The Ruin Opens — The Gray-White Stone Tower

The moment Bertha Wimi spotted Lu Yuan, she raised her longbow.

At that same instant, the black-furred gnoll beside her seized her wrist.

"Third Miss — wait!"

Bertha spun on him, fury blazing across her face. "Jingba! What do you think you're *doing*?! How dare you stop me?!"

Jingba's expression was uneasy. "Third Miss, I'm not trying to stop you. Something here isn't right."

"Isn't right? If you can't explain yourself, I'm going to my father."

"Third Miss," he said carefully, "look at that young human beside him — the one laughing and talking with Lu Yuan right now."

Bertha shifted her gaze. Standing close to Lu Yuan was a young woman, chatting with easy familiarity.

Jingba's brow furrowed slightly. "That person is Liu Xi — the Tianfu Consortium's representative in Sandy Rock City on Great Qi Star. Her strength is formidable, roughly on par with my own. And the Tianfu Consortium's overall power is a step above ours."

Bertha stiffened. "What?! Stronger than our consortium?"

Jingba smiled wryly and continued: "Third Miss, we cannot act right now. Provoking a Tianfu Consortium response would cause no small amount of damage to the Wimi Consortium's interests. When the boss comes to lay blame, even you, Third Miss, would be taken to task for it."

He drew a slow breath, tamping down the frustration rising in his eyes. There was nothing for it — the person he was talking to was still his Third Miss.

Though Bertha despised Lu Yuan with every fiber, she was no fool. Right now he was openly socializing with the Tianfu Consortium's representative, clearly on familiar terms. Making a move here would invite immediate retaliation.

She looked at Lu Yuan one more time, then lowered her bow. Her voice came out flat and cold.

"Hmph. You don't need to tell me that."

Anger still burned in her eyes as she stared across the plaza at him, her fist tightening at her side.

"So that's why we couldn't find him," she muttered.

She turned to Jingba. "Have someone investigate when this human showed up in Sandy Rock Palace. No wonder all our searches in the Gray Rock Forest kept coming up empty."

Jingba frowned slightly. "Third Miss, we've been looking in the Gray Rock Forest the entire time. Looking back now, it's only natural we couldn't find him there."

*So that was the reason.*

The group moved toward the gnoll zone.

The moment they arrived, a gnoll with a coat of intermingled brown and black stepped forward, smiling.

"Jingba — I knew you'd be here. My regards to Miss Bertha."

Bertha gave him a cold nod.

The gnoll — Maosi — blinked, then smiled again. "Something wrong with Miss Bertha? Did someone make her angry? If there's anything I can help with, don't hesitate to ask. The Yuegu Consortium and the Wimi Consortium are the closest of partners."

Jingba replied with a wry look. "A human offended the Third Miss. The problem is he seems to have an unusual relationship with the Tianfu Consortium, so we can't move against him right now."

Maosi looked faintly puzzled. "A human? And the Tianfu Consortium?"

He glanced toward the Tianfu Consortium's side — and saw Liu Xi in easy conversation with Lu Yuan.

"The one Miss Bertha is referring to... is that the human talking with Liu Xi?"

Jingba: "Maosi, do you know him?"

Maosi's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly as he studied Lu Yuan across the plaza. His expression shifted into something peculiar.

"'Black Knight' Lu Yuan?"

His eyebrow gave a single twitch.

"I know him. He's made quite a name for himself in this area lately. Didn't expect he'd provoke Miss Bertha." A dry smile crossed his face. "Doesn't know what's good for him."

Jingba's frown deepened. "He's already built a reputation? How is that possible?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Maosi replied. "He can take down Black Line Snakes now — solid enough strength. But his strength isn't really the point. The point is he reportedly kills hundreds of beasts a day. That's what's gotten people talking."

Bertha immediately objected. "A few days ago he was still in the Gray Rock Forest! In that short a time, he can kill hundreds of beasts a day in Sandy Rock Palace?! That's impossible!"

Elsewhere in the plaza, onlookers were quietly exchanging observations.

"People have been speculating for a while that Lu Yuan's growth rate was unnatural — that he might have only just recently Awakened. After what Miss Bertha let slip, it's almost certain. This human might be a genuinely exceptional genius."

"A genius of that caliber?!"

Jingba's eyebrow twitched again.

Catching the look on Bertha's face, Maosi's eyes glinted and he smiled pleasantly. "Miss Bertha, right now Lu Yuan is keeping close company with Liu Xi — direct action would be inadvisable. But once the ruin is done, he'll be on his own again. Plenty of time to settle things then."

Jingba: "And what about the Tianfu Consortium side?"

"Don't worry." Maosi was unhurried. "He didn't come here with the Tianfu Consortium — he arrived with a few ordinary human Gene Warriors. When this is over, they won't be leaving together."

The odds of walking away with real treasure had just improved considerably.

Bertha gave a cold nod. "Good. We go over first."

She looked at Lu Yuan once more across the plaza, eyes burning, fist clenched white-knuckled at her side.

Hearing that the enemy she loathed was apparently a greater genius than herself — that knowledge sat in her chest like a coal.

"Fine," she said, voice like ice. "That's settled. He dared attack me. I will kill him."

On Lu Yuan's side of the plaza, a heavyset gnoll warrior with a massive axe strapped to his back let out a cold laugh.

"No one dares go in first? Then I will."

He unslung the axe and walked straight through the stone gate.

Liu Xi watched him go, then turned to Lu Yuan and spoke in a quieter tone.

"That's 'Iron Axe' Kaman. Extremely capable. In the real world, I've heard he's the gnoll military's founding instructor — an iron-blood hardliner who's always held it out for humans. You're a clear talent, Lu Yuan. He's probably already marked you."

Lu Yuan's brow creased slightly. He had already felt the hostility from that gnoll.

"Let him watch," Lu Yuan said evenly. "I'm not that easy to deal with."

Liu Xi still hadn't given up trying to bring him over.

"Ha! If you joined the Tianfu Consortium, we'd all be in your corner."

Lu Yuan smiled and shook his head.

Liu Xi laughed, undeterred as ever.

Before their conversation could go much further, white light began tracing along the patterns carved into the bronze gate — as if an invisible hand were drawing a vast, intricate design across its surface. In moments, the light had crept through every groove of every pattern until it filled the gate from edge to edge.

*Click.*

The bronze gate swung silently inward on its own.

The noise of the plaza died in an instant. Every voice fell away. The crowd went still, the air taut with held breath.

Everyone readied their weapons.

Through the now-open gate lay a vast gray rocky plain, stretching away to distances impossible to judge. Rising from that featureless stone ground — alone, unmistakable — was a single gray-white stone tower.

Eyes went wide across the plaza. People forgot to breathe.

This was the wonder of ruins. From outside the gate, nothing gave any sign of the world that waited within.

Liu Xi's smile vanished. Her expression turned serious.

"The ruin is opening."

Then the excitement came rushing back, and she turned to Lu Yuan:

"There are several types of ruins — exploration, trial, killing, and others. Of all of them, the trial type is the safest. In other types you might end up facing opponents far beyond what you can handle. In a trial ruin, your opponents are calibrated to your own strength level. Look at that tower in there — that's almost certainly a trial tower. A trial tower means a trial-type ruin." She smiled wide. "We got lucky."

Lu Yuan absorbed the explanation, and something quietly lifted in his chest.

He wasn't alone. Almost everyone in the plaza wore some version of the same delighted, startled expression.

"A trial-type ruin — didn't expect that!"

"We struck gold!"

Liu Xi's face was bright with undisguised pleasure.

With a trial-type ruin, everyone's chances of walking away with real treasure had risen sharply.

After Kaman passed through without incident, the rest began streaming in — a steady current of Gene Warriors from all four races pouring through the stone gate.

"Lu Yuan!" Liu Xi called. "Come on, let's go."

"Sure." He smiled. "Good luck."

Liu Xi laughed, told him she was heading in, and stepped through the gate.

"I'm heading in too, Lu Yuan!"

Lu Yuan's heavy sword materialized in his grip. Beside him, Gelin tightened both hands around his giant shield. Zhuo Ming swallowed hard — nerves written across his face, but eyes burning with eagerness — and took a firm grip on his own sword.

"Let's go in, Lu Yuan!"

Lu Yuan nodded. Together with the others, he passed through the ruin gate.

Inside was a vast expanse of flat gray rock. It stretched away in every direction with no end in sight. The gray-white stone tower was the only structure on the whole plain — no other buildings, no landmarks, nothing but stone ground and distance.

Lu Yuan had known little about ruins before today.

The group crossed the open ground and gathered at the base of the tower. Its door stood open. White light spilled outward from within, obscuring whatever lay inside.

Kaman's voice boomed out from the doorway: "Enter! Begin the trial!"

He shouldered his axe and strode in.

After he crossed the threshold without incident, the others followed. One by one, then in groups, nearly everyone wore the same expression — the barely suppressed delight of unexpected luck.

"We struck gold this time!"

Lu Yuan stepped through into the trial tower.

*This,* he thought, *is the wonder of ruins.*