Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 230 - 223: Zhuyan Yu Visits

Chapter 230: Chapter 223: Zhuyan Yu Visits

"I really can’t stand you people," Luo’er rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Although it sounded a bit immoral, Luo’er thought of what Cheng Ziang had once said. To them, having their own parents is the best, even if they might be from the Otherworld. It’s still better than being orphans.

"I am here to accept a task," Luo’er stood before him and spoke seriously.

"I know." Wang Xu responded and continued to read the file in front of him.

"Where’s the task?" After a while, Luo’er couldn’t help asking.

"Don’t rush," Wang Xu said without lifting his head, "we are expecting a distinguished guest."

"What guest?" Luo’er asked.

"You’ll know soon. It is someone we all know!" Wang Xu lifted his head, revealing a mysterious smile.

Not long after, the sound of a carriage bell could be heard from the courtyard. Hearing this, Wang Xu looked up and said to himself: "They’re here!"

Luo’er looked at the window in confusion. Though he wanted to know who had arrived, he figured that since they were coming to the office, there was no need to peek out the window.

About ten minutes later, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the hallway. Upon hearing this, both men involuntarily looked towards the door.

As the footsteps grew closer, a striking but familiar figure appeared at the door. Upon seeing this person, Luo’er couldn’t help but exclaim: "Teacher Zhu!"

The visitor was Zhuyan Yu, Haiya Academy’s magic course instructor. Her face was radiant with joy, and on seeing Luo’er, her charming smile bloomed.

"It’s been a long time, young Luo’er!" Zhuyan Yu looked at him cheerfully and did not feel strange after such a long time apart. It’s been one year since they left the Academy and went to the Otherworld. Just a year ago, they were still bustling with preparations for the Graduation Exam.

"Teacher Zhu, why are you here?" Luo’er looked at her in shock, not knowing how to react. Zhuyan Yu was one of the few people at the Academy who could leave him at a loss, so he usually tried to avoid interacting with her.

"Not happy to see me?" Zhuyan Yu replied mischievously, smiling brightly.

"No, that’s not what I meant." Luo’er hastily clarified.

"Just joking, you’re still as slow as ever!" Zhuyan Yu chuckled and walked into the office.

At this time, Tangmo, who was far away in the dormitory, suddenly felt a tremor run through his body and automatically looked towards the office.

"What’s wrong, Sister Moumou?" Baiyue asked.

"I have an inexplicable feeling of crisis, do you feel it?" Tangmo seriously asked.

"Yes, slightly," Baiyue hesitated.

"Hmm, it feels like a strong enemy is approaching!" Tangmo speculated, furrowing his brows.

"A woman over forty still acting cute..." Seeing Zhuyan Yu entering the office, Wang Xu muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?" Zhuyan Yu asked, narrowing her eyes. Her keen hearing seemed to have picked up something.

"Nothing," Wang Xu waved dismissively, "What brings you here, Our Colonel?"

Zhuyan Yu’s secretive visit to the headquarters was a last-minute decision by the higher command, so even Wang Xu was unclear about the purpose of her visit.

"If you’re always so sharp-tongued, no wonder you’ll remain single your whole life!" Zhuyan Yu stared at him with a pitiful expression.

"No problem, I’m used to it!" Wang Xu knew he was at fault and didn’t argue with Zhuyan Yu. Instead, he waved his hand and said awkwardly.

"Since you two are here, I won’t beat around the bush. I’m here regarding the gains from your last mission and a new order from the headquarters." After a slight pause, Zhuyan Yu said seriously.

"The last mission’s gains?" Wang Xu scratched his head, looking at Luo’er for an answer, but Luo’er just shrugged, indicating his ignorance.

"This is it!" Zhuyan Yu pulled out a bulging little bag from her pocket and threw it onto Wang Xu’s desk. The opening of the bag wasn’t secured tightly, and its contents rolled out.

Upon seeing the item that tumbled out, both of them froze. It was a magic crystal, but what was so special about that? Suddenly, Luo’er saw the intricate rune pattern ingrained on the magic crystal. He instantly remembered the incident on the airboat and his face paled, stepping back instinctively.

"Oh, I almost forgot," seeing Luo’er’s reaction, Zhuyan Yu slapped her forehead as if an epiphany came over her, "This is the Otherworld, this little thing can be activated."

What Zhuyan Yu took out was none other than the magic crystal grenade they came across on the airboat that day.

"Hey hey, you’re already forty, can’t you be a bit more responsible? If this thing explodes, none of us can escape." Wang Xu’s face darkened, subconsciously leaning back while resisting the urge to criticize her.

"Who did you say is forty?" Zhuyan Yu turned her head and asked in a not very friendly tone.

"I just meant for you to put this thing away, it’s really frightening me." Wang Xu said with a grimace.

"You are such a scaredy-cat, this rune is active, and won’t explode without being activated by magic power. Even if you shot a bullet at it, it wouldn’t explode." Zhuyan Yu gave him a contemptuous look and said nonchalantly.

"Has the Otherworld Research Center discovered anything about these things?" Luo’er stepped forward and asked.

"Big discovery," Zhuyan Yu turned to Luo’er and said with a laugh, "this is probably the Zhuyan people’s first use of these in combat, the intelligence we’ve gathered never indicated that the Zhuyan people had already deployed these as weapons. The production process is complicated, so output should be relatively low."

"Isn’t it just engraving runes onto a magic crystal? What’s so complicated about that?" Wang Xu said before daringly grabbing a magic crystal from the bag. He examined it closely in his hand, only then realizing that the magic crystal wasn’t simply engraved with a single rune, but several overlapping ones.

"Not that simple," Zhuyan Yu crossed her arms and explained, "this represents the current military technological level of the Zhuyan people. At least three runes are intricately engraved on such a small magic crystal, all interconnected."

"Three?" Wang Xu was taken aback by this.

"Yup, the magic crystal contains at least a guidance rune, delay rune, and activation rune. Though these runes overlap, they’re not jumbled, instead, they’re arranged neatly in sequence."

"I don’t really get it." Luo’er seemed lost.

"What happened to all the magic lessons you’ve taken?" Zhuyan Yu sighed.

"It seems like most of our magic lessons were focused on spells. You didn’t really touch on rune magic." Luo’er retorted timidly.

"Alright, then let me give you another lesson."Zhuyan Yu turned around, grabbed the magic crystal from Wang Xu’s hands, toyed with it a bit and then earnestly said, "Rune magic, or array magic, operates by either active or passive triggering. When the rune is activated, it will absorb the magic power in the air to fuel the rune magic. However, due to the fast activation speed of the runes, they are unable to absorb much magic power, which results in runes having less power than spells. The best method to enhance the power of a rune is to inlay the magic crystal in the rune line, using the magic power stored in the magic crystal to maximize the power of the rune."

"What does this have to do with magic crystal grenades?" Luo’er interrupted, opening his hands.

"No interruptions!" Zhuyan Yu gave Luo’er a chop on the forehead. She continued, "You can’t just embed the magic crystal into the rune, the rune won’t be able to trigger the magic power stored in the magic crystal. Imagine a TNT explosive that can’t be detonated by a bullet but needs a blasting cap."

"For the magic forces stored in the magic crystal to be outputted, an output symbol must be engraved on the magic crystal. Only then can it resonate with external stimuli to output the stored magical power."

"Referring back to this thing," Zhuyan Yu held up the magic crystal grenade, "Through our research, we found that its detonation principle is akin to a grenade, the activation rune is like the safety catch, and the delay rune is like the delay detonator. After chanting the initiation spell, the activation rune will transfer the magic power to the delay rune. This is when you can throw the magic crystal away to detonate after a few seconds. The delay rune will then be activated, connecting the output rune and the activation rune. Subsequently, the magic power stored in the magic crystal will be all released at once according to the instruction of the activation rune, thereby completing an explosion."

"Impressive. These dwarves really do have a knack for these weapons of war." Wang Xu couldn’t help expressing his admiration.

"By the way, since you confiscated this, do you know the activation spell?" Zhuyan Yu suddenly asked him.

"Uhm, this..." Luo’er averted her gaze, looking a little guilty, "I kind of remembered a spell, but during the battle, I did hear several different spells."

"Indeed!" Zhuyan Yu said seriously, "After studying your battle reports, we’ve researched these magic crystal bombs and found that there are at least three different types!"

"Three types?" Luo’er seemed to recall that during the battle with the Zhuyan people, their magic crystal grenades did not only explode. He remembered that one of them even caused a huge flame, at that point, he thought it hit a container of alcohol.

"Yes, three types! We found three different activation runes on the magic crystal, each one must have a unique function, plus each corresponding to a unique spell."

Luo’er felt a chill run down his spine. If these speculations were correct, then the Dwarf Race had mastered the technology to use magic crystals in warfare. They could turn magic crystals into grenades or giant bombs. If that were the case, the home-field advantage that the humans had worked so hard to build could collapse overnight. Losing that advantage could potentially force the United Nations to abandon the idea of instigating a third Otherworld War.

Though that also wouldn’t be bad, what Luo’er was most worried about was, if the war didn’t break out, would Headquarters call back the Advance Team? If so, his plans to find his mother would all be for naught. If the Advance Team was recalled, then he had no clue when he would be able to set foot in the Otherworld again.