Chapter 182 Clues from an Ancient Spirit

Lolisa obviously knew a lot of things, and Hao Ren had already heard countless clues and doubts from her words, but the mental state of this "Elven Queen" was obviously not suitable for a long conversation, especially after knowing the truth about the passing of ten thousand years. Her spirit was greatly affected, and the mental state and soul structure that had finally stabilized showed signs of confusion again—Hao Ren had to interrupt the conversation early so that this "ancient elf" who was caught in a state of space-time confusion could rest.

While Lolisa was resting, he led his men back to the central laboratory, trying to find the "energy source" that should theoretically exist. In any case, he didn't think that something that carried the power of a goddess would disappear so easily: after all, even the rebellious runes on the walls of the laboratory were still intact, so the container of the true god's power couldn't be inferior to that, right?

A group of people searched for a long time without any results. Lily, who was impatient, was the first to shout, "Landlord! Could it be that the energy source you mentioned doesn't exist at all—we've been searching for so long, and that thing is just your speculation..."

"It's indeed just my speculation," Hao Ren raised his eyebrows, "but it's completely logical, isn't it? The ancient magic emperors wanted to infuse the power of the gods into mortal cells, so the first step must be to have 'divine power,' and if there wasn't such an energy source, the state of time stagnation in this ruin couldn't be explained."

"Most importantly, those runes," Vivian raised her head from a pile of twisted metal fragments, a few small bats flying around her to help. The tiny bat claws were holding a few pieces of metal fragments. "Although the runes on the wall can be used to enhance protection, their most important function is to resist the divine power of the Goddess of Creation. Since the central laboratory is full of such runes, it means that this laboratory stored a divine power source."

"Okay, okay, you guys make sense." Lily raised the Huozhi Feichang Gaoxing (Extremely Happy Fire) and waved it, muttering to herself. Then she bent down and continued digging, but just as she plunged her claws into the metal ruins again, an unusual collision came from the tip of her blade, causing her to freeze.

"Landlord! Landlord!" The husky girl immediately shouted, "I dug it up, I dug something up!"

Hao Ren was startled by the dog girl's movement. After understanding, he exchanged glances with Vivian: digging things up is indeed fast for a dog!

The "treasure" buried under the ruins was quickly dug out. The husky girl placed it on the ground, and then squatted next to it with a guarded expression, like she was watching over a bone. The nearby knights wanted to come over to see what it was, but they were scared back by her low growls. Only Hao Ren, Vivian, and Becky were allowed to approach and watch.

Hao Ren took a look and was stunned: because he was familiar with this thing, he had seen one before!

It was an irregularly shaped "stone slab" made of a material between metal and stone, with a hazy light floating on it. Its surface was engraved with various mysterious runes. The runes seemed to have no connection to each other, and mortals would feel dizzy just by looking at them, but the translation plug-in could still interpret some messy, seemingly meaningless fragments from them. The moment he saw this thing, Hao Ren knew why Lily was firmly guarding the "treasure" and not letting anyone approach. It wasn't the dog girl's instinct taking over to guard her home and food, but to prevent the ordinary people present from accidentally seeing the symbols on the stone slab.

Veritable Tablet, a record of the words left by the Goddess of Creation.

This kind of stone slab was more dangerous than ordinary "divine objects" because it was not only touched by a god and possessed divinity, but also directly carried the powerful will of the god. These wills were even enough to distort the surrounding reality, causing those who approached it to be directly impacted by divine power. However, the "strength" of this stone slab was obviously not as strong as the Veritable Tablet that Hao Ren found in the Asuman spaceship in Korol. It did not radiate much divine power, and Hao Ren had not been able to sense its existence through the perception of a demigod. However, the divine power runes that seemed to be constantly moving on it could prove that this thing was indeed a Veritable Tablet.

It seemed that this kind of stone slab also had different functions and energy levels. The Asuman stone slab was used to suppress Rockmarton, so it had extremely strong attack and radiation capabilities, while the one in front of him was probably left for mortals to use. Its lethality was greatly weakened, and mortals who had been trained or were naturally gifted could probably come into contact with it safely—but the ordinary knights and mage apprentices around him were obviously not among them.

"Ugh... what is this thing... it's making me dizzy..."

Becky took a look and muttered, covering her eyes—she did have some resistance to these words condensed from divine power. After all, she was one of the people who ate and drank at Hao Ren's house, but her level of eating and drinking was obviously not enough, so she couldn't help but feel dizzy when she barely read the divine text. But this was at least much better than ordinary people: if it were the knights around, they would probably faint on the spot just by looking at it.

"This is divine text, and it's divine text with 'meaning.' Don't read it rashly." Hao Ren said to Becky, then bent down and slowly reached out to the Veritable Tablet.

Messy and broken fragments flashed quickly through his mind, but after the fragments disappeared, he didn't find any meaningful information from them.

"Landlord, landlord, what's written on it?" Lily asked curiously, leaning over.

"I'm afraid the 'oracle' in here has been extracted by the magic emperors to create the original cells of the demon hunters," Hao Ren shook his head and stood up. "Now this thing is just an empty shell with the attributes of a divine artifact. But it can also be confirmed that the time stagnation in the ruins is indeed because of this stone slab: I can observe it distorting the surrounding space-time, although this distortion has subsided, the incoordination left after the change in the flow of time is still there."

"So the magic emperors really started creating demon hunters after receiving the oracle from the Goddess of Creation?" Lily scratched her hair. "Then did they follow the Goddess of Creation or the Godslayer?"

Vivian looked around—on the walls of the hall not far away, those blasphemous runes were still shining.

The oracle of the Goddess of Creation and the runes of the Godslaying race appeared in the same place, and were even part of the same plan. This incredible situation was absolutely unimaginable before today.

"Don't forget what Lolisa said before," Hao Ren glanced at Vivian and Lily. "She said the oracle was fake."

"This Veritable Tablet is fake?" Lily pointed at the "treasure" she dug out in disbelief.

"No, the Veritable Tablet is real, but the information recorded in it may not be true. Even if the information recorded in it is true, the process of interpreting it may be fake," Hao Ren shook his head. "After all, mortals can't directly read this thing. Using the Veritable Tablet to transmit oracles, there are too many links in the middle that can go wrong."

Vivian sighed: "Actually, what I can't figure out the most is why the Goddess of Creation would use such a Veritable Tablet to transmit 'oracles.' This is obviously a 'letter' that is only used between gods and demigods, and it's not suitable for mortal society at all. According to the doctrines of the Goddess's religion and their previous experience, that goddess can directly communicate with her believers through mental dialogue. She can use a clearer and more explicit method to convey oracles, so this stone slab itself is a suspicious point."

Lily blinked: "Didn't you say that there needs to be a 'carrier' to transmit divine power? So you use a tangible Veritable Tablet."

Vivian gave the husky spirit a faint look: "When you send a package, can't you write the message separately from the item? Do you have to engrave the words on the thing?"

Hao Ren felt that Vivian's explanation was simply earth-shattering, and the husky girl was immediately stunned and speechless.

"That 'Elven Queen' should know the inside story," Hao Ren put the "Veritable Tablet" into his portable space, and finally glanced around the central laboratory: this time, he felt that there should be nothing missing here. "We can study this matter carefully after we go back."

When he returned to the royal capital again, Hao Ren's team had one more person: Lolisa, the magic emperor from ten thousand years ago.

Because there were some things to discuss on the way, the group did not return directly to the city using space teleportation, but first teleported to the outside of the city, and then boarded the carriage sent by Marshal Ofra to greet them. Lolisa rode with Hao Ren and his party.

Their discovery in the Dark Mountains had been compiled into a report and sent to the royal capital through the Royal Mages Association's messaging technique at the first possible moment. Marshal Ofra and King Moron were both very interested in the secrets buried in the ruins and were shocked by the "appearance" of an ancient magic emperor, so Hao Ren was prepared to take Lolisa to meet them.

After a period of rest, the "Elven Queen" looked much better, but a trace of fatigue still remained between her eyebrows. When the carriage passed through the city gate, she looked out through the gap in the carriage window. The towering city walls of Holletta were reflected in her eyes, causing a momentary hesitation and confusion to appear on the face of this ancient elf.

On the way, she had this expression more than once, when she left the ruins and saw the Dark Mountains that had completely returned to barbarism, when she climbed to the top of the mountain and saw the former prosperous capital turned into fertile fields, and now, when she saw this city built of stones.

In the end, all the emotions converged into one sentence, and she sighed softly: "Ten thousand years..."

Hao Ren just quietly looked at this "magic emperor" who looked too young. After a long time, he suddenly opened his mouth: "Are you really Lolisa? That Elven Queen Lolisa?"