"What is that…"
"Inside is an unknown."
Kristen answered calmly. "We can't detect what's in the room. There seems to be some kind of signal-shielding device inside. The door won't open, and there's a highly advanced encryption mechanism blocking it."
Muelsyse looked around with curiosity. They were no longer in what felt like a military warehouse, but more like an underground chamber. Machines flickered softly around them, making the place feel like a server room.
Felix stepped toward the door and activated an Observe. The result labeled it as nothing more than an ordinary door. He examined the surroundings, but found nothing useful. Eventually, his attention shifted to the dark screen beside the door.
It was pitch black, as if it had long lost power. Considering how long the facility had been abandoned, that wasn't surprising.
"Is there something special in there?" Muelsyse asked.
Kristen glanced at Felix, who was focused on the panel. "While working on the Horizon Ark project, I received a faint signal from here. It suggests there's something hidden, or perhaps something alive that's been transmitting a weak message outward."
"How does it look, Felix?"
"If we want to crack this, we'll need time. The biggest issue is that the place has no power. We may need to bring in a portable generator."
After having his drones perform several scans, Felix arrived at that conclusion. Kristen nodded. Decryption wasn't her strong suit, so she entrusted the task to someone far more familiar with this kind of work.
The decoding process was going to be massive, but none of it could begin until the facility was powered. Considering the factory was located on Trimount's outskirts—and that they had unknowingly walked deeper underground—restoring power would be troublesome.
Muelsyse dissolved into water and slipped away, likely to find reinforcements. Nasti folded her arms and went upstairs; she had remote work to supervise. Soon, only Kristen remained, sitting in a corner with a stack of documents under faint light.
Suddenly, she muttered, "A precursor civilization."
"...Why do you think so?"
Felix lifted his gaze from the "Precursor Display Panel" and looked at her. Kristen was scribbling strings of pauses and intervals on a notebook page.
"What's that?"
"The breaks in the signal. I'm trying to decode it, but it doesn't match any modern system. Forcing an explanation doesn't work either."
Kristen frowned. "So it must be a relic from an earlier civilization."
"Sorry for dragging you all the way here just for this."
"No, I've actually learned quite a bit. Once the generator arrives, we can officially begin."
Kristen gave him a grateful look, then went upstairs. Her trust in him had grown considerably.
Felix stared at the door again. Strangely, no hints or quest prompts had appeared. Normally, ruins of this type—especially precursor-related sites—would trigger something like Secrets of the Precursor Era or Explore the Unknown Civilization.
But even now, there was nothing. Not a single task update.
That unsettled him.
His expression shifted. Wait a minute. If no quest appears… does that mean there's absolutely nothing inside? No wonder there's no mission prompt—there's no reward to give.
Or... just like in Assassin's Creed, instead of the high technology left behind or an apple of eden, what's behind this door is just a a mechanism that will cause an earthquake if disturbed?!
That might be an exaggeration, but felix still shuddered at the thought.
He decided he'd return to Kazdel, leave a single drone behind to continue the decoding, and come back only when the door finally opened.
He left a Clever drone with Kristen. She examined the small device with curiosity. "This little thing… you're not planning to sell it to the military, right?"
"This is one of my most prized creations. There's no way I'd hand it over to the military."
"Thank you for your help. And… if you happen to see Saria, could you give her this letter?"
Kristen took out a letter from her coat and handed it gently to Felix.
He thought to himself that the two of them could just talk through Muelsyse, the same way he and Kristen had communicated earlier. But on second thought, perhaps this was simply a small personal gesture between Kristen and Saria.
When he returned to Lungmen by plane, a full week had passed. During that time, Felix had already begun working on decrypting the precursor civilization's "password lock." But of course, the technology of a precursor civilization wasn't something people of this era could crack so easily. If it were that simple, their technology would have already circulated among the public.
Meanwhile players understood this was the last year of the current version, so they threw themselves into one final frenzy. Some burned through their points as fast as they could, while others saved everything to buy the newest uniforms the moment the next version began. Members of the professional teams hurried everywhere. The world championship was close at hand, and the late-2.0 tournament had all pro players on edge. They pushed themselves harder, finishing every task to earn the highest rewards possible.
After leaving Lungmen, the Venus set off toward Rim Billiton for a procurement mission. They also hoped to connect with the Rhodes Island stationed there. Felix held no small share in Rhodes Island, and although he had handed leadership to Amiya and Kal'tsit, he still wanted to see how his former company was doing.
During this period, Felix spent most of his time secluded in his workshop tinkering with equipment or training in the arena with Degenbrecher, Carnelian and the other experts. He was preparing the equipment sets players would use at the start of version 3.0, and his own weapons also needed reforging and refinement.
In the past, he had used a lance, a naginata (spear-blade), and a dual-headed sword. But now, after inheriting Wei Yenwu's Chi Xiao Sword Technique, Felix had begun fighting with a longsword.
On a battlefield he still preferred the lance or naginata. Reach meant strength, and swords were difficult to use effectively in large-scale combat. But with the rise of the legions, he could simply leave enemy armies to them. That allowed him to challenge enemy commanders one-on-one.
And in single combat, the sword showed its true worth.
Felix did not intend to become the strongest duelist alive. As a king, every movement he made was watched by the operators. Unless a battle absolutely required him to act personally, the higher-ups would likely stop him from fighting.
But if he did step in, the outcome would have to be overwhelming. His appearance must shake the battlefield. For example, if General Theresis appeared to command the front line, the proper response would be for Felix to enter the battlefield as well and defeat him in single combat, greatly boosting his army's morale.
The conclusion was simple: if he fought, he had to win.
Felix sighed. It was a lot of pressure, in ways that weren't always obvious.
With the first three legions complete, he was now studying how to form a fourth, one composed entirely of mechanical soldiers. His engineering skill had improved, so making machines charge fearlessly into battle was easy. But having them make battlefield judgments on their own was still difficult. Mechanical life simply didn't exist yet. They were only machines that executed orders.
Even Nasti of Rhine Lab had never tried pushing toward mechanical life. In her view, it would take decades or even a century before true mechanical life was possible.
Felix agreed. Creating true AI on Terra's technological tree was extremely difficult. However, he could design a module that allowed machines to make different decisions based on different battlefield situations, gradually improving as they accumulated experience.
It wasn't true AI, merely a program that constantly gathered information and expanded its decision-making, just like Clever.
He sheathed his sword, wiped the sweat from his face, and glanced at the system notification that appeared.
[Chi Xiao Sword Technique Mastery: 35.3%]
Progress wasn't bad, but he still had a long way to go. Felix didn't feel discouraged. "How much time until we reach the Rim Billiton restricted zone?"
"Based on the data, four hours remain until arrival. Without an entry authorization, this is the closest distance the Venus can approach."
The Clever drone floated beside Felix, its gentle electronic female voice sounding. "Would you like me to submit the request for you?"
"No need. Send a drone to locate the Rhodes Island. We'll establish contact with them."
"Command accepted."
Felix went to take a shower. When he finished, he returned to his room, sprawled on the sofa, and browsed the forums for a while. It was already February of year 1096. Before the world championship began, he needed to bring everyone aboard back to Kazdel. He had already received petitions from the players. They wanted to hold the tournament in Kazdel's Grand Arena. It was an opportunity for Kazdel itself, and the number of spectators would surely exceed the previous event.
During this period, he had not gone completely without blueprint gambling.
" it's all or nothing!"
After gaining the High-Energy Physicist talent, each gamble cost him a million at minimum. After a dozen attempts, he finally rolled something that was somewhat lackluster yet not entirely useless.
A sightseeing hover-airship.
It could carry several hundred passengers. Not too large, resembling the manned hovercrafts from cyberpunk worlds, except this one had huge floor-to-ceiling windows that allowed players to watch matches from high altitude.
Even so, it was far from enough for the massive player base. Tickets would probably sell out in an instant.
Truly a luxurious kind of headache.
Night gradually fell. The enormous Venus came to a slow halt in Rim Billiton's uninhabited zone. Players looked out into the distance and saw many similar large landships on the horizon. None were as big as the Venus, and judging by appearance, they seemed unarmed.
"Those are… Rim Billiton has that many vessels? They can't all belong to Rhodes Island Pharmaceutical, right?"
W walked into the command room. The wide floor-to-ceiling windows gave a clear view of the scenery outside.
Ines stood at the front, and hearing W's remark, she couldn't help shaking her head. W always had an unexplained bias against Rhodes Island Pharmaceutical, much like her initial bias toward Tomorrow's Development. But when Ines thought of Doctor Kal'tsit, the Sarkaz mercenaries who once fought at their side, and Her Highness, her eyes dimmed.
She understood W's anger. Because of one person's betrayal, Her Highness had died. It was no surprise W reacted strongly to anything related to Rhodes Island Pharmaceutical.
"Those are mining ships," Anthony answered politely. He nodded slightly and continued, "Rim Billiton is a mining giant. Most of the ore on the market comes from mining companies here. These ships are mostly small because they need to navigate into the mines to carry out excavation work."
"So Rim Billiton is also a nation full of infected," W muttered.
Anthony added, "In fact, almost all mining companies in Rim Billiton promise equal treatment toward infected and non-infected workers. In this environment, where miners constantly work around ore dust of unknown contamination, anyone might become infected tomorrow."
He nodded again. "I'll go find His Highness to discuss the docking procedures. Please make yourselves comfortable."
Ines and W watched Anthony leave quickly. W sighed. "Why is everyone so dedicated and enthusiastic about their work… seriously."
Ines only smiled. In her view, W was also very serious about work. During their journey across Terra, W had taken all kinds of missions with the combat squad and even acted as captain when necessary. She was gradually learning responsibility.
Her words might be sharp, but deep down she had probably already acknowledged Tomorrow's Development. Perhaps even this landship, carrying everyone's dreams toward the future.
"Will you go to meet Rhodes Island Pharmaceutical? You might see some old acquaintances," Ines said softly.
W's expression shifted. She snorted. "I'm going. Why wouldn't I? Let them see who the true heir of Her Highness is."
That statement once again sounded suspiciously like she was standing on the side of Tomorrow's Development.
Ines looked at W acting like a stubborn child and simply smiled without saying anything.