"The Black Earl’s inspiration was spot on; we honestly didn’t encounter a single magical creature."
After walking a bit further without encountering any magical creature, Kaier, who was initially a bit anxious, couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
However, just as Kaier finished expressing his relief, Angel suddenly stopped in his tracks.
The group, who had not extended their spiritual power outward, looked at Angel in confusion.
"What’s wrong?" Dox asked in puzzlement.
"Earl Mi senses a large number of living creatures hiding nearby. Unless I’m mistaken, we have encountered some magical creatures..." Angel said softly.
As Angel finished speaking, everyone’s eyes turned to Kaier.
Just a moment ago, Kaier was marveling at not encountering any magical creatures, and now they’ve appeared. Though everyone knew it was a coincidence, it was quite the "coincidence."
"You guys called me a crow’s mouth earlier, but now you see, who’s the real crow’s mouth." At this moment, Dox spoke up, "Kaier, didn’t I tell you before we came here not to speak carelessly? You have the crow’s mouth attribute, and you’re aware of it. Sigh, I’ve taken the blame for so long for you, it’s really... ."
Kaier said somewhat aggrievedly, "You never told me before we came, and no, I don’t have the crow’s mouth attribute. This time, this time..."
Dox said with some smugness, "This time what? You want to say it’s just a coincidence? There’s no such coincidence!"
Kaier puckered his lips, the frustration swirling in his chest, but he couldn’t find any other words to rebut, so he kept explaining to the group: Dox had never said those things before coming; he made them up.
The group was more inclined to believe the humble yet sincere Kaier than Dox’s smug demeanor.
However, believing in anyone now wasn’t important.
The important thing was that the previously tense atmosphere was broken by Dox’s interruption. The attention previously on Kaier slowly faded.
"I didn’t expect you to be so protective." Suddenly, Angel’s voice sounded in the mind ribbon, and his gaze was directed at Dox.
Dox was momentarily stunned and pretended not to understand: "Huh?"
Angel didn’t expose Dox’s act but said, "Kaier wasn’t a crow’s mouth this time because the magical creatures we’ve encountered have a peculiarity."
After Angel finished, with a wave of his hand, the illusion screen displayed the so-called "magical creatures."
On one side of the wall not far away, adult-thigh-thick vines covered the area. These vines were intertwined, slowly moving like writhing pythons.
The branches of the vines were extremely black, but they were covered with sharp red thorns, which appeared exceptionally sharp and might even be poisonous.
Though vine-type magical creatures weren’t uncommon, they had encountered quite a few before entering the Underground Labyrinth from the surface ruins. However, Angel mentioning that these vines were somewhat "special" was not without reason.
This was because, amid these writhing and dense vines, there was a clear gap with no vines at all.
And this gap was a pitch-black hole.
This meant the direction they chose to proceed on had brought them to the second fork.
"Is this... also one of those dog holes?" Vay hesitantly asked, looking at the size of the hole.
"Judging from what is visible, it does look similar to the dog holes we encountered before. However, the vines are very dense, and the hole might not be as large as it appears; other parts might be covered by vines," Angel replied.
After a pause, Angel continued, "Now we have two choices: bypass them and continue forward or attempt to take the path hidden behind the vines."
Angel’s intention was still to take a vote, and whatever decision would be contingent on the voting result.
Kaier and Vay both abstained from voting directly, while Dox frowned, "I have some inspiration, but these inspirations may be a kind of fictional inspiration similar to fantasy, and I’m not confident in trusting them. I’ll leave the decision to Angel and the Black Earl."
The fictional inspiration Dox mentioned sounded mysterious, but it was akin to the concept of "phantom pain."
Phantom pain, commonly referred to in Wizard Civilization, was about feeling pain in an amputated limb. According to Jon, it’s called phantom limb pain or illusion pain, where patients may still feel their amputated limb as if it’s there, even experiencing pain in that "phantom limb."
The wizards’ explanation for why this bizarre illusionary pain occurs is the soul’s lament: even if a limb is amputated, as long as you’re alive, your soul remains whole. Although the soul doesn’t partake in physiological activities, it howls in lament when it senses a missing part.
Whether this explanation is correct, Angel didn’t know since he hadn’t conducted similar research. However, considering phantom pain helped him understand Dox’s fictional inspiration.
Currently, Dox’s inspiration had temporarily disappeared, but previously, it had been very active, making Dox consider inspiration as an auxiliary "organ" he could command. Now that this "organ" was gone, fictional inspiration seemed naturally akin to "phantom pain,"
Because Dox suspected his inspiration was fictional, he hadn’t shared the direction it gave but instead passed the decision-making rights entirely to Angel and the Black Earl.
Angel didn’t comment further; his so-called voting was just formal. He already had a personal preference for what to choose.
"Does the Black Earl have any suggestions?" Angel asked.
Black Earl: "This question shouldn’t be directed at me; you’re the one most familiar with the Hanging Jail Stairway."
Angel shrugged, "I only know the path from the Hanging Jail Stairway to the target location; I’m not familiar with the path to the Hanging Jail Stairway. However, I indeed have a preference. Personally, I’d rather take the path of the vines."
Black Earl: "And the reason?"
Angel: "Multiple factors combined. First, I have a feeling that this might be the correct path."
The first factor made Dox couldn’t help but comment, "I didn’t bring up inspiration, but you do."
Angel: "It’s not quite inspiration; it’s more of a synthesis of comprehensive information leading to a feeling."
To simply put it, the "server" within the Mind Space had been gathering information throughout the journey. When all kinds of information were mixed, though Angel hadn’t put it all together, the "server" had already synthesized the most probable answer.
This was the "feeling" Angel referred to, which significantly differed from inspiration.
"If you don’t agree with my first factor, I will continue. Second, I had Earl Mi spread shadows to another path and discovered that the further we go, the more traces of magical creatures we find. In other words, if we don’t take the vine path, we may enter an area bustling with magical creatures. I don’t think the Hanging Jail Stairway would be located in an active area of magical creatures."
"Third, these vines don’t seem to be extending elsewhere; they only linger in a small segment, more like guardians of this path than territorial and predatory magical creatures."
"Consider this: the external work areas have three narrow passages meant for warning, guarding, and repelling outsiders. The Hanging Jail Stairway is the core of the whole institution; it should have guards just like a sentinel."
"And there’s the fourth factor, although it might be a bit far-fetched, so just hear me out. I personally think vine-type magical creatures should be relatively friendly towards the Wood Spirit, so if a Wood Spirit comes here, the vines shouldn’t give it much trouble."