Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 827

Although the George Ring was discovered long ago, due to its harsh geographical conditions and extreme climate, few scientists have ventured deep into the George Ring to explore its interior. They have only found a few oases on the periphery to investigate the ecology there. However, according to recently released satellite images, they have discovered that there is an even larger oasis in the central area of ​​the George Ring, covering nearly 2,000 square kilometers.

This is almost the size of a small island at sea, except that this "island" is isolated by an endless desert.

Although no one has ever reached that oasis, almost all researchers speculate that it may contain a very unique ecosystem.

Because of the unique geographical features of this unexplored oasis in the center of the George Ring, which has been isolated from the outside world for a long time, it may have nurtured many unknown species and ecological balances, which makes the entire expedition team feel extremely excited and expectant.

After they finished packing, they set off immediately. Because of the entanglement with Tiera, they had already wasted a lot of time, so they had to hurry and take advantage of the early morning when the sandstorm was less intense to walk across an extremely rugged passage located at the bottom of the ring mountain.

This passage was carved out by the Australian Aboriginal people who used to live in the nearby area.

The original name of the George Ring was "Pasabiondini," which means "cradle of the goddess of night" in the Australian Aboriginal language. In the hearts of Australian Aboriginal people, it is a sacred mountain and the birthplace of all Australian Aboriginal gods.

The passageway they are now walking on is called "Dini Rodriguez," meaning "the passageway of the goddess."

Legend has it that all the Australian Aboriginal gods came into the world through this passageway, and will eventually return to the cradle of the goddess of night through this passageway as well.

In the past, when the native Australians worshipped this mountain, they only needed to tie offerings to a living sacrifice and then let the sacrifice walk into the deep, dark passageway.
The offerings and sacrificial rites that entered the passageway would vanish without a trace.

So when the Anza colonists first set foot there in the 1780s, they were filled with curiosity and greed for the region, especially for the culture and legends of the local indigenous people.

They had heard the legends about the "Dini Rodriguez" passageway, and the eerie and mysterious descriptions greatly intrigued them.

They hoped to uncover the secrets of the passageway. Of course, even more so, they hoped to find the legendary lost offerings—

According to the local indigenous people, their ancient ancestors would hammer a soft, yellow metal into ornaments and hang them on the bodies of the worshippers as a sign of respect for the gods.

In 1791, an expedition of Anssa colonists was dispatched to the George Ring to explore the Dinello Rodrigo Passage.

The expedition consisted of experienced explorers, local indigenous guides, and nobles of the time.

They carried sufficient supplies and equipment, prepared for a lengthy exploration of this mysterious passageway in order to find the soft, yellowish metal that had been sent there as tribute.

It was considered gold by the colonists at the time.

Driven by a fervent passion for gold, this small expedition of colonists resolutely ventured into the "Passage of the Goddess," intending to search for the gold accumulated by the local indigenous people over the past hundreds, even thousands of years within the passage, and then—

No one ever saw that archaeological team again. For nearly a century afterward, this "Goddess's Passage" was considered a forbidden zone for explorers, and no expedition team ever emerged from it.

It wasn't until 1957 that a British explorer named George Brady, with the help of modern equipment, spent a week finally traversing the infamous "Passage of the Goddess."

George Brady's expedition became the first and only record in modern history of a complete exploration and thorough passage through the Dinne Rodrigo Passage into the interior of the crater and a successful return.

Therefore, the crater was named "George Crater" after George Brady.

According to George Brady and subsequent explorers and science journalists, the so-called "Passage of the Goddess" is not a passageway leading directly to the inner ring of the crater as people imagine, but rather a series of caves scattered throughout the entire mountain.

These caves are interconnected, like a spider web or tree roots, spreading throughout the George Crater.

The cave system here exhibits an incredible complexity.

As Brady and subsequent explorers ventured deeper, they discovered that these caves not only numbered in the thousands, but were also incredibly complex and interconnected.

Each cave is like an independent labyrinth, full of dangers and naturally formed obstacles, such as narrow passages, steep descents, slippery stone slabs, and dripping water droplets, making exploration extremely difficult and dangerous.

Explorers often had to climb, crawl, or even swim through half-submerged sections to move forward.

Some areas have deep pools formed by long-term water accumulation, so cold that it is almost impossible for people to stay there for long.

In addition, the air inside the cave is thin in some enclosed areas, making breathing difficult. At the same time, the lack of light increases the uncertainty and danger of the expedition.

Fortunately, with the help of modern technology, in 1973, the Joint Geological Survey, a consortium of the Australian National Geological Survey, RMIT University, and the University of Sydney used explosives to blast a passage directly from the outside of the crater to its interior.

The journey, which originally took about four days, was shortened to three hours.

This newly opened access has enabled scientists to rapidly advance their research and exploration of the George Crater.

In 1975, after the new tunnel was blasted open, the first scientific expedition led by the Australian National Ecological Research Organization successfully reached three small oases on the edge of the George Ring Range and conducted a month-long ecological and biodiversity survey there.

To the scientists' surprise, this oasis not only boasts a diverse range of species, but also many previously unrecorded ones. Its biodiversity is unexpectedly rich, encompassing a variety of unique plants and insects, as well as several small mammals, all adapted to a highly specialized ecological environment.

Furthermore, geological and hydrological studies within the oasis have revealed an independent water cycle system that has clearly undergone thousands, even tens of thousands, of years of isolated development, forming a natural ecosystem almost completely isolated from the outside world. This unique environment also provides invaluable data for studying climate change in other distant periods on Earth.

Following this groundbreaking discovery, international scientific community attention to the George Crater has increased dramatically. For several years in a row, scientific teams from around the world have flocked to the crater, bringing advanced equipment and technologies to conduct research in various fields, from geological structure analysis to DNA sequencing.