Chapter 51 107 Points

Edith didn't dwell on the cage for too long. She walked into the door that led out of the cage and looked inside.

Many bone cages were stacked in that small room. Although they were already tattered, one could still see the splendor of its most prosperous period. With so many cages, one could not tell how many slaves or wild beasts they could hold.

"It should be the bones of a magical beast called the Hollow Bone Beast."

Tuttle finally remembered the name of the monster. "The bones have many gaps in between, but they are extremely tough. They are often used as materials for prisons or cages."

"But this thing can be destroyed with a blasting spell," Amy interrupted. "It's not solid at all."

"Because it was a common material before the establishment of the kingdom, but not now." Tuttle sighed, "It seems that I haven't seen the existence of hollow bone beasts for many years. I have only seen them in the material display room."

"Then the ruins here are at least two hundred years old."

Edith lowered her head to study it. The bones were brittle and turned into powder with a little force. She frowned, "This shouldn't be the case."

"This kind of bones has many pores, so it's easy for color to penetrate. If they were slaves, they shouldn't be so clean now."

Even if you haven't been injured, staying in one place for a long time will cause sores on your body, which will bleed if you rub them lightly. It's impossible for them to be so clean.

"What's that about?"

Mu Lin poked his head out, frowned and thought for a while: "It looks a bit like a container for high-end wine."

Edith: “Wine?”

She lowered her head to examine the pile of shattered bones, and unexpectedly found a few shiny fragments. "It is true - but why is the wine stored in a cage with so many gaps?"

"Cheap beer is usually brewed in wooden barrels and stored directly in wooden barrels. They are not afraid of being dropped or hit, so they can be piled directly in the corner." Nowadays, most hotels reserve one floor for taverns, and so does Mulin's family. "But wine is mostly stored in crystal bottles, which are placed vertically. It's okay when it's full, but once a few bottles are taken away, the gaps in the box are left and it's easy to kick it over and smash it. If it's laid flat, it's easy to roll around. My parents would use some special cages to store them."

"The gaps in the cage are just big enough to hold the bottles. Once the first row is in place, the bottles behind can be placed layer by layer along the grooves. They are firmly locked in place and will not break easily if bumped."

Edith nodded thoughtfully.

This makes sense, but why should the cage containing the wine be rolled to the middle of the venue?

The people who had gone out to check just came back at this time. There were no other traces of interest in the Colosseum, so Edith could only pick up some debris and pack them up, then unpack a few bones and put them into the package, and then go explore other venues.

The most urgent thing is to leave here.

After leaving the Colosseum, everyone split up to investigate again. Edith walked along the river and dug up a lot of miscellaneous herbs.

She and Xia Zhi split up, and the two groups found joy in the midst of hardship - although they only had one life, at least their grades were preserved.

It was hard to tell time underground, but luckily everyone had a watch and agreed to meet at 10 p.m. Everyone piled the food together, made careful plans, and prepared to stay for a long time.

The bonfire was lit, and everyone gathered together what they had collected and observed it against the light.

There are actually three altars in the entire underground town. Apart from the damaged one by the river, there is one inside the church, and the last one is in a house that doesn’t look special.

Each altar was surrounded by three pillars with magic circles engraved on them. They were drawn exactly by everyone and stacked neatly in front of Edith.

Edith: “…”

It turns out that if you cannot demonstrate your abilities at work, you will face a huge workload.

She took a quick look, picked out the ones she had clearly never seen before and gave them to Amy, then lowered her head to recall the patterns that were stored in her mind.

"This should be a magic circle to control the temperature." Edith picked up the first piece of paper. "It's cold underground, and it's hard to ventilate with fire. The only way to keep warm is to use a magic circle."

"The second illumination magic circle. It is said that the residents in the past regarded the light emitted from it as a 'descent of God' and used it to worship."

"The third one..."

They were all arrays that met basic living needs, and there was no teleportation array that Edith wanted. She looked in the direction of Amy with some disappointment, and she shook her head, told him the two she knew, and spread the rest on the ground.

Unfortunately, no one else present recognized him.

"I've had enough!" A boy from Xia Zhi's team suddenly burst out. As if he felt that there was no hope of leaving, he took the initiative to give up his qualification to participate in the competition and tore open the scroll issued by the academy. "I hate closed environments. I'm leaving first."

Xia Zhi's expression changed: "Hansen!"

If all the team members leave the cave, they will be directly judged as failure. Edith's team will never leave in this way. As teammates of Joe, the instigator, they should help here until the end.

How can you just leave!

The boy didn't seem to want to explain anything. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them and looked around happily.

——It’s still the same scene.

He stood there in a daze, while Edith sighed.

"The worst possibility still happened."

She had expected it—had guessed it when Joe had said they "would be forgotten."

How could they be given such an easy way out?

"At least we can rule out some of them." Edith patted Hansen's trembling shoulders and comforted him. There were still three magic arrays left whose functions were unknown. As long as we checked them one by one and did some research, we would always find the right one.

......

the next day.

After a night's rest, everyone's mental state improved significantly. Edith felt her mind was clear and she finally had the energy to carefully study the remaining magic circles.

She picked up the piece of paper at the bottom.

"Do you think... this is a bit similar to the magic circle in the river?"

Everyone came over and nodded. Although the characters on it were unrecognizable, the layout and size of each piece were similar to the teleportation array, with only a few patterns being significantly different.

"Where is this magic circle? I want to see it myself."

"It's on the altar post in that house," Tuttle said. "I'll take you there."

Amy and Xia Zhi, as the most skilled in magic array among the remaining people, also followed and walked deeper into the town. Some of the remaining people dispersed to continue the inspection, while others stayed by the "skylight" waiting for someone to pass by.

"How many points are we up to?" Bell stomped his feet twice, brushed the dust to the outside, and sat down next to Mullin.

Mu Lin was reviewing the task materials at hand and immediately answered: "107 points."

There are 9 different materials, and 17 duplicates left. The total number is astonishing.

If you can get out on time within three days, you will definitely be able to advance directly.

"It's a blessing in disguise." Bell shrugged and sat down without caring about his image. Seeing this, Mu Lin also quietly spread her legs.

Finally I feel comfortable.

Freeing herself from the etiquette, her body muscles relaxed immediately. Even though she was in the ancient ruins full of dangers, she felt a more relaxed atmosphere than in the academy.

"Why are you standing so far away? Come and sit down." Bell rolled his eyes and waved to Lynch who was standing alone. "What? Are you jealous of Amy and Tuttle following Edith?"

"If you're jealous, then learn to be good. Stop holding on to that dead sword of yours all day long. You can't even chase a girl."

Lin Qi had never heard such direct words. His face turned pale and his brain froze, and he stood there in a daze.

Mu Lin also covered her mouth in surprise: "Lynch likes Edith?"

Wow, no wonder he's always hanging around Edith's seat!

Bell's words were somewhat implicit, but Mullin's words were as direct as a cannonball and hit Lynch's heart. He didn't notice that his ears were turning red, and he just stuttered to explain: "I, I——"

"Forget it, don't force him." Bell sighed, "It's really hard for a man who has been taught since childhood that 'you have a fiancée' to have the idea of ​​free love."

"How stupid! You should just wait patiently for your father to arrange a marriage for you."

Lynch's face dimmed again in an instant.

His hand unconsciously clenched the hilt of the sword, pressing it until all the blood disappeared and his nails turned pale. Finally, Bell couldn't bear it anymore and reached out to pull his hand off.

"Um... I'll go check out the skylight over there." Mu Lin stood up and left tactfully. Lynch finally took a step forward, sat down next to Bell, and spoke after a long silence.

"What about you?"

"Me? My last name is Green now, and I have nothing to do with that old man named Charles." Bell snorted coldly, "But you, don't keep looking at me secretly in the academy. Our eye and hair color match is rare to begin with, and I don't want to be suspected."

Lin Qi slowly stroked his sword, and after a long while he said, "Okay, sister."

......

The other side.

"This house is a bit strange, isn't it?"

Edith listened to the sound of the door and frowned in some surprise. "The doors of other houses are all very rusty. Although this one makes a little friction sound, it is generally smooth."

"Maybe it's been reinforced by some magic." Tuttle said casually, "Look, the altar is right there."

Edith put aside her doubts and walked quickly towards the pattern that looked like a teleportation array. Just like what Tuttle had drawn, Edith still couldn't understand the pattern above, but: "Whatever array it is, just activate it and see."

This kind of reusable magic circle is basically activated by injecting magic power, and a little by replacing disposable materials. Since it is engraved on the pillar, it is most likely the former.

"Let's look for something in the room that might be the activation port first."

Several people quickly searched but found nothing.

The house was too dirty, with dust everywhere, and the slightest movement would blind the eyes. Not everything was found, and no one dared to use spells to clean it, so they could only squint and force themselves to observe.

Just then Edith caught a glimpse of a passing light.

Is there anything shiny in the room?

She approached the bed suspiciously. The light disappeared at this moment, but Edith vaguely remembered its location. She reached out and pushed the bed that was pressed tightly against the wall.

The light reappeared and fell to the ground with a crisp tinkling sound.

Everyone's attention quickly focused on it.

"...Damn it." Edith's face looked very bad, "How could it be this thing!"

She bent down and picked up the squashed bottle.

It was a new product from Duke Eddie's store, a kind of food called "canned food" that was said to be able to be stored for a long time.

It has been less than seven days since it officially entered the market.

......

"Oh my god, oh my god, someone is coming!"

Mu Lin jumped up in surprise and shouted around, "Come back soon!"

Bell and Lynch quickly stood up, went under the skylight, and looked up in the direction Mulin pointed.

"It's the fifth-grade team!" Bell recognized them instantly. "They haven't seen us yet. They must be here to pick herbs."

Lynch stayed where he was, while Mulin and Bell quickly ran to the skylight with the note on it, hoping that the other party would find them after picking the herbs.

Top of the stone cave.

The fifth-grade team finally found the herbs soaked in water. They were so happy that everyone jumped into the water and walked towards this side.

Three identical herbs were pulled out. The leader lowered his head to see if there were any aquatic plants, but unexpectedly found some fuzzy black things.

"Stop first!"

He said sternly, and the people around him immediately stopped what they were doing, and the ripples in the water finally subsided.

He lowered his head and saw the black writing clearly.

"We are...trapped? Can you please help contact the assistance team after you get out?"

The team members had different looks, and the captain was lost in thought. While he was thinking, the paper suddenly moved and disappeared, revealing several faces through the transparent stone slabs.

Mulin and Bell were waving their hands, hoping that the other party could pass on the message.

Even if the assistants have no way, the teachers in the college always have a solution.

The captain paused for a moment after seeing the real person, and then his eyes glanced at the herbs piled at Mulin's feet.

...It seems like there are more than in their group.