73: Stone Tablet

Stone Tablet

The Death Garden greatly changed the moment Lin Yun walked out of the illusion.1

The lush garden's trees started withering, the verdant lawn slowly turned yellow, the flower shrubs withered one after the other, and even the wings of the butterflies fluttering in the garden stiffened, as they fell to their deaths. It felt as if the originally bright and lush Death Garden was dying, turning into a frighteningly sinister tomb.

It was all due to the fading of the death energy surrounding this place.

A strange existence like the Death Garden was the product of a huge amount of death energy, now that this energy was dissipating, the garden would naturally follow.

Lin Yun leaned on a withered tree trunk, calmly observing the changes. He didn't know how much time passed, but he was suddenly startled. He quickly put his hand in his bag to retrieve another Magic Spring, but as he was about to drink it, he discovered that the fragrant green fog was still surrounding him, stopping the red fog from the ancient tomb from approaching within 10 meters.

This discovery gave Lin Yun a whole new level of understanding towards the Death Garden.

It was worthy of being a strange existence born of death energy. He had obviously fought in the illusion for half a day, but Lin Yun's Magic Spring's effect hadn't dissipated. In other words, the Death Garden already reached the level of distorting time. Lin Yun wasn't even sure if he had been transported to an illusion, or if it had been all in his mind.

'Time distortion, spatial movement, how frightening was that?'

But fortunately, he cleared it.

Lin Yun thought about it with some lingering fear while watching the last petal withering in the Death Garden. The Death Garden completely faded, leaving only ruins as far as one could see. Black soil, rotten trees, dried-up spring, as well as a gray stone tablet the size of a palm.

'This…' An unsightly smile appeared on Lin Yun's face, giving off a sad feeling.

At first, Lin Yun couldn't help being overjoyed when the Death Garden disappeared without leaving any magic material, thinking that he wasn't as unlucky as that Master Craftsman.

But Lin Yun couldn't feel happy when his eyes fell on that stone tablet, it was devoid of any mana fluctuation.

Death Gardens had always been an unsolvable mystery of Noscent, even the powerful mages at the peak of the magic era couldn't explain the theory behind them. But even if Lin Yun didn't know the theory behind it, experiencing it himself gave him some understanding.

He was able to understand that the Death Garden was in fact a world born of death energy. But that world was very frail. If someone passed through the illusion, that world would collapse, and without this little world absorbing the death energy, the later would condense into some things. Those things could be abilities, magic materials, or maybe other things.

It could be concluded that it was because of this that no one in Noscent history was able to get a Death Magic Tool in a garden, Magic Tools came as a result of alchemy after all. Death Gardens were strange and formidable, but they couldn't replace the refining process of alchemy.

But regardless, the things the Death Garden left behind inevitably contained a huge amount of death energy since they were condensed from death energy itself. The stone tablet he received was devoid of mana fluctuation… Didn't that mean he came here for nothing?

'Well, stone tablet aside…'

No ability had appeared in Lin Yun's mind.

He couldn't be deceived, as a Great Mage, his understanding of his body was top notch. A tiny change couldn't be concealed from him. He had carefully paid attention to his body the instant the Death Garden disappeared, but no changes happened, meaning that he didn't receive any ability.

'Aren't I too unlucky?'

Lin Yun felt very disappointed.

This was a Death Garden, an existence that led to the rise of the Sovereign of Death. Lin Yun took such a big risk, spent so much of energy… But what was the final reward? He wasn't an existence with heaven defying luck like Sandro who got both Undead Contract and Soul Stone, but couldn't he get a reward at the very least?

Wouldn't that be good...

No ability appeared, and the only reward he got was a mere stone tablet with no mana fluctuation.

Lin Yun ultimately sighed and put the stone tablet in his bag. After inspecting his bag, he counted five Magic Springs left.

He knew that it was time to leave this tomb.

Next time he would have to prepare enough Magic Spring. He definitely had to find the Reincarnation Eyes, as only the Reincarnation Eyes could make up for the loss of the Death Garden.

After casting a Magic Array-enhanced Haste, Lin Yun used his fastest speed to rush out of the passage. He made a command and the magically enhanced vine softly coiled around Lin Yun and dragged him out of the prince tomb.

Maybe because he was too fast, or because he was crestfallen, the always careful Lin Yun didn't notice the ambush that had been prepared for him.

Mana Skeleton Warriors were actually waiting at the entrance of the tomb, all wearing a complete set of armor and scimitars in perfect conditions, the standard equipment of the 3rd era royal guards.

There was at least a hundred of them. And with this equipment, even Lin Yun would suffer once surrounded.

These Skeletons had been waiting in ambush for a long time, their soul fires flickering. But when Lin Yun entered, these skeleton royal guards all unanimously retreated, their flickering soul fire instantly darkening.

If mages who had studied undead lifeforms saw this, they would be frightened.

There were only two possibilities for undead lifeforms' soul fires darkening, one was imminent death, and the other was fear.

The first could be ruled out. A hundred of lively undead royal guards, how could they be in danger of imminent death?

It could only be the second.

But only a higher level undead lifeform could make one of them feel fear, how could a mage like Lin Yun scare them?

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