Chapter 260: Laboratory Construction

The laboratory was built on the mountaintop. Although the high altitude made the air thinner, there were still many magical beasts on the summit. However, there were no high-tier magical beasts; the highest tier was merely a flock of frost eagles.

These frost eagles were initially displeased with the mage's arrival, but after some of their companions died, they grudgingly allowed the mage to camp and stay here for extended periods, while they themselves moved slightly farther down the mountain.

Since there was no proper path, the mage's pace slowed after reaching the mountainside, and he did not arrive at the summit until the following day.

The top was barren, with no trees at all.

The mage stood before a massive stone, where he chanted a spell entirely in the ancient magic language. The incantation was very brief, and although reciting it in this way consumed more mental energy and magical power, it allowed the mage to enhance his grasp of the ancient magic language.

After the spell concluded, a low mechanical sound came from beside the huge stone. Then, a smaller stone moved away from its original position under the spell's effect, leaving a dark hole wide enough for two men in its place.

After detecting no abnormal objects inside the cave, the mage jumped in without hesitation. The small stone then returned to its original position under the spell's effect.

The passage was not long, sloping downward for only a few dozen meters, with no lighting on either side. The mage relied solely on the flame at the tip of his staff for illumination.

The crudely constructed lab sometimes made Shaoke, its master, feel that destroying it would be the best solution. However, for the sake of future experiments, he had to preserve this laboratory he had built himself.

The laboratory was not large; the first floor was only the size of his wooden hut, cluttered with scattered daily necessities and common magical materials. This was the mage's storage area.

The second floor was nearly five times larger than the first. To construct this underground laboratory, he had taught himself many ordinary spells, such as the Shrinking Spell and the Earth Manipulation Spell—low-tier spells with limited combat power.

The second floor of the laboratory was the main place where the mage ran experiments. There were stone writing desks and experiment tables, some simple cabinets, and he had even built a fireplace here, though he rarely used it.

The mage lit the candles on the walls, and under their glow, the specific details of the entire laboratory emerged.

Precious magical materials were strewn about haphazardly on the floor, along with vessels made of various materials, and stone or wooden boards engraved with arrays and patterns.

In the center of the laboratory stood a high tower model built from Star-Splinter Wood. This model was the mage tower that Shaoke planned to build in the future.

The nearly two-meter-tall model looked quite ordinary, even a bit shabby.

This was mainly because the mage had carved many numerical codes on it.

These codes were all marked with Arabic numerals. If other mages saw them, they might even consider them some kind of ancient script!

Beside the model were several chests filled with notes explaining those codes, since each code corresponded to a location that required magical power to maintain.

In those places, some required carving magic scripts and arrays, while others required embedding magic traps and various wards.

After inspecting the second-floor space, Shaoke activated the mechanism and continued downward. There, the third floor of his laboratory was still under construction.

He still had to spend time constructing the third floor. However, the space for the third floor had already been excavated; now he only needed to carve some auxiliary arrays and other high-tier arrays inside.

The third floor was much larger than the second.

Additionally, a massive stone pillar stood in the center, supporting the entire space.