Of course, that had all been made up. But after a stretch of deadpan nonsense and wisecracking, followed by something that at least made logical sense, it sounded much more credible. Even people as worldly as the old mechanic, Mr. Karl, and as clever as Miss Ina had suddenly seen the light.
"...So that's why you're certain no more enemies will come after us?" Ina asked.
"At least not for a while. Well, everyone should get some rest. We'll set off again at dawn. If we really can open the Enlighteners' ruins, then we can call it the Spirit of the Universe's blessing. If not, we can just say we were lucky to find a mountain pass." Yu Lian put away the "dirt bombs" he'd finished preparing, dusted off his hands, and ended the conversation.
What he'd just said was basically a way to prepare everyone for what was coming. If he really did open the ruins, they probably wouldn't be too shocked.
Yes, that had to be it.
Yu Lian woke on his own after resting for two hours. He felt he'd recovered most of his strength, and after a little more time to clear his head, the last trace of drowsiness vanished. That was one of the perks of being a psionic. At least when it came to stamina and energy, they had a major advantage.
Seeing that everyone was still resting, Yu Lian took a lamp and, guided by memories of the past, walked over to a stone wall. At first glance, it was nothing but ordinary rock. In the lamplight, the veins in the stone looked neither beautiful nor orderly. Yu Lian had no choice but to lay a hand on the wall and feel along it, trying to sense the rhythm that ought to lie behind the stone.
The last time he'd—no, in his previous life—unlocked these ruins had been thirty years later. That was practically an era in historical terms, but in the vastness of nature, it was no more than an instant. So the ruins probably hadn't changed much. Probably...
"Is this how people explore all Enlightener ruins?" Ina's voice sounded behind him.
"I'm no archaeologist, and I don't have any specialized tools, so I can only go by feel." Yu Lian didn't turn around. "At least, that's how Dr. Jones unlocked it."
"Who?" Ina asked, puzzled.
"Dr. Maluda Jones! You know, the Alliance's Treasure League! In the season-eight finale, Professor Jones the Sixth used this method to unlock the treasure of the Dawn Empire's Twelfth Dynasty and get the Dragon-Time Dagger."
"They're already on season eight? And they're up to the sixth Professor Jones?" Ina's eyes widened in shock, then flashed with anger. "You spoiled it!"
That wasn't the point.
"What season are you on?" Yu Lian couldn't help asking, even though that wasn't the point.
"Uh, Professor Al Jones. Season two..."
"That was still back in the Alliance's homeworld era!" Yu Lian was just as shocked. He'd known the extragalactic colonies were remote, but he hadn't expected them to be this remote.
"I-I can't help it! This place is the countryside! Tulong is already out in the sticks, and the military outpost is even worse. We can't even connect to the Nebula Network here!"
Yu Lian gave her a sympathetic look, then immediately wished he could slap himself twice.
Hey, hey, was this the original owner rubbing off on him? Twenty-one-year-old military cadet Yu Lian could be a fan of Treasure League, but how could the Yu Lian who'd roamed the stars for thirty years be one? He'd never live it down among his old crowd.
"Uh, anyway, this is just a shot in the dark. I might be imagining the whole thing."
"No. If Professor Jones did it, there has to be a reason!"
Yu Lian's mouth twitched. He glanced back at the sergeant, who had suddenly become inexplicably serious, and hesitated for a long moment before speaking slowly. "Well... that's a TV show."
"Wasn't it based on a true story?" Ina replied, firm and matter-of-fact.
"...Yes. At least a lot of the details were true." Yu Lian decided to drop the subject and pressed his whole body against the stone wall. The last time he'd gotten the map and opened these ruins, he'd already been a fourth-ring adept. His senses had been much sharper than they were now. To feel the faint rhythm hidden within, too subtle for satellites or recon drones to detect, he had to focus every ounce of his attention.
Ina knew Yu Lian was at a crucial moment. She said no more, but didn't leave either. Instead, she silently took up a guard position.
Yu Lian closed his eyes. The invisible, pearly-white nebulae in his soul seemed to boil. Their dazzling light gathered into a river, flowed through his body and into the stone wall, and found a gentle resonance there. Within the utterly ordinary, unremarkable stone, Yu Lian felt as though he'd found another universe.
The nebulae in his soul sea shone even brighter. To put it more plainly, the ring-shaped nebula seemed to have expanded another circle, pressing bravely into the still-silent outer ring. It was just like the way his science ships had spread out in every direction in some game he'd played before crossing over, finally claiming a vast swath of territory after decades.
Yu Lian actually liked this kind of direct sensation. It let him see at a glance how much stronger he'd become.
At last, he felt the same rhythm he'd sensed that year, and breathed a sigh of relief. Even if the butterfly effect had changed things, its wings hadn't been powerful enough to make much of a difference.
Yu Lian reached out, following the vibrations until he came to a stop at one spot. He wiped away all the dust there and channeled his psionic energy into it. The winter night's stars spilled down through a slit in the ceiling, seeming to merge with the lamp in his hand before turning into silver light that sank into the mottled stone. Silver lines slowly surfaced, like veins, as though the stone had been given life.
At first, the rippling patterns of light were as faint as a spiderweb, almost impossible to see. But they soon spread and grew clearer. Then elegant silver arcs formed magnificent wings and a starry crest that floated in midair. Ancient, graceful runes unfurled across the crest like a banner, and the solemn grandeur of the vast heavens swept over them.
Watching this magnificent sight, Ina could barely breathe.
"Th-this really is an Enlightener ruin?!"
"It should be. There are many kinds of Enlighteners, but the crests at the hidden entrances to their ruins all have brilliant star patterns, like the Morning Star. That's where their honorific comes from." Yu Lian explained.
"It's so beautiful. I can hardly believe this is really..."
It was a sight ordinary people could scarcely imagine. On the drab mountainside, silver-white lines of light and a relatively simple crest formed a spectacle as magnificent as a perfect universe. Yu Lian knew that the simple lines of the crest had been constructed in proportions that perfectly suited the aesthetic sense of carbon-based intelligent life. Even magnified ten thousand, a hundred million, or a trillion times, they would still retain those proportions without the slightest flaw. The silver radiance shimmered, dazzling but not blinding, elegant but never gaudy, splendid but never frivolous. It flowed with a gentle warmth, like the blood of the soul, the river of life.
No civilization in the known world could reproduce this sight—not even Treasure League, the wildly popular show beloved by Yu Lian and Ina and watched across the galaxy. In fact, the show's production crew, with its practically limitless budget, had done everything they could to recreate the spectacle of an Enlightener relic activating on screen. That was part of why fans loved it so passionately. But seeing the real thing made it clear: how could the clumsy imitations of later generations ever capture even a fraction of what those great ancestors had created?
So that was one reason mysticism, class society, and bloodline theory flourished! Yu Lian reflected, in a thoroughly revolutionary spirit.
"How did they make something this beautiful?" Ina asked. She was genuinely curious.
"Well, if you have time, you can brush up on your studies and get into a good university. Major in archaeology or high-energy materials science, then get a job at an Enlightener civilization research institute after you graduate."
"Then I'll understand?"
"No. Then you'll understand that more than half the great scholars living on government grants are useless layabouts."
Ina took a second to think it over, then let out a laugh. "Well, I still think the 'elite' in the Bureaucratic Group are just a bunch of golden-furred groundhogs wrapped in feather blankets and stuffing their faces. But since you're an interesting example, I suppose I'll accept that Moon people are an exception."
"Of course. Once we reach Tulong and you meet my senior—uh, Officer Bonaparte—you'll be convinced."
There were plenty of useless layabouts among Moon people too, but you didn't criticize your own mother for being ugly. Fortunately, the only two Moon people on this little colony world weren't exactly an embarrassment.
The two exchanged smiles. Ina felt a subtle stirring—perhaps even a flutter—at having found a comrade she could trust, and even rely on. Yu Lian, meanwhile, was thinking that she was actually pretty assertive when she smiled. If she met Senior Eleanor, which of them would make the first move?
Just then, the crest on the gate blazed like daylight, then quickly dimmed again, so fast they might have thought the flash had been an illusion. Then the outline of a huge doorway appeared on the solid rock wall, which had no visible seams. It was large enough for a medium tank to drive through.
A deep, humming sound rose from the two doors as they began to part along the glowing seam, revealing a spacious passage that led to who knew where.
The gate to the Enlighteners' ruins had opened, just as it had "back then." Yu Lian breathed in the air wafting out of the cave and savored the familiar scent of metal. He was just about to say something to Ina when he heard an exaggerated cry of astonishment from behind him. "H-Heaven's Chosen! An emissary of the Spirit of the Universe!"
Naturally, everyone had woken up at the noise, and this wonder had banished any lingering sleepiness. They scrambled to their feet, and the first thing they saw was Yu Lian standing in the middle of the gate of light, surrounded by a solemn, profound silver glow, like the radiance of the heavens.
"Thump!" Baka, the strongest fighter in the group after the psionics, dropped to his knees. He banged his head against the ground again and again, shouting in alarm.
Well, the Beorn bear-men might be stronger than Earthlings, but they were also a lot more superstitious.
Before you continue