The Wizard Has A Biochip

— Biochip, open the map!

[Beep!]

At that very moment, a translucent blue projection appeared before my eyes.

— Biochip, restart the scan!

—Reduce the precision to the lowest level and expand the search perimeter!

—Initiate a scan based on residual mana density!

[Command confirmed.]

The image before me changed immediately.

Most of the detailed lines disappeared, replaced by less precise bluish patches.

In return, the range increased drastically, covering practically the entire area surrounding the cave.

Several regions began flashing in different shades of blue.

One of them caught my attention.

A dark spot remained almost completely invisible to the scan.

My eyes narrowed.

— Keep this region highlighted!

[Command executed.]

Without wasting any time, I left the cave and started running.

I ran for several kilometers.

Finally, I stopped in front of a gigantic rock formation.

An enormous boulder completely blocked the entrance to a cave.

The nearby areas have already been inspected...

And the only place the Biochip couldn’t scan... must be this one.

My gaze swept across the colossal rock.

It was as tall as several men stacked on top of one another and wide enough to cover the entire entrance. It looked like a small mountain lodged against the cave wall.

The strangest part was the map.

That region simply refused to be analyzed.

The blue projection distorted itself every time it tried to pass through the rock.

I had seen that before in Arcangrove Tower.

Magic formation interference...

I slowly ran my hand across the surface of the stone.

It was cold.

Damp.

Covered with moss and thick roots that had grown over many years.

But how do I get inside?

I placed my right hand against the rock and applied force.

A bit of dust appeared, releasing a small amount of powder.

I carefully collected the material.

— Biochip, analyze its composition!

[Beep!]

[Mission established.]

[Collecting data.]

[Beep!]

[Material detected: Common Granite]

It seems to be an absolutely ordinary rock...

That only made everything even more frustrating.

The mage who had built that laboratory had hidden his secrets with exceptional skill.

Even so, I wasn’t willing to give up.

I looked once more at the blocked entrance.

The Brown Snake managed to get out of here.

That means the formation has some flaw... either permanent or temporary.

My mind began working rapidly.

Perhaps a cyclical opening?

Perhaps a point of lower resistance?

Perhaps wear caused by time?

Or even damage caused by the serpent itself?

If there’s a flaw, I’ll find it.

I stepped back a few meters and began setting up a small tent beside the sealed entrance.

I secured the stakes, stretched out the waterproof canvas, and organized my equipment in easily accessible positions.

I had made my decision.

I would stay there for as long as necessary.

I took a few dry biscuits out of my backpack.

I chewed them slowly while keeping my eyes fixed on the rock.

After eating, I activated the Biochip’s sensors once again.

Blue lines began sweeping across the rock’s surface.

Naturally, I only dared to do that because my previous analyses indicated that the laboratory’s owner was probably dead or had fled a long time ago.

If that Official Mage were still here...

I would already be dead.

If I can dismantle this formation...

Everything inside will be mine.

The mere thought made my heart beat faster.

But I immediately suppressed that thought.

Greed was the leading cause of explorers’ deaths.

Traps created by an Official Mage were capable of instantly killing someone at my level.

One single mistake... and I would become just another forgotten corpse in this forest.

.

.

.

.

Time passed.

.

.

.

.

In the blink of an eye, five days had passed since I set up my tent beside the enormous granite boulder.

Five days, barely sleeping properly, recording every slight fluctuation in the magic formation and repeating tests, collecting samples, comparing results, and simulating thousands of possibilities with the Biochip.

In the end, I finally managed to assemble an almost complete picture of that formation.

I slowly ran my hand over its surface.

Inside that boulder was an extremely sophisticated magic formation.

However...

It was damaged.

Severely damaged.

The Biochip had digitally reconstructed part of its structure.

Several runes simply no longer functioned.

Others showed advanced wear.

Some had disappeared completely.

— Biochip... estimate the age of the formation.

[Beep!]

[Estimated continuous operating time of the formation: between 117 and 143 years.]

More than a century.

That practically confirmed all of my hypotheses.

Then another conclusion appeared.

[Probability of damage caused by a large biological impact: 86.9%.]

So you really escaped through here, didn’t you, Brown Snake...

Most likely, when it was still young, it had managed to pass through a weakened point in the formation.

In doing so...

It ended up damaging part of the magical mechanism.

It was precisely because of that accident that an opportunity now existed for me.

During those days, the Biochip also carried out countless simulations.

Every small alteration generated hundreds of new possibilities.

In the end...

We managed to assemble a small set of spells capable of exploiting that very flaw.

The chance of success...

Hovered between seventy and eighty percent.

Not bad.

Especially considering that I was dealing with a formation created by an Official Mage.

However...

There was one problem.

The formation had its own synchronization.

The damaged sections did not remain exposed all the time.

They only appeared during a brief window of instability.

If I missed the timing...

I would have to wait all over again.

So I remained perfectly still for hours.

Night slowly fell.

Silence once again completely dominated the forest.

I watched the dead trees swaying in the wind.

The death of the Brown Snake had brought an end to the parasitic cycle that had consumed that region.

As the decades passed...

Perhaps in a hundred years...

The forest would regain its former vitality.

But at that moment...

Everything remained dead.

It was a silence.

Shortly before dawn, a golden light began to emerge between the mountains.

Soon after...

The first rays of sunlight touched the forest.

I slowly raised my head.

My Biochip displayed a discreet clock in the lower corner of my vision.

[06:00.]

Finally...

I immediately got to my feet.

I approached the enormous rock.

The instant the first rays of sunlight struck its surface...

Something happened.

The outer layer of the rock began to change.

Small fragments slowly broke away.

Beneath the ordinary granite, something completely different appeared.

Hundreds of silver lines began to emerge.

They resembled blood vessels.

Or metallic roots.

They pulsed continuously.

With every pulse, they absorbed part of the sunlight.

As if all that luminous energy were being converted directly into mana.

My eyes lit up.

It’s now!

Without wasting a single second, I pulled several potions from my backpack.

I shattered the vials directly over those silver lines.

Ssssssssshhhhhhh!

A massive cloud of white vapor exploded before me.

The alchemical solutions reacted violently.

The metallic lines began to vibrate.

Several magical circuits collapsed simultaneously.

The entire network became completely chaotic.

And I began chanting the incantation carefully calculated by the Biochip.

— Opening... Open... Apertum... Openigº Open~~

My voice remained steady.

Controlled.

Every syllable had a rigorously defined frequency, duration, and intensity.

As I spoke the words...

Those silver veins began to rotate.

At first, slowly.

Then faster and faster.

Until...

A huge circle appeared before me.

I raised the final potion.

I smashed it against the rock.

BOOOOOOM!!

The entire formation shone intensely.

The enormous boulder seemed to melt.

Its structure slowly deformed.

As if it had ceased to exist.

A few seconds later...

Where there had once been nothing but granite...

There was now a passage.

A deep, dark, silent tunnel.

I stood there for a few seconds, simply observing.

I didn’t take a single step.

There was no reason to take unnecessary risks.

I released two Research Prototype N-63 units.

Two reconnaissance androids that I had developed in the laboratory, just like the ones I had previously used when we entered the Brown Snake’s cave.

— Time to get to work.

They immediately activated their sensors.

—Beep! N-63 Unit No. 01 operational.

—N-63 Unit No. 02 operational.

I slowly closed my right eye.

At that moment...

My consciousness began receiving the images transmitted by both androids simultaneously.

It was like having three pairs of eyes.

I saw my own body standing motionless at the entrance.

At the same time...

I observed the dark tunnel through the androids’ sensors.

They advanced swiftly along the walls.

...

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