Master Hymer looked reserved and introverted, but it was only because he had been immersed in various magic research all year round. When it came to his field of interest, the young master immediately became a different person, talking excitedly and gesticulating. Hao Ren almost suspected that Hymer's soul had been possessed. When Hymer finally calmed down, Hao Ren found a chance to interject. "You said that time in the ruins is still?"
"Err …" Hymer was a little embarrassed. "This is just a guess. Our research on the element of 'time' is superficial. Even the legendary Ancient Magic Empire should not have the power to control time. Plus, when we entered the ruins, time in the ruins flowed normally. So I can't tell what it was like when the ruins were completely sealed. But the signs after the door opened … "
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Of course, we have cleared the outer layer of the ruins. Please come with me."
Hymer selected a few apprentices to accompany him and then called several high-ranking knights stationed here as guards. Then he brought Hao Ren and his entourage to the recently discovered entrance of the ruins.
The entrance was at the foot of the mountain wall not far behind the observation camp. A half-collapsed grayish-black cave suddenly appeared there. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary cave with nothing special about it. At first glance, no one would think that this cave would lead to some ancient ruins or something like that. The mountain walls on both sides of the cave were covered with vines, dead branches, and black tree roots. There were also traces of fire and knives, which must have been left by the investigation team. Two knights in enchanted armor stood guard on both sides of the entrance. They looked serious and their muscles were taut. The knight swords in their hands were propped on the ground.
"How did you locate this place?" Before entering the cave, Hao Ren asked casually.
"The initial energy fluctuations were disrupted by the energy field of the Lorissa Wall. After entering the mountains, the investigation team could only do a carpet search without any clues. But soon after, the second and third energy fluctuations were produced. They were irregular but frequent, giving us a chance to lock on to them. After mathematically filtering out the interference of the Lorissa Wall, we finally located this place. "
Master Hymer explained as he led them into the dark cave that looked like the mouth of a beast.
The entrance to the ruins was half-collapsed, and it looked dangerous from the outside. But when Hao Ren walked in, he noticed that the ceiling and walls on both sides of the cave were glowing with magic. Small magic circles were suspended in the air and attached to the stone walls at regular intervals. After asking, Hao Ren learned that they were set up by Hymer to prevent the cave from collapsing.
After entering from the entrance, there was a long slope all the way down. They walked straight for nearly a hundred meters before they encountered a fork and a turn. The deeper they went, the more forks they encountered. It was as if they were walking into a maze. Fortunately, the investigation team had explored most of the forks along the way, and there were conspicuous signs or soldiers stationed at each fork. Hymer cast a light spell to make up for the lack of brightness of the magic crystals inlaid along the way so that they could see all the details in the cave.
Hao Ren saw some fragmented objects peeking out from time to time in the soft soil of the cave. A few parts of the cave walls also had traces of artificial excavation. But other than these things, there were no more traces of civilization. "Is this the main entrance of the ruins?" Hao Ren asked.
"No, we haven't found the main entrance yet. I suspect that the ruins below are completely closed with no entrances and exits. It is designed to be accessible only by teleportation," Hymer explained. "At the end of the cave, there is actually a branching corridor leading to the ruins. They should not be connected. It was the energy explosion a few days ago that caused a small-scale earthquake and opened the entrance. "
Hao Ren nodded and said nothing.
After going deeper, they saw the cave in front of them suddenly became bright. A large number of glowing magic crystals were inlaid on the cave walls on both sides. A relatively open space in the cave was flattened, where a small laboratory, arsenal, sentry post, and material pile were set up. Several magic apprentices and formal mages were busy sorting out data in the cave. When they saw Hymer, they immediately stopped what they were doing and came to salute him respectfully.
"Don't stop. Keep working." Hymer behaved like a mentor in front of his apprentices and assistants.
After the apprentices and assistants left, Hymer pointed to the crack at the end of the cave. "That is the entrance. Once you get in, you will enter the ruins."
Vivian summoned two little bats and threw them into the ruins. After a while, two clusters of blood mist floated back. Vivian nodded and said, "There is no problem inside. It seems that the investigation team has done a good job."
Crossing the cracked stone wall due to the earthquake, Hao Ren's eyes suddenly opened up.
A wide and straight corridor extended to both sides. The corridor was built with some kind of man-made material, smooth and clean, and it emitted a faint glow. There were countless straight stripes on the walls on both sides of the corridor, like some kind of mysterious relief, or like energy conductors. Looking to both sides, one end of the corridor disappeared into a pile of rubble, and the other end was a heavy door that had already been opened.
The heavy door was painted with patterns that were completely different from the various decorative styles of Holletta today. Various straight lines formed an extremely abstract picture, like a portrait of people and monsters, but full of a strange atmosphere.
This was the first door of the ruins. It took Master Hymer and his apprentices three days and three nights to crack the opening method of the door, but they encountered a setback at the second door inside. Only now did they make some progress.
Hao Ren stepped through the door and found that there was an unusually wide hall inside.
The hall was oval, wide and magnificent, but there were no pillars supporting it. There were no obvious lighting facilities in the hall, but it was full of light. All of this showed the incredible technological power of the magic empire in the past. At least this mysterious lighting method could not be replicated by today's Holletta civilization. Looking up, the vault of the hall was a deep dark blue, dotted with white stars, forming a picture like a starry sky. Various mysterious constellations were outlined by silver-white lines, and among them, there were crooked characters and annotations. The entire dome was a huge star chart, and the magnificence seemed to reveal the pride and arrogance of the powerful magic civilization. It seemed that except for the essence of the stars in the universe, there was nothing worthy of looking up.
Around the hall, there were a series of closed doors. According to Hymer, those were well-preserved laboratories and storage rooms. At the end of the hall was another door, which was the second door that had not yet been cracked. The master believed that behind the door was the core of the ruins, and the hall and the laboratories around the hall were at best the peripheral research facilities.
"The position of the stars in this astrological chart is very different from the astrological chart we use today, but there are still some similarities. It should be the picture of the starry sky ten thousand years ago," Master Hymer looked up and said with admiration. "Its perfection and accuracy are amazing. Many stars that can't be observed on the ground are also recorded. Through it, we can accurately calculate the position of many stars thousands or even tens of thousands of years later. I only tried to solve a part of it, and I found several parameters that can be used to correct the contemporary star chart. It's incredible. It's hard to imagine how the Magic Empire knew the stars so well 10,000 years ago. "
"It's simple. They had space observatories and even satellite colonies. The mage-emperors completed their astrological research directly in the synchronous orbit," Hao Ren said with a smile. At the same time, he let the MDT check the age readings of various things in the hall. "It looks incredible. It's been 10,000 years, and there is no trace of weathering here."
"Not only that, but we also found a lot of anomalies. When we came here, some of the energy circles in some laboratories were still running, and some of the alchemical reaction containers were still in operation. Some of the doors were shaking as if the owner of this place had just left in a hurry, just a few seconds before we came here."
Master Hymer's description was very detailed. Apparently, he had seen it with his own eyes. No wonder he had made the bizarre assumption that time had stopped flowing.
At this time, the MDT had also completed the data measurement, and the result surprised Hao Ren.
"There are traces of time standing still?"
"Yes, there is no problem with my measurement," the MDT replied. "There is a 10,000-year difference between the things in the hall and the things in the cavern outside. This can only be explained by the fact that time has stood still."
"What about now?"
"Look around and you'll know." The MDT spun in the air. "The flow of time here has resumed, and it should have just resumed not long ago. I'm guessing that the recent energy explosion and landslide had destroyed some sort of 'dimensional structure' here, and caused it to resume."
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