Chapter 27: Ancient Temple
An ancient aura from the abyssal depths was spreading.
"At least the location is correct."
Nearby, Nostradamus, who had been using magic to suppress the aftershocks caused by Joshua tearing open the earth's crust, closed the grimoire in his hand. Although he did not support Joshua's overly direct approach, he had to admit that it was indeed the safest and fastest method.
Yes, despite its seemingly dramatic appearance, under the power of a Legendary expert, tearing apart a portion of the earth's crust was actually a very safe act, especially since, before acting, Joshua had used his pressure to drive away most of the ordinary creatures and magical beasts living in the area. They would be guided to an empty plain not far from there. Except for some underground creatures, no life would be injured. Moreover, a well-prepared tearing of the crust was certainly safer than a battle erupting underground that could tear the earth apart.
"Chu Hao and Syndicate left markers. I just need to follow the signal to pinpoint the location."
Joshua looked down at his handiwork—a massive rift valley spanning the North Ural Plain. His pupils adjusted their focus, directly peering into the cavities deep underground. The faint glow of luminescent fungi thousands of meters below was clearly visible to him. He could even see large swarms of underground bats startled into flight, rising like a gray cloud through the rift.
"To be honest, Joshua, my earlier objection wasn't about the danger... It's mainly that permanently altering the terrain of a landmass has irreversible effects on the entire ecosystem."
Nostradamus also watched the gray cloud, a trace of pity in the old mage's eyes. He said softly, "These bats have lived in the enclosed underground for ages. They have no adaptability to the surface. Within a few months, they will go extinct due to the drastic environmental change. And the chaos caused by relocating a large grassland ecosystem won't manifest in just a day or two."
"The North Baikal Grassland has become a rift valley. The magical tides from the mountains will no longer drift north with the wind but will settle here or clash with the underground mana. The drastic changes in the mana environment will cause countless magical beasts to migrate. This is a transformation process lasting hundreds of years, deeply affecting the entire Northern Lands, and no one knows what the outcome will be... So I hope you will be cautious."
The power of a Legendary was so terrifying that it could reshape the world, turning deserts into forests and seas into continents... But unless necessary, no Legendary would forcibly alter the natural environment, for it was the life living on that land that had created and chosen it. Hasty intervention often made things worse.
After quietly listening to the old mage's rambling, Joshua did not immediately refute. He nodded readily and said, "I know."
Permanently changing the terrain of a place would naturally have a huge impact on the local biological and mana balance... For example, the fungi and various rare herbs thriving in the underground cavities might wither and die, causing immense property loss.
"But these are not irreparable. Look behind us—we have the elites of Winterfell Academy and the Imperial Royal Mage Academy. These mages, botanists, and druids will do their utmost to prevent the worst-case scenario. They will protect the environment nurturing those rare herbs and gain valuable cultivation knowledge from it. Most importantly, Nostradamus, the existence we face is worth the risk."
The warrior turned to look at the rift valley. He saw faint, earthy-yellow ripples gradually expanding. Though indescribable in words, the light that brought a sense of 'earth,' 'life,' and 'prosperity' was faint but clearly captured by Joshua. It was the power of the Earth, the might of the Earth Mother Goddess from a thousand years ago. Joshua said in a calm tone, "If that being—the Mother Goddess's mother—were to awaken, it wouldn't just be a matter of the North Ural Plain."
Hearing this, even Nostradamus couldn't help but sigh and acknowledge Joshua's correctness.
Indeed, the existence they faced, even if sealed, deserved such attention. If a world will that hated humanity were to reawaken, the destruction it would cause could hardly be compared to a mere grassland being turned upside down. To assess the underground anomaly as early as possible, Joshua's actions were decisively necessary.
Now was not the time for idle chatter. After a brief exchange, Joshua closed his eyes to detect the source of the Earth's divine power. A few seconds later, he opened them again. He had found the source.
"It's an ancient underground lake, fed by three underground rivers... The surface is still clear, but the depths are filled with mineral debris and the corpses and secretions of aquatic slime molds. It's essentially a garbage dump."
"The source of the Earth's divine power is at the very bottom of this lake."
The surface rift had torn through an unknown barrier. Joshua's gaze could penetrate deeper without hindrance. He saw, at the center of the massive underground cavity, a deep vertical pit. Divine power fluctuations emanated from its deepest point, capable of interfering with all magical and mental probes. But Joshua was simply 'looking,' so he wasn't greatly affected. The pit contained underground sewage and biological remains that had accumulated for who knows how many years. The depths were almost a viscous sludge of heavy metal wastewater, where no creature could approach.
Except for one.
Black snakes.
With a soft exclamation, Joshua's gaze caught sight of thousands of black snakes swimming in the lake. They glowed with the light of Earth's divine power, separating water from debris, purifying it back into clean water, keeping the lake's surface pristine. Joshua also saw these snakes patrolling along the underground rivers, purifying debris and garbage like the most faithful cleaners.
"Interesting."
Joshua showed an intrigued expression. "I originally thought these black snakes were guards, but it turns out they are cleaning units maintaining the underground ecological cycle... In that case, I can't just kill them casually."
"I've found the location, Nostradamus."
Turning his head, Joshua said to the old mage, "What do you think?"
"What else can I think? I'll just do it."
In response to Joshua's query, Nostradamus pursed his lips and shook his head. "Send me the coordinates."
Not minding his friend's complaint, Joshua smiled slightly. He sent the coordinates of the underground lake to the old mage, then retracted the gravitational pull of the powerful magnetic field constantly radiating from his body, and descended to the surface with him.
Wind howled around them. Nostradamus stood at the edge of the rift valley, his eyes flickering with the light of blue runes. After calculating for a while, the old mage raised his hand and pointed at the area where the underground lake was located.
Instantly, accompanied by the faint hum of tearing spacetime, a pitch-black crack originated from the tip of the old mage's finger and extended infinitely in his direction. It effortlessly shattered all soil, rock, and mineral veins along the way, piercing through nearly two and a half kilometers of rock layer, straight to the location of the underground lake.
The vast spacetime mana slowly dissipated. A smooth, inclined tunnel, fifteen meters long and ten meters wide, appeared before Joshua and Nostradamus. It led straight to the underground lake without any twists or turns.
"There, let's go see what's releasing the Earth's divine power... Tch, this spacetime rift isn't straight enough."
Withdrawing his hand, seemingly somewhat dissatisfied, Nostradamus wiggled his finger and then directly stepped forward, walking down the tunnel. Joshua smiled and shrugged, following him down.
Joshua could tear a rift valley into the earth's crust because of his pure strength, but when it came to precisely drilling a hole at a specific target, he couldn't match Nostradamus, who specialized in spacetime.
Unlike the winding underground tunnels that stretched for kilometers, this was a straight line of less than four kilometers. The two Legendary experts crossed it in seconds. Joshua radiated a silver-white light, dispelling the surrounding darkness, revealing the pitch-black underground lake.
The lake's surface was covered with strange oil slicks and bacterial colonies. Thousands of black snakes swam in the water, breaking down most of the filth or transporting it to the shore. Looking around, the dense mana even emitted a faint blue glow in the air. On the rock walls around the lake, large patches of mana crystals had grown. The pure mana had accumulated here, almost forming a mineral vein.
The presence of Earth's divine power brought unparalleled vitality. Strange plants of all kinds grew along the lake's shore. Various rodents and insects, whether mutated or naturally so, scurried through these self-illuminating magical plants. If Alva were here, he would surely be excited, for the lakeside had giant mushrooms and insect nests that matched his imagination of the underground—creatures never seen on the surface formed a bizarre ecosystem.
Joshua's tearing of the earth's crust and the old mage's opening of the tunnel had not affected the creatures around the lake. An inexplicable force had stabilized the surrounding rock layers, preventing them from collapsing due to the violent tremors. Joshua could clearly sense that this was the effect of Earth's divine power.
Now that they were here, Joshua didn't waste words. He and the old mage simultaneously raised their hands. Instantly, a whirlpool began to form on the surface of the massive underground lake. Countless turbid, pitch-black waters were drawn out by the warrior and then teleported to the surface by Nostradamus. Countless black snakes fled in panic. Joshua controlled his power, avoiding killing these beasts that had worked diligently for many years. Gradually, as the lake water dried up, a passage leading to the depths of the lake began to appear.
Feeling the increasingly surging divine power fluctuations, Joshua and Nostradamus stopped their actions. Up to now, the two had not encountered the expected crisis. No beasts empowered by divine contamination attacked them, nor were there any hidden traps left by a world will or deity. They had smoothly reached the depths of the earth and found the source of the divine power. This left the battle-hungry warrior and the suspicious old mage feeling puzzled and bewildered.
"Is it really this simple?"
Joshua muttered to himself, "Even eating isn't this easy—I haven't even exerted myself yet."
"It shouldn't be..."
Nostradamus also pondered deeply. "There should at least be some traps, ambushes, or ancient mysterious formations left behind, right?"
But clearly, reality differed from the thoughts of the overly challenge-seeking warrior and the overly paranoid mage. The journey was indeed this simple, without any obstacles or monsters, as smooth as drinking soup.
At this moment, because most of the lake water had been drained and the rivers blocked, the remaining water scattered in all directions through the deep cracks in the earth. The source of the divine power, hidden in the deepest underground, gradually revealed its true form.
It was an ancient temple, built from stone.
When it emerged from the cover of the deep lake water and was fully exposed to the air, an extremely faint fluctuation began to spread from it, radiating in all directions across the entire Mycroft Continent. In that instant, countless ordinary people across the continent stopped what they were doing and stood frozen.
Among them were ordinary farmers, skilled chefs, brave warriors, learned mages, nimble thieves, devout clergy. Some lived in filthy, impoverished slums, barely surviving in sickness. Others stood on the high platforms of palaces, proudly overlooking their subjects and kingdoms.
Far away, at the Earth Temple, the white-haired temple elder sat before the ancient, entirely stone-built temple. His eyes were closed, as if pondering some unsolvable problem. But suddenly, a faint fluctuation swept over him. The aged elder abruptly opened his bloodshot eyes, stood up, and looked toward the northernmost part of the world. Then, with confusion, he scanned his surroundings, as if sensing something wrong.
Beneath him, the ancient temple was glowing. The light was gentle, mild, warm, like a mother's gaze.
On the Eastern Plains, on a small island beside Sea Dragon City, the residence of the Sage of the Eastern Sea suddenly emitted a faint silver glow. All the ascetics left their houses in surprise, looking toward the sanctuary at the center of the island.
In the sage's dwelling, Faina, who had been meditating indoors and occasionally contacting her spiritual clone teleported to the Starry World, also felt this fluctuation. Her previously calm state of mind was shattered. Complex emotions surged within her. Faina slowly stood up, walked out of the house, and looked toward the northern end of the world. But soon, she turned her head again, as if scanning the entire continent.
In the sage's gaze, hundreds of points of light were shining brightly.
At the North Ural Plain, at the center of the rift, Joshua looked down at the glowing temple. He too felt the faint fluctuation. Sensing something amiss, Joshua initially wanted to block it, but the fluctuation headed straight for him without any intention of evading.
In fact, most of the fluctuation was directed at him.
Joshua did not dodge. He wanted to know what this fluctuation was, so the warrior stepped forward, absorbing the majority of it into himself. As he analyzed the information contained within the fluctuation, he suddenly paused, then stood still.
Then came a long silence. Silver light flickered in the warrior's eyes. Countless ancient memories surged through the currents of Steel Force. He understood why this temple was located deep underground and why it was built. Joshua even knew why the fluctuation converged on him, as if he were the predetermined target.
The truth was so simple.
"Wake up, Joshua. What affected you?"
Unaware, after waiting a long time, Nostradamus saw Joshua's body move slightly, knowing he had recovered from his stupor. The old mage quickly asked, "You were in a daze for over ten minutes—what did you see in that fluctuation?"
He was not the target of the fluctuation, so he had felt nothing.
"It's civil strife."
Hearing Nostradamus's voice, Joshua's gaze dimmed as he returned to normal. He smiled bitterly at the ancient temple before him and shook his head. "Chaos after war—a conflict between people and the world."
"Nostradamus, this is a discovery far beyond our expectations."