Chapter 779: Begging for Moon Tickets – The Secret of Dak Dimon’s Exploration
The imp’s singing still echoed in their ears when the temperature above the valley plummeted to freezing point without any warning.
The group on this side of the valley had yet to react when the flying imp turned into an ice block in the air.
Catherine’s expression changed dramatically, and she hurriedly called out a name.
The person she called responded by clapping their hands together and glaring up at the sky, a forceful invisible power instantly sweeping over to retrieve the ice-encased imp in the air.
However, the ice block showed no signs of falling.
Dak and the others behind Catherine did not show any signs of nervousness.
In the next second, the ice block exploded.
The imp broke free from the ice!
…
Professor Lily shook her head, causing a flurry of ice crystals to fall.
She then leaned forward slightly and flew downward.
When she was instantly frozen earlier, she had keenly sensed the source of that force.
But after flying down, she looked at the dirty mud with a frown and seemed displeased.
“Why here?”
Lily Professor furrowed her brows and raised one finger.
As mana gathered, the tip of her finger began to glow.
“Go!”
She pointed at the muddy ground below, and a circle of light appeared on the surface, driving away the surrounding mud.
Then she took out a Mana Spirit Card from her bag and summoned, “In the name of Lily Laplace, Mana Summoning — [Illusory Butterfly]!”
As the summoning light gradually brightened, a pink butterfly the size of a palm emerged from the Mana Spirit Card, circled around Lily once, and suddenly burst into smoke, transforming into a small imp with butterfly wings and only half a meter tall, identical to Professor Lily.
This [Illusory Butterfly] giggled twice before flying downward and diving into the ground.
Clearly, it had gained the ability to “penetrate” objects.
…
At the edge of the valley.
Dak stepped forward two paces and just saw the butterfly dive underground.
He pondered, “Could this butterfly-like Mana Spirit also transform?”
After a short while, the [Illusory Butterfly] emerged again from underground, holding a pearl as big as its head in its hands.
The pearl was smooth and round, emitting a cold aura, but no ice crystals formed on its surface.
Lily received the “ice pearl” and pointed to another spot. The [Illusory Butterfly] dived back into the ground and brought out another ice pearl.
Repeating this process, by the time she recalled the [Illusory Butterfly], she had collected twelve “ice pearls.”
These twelve “ice pearls” were originally evenly distributed under the valley. Upon closer inspection, they were precisely located at the twelve points of a hexagram array.
After retrieving all of them, Lily casually waved her hand, making them form a circle and rotate clockwise. She then flicked her fingers, activating their energy with mana.
The twelve “ice pearls” simultaneously glowed and converged toward the center.
“Whoosh—”
A beam of light shot out from the center, hitting the mud.
The area hit by the light was almost instantly frozen.
…
“It seems we’ve found the reason why the Salon was frozen.”
Dak smiled slightly and activated the [Flight Spell], flying downward.
Seeing him approach, Lily immediately turned around and presented the twelve “ice pearls” to him like a treasure.
Dak asked curiously, “There should be some kind of array set up underground, right?”
Lily replied, “That array is only used for detecting enemies and activating these pearls. With these twelve pearls, we can set up new arrays anytime.”
Dak nodded slightly and removed his right glove, reaching out to touch one of the “ice pearls.”
After a moment, he understood, “So, these pearls not only contain ice element energy but also life energy. When those Salon were frozen, this life energy kept them alive.”
Lily said happily, “These pearls are perfect for creating live specimens. I’ll take them back and have Kazel replicate them.”
Then the two of them flew back to the valley and explained everything to the others.
Aurora said her backpack still had room to store them.
But Lily firmly refused, continuing to control the pearls in the air, arranging them in various formations like ‘S’ and ‘B,’ thoroughly enjoying herself.
Later, Catherine sent someone down to the valley to search again.
After confirming there were no more dangers, they reluctantly continued their journey.
When everyone gathered on the other side of the valley, Catherine said solemnly, “From now on, we’re entering uncharted territory. Everyone must be extra cautious and not act recklessly as before!”
But before she finished speaking, she noticed Professor Lily happily flying towards the unknown area ahead.
The twelve “ice pearls” surrounded her like twelve blue lights, illuminating the dim path.
“Hurry! Follow!” Catherine gritted her teeth and sped up.
Dak and the others laughed softly.
…
Two hours later, they stopped in a building resembling a temple to clean the ground and rest temporarily.
Within these two hours, the ninth exploration team experienced the most thrilling moments since entering the temple.
They never imagined underground exploration could be so intense.
Almost all traps were triggered by Professor Lily.
Most were fire and ice traps, but there were also many dark attribute traps.
The first two types seemed normal for the temple, but the latter clearly clashed with the temple’s style, creating a strange atmosphere.
The ninth exploration team members were terrified by the constantly triggered traps, remaining vigilant even during breaks, ready to jump at any sign of movement.
They clearly couldn’t adapt well to Professor Lily’s style.
…
Underground, there was no day or night, but the biological clock told them—mealtime!
Temple exploration wouldn’t last just one day. The ninth team had enough dry rations for thirty people for a week.
But when they saw the Lesser Mayor take out various ingredients from a huge backpack, the dry rations lost their appeal.
Ingredients were limited, and Aurora couldn’t prepare an additional thirty dinners, so she called Catherine to share one meal.
Unexpectedly, Catherine ran over with a bowl full of delicious food, causing chaos in the team.
But after the meal, Aurora seriously called Catherine aside and explained some things.
Then, when Dak and his team set off again, they were already reduced to five members, with the ninth exploration team and Tom and Jerry not joining them.
“We can’t let them remain anxious all the time,” Dak sighed slightly, watching Professor Lily, who remained excited… or rather, always in an excited state.
Although the ninth exploration team members were all elites, having too many made it hard to manage if they continued together.
Moreover, they needed to accelerate!
The deeper they went, the greater the danger. Besides, three of them were Sun (Ice Moon) Elementalists.
Traps specifically targeting Elementalists were clearly more dangerous than regular ones.
Thus, splitting up was better.
It would prevent them from reaching areas they shouldn’t reach.
“Alright, let’s stop here for now.”
Dak clapped his hands, forcibly pulling back Professor Lily, who was flying ahead, and said solemnly, “Now that we’ve delved deep into unknown territory, the danger level will increase. Some imps should behave themselves.”
Lily: “Hehehe!”
Dak: “This temple has obvious traps targeting elementalists. Something must have happened before it was buried underground. Perhaps the path behind us has been eroded by some evil force. But we won’t retreat. Whether to help the Free City eliminate this potential threat or find more statues, we must investigate thoroughly.”
Before he finished speaking, he drew a Mana Card, which was [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes]!
This [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes] naturally possessed consciousness.
Dak’s expression turned serious, and he silently summoned, “In the name of Dak Dimon, Mana Summoning — [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes].”
The light released from the card’s surface condensed in front of everyone, forming a goddess with a cold exterior.
Finding a statue in this temple without a specific route was as difficult as searching for the [Moon Temple] in the academy’s secret passage.
Moreover, he couldn’t extract the eyes from the two statues and use them as positioning tools for the [Greedy Slime II].
Since then, they could only rely on this [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes]!
In fact, ever since refining this Mana Card and awakening its intelligence, Dak had considered using it along with the [Greedy Slime II] to continue searching for new temples in the secret passage, but he never put it into practice.
He didn’t expect the first practical use would be outside the secret passage.
“Sister,” Aurora greeted the [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes] politely.
The [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes] nodded slightly, fully accepting her.
Though they had been traveling together recently, Dak hadn’t expected their relationship to be this close.
Lily immediately approached, staring intently at the [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes], and asked curiously, “Can your Mana Spirit read minds and find paths?”
Dak smiled, “Its divine eye can see the flow of aura, especially sensitive to the flow of divine aura. Once activated, it greatly enhances divine perception. Trust me; if there are statues in the depths of this temple, it will find them.”
The [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes] frowned and said, “I haven’t tried.”
Dak wasn’t concerned, “Then let’s try.”
Everyone looked toward the [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes].
The [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes] lifted her hand, parted her bangs, revealing a vertical crack in her forehead.
She spread her fingers, opening her eyelids to reveal her round purple eyes.
Her [Divine Eye] was already activated!
[Divine Eye] had no cooldown. As long as mana supported it, the [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes] could sustain itself continuously.
Dak remained calm, waiting quietly.
After a moment, the [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes]’s eyes closed, but her third eye remained open, rolling between her eyelids, giving a slightly eerie appearance.
It seemed to be thinking and discerning.
After a while, her eyes opened, and she had a clear direction.
“Did you sense something?” Dak asked excitedly.
The [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes] replied, “Yes, there are three other places with divine aura, but they are extremely weak. Two of them no longer have divine aura flowing out.”
Dak immediately frowned and asked, “Can you sense other auras?”
The [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes] slowly shook her head, “After all, I’m only a one-star Mana Spirit.”
“So, what do we do next?” Dak asked the others.
Lily immediately suggested going straight to the farthest place with the strongest divine aura and still flowing divine aura.
But Aurora thought they should start from the nearest and work their way to the farthest, checking the places where the divine aura had stopped flowing first, to understand what blocked or eliminated the divine aura, and then go to the farthest place.
After careful consideration, Olivia sided with Aurora.
Angrey agreed.
With a vote of three to one, the result was clear.
Dak said, “Let’s go to the nearest place on the left first.”
The [Magical Beast: Goddess of Heartful Eyes] nodded slightly and started leading the way.
But it walked too slowly.
Dak had no choice but to summon a [Magical Beast: Ditto] and order it to [transform] into a [Heavy Armor Rhinoceros], riding it.
This increased their speed.
…
Their choice was quite obvious.
Apart from Lily, Aurora wanted to investigate the cause and uncover the hidden dangers in the temple.
Olivia prioritized Dak’s safety and made the same choice.
Which choice was better could only be determined by the results.
…
With a clear goal, everyone no longer explored aimlessly, moving almost in a straight line, reducing travel time to the limit.
Despite the numerous dangers along the way, with Professor Lily leading and Olivia overseeing the team, they managed to avoid major incidents.
If there were any gains, they were likely only those fragments inscribed with snake pupils.
Dak’s small backpack was already full of fragments, and the rest were stuffed into Aurora’s large backpack.
After more than an hour, they finally reached the first target on the left.
There, a temple stood, though in ruins!
