Chapter 95: Pi

Ace did not act rashly. He waited for a while, then had the mirror image go and scout the area.

The mirror image Ace used Magical Trickery to cast a quasi-spell effect—a single-sided Mana-Crystal Membrane—on himself. He slowly and cautiously walked to the recessed area.

The recessed area seemed fine. The mirror image carefully moved its lips, rhythmically speaking a few words: “Spell Hand!”

A quasi-Spell Hand effect appeared. A flexible Mana Crystal hand picked up the dreamlike crystal lying on the ground.

The mirror image studied it for a moment, confirmed there was no risk, and signaled the host body to approach.

Just as Ace stepped forward and received the dreamlike crystal, the cowlick on his head moved on its own. Boom!

“The scent of knowledge,” the Spirit of the Book inhaled in ecstasy. “A very rare rune structure!”

Ace transformed the Spirit of the Book back into a cowlick, jammed it onto his head, and shared the Spirit of the Book’s abilities through the covenant.

Boom!

The vague illusion that had previously obscured the inside of the dreamlike crystal in his perception now began to clear up.

A very complex, utterly fascinating three-dimensional rune structure! Comprehend Unknown and Deduction simultaneously activated. The cowlick violently shook, drawing in a massive amount of Mana, but Ace still could not clearly see all the runes inside the structure.

Ace carefully recorded the few complete runes he could observe, experimenting with their expressed effects one by one. This was the Dream Rune Array.

When recorded individually, they could be labeled Dream #1, Dream #2, Dream #3, etc. Each individual rune shared the commonality of the rune array but had its own unique characteristics.

This was certainly a very rare type of rune. Time was short, so Ace did not delve deeper into the research. He listed this crystal in his research sequence for later study.

Currently, he had a few major areas that required further research, categorized by priority:

Investigate a more effective meditation method to achieve the true leap in life level.

Reverse-engineer the core rune array of Magical Trickery, the Simulation Rune Array, and develop the Soul Spell Advanced Magical Trickery.

Explore the secrets of supernatural languages and collect more types of supernatural languages to develop a supernatural language for Wizards.

Further research the forbidden knowledge acquired from the bizarre ritual, focusing on the summoning domain.

Analyze his latest haul, including the dreamlike crystal, the unknown stomach pouch, and the live-point map.

Now, Ace prepared to charm and capture a batch of powerful Monsters and barbarians to probe the “Ancestral Land” before deciding his next move.

He and the mirror image began a serious search for the entrance to the “Ancestral Land” in the canyon. A secluded, easily overlooked spot on one side of the canyon caught his attention.

At first glance, there was nothing wrong with the area, and people would subconsciously ignore it. But that was the biggest problem!

This effect was similar to Ace’s concealment and suggestion defensive Magic Arrays!

The Soul Spell Perception Retrieval activated!

Accompanied by the Mana pulse, Ace closed his eyes, perceiving the surrounding black-and-white world. Only Mana had color in this field of vision.

The concealed side of the canyon had faint magical rhythms!

I should go catch a batch of low-level Monsters nearby to scout the path, Ace thought.

He commanded the mirror image to stand guard here. He left and charmed a batch of agile Lightning Monkeys—a name Ace gave them and recorded in his Grimoire’s bestiary.

Although these low-level Monsters were only common, they were quite intelligent and agile. They did not emit electricity but used micro-shocks to stimulate and activate their entire cellular structure, momentarily increasing their overall combat ability and movement speed.

Ace marked each charmed Lightning Monkey with a Secret Imprint, then directed one of them to enter the concealed side of the canyon.

No danger arose. The area was empty. Ace directed the other Lightning Monkeys to destroy the entire concealment and suggestion effect, following the logic of his Magic Array construction.

He narrowed his eyes. His heart felt an inexplicable surge of emotion.

“Could it be that someone else has also discovered a similar path of Magic? I can’t rule that out. After all, even the Shamans can mimic the rune structures of supernatural creatures to create various hides.”

“I’ll go in and see for myself!”

Ace had the mirror image go in and probe.

The mirror image Ace cast protective spells on himself and slowly walked into the concealed side of the canyon. Sunlight streamed through the gaps above, casting scattered patches of light.

This was an abandoned human settlement, with a distinct Rona City-State architectural style—the construction style of the Medimus City-State’s pioneering era.

“Creak.”

The mirror image Ace accidentally stepped on a rotten wooden beam, snapping it completely. He looked around. Finding no danger, he continued to walk slowly toward the settlement’s main gate.

The wooden gate was black and mottled, tainted with blood that had long dried and aged.

Beside the gate lay several desiccated skeletons. Their postures showed signs of struggle. Their remaining, decaying clothing faintly showed the white robe with a red ribbon!

“These are Citizens of the Medimus City-State! Why did they come here, and who killed them?”

The mirror image Ace was full of questions. As he ventured deeper, the layout of the entire settlement gradually became clear.

In addition to the clothes of the Medimus City-State, there were also desiccated skeletons wearing the clothing of the Northern City-States.

“The posture of the skeleton by the well and the degree of bone pulverization must have been caused by a heavy blow to the back, far exceeding the limits of mortal strength.”

“The skeleton at the door has a large section of its left ribcage missing, and the surrounding area is scorched. This seems to have been caused by some kind of scorching power piercing through it in an instant.”

“And this? This looks like the result of some extremely sharp magical power or Wonder that instantly sliced off the head.”

“Who were these people who died here? Why did supernatural power kill all of them?”

The mirror image Ace walked through the area, feeling the silent communication from the skeletons. The sense of despair, resistance, and unwillingness remained solidified here, even after so long.

A cold wind blew through, instantly scattering the fragmented clothes on one skeleton into dust.

The entire skeleton remained in a prone position, its ribs near the heart completely shattered.

The mirror image Ace saw a geometric pattern etched deeply into a stone slab in front of the skeleton.

A circle, with a regular hexagon inside. The next circle had a regular dodecagon inside, and so on. There were over a dozen figures in total, and beside each figure were dense, meticulous calculations.

The mirror image Ace looked at the skeleton still lying prone on the ground.

In its left hand, it held a rudimentary compass—a string with a nail at one end and a quill at the other.

In its right hand, it held a sharp stone. Beside it was a string of numbers: 3.141592!

The skeleton had seemingly not finished writing. Its entire frame was in a position of struggling forward. The sharp stone was poised to begin the next digit.

The mirror image Ace closed his eyes. A series of images flashed before him.

An elderly scholar was dedicatedly calculating pi using the method of exhaustion (circle-cutting method). He had just reached the result and was about to record it.

Just then, an assailant suddenly appeared behind him. He kicked the scholar to the ground, thrust a sharp sword straight into the old scholar’s heart, and violently twisted it.

The old scholar, filled with the joy of calculating the result and the regret of being unable to record it, struggled to write a string of numbers, and finally died with his eyes wide open in unwillingness.