Listening to Meghul III's description of the ruins, Gwen gradually fell into deep thought.
The ancient facility buried deep underground was obviously different from the architectural style of the Kingdom of Gondor and the incomprehensible ancient technology. There were also 'samples' of the gods … all these characteristics gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
And the clues that Meghor revealed immediately confirmed his sense of 'familiarity'.
"Another point." The gloomy voice resounded from the cluster of starlight. "The ruins we discovered beneath Aurandale and the ruins discovered by the End Society in the Thorin region seem to have a certain similarity in style. They appear to be two facilities constructed by the same civilization in different historical periods or under the influence of different cultures. But because the ruins are too old and lack key clues, we have not been able to determine the specific connection between them even after many years, let alone deciphering the ancient technology in the ruins … "
Gwen suddenly took a breath. "It's the Tidetide's legacy …"
Meghor had obviously never heard of this term before. He asked subconsciously, "Your Majesty? What did you say? "
"The ruins you found, as well as the underground palace in the Thorin area, should have originated from an ancient civilization called 'Tidetide'. It was completely destroyed in the war with the Giant Dragon, and this empire was inextricably linked to the gods."
He thought of the 'Book of Finality' that Bertilla gave him. The Book of Finality was the legacy of the Tidetide Empire. Its function was to forge a secret key to communicate with the satellite database in the planetary orbit. According to the clues provided by Bertilla, there were some rooms in the collapsed area in the Thorin underground palace that had been eroded and polluted by an indescribable force. Those rooms were obviously related to the gods.
And now, there were new clues that indicated that the underground palace under the old capital of the Typhon Empire and occupied by the Eternal Sleepers was most likely the second Tidetide's ruins in existence!
Meghor obviously did not expect Gwen to reveal the details of the mysterious ruins. The question that the Eternal Sleepers could not figure out after hundreds of years seemed like common sense to Gwen. But soon, Meghor remembered the true identity of the 'Emperor of the Humans', and his shock gradually subsided.
Gwen did not continue to discuss the Tidetide Empire with Meghor. After all, he only knew that much. He looked at Meghor and pulled the topic back. "Do you have some understanding of the underground palace occupied by the Tidetide Society?"
Meghor immediately replied, "We have some cooperation with them and shared some unimportant information."
"Hmm." Gwen nodded. "Then, back to the ancient ruins you discovered. What happened after that? Was the Typhon royal family of Aurandale kept in the dark? "
"The ruins were well hidden, and the entrance to the surface was almost completely swallowed up by the earth and rocks. It was sheer luck that we were able to find the entrance. After realizing that it was an excellent hiding spot, we even modified and concealed the entrance while moving people and resources in, making it even harder to find. And for many years after that, we carefully hid ourselves and the underground facilities.
"The Eternal Sleepers are a group of people who are very good at hiding themselves. Just like what you think, for hundreds of years … … the Augustus Family actually didn't know that we were hiding right under their noses, nor did they know what kind of … … secret was buried under their city.
"We are the shadows and symbiotes of Aurandale City. We have taken root and developed together with the city, infiltrating many of the city's facilities. Just like that, we recuperated in those ancient halls and corridors. The Order that had once suffered heavy losses slowly regained its vitality. At first, we only gathered in the shallower layers of the ruins. It was safer there, and it was enough to accommodate all of our members. But as the Order slowly recovered, we decided to move deeper into the ruins.
"We wanted to at least know what our 'residence' looked like.
"We quickly explored the safe dome area and the almost empty connecting corridors in the middle layer. Finally, we found … something that was still in operation in the deepest part of the ruins."
Gwen's eyes immediately turned serious. "Something that was still in operation? What was it? "
"Please allow me to show you what I saw back then."
Megor spoke in a low voice. That amorphous body of starlight gradually dispersed and turned into a mist. And in the depths of the mist, Gwen saw a holographic image (magical illusion) quickly peeling off from Megor's memory and reappearing.
He saw a huge circular hall. Outside the hall was a large ring of facilities made of metal and crystals. A large number of black obelisk-like devices were set up in the hall. The top of the obelisk-like devices pointed towards the center of the hall. And in the center of the hall, he saw a dazzling thing that looked like an ocean of light surging in a circle of ancient devices. It was like some kind of viscous liquid, but when it rose, it presented a hazy and illusory luster. Inside it, there was something like starlight that was constantly moving and flashing.
Gwen immediately frowned. "What is that?"
Meghor's voice came from the smoke, "It's a powerful energy restraining device. It's made up of an amazing magnetic field, circulating arcane energy, and a series of elemental stabilizers. It's so large that the entire hall and part of the cloister around the hall are its' shell '."
Then the former pope paused and added, "It took us nearly a century to figure out these 'functional components'."
"… The thing in the center of the confinement field is the wreckage of the Dream God?" Gwen frowned. "This is a prison device?"
"We thought so too … and this was one of the biggest mistakes we made," Meghul III said in a low voice. "After discovering this area, we did not understand its function at all. We only thought that it was the energy of the ruins, just like the magic well in the mage tower. We studied it carefully and spent a century to figure out its general function. But we found that the technology inside could not be copied and used at all. Of course, we did not dare to close it because no one knew the consequences of doing so.
"After many years, we finally found some ways to control the energy flow, and in the process of trying to adjust the energy flow, a very small crack opened in the center of the confinement field. The thing that was shielded inside finally leaked out a trace of breath, and I was there at that time.
"In that trace of breath, I sensed some terrible and familiar 'voices' —"
Maygor's voice suddenly trembled and hesitated, as though that terrifying feeling was still lingering in his body and mind. But after a moment of calming down, he calmed himself down and continued speaking in a steady tone, "That's right.
"I sensed the breath of God.
"A shocking truth shocked all of us. The thing that was' imprisoned 'in the confinement field was not something else, but the God that we used to worship and revere. Or rather, it was a part of God …
"That's a fragment of the Dream God. We don't know where it came from, and we don't know what kind of power could cut off a fragment from a god's body. We don't know how many years it has been imprisoned in that device. We only know one thing: that terrifying, crazy god who will eventually devour the whole world can be hurt and imprisoned.
"After the incident at the Ancestral Peak, everyone was shrouded in despair for a long time because the power of God was so strong that it was impossible for mortals to fight against it. At the same time, this power was walking on an unstoppable and gradually crazy path. All of this was as inescapable as the countdown to the end of the world. But the device we found underground seemed to give us a glimmer of hope — it was a fragment of God! A fragment that was imprisoned by the device and could be used for research!
"After overcoming the great fear, we … began to study that thing.
"The powerful force of the confinement field could shield us from the mental pollution of God, which made our research possible. And it was because of the nature of the confinement field that we made a terrible and wrong judgment of everything. We mistakenly thought that the whole underground facility was a prison, and that the confinement device was used to trap God …"
Gwen was about to ask, but Amber could not help but break the silence. "Was it not?"
"Of course not. That thing … was actually an altar.
"An altar used to welcome God, talk to God, and provide a temporary container for God. The so-called container was the confinement field in the hall.
"The will of God 'descended' in the center of the confinement field in the form of a fragment. It was like a detached eye. The Dream God observed the world through that eye, and we were busy for hundreds of years under the gaze of this eye."
Hu Po sucked in a breath of cold air. "… Oh my god …"
Even Gwen felt a chill in his heart. He could imagine how terrible the truth was. At this moment, when Meghul III mentioned it, his voice would tremble.
"Everything you did was watched by the Dream God?" Hao Ren's tone was particularly serious. He frowned and looked at Meghor, who had reformed.
"Fortunately, the 'God's Eye' in the device was not connected to God in real time," Meghor said in a complicated tone. "The 'God's Eye' in the device was more like a split clone. It collected information in the world. After a certain extent, the polarity of the core of the confinement device would be reversed, and the fragment of the 'God's Eye' would be released back to the divine realm. At that time, the Dream God would know what the 'eye' saw. The confinement device we found may be too old, or some functions may have been damaged and it was stuck. It never released the 'God's Eye' in the center of the energy field.
"In a sense, the device in a malfunctioning state is actually a real prison … But it is different from a real prison. The 'prisoner' in it is theoretically the owner of the prison, and the door of the prison … could open at any time due to the system's self-healing.
"You should be able to imagine how terrible this is for us."
"I can imagine." Gwen nodded gently. "But I'm curious, how did you find out the truth? Was there a manual next to the ancient device? "
Meghor was silent for a moment. The starlight amalgamation slowly expanded and shrank. "… Your Majesty, do you know how I became like this?"
Gwen raised his eyebrows. "Didn't you change your life form to prolong your life?"
"At that time, I had used the technology provided by the Everything-End-All to prolong my life. I could at least live for a few more centuries," Meghor said with a sigh. "It was an experimental accident that made me like this.
"Due to a mistake in controlling the energy flow, I was hit by a ray that shot out from the restraining field. The ray destroyed my body, but the powerful energy of the restraining field trapped my soul. I was sucked into the surging energy flow, and … I slightly came into contact with the 'God's Eye' that was restrained in the core."
Gwen understood. "The knowledge of the gods has the characteristic of forced indoctrination. You 'saw' the truth of the device from the fragment of the God of Dreams?"
"Yes." Meghul III confirmed Gwen's guess. "The moment I touched the 'God's Eye', I knew the truth of the device and the terrible consequences if the 'God's Eye' was released back to the divine realm. All our secrets would be exposed to the gods, and the gods would never allow such a rebellious act.
"Fortunately, I 'survived' that terrible accident. Because of the timely actions of the Church's compatriots at the scene, my soul was released before it was completely annihilated. But at the same time, it was seriously distorted and mutated. From that day on, I became like this.
"But compared to the truth of the God's Eye, the mutation of the soul is nothing. We have to solve the problem of the God's Eye. Either completely destroy it or permanently cut off its connection with the divine realm so that it can never return to the God of Dreams."
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