Chapter 66 - Ball (1/2)

Chapter 66: Ball

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Heidi finally sensed that the magical power was right in front; perhaps there was only one last intersection left. Meanwhile, after roughly estimating the distance that the party had covered and the terrain of the Dark Range in this area, Gawain believed this to be the center of the mountains.

The Gondor construction team might have really emptied a section of the mountains to build this inconceivably massive facility!

What exactly was here that was worth building such a monstrous-level facility — for research or keeping guard over something?

However, regardless of what was here, they had ultimately given up this place.

Heidi replenished the energy for the magic ball of light again. The ball of light that had begun to dim lit up the large areas around them once more. Gawain saw that ahead was a neat corridor laid using gray stone slabs. Magic crystal lamps that had lost their efficacy were mounted on the walls on both sides of the corridor. There were also some tightly shut doors. And straight ahead, at the end, was a door leaf casted in bronze. The symbol of an eye and a triangle was carved on that door.

The bronze door was not completely shut; a very wide gap was left open. Gawain initiated his Danger Detection ability and did not find any traps or potential threats such as toxic gases and the like behind the door.

However, this did not mean they could let down their guard. Before pushing open the door, Heidi first summoned a rune resembling eyes that radiated a faint glow. This rune drifted gently past the gap. A soft light floated in Heidi’s eyes at the same time.

“It’s a circular, empty room inside. It’s very big. There are many broken long tables and shelves… I can see lots of pipelines on the walls. The center of the room is a sunken pit… There is an odd, spherical item in the pit. Right in the middle of the ceiling, there are also numerous hanging chains and tools.” Heidi frowned as she described what she saw, but all of a sudden, she cried out under her breath. The magic was cut off following that.

“What’s going on?!” Gawain instantly focused on Heidi nervously.

Heidi rubbed her eyes, sounding extremely embarrassed. “I crashed into a wall.”

“…Uh, was there anything that appeared dangerous or resembled a trap?”

Heidi shook her head. “No, it just looks like a laboratory, but it is many times bigger than the laboratories I know of, and there are many pieces of equipment that I can’t figure out. Besides, I’ve confirmed that the magical power is coming from the sphere in the center of the room. However, this energy form is something I’ve never come into contact with before.”

Having confirmed that there weren’t any traps or out-of-control ancient magical puppets, Gawain heaved a sigh of relief. As for the odd energy form that Heidi spoke of, they could only study it in detail after entering.

Two stout soldiers came forward and, together with Knight Byron, pushed the ancient, dusty bronze door hard. The rusty and weathered hinges let out a creaking noise from their forceful combined push. In this silent and airless space, the sound of hinges turning was especially piercing, and it resounded very, very far out along the corridor.

Heidi instinctively grasped her staff tightly as she turned back, looking towards the dark corridor. She was almost afraid there would be some indescribable ancient monsters in the darkness that could be roused by the sounds of the bronze door opening and spring out of the shadows. But in the end, nothing happened.

The door was pushed opened. Gawain stepped in, and in next to no time, he saw the things that Heidi had seen — a circular hall, damaged long tables, shelves spread along the hall, the magical power ducts, a depressed floor in the center, and a big rock-like ball lying in the pit.

Gawain stood before the sphere. From a rough estimate, its diameter was about 1.5 meters. Its shape could be considerably well-defined, not taking into account the coarse and uneven surface; this could almost be a standard sphere. While its material seemed to be rock, under the shine of the Illumination spell, it also showed hints of a metal-like texture.

It was somewhat like a natural ball-shaped rock, yet also too round. However, if they were to say it was a man-made magical equipment, it was entirely different from the creation styles of the Gondor Empire. Moreover, there were neither runes nor metal connection points on its surface. It didn’t seem like an ancient magical equipment no matter how they looked at it.

“The magical power is indeed coming from inside this.” Heidi was frowning as she continued, “But it’s too weird. I’m even finding that it’s not quite like magical power, but a kind of… distinct energy wave? Ancestor, was this also produced by the ancient Gondor Empire?”

“No, it doesn’t seem so.” Gawain’s brows were furrowed as he reached out and tapped the ‘rock ball’. It felt about the same as a real rock, very hard. “Judging by the circumstances here, instead of saying this was something they had created, it was more like something they were researching…”

“Was this entire facility built to study this ball?” Knight Byron found it very inconceivable. “The Gondor Empire spent so much effort just to study a ball?”

Gawain thought for a moment and felt that even if it was the Meteoric Era where magical power was free, the people then probably wouldn’t be silly to that extent. “No. When this facility was evacuated, the people here took almost everything that they could with them in an orderly manner. It’s unlikely that they would instead leave the most important item behind. This ball was probably an item they were studying, but most likely just one of the items and a not-too-important one, something they’d decided to give up on. Presumably, they had not had much progress after studying it for some time, and just as they were preparing to dispose of it, orders to evacuate came from the top, so this was cast aside here.”

“So we’ve gone through such a long hassle and only found this thing.” Knight Byron rubbed his chin. “Your Excellency, how shall we deal with it?”

Gawain was slightly troubled too. How were they supposed to transport this rock ball out? He reached out a hand and pushed the surface of the ball as he muttered, “It occupies so much space and is heavy too. No wonder the people of Gondor back then had—eh?”

With a push from him, the rock had shakily rolled out of its position.

Gawain felt slightly embarrassed at once. “It’s not heavy?”

The weightlessness of this ‘rock ball’ was beyond imagination!