Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1357: Chapter 1356: Does Not Meet Transgression Criteria

A small mechanical landing craft was lowered from the Winter, gliding over the calm, mirror-like clear sea and docking steadily at the foot of the ”huge tower” that seemed to pierce straight through the planet’s atmosphere. Cassandra, who had been exploring the Steel Isle for half a day, came to receive them. After securing the landing craft, Byron Kirk and Asharena led a loyal squad of marines up into this ancient relic that had stood on this planet for one point eight million years.

A gentle, faint sea breeze blew from afar, bringing air that felt extraordinarily fresh. The giant sun had already shifted from the zenith, and the slanting sunlight was no longer as scorching and lethal as at noon. Its glorious gold-red radiance shone upon the huge tower before them, casting upon the distant sea a shadow that could only be described as spectacular. At the outer edge of the Steel Isle, Byron saw mineral deposits accumulated over long ages, layers of algae, and many other traces of life that belonged to the ocean.

He tilted his head back, straining to look up towards the top of the towers—as with all previous observations from every angle, he simply could not see where the summit of the tower was. All he could see was a majestic silver-gray giant pillar thrusting into the clouds in the setting sun, gradually turning into a thin black line at the edge of his vision, its end vanishing at the boundary of the sky—like a bridge hanging down from the heavens.

”How the hell does this thing stand here?” one marine couldn’t help muttering, his voice sounding muffled under the visor. ”It really isn’t going to topple over?”

”Who knows? It’s some toy the Voyager left behind...” another marine grumbled under his breath. ”They could build patrol ships that cruised between the kingdom and the mortal world, you know. Supposedly those things were several times bigger than the Dawn of the mortal world...”

Byron heard the astonished chatter from the soldiers behind him, but he paid it no mind, instead letting Cassandra lead the way. Soon, they passed through the area that had already been confirmed safe and came to the broad plaza at the base of the towers.

”I suspect this is the entrance to the towers—I’ve found gate structures nearby, and what looks like a staging ground for vehicles and personnel, but we haven’t had time to keep exploring,” Cassandra said. With the sunlight weakened, the water vapor coiling around her was thinner than before, which made her look as though she’d momentarily escaped the risk of being turned into dried salted fish. ”Also, while waiting for you to come over, my sisters and I found more ’traces of later arrivals’ around the plaza. Those should all be things left by the primordial elves who fled to this place back then. Marks left by elves aren’t like the Voyager’s creations that can last for millions of years; lots of things have mottled, weathered away to where you can’t even tell what they used to be.”

Byron nodded with a very serious expression, his gaze landing on a metal slab at the edge of the plaza covered in Ancient Elvish script. Although he couldn’t recognize a single character, he still did a great job of maintaining, in front of the marines, his shining image of ”the general is well-read, the general always has a plan, the general is steady as hell”: ”Leaving a Message at the entrance to warn those who come after... that’s a very reasonable approach.”

Asharena of course knew this guy, who was completely clueless about Ancient Elvish Language, was just putting on a front, but she had no interest in puncturing it. Instead, she stepped closer and carefully read over the text on the metal slab again. With this close, detailed inspection, she noticed a detail she hadn’t caught in the remote footage before.

”The material of this metal slab... isn’t the same as the stuff around it, but it’s also not the copper-based Mithril alloys that elves commonly use in this age...”

”It might be something the elves brought from their home planet,” Byron said, stroking his chin. ”The primordial elves wielded technology far more advanced than that of today’s Silver Empire. The Sacred Stars Temple is a ’family heirloom’ they brought to the Loren Continent. I’d guess this alloy has a similar origin—after their split and regression, they lost a huge amount of technology and even went through a severe group memory purge. I’d imagine they’d have no way to smelt this kind of high-end material from back home ever again.”

He mulled it over as he spoke, studying the slab of metal that stood in the plaza like a Monument: ”Can we cut this thing out?”

”Sure,” Cassandra nodded at once. ”The material of this ’island’ itself is hard enough to scare people, but this metal slab isn’t that tough. It’s cast into a groove in the floor, and your Mage Technicians’ engineering cutters should be able to dig it out of its base... you’re planning to take it down?”

Before she’d even finished, Asharena beside her also turned to Byron in surprise. ”What do you want this thing for?”

”Dig it out—later I’ll have the Winter send down another batch of engineering personnel,” Byron nodded, gesturing at the base of the ”Monument”. ”Follow the roots, try to dig it out clean and intact. I’m thinking we can pack this thing up and ship it to the Silver Empire with a nice fancy box or something. In the King’s words, this thing ought to net us at least a reputation +100...”

”Calm your ass down! What kind of goddamn idea is it to pry up the Monument their ancestors erected and box it up as a gift to the victims just to farm reputation?” Asharena was instantly horrified. She glared and raised her voice, blasting Byron’s brilliant brainwave right back at him. ”The moment you step into the Silver Empire carrying this thing, that’s literally catching you red-handed with the loot, you get that?”

No one in the Empire’s fleet dared shout at the Marshal of the Navy—except for a mother dragon who’d been hacking people, drinking, and bragging with him down in the southern borders decades ago. Asharena’s booming voice made Byron’s head buzz, and he finally realized that what he was planning was maybe a bit off. Not every ’lost item’ is suitable to be dug up and returned to its previous owner. Beyond being a relic of the primordial elves, this ”Monument” might hold an even greater meaning for a civilization as a ”proof and memorial that this once existed here”. Perhaps not far in the future, once the world becomes safe, the silver elves will come here just like the Winter did today. At that time, this Monument will be one of the crucial ”reference points” in their history and culture...

The logic is actually pretty simple when you think about it. Say there’s a high peak that no one has ever managed to climb, until one day some beast of a guy pulls it off and hangs his family crest at the summit—even if the whole adventure was kind of an accident—and then you promptly turn around, take down this historic marker, and send it to his descendants: ”Excuse me, I picked up this thing on the way, I think your family dropped it?”

Byron imagined himself in that situation and figured he’d probably give that person a jumping cleave, full rage, armor-breaking and all.

”Then forget it. We’ll report this to the King later and see how he plans to negotiate with the Silver Empire,” Byron said, raking his messy hair with his fingers, then turned his head to look at the towering, arched metal bulwark not far away (which was really just a small section of the tower’s outer wall). ”...Next, we go in and see what’s inside.”

”You’re sure you want to go in?” Asharena frowned slightly, glancing at the gate that looked like an entrance in the distance. ”I keep feeling this thing’s creepy as hell...”

”I came all this way to go in and take a look,” Byron had clearly made up his mind. ”We got lost and drifted here, and stumbling across this tower was pure luck. The Voyager’s legacy has extremely major significance for the Empire, and the King is very, very concerned about this. We should at least bring back some valuable intel—that’s the bare minimum duty we owe the Empire. Of course, we won’t linger here too long. The Naga Navigator and the sea demons remaining aboard the Winter are recalibrating the route. Once they find the direction to the continent, we’ll head back. And yes, we really should be cautious before entering that ’tower’, so...”

He said this while raising his head to look at Lady Cassandra, who was busily braiding her tail into a butterfly knot beside him. ”Lady Cassandra, I’ll have to trouble you and your sisters to go through that big door first and take a look.”

Cassandra immediately dropped her tail and flashed a confident grin. ”Of course, no problem. This is exactly what we’ve been waiting for—sisters, let’s move out!”

The three sea demons quickly broke away from the group. Under the gaze of Byron and the others, they crossed the broad plaza and headed up the wide ramp extending to its far end. At the end of the ramp stood an alloy gate so massive it looked like seven or eight heavy tanks could pass through it side by side, its middle slightly ajar—the three figures of Cassandra and her companions vanished into the gap in the door.

Passing through that absurdly wide door, and through a connecting corridor just as wide but not particularly long, the interior of the towers finally unfolded before the three sea demon explorers.

The lights were bright, the surfaces spotless. Some kind of ancient Purification Devices or barrier seemed to block all dust from the outside world. What appeared before Cassandra was a spotless, brilliantly lit circular hall that one simply could not imagine had already endured one point eight million years.

Unlike the first-floor hall of the sentinel towers in Talronde, there were no devices running here, and no busy central transport pipes weaving back and forth. The vast hall was almost completely empty, with only a single silver-white metal cylinder in the very center that pierced both floor and ceiling, its diameter nearly as wide as a castle’s tower. And floating in the air around the metal cylinder were several groups of holographic images, displaying nothing but a field of interference noise.

There was no danger, no ancient device was activated—and no wall suddenly lit up.

Cassandra led her two ”sisters” in a full circuit around the hall and finally confirmed that the place was quite safe—as mentioned on that ”Monument” out on the square, the first level of the hall was free of danger.

After confirming it was safe, Byron Kirk and the others waiting outside finally stepped into this ancient place.

”...No matter how many times you look at it, the stuff the Voyagers left behind is still this astonishing,” he muttered, taking in this place that had remained clean and bright through a million years, its surfaces looking nearly brand new and intact. ”So back then the primordial elves all gathered here and did something colossally suicidal, huh...”

”We haven’t found any passage leading to the upper levels—no stairways or gates,” Cassandra said at his side. ”We’ve checked everything, except for that metal pipe in the middle of the hall... or rather, that metal pillar. That thing is clearly still running. I didn’t dare touch it, but my sisters and I circled it twice, and it didn’t trigger any kind of alarm.”

”A bit of caution is a good thing,” Byron nodded, walking a few steps toward the silver-white metal pipe at the center of the hall. ”So just getting close is fine, right...”

Before he could finish, a sharp ”beep” that made everyone’s skin crawl suddenly sounded from all directions. Accompanying that brief noise, heavy with warning, a mechanically synthesized voice rang directly in the minds of everyone in the hall, as though it were injecting the information straight into their brains: ”Warning, boundary conditions not met. Visitor, please step back.”

Byron froze for a moment, a cold sweat breaking out over him, then instantly retreated.

The alarm did not continue, and the synthetic voice in their minds did not speak again.

”Did you all hear that alarm just now? Or was it only me?” Byron stared at Cassandra in astonishment. ”Didn’t you say nothing happens when you get close?”

”We heard it—but nothing happened when we sisters got close!” Cassandra’s eyes went wide in surprise, then, as though to verify it, she immediately swished her tail and crawled several steps toward the center of the hall. After confirming the system here showed no reaction, she retreated again. ”See? Nothing.”

Asharena watched the scene before her with a frown, then suddenly said, ”I’ll try as well.”

Without waiting for Byron to speak, she stepped forward to the spot where he had been standing just moments ago—and under the wary, cautious gaze of many eyes around her, nothing happened.

The warning did not sound.

”...Is this thing targeting me personally?” Byron frowned, glancing back at the marine infantry he’d brought with him. ”Someone else come test it—but don’t go too far forward. If you get a warning, retreat immediately, and if you don’t, don’t stand up there too long.”

”...This shouldn’t count as us doing the same suicidal thing the primordial elves did, right?” Cassandra said to Asharena, a bit worried.

”I don’t think it does,” Asharena replied quietly as she watched a marine Soldier walk forward. ”Judging from the Message on that Monument, the primordial elves back then ran into trouble because they arrogantly tried to crack the system here and force their way into the forbidden upper levels even after getting the warning. As long as we’re careful not to deliberately defy this warning...”

”Warning, boundary conditions not met. Visitor, please step back.”

The voice ringing in everyone’s minds cut off Cassandra and Asharena’s conversation. The marine Soldier who’d bravely gone forward quickly retreated.

The hall fell silent; everyone looked at one another. After a brief exchange of glances, one of the sea demons Cassandra had brought finally couldn’t hold back and broke the silence: ”What’s going on?”

”...Looks like this is the ’authentication mechanism’ the primordial elves mentioned in their Message,” Byron said, brows knitted tightly. He might usually be a rough-and-ready sort, but his judgment was still working just fine at the moment. ”The primordial elves back then seem to have all been blocked by this authentication mechanism. Most of us are also unable to pass whatever ’filter conditions’ this thing has—but what’s strange is...”

His gaze fell on Cassandra, Asharena, and the others.

”Why don’t you trigger the warning?”

The three sea demons and the dragon looked at one another, completely at a loss.

Byron’s brow furrowed even tighter. He pondered for a moment, then suddenly turned to look at the marine infantry he’d brought.

”Everyone, step up and test once!”

The testing didn’t take long; the dozens of marine infantry spent less than ten minutes in total. And during those ten minutes, the ”boundary conditions not met” warning almost never stopped.

Asharena and the three sea demons were the only ones here who did not receive a warning from the Voyager System when they tried to approach that metal cylinder in the center of the hall!