Under the guidance of Veronica's guidance signal, the dragon riders finally landed on a small platform at the bottom of the 'crystal peak'.
Gawain and Amber walked down from the aircraft. The latter raised his head as much as he could to look at the mountainous cone-shaped structure made of crystal prisms. Pure mana gushed out of the Deep Blue Well as it was released from the top of the cone-shaped structure, forming a bright stream of flames in the air that finally converged at the top of the thick shield. It was a spectacular sight.
Amber looked up for a long time. Her thoughts finally converged into a sigh. "… Is this thing never going to run out?"
"I thought you were going to sigh." Gwen's mouth twitched. He squinted at the quick-witted shadowy assault goose. "According to Tarlonde's research records, this fissure has existed since the birth of the planet. It is part of the planet's magic cycle. There is no such thing as' running out '— unless there is a problem with the entire planet's magic cycle. As for the energy that the Gondor people collected from here … compared to the entire Deep Blue Network, it is probably just a small ripple. "
"… Endless magic power. The degree of purity is so high that it doesn't even need to be purified a second time, and the difficulty of using it is almost zero." Amber sighed. "No wonder the Gondor Empire could be so powerful back then …"
Gwen did not say anything. At this moment, he suddenly heard a faint buzzing sound coming from not far away. He looked towards the source of the sound and saw a flowing light grid suddenly appeared on the surface of the crystal 'wall' at the end of the platform. In the flickering light, the originally integrated crystal wall underwent a dazzling transformation and reorganization, and in the blink of an eye, a towering door opened.
The sound of footsteps came from the door, and two extraordinarily tall figures stepped out. Under the light of the setting sun and the blue magical flames, the two figures that emerged from the depths of the ancient fortress gave Gwen a feeling as if they had walked out from a historical painting. When they came closer, Gwen saw that they were two 'female soldiers'. They were wearing the combat magus uniform of the ancient Kingdom of Gondor. They did not hold any weapons in their hands, but their arms, shoulders, and other parts seemed to be directly connected to their bodies. One of the 'magic soldier' seemed to have been damaged in the previous battle and had not had time to repair it. There was a wound near her neck, and under the bionic skin was a bright silver alloy armor and connecting structure.
Amber, who was next to him, immediately realized that these two were iron warriors. Like the 'head maid' of the Typhon Empire, they were powerful man-made weapons created by the ancient humans.
Her mind could not help but wander a little. It would be great if the 'head maid' named Diana came along this time. She would definitely want to come. She had been waiting for a change of clothes for hundreds of years …
While Hao Ren's thoughts were running wild, one of the Iron Men who seemed to be in better condition spoke. Her voice sounded a little mechanical and cold. "Welcome, visitors. You have received A-level access authorization. Her Highness Ophilia has ordered us to guide you to the control center."
"The two of us can go in. The rest of you wait outside." Gwen nodded and turned to the entourage who were acting as' guards'. "You all wait here."
"Just the two of us?" Amber pointed to herself, looking a little puzzled. "You …"
"This is our first meeting with the last successor of the Kingdom of Gondor," Gwen said in a low voice. "I'm not sure what's down there. So it's better for this first meeting to be private."
Amber shrugged, indicating that he had no more questions. Then, he followed Gawain's footsteps. The two of them followed behind the Iron Man soldier and walked towards the resplendent crystal door not far away.
After passing through the door, they stepped into a passageway formed entirely of thick crystals and walked down a slope that kept sloping downwards. Everything in sight was the beautiful, ice-like blue crystals. There was no lighting in the entire passageway, but there was a steady flow of light flowing in the depths of the crystals on both sides, which allowed the passageway to maintain a comfortable illumination. The bright and clean crystal corridor made it hard to imagine that there was a barren wasteland outside. Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Gwen felt as if he was walking in a transparent iceberg. The wonderful light diffused and refracted in the ice crystals, bringing about a dream-like feeling of magnificence.
But the two iron warriors leading the way were obviously purely military models. They did not have the habit of chatting and were very quiet along the way. This made the incredible journey seem rather dull.
But Amber was a restless character. She had been looking at the sparkling crystals around her since the moment she came in. Amber eyes were as bright as the crystals around her. Halfway through, she could not hold it in anymore. "Hey, these crystals are so beautiful … What are they made of? Are they really crystals? Natural crystals? "
Hearing the visitor's question, the iron warrior leading the way finally broke the silence. "They are not natural crystals."
When Hu Po heard this, he immediately lost interest. "Oh, I was wondering …"
"They are stable arcane crystals," the iron warrior continued. "They are formed by the reaction of the pure magic that has been gushing out of the Deep Blue Well for thousands of years and the magic conductive components in the environment."
In the next second, Gawain saw a black shadow flash in front of him. Amber immediately jumped up and tried to jump towards the wall closest to him. If Gawain hadn't already known about this disgrace of the Alliance and reacted quickly enough to grab the back of his neck, Amber would probably have been slammed into the crystal with a "pia" sound, just like how he was usually slammed into the wall. It was the kind that couldn't be buckled off.
Amber was still struggling in Gwen's hand. She had already taken out her beloved dagger. "Let me try to get a piece! I'll just test the composition! It's a stable arcane crystal! It's a pure arcane crystal that can pass through light! If it was in the black market, those mages would beat their brains out. Here's a mountain! A whole mountain! Ahhh! "
"Don't embarrass yourself here." Gwen tucked Amber under his armpit and looked at the guy who was still struggling. "Do you know what kind of occasion this is?"
"Isn't this a private matter?" Amber said confidently as he swam in the air, attempting to break free. "Aside from the Ironmen, who only listen to orders, there's also Veronica. Veronica isn't an outsider. Sigh, I can't believe you had your entourage on standby outside. Heh, no wonder you had such considerations … You're really far-sighted. You've prepared a coffin for the full moon celebration. You've prepared it early … "
Gwen was speechless.
Right now, he was extremely, extremely, extremely regretful of teaching this fellow so many dirty words …
The only fortunate thing was that the Iron Warriors who led the way did not know this at all. They did not even look back at Amber, who was tucked under Gwen's armpit. After answering the visitor's questions and confirming that the visitor had no further requests for communication, the two ancient machine ladies continued to lead the way in silence. Under their guidance, Gwen and Amber, who had finally quieted down, passed through the crystal-clear 'crystal ramp' and finally saw a man-made facility made of steel.
It was an elevator that led to the depths of the ground. It was completely different from the 'ancient Gondor style' of modern times.
Amber reluctantly looked back at the crystal-clear passage before she was dragged into the elevator by Gwen. Then, with a slight mechanical friction sound, the elevator's protective fence closed and they began to sink quickly into the ground.
The elevator was surrounded by an open structure that allowed them to see the outside, and the surrounding shafts had openings that allowed them to see the outside at regular intervals. Gawain and Amber could directly understand what the underground of the ancient fortress was like. They walked through the deep shafts, and at regular intervals, they would pass through a thick protective dome made of strong metal and concrete. This thick protective shell had seven layers, and then they saw the internal facilities like factories, excavation stations, and warehouses. Between each facility, there was an individual armor and shields that separated them from each other.
Hu Po, who had been making a fuss about digging out a piece of crystal, had now completely quieted down. She stared dumbfoundedly at the passing scenery outside the elevator and finally muttered to herself, "Such tight security..."
"It's not easy to survive in the center of the wasteland." As soon as Amber's voice trailed off, a voice suddenly rang out in the elevator. The voice came from a small speaker. Although it was a little different from the usual voice, Amber and Gwen immediately recognized that it was Veronica. "In the first two centuries, the situation in the center of the wasteland was much worse than what you saw when you first arrived here. The deadly pollution had seeped into the ground, and the mutants were not just wandering on the surface. The underground of the old capital had a crisscrossing subway network and drainage system, and the monsters invaded all the way to the depths of the ground through these facilities …
"So in the first two hundred years, all I could do was to keep digging down. I dug for two centuries and moved the entire fortress to a place twice as deep as before. At the same time, I blew up all the subway tunnels and drainage network near the underground bunker. In the process, I built the layers of 'shells' you saw just now to protect myself.
"After another hundred years, the situation improved slightly. I settled down in the structurally stable underground and fully restored the operational efficiency of the Ironmen's maintenance array. I sent soldiers to clean up the wandering monsters that still occupied the subway tunnels and restarted some of the lines. Using this as a foundation, I began to further restore control of the area around the old capital …"
As Veronica spoke, the elevator continued to descend in the shaft. During this seemingly endless descent, Gwen said, "And before that, you used some method to project your 'mind' to the outside of the wasteland, just like using 'Veronica' as a carrier to observe our world?"
"Yes," Veronica, or Alfalia, replied softly. "So in a sense, the time I 'opened my eyes' outside the wasteland was even earlier than my activities on the surface here. In the first few hundred years, it was difficult for me to judge the situation on the surface from the depths of the underground, so I had to rely on remote control of the carriers in the 'kingdom of survivors' to indirectly understand the changes in the wasteland. One of my carriers is very famous. I don't know if you have heard of it."
"Oh?" Gwen suddenly became interested. "Can you tell me more about it?"
Alfalia's voice was soft and steady. "Gryfina, the sword dancer Gryfina."
Gwen obviously had not heard of this name, but Amber immediately reacted. "Ah, it's the 'crazy blade witch'. I've heard of this name. Her story is very popular among the bards in the countryside, and it has not faded for hundreds of years …"
Noticing the confused look on Gwen's face, Amber suddenly showed a smug look. After all, she did not usually have the opportunity to show off her knowledge in front of Gwen. "Hey, this person didn't exist when you were lying on the bed. This kind of story is mostly found in the rural history, so it's normal that you don't know about it.
"Gryfina is a character about 600 years ago. It is said that she was just an ordinary mercenary operating on the border between Typhon and Ansu. Her skill was limited, and she relied on being a guard for merchants to make a living. But once the caravan she was guarding was wiped out by bandits, and she fell into a mountain stream during the battle. It is said that she died on the spot, but legend has it that she was resurrected three days later. Since then, her strength had skyrocketed, but her temperament had changed drastically. She became known as the 'crazy blade witch', known for her whirlwind slashes and lightning chains that did not distinguish between friend and foe in battle. She specialized in the most dangerous missions on the edge of the wasteland, and even after the countries gradually reduced or even stopped exploring the wasteland, she still wandered around the gradually abandoned border towns and villages …"
"What happened in the end?" Gwen noticed that Amber had paused and asked.
"In the end? In the end, no one ever saw her. It is said that some people swore that they saw the 'crazy blade witch' rushing into the depths of the wasteland with their own eyes. Others said that she made a deal with the devil to be resurrected, and in the end, she paid the price of her soul and disappeared from the world. Others said that she suddenly had a fight with a young Knight passing by, and then the two of them got married. The exact version depends on which school of bard made up the story. Usually, the venues that cost less than five copper coins tend to say that she ran into the wasteland and committed suicide. "
Amber thought for a moment and added, "Of course, there is an extended version of a foreign adventurer fighting a dragon and then having a lesbian relationship with a princess. But that costs eight copper coins a round, and I think it's too expensive. Mainly, it's really boring, so I didn't listen to it …"
Gwen was speechless.
"Generally speaking, the truth is like this," Alfalia's voice came faintly. "Except for the ending part."
"… I've only dealt with 'Veronica.' It's really hard to imagine you being active in history in another form." Gwen's expression was strange. "And in such an image … So, you took over the body of that mercenary? It sounds like she was just an ordinary person at the beginning … "
"I took over her body after she fell off the cliff and died," Alfalia replied. "I won't take over the body of an ordinary person, and I won't destroy other people's lives. This is my principle, unless the other person's life has ended or never started."
"…" Gwen did not comment on this. He was just a little curious. "So, the change in temperament after the resurrection of the 'crazy blade witch' was … your bad taste? Because in my impression, your character seems to be quite peaceful … "
"… That body broke her brain when she fell, and it's very difficult to repair." Alfalia's voice was a little strange, as if she had recalled some embarrassing memories. "It's … really difficult to control."
"… Okay, I understand." Gwen said.
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