This guy's speed is amazing.
By the time Ian reacted, the Black Phoenix was already flapping its wings and flying out—it headed towards the mysterious tower, and Ian had to swiftly control the flying cloak to catch up.
"It really appeared out of nowhere!"
Ian quickly arrived in front of the tower, staring at the slightly dilapidated building in front of him, surprised and puzzled by such an incomprehensible occurrence.
Was it always here, just invisible to him until now, or were the traces left from the echoes of the past, lingering for some unknown reason?
The black sand, mottled light and shadow under the blood moon, shrouded everything here in a semi-illuminated halo, and the decaying tower body seemed pitted as if eroded by acid.
The tower's windows were smashed, leaving only empty frames, gazing at this desolate land, with the cracks spreading across the tower body resembling dried blood vessels.
Those are traces of time.
Even within the Misty Illusion Realm, there appears to be no escape.
Most likely this tower, along with the kingdom it resides in, were forcibly banished into the World of the Dead? Ian could only speculate, his knowledge seemed insufficient.
"What's inside that excites you so much?" Ian saw his Black Phoenix standing on the tower's tip, as if awaiting his arrival following its path.
"Kekekeke..."
The Black Phoenix let out another eerie cry, then squeezed through a shattered window—Ian couldn't fit through, as the window was truly too small.
Perhaps when he was five or six years younger, he might have squeezed through.
"I'm not a bird; I should go through the front door." Ian, having failed to squeeze through, somewhat grudgingly landed in front of the tower.
The tower's main door had long disappeared, allowing direct entry. Ian walked forward along fractured stone slabs, immediately greeted by a gigantic clock.
It appeared relatively intact.
Except all its hands were entirely missing.
"This is an alchemy creation..." Ian's sharp eyes quickly noticed the oddity of the giant clock, surprisingly inscribed with many seemingly broken inscriptions. They obviously originated from human wizards, yet differed significantly from legendary inscriptions and death runes Ian had seen.
However, these inscriptions also didn't belong to the category of Rune Language but were an Ancient Magic Rune Ian could not understand, possibly Teacher Morgan or Nicolas Flamel might see some clues.
"My knowledge is still too shallow; there's much to work on." Ian, true to the ethic of a diligent scavenger, no empty-handed visits.
He directly took out a series of tools, prying the significantly taller-than-him giant clock from the wall and stashing it into his money bag.
For an instant.
Ian felt his money bag heavily weighted—a real object stored within the Traceless Stretching Charm cannot reduce weight, requiring additional magic to alter an item's weight.
Even so.
It could only reduce an item's weight slightly; completely ignoring an item's weight was beyond Ian's current magical prowess in making a "Spatial Bag."
Frankly, Ian's ability to achieve such a level is impressive, considering not everyone could carry half of Hogwarts on themselves.
"Just don't know if I can take it out of the Misty Illusion Realm." Ian worried a bit about this acquisition, having tried similar experiments before, attempting to take objects out of the Misty Illusion Realm.
Other than the dress fragment from Teacher Morgan, he only managed to bring out stones existing in the Misty Illusion Realm; nothing like flowers or grass could be taken out.
Teacher Morgan's golden plate, Pandro's treasure sword, and Ariana's straw hat were all items he grabbed but couldn't bring out; specific rules eluded Ian to this day.
"Given this Big Ben originates from the human world, it shouldn't have any Misty Illusion Realm ownership, right?" Ian glanced around seemingly wanting to pry something more.
Were it not for the money bag's opening limit, Ian even considered filling it with black sand and stashing the entire tower inside; prior echoes of the past already detailed the tower's extraordinary nature.
"A true wizard should reside in a Mage Tower, grandeur befitting, not some ordinary villa or small castle." Ian admitted his current infatuation with new excitements.
He continued rummaging through the tower's hall, but aside from the already plundered Big Ben, everything seemed decayed beyond recognition with time.
In the hall's center sat a giant stone table, scattered with ancient scrolls and broken vessels. Ian merely touched them lightly with his fingertips, yet they crumbled into ash-like powder, irritatingly drifting in the air.
"Pfft pfft pfft..."
Ian felt his face besmirched with dust.
"Kekekeke..."
As he began summoning magical water to wash his face, the Black Phoenix's bizarre screeches resounded overhead again, its head peeking down from the tower top, calling its master.