Pillars of Ita

Fang Yu and Min Mier walked into a dark space and looked up at their surroundings. The maid lady was also following behind them, raising her head and looking indifferently at the scenery in front of them - a series of underground caves. An extremely vast space appeared, like a square appearing out of thin air, and jumped into the sight of the three people.

The surrounding unmodified natural rock walls extend upward, forming an open and deep space, which converges into a dome above. A piece of glowstone hangs upside down on the rock. The dim light emitted by this fluorescent material crystal highlights the outline of the surrounding stone walls. Tangled out.

Casting a dark color in a shadow.

Tunnels leading in different directions are like blood vessels branching out from arteries, spreading all over the underground world like spider webs, and finally converging here. When they come to the core of this magic circle, Fang Plover doesn't even need to measure it to know that he has arrived. Purpose.

Ms. Tata still flew out and put her tiny hands on the ground. The dust could not really stain her snow-white catkins, which were like the tiny branches and buds of a plant, rooted in the soil. However, relying on the spiritual connection between the two, Fang Yu's mind had been merged into the magic net. When he opened his eyes, it was like seeing a whole world.

However, the magic power is just a surface floating on the sea of ​​ether. The illusion disappears like gravel in a blink of an eye, making Fang Plover return to reality. He can't help but feel in a trance, but everything he sees in front of him is completely different, allowing him to see the underground veins. , the path generated by the flow of ether, the entire barrier is not an open book for him to read, but at least the directory is clear, and its purpose and mechanism are all known to him.

As he expected, this barrier must have been set up by Rodrigo de Andris, the Pirate King. Its purpose was to cover up the appearance underneath and protect the real entrance to the Pirate King's treasure house. , its creator may be Adni's father, but it may also be many other craftsmen. The amount of work here cannot be completed by one person. It must have taken a long time to build.

He turned back to look at the maid. Shesta shook her head at him, saying that she had never seen this place before, but after Minmir's words, her attitude towards Fang Plover had obviously changed a lot. At least no longer cold. But what Fang Yu considered was another aspect. Shesta was entrusted to Sir Mawei by Sir Linn and Adni's father when they were young. Her fate and origin are likely to be the same as that of the girl from Ayinbrok - —Leila is similar.

It may even be born earlier than the latter, and it is a true prototype——

But what is the prototype, and why did the great alchemist create her?

The life experience of the maid is more like a mystery.

What Lynn and Jed Ham are looking for, the Dragon Hunters, the Star Device, the Dragon Knight Construct and the Philosopher's Stone don't seem to be important, but are just one link on the road. Now that I think about it, even Roman, the business lady who has always ignored the affairs of the saints, had to take action to shield her fate, covering the entire valley with a silver coin.

Before they arrive, weave everything into a silver mist.

Does this imply any important information?

There is already a lot of known information at hand, but most of it points to the three ancient geniuses of the empire seven hundred years ago. The path pursued by the three people is actually the same goal - the fairy dragon soul.

The one who walks the most steadily on this road is undoubtedly Helinwell. He is the most courteous and gentle among the three geniuses. He has no fight with the world and only inherited the path of his teacher and designed the non-attribute magic furnace. Carrying forward the legacy of Hayne Pham.

The most radical Friston left behind the Soul School. Another branch of this school in the Silver Tower eventually followed this path and became the promoter of artificial dragon souls. Witness its history in the illusion and see the spire that seals the dragon soul.

The Silver Tower was almost successful in the end, or rather it had reached its destination——

Although the most important piece of the puzzle is still missing as to how Miss Tata woke up and how she got into Miya's hands, at least by some mistake, he and she did find Hain. ·Another road left by Fanmu.

And successfully gave birth to the first and only fairy dragon soul in this world.

In private, Fang Yu talked to his fairy lady: "But there is still a lack of process, a piece of the puzzle that we don't know, so that it is technically impossible to reproduce. Rationally, I don't want this technology to stop here. Because it projects too many people’s wishes…”

"Emotionally, I don't want Miss Tata to be unique, because that would be too lonely. I hope there are many births like this, so that people can accept them, remember them, and always remember the first one." People who make sacrifices.”

"But I am not the first person to make sacrifices for this, Mr. Knight." Miss Goblin raised her head and looked at him calmly, her eyes containing the connotation of wisdom, "Not even my queen mother, before that. There are many more nameless people.”

Not just goblins, but humans, dwarves and even elves.

But she can be a symbol for those people.

Because uniqueness often means confusion, and the criticism that comes with it.

Of course Miss Goblin understands the meaning of 'loneliness' in Fang Plover's words, and Artush, Farif and her expectations for the path of artificial dragon soul also mean that the person who masters this technology - Fang Plover must Make your own decisions.

Of course, he is still the heir and master of this technology.

If Fang Plover makes a decision, no matter what, regardless of how Silver Tower will view it, and as his dragon soul, she will unconditionally abide by the wishes of her Mr. Knight.

But Fang Yu's words still gave rise to a different kind of emotion in her heart, just like the moment the two met. From that time on, the young man who looked at alchemy with clear eyes made her understand that she had met him. Fall in love with the long-awaited contract person.

That like-minded companion——

"But giving up means that you are no longer the only Elf Dragon Knight in the world, Mr. Knight, and it means that you may lose your existing advantages over others." But out of her own responsibility, Miss Elf still reminded her. .

"My advantage has never been this. In fact, I learn things very quickly. Didn't you notice? Miss Tata, because I am a genius," Fang Yu said confidently: "If my advantage depends on external talents, If you show up, wouldn’t I be useless before I met Miss Tata? Would Miss Tata choose me like that?”

Tata's eyes flashed, maybe she had never seen such a shameless person in her simple life, but she thought for a while and nodded seriously: "Indeed, Mr. Knight himself is good enough."

Thinking of this memory, Fang Plover couldn't help but smile. He met Miss Goblin's eyes. The two of them had something in mind and obviously thought of the same thing. Miss Longhun looked at him and smiled.

Finally, there is the most mysterious one among the three geniuses. After the dispute with Friston, Jeldham disappeared from sight. No one knows what he spent half his life doing after that. They only know what happened to him later. Became the founder of Flame Workshop.

Then there is the even more mysterious Adni's father, the heir to the Fire Workshop, the Star Device, Sir Lynn's technical heritage, and maybe even the Jade Heart that Jeldham took away, all in his hands. To this day, Fang Plover still only knows this person's name.

But the technology he and Lin created may be more than just a simple dragon hunter——

After in-depth understanding, Fang Plover understood that what the other party was pursuing was not just the Star Device. Even the Star Device was just the first threshold for Jeldham, and here, the dragon hunter was nothing more than the Star Device. Just the keeper of the treasure house.

And that real legacy, its precursor, probably led to the birth of Lyra and Siesta.

So what is the real treasure that the pirate king said he would leave to future generations?

Is it the secret hidden under the obelisk? That ether node that the Naga clan and the Empire are fighting for? Or is it something more important that can even determine the fate of the technical routes left by the three imperial geniuses?

Fang Yu remembered clearly that when Sylvide mentioned Siesta's origin for the first time on the ship, she said that the maid's first name was actually Odyss, which was the same name as the goddess, and the maid also I have indeed been here before.

At least she remembered the city of Otric and some details of this island, but she had no reaction to the goddess and had never been to this underground ruins. If Odais could have hidden something from them , but the maid lady has no reason not to tell the truth.

Minmir pulled out his long knife and knocked on the ground, making a tinkling sound, which proved that the ground was solid and there was nothing hidden there - he had taken the long knife from the dragon hunter casually, so there was no need to worry about it. Cherish it.

He turned back to look at Fang Plover and the maid. Since he couldn't see Miss Tata not far away, this place seemed to him an ordinary place. "This is what you said, the core of the magic circle." part?"

Fang Yu nodded affirmatively: "Yes, you can dig from here, and you can see the base of the formation below. However, the vastness of the formation is far beyond your imagination. Even if you destroy this part, it will not be the same as the formation of the entire formation. There will be little impact on operations.”

Minmir was dubious and immediately dug with the long knife in his hand. A silver-gray light covered the blade and inserted it into the rock like cutting tofu. After three strokes, five divided by two, a deep ravine was drawn. The blade soon touched a strange surface. Even though he reacted quickly and pulled his hand away, he still cut it open. Minmir took the knife back and discovered that it was a copper pipe——

A conduit for etheric magic.

Seeing this scene, Minmir no longer doubted that this was the core magic circle of Etaliya's Mysterious Barrier - it was never a mysterious thing, or rather it was a set of precision-operated magic devices. , a huge device is located at the core, transporting magic to each node through pipes and ether circuits, and shaping the enchantment through ether generators.

He raised his head to look at Fang Plover and couldn't help but reach out and give a thumbs up. "How did you guess it was in this place?"

Fang Plover looked at Miss Tata. Through his own dragon soul, he could communicate with the Ethernet vein. When Miss Tata came into contact with the ground, she had actually connected to the core magic furnace of the device below, just like a craftsman checking the magic engine. , this is not difficult.

However, he himself roughly deduced the location of this place. The masterpieces of the alchemists are inseparable from it, or it may be troublesome to change to another selector, but for anyone who has made achievements in the theory of ether To people, this is nothing.

Of course, he is indeed more keen on this aspect than the average person.

Minmir looked at the exposed copper pipe. A hole had been cut in it, but because the change in the pressure gauge would cause the entire device to cut off the connection with the pipe from the end, the ether did not gush out like a fountain. , only some light blue magic power dispersed like smoke.

This is why Fang Plover said that cutting off this pipe will have little impact on the entire Mystery Barrier. This giant magic device has huge redundancy. Damaging one of its corners will only cause it to slowly fail. The magic power The balance is slowly passing through long-term changes, and it may take months or even years to affect the operation of this enchantment.

Minmir naturally understood this. He was the Silver Order of Prometheus, and he was not a novice who had no understanding of the world. He gently retracted the knife, looked at Fang Plover and said, "Since you can find this place, We must be able to find the core of this barrier. As long as we close the magic core, we can unlock this barrier."

But Fang Yu shook his head. This barrier is not that simple. Covering and protection are only the most superficial parts of it. They are Rodrigo's purpose of establishing this circle, but the circle itself is not entirely created by Adni. Built by my father.

Or rather, it is built on an older magic circle.

Fang Plover had actually realized this when they were walking along the way, or he had already made a guess in his mind earlier. Jed Ram did not build this magic circle, but completed it.

On the basis left by the snake people in the Xinsas era, another magic circle was built, and part of the purpose of the original magic circle was changed. With the help of part of the power of the original magic circle, this magic circle was created to cover up secrets. , a huge barrier covering the entire island——

In this way, everything is logically logical. The natural caves extending in all directions underground were not originally dug by the pirate king. It is better to say that the latter discovered the secret of this place, so they can exist for such a long time.

Even the traces of axes and chisels in the cave have expired, leaving more natural features. The pirate king and Adni's father discovered this place, realized its use, and took advantage of the conditions here to establish their 's treasure trove.

And this magic circle has another purpose, which is probably its original effect.

The great alchemist also completed this part when he rebuilt the magic circle, and even strengthened the seal. He only used leftover materials from the original sealing magic circle to give the barrier the authority to hide and protect again. Yes.

This was once a sealing circle.

And this was not what he expected. Fang Plover raised his head and looked in one direction - it was just a wall, but through the natural rock wall, his eyes seemed to be able to clearly see the endpoint there, under the black mist. The tall tower in it.

In every direction in which this magic circle extends, there should be an identical spire.

"I can unlock this magic circle," Fang Yu replied: "But not with such violent methods. I will take you to the core of this magic circle later, but you still need to give me some time. No one can disturb me in the meantime.”

Minmir raised his hands and said, "As long as Narsuyu doesn't do it in person, I guarantee that no one will be able to disturb you."

"Where's the mistress?" Fang Plover looked at this person in confusion, wondering why this guy was so loud.

"ten minutes."

Minmir gritted his teeth and said, "Even the great mistress, I can help you get ten minutes."

"Ten minutes is enough," Fang Plover nodded. What he wanted was an accurate answer, not an ambiguous boast.

This was not the first time he entered the ruins of the Sun Age. The Snake People of the Sinsas Era once had a unified empire with consistent beliefs and architectural styles. He already had something in mind when he saw the spire. think.

And everything after that was just a verification. From the moment he discovered this magic circle, he had a clear idea in his mind, and agreeing to Minmir's request and bringing him to this place was just part of that purpose.

Of course, the transaction was fair first. If they could really enter the treasure house, he wouldn't mind sharing part of the harvest with Minmir, as long as the other party conscientiously abided by the contract.

The two walked forward, but at this moment, there was a slight tremor on the ground, and a silver falcon flew down from the cave and landed on Fang Plover's hand. Before Fang Plov had time to look at Jita's messenger silver falcon, there was suddenly a burst of chaotic footsteps in front of him.

Minmir looked up and realized that a group of Imperial people had appeared in front of him. The first ones to bear the brunt were two old acquaintances - Isa and the tall and silent Indian behind him - Gray Eagle Rudene. Fang Plover put away the silver falcon in his hand, turned it into a silver letter and put it in his arms. He raised the magic glove, but Minmir reached out to stop him.

Issa naturally noticed the three people in the hall at this time. He was startled for a moment, and then his face became happy: "Minmir, why are you here... or do me and Rudene a favor first."

The young man immediately saw Fang Plover and Siesta standing aside, with a clear look in his eyes - the Sword Holding Court had its own mission, but of course they had also heard about the affairs of the three major guilds and the Seven Seas Brigade. resentment.

It's just that the two parties actually chased each other to this island. What a coincidence?

Issa suddenly thought of the obelisk above, and couldn't help but suddenly looked at Minmir deeply. He and Rudne originally thought that Prometheus was trying in vain, but they didn't expect that the other party could see further than everyone else. They really found it.

If the Sword Holding Court hadn't happened to come to this place.

Fang Yu naturally saw what Issa was thinking, but he did not intend to explain the misunderstanding. It would be better to let the Sacrament Guild, Prometheus and Gray Realm doubt each other, so as to save these big guilds from having nothing to do all day and causing trouble to others.

Although he had some private agreement with the Sacrament Guild, no one would recognize the validity of this agreement on the surface.

At this time, Fang Plover also noticed that the Imperial people did not come alone. To be precise, these people were fleeing. After the Imperials arrived, the shadowy figures of the Naga clan quickly appeared in the surrounding corridors——

The imperial knights immediately formed a formation to fight with the vanguards of the Naga clan. The hunters organized a fire line in the rear and temporarily maintained the battle line.

Issa glanced back in that direction, and then spoke again: "Minmir, as you can see, I don't have time to explain to you what is going on now, but this is the mission of the Sword Holding Court. I need your help to deal with these monsters together."

Seeing Minmir's indifference, Isa smiled bitterly: "Don't worry, everyone who sees it has a share. Besides, these monsters won't reason with you. In short, everything will wait until their threat is resolved."

"I have no interest in the mission of the Sword Holding Court," Minmir said. "I'm not one of theirs, so what does this have to do with me? Do you think I can't escape, Issa?"

He looked at these people with his hands in his arms, and his words were full of sarcasm: "Besides, didn't you guys have a lot of fights with the Naga clan up there before? Why are you so embarrassed after not seeing each other for a while?"

"The Naga clan is determined to get what's underneath...the obelisk," Issa hesitated and said, "All three of their mistresses are here, even the big mistress is here. I Rudne is no match for that great mistress."

He looked at Minmir and Fang Plover: "But with you here, we may be able to fight."

Minmir became serious when he heard Vastana's name, and turned back to look at Fang Plover - Isa and Rudne thought he knew nothing about the secrets here and only came for the obelisk, but In fact, he knew very well what the goals of these two parties were.

But if it weren't for Fang Plover, he might have been kept in the dark by the other party. After all, the obelisk is indeed so important to him, but now... the other party's proposal can be said to be meaningless to him. .

With Fang Plover here, he can get hold of both the treasure house and the obelisk - at least part of it. But if people from the SOLID Alliance are involved, the nature will be completely different, not to mention that there is a sword-holding court behind it. This means the Empire will also get a piece of the pie.

But this is the core of the magic circle. At least what the other party said is right. The Naga family will not reason with them. Other great matrons may be confident that they still have the strength to fight, but Vastana is different. That is Narsuyu's maid.

What's more, even Isa and Rudene are in such a mess. No matter how confident he is, he dare not say that he can fight one against two by himself.

But Isa is such a keen person. No one who can reach the Silver Steps is simple. As soon as Minmir turned his eyes, he immediately caught this detail - he originally thought that Fang Plover was just Minmil's prisoner. This is also in line with his perception of strength.

But looking at it now, it seems there is something else going on?

Isa narrowed his eyes and looked at the two of them.

"Is this Mr. Ed?"

Of course, Fang Yu understood that Minmir pushed him to the front desk in order to force him to take sides. It seemed that the Silver Step of Prometheus had turned to his side wholeheartedly. He asked back: "Mr. Isa and this Is it also the silver level?"

Rudene wanted to say something, but Isa stopped the latter and nodded.

Fang Yu looked at the two of them and asked: "You two people from the Silver Rank and the Sword-holding Court are no match for these Nagas. Even if you add me and Mr. Minmir, you will definitely be able to fight against that Naga clan." Is your eldest mistress here?"

As we all know, the matrons of the Naga clan have silver-level strength, and the great mistress is a first-level dragon knight.

Therefore, Isa was not surprised when he heard this, and said frankly: "If there is only that big mistress, maybe we can still fight, but if we add several other mistresses and female warrior captains, we will definitely be defeated." Come on. Frankly speaking, the same goes for you and Minmir."

"Then why-?"

"The reason lies in this place." Issa also saw the magic pipe at Fang Plover's feet at this time. "You must have discovered that there is a huge magic circle below, and there are actually some things hidden below. These things are for us, It is very important to the empire. As long as we can delay time and unlock the seal of this place, we can enter the treasure house below——"

He paused: "We can share the things below with you two. I don't have time to explain the whole cause and effect. You have also seen that the Naga family will not give us this time. But as long as we enter the treasure house, The Naga clan can be isolated for the time being.”

"temporary?"

Issa hesitated for a moment, obviously realizing what was involved in this matter, but he knew that he had to win over the young man in front of him - in fact, the support behind him was Minmir. He had to think about it and said: "The Nagas are looking for someone. A very important thing, that thing is their motivation to drive this storm, but without that thing, they can't maintain this storm for too long, so..."

"So as long as we get that thing first," Fang Plover replied: "The Naga clan can only retreat temporarily? Is this the way to calm the storm and save the entire Northern Territory? Is this the mission of the Sword-Holding Court?"

"Yes," Isa nodded subconsciously, but immediately realized that he was being too explicit and explained: "Calming down the Ether Node is not just as simple as making the Naga clan retreat, it also plays a role in maintaining the elements of the entire northern border of the empire. The important role of border stability is why the Supreme One attaches so much importance to it."

"So what you are looking for," Minmir said suddenly, "is Andreus' long-lost ether node?"

Isa looked at the Prometheus Silver Rank, and obviously understood that he could no longer hide it from the latter. Everyone was from the same level, so naturally they had heard about those rumors. He was silent for a moment and nodded.

Fang Plover also remained silent.

He did not expect that another layer of truth would come to him in such a way. His tentative inquiries yielded some unexpected information, but the contradictory remarks of the Imperial people and the goddess Odyss showed that both At least one of them is lying.

But the lie itself is not important.

The important thing is that most of this lie can be corroborated with each other. What is contradictory is just the true role of the Ether Node in this series of events, if the empire is trying to prevent the Naga family from raising a storm.

So what is the explanation for the disappeared ether nodes in history?

Among the many contradictory truths, the final answer was actually ready for him.

"Mr. Ed," Fang Plover was still thinking, but Issa had no choice but to speak: "We need your answer."

"Let's try it first."

Fang Plover raised his head and replied.

...(End of chapter)