They helped each other climb over the last rock and climbed over several magic patterns on the ground. Duan Qing, who was leading the way, first pushed through the layers of fog and saw the scene after that. Of course, Duan Qing himself did not have such great abilities. The fog suddenly dissipated on its own after they walked along the road for a while.
As if separated by a glass cover, all the clouds and mist were blocked outside an arc-shaped range, constantly flowing where everyone could see.
"Is this the end?"
"That's right...otherwise how can you explain this scene?"
The scene Duan Qing was referring to was not the layer of fog lingering outside the unknown area, but the ruin-like scene that gradually appeared in front of them.
Broken steps, fallen stone pillars, and half-collapsed walls suddenly passed through the fog and appeared in front of them. These obviously artificial structures spread forward as they looked. Then it was distributed along a slope on the top of the mountain above, forming a dilapidated architectural image similar to an opera house within the fog that they could see. The giant cylindrical building stood quietly above their location, with some escaping mist sandwiched in the middle, shuttling from all directions of the circle like threads - most of the ruins had collapsed, leaving only a The circular ruins were in ruins.
However, the few people present still did not dare to approach easily, because the carvings that accompanied them along the way were still extending towards the ruins along their feet, left and right, and even in all directions.
"It would be better to say...this place is the source of those magic patterns."
Duan Qing, who was still at the front, shook his head and said their first words after a while.
"Be careful." The woman in the black cloak tightened the hilt of the sword in her hand and looked at the details around her: "There may be more mechanisms here."
"The fog has disappeared. I think... there should be no illusions here." Duan Qing shook his head: "So what we see should be real. Here... there may not be those criss-crossing of the power grid.”
"But I still don't dare to touch these things on the ground!" Nan Tieshan's eyes were condensed, as if he was facing a formidable enemy: "God knows what it's like inside. If something happens accidentally, hum... ..."
"It's probably not as simple as being teleported back."
"We've managed to hold on until now. Of course we can't be sent back just like this." After carefully checking the steps on the ground, Duan Qing slowly stood up: "But what I'm worried about is...the ruins If something goes wrong with the core inside..."
He gestured with the magic patterns around him: "Will these things... just disappear?"
"You mean..." Xueling Huanbing glanced at the other party: "This is the magic circle that fixes the clouds and mist?"
"Magic circle, barrier, fixed device...whatever it is called, we destroyed this place anyway, and this fog behind us...maybe it will disappear." Duan Qing raised his head. : "Anyway, we followed the road and came here, and there was no way up, so..."
"This is the top of the mountain, this is the center, there's... nothing else to explain it."
Thinking that this place might be the legendary top of the mountain, the players present couldn't help but get excited. Only Art looked at this ruin-like place with some confusion, and murmured: "Here... Is it a holy place?”
"Holy place?"
Duan Qing put his chin on his head and thought: "It's not impossible... Let's go in and confirm."
Following the broken steps with only a few dozen steps, carefully avoiding the lines under their feet, the four of them climbed the last bit of height without much effort and walked to the side of the circle of walls. Those tall walls that were dilapidated because of their antiquity, various unknown patterns carved on the walls, and the rubble with walls and columns collapsed to the ground brought the ancient and vicissitudes of atmosphere to everyone, and until As they got closer, they realized the height of the wall from their own comparison.
"Every time I discover ruins in this world, I feel so small." Nan Tieshan, who was approaching, stretched out his hand to touch the black wall and said with some emotion: " Although it is very unpleasant, but...you have to admire them."
"The mystery of ancient civilization is the same everywhere." Duan Qing reached out and picked up a piece of gravel: "The same attraction... But the material of the stones here is different from the ones we have come into contact with below. Are those the same?”
"Maybe, maybe it's some kind of strange material that is very compatible with magic. Maybe it can be sold for a big price..."
"Are you sure anyone wants this thing? I don't know if they can figure out how to use it, even if those great magicians come..."
"No, no, no, I think the key to the problem is whether these stones can be used as materials. No matter how you look at them, they are all ordinary stones..."
"You, you... look here."
While everyone was having a heated discussion around the rubble beside the wall, the only young man from the Nosier tribe in the team who had no feelings about money pointed to a gap in the wall and said: "There is something here... ..”
"What is it?" The other three people looked at each other, and finally Duan Qing took the lead and walked over: "A crack? Everything over there has collapsed. A crack is nothing. Let's go in from the main entrance later. First Leave it alone..."
"No, it's not..." the young man said somewhat submissively: "I mean...that thing."
"Um?"
Duan Qing calmed down, and then realized that Art was not referring to the crack, but a stone that fell next to the crack.
It was not an irregular stone. Although its edges were full of cracks and edges, it could still be seen from its flat surface that it was once part of a polished stone slab. And this was what caught Duan Qing's attention the most at this time, because when he got closer, he discovered that there seemed to be something written on this fragment of a suspected stone slab.
"What's wrong?" The other two people noticed Duan Qing's abnormality and followed him to ask.
"...means...different...no, it's been damaged beyond recognition."
After reading the text above carefully, Duan Qing finally shook his head: "It's like a message left from ancient ruins."
"Well, it's rare that this fragment can last for such a long time." The woman checked around the stone slab: "It'll be good if it allows you to read a few words."
"Yes, they actually didn't engage in ancient languages."
"Do you think they don't want to? This is just a game... No, it's just the rules of this world." The woman shook her head and stood up from the ground, then looked up and down: "This stone... ..Where was it originally?”
The rest of the people followed her gaze and looked upwards. They saw the edge surrounded by clouds and mist, and at the high point of the wall, a collapsed column buried a platform-like place, with some holes like something exposed in the middle. Something like a stone pillar towered straight into the upper layer of clouds and mist, reflecting charming light under the gradually turning dusky sky.
"...How do we get up there?"
"There seems to be no road outside. It seems we have to go in first."
"Then hurry up. It seems to be dusk now. If it's any later, we might have to spend the night in this damn place."
"Isn't this day's progress fast enough? Moreover...I think spending the night on the top of Falling Star Mountain seems to be a very good and powerful thing..."
"Are you going to go back and post something online and be the first person in the free world?"
"Watch your words, Art is here too!"
While talking to each other, Duan Qing, who was holding his head, first passed through the crack in the wall made of black stones and entered the interior of the circular ruins. The originally dull light slowly expanded in front of his eyes, and finally turned into There was some dazzling white light.
"really......"
The walls are much thicker than imagined, and the interior is much emptyer than imagined - perhaps because it has collapsed. The interior of the circular building is an open-air square, and through the light from the sky, Several people could still see the cloud-filled sky above from inside. The white mist at this time has become more and more yellowish as time goes by, but this color still cannot cover up the white light emitting in the middle of the square.
"What is that...?"
"It should be something like a core, the kind that provides energy. Do you want to go over and take a look?"
"...Forget it, at first glance, he's not someone you can touch."
Countless pale white rays of light extend along the ground to all directions of the white light, like dazzling and beautiful ripples, shuttled and scattered in the medium and small square. The pale white color becomes brighter and brighter as the distance shrinks, but it is accompanied by more scorching heat. Through the dazzling white light, Duan Qing could see the inside of the light source, and there seemed to be an irregular outline inside.
"Maybe it really is a device..." He murmured to himself and gave up the idea of getting close. At the same time, he looked around for places where he could go up: "There."
Due to the openness inside, several people found the stairs to the second floor immediately without much effort, but perhaps because of the age, the staircase winding around the inside had also collapsed. However, everyone present, except Art, could ignore this level of obstacles. They tried it casually, and then climbed up with the help of the remnants of the stone stairs. The three players were not idle during this process. On the contrary, their spirits became more and more concentrated, and the reason for their concentration was very simple.
"By the way, why aren't there any treasures in this place?"
The big man in black armor struggled to climb up. Due to his previous injuries, his physical strength has never recovered: "This place is also a ruin, why is there nothing good! Where is the treasure chest? Where is the equipment? Where is the artifact?"
"Wake up, how can there be such a good thing." The woman in the black cloak attacked the opponent's greed mercilessly: "It would be good to have some props left over from ancient times in the general ruins, how can there be so many good things? It’s so simple for you to discover. Although there should be no adventurers here yet, but..."
"but what?"
"Look around you."
Duan Qing, who had climbed to the second floor of the black wall, looked down at the corner of the entire area and explained: "The area around this square... is a bit too clean."
"Not only the items, but also the rubble were thrown near the corner. Such a situation..." He whispered: "It looks a bit like an explosion or something."
"And the little white sun still exists in the center, which means..." Xueling Huanbing continued his words: "That thing is probably the source of the explosion."
"Hey, what happened in this place back then." Using all his strength to pull his strong body up, Nan Tieshan patted the dust on his body, and then said breathlessly: "It turned out to be like this. It looks like this place turned out to be an explosion test site... Huh?"
He took two steps forward: "What are you looking at?"
In front of him, next to Xue Ling Huan Bing, the man who had been walking at the front squatted down against a wall beside him, as if he was observing something, and following his words, he noticed something unusual. The woman also squatted down and stared at where Duan Qing was looking: "Is this... the same stone slab as before?"
"It should be said to be a wall panel now." Duan Qing added: "The piece that was underneath before was probably..."
He pointed to the wall with holes not far away: "These are fragments of the wall."
"People here really like to leave things on the walls." So Nan Tieshan also came over and asked, "What's written on it?"
"Let me see..." Duan Qing stared at the wall and slowly read out the words on it.
"Everything has two poles, and every spirit has two sides."
There was also a name left behind: "——Douglas Fristad."
Several people looked at each other, and then looked at the next wall in unison.
"Elements guide destruction, elements breed immortality."
"Farag List." Duan Qing's deep voice echoed in everyone's ears: "These two sentences were not left by the same person..."
"Hmm, are these people studying Tai Chi?"
"Yes, speaking such philosophical words..."
After making a few casual comments, they looked along the walls one by one.
"All things pass, but the empire endures. - Arathor Olgat."
"We conquered the earth, conquered the sky, conquered everything around us, but we did not conquer ourselves. - Magic Queen Jialanka."
"Every time fate forces mankind to bow its head, the world changes. - Farah."
"Only when you reach the top, the living body will feel its insignificance. - Xia Dang·Zero Type."
As they went deeper, more and more characters' names and quotes came into everyone's eyes, and because of those sentences, several players felt a certain heaviness from them.
"These people..." In the end, Nan Tieshan was the first to say: "They should all be strong."
"I don't know, I have never heard of any of these names..." Duan Qing and Xueling Huanbing shook their heads at the same time: "They should at least... be characters from a thousand years ago."
"Because the existing history of the Free Continent that has been unearthed by the players is almost completely blank by the time of the Magic Empire."
"Well, the situation here is really shocking..."
"Yeah, but... I feel like what they said was pretty good, very heroic... Let's go, next sentence."
"Well, let me see..." Duan Qing touched the wall and looked at the next sentence.
"Please allow me to pay my respects, because I am now standing in your ranks."
The handwriting was different from the words he had carved before. Although the handwriting looked pretty and seemed to have been written by a woman, it exuded an awe-inspiring aura. However, none of them had any doubts about this matter, because they immediately saw the name left after that sentence.
"——Fry."
