Chapter 1119 — Undercurrents of the Wasteland

Gao Yang was taken aback for a moment. Then, with a grave expression, he slowly seated himself behind the desk. He raised his eyes to Verodai's, and saw that this ancient Defier's face was more solemn than he had ever seen it... solemn to the point of something close to oppression.

That gentle smile, which had always resembled a "mask," had at some point faded from her face. In this place where no outsiders existed, the true Ophelia Norton stood before Gao Yang.

"There are things you would rather not speak of, so I have never asked," Gao Yang said slowly, watching Verodai. "As an ancient Gondorian soul who has survived to this day, you have never explained in any detail how you lived through that great explosion in the imperial capital, nor how you exist now. And as a Defier wandering the human world, you have never explained where your intelligence on the wasteland comes from either."

Verodai stood quietly on the other side of the desk. After several seconds of silence, she spoke softly: "If you truly must know, I can now..."

"No. If you are unwilling to speak of it, I still will not force you," Gao Yang shook his head. "I only mean to say that I have given you sufficient trust and... tolerance, and that calls for a measure of equal candor. You have every right to keep secrets that touch upon your privacy or your own bottom line, but when it comes to things that might pose a threat to the nations beyond the barrier, I hope you can tell me plainly."

Verodai closed her eyes briefly. Then she suddenly bent forward slightly at the waist and bowed to Gao Yang with the utmost solemnity. Her voice was as soft and pleasant as ever, yet seemed to carry a trace more warmth than before: "Please forgive my making unilateral decisions in this matter. I did not mean to conceal anything; I am simply too accustomed to reasoning on the level of logic and data, and neglected the variability of ordinary human society in the course of its development. Now I will tell you everything I know, and as for how to respond specifically... that will be for you to judge."

Here she paused, as though searching for a fitting way to open the subject, then continued: "The Deep Blue Well... is in fact still running."

Gao Song's pupils contracted instantly. The stunning news set his heart pounding, but in the very next moment he recalled the anomaly he had observed once while looking down upon the Gondorian wasteland—though the entire wasteland was shrouded in a powerful energy field and heavy cloud cover, so that satellite surveillance could see almost no detail of that land, on one occasion when conditions were right he had indeed seen a fierce flash of light appear at the center of the wasteland. And that was precisely where the Deep Blue Well had once stood!

Those surveillance records from long ago were suddenly confirmed, and the shock in his heart quickly subsided. After a slight change of expression, Gao Song's face returned to calm. He fixed his eyes on Verodai's: "How did it survive? The great explosion seven hundred years ago... the Deep Blue Well should have been at the very core of the blast."

"You are calmer than I expected—is it because you have also come to grasp part of the information through some means?" Verodai looked at Gao Yang with some surprise, but wisely did not press further, and instead followed the thread of his question. "The Deep Blue Well was indeed the core of that great explosion, but the details of that blast differ from what later generations believe—this has to do with the 'essence' of the Deep Blue Well itself.

"In your impression, what is the Deep Blue Well?"

Verodai suddenly threw the question back at him, which set Gao Yang thinking. He soon gave his answer—the same answer most people acquainted with the Gondorian Empire would give: "It was the energy core of the ancient Gondorian Empire, the largest magical focus in all history. It consisted of four reaction towers, four arcane reflux chambers, and a primary mana wellspring vent..."

"That is indeed the common understanding, but in fact the reaction towers, the arcane reflux chambers, the wellspring vent—all of these... were merely 'auxiliary facilities' that humans built for themselves to conveniently extract energy from the primordial magical power," Verodai nodded. "Long before the builders of the Gondorian Empire erected these things, the energy fissure at the heart of the Deep Blue Well had already been erupting on this continent for many years—its history predates human civilization itself, and even the records of the Silver Elves. It is first a natural magical focus, and only second those extraction devices as people know them. And the true scale of this magical focus... may far exceed anyone's imagination.

"That surging 'wellspring of mana' in the former Gondorian capital was, in essence, merely one tributary of the Deep Blue Well exposed to the material world. Its true, complete network lies hidden near the borders of all the elemental realms, demiplanes, and even the divine kingdoms connected to it. We do not know how far it extends into the depths of this world, but one thing is certain: it is part of the structure of our planet—a very large part. And for a planet, no matter how many times the nations upon it are destroyed, no matter how many times its ecosystem is reset, the planet itself suffers not the slightest harm.

"So what the great explosion of the Deep Blue Well destroyed was only those man-made extraction devices. As the 'Well' itself, its core energy fissure, after completing that unprecedented release of magical power, can be said to be wholly intact. Over seven hundred years ago, at the final moment, I sensed the anomaly of the Deep Blue Well and its true structure, and did my utmost to use its own vast underlying structure to buffer and channel those magical energies with nowhere to go. On the whole, I failed; the chaotic magical energy erupting from the Well formed a magical tide assault—by today's standards, it formed a 'minor magical tide' and destroyed the entire empire. But in fact, I still succeeded in a small part..."

Gao Yi frowned slightly: "A small part?"

"I preserved my own research base and the primary conduit of the Deep Blue Well," Verodai said. "Directly beneath the Deep Blue Well."

Gao Yang reacted at once. The broad imagination accumulated in his past life and the many things he had seen and heard in this one let him swiftly deduce a great deal. He stared at Verodai: "So you are in fact still in that research base even now?!"

Surprise showed on Verodai's face once again. She looked at Gao Yang: "Actually, I... well, yes, I am still in that research base."

As she spoke, a faint smile appeared: "I never imagined you would leap to that conclusion immediately. It does not match my understanding of you, nor the way ordinary people think... Does your keen insight truly stem from intelligence alone?"

"A flash of inspiration, nothing more," Gao Lan said, and immediately pressed on: "That research base is still operational? And what else is there besides it?"

Verodai nodded slightly and answered: "There is also an iron golem legion still in service—and on that foundation, I spent several centuries repairing and rebuilding the production and maintenance facilities for the iron golems, and remodeled the aboveground structure of the Deep Blue Well's primary conduit, extracting magical energy from it to keep all the facilities running."

Gao Yang was dumbstruck: "You are telling me there is still an operational iron golem legion deep in the wasteland?! And you have already repaired the related production and maintenance facilities, and even brought the Deep Blue Well partially back into operation?!"

"Yes—but there is no need for such excitement. They are all very small in scale, smaller than you imagine."