Chapter 1098 - 891: Success_2

"Seal his spiritual power before he wakes up."

Two tribe array masters stepped forward quickly, took out several talisman stones engraved with runes from their bosoms, and pressed the stones on the forehead, chest, and wrists of the skinny warlock one after the other.

As soon as the talisman stones embedded in the skin, the weak spiritual power fluctuations within the skinny warlock were completely suppressed, and the magic circulation that had been circulating around him like streams were all dried up in an instant.

The skinny warlock was awakened by a slap. The slap was so heavy that it jerked his head to one side, splitting his mouth into a bloody crack.

He opened his eyes groggily, taking quite some time to adapt to the flickering firelight on the rock wall.

When he saw the few figures standing before him clearly, his heart felt as if it was gripped tightly by an icy hand.

Zaied stood at the forefront, his deep gray pupils looking down at him, while standing behind him was the Level 4 powerhouse carrying the totem pole, as strong as a mountain of flesh, along with several tribe warriors whose names he couldn’t call out.

Zaied raised his hand, a gray energy whip extended from his palm, the tip of the whip slowly swimming in the air like a living creature.

He spoke in a tone so casual it was almost like a chat, asking him what’s his name, which continent of the Wizard Plane he came from, how many accomplices he had, their distribution locations, details of the infiltration route into the mining area, and any backup plans.

The skinny warlock clenched his teeth tightly, desperately trying to mobilize his spiritual power to activate the Divine Revelation Mark.

But the next second, his face turned completely white; the white talisman stones embedded in his forehead, chest, and wrists locked his spiritual power firmly like seals, and the Divine Revelation Mark showed no response.

Zaied looked at his futile struggle and just shook his head slightly.

The gray whip fell sharply, the tip cutting open his armor like a blade, leaving a bloodstain deep enough to see the bone on his chest.

The skinny warlock let out an uncontrollable scream, his whole body convulsed violently several times.

Zaied didn’t give him a chance to catch his breath. In the next long period of time, the screams from deep within the mining tunnels hardly ceased, occasionally mingled with intermittent and vague answers.

The skinny warlock eventually confessed everything he knew, the origins of their group, the general plan for infiltrating the mining area, the distribution method of retreat routes, and the existence of Rodrick, their demigod-level leader.

Zaied threw the skinny warlock to the tribe warriors behind him, preparing to continue the interrogation, when suddenly a rush of footsteps came from the direction of the mine entrance.

A Stone Hammer Tribe scout covered in rock dust stumbled in, kneeling on one knee on the gravel ground, his voice urgent and hoarse: "Clan Leader, something happened to Vein Three! The entire rich area has collapsed; the patrol just reached the scene and found that the ore embedded in the rock wall was all emptied, leaving only gray-white residue. The collapse method is identical to last time, even the tail residue’s texture is exactly the same!"

Zaied’s deep gray pupils suddenly contracted. He turned around, walked a few steps to the edge of the mine shaft, and hoisted the scout from the ground, his voice still calm, but causing chills among everyone present: "When was it discovered? Did anyone see who did it?"

The scout was trembling under his gaze, his voice starting to quaver: "Just now, noticed when the patrol shift changed. There are no signs of intrusion in the mine shaft, the guards weren’t knocked out, and the rune alert wasn’t triggered, but all the ores are gone. Our people searched the entire collapsed area and found not a single trace of anyone."

Zaied released his hold slowly, turning around, his deep gray eyes falling once more on the skinny warlock.

This time his gaze was no longer calm but as if two icy spears intended to pierce through the warlock completely.

He raised his hand, gray energy again condensed into a long whip, the tip moving slowly in the air, emitting barely audible hissing sounds.

His voice pressed lower than before, so low that only the skinny warlock could hear, yet that chill was even more piercing than ever: "In the accomplices’ count and plan route you confessed earlier, none of them headed toward Vein Three. Vein Three is not on your planned route. This means there are still undisclosed companions hidden elsewhere in the mining area, or –– you have been lying to me from the start."

The skinny warlock shook his head frantically, the color on his face vanishing rapidly within a short moment.

He opened his mouth to argue but only managed a few incoherent whimpers because he himself didn’t even know what happened to Vein Three.

The route he confessed and the accomplices’ count were true, but he also didn’t understand why another mine area was looted simultaneously.

Zaied was not interested in hearing further defenses from a captive that had nothing more to extract, and the gray whip fell again, the mining tunnel’s screams resounded once more.

...

Duke flew for almost half a day across the Gobi Desert, away from the mining area, before finally finding a suitable hiding spot deep within a wind-eroded pillar formation.

This rock column cluster had been sculpted into bizarre shapes by wind and sand over millennia, forming numerous natural cavities and hidden chambers between the columns.

He chose a hidden cavity wedged between two giant rock columns, setting up a witch array with alert and soundproofing barriers at the entrance, then activated the Light God Court entrance, and disappeared into the crevice.

Duke stood by the Spring of Life, his gaze resting on the World Tree which had grown to his chest height at the center of the spring.

The slender trunk stood upright, the gray-brown bark showing extremely fine natural patterns, three long branches spanned out from the upper stem, each branch was adorned with thumb-sized green leaflets, the leaf veins coursing with pale golden light threads several times denser than before, each pulse stirred extremely fine wave ripples on the leaf surface.

The roots spread from the base of the trunk, permeating into the soil beneath the spring, encompassing the entire spring bottom into a network of pale golden roots.

Beside the sapling, the statue seized from Victor still consistently released vibrant green life energy, but now this energy was just a trickle for the World Tree that had matured into a small tree.

He walked under the tree, pressing his hand onto the trunk.

The bark felt warm and smooth, through the palm he could distinctly sense the abundant and gentle life energy inside the trunk, pulsing with a slow yet vigorous rhythm, each pulse prompted the small tree’s leaves to tremble lightly.

He sunk his consciousness into the spiritual sea, opened the skill tree interface, points had surged by another ten million, the total halted at a height that surprised even himself.

[Life Rules: LV2 (16874/20000)]

The progress bar in green was nearing the end of LV2, a little over three thousand proficiency away from LV3.

This time, the Philosopher’s Stone from Vein Three was not as high in quality as the main vein, but it compensated with quantity, the rule enlightenment feedback from the World Tree absorption was still considerable.

Duke sat down against the World Tree’s trunk, feeling the gentle life energy seeping from the trunk saturating his back muscles and bones.

The pale golden threads on the green branch in his spiritual sea were still extending slowly yet steadily, each extension pushed his understanding of the Life Rules deeper.

He revisited the current situation in his mind.

The points surged, the vein was looted, the tribe’s joint defense forces surely already on full alert.

Rodrick’s people drew adequate attention for him, attempting to continue mining theft on the second level again now was far riskier than before.

But the rewards were already substantial, lingering further might get those Level 4 powerhouses on his trail.

Considering cautiously, the next step might be to head toward the third level.

However, abandoning these Philosopher’s Stone veins still felt somewhat regrettable due to their immense usefulness.