The 'ridge', which was a mixture of special alloy and runestones, extended from the base of the Sentry Tower like some kind of huge root or some kind of pipe that extended all the way from Thunder Hill to the plains. The long period of magic erosion in the wasteland had stained this civilization's creation with traces of time. The once smooth alloy shell had become rough and pockmarked, and the sturdy runestones blessed by the elements were mottled.
But the damage to the shell was only superficial. Inside the 'ridge', the ancient magic device was still operating loyally, maintaining the normal function of the Sentry Tower. The Silver Empire may have declined, but the elves' creation was still much more reliable than the humans'.
A small team of elite Steel Rangers under Solderlin's lead came to the northern section of the third 'ridge'. Gwen, Amber, Sonia, and the elven magus named Banner came to the front of the team. They looked up at the bulging man-made structure. On the side of the 'ridge', an ancient gate was quietly closed. The mottled handwriting on the gate was still recognizable: Access Hatch III.
"Since the completion of the Sentry Tower and the retreat of the civilization, this gate has never been opened again …" Sonia stepped forward and stroked the elf-style reliefs on the gate with emotion. "There are dozens of Sentry Towers at the border of the wasteland, but in the past seven hundred years, only one-third of them have been effectively maintained and repaired. Some of the towers are far away from the Silver Empire, and some are deep in the highly polluted area. These towers that cannot be maintained are completely dependent on the automatic repair system of the past."
"Fortunately, most of the things made by the elves are tough and durable." Gwen nodded and looked at the magus named Banner. "Master Banner, it's up to you now."
Banner, who had thin eyebrows and a tall and thin figure, nodded. He came to the front of the gate and took out a strangely shaped metal plate that was shaped like a maple leaf. After stuffing it into a gap in the reliefs of the elves that depicted flowers and trees on the gate, he began to inject magic into the reliefs.
Dense floating light flashed across the gate, and the ancient mechanical device began to operate in the depths. Around the gate, the locks creaked and unlocked, but the gate itself remained motionless.
Banner looked at the motionless gate and shrugged. He took out a bent wrench from the tool bag at his waist and smashed it on a lock next to the gate. "Occasionally … these things need a little help."
After smashing it three to five times, a clear click came from somewhere. The enchanted gate with delicate reliefs finally opened smoothly, revealing a dark passage inside.
Amber stared at the wrench and said, "Hey … you don't match the elegant style of the elves in the legends."
"If you look closely, you will find that the arc of my wrench is a perfect quarter of a circle. If you have to say, this is elegance." The elven magus put away his tool and glanced at Amber. "The world has a lot of wrong impressions of elves. It's a serious label. As a half-elf, you can't let these wrong impressions affect your judgment, little girl."
Amber rolled his eyes at once. Gawain, on the other hand, was not bothered by the question of whether the elves were graceful or not. He strode towards the gate while reminding everyone around him, "Everyone, keep your eyes peeled. There hasn't been a living person in here for seven hundred years."
The soldiers crossed the gate and stepped into the main passage inside the 'ridge'. The moment they entered the passage, the breath of the wasteland was blocked out.
Amber immediately sensed the subtle change. She turned back to look at the entrance, and saw the corrupted and distorted Mana Tide wasteland outside. However, there seemed to be an invisible barrier blocking the entrance, and the oppressive magic aura did not enter the 'ridge' at all.
"The entire sentry tower is protected by a complex protective filtration system." Sonia noticed the surprise on Amber's face and patiently explained. "This is to prevent the breath of the Mana Tide from invading the core of the tower and interfering with the operation of the key spells inside. This is the main sensor and material circulation channel of the tower. Although it's on the periphery, the level of protection is second only to the core."
"Amazing …" Amber muttered in surprise. She raised her eyebrows and looked at the end of the passage.
The ancient sensors finally reacted after a few seconds of sluggishness. Magic lamps lit up in the corridor, illuminating the path ahead. In this passage that had not been opened for seven centuries, everything seemed to still be the same as when it was completed.
The grayish-white floor and walls extended into his line of sight. There were a few elvish-style decorations and signs in the simple design. Apart from the magic lamps inlaid on the slightly curved roof, there were also several huge pipes embedded in the building materials. The pipes were translucent, and it seemed like there was something moving and transporting inside at all times.
Amber was curious again. "What's in those pipes?"
"There's coolant in the pipes," Banner said. "In order to control this huge and complex magic tower, a powerful demonic spirit mind is installed in the base. It generates a lot of heat during operation. To prevent the core from melting, we have designed a very efficient cooling system. The coolant is just a part of the system. There's a more complex structure ahead. "
"Wow —" Amber dragged her voice and let out an exaggerated exclamation. At the same time, she glanced at Gwen quietly.
Gwen was now looking away from the cooling pipes. His face was calm, but he was thinking the same thing as Amber.
The biggest problem with the Prismatic Light Generator was heat.
This cooling system could be used.
"To be honest, I'm very interested in a lot of the technology here," Gwen said casually. "Although this tower was built by the human countries and the elves, we didn't touch much of its technology back then. If it's okay, can you take me to see its heat exchange structure and cooling core later?"
Hearing Gwen's words, Banner and Sonia almost subconsciously exchanged a look. Then the latter smiled and said, "The Sentry Tower was built and shared by all races. Of course, there's no problem."
Banner reminded, "But the magic skills of the elves and humans are very different, and the rune structures are also very different. This is why almost all the technology of the Sentry Tower was in the hands of the Silver Empire. It's not that we don't want to disclose it, but even if humans come into contact with the elven runes, they can only do a limited imitation. You should know this."
"Of course, I know. I'm just taking a look," Gawain said with a smile. "Besides, we've made great progress in the field of runes. Although humans still can't release elven spells, we've more or less mastered some rune translation techniques. The technology in this tower has some reference value on our side."
"Then please." Banner nodded. "You were one of the builders of these towers. We have no reason to stop you. But for the purpose of protecting the property of the Silver Empire and preventing excessive leakage of technology, please don't draw any drawings. "
"Thank you very much. That's enough. I'm just taking a look and referring to your design ideas of some magic devices."
Gwen expressed his gratitude and then continued to lead the team forward. Under his calm face, there was a trace of excitement in his heart.
This was the crystallization of the Silver Empire's highest technology. Everything here … was a treasure!
Of course, he did not lie about the reason for entering the tower. He really wanted to find out what went wrong with the Sentry Tower, and this was also one of the goals and missions of organizing this huge project. But in addition to this formal reason, he was also interested in the elven technology in the Sentry Tower.
After the fall of the Kingdom of Gondor, the elves had mastered the world's most advanced artificial intelligence technology, the most outstanding high-density rune technology, and the most powerful anti-gravity technology!
Of course, due to the historical problems left behind by the "Great Schism of the Elves," the elves themselves also had a lot of black boxes to solve in these technologies. For a long time, all the magic skills of the elves were almost incomprehensible to humans. The two races had never thought about the possibility of technical exchange. But … this was not important.
Mathematics would explain the power of each rune and its best position.
Sonia and the elven magus named Banner walked quietly by the side. Gwen could not see much emotion on the faces of the two elves.
They did not mind Gwen observing the core structure of the tower, nor did they mind that their technology fell into the hands of humans.
Was it because of the friendship between the different races when they built the Sentry Tower together seven hundred years ago? Or was it because of their friendship with "Gwen Cecil"? Or perhaps … they did not realize that Cecil's people had mastered the technology of using rune logic to restructure the elven runes. They did not realize that humans could completely control elven magic, and not just add wind element blessings to cannonballs?
To be honest, Gwen was a little surprised that the other party agreed to his request so readily. He was even prepared to secretly study in the Sentry Tower, but since the other party had agreed … Gwen had no reason to miss this opportunity.
Seven hundred years ago, although Gawain Cecil was knowledgeable, he was more of a military general. When he was building the Sentry Tower, he did not have a deep understanding of its technology. Seven hundred years ago, humans were going through a great recession, and they were also facing the gap of "incomprehensible foreign magic." Although he participated in the construction of the Sentry Tower, he did not come into contact with the latter's core technology. Therefore, today's opportunity was especially precious.
The team continued to move toward the core area of the Sentry Tower's base. Every time they moved a distance, Sonia or Banner would ask the team to stop to check the operation of the key devices.
"This is the sensing center of the entire third 'ridge'." Banner stopped again halfway through the corridor. He came to a grayish-white square pillar with pale gold patterns that connected the roof and the floor. He took out his tools and said, "All the sensing centers are connected together. In theory, no matter which of the six 'ridges' has a problem, we should be able to see the problem in any of the sensing centers …"
As he spoke, the archmage had already removed a piece of the cover on the pillar. After the protective cover was removed, a large number of overlapping leaf-like metal plates with complex magical runes appeared in front of everyone's eyes.
These metal sheets were stacked layer by layer inside the pillar. Banner reached out and waved his hand near the metal sheets. Some of the metal sheets immediately separated from their respective positions and flew into the air. Banner had a serious expression on his face. He used telekinesis to control these metal sheets to fly past his eyes one by one. At the same time, he carefully observed their situation. After observing for a while, he injected magic into the other metal sheets in the pillar to sense their operation.
"… All the sensing centers are operating normally. The sensors of the six 'ridges' are intact," Banner said with a frown. "The signal from the wasteland side is also very clear."
Sofia asked, "What about the communication with the demonic mind?"
"The communication is good. There is almost no delay. The demonic mind seems to be operating normally," Banner said as he used magic to return the metal sheets to their original positions. He then looked up at the end of the corridor. "In front of us is the control center of the Sentry Tower's base. Maybe we should check its' brain 'directly."
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