Chapter 248 - Shadow Gap

Chapter 248: Chapter 61 Shadow Gap
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
The most important part of a plant was its roots.
Many old trees with their trunks cut off, would still be able to sprout in the end. But if there were something wrong with their roots, they would not be able to live for long. This was true for the mutated plants in the Overseas Islands. Whether it was a man-eating flower or a man-eating tree, or other mutated plants that were not well known, their core weakness was their roots. Even if the things on the surface of the ground were cut off, they would still regrow within a short amount of time.
When plants have mutated to this extent, they were almost like animals!
Although they did not have the intelligence of animals, they would have relied on their original instincts. This area should be one of the places left ravaged by the disaster previously.
With Soran’s current strength, it would not be a big problem for him to deal with these things, but this place was simply too weird. He didn’t want to venture in too deeply. It was better to leave it and have a look next time. He had a lot of things to do currently.


However.
Just as Soran was going to seal this place for the time being, Adele-Isabella seemed to have seen something. She raised her finger and pointed to the other side and said,
Your Excellency, look! There seems to be something there!

What was there?
Soran stopped when he heard her and looked towards that side. He saw a block of gray and black. He walked over carefully, paying attention to the strange old trees nearby, then reached for its corner to hold it up. But he did not pull it out. It seemed that part of it was buried under the ground. In desperation, he could only make a gesture towards the red-haired female pirate at the back, and then the pair dug up the gray and black stone with their weapons at the same time.

It’s Obsidian!

A face of disbelief appeared on Soran’s face. Then he looked at the gray-black stone in his hand. Because of the long-term weathering and the passing of years, they could barely identify this Obsidian. But they could still vaguely identify which part of an architectural sculpture it was, and it should have existed for quite some time.
Obsidian was a very hard and durable ore. If it had been weathered to this extent, it must have lasted for at least thousands of years!
It was a very rare type of ore.
It could be used in many places, but it was the most common and widely used in sculptures. In Soran’s memories, there were only two things.
The first was a Puppet Golem!


The second was a Wizard Tower!!!
Regardless if it was a Puppet Golem or a Wizard’s Tower, this area was a powerful Wizard’s territory a long time ago. There were Obsidian fragments that have been artificially polished here, so it was very likely that there would be something related to Wizards here.
There might even be a Wizard Tower!
Thinking of this, Soran’s breathing quickened. Even if it was a broken Wizard Tower that had lasted for thousands of years, he was still tempted. Even if all the functions were destroyed, many of the things stored in it would be of unimaginable value. And if Soran’s guess was right, it might have been an ancient relic left behind from the period of the Arcane Empire. Within it, there might have been information and spells that were left behind during the Arcane Empire, and their value was priceless.

Let’s go in and take a look!

Soran, who was going to leave, still prepared to go in and explore a little. He turned and told the red-haired female pirate behind him:
Be careful of the surroundings. We should try not to disturb these plants. They look like they are asleep.

By this time, it was already a little dark.
Soran looked up at the sky, then made a hand gesture to Adele-Isabella, who was beside her. They separated and went around from the side. There were many strange trees, flowers, and plants around. They looked very big, a little like an ancient untouched forest. Occasionally, when they brushed against some leaves, the entire plant would move a little. But it seemed to have not attacked them. These strange plants seemed to only attack nearby creatures when they were attacked or needed to eat.
This was very similar to the fact that beasts were not aggressive if they were full!
Their field of vision slowly widened.


Soran saw a large purple flower. He frowned and looked at it and murmured:
Mandalas? No! It only looks like it!

He looked back at the red-haired female pirate and said in a deep voice:
Be careful. Let’s skirt around!

This place did not seem like it was naturally grown.
Instead, it was like it was raised artificially in the past and for some reason, had survived till the present. There were strange flower seeds on the ground that seemed like there were left behind by this sort of plant. But most of them did not germinate, because the land could not support so many plants. Some of the seeds have been damaged and disappeared, but some of them were still preserved. Soran felt that the plants were dangerous—it was the intuition of an experienced Rogue, so he didn’t touch them.
Many of the plants here seemed like they were alive as well!
After skirting around these strange flowers, there were some broken building silhouettes in front. Because the weathering was too strong, and there were all sorts of strange vegetation growing around it. It was impossible to judge what it was with Soran’s experience. He could not even find an entrance to the building in front of him, much less judge the situation from the outside. Not all the underground remains would leave you an entrance or have even made a tunnel to let you explore.
In more prestigious or ancient places, many underground remains would not even leave you a hole.
What should they do at that time then?
Dig!
Use your hands to dig by yourself!


They needed to dig out an entrance or a tunnel. This was how high-end Adventurer teams often dug them out. Many sunken cities in the desert would easily collapse into quicksand. In those days, how many of them had dug in the same way to find treasures. When Soran saw the surface of the ruins had not left him a hole, he knew that today’s exploration could only stop there. This building had sunk to the ground completely. It was filled with seawater. In any case, many things might have happened.
They should not enter now!
Soran would need to make a passage and arrange for a tunnel that could be entered by a team.
He stood in place and observed for a while.
He was prepared to memorize the surrounding environment. There were some iconic features. It was at this time, the red-haired female pirate suddenly said:
Your Excellency! Look at the corner of that wall. It seems that something is wrong!

What a strong Detect ability!?
Soran looked surprisingly at the red-haired female pirate beside him and then moved towards the wall. He did not know whether this woman’s intuition was that good or was her basic abilities that strong. She seemed to be a little better than him at discovering things. In front of Soran’s eyes was a plant that looked a little like a Lantern plant. He dared not get too close. He circled far behind and saw a strange gray crack.

Dimensional gap!?

Soran’s expression was a little surprised. He took a look at it and murmured:
Shadow Plane?! The buildings here are also connected with Shadow Plane? It seems to be a permanent and materialized plane gap! Did the owners of this place in the past manage to fix a permanent teleportation channel?

Shadow Plane.


The non-material plane that Soran was most familiar with.
He only glanced at the dimensional crack in front of him and had roughly finished guessing its general uses and reasons for it. He was sure that he was more than 90% right.
This was not arrogance, but his confidence!
He used to travel through Shadow Planes too many times, and he lived in a Shadow Plane for quite some time too.

Let’s go.

Soran looked up at the sky and slowly said,
Let’s come back next time. It’s too dangerous to just enter now.

Shadow Plane should not be brashly entered.
There might be some ancient and dangerous creatures lurking inside. When one moved in the Shadow Plane, they might encounter monsters with challenge ratings above level 3 at any time. Furthermore, the difference between a quasi-legendary’s life force and legendary monster’s was quite large, far larger than on the material plane. And there were Shadow Dragons in many places!
The pair retreated carefully, and at this time, the camp was almost finished.
Although it was very simple at present, it had only been one day. Soran had not imposed any requirements either. What he found in the strange jungle today was the main consideration Soran. The slaves were driven together by the pirates. Having worked for half a day, they should have received some food by now. Although it was very coarse and shoddy, it could at least fill their stomachs. Soran was not a miser either. If they did not feed their slaves, they would not have the strength to work. That was a simple fact.
The night passed quickly.
Just when Soran woke up and was preparing on how to explore that strange place, the half-elf first mate had an ugly expression while he came in quickly. He reported:
Your Excellency! Three slaves tried to escape last night!

What!?
Soran’s face was instantly livid.
The half-elf first mate noticed his expression and quickly replied:
Two of them had been caught as they were running out. The other one escaped into the jungle. I’ve already sent someone to catch him.


All those who have escaped were indigenous people!


Your Excellency, I suggest that these indigenous people should be chained to work. They are much more disobedient than other slaves!

Soran’s face was very gloomy.
After hearing the words of the half-elf first mate, he shook his head gently, then said coldly:
No need! Send my order, have them prepare two crosses. Nail two runaway slaves to death on them. Then, have the crosses be erected where the slaves are working.

After hearing the order, the half-elf first mate immediately nodded:
Yes! Your Excellency!


I’ll do it right away.

They were all pirates.
Pirates were not kind. They had to let these slaves understand the meaning of reverence!