Ace followed Stark forward to a stone wall. When he looked up, he saw that there seemed to be a lot of writing on the stone wall, but many of them were blurred.

"What is this?" Ace asked, pointing to the stone wall in front of him.

Stark looked at the stone wall in awe, "This is the ancient stone wall of the Dwarves, a record of the life of Larevi Novelty. But few dwarves know these words now, so it is natural that they must be explained clearly."

Filia, who was sitting next to him, snorted coldly, "Who says no one knows these words? It's just that a lot of the top of it was ruined by some bastard, so I can't understand the whole article."

Stark snorted coldly, "Frankly, don't you just don't know what it means!"

Philia looked at Stark like an idiot and didn't answer.

The stone wall is flanked by stone stairs that go upwards.

Walking up the stone staircase to the platform, Ace saw the full picture of the female dwarf sculpture.

Unlike humans, dwarves don't seem to be interested in the deep meaning of magic, so even female dwarves like Larevie Novelty will be armed with a giant hammer instead of a wand.

Ace looked at the huge sculpture and felt that the image of Larevi was a little strange.

He saw her holding a huge hammer in her right hand, pointing in a certain direction to the left and right in front of her. The eyes seem to be looking at something.

Ace looked in the direction she was pointing, only to see an empty corner.

When Ace turned to look in the direction of the gate, he noticed a large bronze mirror behind the huge bronze door. From here, he can see another mirrored world in the mirror.

Suddenly, Ace seemed to have a guess. He looked at the statue in the mirror, then at the corner where the statue was pointing, but still didn't notice anything unusual.

Filia apparently noticed Ace's eyes and said coldly, "If the mysteries of the Origin Land are so simple, then it only proves that we dwarves are too stupid!"

Ace couldn't help but smile awkwardly at his words.

Stark said coldly, "Philia, can't you be more polite to my apprentice? He's also a guest of our dwarven kingdom!"

Filia turned her head away, completely ignoring the prince of the dwarven kingdom.

Seeing that Stark was about to continue, Ace quickly grabbed his teacher, casually pointed to a rune at his feet and asked, "Teacher, what is this?"

But Stark deliberately raised his voice and said, "Hey, my apprentice is smart! You can see right away that this rune is not simple!"

Ace's face was confused. He pointed at it nonchalantly, but didn't expect to be pointed at the key to the pattern at his feet.

Stark crouched down, touched the strange rune under his feet, and said, "It's the rune of fate, and every time we have a grand ceremony in the Land of Origin, we light up the rune under our feet."

"Lights up?" Ace was a little taken aback, and then crouched down. He noticed that there were narrow cracks in the strange runes, which seemed to be filled with something, with a little glitter.

Stark said, "It's a sparkling phosphor that we can light with a special tool."

"Glittering phosphor?" Ace suddenly realized that this was an extremely rare medicinal material among alchemical medicines. A sparkling phosphor is said to emit light for hundreds of thousands of years, but only if it is used in combination.

This thing is a small insect called a firefly. The insect's abdomen is said to secrete a very unique type of mucus, which is a "primer" that lights up the sparkling phosphor.

Thinking of this, Ace couldn't help but look at Filia, but she turned her head and said coldly, "Don't think about it, I'm only responsible for bringing you in today, and I didn't bring this thing with me."

Ace looked around along the narrow cracks in the runes and saw that the entire platform was covered with dense ravines.

In addition, these ravines seem to form a huge and complex pattern.

Obviously, this is supposed to be the place where mystical rituals are held.

Ace slowly approached the statue of Larivi. He felt an invisible pressure mounting.

Looking up, he saw Larevi holding a handful in his hand

Huge hammer.

Somehow, Ace always felt that the huge hammer could fall at any moment.

When he reached the base of the giant statue, Ace noticed a line of inconspicuous small letters at the foot of the statue.

"What? Do you still know these strange words?" Filia's cold voice sounded behind Ace.

Ace didn't look back. At that moment, he was staring at the little words. Then he read it out in a very complex voice.

Filia's eyes changed suddenly, and her voice was full of surprise: "You, do you really know these strange words?"

Ace turned around and said, "It's the ancient dragon language!"

"Ancient Dragon?" Philia and Stark shouted in unison.

Stark frowned. "Ace, when did you learn the ancient dragon language? If I'm not mistaken, there should be no records in the school."

Ace said, "Teacher, I'll tell you later."

After that, Ace looked at Filia, "These ancient lognes are not just sentences, more like spells or formulas. When translated into our language, it roughly means "the place of the darkest shade." It seems to be a place where no traces of this seem to have been found when the sculpture was first made. It must have been carved later."

At this time, Ace's eyes suddenly changed. He turned around and looked at the small lines with a shocked expression: "Ancient Deep Forest, the Land of the Shadows? That's not ......."

The more Ace thought about it, the more he felt that his guess was correct.

As he slowly gathered his thoughts, a broken scroll fell from the sky and landed accurately on Ace's palm.

Stark and Philia were feeling a little confused right now, especially Philia. After she became the High Priestess of the Dwarven Kingdom, she entered the Land of Origin several times. Suffice it to say, she was familiar with everything inside, but she never knew that there was a broken paper hidden on it?

Ace's hands trembled when he saw the pattern on the paper clearly.

In the lower left corner of the half map in Ace's hand, a strange badge is drawn. There are mountains, seas, lakes, flowers, grasses, insects, fish, birds and beasts on the coat of arms. In the sky, the sun and moon appear at the same time, the clouds are filled with lightning, and there is a strange black hole.

Ace knew that it was the badge of Hades, the king of Hades.

The moment he saw this piece of paper, Ace unconsciously touched his chest, because there was half a similar map there.

"What is this?" Stark asked, walking up to Ace and looking at the half of the map in his hand.

Ace immediately took out the other half of the map, and then put the two broken maps together.

In this way, the landforms and mountains on the entire map are clear at a glance. There is a specially marked place in the middle of the map.

Stark looked at the map in front of him, thought for a moment, and said, "It looks like a moonlight lake in an ancient forest."

"Moonlight Lake?"

Ace is no stranger to the lake's name. When he was in the Elemental Kingdom of Terraria, Jennifer mentioned Moonlight Lake to him.

It is said that Moonlight Lake was regarded as a sacred lake by the ancient elementals. It is said that the water of the lake is very wonderful and has the power to heal wounds.

However, Ace had limited time at the time, and Moonlight Lake was far away from Terraria, so he didn't go to see it.

Now it seems that he needs to go to the old forest again.

Ace looked down and thought about it, but Filia said coldly, "Hand in half of the map. It's something in the Land of Origin. You can't take it away!"

Ace immediately frowned. Before Stark could speak, he said angrily, "You've been here so many times, and you're so familiar with this place. Why hasn't this half map been in your hands yet? When Ace first came, he got this half map, and he happened to have another half on him. Why?"

Filia's face was still cold: "I don't want to know these reasons, and I don't want to investigate, anyway, this half of the map is in the Origin Lands, so he can't take it!"

Stark shouted, "Don't you understand? This means that this thing has been waiting for its owner, and that is Ace!"

See the two small ones next to them

The dwarves were arguing again, and Ace hurriedly advised him, "You don't have to quarrel first, I didn't say I'd keep this half of the map to myself, so don't be nervous, High Priest Felia."

Stark wanted to continue speaking for Ace, but Ace had already given the other half of the map to Philia, "We can share this map together. If we can, we can ask the artist to paint another one for us! That way, we don't need to fight anymore!"

Stark was adamantly opposed to this proposal, arguing that the map should belong only to Ace.

"Stark, you're enough!" Philia suddenly roared loudly, echoing in the Land of Origin.

Ace and Stark were stunned. They didn't know why the high priest, who had always been calm and calm, suddenly erupted.

But Philia continued, "Stark! As a prince of the dwarven kingdom, over the years, you have not only failed to help your own country, but you have also worked for the New Delhi Empire and accepted such a human apprentice! Are you still a dwarf?"

"Do you know what the Dwarven Kingdom has been through over the years? You don't know! You don't even care!"

Listening to Filia's roar, Stark was completely overwhelmed.

What has happened in the Dwarven Kingdom in recent years? Stark really didn't know.

Filia's emotions were out of control, and her voice grew louder and louder, "Where were you when Your Majesty was in danger? Where were you when the dwarven kingdom was in danger? You have been building armor and weapons for the New Delhi Empire."

Stark felt a surge in his heart. He really didn't know what Filia said.

Over the past decade, Stark has received frequent letters from the Dwarven Kingdom, but mostly greetings from his father, King Sumeru, without mentioning any of the crises that have occurred in the Dwarven Kingdom.

"You still don't know what your father has been through in the last ten years? Did you know that our dwarven kingdom is on the verge of extinction? As a dwarven prince, what have you contributed to this kingdom in recent years?"

"You know you want to return home after the foundations of the empire in New Delhi have been destroyed? I'm telling you, it's too late!"

Ace was shocked. Naturally, he didn't understand what had happened in the Dwarven Kingdom in recent years. But from Philia's excited tone, Ace could imagine that this dwarven kingdom seemed to have experienced a great catastrophe.

Although the dwarven kingdom eventually survived the crisis, the king of Sumeru must have paid a high price for it.

"Filia, what's going on?" Stark slowly recovered from the shock and asked hesitantly.

Filia snorted coldly, "You'd better ask His Majesty the King about these things in person, and see if you, the prince, are qualified all these years!"

Stark didn't expect that this time, because he helped Ace speak, he would even participate in such a big event. This "secret" seems to be known to the entire Dwarven Empire, but only the youngest prince is unknown to him.

Upon hearing the news, Stark was in no mood to stay here. He immediately walked to the gate.

Ace was a little stunned, and then hurriedly followed.

After the three of them left the Land of Origin, Stark didn't say anything and went straight to the palace.

Ace also gave Filia a complete map and asked her to go to the dwarves' most famous painter to draw a new one.

When Ace returned to his residence, he began to think.

"Ancient forests, the most shaded places."

Ace quickly thought of the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean.

"Now, I'm going to two places, one is the Moonlight Lake in the ancient forest, and the other is the cliff in the Pacific Ocean."

"This is closer to the Ancient Forest, so let's go to Moonlight Lake first."

So he had a plan, and Ace felt relaxed. But when he remembered the elders of the Ancient Elemental Clan, Ace couldn't help but feel a headache.

Since the Moonlight Lake is considered a "sacred lake" by the elementals, it is unknown what the consequences will be if he creates something in their sacred lake. Ace felt a little overwhelmed.

Filia was efficient. After only half a day, she returned the original map to Ace and kept a copy for herself.

Looking at the places marked on the map, Ace fell again

contemplative.

There were a lot of things he didn't understand.

Why did he get this map? Is this really just a coincidence? So why did Philia never see the other half's incomplete map in the Land of Origin?

Why is there a line of dragon carving text under the "Larivi - Novelty" sculpture, reminding of the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean?

Did Hades ever enter the Land of Origin and leave a clue to it all?

Why use "dragon language" to engrave words? Why not use dwarven or human languages?

Ace only felt that his mind was a mess, and it was difficult to sober up from it.

However, even though he couldn't fully comprehend the whole thing, the first place he needed to go to now was very clear, and that was Moonlight Lake.

Only before that, Ace hopes that his strength can be further improved and he can successfully step into the ranks of the Magus. After all, he was about to embark on an adventure alone again. Without enough strength, it is absolutely not enough.

However, the situation in Ace's body has been getting stranger and stranger lately. Not only did he not know where the dark elemental he had absorbed had gone, but now even the dark magic that had existed in his body had disappeared.

This made Ace very confused. For every breakthrough in the past, he could feel the magic in his body, but this time it was completely empty.

But even so, Ace meditates every day, especially at night, to feel the essence of starlight and moonlight, washing his body and making him feel comfortable.

Late that night, Ace came to the quiet platform again, looked up at the bright moon, and then sat on the ground and began to absorb the dark element.

At first, Ace didn't notice much of an anomaly, but as the dark elemental accelerated influx, Ace quickly realized that something was wrong.

He immediately wanted to recover from his meditative state, but was shocked when he found that he couldn't open his eyes or stand up.

Feeling the continuous influx of dark elements between heaven and earth, Ace was a little desperate. As a matter of common sense, there is a limit to the magic of the elements that can be accommodated in each human body. Once that limit is exceeded, the body may explode.

However, the more anxious Ace became, the faster he absorbed the dark element.

On the verge of collapse, Ace suddenly felt his abdomen burn like a raging fire, and the temperature was extremely high, which made Ace sweat quickly.

Ace looked inside and saw that for some reason, he had a black swirl in his abdomen, or more like a cave, a bottomless pit!

When he was overwhelmed, the dark elements that had been chaotic around him quickly settled down and stopped rushing into his body.

Ace could feel a large amount of the dark elemental beginning to flow very quickly, very smoothly and fully through his body.

He vaguely felt the whirlpool in his abdomen filled with dark elements.

Thinking of this, Ace immediately recited a spell. Soon, a giant black bear appeared beside Ace.

As soon as Ace cast his magic, the dark elemental poured out of his abdomen, quickly replenishing the magic he had consumed.

This surprised Ace: "Did I break through again?"

"Breaking through and becoming a Magister, though, shouldn't be so fast! And the whole process doesn't seem normal."

Thinking of this, Ace quickly took out the legal code left by his mother and quickly found the relevant records.

After reading this record, Ace realized that he had entered a transitional phase. Shalina calls it the "Half-Step Magister", the intermediate stage of his power from a level 9 mage to a mage.

According to Shalina's description, this transition period will not last too long, no more than half a year at most.

"So, in half a year, I can become a magister?" Ace was very excited. He didn't expect his strength to increase so quickly.

As for why he was able to reach such a fast speed, Ace also speculated that it was the Sun and Moon Mark on his forehead that helped him absorb the dark element more effectively and use it for himself, thus helping him accelerate his strength.

At this time, Ace could really feel the dark element flowing out of the vortex in his abdomen. Darkness as they flowed along his entire body to the location of the sun and moon marks on his forehead

The elements would become more pure, and then they would travel along the other side of the body back into the vortex of his abdomen.

He took another look at the "Dark Giant Bear" summoned from his side, and found that its power should be around level 9, but it seemed to be far from the real level 9.

Ace was very satisfied with this promotion. After all, he is not yet 20 years old this year. At such an age, it is very rare to have the current strength.

In fact, after learning about his mother's true race, Ace also speculated that the reason why he was able to walk so fast on the path of a dark mage may have a lot to do with the elemental lineage in his body.

After all, the sun and moon marks on the forehead are caused by one's own blood.

Ace looked up at the sky and noticed that his night vision had also improved considerably.

Distant stars, which used to be only vague images in the field of view, now become very clear when they are seen again.

Looking at the stars and the huge full moon, Ace felt comfortable all over his body.

He took a deep breath, as if all the impurities in his body had turned into a cloudy gas and were expelled from his body.

Thinking that he would soon go to the Ancient Forest again, he had some anticipation in his heart.

After all, he could see the beautiful two sisters again.

But he didn't know that at that time, on the towering trees of the distant jungle, a beautiful element dressed in white gauze was watching the bright moon in the sky.

Gloria didn't know what she was thinking, but a charming smile suddenly appeared on the corner of her mouth.

At this time, the stars and the bright moon are obscured!

Soon, Ace learns from his father that during his teacher's more than a decade in the New Delhi Empire, the dwarven kingdom has changed twice.

One is the invasion of the barbarians. In that world war, the barbarians crashed into large flint walls in the west and even stormed into the Dwarven Mountains.

Eventually, however, the barbarians were still unable to cross the boundless mountain and were defeated by the dwarves' various elaborate guns and defenses.

Even so, the dwarves suffered huge losses and casualties at the time.

Less than two years after the end of the barbarian invasion, another major upheaval took place in the Dwarven Empire.

The three dwarven generals stationed in the southern part of the dwarven kingdom, who they did not know who they were charmed by, unexpectedly lost their confidence, and frantically headed north, all the way to the center of the dwarven king.

Later, Stark's brother Ridak, a dwarven knight who went out of the city to meet Ace and the others, eventually stormed the enemy, bravely killed two renegade dwarven generals, and forced the third traitor to surrender outright.

In this way, the rebellion of the dwarven army gradually subsided.

After hearing these stories, Ace was also moved: no wonder Filia lost her temper after the teacher spoke for him that day. It turns out that the dwarven kingdom has not been as calm in recent years as it seems on the surface.

From that day on, Stark went to the palace, and Ace never saw his teacher again.

"You don't have to worry about Stark, let him take care of these things on his own." Kamikaze said.

Ace nodded, then looked straight at him, "Father, I may go to the Ancient Forest later."

Kamikaze nodded almost without hesitation, without asking why.

Because in the eyes of the kamikaze, the son's personality seems to have changed subtly after experiencing the changes in the imperial capital, at least he doesn't like to communicate with people very much.

Many times, Kamikaze would see Ace standing alone in a quiet corner of the Dwarven Kingdom, staring blankly at the sky, not knowing what he was thinking.

Therefore, when Ace proposed to go to the Ancient Forest, Kamikaze would not have any objections, hoping that he would find his purpose again and gradually recover from the darkness of the imperial capital. He also knew that his son had a very good friend in Terraria, and that was Princess Jennifer, the Elemental Envoy.

After hesitating for a moment, Ace handed the complete patchwork map to his father, Kamikaze.