Chapter 306: Dispelling the Formation
The patrol team's footsteps gradually faded away until they had completely left the ship's cabin.
The mysterious man remained calm as he quietly sheathed his dagger.
He exhaled silently, unable to help but marvel once again at the strict discipline of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps.
Generally speaking, patrol duty is a tedious task. Patrol members typically engage in casual conversation during their rounds to combat boredom and pass the time.
When the mysterious man inspected many barracks, it was common to see patrol members chatting with each other.
However, when he arrived on the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps' ship and encountered several patrol teams, he never saw any of them chatting idly with each other. Each patrol team focused their attention solely on their work.
Because once they started chatting, it would distract them from their surroundings. Sometimes, even if an intruder made a slight noise, it would be drowned out by the patrol members' conversations.
“Mercenary Corps rarely have such discipline; even military camps might not reach this level.”
The mysterious man couldn't help but think of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps’ other identity—arms smugglers—and suddenly understood.
Arms smuggling was an illegal activity that could cost one their life.
It was far more dangerous than regular mercenary work.
Only by cultivating such discipline could one enforce orders and keep secrets. This would raise the success rate of smuggling.
“When it comes to arms smuggling, these people are undoubtedly very professional.”
The mysterious figure's attention returned to what was before him.
The ship's hold was empty, but the mysterious figure knew not to trust what his eyes saw.
Earlier, when he had used his battle skill to inspect the area outside the door, he had discovered that gold equipment and various alchemy materials were stored within this hold. However, they had been concealed by a magic formation, which had erased all traces and suppressed their aura.
As a result, even if an outsider stood right in front of these treasures, they would be completely undetectable to the naked eye.
The mysterious figure approached the formation and once again used his battle qi to create ripples of golden battle qi.
Ripples spread rapidly, covering the entire invisible magic formation without triggering any alarms.
After investigating, the mysterious figure quickly confirmed that the magic formation before him was primarily used for camouflage and concealing energy.
Its grade was not particularly high.
"The magicians of the Dragon Lion Mercenary Corps are Lao Zhong and Hong Teng. These two are iron level and bronze level, respectively."
"This iron level formation shows clear signs of recent construction. I wonder which one of them constructed it?"
Although the mysterious figure immediately saw through the formation, he could not immediately set about breaking it.
This was because, in addition to the main magic formation itself, four smaller magic formations had been set up in the hidden corners of the ship's cabin.
These four smaller magic formations were secretly connected to the main magic formation.
Once the main magic formation was broken, or any one of the four smaller magic formations was damaged, an alarm would be triggered.
The mysterious figure's sacred artifact, the Golden Finger, could break this arrangement.
But he did not wish to use it as it was too wasteful.
The Golden Finger could be reused, but each use consumed the divine power stored within it.
Obtaining divine power was extremely difficult.
The mysterious figure was not a devout believer. Accumulating divine power through prayer would require numerous attempts to gather enough for a single use.
The mysterious figure decided to take action himself.
He retrieved a set of tools.
They were kept in a small leather pouch.
He untied the rope binding the pouch, unfolding the entire leather strip completely and suspending it in mid-air before him.
The leather pouch had numerous clasps, each securing a variety of precision tools.
Without exception, these tools were all gold level, their auras faintly resonating with one another.
Even the leather pouch housing them was of the same quality.
This was a relatively rare set of gold level tools, and the mysterious man's primary tools of the trade.
The mysterious man first used his battle skill, causing his eyes to glow with a golden light.
After using his battle skill, a vague image of a magic formation appeared in his field of vision.
This main magic formation was three-dimensional, nearly cubic in shape, and nearly filled the entire ship's cabin.
Every detail of the formation and the ripples caused by the flow of magic power were clearly visible to the mysterious figure, who memorized them all.
The mysterious man observed for a moment before taking out several long needles.
Under the infusion of his battle qi, the slender needles rapidly elongated, growing significantly longer.
From their original length, which was only as long as a finger, they stretched to the length of an adult's forearm.
The mysterious man carefully selected the needles and swiftly embedded them into the three-dimensional magic formation.
The formation continued to operate normally, seemingly unaffected by the needles.
The mysterious figure then took out a magic ink pen.
Using the pen, he first drew new alchemy pathways in the blank spaces of the formation.
This was no easy feat.
The mysterious figure was clearly a battle qi cultivator with exceptional alchemy skills.
After outlining at least six alchemy pathways, the mysterious figure returned the magic ink pen to its original place in the leather case and withdrew a carving knife.
He hovered the carving knife over the position he intended to alter.
Taking a deep breath, he struck swiftly.
His movements were lightning-fast, making over a dozen cuts within a single second. Each strike was precise beyond belief, striking exactly where he intended.
The magic formation was damaged, and its stable operational state began to show signs of collapse.
But in the next instant, the several thin needles inserted by the mysterious figure activated simultaneously, emitting a variety of colorful lights.
The needles temporarily stabilized the magic formation, barely keeping it functioning.
Subsequently, the magic power flowing through the magic formation was deliberately guided by the mysterious figure. The magic power entered the alchemy pathways he had previously outlined.
Soon, these alchemy pathways were all infused with magic power.
After passing through these pathways, the magic power quickly returned to the original parts of the alchemy formation.
The original parts that had been severed by the mysterious figure were thus abandoned.
In silence, the alchemy formation underwent a transformation.
After abandoning the original sections, it merged with the new sections deliberately drawn by the mysterious figure, forming a new formation.
This formation retained the original functions of storing materials and gathering energy, but its control had fallen into the hands of the mysterious figure.
Most critically, throughout the transformation, the formation continued to function without triggering any alarms from the four smaller formations.
The mysterious figure casually snapped his fingers, and the formation moved at his will.
The scene before his eyes suddenly changed.
A large quantity of alchemy materials were neatly arranged.
Three gold level pieces of equipment also came into view.
The mysterious figure raised his eyebrows slightly, revealing a hint of surprise.