"My lord! I am truly grateful to you! Thank you for giving me a new life. My body has been deteriorating over the years, and I always thought I was going to die. It was your arrival that allowed me to become this more powerful being."
Nymph's words of gratitude, transmitted through the soul link, reached Marco's mind. The excitement and joy made Marco's emotions fluctuate as well, and he couldn't help but marvel at the power of the mermaid's bewitching abilities.
Marco was just about to reply to Nymph through the soul link when he felt a faint but powerful energy fluctuation coming from a distance.
Marco pointed at a certain central location in the ruins and asked Nymph through the soul link:
"What is that place? Why is there such a powerful energy fluctuation?"
"My lord! It's a shiny stone, long and slender, about twice my height. There are also a few smaller stones floating around it. The tribe used to call it the 'God's Grace Stone'. It is said that praying to it can obtain the power of the gods. It's very powerful!"
Nymph gestured as she explained to Marco through the soul link. She was now familiar with how to communicate with Marco, and her expressions were becoming increasingly accurate.
Afterward, Marco beckoned Moonshadow and Mayfair to swim inside together. After passing through the still-intact gate, Marco and the others entered the ruins' hall.
A milky white, diamond-shaped crystal, tinged with a faint purple glow, appeared before them. It stood silently in the center of the hall, surrounded by smaller, similar crystals, radiating an aura of mystery.
Marco slowly swam towards it, intending to touch the mysterious crystal, which resembled the Elemental Altar of the dungeon factions. Just as Marco's hand was about to make contact, Nymph rushed forward and grabbed him.
Through their soul link, Nymph warned Marco that the crystal would kill anyone who touched it. Some of her people had tried to touch it in the past, and all of them had turned into desiccated corpses. As a result, they regarded the crystal as a sacred object.
Marco waved her off, communicating through the soul link:
"Don't be afraid! It's not as scary as you think. It's actually a very interesting thing!"
With that, Marco swam forward. He had just observed the crystal with his Elemental Vision when a system prompt suddenly appeared.
"Ding! The host has discovered a Wild Elemental Altar (Mutated). Would the host like to spend 10,000 gold to convert it into a building blueprint? (Note: Completion of construction may result in unknown changes.)"
Marco looked at the gold resources he'd painstakingly accumulated, gritted his teeth, and paid the cost. As soon as Marco's hand touched the crystal, a burst of intense light erupted.
Immediately following, the floating crystals shrank at a visible rate until they completely disappeared, leaving no trace behind.
Nymph, upon seeing this, quickly swam over, her face filled with curiosity as she looked at Marco's hand. She even grabbed it to examine it, seemingly trying to figure out where Marco had hidden the crystal.
As time went on and they became more familiar, certain aspects of Nymph's personality began to emerge. Her lively and cheerful nature was completely at odds with her beautiful and alluring appearance, giving her an unusual charm that held a certain allure for Marco.
Marco reached out to flick her forehead, but she dodged it with ease. Watching the two of them play around, Mayfair felt a strange feeling in her heart.
She then pulled Moonshadow over and swam up to them, patting Marco on the back. Marco, seeing her approach, immediately initiated a soul link and asked, "What's wrong?"
Mayfair replied with a slightly dissatisfied tone, "Do we have anything else we need to do? Or are we just going to keep watching you play with this little mermaid?"
Marco, hearing this, realized what was happening. He then pulled Moonshadow over and gently kissed her cheek, before looking at Mayfair with a smirk.
"What? Are you going to keep an eye on me for our Moonshadow? Or are you planning to change your identity and just take over?"
Mayfair was immediately embarrassed by Marco's words. She turned her body, her face flushed, and her golden hair bobbed in the water, mirroring her inner turmoil.
Seeing her shyness, Marco's playful side emerged. He swam gently behind Mayfair. She, consumed by her embarrassment, didn't notice his approach. Marco suddenly patted her shoulder, startling her, and she quickly turned her head.
Taking the opportunity, Marco moved closer to her face, gazing into her golden eyes. He used the soul link to say, word for word, "Have I ever told you that you're adorable when you're shy?"
This further flustered Mayfair. She swam rapidly towards Moonshadow, darting behind her, attempting to use Moonshadow to block Marco's "assault."
Just as Marco was about to tease her again, he sensed a strange energy fluctuation emanating from the palace ruins. He immediately beckoned Nymph over, pointed in that direction, and asked,
"Is there anything else in there?"
Nymph swam over, looking at the direction Marco indicated and said, somewhat puzzled,
"I don't know. It seems like there are some stones in there, very strange stones, covered in strange little fish."
Listening to Nymph's description, Marco seemed to understand what she was talking about. If he wasn't mistaken, the things she was describing were likely the writings or some form of recording medium left behind by the Deep Ones.
When the merfolk were created, they seemed to have only been granted the consciousness of survival and obedience. Some of the traits that a race should have seemed to have been stripped away by their creators. This was also why they had remained in a primitive state for so many years.
In fact, all along the way, Marco had been communicating with Nymph, trying to uncover the secrets of her tribe and herself. However, as his investigation deepened, Marco discovered that Nymph's tribe had always been in a primitive state.
Especially after the disappearance of the Deep Ones, they had lived in a daze, until the Lady of the Waves descended upon this mermaid tribe.
They were more fortunate than the Children of the Forest, because they did not experience war with humans, nor did they encounter the Long Night, and they even had the protection of an Old God.
But, they were also the most unfortunate, because this god ultimately abandoned them, turning them into sacrifices for some powerful being.
Subsequently, Marco pointed towards the depths of the palace, beckoning the three women to swim inside. Ever since learning about the Deep Ones from Scholar Yimon, Marco had been filled with curiosity about them. He hadn't expected to encounter the ruins of this race after only a year. He could also take the opportunity to understand the Deep Ones, one of the most mysterious races in this world.
If it were the race from a certain mythology on Earth, Marco might have run away without looking back. But after communicating with Nymph using the soul link...
Marco confirmed their identities; they were a magical race from a long-ago era, unrelated to the super-race. The Children of the Forest's magical heritage had been severed. Marco hoped this time he'd find something useful.
The Deep Ones' passages were all circular, and many of the pillar structures seemed hollow. The gold and blue architectural patterns had a distinct texture. After walking for about half an hour, the group finally arrived at a large door.
This building was unlike the hall in the center, which had lost its dome. This structure was perfectly preserved, with a fishbone-like top that emitted a silver-white light, perfectly illuminating the area.
These Deep Ones' architectural lighting tools were decorations that resembled skeletons. Marco felt they might actually be the skeletons of some kind of creature.
Marco looked at this amazing sight, his heart filled with curiosity about this ancient race's past. Many mysterious civilizations had once existed in this world, but with the passage of time, many of them had disappeared without a trace.
The Ghiscari, Valyrians, and Rhoynar all had glorious civilizations on Essos, but now only ruins remained in those places.
Looking at the room, which resembled a large forest of stone tablets, Marco felt his luck was truly off the charts. He excitedly swam to a stone tablet. These tablets were all rectangular, appearing to be over 10 meters tall.
These tablets looked like jade, though it was unknown what material they were made of. After activating the "Knows All" skill, Marco could see the writing and understand the history described on them.
This is ancient history recorded by the Deep Ones. In an unknown period of the ancient era, the Deep Ones emerged from the abyssal depths of the sea, wandering into this world in a daze. Because they were born with the ability to manipulate water, they were given the name "Deep Ones" by the intelligent races of the land after they made contact.
This name gradually became accepted by the Deep Ones, eventually becoming their tribal name.
Although the Deep Ones were ugly in appearance, and their customs and language differed from those of the land-dwelling races, they were very intelligent and possessed a powerful ability to learn. They quickly became friends with many races on the land.
Back then, Essos and Westeros were connected. The dominant race on this land was a human race called the Eiling.
Marco was deeply shocked when he saw the map drawn by the Deep Ones. What kind of power could have separated Westeros from the main continent of Essos?
According to the Deep Ones' records, the Eiling, though short and dark-skinned, were born with the ability to use fire and crystal magic. They used these wondrous magical abilities to create oasis cities across this hot continent. They used fire magic to drive away beasts and poisonous insects, and crystal magic to build cities.
When their civilization reached its peak, they turned their gaze to the ocean and the sky. They believed that the place where the sun set was the closest place to the sky, so they built a "Skyreach Tower" on the continent, near the Sunset Sea.
They hoped to use it to explore the secrets of the stars. To this end, they invited many famous astrologers and scholars from the continent to the tower, providing them with the best conditions to study the mysteries of the stars.
On the northernmost edge of the continent, on a peninsula near the Trembling Sea, the Eiling employed their most powerful mages to build a structure capable of extending its walls indefinitely. They used magic to gradually drain the seawater, expelling it through the walls' gaps, and then dug deeper and deeper in the center.
After accomplishing these two incredible feats, they turned their attention to the creation of life. They first used themselves as a template, creating various human races. If they were short, they created tall humans; if they had dark skin, they created humans with skin as white as snow.
Eventually, they turned their gaze to animals: Giants, Griffins, Dragons, Crystal People, Crystal Giant Spiders, Centaurs, and more. The wildly imaginative Eiling, almost single-handedly, created a powerful nation where a hundred races flourished.
From then on, the Eiling considered themselves gods, believing they had reached the stage of moving mountains, filling seas, and creating life, just like the gods of ancient myths.
The Deep Ones also made their first contact with the Eiling during their most prosperous era. Although the Eiling considered themselves gods, they never enslaved other races because they used magic to create and obtain everything they needed.
During their interactions with the Eiling, the Deep Ones learned about construction, culture, language, and even the creation of life. Some exceptionally talented Eiling also learned the Deep Ones' water magic.
After this, the stone tablet recorded some of the continent's history from the perspective of the Deep Ones. It seemed that the continent experienced a long period of peace and prosperity after this time.
The Deep Ones recorded a great deal during this period. What Marco remembered most vividly was the Eiling's god-making and immortality projects. In the words of the Deep Ones, the Eiling were comparable to gods, but they did not possess the same immortality and imperishability.
So, from this period onward, the Eiling split into many factions. They sought different methods in various fields, hoping to achieve eternal life and immortality for their race.
After this period, Marco discovered that the Deep Ones had stopped recording their history. It was as if something had abruptly cut it off.
At this time, history had entered an unprecedented period of prosperity. The Eiling's footprints were almost all over Essos, and the Deep Ones, with their help, also spread their footprints around the main continent.
So, the unwilling Marco continued to search the stone tablets but found no further historical records. Many of the stone tablets were blank.
Then Marco gathered everyone, asking them to help find useful information. Finally, it was Mayfair who was careful. She found a stone tablet with blurred writing among a pile of broken ones.
"The stars have fallen, and the people have finally found the relics of the creator. We will return to the embrace of the Father God..."
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