In the darkness, a thin figure slowly walked out from the shadows. It was a young boy of about twelve or thirteen years old, with a clear but timid face, and hesitation and uneasiness shining in his eyes. He looked down at the ground as if he was afraid to look directly at Ian.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" Ian asked cautiously, his body tensed, ready to deal with possible dangers. There was no energy fluctuation on the little boy, just like an ordinary person, but Ian remained vigilant, the little boy's appearance in this place was just not a normal thing.
The little boy raised his head and whispered, "You ... you came from outside, right?" His voice trembled a little, "My name is Ryan, my father told me to come to you, he said he wanted to meet you."
Ian looked puzzled, "Who is your father? How did he know I would be here?"
Ryan timidly glanced at Ian, swallowed and answered, "My father ... I'm not sure, you come with me first."
Ian contemplated for a moment, with some caution in his heart, but finally nodded, "Alright, take me to him." Ian also wanted to figure out what was going on.
Ryan was instantly relieved, and with a slight smile, he carefully guided Ian towards the ruins beyond.
After a not-so-long trek, they left the depressing ruins and entered a lush and barren wilderness. Soon, a small tribe appeared before their eyes.
The tribe looked very primitive, with simple houses made of wood and stone scattered in the clearing, while the surrounding area was simply surrounded by wooden fences. Inside the tribe, a few men were staring at Ian warily, their hands gripping their simple weapons, but there was no hostility. Elderly men and children stood curiously in the doorways of houses, watching the strangers warily.
Ryan led Ian through the curious and wary gazes of the crowd to a slightly larger wooden house and pushed open the door, "Father, he's here."
Inside the house, a middle-aged man with a resolute face sat cross-legged in the center seat. He looked up at Ian, who immediately felt the powerful aura of a Luminary-class powerhouse coming from the other party.
The middle-aged man slowly got up and said in a calm and dignified manner, ''You are the new person who came in this time, aren't you? My name is Henry, the leader of this tribe, and I was once a trialist just like you."
Ian nodded slightly in respect and asked, "Then why have you stayed here, do you want to live this idyllic life?"
Henry sighed, his gaze distant and heavy, "It's not that I don't want to leave, but I can't. "
Ian's eyes sharpened, "What do you mean? If you were the last trialist to come in, it has been at least a few years since then, have you never found a way to leave? "
"I wasn't the last trialist, after me, I can't even remember how many batches of trialists you appeared here. " Henry's gaze became deep as he slowly recounted what happened.
"I was one of the first batch of trialists when this relic was just discovered, at that time, the Aurora Council chose a group of the most elite personnel to enter the relic, wanting to succeed in one battle, there were more than ten people from the Luminary class alone, and the others from the Flare class were all elites as well. "
Ian was slightly surprised in his heart, such a lineup was indeed considered luxurious, at least compared to his own batch it was indeed so, Ian's batch of people who entered the ruins were explicitly the only two people who had reached the Luminary level, him and Mia.
Henry continued, ''All of us entered the relics with visions of the future, wanting to earn ourselves a future prospect, we basically passed the initial test successfully, got the control rune, and formally entered the relics, and there wasn't too much danger within the relics, just when we all thought that this relic quest was about to be completed successfully, we all discovered a most serious The problem was that no one knew the way to leave, so we started to look for a way to leave with all our might, however, to our despair, we gradually realized that there was no exit from this relic at all. Later on, our group of people gradually formed their own small groups, and we all slowly dispersed until now."
Ian frowned, "Are you guys sure? Aren't there any clues about leaving here?"
Henry smiled bitterly, "For thirty whole years, we have explored almost every inch of land within the ruins, and some dangerous areas inside the ruins have been entered many times, but no matter how much we try, we have never been able to leave this place. Every so often, new trialists would be teleported in, but the end result was always the same, no one was able to leave."
Feeling a heavy heart, Ian tentatively asked, "Then what was your purpose in calling me here today? Intending for me to stay here and live with you guys?"
"No. We have never given up hope of leaving, and every time a new person appears, we will send someone to look for them, expecting you to bring news from the outside world, and perhaps the people out there will make new advances in their research of this relic."
Ian was silent for a moment and took a deep breath, "Unfortunately, there has not been any substantial progress in the research outside the ruins either, and we trialists are nothing more than pathfinders sent in."
A hint of despondency flashed in Henry's eyes, "Is that really the case, in fact, I had a hunch about this, I just wasn't willing to give up even the slightest chance."
Both of them fell into silence, Ian asked the system in his mind, "System, is what he said true? Is it really impossible to leave? "
The system didn't answer Ian's question and instead issued a quest beep:
[Side quest released: The Road Home (Explore the ruins and find a way to leave)]
[Mission Reward: Auxiliary Skill X1, Raffle Ticket X100]
[Failure Penalty: Remain in the ruins as a savage king] [Failure Penalty: Remain in the ruins as a savage king]]
Ian looked at the failure penalty of the system's quest and once again rolled his eyes at the system, but it also made him understand two things, first, since the system gave the relevant quest, it would be impossible for him to get the method of leaving from the system, he could only rely on his own groping, and second, since the system gave this quest, it means that the relics are not impossible to leave, and that there must be a way to do so.
Ian regained his confidence and took the lead to break the silence, "Henry, don't be too frustrated, now you have another helper don't you? You tell me all the areas and situations of the ruins in detail, we can definitely find a way to leave. "
Henry gestured for Ian to sit down and slowly talked about all he knew about the ruins ....
When Ian left from Henry's cabin, it was already completely dark, the two of them chatted for a long time, before leaving Ian also explained that Henry would help him keep an eye out for any sign of Mia, Ian returned to the house that Henry had prepared for him to rest in, laying down on the bed, rubbing his forehead and muttering to himself, "The situation of the relics is still really complicated, if it wasn't for Henry, all these things that I'm going to discover on my own is still don't know how long it would have taken. "
It's just a pity that Ian still doesn't have a clue about this matter of the relic's exit, Ian began to desperately recall his last experience of exploring the relics, trying to find out useful experience from it.
Ian fell asleep thinking like this. In his dream, it was as if he had gone back to the time when he explored the ruins in the City of Ashes and experienced every detail himself, suddenly he seemed to understand something.