The Outrageous Terra Continent (23)

After all, he had been reincarnated for six years. Ian had long since stopped being shocked by the Pre-Epoch Civilization relics scattered across the Terra Continent, each with its utterly different style.

To say nothing else, Viscount Grant's Aether Armament alone was enough to shatter the preconceptions of anyone who thought this was merely a sword-and-magic world with alchemy and inscriptions.

According to the scraps of information Viscount Grant had revealed, the core military strength of Terra's nations was not the modern firearm forces Ian had imagined, nor gigantic beast cavalry, steel tanks, or anything of the sort.

The core military strength of the various nations consisted of colossal constructs known as "armor rigs"!

Simply put, they were fully enclosed exoskeletal armor—small-scale mechanical wargear.

Those of the First and Second Energy Levels were called "Alchemy Armor Rigs." They were issued to core knights of the major knight orders, imperial guard units, and other elite forces. In ordinary legions, only high-ranking officers might receive an armor rig as a reward for their merits.

Those of the Third and Fourth Energy Levels were called "Aether Armaments." Exclusive to major noble families, they were symbols of honor—possessing an Aether Armament proved that a family had once been glorious, a meritorious bloodline bearing ancient honor. In the nobles' chain of disdain, they ranked only below the imperial capital's aristocrats and could at least avoid being dismissed as complete country bumpkins.

The reason Viscount Grant could negotiate with the Ellen Family from an almost equal position, and truly obtain their aid, was not only because he had connections with Patrick. It was also because the Grant Family had once carved out its place as a cornerstone of the Empire through bloody military achievements on the imperial frontier north of Mistveil Port.

Unfortunately, the Aether Armament: Wavebreaker had fallen into disrepair over many years. Its weapon modules were damaged, and its core power furnace had once suffered catastrophic damage, reducing it to the peak of the Second Energy Level... Otherwise, with strength not inferior to his father's, Viscount Grant could have piloted the Aether Armament and slaughtered his way through the entire Great Redwood Forest Region against the now-declining Southern Ridge natives.

That was also why Viscount Grant had resolved to cultivate Harrison Port's own alchemical inscribers.

There was no need to say much more. As long as an alchemical inscriber could repair even a small part of Wavebreaker, he would have the capital to suppress the entire Southern Ridge.

As for the Fifth Energy Level "Apocalypse Armaments," and the "Silent Ancient Divine Relics" that were not even included in such comparisons...

They were divine weapons and strange artifacts that allowed high-level Ascendants to stand alone against the armies of great nations—the foundation upon which a major power could be established.

For now, the boy could not guess what those things truly were, but surely they could not be ultimate battle mechs or strategic-level weapons of mass destruction, right? Hahahaha... haha... ha...

They really could be.

Ian never dared underestimate how outrageous the Terra Continent could be.

In short, Harrison Port was too remote to reveal the Terra Continent in its entirety. Ian understood that well. He knew that even if the foundation for changing the world in the future lay in Harrison Port, in this natural sheltered harbor blessed with exceptional geographical advantages, he would still find an opportunity to venture out and witness everything this world had to offer.

But now that he looked at it, this place truly deserved to be the site where Emperor Inyaga had personally instructed his trusted subordinates to open up a new port district.

There really were a great many relics of the Pre-Epoch Civilization here.

"It's a high-voltage wireless power transmission tower."

Slightly reducing the output of Fairy Wings, Ian used the Sand Armor Apprentice's high-density body to "stand" upon the seabed nearly a thousand meters below the surface. He then reached out and touched the surface of the towering stone trees.

His brows furrowed tightly. "But why? Wireless power transmission has enormous losses. Perhaps it would have some value in space."

"But if it were in space, why use radio waves to transmit power instead of high-energy lasers directly?"

Wireless power transmission was feasible, but attenuation became severe over distance, and the losses were unbelievably great. Within a planet's atmosphere, it had no practical value at all.

But... Ian raised his head and looked toward the dense stone forest before him, toward the thousands upon thousands of wireless transmission towers. He could not understand why these things had been built in a coastal region... and so densely packed, packed so densely that it made no sense at all!

No, that was not right.

Perhaps they had not been built here... but stored here.

Ian suddenly thought of something.

—Harrison Port lay in a tropical coastal region, extremely close to the equator.

—There was an enormous Pre-Epoch Civilization ruin cluster here, important enough that Hilliard still remembered it decades later and returned regularly to observe its anomalies.

—The Southern Sea Great Storm was suspected to have been caused by abnormal heat dissipation in this ruin cluster's power supply system. His teacher had once said that it held secrets leading "above the high heavens."

As all the clues converged, Ian arrived at an answer that seemed highly likely.

"Could it be... that the Southern Sea Ruins are essentially an equatorial orbital accelerator, or an orbital space elevator?"

If that were the case, everything could be explained.

Ian knew very well that whether it was an orbital accelerator or an orbital space elevator, it would require an incomparably vast amount of energy to operate continuously. It might even need a linked array of supermassive nuclear fusion power plants just to sustain it.

The ocean contained abundant fusion fuel and was also a natural cooling reservoir. The Pre-Epoch Civilization must have considered every aspect before locating these facilities here.

And these wireless power transmission towers before his eyes...

Just as he had suspected—they were things useful only in space.

The Pre-Epoch Civilization had likely begun constructing large-scale space facilities! But they had not yet completed their space industrial centers, so they still needed orbital accelerators and space elevators to transport these high-end industrial products from the planet into orbit for assembly.

This underwater stone forest before him... was precisely a collection of space facility components that had not yet been transported into the heavens before the Calamity of Falling Skies buried them beneath the deep sea.

A dream left unfinished.

Thinking of that, Ian could not help sighing.

Whether the great storm was a "natural disaster" caused by heat dissipation from the orbital accelerator's power units or not, he would proceed under that assumption for now—because if the recent monster mutations were actually caused by a leak of highly concentrated nuclear fuel...

That would be far too reasonable.jpg

"Where did that fish from earlier go?"

Sorting through his thoughts and committing his conjectures to memory, Ian raised his head and scanned his surroundings.

Beneath one of the stone trees, he spotted the magic fish's nest.

This stone tree had already toppled and shattered. The metal creations from over a thousand years ago had long rotted beyond recognition, while a large fish had piled them into a lid-like nest and coiled within it, quietly lying in wait.

Within Precognitive Vision, a psychic field was clearly present inside this magic fish's nest as well.

And...

"It's very similar to the psychic field at Sighing Cliff—no, it's exactly the same."

Ian narrowed his eyes. Raising his head, he gazed into the pitch-black deep sea, in the direction of Sighing Cliff, which theoretically lay not far above him. "Could Sighing Cliff actually be connected to the seabed here? If so... Sighing Cliff's peculiar ability to attract lightning is probably also the effect of a Pre-Epoch Civilization relic."

"No wonder it could nurture a kind of magic fish capable of discharging electricity."

Having figured out the origin of the magic fish's nest and the underwater stone forest, Ian finally relaxed.

Today's plan to test Fairy Wings and the half-Magic Potion had been a complete success, even far beyond expectations.

Theoretically, even if Ian returned immediately, it would be perfectly reasonable.

But since he was already here, he had to bring something back.

"I saw quite a few Magic Beasts earlier. If I'm not catching the magic fish, there shouldn't be any problem catching a few familiar faces."

With that thought, Ian activated Fairy Wings and drove the currents as he began patrolling the surrounding deep sea.

The Pure Rock Crystal Bone could decompose water into oxygen and hydrogen, supplying Ian with oxygen. But he was not a reef-devouring sea otter and had no air sac in his body, so he could not ascend as rapidly as a sea otter. Moreover, the Origin Matter consumption was rather steep.

By now, activating Fairy Wings and the Crystal Bone had already consumed a third of Ian's own Origin Matter... If he wanted to retain enough Origin Matter for a full-strength battle, he could only remain active for another twenty minutes at most before returning to shore to eat something and rest.

However, the Origin Matter Ian had stored within the Ancient Dragon Core over the past four years could ensure that, at critical moments, he had a cruising duration more than ten times that of an ordinary First Energy Level Ascendant.

So he was not particularly anxious.

With Precognitive Vision, finding concealed Magic Beasts and treasures hidden among sand, reefs, and the deep sea was simply far too easy for Ian.

Before long, he found an enormous "rock" in a depression.

It was called a rock, but from its curve alone, he could tell it was a massive giant clam, larger than half a person.