Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

Chapter 624: Alliance

His words sounded reasonable, and his tone was sincere.

Forming temporary groups to explore high-risk, high-reward areas in the ruins is a common practice.

But Duke’s vigilance did not diminish in the slightest.

The aura of these three people was unified and refined, clearly elite from the same organization, cooperating seamlessly.

Their earlier spiritual exchange was clearly a rapid assessment to determine whether this unexpected variable—himself—was an enemy or a friend, whether to recruit or eliminate.

The proposal for cooperation at this moment might not truly come from inability, but more likely an attempt to use him, or to lead him into a more controllable or solvable situation for them.

In other words, if Duke were in their position, he could find no reason to cooperate with a stranger like himself.

Whenever something is unusual, there must be a cause; it’s likely these three have bad intentions.

Duke’s mind spun rapidly; earlier, while studying the murals, he did deduce from some fragmented images and symbolic cues that continuing deeper along this main passageway might lead to an important site related to either a Holy Artifact or the heritage of the giant civilization, near a certain point.

The vault they mentioned, judging by its direction, was likely that place.

"The location indicated by the murals... coincides with the vault they mentioned. Coincidence, or do they also have some clue about the ruins?" Duke pondered to himself.

In a flash, Duke made a decision.

He needed to go to that place, and right now, these three might be the key or stepping stones he could use.

Clearly, that’s what they thought too.

But in the end, who would become the stepping stone would rely on strength.

These three clearly felt confident; three against one gave them the advantage over him.

Duke slowly walked out from the shadow of the gigantic pillar, his hood drawn low, obscuring his face.

His voice was calm and emotionless, "Alright, but I need to know how much you understand about that vault and what the specific distribution plan is. Additionally, during the exploration, I need enough autonomy and a safe distance."

In fact, he had already used the Thousand Illusion Mask to change his appearance, build, and even his aura; ordinary methods could not see through the mask’s disguise.

Duke had chosen the face of someone named Leonardo whom he had seen in a past life, and it was even from his youth.

The leading Blood Rose Wizard seemed unsurprised by Duke’s response and nodded, "Very reasonable. We can discuss specific information and distribution as we go; staying here isn’t wise. As for distance, rest assured, the basis of cooperation is trust and win-win."

He stepped aside, indicating Duke could join their ranks, but they all maintained a few meters’ gap between each other.

The other two Blood Rose Wizards also slightly adjusted their positions; seemingly casual, yet subtly blocking any escape route Duke might take while maintaining their tactical linkage.

Duke’s expression remained unchanged, as if not noticing these subtle changes in their stance.

He nodded and stepped forward, joining this temporarily assembled team, each harboring their agendas.

He didn’t get too close, always keeping a distance of about ten meters from them; this distance allowed him ample reaction time for most sudden occurrences.

The four of them kept a subtle and silent atmosphere as they headed deeper into the darkness and unknown of the passage.

The leading Blood Rose Wizard began to softly share some known patterns of the ruins and their guesses about the vault ahead while Duke mostly remained silent, occasionally raising a key question or two.

At the same time, he focused most of his attention on sensing environmental changes and being wary of any unusual actions from his three temporary teammates.

In this superficially cooperative yet inwardly tense atmosphere, they proceeded for about fifteen minutes. The passage gradually became wider and taller, with remaining mural content on the walls becoming denser and more significant, mostly depicting scenes of the giant race holding grand ceremonies, worshipping something, or offering precious items somewhere.

Finally, they reached the end of a passage.

Or rather, it was the entrance to a huge space.

The area ahead suddenly opened up, revealing a nearly circular, over a hundred meters in diameter magnificent hall.

The hall’s dome reached so high that it disappeared into darkness, with only a few beams of cold light reflecting from somewhere unknown, striking obliquely in the central area like searchlights. The air was filled with a stagnant scent of dust, ancient spices, and a faint energy field.

What stood out the most was the colossal seamless wall directly opposite where they entered from, embedded with a door.

This door was slightly smaller than the giant entrance of the ruins but still extraordinarily massive, over fifteen meters high and nearly ten meters wide.

The door was made of a deep crimson red material, like solidified blood, smooth as a mirror, with no handles or keyholes, only a central complex three-dimensional relief composed of numerous twisted lines and sharp geometric patterns.

The core of the pattern was a downward-concave, bowl-shaped hollow.

The entire dark red door stood quietly, emanating a heart-wrenching silence and majesty, as if asleep, yet seemingly waiting.

"This is it," said the lead Blood Rose Wizard, stopping and speaking with a voice that echoed in the empty hall, "We previously explored up to here, but the seal on this door is very peculiar. We tried various energy inputs, rune decoding, and even physical force, all to no avail. It seems to require some specific condition."

His words sounded mixed with sincerity and trouble, and together with the other two, they cast their gaze onto the dark red massive door, eyebrows furrowed, looking like they were pondering over an unsolvable puzzle.

Duke stood about ten meters behind them, his gaze also on that door.

His spiritual power extended outward, carefully scanning the relief pattern on the door and that noticeable bowl-shaped hollow. This door was intricately connected with the entire ruins’ Earth Vein Energy, and behind the door, there appeared to be a powerful energy barrier.

Simultaneously, he kept part of his attention on the three Blood Rose Wizards.

Their positions seemed scattered naturally, facing the door, but Duke keenly sensed that they, along with him, subtly formed an irregular quadrilateral, with him being relatively isolated in one corner.

"Indeed unusual," Duke remarked calmly, stepping forward as if also captivated by the door and wanting a closer look.

He stopped about five meters from the door, a distance where he could see the details clearly without being too close to the three of them.

"These relief patterns... seem to be more than just decoration."