Chapter 1336 — Treatment Plan

The squad leader quickly arrived at the spot his subordinate had indicated—a sunken area some distance from the bombing zone.

By now the sky was fully bright, and the magnificent giant sun was pouring down brilliant light over Wolf Ridge Mountain. Under the sunlight, the obsidian-like crystalline formations along the edge of the bombing zone—formed when molten rock had cooled and solidified—gave off a multicolored sheen. The action team members dispatched to the ground from the Outpost Research Ship had gathered around a pile of strangely shaped molten material, using the magical detection gear, life-sensing equipment, and other devices they carried to probe a grotesque wreck embedded in the mass of fused crystal.

The sound of metal boots striking the ground came from the mountain path. The squad leader stepped among his team members and, through the thick protective mask and breeze shield, frowned slightly as he studied the bizarre wreck his subordinates had found—it was wrapped in a dark, shapeless mass and half-buried in the slope, which had taken on a fluid form. Had the discoverers not been sharp enough, the thing could easily have been mistaken at first glance for an unremarkable rock.

But on closer inspection, its edges and surface proved more regular than stone. Though the whole object had been deformed, the marks of artificial working were still visible, and through a broken gap somewhere on its surface the squad leader could see what seemed to be a more complex internal structure—crystal-like inlay material and curled metal "branches."

"Squad leader, what do you make of this thing?" one subordinate asked beside him. "It must be artificial, right? But it's obviously not something the orcs left behind... Could those monsters that crawled out of the wasteland really build something this advanced?"

"Those monsters lack intelligence, but the ones controlling them do not—don't underestimate our enemies. Those dark priests actually command very advanced technology; we can't treat them as mere monsters," the squad leader's muffled voice came from beneath his protective faceplate. He stepped forward to examine the artificial wreck wrapped in the molten mass, and after confirming that the hazardous-material sensor unit he carried had not raised an alarm, he carefully reached out and touched its surface with a finger. Only then did he speak in a low voice: "This thing is definitely unusual... Look around. We're right next to a bombing point of the supercritical accelerator. The rocks nearby were burned away, yet this thing survived..."

"We checked it just now with a distortion-detection filter. There seems to be a very faint magical reaction at its core—but only a trace of one left. It's probably thoroughly broken," another subordinate said. "Also, unlike the other wreckage those monsters left behind, this thing has no toxic residue and no magical-energy contamination. Strange. This thing is... 'clean.'"

Hearing his subordinate's final description, the squad leader felt something stir in his heart, and his expression immediately grew more serious—wasteland monsters gave the impression of "contamination"; wherever they went, no concept of "cleanliness" existed. Yet here was a "clean object" carrying no contamination. That in itself was the most abnormal thing of all.

"...We need to find a way to get this thing up there," he said at once in a low voice. "Have the Chief of the Think Tank bring his people and analyze just what this thing is... Brothers and sisters, get ready to work!"

"The key question is how we get it up there," one subordinate said, immediately troubled by the squad leader's order. "It's completely wrapped in this crystal. We don't have tools fine enough to pry it out..."

"Then cut off this whole lump and haul it away. I'll notify the 'top' and have them send down a powerful cloud-base transport," the squad leader waved a hand. "Get it up there and let the lab people figure out how to pick it apart slowly. Let's get to work!"

Not long afterward, in one of the large laboratories on the upper levels of the Outpost Research Ship, Malin Leslie stood before the large analysis platform, staring somewhat blankly at the "research sample" that the exploration team had just delivered.

The light spilling down from the laboratory ceiling shone on this veteran researcher's gleaming bald head, making it shine brilliantly.

"Our exploration team found this thing near impact point seven," an assistant researcher explained beside him. "It bears obvious signs of artificial working and has a complex internal structure. It is suspected to be a 'relic' left behind by those mutants. Everything around the impact point was destroyed by the energy released by the supercritical accelerator—only this object survived. The crystalline material wrapped around its surface was sent up together with the sample; conditions on the surface did not allow further removal."

Malin frowned. After thinking for a long while, he suddenly turned toward the mainbrain communication terminal not far away: "...Can you scan its internal structure?"

As his words fell, a blurry human figure immediately appeared above the communication device, and a somewhat feminine synthetic voice came out of it: "Only a rough outline within the crystalline material can be scanned. The specific structure of the contents cannot be reconstructed—sending analysis results to the analysis platform now."

The next second, the surface of a projection crystal before the analysis platform flickered with faint light, and a pale blue holographic projection appeared in the air. What the projection showed was a distorted, deformed object that could still barely be recognized as a cube.

"This thing..." Malin stared at the image in the holographic projection with furrowed brows, but his mind went to another object he had seen not long ago in the high-clearance data link of the neural network—intelligence sent by the sirens far in the depths of the ocean...

"Contact the Dawn of the Mortal World immediately!" he reacted at once, turning to the mainbrain. "I think we've caught an important lead!"

...

The complex smell unique to alchemical potions drifted in the air. From deep within the ventilation duct nearby came the low hum of some mechanical device in operation. Bright daylight poured through the wide crystal-glass window beside him, illuminating the room's neat, plain furnishings and bringing with it a rare warmth for winter.

Wycliffe lay on the soft bed, feeling the alchemical potions gradually repair the hidden injuries and toxins throughout his body, yet his gaze kept drifting toward the window again and again.

Even now, he still felt a sense of unreality—looking only at this spacious, bright room, who could imagine that it was actually up in the sky?

He was aboard a "medical ship" floating in the sky, flying over Ruby City together with this enormous aerial fortress! What kind of incredible experience was this?

To be honest, Wycliffe was not really lacking in experience of soaring through the sky. As a Transcendent of no small strength, and as one of the Five Kings of Augurey, whether briefly flying under his own power or riding a griffin through the skies was a small matter to him. But that kind of flying experience was a completely different concept from riding an anti-gravity flying fortress. He still remembered the shock he had felt after a dragoon fighter had delivered him to this "medical ship"—