"Later, they discovered that the Floating City's carrying capacity fell far short of their needs, and none of its owners were willing to provide such vigorous support," the old man continued. "The project's initiator had no choice but to change his approach: manufacture everything on site and keep digging downward, excavating to an unimaginable depth to house every component of the equipment and the magic patterns."
"Then just how deep is this well?" Richard asked.
"Well, how should I put it? You could say that the depth of this well has already surpassed the very definition of 'deep.'"
"Hm?"
"This well has been dug straight through the entire world."
"Straight through?"
"That's right, straight through." Sensing that Richard might not fully understand, the old man picked up the Diamond-studded Silver Cup on the table. "It's like digging from the rim of the cup all the way to its bottom, then breaking through the bottom as well."
Richard had still been somewhat uncertain, but upon hearing that, he immediately understood what the old man meant.
He had previously found it somewhat strange why the city in the image was located in the far north. Now it seemed highly likely that it stood at the North Pole of the planet where the plane was located. The project's initiator had likely begun at the North Pole and dug directly along the planet's axis all the way to the South Pole, creating a passage that ran through the entire planet.
The scale of that undertaking... the countless challenges that would have needed to be overcome... just thinking about it was staggering. No wonder it had been called the Great Exploration Project even in the world of the Ancient Wizard Civilization, and no wonder it had attracted so many spectators.
"Understand now?" the old man