Chapter 710: Chapter 354: The "Protagonist" Jason?
Jason?!
Ronan frowned, took out another communication tool resembling a black bat from his space ring. No messages came through, and he tried to contact Jason on the other end, but there was no response.
The black bat that delivered the ring started struggling in Ronan’s hand.
Ronan gently released his hand, and the black bat quickly flew away.
His eyes flickered, weighed the situation a bit, and then slowly followed.
The "escaped" black bat flew quickly and randomly above the waterway without any direction. Ronan followed for a while, frowning, and just as he was about to return along the way, the black bat locked by his spiritual power suddenly disappeared into a dark spot above with a "whoosh", making Ronan lose sense of it.
Ronan was taken aback, arrived at the spot where the black bat disappeared, and took out a lighting crystal from his space ring. The crystal’s light illuminated the area.
The top of the Ancient Waterway Ruins consisted of heavy rocks, which Ronan had already investigated before.
What he saw now was the small area where the black bat disappeared; it seemed simply repaired, quite flat, with some human-carved patterns on top, and a two-finger wide break that seemed to be damaged.
"Did that bat fly into this gap?"
Ronan extended his spiritual power, gently swept away the dust near the gap, and unexpectedly found some blurry inscriptions emerging.
"..[Sin]...[Plague]..."
Ronan read out a few words carved on the stone slab, unclear in meaning and very scrawled, as if someone carved them out of boredom.
Ronan infused his spiritual power into the gap where the black bat disappeared, extending it slightly deeper, suddenly stopping and blinking.
He actually found a hidden magic node in the deepest part of the gap.
Ronan tried to activate the node.
Soon, a strong wave of spatial energy emanated, and the entire top stone slab where the gap was located lit up with white light, rapidly forming the pattern of an ancient and complex teleportation array.
A faint silver-white light beam descended within the array. Ronan’s eyes flickered, stretching out his hand to gently touch the light beam.
"Swish—"
A brief sensation of spatial transformation.
When Ronan opened his eyes again, he found himself no longer in the originally dim and damp waterway. Instead, a vast sky appeared before him, with no sight of the sun, moon, or stars. It wasn’t bright, nor was it dark, giving the impression of being near dusk or dawn.
Beneath his feet was a pale gray sandy ground, with some equally gray and white, bare and twisted bizarre vegetation growing in it.
"Have I come out?"
Ronan casually grabbed a handful of soil from his feet. This pale gray soil was of unknown formation, dry on the surface, yet quite moist inside, feeling slightly sticky in his hand. When squeezed hard, a faint pinkish liquid seeped out.
"I should still be in the Forgotten Land..."
Ronan threw away the gray soil, speculating in his mind.
This bizarre gray-white land was filled with a thick ancient decaying air similar to the Ancient Waterway Ruins, with a long sense of not seeing daylight.
He leaned towards the idea that he might now have reached the second layer or something in the Forgotten Land.
Ronan took out the communication tool, trying to contact the outside, but found the spell signal extremely weak, making it difficult to establish a stable spell link. With Heather, only some soul sense from the master-servant contract remained, barely able to determine roughly her position.
It came from some direction overhead.
Ronan now understood why Jason chose this way to contact him.
Ronan slowly tightened the ring in his hand, finding the space array he just teleported through, with the node somewhat damaged but still able to run a few more times.
After memorizing the location, Ronan slowly floated upwards, surveying the surroundings.
Soon, he found the black bat that led the way earlier among a few gray-white twisted plants tangled together.
As he approached, the black bat immediately detached from its hanging state, flapped its wings, and continued flying in a direction.
The scenery of the gray-white sandy area remained almost unchanged, with only occasional undulations of hills. Ronan didn’t know how long he followed when he saw from a distance, a figure wrapped entirely in a large black robe walking quickly on the sand.
The guiding black bat suddenly darted towards the figure, disappearing under its black robe. The latter looked up, seemingly noticing Ronan, and stopped walking.
"I didn’t expect you could come so fast, it’s simply incredible, Damien..."
Ronan approached, and the black-robed person reached out to remove the hood, revealing a distinctive bald head, skin pale. There were three slash-like cuts on each side of his cheeks.
It was Jason, whom he hadn’t seen for a long time.
"I didn’t expect... to meet you in the Forgotten Land, Jason."
Ronan slowly descended to the ground, walking slowly towards Jason.
The latter kept staring at him, suddenly cursing under his breath, "Damn, you’ve also advanced to Level 4, still looking so much stronger than me...
Damn, I thought you hadn’t broken through, planning to surprise you."
Jason muttered, then noticed Ronan’s previous answer, frowned, and said, "So this place is called the Forgotten Land?"
"You actually didn’t know that, so how did you get in here?"
"Running... just kept running... randomly seeing a hole and then slipping in, and muddled my way in..."
Jason shrugged with an innocent face, leaving Ronan speechless.
"Enough with the nonsense."
Jason opened his arms towards Ronan, speaking with a strange expression, "Long time no see, Damien, it’s great to see you again!"
Ronan’s eyes flickered slightly as he gently embraced Jason.
Speaking of which, Jason was indeed one of the few in the Central region he could truly call a friend.
"Alright, now can you tell me properly... why exactly did you go out of your way to bring me here?"
After the greetings, Ronan reached out to Jason, his palm opened, and in the center lay the silver ring.
"Did you bring this ring specifically because you were worried I wouldn’t come?"
"Hehe."
Jason scratched his bald head, laughing somewhat awkwardly, "This ghost place can’t use the Communication Stone, so I had to use this method to inform you...
I knew with your intelligence, you wouldn’t fail to guess the message I wanted to convey to you."
"It seems you’ve found the location of the Goblin treasure."
Ronan’s gaze flickered as he put the ring away again.
When he returned the ring to Jason, Jason had said that once he found the exact location of the ring’s owner, the Silver-eared Goblin treasure, he would call him to explore together.
This time, proactively bringing out the ring to lead Ronan over, not caring if the ring was in his own hands, shows that he had definitely grasped some clues regarding the treasure’s location.
Facing Ronan’s inquiry, Jason smiled mysteriously but didn’t answer; instead, he suggested they talk while walking.
The two hurriedly flew in a certain direction along the gray-white dunes.
"...There is indeed a clue."
Jason squinted at the front, speaking to Ronan while on the move, "The treasure’s location should be somewhere in the Forgotten Land you mentioned. I have a general idea of the direction, but pinpointing the exact location requires a bit more time to confirm...
However, the main thing now is the trouble at hand, which is why I insisted you come."
"You mean... the person chasing you?"
Ronan’s eyes flickered as he spoke.
Previously, Jason had mentioned that he accidentally stumbled into the Forgotten Land while fleeing, most likely being pursued.
"Yes."
Jason’s expression turned slightly serious: "There’s a Level 5..."
He glanced at Ronan, noticing no change in Ronan’s expression, then continued, "Constantly on my tail like a hound.
I plan to use the Goblin treasure to completely shake him off..."
"You want me to help hold him off for a while to buy you time to find the treasure’s location?"
"What are you thinking, am I that kind of person?"
Jason shook his head, "I just promised you earlier, to explore the treasure together.
But given the current situation, going back to inform you would definitely be too late, so I thought it better to bring you directly here, so you won’t blame me for breaking my promise later..."
Ronan felt slightly touched, remaining silent for a moment, then spoke again: "Who are those chasing you?
How did you end up provoking a Level 5 Wizard?"
"Who knows?"
Jason shook his head, then gritted his teeth and said, "These guys appeared out of nowhere, and my family, friends... all died at their hands!
They have been doggedly chasing me since I was Level 1. Initially, they sent Level 2, and when I reached Level 2, they sent Level 3 to hunt me, and after Level 3 came Dawn.
Now that I’ve advanced to Level 4, they’ve sent an outright Level 5 Wizard!
The identity of the person they send each time is different, and I don’t know who is behind them..."
"These guys have forced me to the brink time and again, and I almost died several times...
But to be fair, I must thank them."
Jason pulled open the collar of his Magic Robe, revealing several shocking scars below his neck, and said with a cold smile, "
If not for them, I wouldn’t have reached my current heights.
They pushed me to switch from a Plant Wizard to the Dark Department.
Believe it or not, Damien, many of the resources and legacies I acquired were obtained while being chased by them.
Including the ring in your hand right now.
If it weren’t for the Level 5 chase this time, I wouldn’t have found the Goblin treasure clues so quickly...."
Ronan furrowed his brows as he listened.
Jason’s life experience was so much like that of a "Protagonist" in a novel—
A sudden sea of blood vengeance, one mindless villain after another lining up to send heads and experience, and a series of continuous adventures along the way...
It was as if an invisible hand had been pushing Jason forward all along.
This whole affair felt incredibly strange, and Ronan did not believe in the existence of someone with a "Protagonist template." He was more inclined to think that someone had "taken a fancy" to Jason, deliberately orchestrating everything.
He wasn’t sure if Jason had noticed this, nor did he know how to remind him.
If his guess was truly correct, should this be considered a "good thing" for the current Jason?!