Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

Not only are there craters, but they are also craters that are basically formed entirely of ice. It is really shocking and difficult to understand the cause of this terrain. Countless light blue and translucent crystals have become fragmented under some huge impact force. Even after a hundred years, the cracks cannot be healed under the influence of wind and snow, and can only be piled up into a pit-like structure. If you look at it from a distance, it seems that you will have an illusion that they are just small rings scattered on the ground. Only when you really get close, you will be shocked by the size of these strange ice craters.

The long years have not been able to successfully erase their existence, and wind erosion and blizzards have only made their edges slightly blurred, covering the center of the pit of each crater with a little pure white cover, but other than that, they have no meaning. Not only that, the ice blocks that make up the craters, under the reflection of the weak light, refracted a strange rainbow-colored brilliance, layer upon layer, one after another, and finally projected into a twisted seven-color ribbon in the air.

"Aurora, huh?"

"Luna-sama has also heard of the Aurora."

"I can't remember who mentioned it to me, who it was... well, it doesn't matter anyway."

"But this shouldn't be considered an aurora?"

"Strip off the poetic shell, such as the rainbow stars blooming on the ground, or the remnants of human will, and what remains is nothing more than a layer of ice that has been polluted by violent magic and has lost its connection with its original form. It only looks the same as the aurora, but it is not essentially the same. This machine judges."

“What a surprise.”

"Really? This machine also succeeded in surprising Luna."

"No, it's just that, generally speaking, it's Ash who makes ordinary things poetic, but just now...?"

"For this machine, the reverse is also very simple. If it can give meaning to meaningless things, then it can also naturally remove the non-existent meaning from seemingly meaningful things."

"As Ashtherin said, the magic situation here is terrible."

It was impossible to tell what Ella did. In the eyes of others, she just closed her eyes, gently stretched out her hand, and after a while she came to this conclusion.

"How strange... Is this really the environment that should be there six hundred years after the war? The usage of the magic network seems to be only one step away from the critical value. If six hundred years have really passed, it should have recovered to this level. Moreover, this violent magic power is also... Ashetherin, why are you staring at me?"

"Luna is staring at you too?"

"Don't answer questions with questions. I only asked you. As for Lady Luna, she can watch as long as she likes. I have no objection."

"Eh? No no, I didn't think that way!"

"After all, Ella is the only one who can understand the magicians' affairs here, so the conclusions Ella draws are naturally the same as those drawn by this machine and Luna. In this case, everything is up to you, Little Moon?"

"Can't you use the Dragon Crystal Terminal yourself?"

"This machine just has similar capabilities, it does not mean it has any relevant knowledge."

"...Okay, that's right, you're just a confused guy who can't even figure out your own affairs."

"Just like the new moon that rises with the setting sun, this machine and you will have a lot in common."

"..."

"Well, let's not quarrel over this kind of thing. Anyway, I'm begging you, Ella?"

"Luna-sama, even if you don't ask me..."

There is more than one huge ice crater.

If you climb to the edge of one of them, crush the ice on the protrusions, fix your body on the mountain wall, and look into the distance, you can easily figure out your situation: countless craters are densely packed within your field of vision, almost next to each other, or there are relatively small ones nested in large craters, or a large crater has its borders eaten away by several small craters, forming a strange structure whose shape is difficult to distinguish.

They may be different in size, but it's easy to see why they're just as difficult to climb over.

Such a structure would easily give people the illusion that they were not in the land of Lilymoor, but in the "Black Sea" on the back of the moon. Rather, craters were rare on this planet, and the traces of meteorite collisions in the ancient times had long been swallowed up by the lava flowing from volcanic eruptions, and covered by silted soil or solidified basalt. Only experienced geologists could find their traces from the bottom. This was different from this planet - according to the ancients, or the fifth calendar astronomers, the satellite of this planet, the existence called the moon, had craters on its back that could not be directly observed, which were caused by meteorite impacts - in this way, it was easy for people to associate the two and infer some interesting conclusions.

"Are all these caused by the 'meteor explosion'...?"

"And it's not just any 'meteor burst'."

"Meteor Explosion", the most advanced lethal spell, is a notorious Shaping Magic that summons evil stars to fall from the sky and directly destroys the enemy with great power. The surging and shattered magic power here, the magic net that has been used to the limit, and the craters that are extremely close to the traces of meteorite impact. Since these are unlikely to be the traces of real meteorite impact, many pieces of evidence point to this spell as the cause of this strange landform.

However, a meteor explosion certainly cannot produce such a "spectacular" effect. The remains of the battlefield and the traces in front of us can easily make people have similar associations.

"Not ordinary? Isn't a meteor explosion just a meteor explosion?"

"Look there, Luna."

Ella seemed unhappy about being overshadowed, but Ashlee never cared about such things. She just stretched out her hand, perhaps in the direction of the west, and Lunicia naturally looked in the direction of Heitie's fingertips.

Her eyesight was not bad, but she was distracted by the many ice craters that filled her field of vision. She was busy admiring the brilliant aurora-like colors, so she did not notice "that" at the first sight.

"That is……"

"A crater. Probably."

"Crater? Can you really say that?"

“Although I don’t quite agree with Ashetherin’s opinion, I don’t have any better suggestions. Besides, the feeling there is not much different from the craters we are climbing now.”

"So, it is indeed the same thing?"

"Yes, it is like that."

It's full of surprises, but that's the truth.

The towering ice wall stood tall, shining with rainbow-colored light under the reflection of the invisible light. The sharp edge was not so much a creation of the shock wave as it was a strangely shaped cliff. It was a blue tower embedded in the ice land, an ancient sword inserted in an obsidian pile, without a guard or a hilt, only a sharp and broken blue blade. What was its height - hundreds of meters, kilometers, or tens of kilometers? Estimating its height seemed meaningless. Just looking at the ice wall that went straight into the sky, I felt dizzy from the depths of my brain. Unlike a crater, it was a huge structure surrounded by several such "ice swords", as if a whole piece of land was smashed from the center, and then the aftermath lifted up the fragments of the land. The unsinkable fragments stood, and finally became the terrifying image today.

"But how does one maintain balance in that posture?"

"From here, we should be able to see the center through the gap. Luna's eyesight shouldn't be a problem. Just try to look far away and you'll be able to see it clearly. Don't worry, it won't become blurry because it's too far away. It's still within the visible range."

"What are you talking about? Let me see--"

Just as Ashetherin said, it was easy to look beyond the gaps between the huge fragments and into the core area covered by layers of cliffs.

For ordinary craters, that is the origin of the fall of the evil star, and it seems to be the same for this strange landform.

That was not the "meteorite" that Lunisia knew.

It was something weirder, more exotic, and more puzzling.

The regular prism of the octahedron does not have the rough surface that a meteorite should have. No, no, that is not accurate. It should be said that Lunicia is simply unable to confirm the appearance of "that thing" by sight. All Lunicia can see is a void of darkness, as if it is not some concrete thing, but a solid void dug out from the world. The extreme darkness beyond common sense absorbs and devours all light and produces colors. That is the true appearance of the so-called "fallen star".

"what is that……?"

"Don't let Lady Luna look at something that contains cognitive hazards, you bastard."

"It's just different from common sense, and has a somewhat subversive effect. It's a bit of an exaggeration to describe it as a cognitive hazard."

"Please don't use your standards to deal with others casually, okay? Anyway, Lady Luna, that was probably some kind of magical creation with mass anomaly effects, and some unknown great magician used that thing as a medium to release the 'Meteor Explosion', and it ended up like this."

"Why does it look black?"

"This machine can answer that. The mass anomaly doesn't necessarily spread to the surroundings, but at least that thing does absorb light, and it probably absorbs vision as well, so if you observe it with your eyes, all you can see is the black surface."

"It's similar to the legendary 'supercritical mass object' or something like that. I didn't expect anyone would actually try to create such a thing."

With the black pyramid that pierces the icy ground like a spike as the center, circles of broken blue fragments, large and small but regardless of mass, are suspended, interweaving into floating spirals that are entangled around them, like some kind of stairs that tempt travelers to climb upwards, as if as long as they climb the spiral stairs that lead directly to the sky and to the boundless miasma, they will be able to reach the "paradise" filled with meaningless beauty.

"Gravity anomaly..."

The radical spell seemed to destroy not only the enemies it was aimed at, but also the "reality" of this place. The known laws were becoming invalid, and were replaced by something else that seemed to be true.

"That's right, but it's not just that biggest 'trace'. Similar gravity anomalies can also be found in other craters."

Ashethelin has no knowledge of magic, but instead, her ability to detect "other parameters" is far stronger than Ella and Lunicia.

Just like those ice crystals intertwined into spirals and frozen in mid-air, disorder and lack of regularity are the marks of war engraved on this series of ice craters.

"Add to that the disorder of magic..."

"That's it, Luna. We can only move forward on foot."

"Eh--?!"

It is said that footprints make travel more valuable.

At least for the person involved, it is a very useful psychological comfort.

Because of this, no, even if there was no such unknown reason, Lunicia and her group had no choice but to embark on an arduous hike today.

Chapter 13 New Destination

One thing must be emphasized.

Although neither Lunicia, Ella nor Ashethelin said it, in fact, they did not think that they could walk back from the Northern Continent alone.

In fact, unlike the South Pole, there is no continental shelf called the Cold Plateau connecting the End North and the Lost World. As long as one can endure... or to be more precise, endure the extreme climate and some other problems there, one can travel smoothly between the two continents via land.

As for how to reach other areas from the Lost World, that is another question. From the Cold Plateau exit to Arkham, what kind of journey is that? It's really exciting, right?

On the other hand, there is no direct road to the south from the North Continent, so it is impossible to reach there directly by land. Between the glaciers of the North Continent and the coast of the Mu Continent is the Hyperborean Strait, and no one would want to paddle across the strait in this environment and season.

As for shipbuilding, although there were three people present, they might be able to come up with a set of shipbuilding technology if they thought about it, but not to mention the material problem, it was hard to say whether the small raft made by three people could really be much better than a bathtub. As for the ironclad ship that could withstand the erosion of glaciers and poisonous seas, it was impossible for these three people to build such a thing, and it was unlikely that Hyperborean would have the relevant facilities to support them in building it.

"So, how do Hyperborean wizards cross the strait? Teleportation?"

"If we rely on ourselves, there aren't that many wizards who have the ability to cross the strait in one go."

"Is that so? Then does Ella know how wizards usually go out?"

The Kingdom of Hyperborean pursues a closed-door policy, but this does not mean that Hyperborean is completely isolated from the outside world. The situation inside the Kingdom of Hyperborean is still unknown, but Hyperborean wizards often appear in the outside world, conduct some strange exchanges, or conquer the local population, enslave them and build wizard towers. In either case, it is generally to pave the way for their research. It seems that Zhongbei is not enough to meet all the needs of these wizards, so they naturally turn their attention to the outside world.

Not all wizards have the ability to instantly reach the other side of the world from the Far North Inland, so the method of travel is very important.

"It's very rare to fly directly across the strait, and it's even less likely to take a boat."

"Why, is it inconvenient?"

There is indeed no dock on the coastline, but it seems inconvenient to build a dock next to the glacier? However, if it is a wizard, even if the distance of teleportation is not enough, it should be possible to fly directly across the strait - Lunicia thought so, but judging from Ella's subtle expression, could it be that this is not the case?

"Maybe it's because it's embarrassing."

"Ok?"

"This machine thought so too. Did it guess right?"

"That's probably not the case!"

"You're changing your tune now?"

"Anyway, even if we fly, we can only fly directly to the other side. The Kingdom of Hyperborea was probably not treated as a normal country by most countries in the world at that time. There was basically no diplomacy. If we use the normal method, the citizens of Hyperborea...that is, the wizards...will inevitably encounter various inconveniences when traveling to other countries."

"So we can't fly to the port country first and then transfer in other ways like we do now."

"This machine does not have any citizen rights, nor will it be treated as a human being, but no matter where it goes -"

"You are a special case, right?!"

"Really? It shouldn't be more special than the wizard of the End North?"

"That's totally different, right?!... Never mind. Anyway, that should be the case."

"Should I say that Ella herself doesn't know either?"

"Lady Luna, I am not a citizen of Hyperboree."

"So don't add 'sir'. That's right, so how do you know all this now?"

"It's based on the situation. But it shouldn't be completely inconsistent."

This is normal, after all, the Kingdom of Hyperborean has been destroyed for hundreds of years. Although in this case, Ella claimed to be a Hyperborean wizard, this matter would become subtle, and people could not help but think...

Where did her abilities and insights come from?

"So, how on earth did they manage to travel so far? Under these circumstances?"

In the end, the topic came back.

"One possibility is a fixed transmission device..."

Using the principle of teleportation as the cornerstone, by setting up fixed nodes in the world, at the expense of convenience and greatly increasing costs, a longer transmission distance can be achieved - this technology is not a secret, and documents about this technology, including the principles of its manufacture and how to use it, can be found in any library that is slightly equipped. It is said that in the past, a long, long time ago, people in this world also built many such devices, and similar ones, such as the small short-distance teleportation array installed in the city of Muland, are a simplified application of this technology.

However, long-distance teleportation arrays, like its similar products, interdimensional travel, have now become something that cannot be reproduced and only exist in theories and legends. Those long-distance teleportation nodes that have been built and look like relics are now only used as memorials or decorations, and have no practical significance. This contrast has even spawned many conspiracy theories, and the real reason is very simple.

The flow of magic, time, and space throughout the world has undergone almost permanent changes. In the face of huge changes and constant chaos, ancient technology is unable to cope, and a few calibrations are meaningless. Only short-distance transmissions, which are less affected, can be retained, and even so, their costs are increasing.

Except for some special methods, no one can teleport over ultra-long distances, at least according to the theory.

"Hmm? But I remember..."

Lunisia tried hard to recall the knowledge in her memory. She had not systematically studied these contents. After all, she was not a mage, let alone a mage who specialized in teleportation. Naturally, it was impossible for her to delve into such contents that had nothing to do with her for almost her entire life. However, in her memory, she might have raised questions about this when she was young, and fortunately, her teacher was willing to answer them.

"That kind of device would take a lot of effort to build, right? Where would the wizards of the End of the North build the exit for something like this?"

"Inside my own mage tower."

"You know this, Ella."

"Only reluctantly, Lady Luna. Most wizards would not be granted permission to use other nations' lands, and those who are able to encroach on outside lands and build their own wizard towers have the power of convenience, which allows them to create teleportation devices specifically for their own use."

"In other words, we will be teleported to a certain wizard's tower?"

"Hmm... maybe it's like this..."