They had assumed that the Mastermind would soon react to their theory, but nothing happened even after Edward's loud declaration.
The atmosphere turned awkward.
Just as Joe and the others thought that Edward had guessed wrongly, he continued, "Not acknowledging your own existence, huh … well, that's to be expected. If that's the case …"
He grinned and turned to leave, calling out to his teammates as he walked past. "We'll return to the entrance of this floor and leave again."
The others did a double take, with Princess Leah and Jessica catching on to Edward's thoughts at once and following him without a word.
While Joe and Gou Dan found Edward's words strange at once, they did not ask questions due to their long relationship of absolute trust, and followed him at once.
In truth, it was not a question of logic that was difficult to understand. Edward and the others had relied on the Earth Key to reach the fourth stratum of Steel Earth, and logically speaking, there was no such thing as an entrance. There was no need to return to the so-called entrance if they wanted to leave either, and could simply teleport back to the spawn point.
But that was common sense that the Players knew, not the Mastermind of this floor!
Just as Edward pretentiously expressed his intention to leave this floor and began to move, the atmosphere around them changed.
Unwittingly, the teapot automatons had surrounded them, although the names over their heads remained yellow instead of completely hostile red.
Soon, a humanoid figure appeared on some of the screens that resembled billboards hanging over the surface of the building, although the backlight was too strong to reveal its true appearance.
"# ¥% ¥@ #&* …"
The figure spoke something in a language that Edward and the others could not understand. It resembled elvish but had a completely different cadence, and was filled with mystical beauty as if children in a choir were singing hymns.
"Could that be high elvish? We can't communicate if we don't speak the same language … "
Joe scratched his head, finding it troublesome that Edward could not communicate with the figure after going through so much trouble to trick it out.
"No, that fellow understands human language, but it doesn't have the corresponding language function to speak it." Princess Leah, however, quickly noticed that something was wrong.
If the figure on the screen didn't understand human language, when Edward said he wanted to leave, the other party wouldn't know what they were going to do and chose not to show up.
Since the other party had appeared, it meant that it understood the language of Xiu Men. It was just that it did not speak for some reason.
"It's just pure discrimination." "The Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) was a creation of the high elves during their golden age, and the high elves were a race of extreme racism. They despised even other supernatural races, let alone weak mortals like humans. Since this thing is a creation or consciousness left behind by the High Elves before they went extinct, it's not surprising that it has the bad habits of the High Elves. "
Sure enough, after being bombarded by Edward, the figure that appeared on the screen spoke again.
And this time, it did not use the poetic language from before. Instead, it used the slightly jerky and strange Shumen language.
"The High Elves … went extinct?"
"They've been dead for more than a thousand years, and you don't even know that?" Joe interrupted.
"Is that so? To think that such a thing actually happened." The figure sighed heavily. "… I thought that I was just abandoned by them."
"Even so, what does that have to do with not allowing us to leave?" Gou Dan asked curiously. "Shouldn't invaders like us be attacked from the start instead of not allowing us to leave?"
His words seemed to have touched a sore spot, and he was hammered by Jessica. What if the other party reacted to his words and started fighting? They didn't even know where that fellow's true form was …
"Although you are not the High Elves, you have the scent of them on you. You are guests and not enemies." Then, it seemed to have realized something, and introduced itself. "My name is' Iron Commandment ', and I'm the guardian and controller of this floor. I serve all the High Elves and their guests."
Edward and the others were naturally unsure why they would have the scent of the High Elves on them, but they had to trace it back to when they obtained the Authentication Key back in Dark Sky.
At the time, Xi Wei had directly seized their Authentication Key, and after analyzing it, he had given them a counterfeit.
Most people would believe that a counterfeit would never compare to a genuine one, and that the key Xi Wei seized was definitely better than the one he made.
Well, that was certainly the truth. The Authentication Key itself was much stronger than the one Xi Wei made.
The problem, however, was that the genuine Authentication Key was useless against humans like Edward and the others who did not have high elven blood in their veins. They could neither activate the Authentication Key, nor activate its power to open the door to Steel Earth in the Third Stratum of Dark Sky.
On the other hand, Xi Wei's counterfeit key had removed the requirement for bloodline and replaced it with a requirement for faith. Any Player who believed in him could use the key to enter Steel Earth.
Although Xi Wei could use brute force to break the security restrictions between Dark Sky and Steel Earth after obtaining the Authentication Key, he decisively chose the simpler and more convenient method after considering the amount of divine power he would have to consume: he fused some of the High Elves' scent onto the Players' bodies to fool the security restrictions and directly enter Steel Earth.
That was why Iron Commandment, the Administrator of the Fourth Stratum that was supposed to be an enemy, treated the Players as guests. Not only did it not attack them, it even provided them with good food and drinks, even watching over them in secret.
Edward and the others were unaware of the mystery behind it, but they could more or less guess that it was Xi Wei's blessing, which naturally made them even more reverent toward their own deity.
If they could communicate properly, they might be able to clear the fourth stratum without having to fight. However, perhaps due to the long years of loneliness, Iron Commandment had developed a bug in it, and it did not seem to intend to let Edward and the others, who were rare guests, leave …
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