Brain bloom

But this owl-like call is quite different; it's simply an animal call, no different from the chirping of birds that wake up early each morning, perching by the window or on the branches.

Sen Shi understood the animal sounds.

"Hiss... Ee..."

Once again, the voice came from below. Mori understood again: the owl was pleading with him to continue descending, and it was doing so sincerely and innocently. Whether it was a trap or not, there was only one path before Mori: continue downwards.

After walking for about half a minute, Mori saw something white—a hand.

It looked like it had been torn off, ripped from the fingertips to the base in a cruel way. Pale white, devoid of any blood. It reminded Mori of pork that had been refrigerated for months. This must be the hand Fukufu had mentioned, the hand she had touched and which had rolled away.

Kesen quickly stopped looking at the arm because something was standing on it.

A transparent owl.

It looked as if it were standing on the hands of a beast tamer, but this appearance was completely out of place in the bottomless underground world... There was no forest for it to live in, no sky for it to fly in.

The owl's distinctive eyes were staring directly at Sen Shi; she couldn't fathom the owl's origins.

Perhaps it's a kind of soul? Mori speculated. No, not a soul, but something much stranger. Because in the setting of "The Silent World," ordinary small animals lacking intelligence cannot develop a soul.

“Ee, ee”.

It suddenly flapped its wings and made a sound to express its gratitude.

"Why did you send me here?" Mori asked, taking a few steps forward.

The owl did not answer, but left and flew deeper into the distance.

It is still guiding the way, which means that there is something deeper inside.

"...Should we continue? Okay."

A newfound sense of adventure was spurring Morito's legs forward. She was beginning to realize something—perhaps the removal of the branches from her head had allowed many things within the Four Seasons' soul to awaken. Otherwise, given Morito's nature, it was unlikely she would continue to take risks.

But before following, Mori glanced at his arm one more time.

It was a right hand, covered with many strange scars, resembling peck marks and old and new scars from sharp claws. Considering the owl, it's easy to imagine that this was the severed arm of a falconer, and the owl was its companion.

Mori continued downwards, wanting to know why the falconer's corpse was found deep beneath the sea.

Soon, the seemingly endless staircase finally came to an end. An iron door appeared before Morishita. The owl's transparent body passed through it, flying inside as if returning home.

Is anyone there?

Mori asked a question towards the door, but still no one answered.

She hid far away, then unleashed a rocket spell to knock on the door—the impact caused the door to open instantly.

The absence of danger or traps was unexpected. Judging from the firelight, it didn't resemble any underground palace, nor did it have the atmosphere one would expect from a dungeon. Mori had initially thought it was a dungeon that didn't exist in the game era, but it seems the situation is completely different.

It's like an ordinary house, except it's built underground.

"A civilization that exists underwater... It really does exist; it's even a dwelling."

The room was very small, no different from a prison used for solitary confinement, and the oppressive atmosphere was nauseating.

The interior is sparsely furnished, but the most eye-catching feature is a large lid of unknown purpose placed on the ground.

Besides that, there was a bed made of straw, a specially made psychic lamp using pseudo-technical techniques, and another bed. The walls were covered with a large number of tools, all seemingly for digging; that was all.

The existence of underground dwellings is indeed quite rare.

But if that's all, why would Silvermoon City be willing to go to such lengths to take it away? With even deeper questions in her mind, Mori went inside. She first touched the lamp—its incredibly ancient texture made it seem as if it would have been reduced to ashes long ago if it weren't for a layer of solidification magic protecting the material.

If someone told her that this thing was made hundreds of years ago, Mori would believe it without a doubt.

However, according to Mori's understanding, several hundred years ago, Silvermoon City, the birthplace of pseudo-crafts, had not yet produced such a thing.

Mori lowered his breathing, his questioning gaze falling on the cover over the ground, realizing it could be moved.

At that moment, the owl perched on the bed looked at Mori. For some reason, the owl's figure had faded to the point of almost disappearing. Mori had seen a similar situation before; it was the same before Tu Mi disappeared. This was what a soul looked like when it was about to perish.

Is it because the obsession has dissipated that it's time to leave?

Was her obsession the reason she brought Mori to this place? She stared at the ground, thinking there must be more answers below.

"I'll take a look then." She was prepared for a monster to be released, and after much hesitation, she moved the large cover that was on the ground.

No monster emerged from it; it was just a tunnel. It was about three meters deep, and judging by the marks, it had been dug out little by little by hand. Three pseudo-artificial lamps hung on the wall, and they were still working.

At the bottom of the pit, a corpse lay there peacefully.

The body was male, intact but deathly pale, and missing both arms. Fortunately, the death was peaceful; some debris nearby indicated he was continuing to dig deeper. They've already gone this far, should they continue...?

Beside the corpse was a small mound of soil, on which bloomed a wondrous, pale lotus flower, illuminating the surroundings with its faint glow.

Moreover... it was a living thing, because the lotus flower was smiling at Mori.

Volume 1 #109 The Soul of Travel

Lotus's smile sent a chill down Sen Shi's spine, and before she could unleash a powerful spell to calm her nerves—it actually spoke:

"Are you here to replace his new slave?"

"...What?" Mori took a few steps back in surprise, genuinely startled.

Yes, she had clearly heard it just now; the voice came from Lotus's mouth. Moreover, it was in some kind of strange, old language, seemingly a precursor to the common language, so she could vaguely understand it.

"What exactly happened..." she murmured to herself.

“Aren’t you God’s slave? Then what are you?” Lotus asked again.

Sen swallowed his fear and saliva, then cautiously looked back into the tunnel. Under the light, the intricate patterns of the lotus petals formed the shapes of eyes and a mouth, barely managing to create a face that was rather horrifying.

[Level 10 - Companion - Ghost Lotus]

Seeing its pitiful level, Sen Shi finally felt a little relieved. He had initially thought this was some kind of special dungeon, and that it would be the final boss. However, this thing was still something he could interact with, which he didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Mori tried asking.

"Who are you? Where is this place? What are you doing?"

"And who are you? If you're not a newly arrived slave, why are you here? This is our workplace; you shouldn't be here."

"I am Mori... I am a Four Seasons Warrior!"

Mori thought that since the other party was a plant, they might get along well with the Four Seasons People, a race favored by nature, and thus, they might avoid a lot of trouble—this seemed to work, and the other party's attitude changed.

"Ah, a terrifying Four Seasons Being!"

Lotus lowered her head as if in a bow, then spoke with a respectful and fearful tone.

“I am the companion of the slave of God, waiting here for the successor to come and continue digging downwards. Please do not remove me, otherwise I will not be able to continue to fulfill my duties.”

Waiting for a successor to continue digging deeper? That's interesting. Meanwhile, Mori Toki was also pondering the term "slave of God" that the other party had mentioned.

Her eyes drifted to the side of Youlian, to the long-dead corpse.

The excavators of death needed successors, and as slaves, their living conditions were appalling. After piecing together all the clues, Mori finally clarified some things.

"Is he the so-called slave of God?"

“You’re right. But the successor hasn’t come yet, and we don’t know how much time has passed. Perhaps those people have forgotten about this place, no, more likely they’ve abandoned it.” But Youlian’s tone was dismissive. “Since the successor hasn’t come, I will continue to fulfill my duty and accompany him.”

"Companion..."

Fortunately, this guy wasn't hostile; in fact, he seemed a little afraid, giving Mori enough time to think.

This is understandable, as Mori is now level 25, and his combat power is already quite considerable. The power system in this world is not so clearly defined; apart from the insurmountable threshold of reaching the maximum level, it places more emphasis on skills and equipment.

“I live in a different era than you and don’t know anything about you. Could you tell me about it? What kind of…power? Nation? Civilization do you belong to?”

"Ah, you don't know? That's understandable. We are the 'traveling souls' who live in the free kingdom of the sea, spending our entire lives pursuing the abode of God, Eden Bank."

Eden Bank… Moritoshi found the name very familiar, as if he had only recently heard of it.

Ah, yes.

She remembered that Fufu had mentioned it to Senshi when she came to deliver the message. Dandelion and the others salvaged the treasures left behind by the Love and Peace ship and then discovered that the ghost ship was chasing a place called "Eden Bank".

Mori was deeply impressed because words like "bank" and "Eden" appeared, which were clearly not part of "The Silent World," so she was puzzled for quite a while.

If that's the case, the reason this corpse kept digging downwards before its death was to find Eden Bank.

And it is located deep underground.

Mori couldn't help but think of the young lady from the Black Cat family who had died tragically. If the so-called Eden Bank was the abode of God, why would it have scared her to death? Perhaps, this so-called God was not a benevolent deity. Thinking about these things, he suddenly felt an itch in his toes, as if he were stepping on something terrifying.

Is Eden Bank a place where God resides?

“That’s right, it’s a silent world! At least that’s how it’s recorded in our mythology. For this great ideal, we found many like-minded people on the ground who were willing to dedicate themselves to it and conduct in-depth excavations in various places, just to get closer to Eden Bank.”

Are these people God's slaves?

"That's right! Look at the Four Seasons! He was digging downwards until his death."

Youlian introduced the corpse of the God's slave beside her to Senshi in a boastful tone, as if she were bragging about her own son.

"Like many slaves of the gods, he sought the creator of mythology. That was an incomparably sacred being, and to dedicate one's life to it was worthwhile!"

Mori was very familiar with this tone. When she lived alone before her death, strange religious people would occasionally come to her door to preach. Their tone was very similar when they were promoting their faith, which was why she found it hard to feel any affection for them.

But in this world, the so-called gods shouldn't be mere figments of imagination... This faith might actually be genuine. After all, even in her own time, a ghost ship was searching for Eden Bank.

Youlian continued speaking:

"As for me, I am a companion. To make the God's slave, who wields his tools day and night to get closer to Eden Bank, less lonely, I always accompany him. Hundreds of years, thousands of years, it doesn't matter, I will always be by his side to encourage him."

"...How long has he been dead? Why hasn't his body decomposed?"

"This is God's blessing; it will not tire, will not be damaged, and will not age or get sick. Even when life ends and the soul departs by God's call, it will still not decay."

Is this really a blessing? Mori couldn't help but wonder.

But she didn't have time to dwell on such trivial details, because she had uncovered some information about underwater civilizations. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Sen Shi ignored the stinging pebbles and mud that pricked her skin, and instead focused on contemplating the meaning behind it all.

The fact that Silvermoon City is so fixated on this kind of place is enough to prove that both the Three Heroes and Lord Balzac are definitely closely related to the "Soul of Travel" of the underwater civilization. The strongest evidence is their identical pseudo-intellectual craftsmanship.

"Is that all you know?" Mori asked Yuren again.

"I have already answered your question."

Mori nodded, pondering what else she should ask. However, she noticed something else.

It was that faint owl, almost invisible, that silently flew down from above, and even with its tired, almost vanishing wings, it landed beside the corpse of the slave of the god.