Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 218 Mystery
Harvey staggered out of the shield machine's cabin and took off the filter mask on his head. His face looked pale and dehydrated due to the high temperature.

This underground cave appears to be larger than the natural cave at the North Slope Base. It is not a common circular cave, but a slightly narrow corridor space. The widest area is about 100 meters in diameter. It is surrounded by steep and cracked mountain walls, and the sound of howling wind constantly comes from the depths of the cracks.

The ground is not flat. In places with steep slopes, there are obviously man-made stone steps that extend downwards into the distance.

"Pep, based on your experience, how old are these stone steps?" Harvey himself was not an archaeological expert familiar with history, so he could only trust the experienced stonemasons in the engineering team.

Pep came forward holding a piece of illuminating magic stone, carefully identifying the traces of knife and axe carving on the stone steps, and carefully picking up the dust accumulated in the carvings to observe them carefully.

"My Lord, judging by the degree of weathering and wear, these stone steps, carved from the original site, are likely hundreds of years old, perhaps even longer... After all, the underground is protected from wind, rain, ice, and snow, and the air is very dry, so the stone can be preserved for a longer period of time."

"I agree with the engineer stonemason," Arsdalen interrupted. "The closest human town to Jackdaw Ridge—Jackdaw Town—was established only thirty years ago... Grizzly Castle, under the management of Earl Fagan's family, has a history of only eighty years. Therefore, these ancient stone steps are unlikely to be related to the humans of the southern kingdoms."

"Could it be an ancient kingdom in the south? Was there a human kingdom near Jackdaw Ridge back then?" Harvey wasn't very good at studying history. "I remember Saint Valen was founded less than a hundred years ago, right?"

Asdalen sighed. "Over a hundred years ago, the demons crossed the Divine Spine Mountains and invaded the human kingdom. At that time, there were only seven major wizard kingdoms and a few aristocratic city-states that were closely affiliated with them. It was not until the spellcasters formed an alliance with the Church that the Divine Spine Mountains were used as the boundary to divide the southern kingdoms from the northern wasteland..."

Harvey patted the Chief Advisor's shoulder. "Whether they're human or demonic, since there are traces of intelligent life here, it must mean there's a high probability of the magic core we've been searching for. Let's go and take a look."

The shield machine went back and forth several times and had already sent down a large number of bloodline warriors and defense soldiers. They acted in twos and threes and quickly explored the entire narrow cave along the edge of the mountain wall, inserting magic torches inlaid with illuminating magic stones everywhere.

When Harvey brought Asdalen and his personal guards to the crystal pillar, he couldn't help but sigh in a low voice.

Compared with the huge stone pillars in front of them, the crystal pillar cave under the castle is like the difference between a sapling and a towering tree. It takes seven or eight soldiers with outstretched arms to hug it. The tallest crystal pillar goes straight from the ground to the top, and its height even exceeds the position that can be detected by the light magic stone. It is probably at least thirty meters above, equivalent to a ten-story modern building.

Asdalen leaned close to Harvey's ear and whispered, "My Lord, have you noticed that the situation here is very similar to the crystal cave under our castle? The mountain walls are also covered with ventilation cracks, and the space inside is very dry..."

Apart from the traces of ancient human activities, other places are indeed no different.

Harvey also noticed that although these huge crystal pillars also had the common prismatic shape, their surfaces were not covered with milky white stalactites like the crystal pillars under the castle, but stood here directly in the form of crystals.

"Could it be that they weren't originally pure crystal pillars, but were mined and polished into their current form?" Harvey felt there were too many doubts. "How did the ancient people active underground get here, and what technology did they use to mine these crystal ores?"

The guards immediately arrived with a delicate iron cage and hauled out the dozens of energy-absorbing beetles they had brought. They struggled to move their legs, spinning around on the ground like headless flies. Then, they immediately determined their direction and, like ants, began to crawl toward the crystal column in front of them. Sure enough, this was also a vein of magic stone rich in magical energy!
Harvey's eyes narrowed as he saw the energy-absorbing beetles attached to the crystal pillars rapidly transform from their juvenile state to mature forms the moment their bodies and tentacles touched the surface of the crystals. They burst into brilliant fluorescence in just a few seconds, then skipped the physical characteristics of their reproductive period, quickly dimmed, and fell from the crystal pillars to the ground and died directly.

Asdalen picked up a beetle and observed it, saying in amazement, "It...they actually transformed from insect form to mineral form in just a few seconds because they absorbed enough magic energy!"

The pure magical energy contained in these magic stone crystal pillars is even more massive and richer than the high-level magic stone veins beneath the castle...

"We might have actually... stumbled upon a place that's recorded in ancient books... a legendary magic core."

That means that all the large and small magic stone veins in the Jackdaw Ridge mountain area that spans the Southern Kingdom and the Northern Wasteland may have originated from here!
A bloodline warrior guard took the shovel from the engineer, walked to the crystal column, took a deep breath, and encouraged the blood in his body to flow into his heart, immediately stimulating his awakened bloodline power - huge strength.

He swung the shovel with both hands and hit the edge of the crystal column in front of him. A loud "ding" sound echoed in the cave, and the shovel broke into two pieces. The tip flew away, leaving only a shallow mark on the edge of the crystal column.

A blood warrior who has awakened the talent of immense strength is not comparable to a strong engineer. Even he cannot knock a piece of debris off the crystal pillar. It can be seen that the hardness of these crystal pillars may have reached the hardness of diamond.

"It seems that if we want to absorb magic energy from it, we can only rely on creatures like energy-absorbing beetles and use the method of rapid conversion to obtain it..." Harvey couldn't imagine how the ancients who discovered this vein of minerals obtained magical energy. Did they also happen to raise a large number of magical beetles that feed on pure magic?

While he was thinking, he was suddenly pulled by the blood warrior beside him. Before Harvey could react, he was immediately carried on the shoulders of the warrior and rushed towards the tunnel boring machine.

"What...what...is...going on? Put...me...down!"

The guard carrying Harvey ran while answering without a breath: "My lord, the guards on alert just sent a warning from not far away. We must first transfer you to the metal cabin of the shield machine to ensure your safety. If necessary, we will also need to send you out of the underground..."

"Warning? What's going on? Put me down first, don't stuff me into the cabin!" Harvey supported the hatch of the tunnel boring machine and finally landed on the ground with both feet. At this time, a non-commissioned officer of the defense force came running from a distance, knelt on one knee in a panic and saluted Harvey.

"My Lord, a vast number of strange beetles suddenly emerged from those densely packed cracks in the mountains. The number is simply incalculable. It's like... a wave of insects, heading straight for this crystal column area!"

Harvey finally breathed a sigh of relief and glared at the reckless guards who had carried him away. "Don't panic! These beetles are harmless. Quickly protect Mr. Asdalun and retreat into the cabin. Then completely shut down the shield machine's magical power core. Otherwise, if these bugs get close, they'll suck all the liquid magical energy stored in the energy tank dry, and we'll be trapped underground!"

(End of this chapter)