Tower of Heaven

Was it because he suddenly had an increase in strength?

Such a thing didn\'t exist in this world. Atlas\' best guess was that it was a combination of things.

Firstly, [Intrinsic Foresight]. It allowed him to understand and comprehend things at a rate others couldn\'t. It allowed him to see the world in slow motion and understand it at a deeper level. It gave him detection abilities and eyesight beyond his level, and most importantly, when it synergized with the energy of the Formation Spark, a magical thing happened.

As this was a home of the forging arts in the past, everything here was either an artifact or made of metals that the Formation Spark drooled over. Atlas was able to analyze every material and learn about its exact properties. When his understanding reached a certain level, [Intrinsic Foresight] automatically learned how to ignore the material and see what stood beyond.

Of course, what Atlas saw was a hazy picture or something like a three-dimensional schematic. He couldn\'t make out exact details.

It was the same as being able to see anything as long as Atlas had an understanding of materials. Seeing through a wall to find a hidden lever mechanism was mild compared to the potential of this discovery.

Nevertheless, Atlas pulled the lever. The entire ground around him lifted according to a mechanism and the ceiling retreated. When the floor stopped moving, he was on the third floor that others couldn\'t find.

It was just as much of a mess as he expected. There was paper strewn about and broken machinery littering the space.

Large copper tubes filled with channels that moved mana snaked across the ground and made it difficult to traverse. It was impossible to know just what kind of research they were trying to do here.

\'Everything of value has been burned.\'

Atlas picked up some of the papers on the ground and read them. The facts and equations could not be deciphered without the missing context of their work.

\'And this…\'

It was scribbled across a wall in multiple different materials. Some of it was paint, some of it was ink, and some of it was blood. Its writer used anything they could find in order to get the message written before they suffered a tragic fate.

"Everyone is gone. Everything is gone. The world is ending. Goodbye."

That was it. An ominous message left by beings who had already become dust in the rivers of time.

\'Their world ended…\'

And somehow, a piece of it ended up here?

Was this also a part of the "Replicas?" Were they meant to be so complicated…?

Atlas was forced to put the disturbing message aside in order to claim his treasure. It sat in a chest atop a desk. The chest itself was unlocked and open as if someone was attempting to take it but ran out of time.

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"Here it is."

In the end, it landed in Atlas\' hands.

"Ancient Meteorite Iron."

Around four catties of it.

\'This metal is ranked quite highly. It may even be too much to be used on a weapon for the current me.\' Atlas thought wryly.

Ancient Meteorite Iron was far better than the ordinary Darkstar Iron of his current chain sickles. Darkstar Iron came in many grades, of which the significant levels of qi deprivation only appeared at the higher levels. Compared to the most basic Darkstar Iron, which wasn\'t able to do much against Atlas\' current enemies, it was better to sacrifice the effect for a better metal.

\'Ancient Meteorite Iron is also nothing to joke about.\'

If turned into a weapon by a master blacksmith, it could be much thinner and sharper than ordinary metals while having a degree of fortitude and density that made it supreme.

\'Now, either I become a master blacksmith or I find one. Then, I will gain weapons that can enhance my strength even further.\'

It was a good reward. He was more than happy to find it in such an empty ruin.

\'With that finished, shall I prepare the trap?\'

Once again, the members of Dusk were going to have to prepare themselves for humiliation.

Otherwise, perhaps they\'d kill themselves before Atlas ever reached them.

***

Over an hour passed before concerns spread through the twelve people blocking the ruin entrance. It came from the combination of Atlas\' silence and the silence of their brothers who followed him.

There should have been movement. At some point, there should have been some signs of battle that could be sensed from the surface.

However, there was nothing. Not a single thing at all. The twelve of them pushed aside their concerns for some time, but at the end of the hour, they could no longer stay back.

Moving together, they entered the ruin. Unlike their brethren, they did not sustain any damage from the fall. They landed gracefully and in formation so that they couldn\'t be caught by surprise.

Communicating through hand motions, they sent their spiritual sense down the halls and scanned for any presences.

\'Corpses.\'

They found two on the first floor. It didn\'t bode well for what they would see if they went deeper.

Though, that was only if they could go deeper.

From the moment they entered the ruin, they\'d fallen into Atlas\' trap.

\'Go.\'

Hiding in the shadows and holding a glowing orb in his hand, Atlas gave a command. All of a sudden, deep rumbling footsteps began to echo through the ruin.

As the twelve assassins watched, three ten-foot-tall stone golems walked out of the darkness and faced them.

Before anyone could react, they pointed their weapons at the sky and fired.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A spear, an arrow, and a sword all made of the same dense stone flew out of the ruin and slammed into the cave ceiling above.

"Scatter!"

Rumble!

With a huge movement, massive chunks of rock and debris flew down into the ruin. It would take them many seconds to fall all the way down, so the assassins had more than enough time to scatter into the multiple corridors to evade the impact.

However, that same movement created an opportunity.

Whoosh!

Out of nowhere, a black blur turned into Atlas himself. He jumped into the air as the debris fell, using the closest piece to boost himself higher.

With each step he took, his momentum increased. He gained more and more height as he used the rocks to climb, and by the time he made it back to the surface level, the ruin was already filled with dust and exploding rocks.

\'Still, that is not enough.\'

Those rocks were only holding the enemy back until they stopped falling. Atlas had to stop them indefinitely.

He concentrated his own power and raised his leg into the air. His muscles bulged and his qi roared as he sent it crashing back down.

[Great Mountain Press]

It was a physical skill that could be attributed to Alaric\'s teachings. When its force struck the ground, the cracks that spread latched onto the cavern walls and shattered them. The entire area broke down, and all of the debris fell directly into the hole in the middle.

Atlas destroyed a great amount of land, but not nearly enough to put a dent in the mountain. Nevertheless, the rapid change did have its effects. The debris was soon followed by a landslide caused by the chain of events, and as rocks and dirt piled into the hole and packed themselves densely, the ruin itself was completely submerged in the ground.

Atlas looked at his work proudly.

\'Unless they have teleportation talismans, they will have to spend several days at the very least to escape.\'

The several tens of meters of empty space were almost completely filled, Even a Sky Sage couldn\'t dig it out without risking death from suffocation.

Atlas turned around with a pep in his step.

Once again, he was close to another Replica.

\'I need to accept and complete a second task and submit my first before they escape.\'

Now, according to the numbers Atlas knew, there were only four assassins left in the outside world.

And if there were just four of them…

\'...there is a zero percent chance of them catching me.\'