Chapter 1261 — A Familiar Scene

Further ahead, apart from the ever denser and brighter lights, nothing threatening appeared in the ruins. The three of them gradually quickened their pace and came to the last stretch of road around the tower's foundation. As they drew closer to the tower itself, the structures around them grew denser than before: many alloy frameworks, large and small, like pillars, stood upon the nearby platforms, pointing straight up into the night, and between the pillars all manner of slender alloy beams interconnected, weaving together into complex three-dimensional structures. Over some of these structures curved thin panels like domes were laid. In the night, these towering pillars and their connecting beams seemed to cut the arctic sky into pieces, faintly betraying some kind of... "architectural art" of the Pathfinder civilization.

"It's beautiful..." Amber could not help lifting her head to look at those things that resembled great city sculptures—in an industrial center like this, they surely had once served purposes far more important than city sculpture, but those purposes had long since perished in the depths of history. All that remained for later generations to see was astonishing craftsmanship and a distinctive aesthetic. "I thought the Pathfinders only built cold machines or devastating weapons, that they were a thoroughgoing warrior race. So they understood art and beauty too..."

"Don't let prejudice lead you," Gao Yang reminded her from the side. "The Pathfinders were a sapient civilization too, and any sapient civilization will always develop its own art and aesthetics—even if the standards of different civilizations may differ wildly. Take these pillars here. They..."

Gao Yang was speaking as he looked up, but halfway through he abruptly stopped. His gaze turned serious at once, sweeping swiftly across the pillars and connecting structures, and then he lowered his head—just in time to meet Amber's gaze, equally grave and intent, looking back at him.

"This looks familiar!!" The two of them spoke almost in unison.

Beside them, Mojin was momentarily dumbfounded and blurted out instinctively, "Eh? What? You've seen something like this before?"

The moment the old mage finished speaking, Gao Yang and Amber both turned their eyes on him at once. Mojin was startled by the look and instinctively wanted to ask, but their unusually solemn expressions left him unsure whether he should speak at all, so he could only spread his hands helplessly, his face blank with confusion.

But in that brief exchange of glances and confirmation from memory, Gao Yang and Amber had already settled one thing.

Their sense of "familiarity" was correct. Not long ago they had seen something similar to these pillars and connecting structures here—and it was all connected to Mojin. It was the "stage" revealed by the shadow sand Amber had taken from Mojin: the mysterious place where, in the sand's illusion, the old mage met with the two figures who seemed to be elven twins!

There too had stood pillars and arched vaults much like these!

"The style is more than ninety percent similar, but it's not the same place," Gao Yang said rapidly and with great certainty to Amber, swiftly comparing the memory in his mind and glancing up once more at the scene before them. "It should be another Pathfinder ruin."

"Are you sure?" Amber could not help confirming. "The scenes shown in those sand illusions weren't clear at the time, and there were so many details among these pillars that are hard to remember. How about I..."

As she spoke, she raised a hand, ready to summon the shadow sand once more to verify—but halfway through the motion she checked the impulse and shook her head prudently. "No. This place is eerie. Doing that might trigger some unpredictable change..."

Gao Yang had wanted to speak up and stop her the moment he saw Amber move, but he had not expected this ordinarily carefree sort to show such caution and thoroughness at this moment. Beyond his surprise, he found it quite natural—clearly the cowardice deep in this one's soul had come into play.

"No need to verify. I have confidence in my memory," he said, filing the matter away for the moment. "Let's keep going. This place is feeling more and more interesting to me."

As he spoke, he turned his head toward Mojin. "Keep watch on yourself at all times for any changes. The moment you see or hear anything you find unusual, tell me at once."

"I will do my best," Mo Jin said with a helpless nod, falling into step behind Gao Song. As they walked, he went on, "But in many cases, when the mind is corrupted, the one affected rarely realizes right away that something is off about what they are hearing and seeing..."

"Then take this," Gao Cen said, casually pressing something into Mo Jin's hand. "But do not look at it too often. Just keep it on your person."

Mo Jin took what Gao Yang had pushed into his hand. One glance told him it was a talisman no bigger than his palm, its surface etched with intricate and wondrous patterns. The instant he looked at it, he felt a force—bracing to the spirit, uplifting to the will—flow into the depths of his heart. Yet the instincts honed by years of adventure kept him from losing himself in that positive mental influence; instead, wariness rose in him at once. "What is this thing? It seems to affect my mind..."

"A portable divine-protection rune array, a gift from the sea—standard issue for every operative of the Divine Council at 'Contact' grade and above," Gao Lan explained. "The concepts behind these technical terms would take far too long to explain properly, so just understand it simply as an item designed to counter mental corruption. But as they say, fight poison with poison—its protective principle is itself a kind of mental corruption. For ordinary people this mental 'corruption' has only positive effects, and its negative side can be adjusted until it is negligible. But your case is special. Your resistance to mental corruption may be far lower than an ordinary person's, which is why I am only giving you this now. And you had best not let this talisman appear in your line of sight too frequently..."

"I understand," Mo Jin said as he carefully put away that "gift of the deep sea," unable to resist muttering under his breath, "Mental corruption... no wonder. Just now, looking at this thing, I actually had the urge to turn and leap into the sea!"