As though to confirm my and Sandora's premonition, the first thing that caught our eyes when Sakina found the floating crystal plate was a very familiar cross-shaped symbol: the cross-shaped diamond crystal, the symbol of the Empire.
In theory, I should have been surprised, but for some reason, I only felt a sense of helplessness. It was as though I had become immune to the situation of running into the Empire's relics in another world every few days. I shrugged and smiled helplessly at Sandora. "Look, it's another piece of the Empire's non-flammable trash. You guys really threw things everywhere back then."
Sakina and Sona looked confused. Of course, they didn't understand what I was talking about, but they didn't ask any questions. On the other hand, Sandora had a different expression on her face. It wasn't surprise or happiness, but serious suspicion and disbelief. She stared at the Empire's symbol on the crystal plate as though she was forcing it to speak. Then, she squeezed out a few words through her teeth. "Something's wrong!"
"Hmm?" Her sister glanced at her. "What's going on?"
"We're already here, and the Empire's symbol has already appeared in front of me." Sandora emphasized every word, using this method to express her seriousness and uneasiness. "But I still haven't discovered anything related to the old Empire. Everything here is unfamiliar. Unfamiliar materials, unfamiliar energy arrays, unfamiliar technology, and even unfamiliar atmosphere … It's too abnormal. Even if it's something from the mystical side, this feeling of unfamiliarity is too abnormal. It's as though they have nothing to do with the Empire — except for this symbol. Ah Jun, you might not understand how I feel, but I feel as though I'm looking at a completely unfamiliar civilization, but all of them are using the Empire's symbol and calling themselves the Shiring Apostles. It's as though … as though I've become an outsider. This feeling is terrible. "
I looked at Alaya. She was the only expert here who had a deep understanding of the Empire's mystical side. Facing my questioning gaze, the silly cat angel nodded lightly. "Brother Monarch, I have the same feeling."
"Brother, me too." Pandora didn't wait for me to ask and nodded. Visca looked around curiously. "What are you talking about? Why am I the only one who doesn't understand? Big brother, big brother, can you understand? "
"Visca is not a Shiring Apostles who have undergone normal initialization, so he might not feel the same." Even Bubble, the always mischievous fellow, temporarily jumped out of her two-dimensional world and explained to me. She also pointed at Little Bubble, who was looking at the cluster of crystals and biting her finger. "Although I can't explain it, but my daughter also feels that the environment here is very strange. She expressed that she is very confused. Of course, she's more concerned about when these shiny things can be carried back. "
The strange feeling that Sandora and the other Shiring Apostles felt at the same time was something that outsiders couldn't understand. However, through their description, I could roughly guess what the current situation was. However, no one could explain what was going on. Why would the emblem of the Empire appear on a bunch of unfamiliar objects that had nothing to do with the Empire — Of course, I also thought that this place could be the remains of a certain clan of the old Empire (Let's not consider why there would be a clan of the old Empire in such a remote, broken world). However, Sandora immediately rejected that thought. "Impossible. The emblem of the Empire can't be used so casually by the clan. Only the Imperial Army and the Apostles can use the standard Crusader emblem. If the clan wants to use this emblem, they have to transform it and add the symbol of their own race. This is the iron law of the old Empire. It's the same even now. Didn't you notice that all the servant soldiers have the emblem of the Imperial Army printed on their equipment and the coat of arms of the General? "
I really didn't want to admit that I didn't notice it. It seemed that I still had a lot to learn.
"Let's move forward. Some things may be answered when we get to the top."
Sandora suddenly let out a sigh as if she had temporarily put the fog aside. She looked up at the dome of the hall that was dozens of meters above the ground and frowned. "Although there's nothing related to this in my memory, my instincts tell me that we should move forward."
The Sky Tower had a complex spatial division system. It was impossible to move around in the tower through the stairs and corridors. Unless we forcefully broke the spatial teleportation system, we would have no choice but to follow the rules of the tower and use the crystals in the center of the hall to move around.
Of course, we had considered cracking it by force at first. It was very much in line with the style of the Empire. But now that the situation had changed, cracking it by force was no longer suitable. The Sky Tower was built by the Empire, so it must have some advanced technology hidden in it. Cracking it by force might make a mistake. We couldn't treat the Sky Tower as a simple facility created by a low-level civilization. After a little analysis, Araya deduced that the crystal floating next to the cluster of crystals was something called a "Node Converter." The name sounded high-end, but it was actually a control panel. By touching it, complex lines appeared on the panel. These lines were the gadgets that controlled the teleportation system of the Sky Tower. In the end, this thing was just an elevator switch.
Since it was just an elevator switch, it wasn't strange that the previous generations of explorers in this world had accidentally guessed some of the instructions transmitted in the Sky Tower. After all, it wasn't encrypted and wasn't difficult to operate. Also, it seemed that the authority identification system of the Sky Tower had been disconnected. Primitive people might not know how to fly a plane, but they could drive an elevator by guessing.
Sayana followed the drawing on the notebook and slid her finger on the panel. Araya watched from the side. Based on the instructions that the explorers had concluded, she would be able to crack the teleportation password of the Sky Tower much faster.
The instant the dracon young lady completed her operation, the crystal cluster beside us let out a clear ringing sound, similar to the sound of a tuning fork being struck. In the next second, the scenery around us changed.
It was still a hall, but it was completely different from the hall on the first floor. This hall was filled with things. As far as the eye could see, there were piles of neatly stacked crystal bricks. They were about a foot long and several inches thick. They had a bluish-white luster, and they were neatly stacked into square stacks that were about three meters long on each side. Specks of light swam in the hall. When some of the light entered the bricks, they would suddenly light up, as though they were responding to the energy in the surroundings.
Bubble sighed and continued to hug her daughter from behind. She was so happy that she had gone crazy.
"A warehouse?" Sandora looked at the surroundings that looked like a warehouse as she muttered to herself. She casually waved her hand, and a crystal brick flew over from afar. It floated in front of us and slowly rotated. "It looks like an energy crystal that stores arcane and other magical energy … I still can't see any trace of Empire technology. It has no value. It's just an energy source. "After saying that, she threw the crystal to the side.
Sayana was surprised. "How did you do it? Many explorers wanted to collect the crystals here, but no one could move them. They seemed to have an infinite weight. "
"Because it originally belonged to us," Sandora said faintly. "Yes, it probably belongs to us."
"Is this the second floor?" The older sister looked around, trying to find something like a building number. If the Sky Tower was filled with such halls, it would be really boring. Besides, we didn't even know where we were.
"No, this is the 67th floor." Araya pointed diagonally upwards. Only then did I notice that there was a holographic projection around the middle and upper part of the crystal cluster. It was a pity that I didn't recognize the characters on it. "Those are magic runes. Not only are they used to express meaning, but they can also be used as a component of a magic array. The entire tower is a precisely designed array. Every brick and stone here is a part of the magic array. "
As Araya spoke, her tone couldn't hide her admiration for the exquisite design of this place. After collecting the energy samples here, she had Sayana teleport to the next known area. She felt that she would be able to grasp the teleportation rules of this place after passing through two floors.
Unlike the natives who couldn't understand such complicated mystical knowledge and could only guess blindly, Araya had mastered all types of magic array algorithms. As long as Sayana demonstrated a few known operating procedures, she would be able to quickly decipher this system.
After the second teleportation, we arrived at … the 15th floor.
"This elevator has one foot in the sky and one foot on the ground," Sandora said faintly as she raised her head to look at the holographic projection on the crystal cluster.
The 15th floor was worthless. The hall was still lifeless and dull. This time, even the goods weren't piled up. There were only cylindrical stone platforms protruding from the ground in all directions. The stone platforms were only slightly more than a meter tall, and there was an average of one every ten meters. On top of the platform, there was a metal ball that emitted a faint light. "It's just a relay point for the magic array. It's used to guide the flow of energy," Araya explained.
Sayana activated the crystal cluster again. After the familiar scenery changed, we finally arrived at a place that seemed worth exploring. This time, what appeared in front of us wasn't a circular hall, but a hexagonal space surrounded by silver-white alloy walls. There was a low buzzing sound coming from behind the alloy walls. This might be a place where important equipment was stored.
Sandora looked up and said in a subtle tone, "269th floor." What an unreliable elevator …
Sayana was quite happy and looked at Sandora with admiration. "That's amazing. We never knew which floor we were on in the tower of the sky. Many seniors have a legend that there are actually countless floors in the tower of the sky, and there's no top or bottom. It's impossible to determine the location of the teleportation …" Before she could finish her sentence, Xiaoxue interrupted her, "That's just because you don't understand the manual."
This naughty child's words were as accurate as her mother's.
"I found the key information." Araya, who had been fiddling with the crystal cluster for a long time, suddenly raised her head and said happily. Then, she flew to the nearest alloy wall and pressed her hand on it. She muttered a phrase and released her power at the same time.
The hexagonal wall that seemed to have no openings and no doors or windows suddenly emitted countless crisscrossing blue and white rays of light, as though a machine that had been in standby mode for a long time had been reactivated. The low buzzing sound behind the wall suddenly increased in pitch. Then, a soft and gentle synthesized female voice sounded, "The defense system has been reactivated. The outer closed system has been connected online. The inner defense system has been shut down. Attempting to reactivate the authorization authentication … Error. The authentication target does not exist. Authorization authentication failed. Default backup plan activated … You will log into the system as a special user. Administrator privileges cannot be activated. "
"That's the only way." Araya smiled at me apologetically. "I don't know why, but the defense system of this tower has been shut down for tens of thousands of years. After it was reactivated, the only function that can be used is to seal all entrances and exits. Also, I've turned off the internal defense system here. The tower is no longer able to recognize outsiders. I'm worried that there will be another defense system like the colossi in the plaza outside, so I've turned off the system. "
I nodded. Even though the items created by the Shiring Apostles usually had an insanely long shelf life, there was always the possibility of accidents happening after such a long time. This Sky Tower was even stranger. It wasn't unimaginable that its defense system would fail.
Actually, it was also fortunate that the Sky Tower's defense system had been shut down for tens of thousands of years. Otherwise, the adventurers of this world wouldn't have been able to find a way to enter this tower. One only needed to look at the Gundam — ahem, Gundam colossi that were still active in the plaza behind the Sky Tower's back door. Arcane explosions with the speed of a machine gun combined with a mass collapse point would be brutal even against the Empire's soldiers, not to mention an expedition team consisting of ordinary people like Shakina. If the Sky Tower's defense system was still in effect … I reckon that we would only see layers upon layers of adventurers' corpses.
"Can you tell what this place is used for?" I couldn't help but ask when I saw Araya placing his hand on the nearby wall and closing his eyes for a long time without moving.
The angel sister opened her eyes, and a glimmer flashed in her golden pupils. She then shook her head and said, "I don't have administrator rights, so I can't connect to the database. However, I've obtained a part of the Sky Tower's blueprint. Look, it's like this. "
As Araya spoke, he spread his wings and flapped them lightly. Layers of dreamy mist immediately appeared in the air around him. The mist gradually condensed into a model of the Sky Tower. The model was no more than one meter tall, and it was exquisite and exquisite. The translucent model was filled with dazzling details, and this model was obviously incomplete. The top of the model stopped abruptly, and there was only a thin layer of black shadow with the word "No Data" floating above the shadow.
"Wow, so the Sky Tower looks like this?" Shakina curiously approached the holographic projection and looked at the dizzying lines inside. "Eh? Why are there so many things moving? "
"This model is connected to the Sky Tower's teleportation system in real time," Araya explained. "The space inside the tower is not fixed. Apart from the constant levels, the independent corridors and small rooms on each level are constantly changing positions. As I said, the Sky Tower is originally a huge magic array, and this array is the most complicated one. It has been adjusting itself for tens of thousands of years without stopping."
Icetis pursed her lips and said, "I don't understand at all … Even a technical otaku has his own specialization. Your research in Occultism back then was not any weaker than the Protoss."
Araya smiled foolishly and said, "It's strange. I still can't remember when there was a branch of the Empire's Occultism technology like the Sky Tower. It obviously comes from a complete magic system, but unfortunately, I've never seen it …"
At this moment, Sandora's exclamation interrupted Araya's words, "Ah Jun, Araya, come quickly! Look at this! "
Sandora stood next to the Teleportation Crystal cluster and pointed at the various data that appeared on it. After Araya partially activated the facilities of the Sky Tower, the holographic projection around this thing was not only limited to the floors, but also a large number of words. Some were runes that she could not understand, and some were constantly refreshing data, which should be showing the operation of the Sky Tower. When Araya started to study the structure of the Sky Tower, Sandora was observing these holographic projections. Although it was just some operating data, it might contain the key secrets of the tower.
And now, she had obviously found the secret: it was a line of Schilling text that seemed to be used as the head of the data table. When other information was refreshed, the position of this line of text never changed. The text was very simple. There was only one sentence: Energy Transmission Protocol No. 776, in stable operation. Agreement Publisher: Araya? Norei? Coretta?
The name Araya was particularly eye-catching because I have never heard of the name behind it.
"Me?" The angel sister pointed at herself dumbly, looking at the name on the holographic projection in a daze. Shallow Shallow grabbed the silly cat's shoulder in surprise and said excitedly, "Wow, so your name is so long!"
The angel sister scratched her head. "I almost forgot. Not many people call me that."
Everyone: "…"
"Is that really Araya's name?" Lin Xue looked at the holographic projection and the silly cat angel in disbelief. Then, without waiting for anyone to answer, she nodded and said, "Oh, it really is you. Could it be the same name? How many angels in the old Empire were there named Araya? "
"Every angel has the surname Coretta, but there is only one angel named Araya." Pandora, who had been silent throughout the journey, suddenly spoke. She explained in a rare moment of detail. I couldn't see any emotion on her face, but I could feel that she wasn't much calmer than the rest of us.
"Alright, let me confirm for the last time." Icetis slapped the angel sister's shoulder, scaring the silly cat. "You really, really don't know what's going on with this tower?"
"I don't know," Araya replied straightforwardly. Araya's reply was extremely straightforward. Then, he looked at me pitifully. "Brother Monarch, is there something wrong with my brain?"
Icetis staggered and walked to the side while holding her stomach. "I can't take it anymore. This lady is too funny. I will go to the side and laugh for a while."
At that moment, I couldn't care less about the angel sister's slow brain and Icetis's jokes. Looking at the flashing holographic projections and listening to the buzzing sounds of the equipment behind the walls, I had a feeling that something big was going to happen today.
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