Schiller was now inside an enormous temple.
Though it was called a temple, it looked more like a functional residence built by modern people, merely incorporating some temple-like styles. Ancient symbols and writing were carved into the decorations and walls.
At the very center of the temple stood a massive crystal pillar—the same kind of red crystal Stark had discovered underground, only far larger and far more dazzling.
Surrounding the red crystal was an obviously modern technological device. A blue-glowing glass cover enclosed the crystal, while energy extraction devices connected to the ceiling and floor extended above and below it.
Schiller had learned the Hui People's story earlier than anyone else.
When Schiller obtained the first fragment of the totem pillar, he realized that the writing and symbols on it were far from simple. They did not resemble the common script of a primitive civilization at all; they were already highly abstracted and generalized. That meant the civilization that created such totems must have been highly developed long ago.
Schiller knew that, in the vast universe, humanity was quite a young civilization. People often said human civilization had only just left its cradle, but in the eyes of many advanced interstellar civilizations, humans who still relied on Earth's resources had not even been born from their mother's womb.
But the civilization that called itself the Hui People was different. Millions of years ago, they had already established advanced cities and a mature civilized society.
Just as the others had guessed, the Hui People were a highly developed magical civilization—or rather, an energy civilization. They had been blessed by heaven from birth.
Like the oil humans possessed, beneath the Hui People's homeworld lay something called Hui Crystal—the red crystal before Schiller.
But unlike oil, the energy supplied by this crystal naturally