Chapter 664: The Ancestor's Gift (53)

Luo Qi reached out toward the human bronze vessel; the moment he touched it, the bronze produced no fluctuations of Magic Energy. The bronze divine bird was simple and exquisite, purely bearing prayers that had long since vanished.

He slowly touched the smooth patterns on the surface of the bronze vessel, and a surge of human emotion welled up in his heart. Humans had witnessed the omnipotence of the Ancestor Mages; they used their own methods to understand those great powers, and their own methods to record what they saw and heard. Liu Ziyi stood nearby, reciting many parameters from the detection of the bronze vessel, but the conclusion was one he had already thought of: it was merely a bronze vessel.

"Look at those crystals on the edge," Luo Qi said.

Reflecting a faint light within the slightly recessed circular ring were crystalline particles embedded in the metal structure. Based on his experience with the Highland Mages and the Seal Land over this period, Luo Qi could already guess that these crystals were merely remnants of some energy storage units. They must have completely extinguished by now, which was why this place no longer produced any reaction to the Battle Mages' energy tests. Liu Ziyi's test results were the same.

His attention was drawn to a patch of ground near the bird-shaped bronze vessel, where there appeared to be a scorched mark. It looked as if primitive humans had performed sacrifices near the bronze bird; in principle, this was possible, but Luo Qi immediately overturned his own thought. It was likely not so easy for early humans to leave marks on the creations of an Ancestor Mage.

Thinking of this, his hand had already cast a spark, wanting to test if the metal base could easily produce scorched marks. The spark was snatched away by a Spell from Liu Ziyi before it even landed. Without looking at him, she flicked her fingers to establish a small Sandbox experimental field on the ground. Lightning accompanied by a Fireball landed in the small experimental field. "It seems that general flames produced by the natural world cannot leave marks, and it doesn't seem to be conductive either. These marks must have been caused by the Ancestor Mage themselves. Can you not do it yourself, Luo Qi?"

Luo Qi blinked. "Time is tight."

"Then don't add to the trouble," Liu Ziyi said bluntly.

"So these marks must have been left by the Ancestor," Zhao Jiaozhu interjected, naturally standing beside Liu Ziyi. "Do you think so many circular rings mean the Ancestor Mage once used a large-scale array here? I have never seen such a topological distribution. Perhaps it is some long-lost, magnificent Magic. You just said that the Magic Energy here is cut off from the entire Seal Land; the Ancestor Mage must have isolated this place specifically to conduct special Magic."

"Perhaps," Liu Ziyi said.

"To think humans would place the bronze vessels they made here; it is truly stupid and ridiculous. However, humans at least realized the sanctity of this place; they have some taste."

The Lotus Burners clearly all thought so; some had already begun to chant in an ancient language to offer praise, while others leaned down to carefully study the scorched marks, discussing with each other what kind of Magic could leave marks on such a metal surface.

Someone even suggested melting this ugly bronze bird. It would only take a small piece of Magic to do it.

Liu Ziyi told him to shut up, saying if he dared to mess around, she would melt him first. The Lotus Burner looked at Zhao Jiaozhu's expression and held back. She looked at the silent Luo Qi. "Why are you still angry?"

Angry with her? Luo Qi looked at Liu Ziyi in surprise, then shook his head. "I am thinking, why did humans place a bird here?"

"Humans aren't even considered smart now; in the era of the Ancestor, they were just animals," someone interjected.

"This is a divine bird; humans created their own Artifact," Luo Qi mused, subconsciously stroking the bronze vessel lightly, as if yearning to communicate with the humans of antiquity. Humans could not leave their complex Yajian in a container to converse with people a thousand years later, but they still expressed information in their simple way.

He raised his head again to look at the metal dome. "They made a bird and placed it in the center of the ring. This means they once saw a bird rise from the center of the ring and soar into the sky, or they once saw a bird land in the center of the ring, or perhaps both."

"What kind of nonsense is he talking about," someone grumbled in a low voice.

"In every giant ring, there is a giant bird flying back and forth. You are the idiots; if you knew more about humans, you would have figured out what is going on here long ago." Luo Qi did not explain further. He turned to find Yan Hao. "Locate it; are there any giant objects here? If we can find a remnant of a bird..."

Battle Mages never ask why; Yan Hao answered him almost immediately. "There is. I will lead the way."

Under the guidance of the Battle Mage, Luo Qi flew rapidly between the giant rings. Each ring had a bronze bird placed in its center, though these bronze birds varied in size; the largest was no more than a person's height, and the smallest was only the size of a soccer ball. He did not delay further and did not stop to look closely. After running past a dozen giant rings, a tower finally appeared within the range of the light.

According to Yan Hao's estimation, the tower's location was in the very center of this giant space. Luo Qi looked at the metal tower in surprise; its structure presented a strange distortion, as if it had been deformed under some kind of immense pressure, looking as if it had collapsed. A collapse of metal? This tower was also not inside a ring. The surface of the tower was engraved with sharp, flowing lines; at first glance, they looked somewhat like the lines on the bronze bird, only more complex.

No Mage could clearly say what this metal tower was once used for. After a hurried inspection, Liu Ziyi only said that there were complex crystal structures inside, but they had long since extinguished. Luo Qi felt it was somewhat like a Lighthouse; he couldn't be sure, and this could only be considered a far-fetched imagination. He was also disappointed; this was not what he hoped to see.

"Boss, there is one even bigger than this," Yan Hao said, staring into the darkness. "The information fed back by the detection Magic is very vague. I know we are not far from it, but it seems to be able to avoid most Magic detection, so the feedback information is very little. No thermal reaction, no reflection of Magic Energy pulses, and it doesn't even produce an echo. I can only perceive a part of its outline. If its structure is symmetrical, then it should be quite large. The center point should be within one of the rings, as if it meets your requirements. Should we go take a look?"

"Take a look, one last look." Luo Qi could not restrain his curiosity and made a decision. "After looking, we will leave and stop detecting."

Yan Hao seemed to see that he was anxious; after pondering for a moment, he simply grabbed Luo Qi's arm. Luo Qi secretly thought, "This is bad," but before he could refuse, he had already been dragged into the distorted space. When he Shixian out again, he almost vomited.

But his attention was immediately diverted; the thing he was looking for had been found.

The small light source created by Yan Hao lit up. Right in front of him, a giant object stood quietly in the center of the ring, like an abstract work of art—smooth, cold, devoid of any mechanical feel, and dark gray all over. Its entire structure was seamless, as if carved from a single piece of material, and its form presented a streamlined shape. If one were to step back a few paces and look at it from afar, one would definitely feel it looked somewhat like a giant flying bird in modern art, or perhaps a giant whale in the sea.

The cold sense of oppression almost stole Luo Qi's breath; this was already the second time he had seen it.

The first time was in the distant memory of an Alien.