Wizards: Starting with Fairy Crests

038: Open the hidden door

The group trudged along, their steps uneven, until they finally stopped in an area surrounded by tall, jagged black reefs.

The stagnant water here is a thick, black liquid, almost like asphalt, yet its surface is unusually calm, reflecting the pale sunlight filtering through the twisted branches above, like a broken, filthy mirror.

The sweet, fishy smell in the air was so strong that it almost solidified and clung to my throat.

Shadow Raven stopped and stared down at the dark compass in his hand, which was trembling and whose pointer was stuck in place.

His face lit up with a mixture of nervousness and excitement: "We've arrived!"

arrive?

The group looked around in confusion. As far as the eye could see, there were nothing but slippery black rocks that looked as if they had been soaked for countless years, disgusting moss that slowly seeped dark red slime from the cracks in the rocks, and a few particularly thick, flamboyant Venus flytraps with vines that pulsated like blood vessels.

There were no ruins as I had imagined, no traces of ancient runes, not even a decent piece of rubble.

Is there really a historical site here?

"Arrived? Where are we?" Blackstone asked doubtfully. "Are you sure?"

Shadow Raven did not answer directly. He took several items out of an inconspicuous leather pouch at his waist:

Several vials of viscous liquid, their colors eerie and slowly shifting, encased in transparent crystal tubes; a handful of finely ground, deep purple powder shimmering with a metallic sheen; several pale bone fragments engraved with tiny runes; and a small jar of dark grease that seemed to seal a vortex.

He carefully placed the items on a relatively flat rock, and then began to use that rock as a center, mixing special silver powder with his own magic, to outline lines on the slippery humus and moss of the ground.

Soon, a complex magic circle with a diameter of about two meters gradually took shape.

The pattern of this magic circle is extremely strange. It is not a common elemental aggregation or protective rune. Its core structure is more like an abstract diagram of a series of nested, rotating test tubes, crucibles and molecular links, supplemented by a large number of secret texts representing catalysis, decomposition, neutralization and energy flow.

The lines are delicate and intricate, intertwined with each other, full of rigorous to the point of obsession with alchemy and potion-making. It is more like a planar projection of a finely structured three-dimensional lock than a magic circle in the usual sense.

"A combination lock based on the principles of potion-making..." Old Tou's cloudy eyes flashed with a sharp light as he murmured in a hoarse voice.

Shadow Raven raised his head and solemnly said to Lin Qi, "Mr. 'Shadow,' the next step is crucial. After I activate the magic circle, the energy flow at the core of the circle and the calibration of the 'key' need to be fine-tuned based on the real-time reaction of the medicine."

"I will describe to you the color, flow rate, and resonance frequency of the energy displayed at specific nodes in the magic circle. Based on your knowledge of potions, please determine which 'pharmacological property' needs to be strengthened, suppressed, or converted at this moment."

"I will use your instructions to manipulate these crystal tubes and bone fragments as 'correctors' to the corresponding nodes. This is directly related to whether we can 'open' this door that has been hidden for thousands of years. Please, please give it your all."

Lin Qi nodded: "Understood."

Shadow Raven said no more. He stood at the edge of the magic circle, pressed his hands together, and began to chant a strange incantation with a metallic scraping sound.

As the incantation progressed, the materials in front of him floated up one by one and fell into specific grooves in the magic circle.

The silver powder lines on the ground lit up one by one, first as a dull gray-white, then rapidly changing colors: crimson, indigo, pale green, dim yellow... The light flowed erratically and was extremely unstable. The center of the magic circle began to emit a low hum, like countless glass vessels gently colliding with each other.

"Node three, the energy is in the form of a dark red vortex, the flow is sluggish, accompanied by intermittent shrieking resonance!" Shadow Raven spoke quickly, his eyes fixed on the changes in the magic circle.

Lin Qi spoke almost without pause, his voice calm: "Add two drops of 'Decaying Blood Orchid Extract,' which has a 'negative catalytic' property, to guide it from a vortex to a counter-clockwise filamentous flow."

With a flick of his finger, Shadow Raven sent a drop of dark red, blood-like liquid flying from a crystal tube, landing precisely at node three. The magic circle flashed, and just as Lin Qi had predicted, the dark red liquid there began to elongate and rotate, while the shrieking sound weakened.

"Node seven, pale white, still, but with high-frequency vibrations!"

"Sprinkle in a pinch of 'stardust powder,' which is 'inert and stable,' to neutralize high-frequency vibrations and keep the object still."

"Node one: Dark green and bright yellow intertwine, creating a stark contrast!"

"Inject a trace amount of 'Harmonizer Oil,' with the attribute of 'Two-Way Buffer,' to isolate conflicts and guide them in parallel..."

The question and answer were swift and precise. Shadow Raven was like a skilled but blind locksmith, while Lynch was the guide who could "hear" the changes in the internal spring mechanism of the lock cylinder.

To onlookers, the light of the magic circle gradually became coordinated and stable as materials were added and commands were adjusted. Finally, all the flowing light converged at the center of the magic circle, forming a multicolored vortex that rotated inward.

When the thirteenth adjustment was complete, Shadow Raven threw the last bone fragment, inscribed with complex equations, into the center of the light vortex—

"Buzz—!!!"

A deafening roar, far longer and deeper than any previous sound, didn't come from the ears, but reverberated directly into everyone's soul! The ground beneath their feet trembled violently!

Immediately afterwards, the light vortex at the center of the magic circle suddenly expanded and exploded!

But there was no heat wave or impact; what exploded was a distorted, writhing, almost living gray curtain of light.

Indescribable colors and distorted rune reflections flowed continuously across the surface of the light screen. Where the edges met the real scenery, the air melted and blurred like wax under high temperature, emitting a faint "sizzling" sound.

Through that translucent, constantly undulating gray light curtain, one could vaguely see that what lay behind it was not a swamp—

It seemed to be a dark, well-organized, and enclosed space with obvious signs of human intervention, and in the distance there was a shadowy outline that looked like an experimental table!

"Dimensional space!" Gray Falcon gasped, his sharp eyes filled with shock.

Dimensional space is a unique phenomenon in the Wizarding World. Beneath a prime material plane, there are often countless spaces of varying sizes, which are like small worlds hidden within a large world.

These spaces are normally invisible and imperceptible, but can be entered through certain special means.

Now everyone finally understands why countless explorers who have come here over the years have ultimately returned empty-handed. It turns out that this relic in the Whispering Swamp has always been hidden in a dimensional space.

Suddenly, everyone's eyes lit up!