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nLayn never liked cultivation. Not because of how much power one could derive from it. The archmage simply couldn't accept to acknowledge a force that could only be used in fights.

nThat was the most pressing problem that Layn had with cultivation in general. In order to achieve any phenomena other than boosting one's physical status, one had to not only reach a suitably high cultivation base but then also learn all sorts of techniques.

nWhen compared to magic, cultivation was just too stiff to be useful.

nTaking the current situation as an example, with cultivation alone, Layn would drown thrice before reaching his destination. As it turned out, the lake was not only far wider but also far deeper than anyone expected. And it was this difference in scale that made Layn commit his first blunder.

n'I forgot water diffuses magic a little bit differently,' Layn mumbled through his tightened teeth while breathing calmly. Surrounded by a set of seven different barriers, he couldn't afford to waste his oxygen mindlessly.

nDiving lower and lower, Layn could see the pressure of the water pressing harder on his barriers. Under this force, all seven different barriers of his seemed to merge together, creating a single, thick entity that not only shielded the archmage from any form of physical or magical attacks but also working as a toxin filter and oxygen generator.

n'Finally there' Layn thought when his feet finally touched the solid ground. Around two hundred meters below the surface, the lakebed was completely dark. As if he was blind, Layn could only use the faint aura of the core to guide his way forward.

nAnd soon, the floor beneath Layn's feet broke down, forcing him down some sort of cave.

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"Where the hell am I?

" Layn instantly turned around, only to notice a line of gentle light illuminating the insides of the cave. A moment later, he managed to notice the general shape of the area after removing all the rubble from his imagined picture.

n'A corridor of sorts?' Layn thought while moving down the place, following the trail of light.

nSoon, he reached a downwards slope, a slope that likely used to be filled with stairs.

n'So I need to go even deeper, huh?' Layn thought to himself before giving his shields a moment to regenerate the oxygen and taking a dive into the slope.

nSeveral meters down the construction, Layn finally found something interesting. At the end of the corridor that he was traveling through, a massive room appeared. It was also the first place that was fully illuminated, allowing Layn to see how grand this place used to be.

nHigh above his head, the dome spread for over a hundred meters up. Wide at fifty meters, it should fall under the pressure of the water above it… Yet no such thing happened. And the reason for it was quite obvious.

nThe structure of the dome was supported by a set of crystal arches, four for every quarter of the dome. Each of those arches had a crystal line connecting them to a huge crystal centerpiece that hung from those lines, roughly twenty meters above the floor.

nIt was also the first place where the water didn't access yet, allowing Layn to step on dry ground.

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"Just what is this place?

" Layn asked himself while pushing towards another corridor that he spotted on the other side of the dome.

nInside the structure, Layn could no longer navigate his way just by following the traces of magic. What he took for a single source of energy disturbance, turned out to be a complex structure with at least several provisional cores all connected in one single network.

nOr at least, that's what Layn expected to find further into the structure, as otherwise, the whole place wouldn't make any scientific sense.

n'Unless it doesn't follow the physic and magical rules that I know off,' Layn thought grimly, worried even about considering such an option.

n'I knew it was possible ever since I first heard of this desert,' Layn approached the entrance of the corridor… Yet, he refused to enter. He stood by the wall instead. He then wiped the mud from the wall to reveal a complex image underneath it.

n'So, I guess my guess was right,' Layn thought as he uncovered more and more images underneath the mossy dirt that covered the walls. 'For this kind of moss to form from the moisture alone… Just how long was this place here? Was it moved underneath the lake or did the lake cover it all?' Puzzled by his findings, Layn constantly attempted to make a sense out of it, only to fail over and over again.

nUnable to find any further clues in the magnificent dome, Layn pushed forward.

nContrary to the huge structures that were a part of the entire complex, the corridors were pretty simple. They were way longer than Layn expected, seemingly connecting different points that were created in advance rather than points of interest being built along the corridors. But when Layn reached the end of his second corridor, his peace of mind died out instantly.

nLong rows of machines continued to operate at top speed. The number of magic stones that moved around the entire place was insane. Pushing slightly forward, Layn made sure no defense system was installed and waiting to pounce on him, before raising a bit and analyzing the entire production factory.

nAt first, a small stone would be sourced from the warehouse. Then, it would go through a set of four machines, each of which would polish one of two of its sides. By the time it would finish this stage, a stone of any given shape would turn into a perfectly fine jewel.

nThen, the magic part started to happen. Once the stone would have a proper shape, it would be placed into a special stand, before an insanely concentrated ray of magical energy would wash through its entire structure. Or to be more precise, once properly embedded into the stand, it would enter something like oven, where it would pass through a wide ray of this energy.

nWhile Layn was unable to see what exactly was going on to the stone he was observing inside that oven, he could see how the stones leaving it on its opposite end, no longer were simple jewels but were already turned into magic stones!

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"Just what the hell is this place,

" Layn asked once again, startled by the sight. Even in his proper time, humanity has yet to reach the level of magic stone creation. It was this single reason that almost sparked a huge war for resources when people realized that outside of the stones still to be mined, there wasn't much left of them in the world.

nAnd yet, as if to spit in his face and prove he was nowhere near the peak of the knowledge, the factory continued to produce magic stone at a steady rate.

n'What does happen with those stones?' Layn asked himself, straightening up and following down the production line. And then he saw it. Once all seven lines of seven different magic-stone producing branches were conveyed into a single line, the output magic stones would then split into twenty different lines, each leading to a separate room.

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"So this is where monsters are born,

" Layn thought to himself, watching how a stone entered the room through the hole in its glass back.

nInside the room, the stone would enter a plastic-looking form. Then, the intense ray of magic would appear once again, quickly overloading the capacity of the stone and forcing it to manifest its energy outside.

nAs it grew, the magical energy continued to take physical form, eradicating the plastic form and taking its place. But the process continued. The shape initially hidden in the form would grow bigger and bigger, all the way to the point where the body of the monster would reach the limit of how big it could grow inside the room.

nPENG!

nAs if someone blasted the gates open, the outer end of the room suddenly split into two, allowing a raging current of pressurized water to fill the entire room.

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"ROAR!~

" The monster inside the room came to life, instantly announcing it by a hearty scream. Then, clearly uncomfortable in its tiny confinement, the monster swam outside, using its paddle-like arms to quickly move through the water.

nThen, a concentrated ray of light locked on the monster, before intensifying for a slight moment.

nThe monster was no more.

nBarely a second after it attempted to escape, a magic gun embedded into the outer wall of the room blasted its core into smithereens, killing the monster on the spot.

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"Was that,

" Layn whispered, staring wide-eyed at the gun he caught a glimpse off. 'I remember there being theories that one could concentrate the mana to that point…' Layn thought, trying to recall the research papers he saw at one point in his past life.

nBut then, he realized something of even greater importance.

nThe body of the monster didn't decompose back into magic!

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