Is that a Wisp?

They kept thinking about more possible ways to solve the problem, but unfortunately, no idea came out even after a while. Other than destroying it, they didn't have any other options at hand.

Yusa looked at the core and said, "The best way would be if we had a formation to stop the flow. It would leave the gate safe from destruction while making sure the Spiritual Energy stops entering."

Ao couldn't help but comment, "But we don't have anything like that at the moment. We would have no choice but to go back to the city and see if we could acquire one. So, should we head back first?"

Krune and the others pondered a bit about it before Krune replied, "It seems like that's our only option at the moment, so we shouldn't waste too much time. Just in case, we can also take this chance to buy a few things that might be necessary. Also, we can even set up a cover for it. When we go back, let's head to the Mercenary Guild and accept another mission for this danger zone. This way, no one in the headquarters or in the branch we're registered in will grow suspicious with the long amount of time we've spent here. Shinja is bound to a blood contract to protect me, so her following us is just obvious."

They nodded in response as it was definitely a good idea. After concealing the entrance to the gate, they immediately headed back. This time around, they didn't stop for anything and moved at full speed. What had taken them one week before now only took them four days to arrive back at the city.

After arriving, they immediately parted ways. Shinja and Yusa went to buy a formation runestone to stop the flow of spiritual energy. On the other hand, Krune and Ao went to the Mercenary Guild to apply for a new mission inside the Raskie Danger Zone. They specifically chose one that didn't look too easy but took a lot of time to complete.

They also bought two puppets each in case they needed to send them to assess a dangerous place or situation. The group also bought a few items that might be helpful before gathering back at the city gate. At this point, they were truly ready for anything that might come their way.

"Shall we go?" Everyone nodded and signed their departure at the entrance. After that, they immediately moved straight away back to the secret realm's gate.

As they took four more days to make their way back, all of them were relieved that no one found the gate entrance. Then again, it was more or less obvious since it had been hidden down there for millenniums without anyone noticing. Let alone in just a little more than a week.

Once back inside, Yusa started to set up the formation runestone to stop the Spiritual Energy coming from the gate from passing through. "It's ready. The Spiritual Energy has stopped. I bought a Four-Star Spiritual Energy Locking Formation runestone this time. It was very expensive, so this secret realm better gives me something good in return."

After Yusa said those words, Krune could not help but ask, "How long will the runestone formation last?"

"Five days, this should be more than enough for us to deal with the illusion formation's core, I believe," Yusa replied.

They nodded and moved back to the core of the illusion formation. Yusa and Shinja took a look and said, "It's still working as intended, but that's to be expected. We just have to cut off the flow of Spiritual Energy. Since there's Spiritual Energy in this place, it'll take some time for it to be used up."

Krune then said, "Let's attack the barrier. It won't break but will still accelerate the consumption of Spiritual Energy. The faster we finish it, the better."

Everyone agreed with the idea and started attacking it while managing their Spiritual Energy. They would use at most 30% to 40% of their Spiritual Energy before sitting down and recovering it back to their peak. The reason why they did this was in the case of something random happening. Even if something like that happened, they would still be in shape to battle.

Time soon passed, and it had already been a day since they started to attack the barrier. By now, it was already very dim. It wouldn't be long before it broke as they gained access to the formation's core. Eventually, after a lot of effort, the barrier finally disappeared.

Only then could they destroy the core of the formation, but before that, Krune asked them, "Do we really need to destroy it? Can't we simply take it away and put in our spatial rings?"

Shinja shook her head as she replied, "The core of a formation is one with the formation itself. You would need to be able to keep the entire formation in your spatial ring to be able to take it away. Unless you knew how to deactivate it, of course."

Krune shook his head after hearing that. He had absolutely no idea how to do that. In his mind, he was hoping to take it back to sell in the city later. He was certain that it was worth quite a lot of Spirit Stones, even if it was a relic from thousands of years ago.

'Maybe I should try to join the Formation Guild as well. It could come in handy in a situation like this in the future,' Krune soon thought.

However, since that was the case, they immediately attacked together. Naturally, the core showed some resistance but still broke apart in the end. It wasn't made for fending off attacks in the first place anyway.

As soon as the formation core was broken, they felt like the part of the city they were previously in started to tremble. With that, they immediately went up to check what was happening. When they got outside, they noticed that the landscape had changed. Not only that, but an enormous amount of Spiritual Energy rushed at them. It was several times higher than what they had outside. It was so dense that it would be worth it for them even if they simply stopped to cultivate here.

The city that looked the same before now seemed completely different. Krune jumped over a building and looked in the distance, telling them, "I can see the end of the city now. The city center should be on the opposite side. Where do you guys wanna go first?"

Yusa immediately replied, "To the center, of course. We've already spent so much time, yet we're still in the same place. If there's something good, it's definitely there."

The others also agreed with it, but then, Krune asked, "What if this isn't the only illusion formation covering this city? We were lucky that we entered that formation through its Spiritual Energy source, so it was easy to find the core. However, it won't happen next time."

This time, it was Shinja that answered. "No need to worry. We can use our communicators' mapping function to escape the next ones. Before, we couldn't do that since we could only put markers inside the formation, so it was useless to use it to escape outside. But if the marker is outside, then it's easier. We just need to follow it to leave the formation. Even though it'll look like we're walking in circles, in fact, we will be moving straight forward outside the formation."

Krune and the others agreed with that. If they could use the markers to find their way back to the gate, then they could use those to escape the next ones.

"Alright, let's go then." They put down the markers in the mapping function of their communicators before immediately moving in the direction of the city center. With no illusion formation hindering their path, they finally could see differences in the city the further they moved in.

After moving for two days, they could see a gigantic wall ahead. They could have gotten to this place much faster, but to be safe, they moved slowly until they got to this place. Even then, they still enter two more formations. However, thanks to the markers they were leaving on the way, it was very easy to leave them. After all, illusion formations weren't barriers. They didn't stop people from moving out as long as they were moving in the right direction.

That wall seemed to separate the commoner's city from the center. It was very well conserved. It didn't look like it had degraded after all the time that had passed at all. For normal people, it would be impossible to simply climb to the top, but not for Foundation Establishment cultivators like them. In fact, it was way too easy.

When they finally got close to the wall, they finally found the first living being, or to be more specific, a puppet. In fact, there were several of them at that, and they seemed to be patrolling the top of the wall.

"What should we do, try to barge in without they noticing?"

Krune shook his head as he replied, "Those puppets don't seem to be weak. Although we probably can deal with a few of them, it would be troublesome if we're found and attacked by all of them together. I don't think their orders are to attack anyone they see. It seems like they're just there to stop people from entering without permission. Since that's the case, there should be a gate somewhere in this wall. We better go there and check things first."

Yusa and the others nodded and started to follow the wall. Along the way, Krune showed himself in front of those puppets to check his theory. Surprisingly, the puppets looked at him from the top of the wall but didn't do anything. After Krune left, they went back to their patrolling.

"As expected, it seems like the orders they received a long time ago are still valid. Protect the wall, don't let anyone without permission pass, and that should be basically it."

Yusa looked at that and couldn't help but be surprised. "There are so many of them. How come they're still working after so much time has passed?"

Ao answered her question, saying, "That's not hard to imagine. Since they have so many puppets, they might have other puppets specialized in repairing other puppets like themselves. As long as a source of Spiritual Energy is available for them to recharge, they are practically immortal."

Krune and the others agreed with that idea. Unless the cultivators inside were still alive and repairing the puppets themselves, this could be the only explanation.

It only took them a little more than an hour to arrive at the gate, just like the wall. In fact, the gate was also enormous, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that it was also guarded by puppets. There was no sign of life anywhere.

They soon approached the gate and the puppets that were covered in dust due to them not moving for a long time came back to life. After a while, they formed a line in front of the gate and looked straight away at Krune's group.

Obviously, they wouldn't let their group pass, but they weren't moving to the gate anyway. Instead, they were heading to a building beside it. This building was different from the others in the city behind them. It was very well maintained, and a few puppets could also be seen inside. They entered the building and were all extremely alert. If something happened, they would flee straight away and think about another way after they were sure they were safe.

"If we aren't wrong, this should be the place where we can register to go inside, just like any other city outside. With that, we shouldn't be attacked, but keep your guard up just in case."

They moved slowly and reached a balcony where a puppet was sitting. The puppet looked at them and spoke with a robotic voice, but Yusa and the others' faces immediately changed after hearing that as one of them said, "I don't understand a single word at all!"

Ao commented, "That's to be expected. This is a place from several thousand years ago. It would be weird if they spoke the same language as us."

"What should we do?" One of them asked in response. But before they could even think about other methods, Krune went forward and spoke to the puppet in the same language. Shinja and the others looked at him as if they had seen a ghost.

Krune looked at them and told them, "He's asking us for our names, our origin and how long we intend to stay inside."

Ao and the others' jaws dropped after hearing what Krune told them. "How can you understand their language? Have you seen these things before?"

Krune shook his head as he replied, "That's why you should study more. Back in the guild, I had to cultivate during the night. But doing that alone was a waste of time, so while I cultivated, I also studied the contents available on the network. I intend to one day leave this planet, so I downloaded a lot of different languages available in the system for me to study. This puppet just so happened to be speaking one of those hundreds of languages that I memorized."

Hundreds of languages…while cultivating on top of that!

Hearing that, they could only mutter to themselves inwardly, 'It would be great if his EQ was as good as his IQ.'