To Know My Secrets, First Bear My Sins

"What's this?"

"A stone seat?"

When Ian and King entered the hall, they saw the stone seat placed in the center.

Both of them wore strange expressions.

Jin's brows furrowed slightly, his expression becoming somewhat grave.

Clearly... this thing wasn't placed here for no reason...

"Strange, this chair doesn't look very big. It seems your guess might be right, Jin. The people who lived here were probably ancient humans..."

Ian glanced in surprise at the stone pedestal in front of him, which looked like ordinary marble that had been roughly carved and placed there, and said casually.

He had no doubt that humans had once lived here.

After all... it's easy to understand. With something as magical as "Nen Ability," it's not that anything is possible, but in this world, it's not surprising that all sorts of strange things happen.

Putting everything else aside...

Sashado was buried for nearly a thousand years, and now he's supposedly been resurrected...

Who can I complain to about this?

Which human being today could do such a thing?

Perhaps only those extraordinary individuals who have vanished into the annals of ancient history could have accomplished this.

Therefore, it doesn't matter whether it's the sincerity of the Ruins before us or the "Wormhole" technology that created the transfer here.

Ian said he could understand.

He didn't rush forward, but followed Jin, circling the stone seat and carefully observing the surrounding layout.

"Jin, do you think this Ruins civilization might have left all its knowledge in that seat, so that whoever sits on it can inherit it?"

After hesitating for a moment, Ian finally spoke his mind and guessed what was on his mind.

Jin stared at him, seemingly surprised that the other person could have such an "outrageous" idea, and shook his head vigorously.

"How could such a good thing happen? Ian, don't even think about it..."

"You know too little about Ancient Ruins. If you visited a few Ruins with me, you would discover..."

At this point, Jin's eyes turned slightly cold, and he said seriously.

"The ancient civilizations left behind almost nothing but traps and destruction for posterity..."

"They did not want future generations or other civilizations to interfere in their history..."

Hearing his words, Ian sighed.

Really.

It seems I underestimated the situation...

Being too lucky makes me subconsciously think that good fortune will happen when I look at many things, but upon closer reflection, such thinking is quite dangerous.

If you place too much faith in luck, you're more likely to suffer the consequences of fate...

I followed Jinzai and circled around carefully several times.

Ian felt he had almost memorized everything in the Stone Hall, and he couldn't help but speak up.

"Should I find something and put it on that stone seat to see what happens?"

Jin hesitated slightly, thought for a moment, and then spoke.

"I think I know what that is..."

Upon hearing this, Ian immediately showed a curious expression and quickly asked.

"Jin, do you know what that is?"

A flicker of recollection crossed Jin's eyes, and then he slowly began to speak.

"Among the historical evidence discovered so far, there is actually no concrete evidence of the existence of Tutantlu Ruins. After all, it is too far removed from the past. If... if I'm not mistaken, perhaps this place we are in is indeed the original Ruins of Tutantlu."

"And as far as I can recall, there were fragmentary mentions of this civilization's existence in the historical Ruins of other civilizations..."

"That passage goes something like this..."

"The Lord of Tutantlu roams freely in the ashes, his endless light bathing and scorching all things. The Seat of Termination judges all, and when the shadow of the apocalypse returns once more, Tutantlu will surely return anew amidst the raging flames."

Hearing Kim's detailed explanation, Ian looked at him strangely, scratched his head, and glanced at the stone seat on the central platform.

Well... aside from its somewhat unusual placement, it's just an ordinary-looking stone pedestal...

He hesitated for a moment, then, seeing Jin's serious expression, he couldn't help but speak.

"So... Jin, you think this is the... Seat of Termination you mentioned?"

Jin nodded seriously.

Ian pointed to the stone seat and frowned.

"The Seat of Termination... that sounds ominous. Do you think it means that whoever sits on it will have the magical power to end others at will?"

Upon hearing his words, Jin was taken aback and quickly shook his head.

"How is this possible!"

"How is that impossible?"

Ian countered.

"But it can't be that whoever sits in this seat will be killed. If it's that unfortunate, then what was the purpose of creating this seat? Was it just to create a torture device that's even more convenient for killing than the 'electric chair'?"

"Forehead..."

Upon hearing Ian's words, King was speechless.

After all, what the other party said wasn't entirely unreasonable.

"So, I think the probability that this thing is a bad thing is relatively small."

"That ancient civilization couldn't be so ignorant. They painstakingly created all this, left all this behind, and all they left behind was a torture device to kill everything. Isn't that making a mountain out of a molehill?"

As he spoke, Ian started to walk upstairs, and when Kim saw this, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Hey, Ian, are you really just going to sit on it like that?"

Despite knowing about the [Disaster-Repelling Sticker], Kim was still terrified by Ian's impulsive actions.

Of course, it wasn't just for Ian.

After all... if something happens to Ian here, he'll be gone too...

In this remote and desolate corner of the Dark Continent, without Ian's [Anywhere Door], he could never go back in this lifetime.

"I'm not planning to sit on it, I just came up to take a look. You should come and take a look too, there seem to be writing carved into the ground..."

After going up a few floors, Ian stood there, looking down at the ground.

Seeing this, Jin became curious and jumped up.

For some reason, even though there should have been no one here long ago, the ground was still very clean.

They couldn't understand the characters engraved on the ground.

However, Ian quickly pulled out two [Translation Konjacs ], and after the two ate them, they understood what was written inside.

"Tutantlu does not worship gods, does not honor kings, and does not kneel before the Lord; he only offers a 'seat'."

The two exchanged a glance.

"Seat?"

"Could it be referring to the stone base above? This civilization is truly strange. Could it be that the stone base possesses intelligence?"

Ian was somewhat puzzled and spoke in a low voice.

The two climbed the steps again, and sure enough, there were still several words engraved on the upper platform.

"The Seat of Termination belongs to either those who follow its path or those who suffer its punishment..."

Upon seeing this sentence, Ian suddenly understood, pointed to it and showed it to Kim, saying...

"Jin, it seems this stone seat really is the Seat of Termination' you spoke of. However, it's not entirely useless. Judging from the meaning of this statement, it has both advantages and disadvantages; sitting on it means life or death is irrelevant..."

Jin also had a solemn expression.

He couldn't help but look up at the stone pedestal at the very top, and for the first time, he felt the weight of history so directly and overwhelmingly.

This place... was once a civilized place.

Now everything is deserted...

"Let's go up to the last floor and take a look..."

Ian began to speak.

The next level up is the third platform, and the stone seat is on top.

The two leaped up and soon saw the last sentence.

"Those who wish to know my secrets must first atone for my sins; those who sit in this Seat of Punishment shall offer the rest of their lives as a sacrifice. --Tutantlu I"

Upon seeing this, Kim frowned, while Ian shook his head.

"It seems this stone seat might grant power, but it's most likely also some kind of curse that can't be escaped for lifetimes..."

This immediately struck Kim as a realization, and he couldn't help but look at Ian.

Although Ian is slow to react to many things.

But sometimes, his words hit the nail on the head.

This Seat of Termination, even if it's just the remnant of a civilization, is probably not a good thing.