. The Gold mansion was even rumoured to be made of pure gold but no one had been to see it in a century so it couldn't be confirmed. Hugart was surrounded by 14 people, 4 were guards at the Spirit Refining stage and 10 were retainers at the qi condensing stage that were there to take care of his affairs. After the prince was a tall young man who looked to be around 23 to 25 years old, he was white skinned and blonde with green eyes. He was only at the Spirit Gathering stage and his name was Manuel Red, son of Colonel Havier Red. Next was a skinny short man with sharp eyebrows and a hooked nose, he had a conniving and sneaky aura around him, he was around the same age and cultivation as Manuel and his name was Yatir Green, son of Colonel Kamir Green. Lastly was a short fat young man that was sporting a large grin from one big ear to the next, he looked almost like a fat monkey. He was older than the prince but younger than the other 2 at around 21 years of age and he was also at the Spirit Gatherer stage. His name was Kinak Blue, son of Colonel Bravin Blue. The rest of the participants were the sons of Lieutenant Colonels but they weren't worth mentioning.
Soon the clock struck 8 as the barrier started vibrating loudly as a section of the barrier began to fade and a gate sized hole was opened up. The gate was 20m tall and 10m wide. Hugart and his entourage entered the gate first, and then the the Colonels sons went in. Lucius and Johnny followed after and then the Lieutenant Colonels sons trailed after them. Jack had told Johnny what to expect when entering the ruins and so Johnny relayed the information to Lucius. The first thing they saw when they entered was a wide forest. The outer region of the ruins was a large forest that contained beasts that went up to the qi condensation stage. The inner region that was after the outer region, further north, was a large scorching desert that housed even stronger beasts that capped out at Spirit Refiner stage, hence why Hugart had 4 Spirit Refiners as guards. At the edge of the inner region was a flame barrier that barred off the core region and the consequent inheritance within. The flames got more deadly as you went further in, at 100m in Spirit Gatherers would have to tap out. At 150m in Spirit Refiners would be supressed, and at 200m Spirit Condensers were stopped. This was why no one had ever reached the core region as the ruins put a restriction that those above Spirit Condenser could not enter.
Once they had entered Lucius pulled out a compass and walked towards north with Johnny. Lucius' goal was the core region, but of course he would be going alone so Johnny would return after gaining some experience. After all, he was only 12 and could come back when he was older. After a few hours of travelling without finding any beasts the duo chanced upon a tree that was bigger than the rest, it had purplish red wood and the leaves were black. Lucius' face lit up as this was a Tier 2 low grade tree, a purple-wood-pine tree. Lucius had previously slain a wood element goat beast and gained a wood element core and he had been meaning to make a bow with it but he had yet to find a good material for it but now that was solved. The purple wood was an elastic wood with enough power brimming within to be considered a high quality bow material.
Noticing Lucius' smile Johnny thought that the tree was something valuable that Lucius wanted so he immaturely dashed forward to chop it down. As he dashed forward a pair of eyes within a bush was staring at him intently with murderous intent in its eyes. It had just decided on its dinner. Lucius was able to feel the abnormality of the forest as it was too quite around here since normally within a forest you would at least hear crickets or birds but it was eerily silent. After the beast had emitted the murderous intent Lucius was able to see it with his sharp senses and he called out to John as he dashed forward, "BE CAREFUL, JOHN!". As Lucius shouted out, John turned to look at Lucius and that's when the beast pounced out at him. The beast was a black panther at the peak of qi condensation stage and it reached its claws at John intending to tackle him down and bite his neck off. However, before the panther could reach John Lucius conjured 5 ice lances in the air and sent them flying at the beast. Two of the lances missed because it was a rushed attack, but because of Lucius' trained control and his experience from the training tower, he was able to impale the beast in both hind legs and its waist to stop the panther. The panther was sent flying into a tree by the force of the ice lances and broke a few trees in half as it toppled through them. John was shocked motionless as he just stood there. He felt like death was creeping up on him which made him sweat profusely as he cursed himself for his impatience.
Lucius dashed over and conjured an ice blade that he used to cut the panthers neck. He told John to snap out of it and to take watch as he took care of the corpse. John nodded, absent minded, so Lucius decided it would be bad to have him thinking too much to himself after nearly dying. He needed to distract him so he told him to watch and learn as he cut up the panther. The panther was a tier 0 peak rank beast so it didn't have a core but it was a panther so it had sharp fangs and claws that could be used in various artifacts. The pelt of the panther could also make for a good cloak. Lucius had John join in and cut the panther up with him to distract his mind and after they were finally done John had already regained control of his mind and emotions.
After that near death encounter John began to be much more careful and he would wait and ask Lucius for permission before doing something to stay on the safe side. Lucius and John spent 5 days within the outer layer and John had even killed a few beasts that were at the qi gathering and refining stages. Although as a qi refiner himself he was supposed to be weaker than a qi refining beast, with Lucius' guidance and training he was able to sneak attack it and then focus on its weak spots, eventually ending the beast. They amassed a good supply of materials and herbs and ores as they explored. At the end of the fifth day, John returned and exited the ruins as he had already gained valuable experience and didn't want to hold Lucius back anymore as he knew Lucius would now enter the inner region which was out of his scope.
On the morning of the sixth day, Lucius entered the inner region.
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