In Sumeru, pretend to be a scholar!

Chapter 82 Entering the Ruins (May 20th, please subscribe)

The closer one gets to the pit's entrance, the faster the heat in the surrounding air dissipates, replaced by a cold, damp air rising from the ground, mixed with a faint smell of rust and stale dust.

The sand around the cave entrance was darker in color due to the dampness, and there were traces of condensed mucus with a dim purple glow in several places, which were obviously left behind by the mutated venomous scorpions when they went in and out.

The entrance to the pit slopes downwards, the sand recedes, revealing a rock wall covered with neat chisel marks.

That's normal. As the entrance to the site, it couldn't have been formed naturally; there must have been traces of human intervention.

Farusan glanced at the marks around her and said, "These marks are typical of human excavation."

"The most basic distinction in examining the relics in the desert is to determine whether the relics were left by the Red King civilization or not. Another point is to determine which era the relics were left from."

"We haven't seen the actual remains yet, so it's hard to determine the specific civilization. But the traces of human excavation allow us to make a rough judgment: the remains predate the era of the Elemental Energy Mechanism."

"After the emergence of the Elemental Energy Mechanism, the construction of buildings in the desert gradually moved away from being purely manual, especially the kind of excavation work that can be described as hard labor, which was often handed over to the Elemental Energy Mechanism."

As Farusan delved deeper into the subject, she explained things to Wang Yan, who listened attentively.

These are all experiences from our predecessors, knowledge rarely found in books.

As you venture deeper into the cave, the rock walls and ground begin to show signs of dampness.

Farusan crouched down, smeared some damp mud with her finger, sniffed it lightly, and then carefully examined the color: "The moisture is pure, without a noticeable salt or sulfur smell, indicating that the water quality of the vein is acceptable, and it may be connected to a deeper underground water source. This also explains why a pool of water formed outside after the ruins appeared; it's estimated that the vibrations from the ruins caused cracks in the strata, allowing the internal water pressure to find a new outlet."

"Tsk, so there are water veins in the desert after all." Wang Yan clicked his tongue lightly.

Farusan stood up and rolled her eyes at him: "There are other reasons why a desert is a desert. The water veins didn't die out from the beginning, so there is always some groundwater deep underground in the desert."

"Otherwise, how do you think these desert people have managed to survive, living in the desert for generations?"

Wang Yan smiled sheepishly: "I was just feeling a bit sentimental."

"Alright, let's continue."

Farusan didn't say much, and led Wang Yan deeper into the area, where more and more traces of arthropod activity became apparent.

"Master, why did the Sacred Remains Scorpion come here? This area is near Aru Village, where wild animals are scarce. It shouldn't be a territory that the Sacred Remains Beasts like, right?"

As they walked, Wang Yan became curious again: "Could there be some treasure in the ruins?"

"It's unlikely," Farusan shook her head. "Even if there were some treasure, it would be mostly ruined over thousands of years."

After a pause, Farusan continued, "I guess that this sacred skeleton beast probably lost a battle for territory with other sacred skeleton beasts deep in the desert, was driven out, discovered a water source here, and then occupied this place."

"As for the prey here, there may not be enough—even the sacred skeletons understand that as long as there is water, life will gradually gather around."

Wang Yan nodded thoughtfully and looked at Farusan: "Mentor, did you already know this from the beginning? Is that why you refused Fodil's help?"

Previously, Farusan said she could handle it and told Fudil to go back directly. Now it seems that she may have already guessed after the scorpion attack that the monster behind it was an injured, elderly holy scorpion.

"At first it was just some guesswork. The scorpions that attacked us were driven away by a hissing sound. Did you hear that?" Farusan asked.

Wang Yan recalled for a moment: "It seems so."

"Yes, there was a hint of weakness in that voice, I could hear it," Farusan said, then stopped in her tracks. "Alright, we're here."

Wang Yan also paused, his gaze following Farusan's figure.

A giant door embedded in the stone wall, with a frame over ten meters high, appears to be carved from a single piece of rock. The patterns on it resemble vines entwined and flowers in bloom.

"Is this the pattern of the ruins that Fodil was talking about?" Wang Yan asked hesitantly.

This looks more like a vine.

"And what about the monsters?"

Wang Yan looked around but did not find the expected Sacred Remains Poison Scorpion, nor even the mutated Poison Scorpion.

There were quite a few traces of arthropod crawling before, but they disappeared when we got to the entrance of this site.

Wang Yan looked around but couldn't see any tunnel entrance.

You should know that the Sacred Scorpion he calculated was three meters tall and nine meters long. Such a giant beast could not simply disappear; there must have been traces left behind.

"Don't bother looking anymore. This door isn't broken. It has a fixed rune array on it that can clean up any traces around it," Farusan's voice came.

Wang Yan subconsciously looked over and saw that the other person was already standing in front of the gate.

Wang Yan quickly went over.

Farusian had already put on gloves and was feeling around on the stone door.

Seeing Wang Yan approach, he pointed to a circle of patterns on the stone gate: "Look here, this circle of patterns looks like carvings, but in reality, it is a pattern formed by a large number of runes superimposed together."

"This is a common situation in desert ruins," Farusan explained. "Many people in the Church believe that deserts are barbaric and uncivilized, but this view is completely wrong."

"In fact, ancient desert civilizations may have been barbaric, but they were definitely civilized, and their level of civilization was even quite high."

"They not only have autonomous mechanisms like the Elemental Mechanism, but their use of runes and mystical rituals is also highly developed."

"For example, the technique of layering runes to create beautiful patterns as decoration is still used by the Mystic School today."

Farusan touched the patterns on the stone door again and looked at Wang Yan: "Take a look, can you recognize a few?"

Having studied under Farusan for so long, he had gained some basic knowledge.

Without needing to use any cheat codes to analyze it, Wang Yan said, "I can recognize the flowing, 'rotating,' and 'directional' wind elemental runes—and also the rock elemental runes—"

Wang Yan named about a dozen elemental runes.

Farusan listened and nodded in satisfaction: "That's pretty much it. Remember, these runes combined are called the [Quicksand Cleansing Rune], which is often used to maintain the cleanliness of buildings."

Wang Yan nodded: "Okay, mentor, I've got it."

"Well, also, although runes were widely used in ancient desert civilizations, this kind of [Quicksand Cleansing Rune] is not something everyone can afford."

Farusan continued, "During the investigation, we discovered the 'flowing sand cleaning pattern,' which is still in operation, indicating that this site must have been an important location in the past."

As she spoke, Farusan shifted her gaze from the door to her surroundings: "Those scorpions must have made this their lair. So, the ruins must have been opened. Let's look around and find any hidden mechanisms."

Her tone was very certain, indicating that she had already discovered the location of the mechanism.

"Okay, mentor."

Wang Yan knew that this was Farusan testing him, so he responded and began searching carefully.