After Lina added her fourth pentagram to her magical powers, her strength increased significantly with her new ability.",

Unlike her fellow hunters, who hadn't been able to fully develop their first essences through their new pentagrams, Lina's absorption caused her first pentagram to change color.

Besides the new ability of the fourth pentagram, she gained a variation of her first ability, as well as a strengthening of the old ability of the first pentagram.

Her mana became more powerful, more solid, to where even without leveling up, all of her abilities increased!

A Sovereign magician was someone with four pentagrams. A being at that stage who only had three magical essences would be weaker than if they had all four.

In fact, Sovereigns without their fourth essence were like Mages with mana equivalent to that of a Sovereign. They wouldn't really be Sovereigns until they added their fourth essence!

The result? Lina, as well as the others who had already achieved their primary goals on this journey, experienced a significant improvement in their powers.

With Lina's improvements, the group moved on, with Vicente leading his people to the ruin Torne had suggested.

His companions didn't know about Torne, let alone the ghost's advance to the 5th stage. But because of this advance, Vicente could now count on many more powers to fight opponents!

Thus, he would be more confident in moving to the area where he and his group would arrive an hour after Lina finished her pentagram absorption.

...

Arriving at what looked like a small village built on the side of a hill, Vicente's group saw the old, abandoned buildings of the village entrance area.

Some buildings were falling apart, badly damaged by time or old battles that had taken place in the area.

But these and other structures, in better condition, were covered in dust, with large cobwebs here and there, but also undergrowth covering the streets of the area. The garden in the center of this abandoned city had spread to the sides and reached some buildings, covering them with branches, leaves, and roots.

But despite everything, there didn't seem to be any magical creatures living there.

"What is our purpose here?" Rory asked.

"It may not look like it, but this area was once the home of powerful magicians," Vicente commented as he scanned the area with his second magical power, seeing some more intense field lines in certain parts of the area.

"There are certainly spatial rings and resources around the village," he said, before turning his attention to Onyx after receiving advice from Torne.

"Onyx, find a spot and begin your meditation. I'll give you two weeks to advance."

Onyx broke away from the group and headed for an area of the village he felt was more compatible with him, closer to the top of the hill.

Casey looked at Vicente and asked, "Are we going to stay in this area all the time? Have you noticed any opportunities here that we haven't yet?"

"That's right. I feel like there's something here similar to the Magic Spring Rory entered in the Hot Wasteland. It's not as strong as that, but some of us could benefit from it."

The eyes of everyone in the group sparkled with interest, for this was the most interesting kind of opportunity for them, aside from the pentagram hunt.

"Maybe there's even more..." Vicente murmured with a smile on his face.

"Then let's split up. Casey and Lina, this place is compatible with both of you. Go through the challenges on your way to the basement of that building over there." He pointed toward a three-story building that had many cracks, roots around it, and lots of cobwebs.

"I have a feeling there might be traps along the way. Be careful."

The two nodded, understanding that this was probably an opportunity for magicians with strong mental skills.

"The rest of you, come with me. We'll analyze this area and collect spatial rings and other things."

The rest of the group didn't need to hear any more to understand. Besides the dust and cobwebs around the village, there were also many skeletons, not only of magical beings of various kinds, but also of magicians.

They had already discovered metallic objects on some of these skeletons, showing that they carried artifacts.

But before collecting or analyzing these resources, Vicente led his group to a building from which Torne had noticed something impressive.

As they approached the place, which had such thick, specially constructed walls to contain the mana within the area in question, everyone in Vicente's group sensed what was there.

Rory and Sarah were the most interested, as they were the ones who had not yet absorbed their pentagrams.

But what they felt was not compatible with them!

'That's a pentagram for a Dark Path magician!' Rory realized before his group entered the basement of this building and encountered a magical essence formed by natural phenomena!

"Shit! That's a fucking naturally formed pentagram!" Casey commented aloud as he saw such an essence for the first time in his life.

And it was indeed a rarity to find pentagrams formed outside the bodies of living beings.

Of the entire group, only Vicente and Rory had seen something similar before Vice's second pentagram.

"Did you notice that? Is that why we came here?" Rory asked in shock.

Vicente shook his head in the negative. "I sensed the area that I sent Casey and Lina. But when I arrived here, I noticed this place," he lied, putting himself in Torne's place.

"This is impressive. Unfortunately, this essence isn't compatible with any of us," Sarah muttered in a disappointed tone as she looked at the green wonder floating above a puddle of black liquid.

But Vicente disagreed with her.

"We have someone in the family who could benefit from it," he said as he took out the necklace with the crystal that Prisiche had given him earlier.

Then, under the eyes of his group mates, Vicente directed his mana to this artifact, which could hold special essences for a long time without damaging them.

Even the soul of a Lamia, which wouldn't last long outside of a suitable body, could live for many centuries in this object. The same was true for a pentagram!

When Vicente manipulated it into his crystal, the group understood who he wanted to take this magical essence to.

'Nina,' Rory thought to himself as he smiled, understanding his friend's goal.