In fact, only a few people knew that the sacred crystal mountain of Asurmen had an extremely vast and mysterious inner space. There was also an ancient gatekeeper who had been guarding this magnificent sacred place throughout human history. Those who were qualified to enter Asurmen were all bishops of the goddess of creation. Since ancient times, only the pope could communicate with the gatekeeper and open or close the halls of Asurmen at will.
The gatekeeper silently opened a light door. The edge of the light door trembled a few times before it stabilized into a teleportation channel. On the other side of the channel, there was a crystal hall filled with a faint halo. Pope Auguste VII nodded to the gatekeeper and stepped through the door.
The teleportation channel shook and closed. Auguste VII had come to the Astral Hall inside Asurmen. This was a pyramid-shaped space. The four walls gradually gathered in the middle and finally converged at a point at the top of the hall. A large white crystal was suspended high in the air, emitting a low hum. Mysterious runes and pictures were constantly flowing on the walls and floor of the hall, but only a few of them could be understood by humans. This was the result of thousands of years of research by the wisest scholars of the church.
Most of the spaces inside Asurmen were pyramid-shaped. The only difference was the size and the lighting. Scholars had spent countless generations to decipher the names of some of the halls, but they knew nothing about their specific functions and operating mechanisms.
The space in front of them was called the Astral Hall.
The Astral Hall was the name inscribed on the entrance to other areas, so there was no doubt about it. But in fact, the scholars of the church had always been confused. Judging from the name, this room should be a place to observe the stars or store astrological data. But in fact, there was no opening to observe the stars outside, and the equipment in the room had nothing to do with astrology.
In Collow, astrology was a profound knowledge. This world had an eternal, never-flickering starry sky. It was the image of the stars left on the edge of the space when this space was isolated from the physical universe. The people of Collow did not know the secret of this, but this did not prevent them from understanding the workings of their world from the stars. Although the stars did not move, the various illusory lights produced by the ups and downs of the Sea of Carnos would be projected on the starry sky. These lights wandered on the natural chessboard formed by the stars, creating various disturbances with the starlight. Astrologers could infer the movement of the Chaos and the length of the years of Order. It could be said that the history of human astrology was as long as the history of Collow. People in this world were no strangers to this knowledge.
However, there was nothing related to astrology in the astrological hall of Asurmen. There was only a large pile of mysterious crystals, and on the largest crystal, there was a line of mysterious text. Auguste VII believed that this text must have a great meaning, but unfortunately, scholars had not been able to decipher the secret of this text.
The runes in Asurmen were too esoteric. even if Auguste VII copied all the runes in Asurmen and handed them to the respected linguists in the Sanctum to analyze, no one could understand the meaning of this sacred land.
The old pope came to the crystal tower in the center of the Astral Hall. The gatekeeper followed behind the old pope without saying a word. As always, the incomprehensible text floated on the crystal tower. But after sensing the pope's approach, the text temporarily retreated to the side, and some other symbols and images appeared in the air.
Auguste VII put his hand on the crystal tower and carefully touched the delicate ridges on the surface of the crystal column. The image projected in the air changed.
It eventually formed a holographic image of the world of Collow.
The image was blurry and constantly shaking as if the equipment had malfunctioned. Some of the words floating on the map were not clear at all. There was only one meaningful mark in the entire holographic image, which was a light beacon located in the south-central part of the Ansu Continent.
This sign suddenly appeared less than a month ago. After its appearance, many of the originally closed areas in Asurmen suddenly woke up from their slumber. The pope firmly believed that this must be the guidance of God.
"The Ansu Continent … the ancient Cassouin Temple …" the old pope murmured to himself. "This temple, which has disappeared from the world of Order for a thousand years, still exists. Goddess, what do you want me to understand?"
The holographic image naturally could not answer the old pope's question. It just floated quietly in the air and was constantly blurred by some interference patterns.
Auguste VII turned off the holographic image and continued to activate other systems.
He called up the few interfaces that could be controlled and understood by mortals. One of the interfaces showed the image of the entire crystal mountain. The image was still clear. It showed that about one-third of the sacred mountain was still hidden under the earth, and there was an extremely complex structure inside the sacred mountain. There were many eye-catching orange marks on the image, and Auguste VII could still understand those words.
"Unknown error. Unable to read image data."
He zoomed in and locked on the crack at the top of the sacred mountain. The image showed that there was a terrible penetrating wound, and a "foreign object" was stuck in the deepest part of the penetrating wound.
A few months ago, it was this mysterious foreign object that broke through the sky and tore a crack in the sacred mountain of Asurmen. Since that day, the condition of the crystal mountain had deteriorated day by day. Until not long ago, even the Light of Order had faded from the sacred mountain.
In the process, Asurmen was actually trying to heal itself. The crack had now healed nearly two-thirds, but because the "foreign object" was still stuck in the deepest part of the crack, the healing was never complete, and the self-healing speed was far slower than the rate of decline of the sacred mountain.
On the holographic image, the top of the sacred mountain flashed with orange warning, and the crack was marked in red. There was a line of text floating next to it: Serious Warning. # @ ¥#% @ ¥Serious damage, power drop, self-healing limited, immediate manual intervention required.
The old pope looked at these images and asked without looking back, "Is there a way to get there?"
The Gatekeeper stood behind him without a word, and made no sign whatsoever.
The old pope knew that this meant "no."
If a task could be carried out, then the gatekeeper would do it immediately. If she did not respond, it meant that the task could not be carried out. The gatekeeper was such a mechanical guard that could not be persuaded or even communicated with.
The old pope frowned, but he could not say anything to the silent gatekeeper. He knew that this matter was beyond the ability of mortals.
The "foreign object" had bombarded the peak of Asurmen, the highest crystal cluster known as the Throne of Divine Will, which was undoubtedly a forbidden place for mortals. The sacred crystal mountain of Asurmen was shrouded in powerful divine energy all year round. Every 100 meters from the foot of the mountain to the top, the sacred energy wandering around the mountain wall would double. The height of the mountain wall corresponding to the high platform at the top of the Basilica Icon was actually the limit that mortals could withstand. This was why only the pope or the bishop could stand on the high platform. It was not only a symbol of status, but also because the strength of ordinary people was not enough to withstand the pressure of Asurmen.
Even if Auguste VII climbed onto the Throne of Divine Will, he could only hold on for about ten minutes before he was burned to ashes by the Divine Power, let alone the other monks.
So even if everyone knew that the "foreign object" that was causing Asurmen's weakening was in the area of the Throne of Divine Will, they could not take it out.
It was impossible to climb to the top of the sacred mountain from the outside. Auguste VII once hoped to go there from the inside of the sacred mountain.
But the gatekeeper never opened the passage to that location. This mysterious guardian was like a magic marionette, mechanically abiding by a certain principle. Compared to this principle, she did not seem to care about the fact that Asurmen was weakening.
After staying in the astrological hall for a while, the pope left the place.
Instead of leaving Asurmen, he asked the gatekeeper to take him to several other halls that had been opened. Some of these halls had been open to the public for thousands or even 10,000 years, while some had just woken up from their slumber last month.
Among the recently opened halls, there was one that particularly caught Auguste VII's attention. He had visited this place more than once in the past half a month.
Structurally, this new hall should be located halfway up the sacred mountain of Asurmen and was connected by the central axis of the sacred mountain. Before the crystal barrier around the hall suddenly disappeared, no one had noticed the existence of this room.
Under the guidance of the gatekeeper, the Pope entered the hall known as the Hub of Will. Just like the previous few times, the moment he stepped into this place, he immediately felt a soft and low voice ringing in his mind.
But the voice was too faint and intermittent to be distinguished.
The Pope raised his head and saw that in the center of the pyramid-shaped hall, there was a large, irregular crystal. The crystal was three meters tall, surrounded by a halo of light, and there seemed to be something sealed inside the crystal.
Of course, the pope was no stranger to this scene. In fact, he had been studying the crystal for half a month, but even the knowledgeable pope did not understand what was in the crystal.
There was a light sealed inside, a light that looked like a starry sky.
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