Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 290 - 224 Painting Fragments "Waste Stone

Chapter 290: Chapter 224 Painting Fragments "Waste Stone

As soon as the glowing footprints that appeared out of nowhere were discovered by everyone, they instantly sped up, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.

Everyone quickly gave chase, some using magic to block the way, others rushing to encircle and cut off the escape.

But the mysterious object that left the footprints was not only incredibly fast, but also seemed to be quite small, and Steeran dove in the direction it had taken only to come up empty-handed!

Just as the footprints were getting further away, an endless tide of plants suddenly burst forth throughout the corridor ahead, in the blink of an eye completely filling it!

"Well done!" Steeran praised: "This will block its path."

But when she turned to see which clever individual had cast the magic, her facial expression froze, and she quietly turned away.

Because it was Lizna who had mustered the big move, still expressionless, but a shade paler, she said: "Dawdle any longer and that thing will escape."

"I wasn’t dawdling," muttered Steeran, quickly making her way into the corridor, the dense vegetation parting to let her through.

In no time at all, she returned grasping a silver bug that struggled ceaselessly in her hand.

[Dung beetle (Invisibility version)]

As designed by Gong Qiying, it would hang from the ceiling of the corridor right outside the third Spade room and swiftly slip away when an adventurer opened the Spade Door, leaving behind only a faint trail of footprints as a clue.

Judging from the actual results, if Vienma hadn’t spotted it, the others could have searched here until death and still not find the dung beetle. Small and swift, no wonder Gapar and his group hadn’t noticed it either.

Lizna’s magic was a huge help; without those plants blocking its way, the dung beetle was about to burrow into a pile of Monsters and would have needed to do so three or four times before slowing down.

Initially, Gong Qiying had considered replacing the dung beetle with the magical creature "Sniff-sniff," but after some thought, he decided he didn’t want to see the cute little animal killed, so the fate of the dung beetle didn’t matter much—who would cook a dung beetle, anyway?

"What should we do with this thing?"

The moment the question was posed, the dung beetle quivered and died.

Steeran blinked her eyes, innocently saying, "I swear I did nothing."

"It doesn’t matter." Vienma shook her head, for upon the dung beetle’s death, it turned into ashes, and from those ashes fell a purple light point, which turned out to be the red heart key.

This group of Elves were the first adventurers to discover the red heart key.

"It’s tough to catch up with this bug in an emergency, you have to kill it to get the key... the flavor is so right, this is a genuine Sain Dungeon design."

As Steeran expressed her thoughts, she went to open the red heart door, whether her words were genuine or sarcastic was anyone’s guess.

"Crack—"

"Eh?"

The lock was clearly undone, but why couldn’t they pull the door open?

No, it wasn’t that they couldn’t pull; there was a force inside resisting their attempt to open it!

"Sister, you should really work on that weak strength of yours, let me try." Merca said with a laugh as she took hold of the door handle.

"Eh!?" She showed a look of surprise, struggling with all her might but unable to budge the door.

"Let me give it a shot," declared the cool Elf guy, full of confidence, but after a few seconds, his face showed complete confusion.

Seeing the three strongest members of their team defeated, Lizna tilted her head and, out of curiosity, grabbed the door handle.

With a "creak," the door opened easily.

"Whoa!"

The Elves boiled over in excitement; who would have thought that the slender Lizna could effortlessly open a door that Steeran couldn’t?

"Are you sure you’re not hiding some monster strength?"

Lizna cocked her head, clueless; she really had just lightly pulled and the door opened—why couldn’t the others do it?

Could it be that I’m actually a hidden powerhouse?

She raised her thin arm, trying to flex a muscle, but how could such a weak person be a powerful warrior?

No, it had nothing to do with strength; surely Lizna possessed some condition the others did not.

Vienma thought so, but since the door was now open, the reason could wait; now was the time to gather information.

"Star Magic..."

The moment she touched the Luminous Stone Magic Gravel, she realized that Star Magic aligned with her principles, and she was determined to devour all related knowledge in this academy!

After having checked the two wall paintings and seen the Magician’s Ball, she realized that this type of Monster contained an extremely pure form of Luminous Stone, indicative of a deeper level of Star Magic, akin to the "evolution" of the Mages who lingered in the classroom area, not to mention those luminous stone masks...

Therefore, she cautiously hypothesized that the Magician’s Ball was transformed from a Mage who studied Star Magic!

This was just a subjective guess, so she did not explain it to the other Elves, in case she was wrong and it would backfire on her.

Vienma thought, since the Spade room had revealed the origins of Reyalucaria Magic Academy and the suspected evolution of Mages, the red heart room should then explain why this phenomenon occurred, right?

With such expectations, she looked inside the room but—

"A portrait?" The others voiced her inner doubts.

A portrait larger than those hanging in the corridor was placed directly opposite the doorway.

It depicted a man dressed in a plain Magician’s Robe, who, no matter how you looked at him, was unremarkable. His facial features were ordinary, his gaze was kind but shifty, like a good-natured person with little self-confidence, the type that’s usually bullied.

The one thing that stood out was his bald head.

In the outside world, even the most unkempt Magician took care of their appearance; baldness was indeed uncommon.

But who was this?

His name wasn’t provided nearby, perhaps like the portraits outside, his life story was written on the back of the painting?

Vienma walked over, intending to remove it, but stopped a few steps shy of touching it when she realized there was an invisible Protective Shield blocking her advance.

With the existence of this protective shield, no foreigner could touch this portrait.

It inevitably led to speculation about who this man was and why his painting was hung separately here. If, like the others in the portraits outside, he made significant contributions to the academy, why not hang his painting alongside theirs?

"To pay tribute to my mentor"

Suddenly, a line of text appeared before her eyes.

Mentor? Indeed, this person was also a mentor of the Magic Academy.

Along with the text emerged a spiritual body.

This spiritual body, donning unfamiliar armor, irresistibly reminded one of the White Wolf, holding a plain magic wand in his left hand and a Great Sword emitting a moonlike glow in his right, as it nodded slightly in respect to the bald magician’s portrait.

This text must be his legacy, indicating he was a student of this magician.

Although only in spiritual form, Vienma sharply sensed—this person was very strong, incredibly strong, strong enough to kill her in an instant!

She couldn’t help stepping back, only to realize everyone was staring at her.

"Ahem." Vienma turned her head away as if nothing had happened, now looking at the portrait with respect.

To be revered as a mentor by an unknown powerful being, he must have been a Magic Master.

Thinking this, Vienma felt a twinge of envy, considering that with such a strong student, the mentor could enjoy a lifetime of glory and wealth, carefree and happy.

As the spiritual body dissipated, new text appeared.

"Offer Lunes, just ten Lunes"

What were Lunes?

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, and at that moment, Steeran suddenly took out an object from her belt pouch that resembled a coin, its shape not fixed and emitting a faint golden light, saying, "Maybe it’s this one?"

"Golden Lune (1)" It was an item she and Leon had found while exploring the academy; everyone had received one.

"Let’s try it," Vienma nodded.

Steeran placed the Golden Lune outside the protective shield, and a flash of light quickly passed by, only to see that where the Lune had been, there was now a purple light point.

Could it be possible to exchange for a purple item?!

She quickly picked up the light point, but was momentarily stunned when she saw what it was.

"Painting Fragment ’Waste Stone’•Part One"

"A fragment of a painting chronicling the life of a magician calling himself ’Topps’ Waste Stone’, offering a glimpse into a corner of a dilapidated chapel, where he first met his student."

"Collecting all the painting fragments might allow for the story of yesteryears to be recreated in the Painting World."

New painting fragments?!

This was the third one discovered after the Wolf Knight and Hawkwood!

Steeran took some time to explain to everyone what the painting fragments were, and subsequently, they understood the value of these items.

"It should fetch a pretty price," Merca’s eyes gleamed.

"Is your hollow brain propped up by copper coins?" Lizna retorted, and the two began to spar verbally.

"Where can we collect the rest of the fragments?" Vienma asked.

Steeran shook her head; the appearance of painting fragments was random, and no one knew if a light point on the roadside might turn out to be a fragment. In other words, collecting them all depended on luck and time.

Vienma nodded, unbothered by disappointment. Elves may not always have good luck, but they certainly didn’t lack time.

Although the red heart room didn’t hide the Star Magic secret, a mysterious Magic Master was enough to arouse her interest.

She began to fancy living in Bed City or perhaps even by Lake Lienia until luck and time brought the remaining fragments.

Plus, so the Magic Master’s name was Topps? Why would he call himself Waste Stone?

A new curiosity arose in her mind.

At this point, all the secret rooms in the magic classroom area had been explored, and the puzzles laid bare to everyone had been solved, leaving only the smaller pieces of the puzzle waiting for other adventurers to conquer.

People’s enthusiasm and the speed of their progress were quite high; how long had the new area been open? Less than two weeks, right?

It felt like once the adventurers got used to the different rules of the Val Underworld, they could conquer the first thematic level in two months.

The elves didn’t stay in the classroom area; they went straight to the seal, where Mugram guarding the seal caused them some trouble.

Nearly every elf could perform magic, which provided Mugram with an endless supply of Magic Radiant Swords for his "Calia Return," even overwhelming him with firepower!

But thanks to Steeran, who had studied the strategies written by Lulu and others, they won the battle after a hard fight.

Touch the seal, a glimmer of light, teleport.

She could almost smell the moist air of Lake Lienia; although there were many places here that left her with psychological shadows, the scenery was beautiful.

She looked forward to seeing what expressions the Elf Clan would have when they saw the Lake District, maybe even exclaim in delight.

After waiting for a long minute in darkness, Steeran opened her eyes, only to find—

"Where did everyone go?"

Before her burned a huge bonfire, and she was the only one to appear in... Academy Gate Town!

Why here?

At the same time, the elves who had been carelessly dropped in a corner of the Lake District were equally confused.

"Where did Steeran go?"

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