Lunaria hesitated slightly. Wouldn't it be best to go into an unknown location like this with a plan? She wanted to ask, but by the time she tried to do so, Damien had already rushed into the entrance of the ruins.
"You…sigh."
In the end, she could only follow. Seeing his seemingly reckless behavior, she began to understand how he became good friends with Qing'er.
The entrance to the ruins was a large broken Japanese-style gate. Walking through it, the two were met with a spread of land covered in ice and snow.
Damien spread his awareness with a frown. 'That's odd. I could've sworn there were dozens of life auras in this place, so why is it empty now?'
Since his awareness couldn't find anything off, he immediately put mana into his eyes to check as well. And as he expected, the scenery in front of him changed.
The layout of the area was still the same, but there had been certain things hidden inside what seemed to be a bewildering formation.
'These are…' Damien muttered in surprise. He had found the source of the life auras he sensed, but their state wasn't anything like he expected.
Each and every beast he saw was frozen in a coffin of ice. From the looks of it, a single touch could shatter their bodies. But their life auras were still filled with vitality, so he knew they hadn't been injured.
'Not injured but frozen so thoroughly that they can't escape…this ice isn't simple.'
He looked over at Lunaria. If she could see the beasts trapped in ice, it would be much simpler to identify it. She was an Ice Phoenix after all.
But truth be told, Ice Phoenixes were much closer to Life than they were to yin. Their ice flames would evolve into Life Flames just like how Feng Qing'er's flames evolved into Reincarnation Flames.
But that didn't mean they were helpless. In the end, they were still Ice Phoenixes.
Thinking this far, Damien began looking further into the bewildering formation. He wanted to find the formation core and break it as he did in Acier.
"What are you doing?" Lunaria asked. He had been looking around and walking aimlessly ever since they entered, but she was still clueless as to what was happening.
Damien explained to her about the bewildering formation and the strange ice that he had found. Hearing it, Lunaria's brows furrowed.
"Taking care of the formation shouldn't be too hard. Allow me to try."
Lunaria manifested her flames. They were ice blue in color and gave off an aura of cold that didn't match their status as flames at all. Soon after, she began molding her flames into specific patterns
'Isn't this the same as how Qing'er was using her flames after they evolved? No, it's slightly different.'
Although the runic patterns were similar, they didn't seem to carry the same purpose or aura.
Feng Qing'er's flame runes were filled with an air of domineering and power, but Lunaria's were reserved and silent. Not to mention, the runic patterns were completely different.
After the runes were created, Lunaria spread her arms, causing them to float into the surroundings. They spread out evenly like a net.
"There."
Lunaria only spoke a single word, and the runes all congregated on a single location. They congealed together and formed a massive ice needle that pierced into the ground.
Crack!
A distinct crack was heard, and the bewildering formation crumbled entirely. The true scenery of the area was revealed.
"Impressive," Damien commented.
"It's nothing at all. This is but a basic use of Ice Phoenix Patterns." Lunaria replied nonchalantly.
She wasn't lying. Ice Phoenix Patterns were geared towards support capability. To find a formation core was extremely basic in her book.
Damien just shrugged it off. He really didn't have enough knowledge about the Phoenix race to say anything else.
Instead, he moved towards the ice statues.
"As I thought, this ice isn't anything simple. Even by standing near it, I can feel danger."
It was as if one touch would turn him into an ice statue like the rest of these beasts. With this feeling enveloping him, it was obvious his surprise when he saw Lunaria casually touch the ice.
"What are you doing?!"
"Hm? I'm touching the ice."
"Yeah I know you're— wait, you're fine?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Lunaria tilted her head as if his concern confused her.
Seeing this, Damien felt a headache coming on. Of course he could explain what he felt from the ice, but would that even change anything?
With him closing his mouth, Lunaria turned her attention back to the ice. She injected her mana into it, circulating it through the ice and testing it.
"This ice indeed carries some unique properties. Not only can it leave someone in a state of suspended animation, it can also shatter and control their life at will. But this doesn't seem to be an effect caused by a single attack…it's more like the work of a domain."
"A domain!"
It was a word Damien hadn't heard in a while. The only two people he had met who utilized domains were Rose and Qing Tan.
On Apeiron, it was said that reaching a certain level of control would allow one to form a domain, but as Damien traveled, he felt like this theory was wrong.
There was no way the number of people who had reached such control would be so little. After all, to properly reach 4th class, one needed extreme comprehension and control of their element so they could harness laws upon ranking up.
So logically speaking, every peak 3rd class existence he had met should've been able to use a domain.
But they couldn't.
Perhaps control was one factor, but there were definitely other things needed to achieve the feat. Talent was definitely one of them.
As for Damien, he could definitely form a domain with his space element if he wanted, but he was waiting to unlock his time element first to form a dual-element domain instead.
The strange thing was for a domain to appear in a place like this. Even if a remnant soul was in charge of this ruin, they wouldn't be able to make use of a domain without a physical body to control mana with.
Which means, this domain was the ability of something else.
Damien suddenly became excited.
He had read a lot of records on Apeiron. Although their information was limited due to the aftereffects of the war with the Nox, they still had a great deal of knowledge within their libraries.
And there was one thing that came to mind when he thought of the current situation.
A ruin, a mysterious domain, and an object that controlled and erected it. With these three facts alone, he could pretty much guess what the crowning treasure of this ruin was.
It was only a legend on Apeiron, but who was to say it was the same everywhere else?
It was an extremely rare sentient treasure. Formed from the amalgamation of attributed mana over tens of thousands of years and eventually developing a will due to the sheer amount of both time and mana, it was the kind of treasure every practitioner would kill to get their hands on.
An elemental seed.
