"Could it be because of this dark red contaminating wind?"
At this thought, Colin couldn't help but speculate, and once again, doubt surfaced in his heart, "Those characters... are they really the so-called ancient Elf language?"
But at this moment, there was something even more important he needed to mention.
"Lillian, since the books here have undergone changes, the books we previously stored in the Storage Ring might have changed as well!"
Regaining focus, Colin quickly said to Lillian, simultaneously sending a fraction of his mind to probe into the Storage Ring!
Lillian's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and she hurriedly checked her own Storage Ring!
The next moment, Lillian sighed in relief.
The books were all lying quietly inside the Storage Ring, with no changes and no glowing.
"Something's not right," said Colin, frowning.
His Superbrain made him more aware of how the books had looked before than Lillian.
"Some characters on these book covers, where did they go?"
After a moment, he spoke.
"Disappeared...?" Lillian was startled and checked the books in the Storage Ring again.
The strange characters, which she had surmised to be ancient Elf language, were indeed gradually disappearing.
Or perhaps... they had already been disappearing when she had placed them in the Storage Ring.
Seeing this, Lillian felt her heart sink.
If she couldn't find something to directly cure Professor Atbolde, she had hoped that these books might be exchanged for the medicine needed.
But now it seemed... Lillian took a deep breath, her expression turning solemn:
"Let's get through the Dark Red Wind first before making long-term plans."
"Yes," Colin nodded.
With the current windy conditions, it was naturally not wise to take out the books from the Storage Rings, as no one knew what might happen.
Just like that, another day quickly passed.
The Dark Red Wind gradually ceased, and inside the highest library of the Stone Forest,
Colin and his companion were looking solemnly at the books they had just taken out from the Storage Ring.
"Not only the covers, but all the characters inside are almost completely faded," Lillian said sitting on the carpet, holding a black book almost the size of her chest, and looking up.
On the page she had turned to, also the last page, the characters on the brownish-yellow paper were fading at a rate that seemed slow but was actually swift.
In the blink of an eye, all the characters on the last page had vanished.
But the change hadn't stopped there; the moment the last character disappeared, the entire book began to vanish as well!
Then, like a phantom bubble, it silently dissipated, leaving no trace in Lillian's hands.
"Huh~" Colin let out a soft breath, watching as the books he had set out around him disappeared as if being erased right before his eyes.
He slightly closed his eyes.
Upon realizing that the Superbrain still had records of the last few books he had quickly taken out and flipped through, a gleam of joy flickered inside Colin's heart.
Books were merely vessels for knowledge, and if they disappeared, they disappeared… It was just unfortunate that, by the time he noticed, many of the characters on the books had already faded, and there wasn't enough time for a complete record.
Colin opened his eyes; when his vision cleared, the joy on his face briefly stalled.
Lillian's expression, the lowest he had ever seen since he met her.
Her slightly pale, delicate face maintained its usual firm and serious demeanor, but it couldn't hide the fatigue it bore.
She was now silently staring at her empty hands.
Colin pursed his lips, sighing silently in his heart, and then with a thought,
Whoosh!
Anando's Dice instantly activated.
An invisible golden die descended from the sky, then rapidly spun, finally settling on four points.
As the die's shadowy figure merged into Colin's chest, four location coordinates immediately flashed in his mind.
With a quick glance, Colin was startled and couldn't help but look up.
Anando's Dice provided four location information, all astonishingly above, with three of them giving the same range!
"Every time Anando's Dice gives a range, it's spherical, of varying sizes, but the smallest range encountered so far was also a radius of ten meters, and the treasure could be at any position within it!" Colin murmured to himself.
"By such calculation, those three treasures are either very close to each other or overlapping!"
"Such closely clustered treasures possibly suggest … could it be an Elf Treasure Vault?!" Colin couldn't help speculating, but then he shook his head internally, "No, if the Elf Clan had migrated, they would certainly not have left things behind."
Temporarily unable to draw a conclusion, Colin collected his thoughts, put them aside, and slowly turned his head to speak to Lily,
"Lilian, the previous Dark Red Wind had a force from above … I speculate, perhaps above the ceiling of this room, there is another layer!"
"Or perhaps—" Colin looked outside, "above this blue sky, there's a new space!"
"Blue sky above?" Lilian was slightly surprised.
Swoosh.
Without delay or hesitation, she stood slowly and flew out from the balcony.
After arriving outside, Lilian first turned back to scrutinize the stone tree carefully.
The room they had been in was already at the top of the stone tree... from what they could see now, there didn't seem to be room for another layer above.
So Lilian then shifted her gaze upwards.
The blue sky was just within reach.
"Based on the size of the mountains seen from outside, the Stone Forest only occupies the lower half of it; maybe almost half of the mountain peak remains unknown," Colin also came outside flying then, his eyes fixed on the blue sky above as he speculated aloud,
"So, above this blue sky, there might be a new space!"
On hearing this, Lilian surveyed the surroundings silently pondering.
"You're right, Colin," she said after a moment, taking a deep breath and looking up at the blue sky above.
Then, she slowly stretched out her hand.
It seemed to touch a surface of water. As her fingers made contact, the blue sky rippled with circular waves.
However, this "surface of water" was a bit too viscous; the wave only spread out to the size of a fist before it dissipated.
Boop.
But immediately after, new ripples appeared again.
And in the center of the ripples, Lilian's fingers were slowly sinking into the blue sky.
"Indeed."
Colin realized then, this blue sky could indeed be traversed!
"Lilian, no time to delay, let's cross over together."
He spoke, and like Lilian, extended his hand towards the blue sky.
"Mm." By his side, Lilian did not hesitate anymore, even without withdrawing her hand, she continued moving upwards with Flying Witchcraft!
Her figure disappeared in an instant, leaving behind a ripple.
Bang.
But on the other side, Colin encountered trouble. His outstretched fingers didn't pass through the blue sky like Lilian's, but hit a solid barrier, as if touching a hard rock wall.
However, after a brief contemplation, Colin put on his Elf Armor and tried again.
This time, like Lilian, his fingers easily passed through the blue sky.
"Lilian has High-Level Elf bloodline … Indeed, there are differences between us," Colin muttered to himself as he flew towards the blue sky.
The Elf Armor he wore, according to Lily, was casually taken from the High-Level Elf Treasure Vault by her mother; it was a gift the Elf Clan specially gave to outsiders.
Wearing it was like being a guest of the Elf Clan, gaining some passage permissions.
There was no sensation of teleportation, like falling; it felt like passing through a thin sheet of paper.
Just his vision turning briefly dark, he suddenly arrived at a new place.
"Lilian..."
This was a plaza paved with large, light teal stone tiles… Lilian was quietly standing still, back towards him, looking ahead into the distance.
Following her gaze forward.
A palace of majestic enormity suddenly came into view.