Just as Yani had said, they had indeed reaped a rich harvest. Although an ancient monster had leaped out of the ancient cultivation pod at the last moment and caused a few casualties, the ruins had also completely caved in during the battle. Billions of tons of lake water had flooded in, burying the ancient ruins—whose age was unknown, but which had clearly been built many eras ago—beneath the lake.
If the cultural heritage preservation authorities found out, they'd probably want to shoot the whole bunch of these illegal tomb robbers.
But whatever the case, they had successfully killed the monster. Anyone with even a little scientific knowledge knew that the monster's biological cells alone were already priceless.
Besides, though the cultivation pod, which looked like a bronze coffin, had been blasted to pieces, they'd managed to dig out several intact components after hours of tense excavation. They had no idea what these things were for, but if they gave them some serious thought, perhaps they could lead to a major advance in mechanical engineering.
After that, they also dug an intact "stone tablet" out of the ruins. Yes, its texture and temperature felt remarkably like marble. And yet, despite having been buried beneath the lake water and rubble that had flooded the ruins, it was completely unharmed, covered in elegant, vigorous writing.
"That's Enlightener Script No. 4," Yameda told Ostana. "At least forty-five of these characters have never been found before."
The public generally regarded the Enlighteners as an ancient civilization, but there had always been differing opinions in academic circles. So far, statues, murals, and even holograms excavated from ruins had all confirmed that the Enlighteners were human—or at least, they were more than ninety-nine percent similar to humans in appearance. However, archaeologists and linguists had also identified