Chapter 170 The Cornerstone

To be honest, Hao Ren wasn't particularly interested in the origin and transformation ritual of the Black Knight. He was here mainly because of a signal scanned by the data terminal.

A regular pulse was constantly being released from the Holy Armory. The signal was short and repetitive, but it had a subtle match with another signal—the mysterious pulse that Nolan had collected from the Earth's core.

After entering the Holy Armory, the signal sensed by the data terminal became more obvious, and it had now begun to lock onto the original source of this signal.

The greatest feeling this abandoned first-generation Holy Armory gave was emptiness—the 770,000 mechanical swords that had once been stored here, as well as a large amount of supporting equipment, had been moved to the south, leaving only a dizzyingly huge cavity and countless neatly arranged platforms and supports. In the center of the Holy Armory, the elevator platform connected to a cross-shaped long bridge corridor. The long bridge pointed in four directions. In two of those directions, one could see countless neatly arranged sword stands. The other two directions pointed to the server area and the "Soul Infusion Workshop" where soul infusion operations were performed. After careful scanning by the data terminal, it finally confirmed that the signal was coming from a corner of the Soul Infusion Workshop.

Hao Ren pointed in that direction: "Can we go over there and take a look?"

"Of course, feel free to browse," Constance nodded indifferently. "It's just that most of the equipment here has been moved away, and there aren't many valuable things left."

Hao Ren smiled and said nothing. Under the guidance of the data terminal, he came to the Soul Infusion Workshop. This was probably the most thoroughly moved place. Almost 99 percent of the equipment had been moved away, leaving only neatly arranged machine spaces and a few strange-looking devices, but the signal was not coming from any of these devices—it came from a black obelisk in the center of the Soul Infusion Workshop.

"What is this thing?" He pointed curiously at the black obelisk, which was about the height of a person. Its surface was extremely smooth, but under the drive of magic, some text and symbols occasionally emerged from the clean black panel, but they didn't seem to mean anything.

Constance had a strange expression on her face: "A Cornerstone... don't you know?"

Hao Ren suddenly felt a little nervous: was this something that the Inheritors should know?

But he didn't reveal this nervousness. Instead, he nodded naturally: "We really don't know. Don't be surprised, we really can't remember much in this regard."

Perhaps because the memory loss of the Inheritors in this era was really serious, Constance didn't suspect him. She explained lightly: "This is something that appeared along with the restart of the era. We don't know the origin of the Cornerstone, we only know that after the start of each new era, there will always be some stones like this scattered near the 'origin point' of the new era, that is, around the Inheritors. Over time, we have regarded these black stones as the crystallization of the transition between eras, the 'mark' left behind during the annihilation and reshaping of the world. Therefore, even if these stones are of no use, we believe they have special significance..."

Speaking of this, she reached out and gently stroked the surface of the "Cornerstone": "In every important facility established by the Inheritors, there will be a Cornerstone like this to symbolize the continuation of the world. Even if the facility is abandoned, the Cornerstone will not be taken away."

Stones that appear during the transition of eras? Or rather... stones that will not be annihilated with the world even after experiencing the transition of eras?

Hao Ren suddenly developed a strong interest in this so-called Cornerstone. He also put his hand on the Cornerstone like Constance, and at the same time ordered the data terminal to get close to the surface of the obelisk.

"Partner, complete information has been read!" Almost at the same time, the data terminal's delighted voice sounded in his mind. "I see... this thing has fixed a 'concept' for itself, and it will only release its inner information when it is touched!"

Hao Ren lowered his eyelids slightly to hide the sudden fluctuation in his gaze: "What is the information?"

"It seems to be a very complex key... and a decoding database..." the data terminal said, and then exclaimed again, "It completely matches those signals Nolan read in the Earth's core! Partner, the Cornerstone records the decoding rules for 'that thing' in the Earth's core!"

"Send it to Nolan immediately."

"Understood, the decoding book has been sent, and Nolan has begun decoding."

Hao Ren withdrew his hand from the surface of the Cornerstone, and the data terminal flew up with it, landing quietly on his shoulder.

"We probably understand what the transformation ritual of the Black Knight is all about," Leah said from the side. "By my standards, it's really not suitable for Grand Duke Owen—even if you strengthen his body with the bio-mechanical modification technology of the Black Knight, and use mechanical swords to help him think, allowing his soul to enter the mechanical sword and control his original body remotely, it can't be considered a solution to the problem of soul damage. Leave this matter to me, I am absolutely sure to restore him to full health."

Leah spoke with confidence, and didn't look like she was frantically flipping through a textbook at all.

The slightly cold and indifferent expression on Constance's face finally changed. She turned to Leah and bowed solemnly to thank her: "Then, I will thank you on behalf of Haywood. You have saved more than just a general."

"There's no need for extra words," Leah waved her hand. "Everything is for this 'transition of eras', isn't it?"

Hao Ren took over the conversation: "Then next we need to talk about the transition of eras... First, I want to confirm one thing, to what extent is the transition of eras considered complete? Does it have to be fought until the world is annihilated? Or... as long as the pawns controlled by the power of annihilation are eliminated, is that considered the completion of this transition of eras?"

"Eliminate the pawns of annihilation?" Constance couldn't help but show an incredulous expression. "How is that possible... the pawns of annihilation are endless. As long as the war continues, the power of annihilation will continue to spread, spread, and infect. All things in the world will become its pawns, it's just a matter of how long it takes. So the pawns of annihilation cannot be completely eliminated. Fighting those pawns, the world is gradually eroded, and then a final battle is launched with them on the last small piece of pure land, the final battlefield. Only when everything is reduced to ashes is the transition of eras considered complete... And those who persist in resisting on the final battlefield will become the first pioneers of the new era. This is the rule of the world."

Constance spoke of these things with an unquestioning tone, but Hao Ren immediately heard the clues in them.

"That is to say, no one has ever tried to completely eliminate the pawns of annihilation before the world is destroyed. In fact, every doomsday is forced—it is because the Inheritors cannot resist the attacks of the annihilation pawns that the world gradually falls and eventually perishes, is that what you mean?"

Before Constance could answer, Vivian opened her mouth: "So, no one can make a conclusion on the matter of 'whether it is necessary to fight until the world is destroyed to complete the transition of eras', because no one has ever been able to try another path from beginning to end!"

Constance opened her mouth, but in the end she couldn't say anything to refute. She could only frown tightly and say slowly: "Thinking about it this way... that's really the case. But so what? Countless eras have passed, and the ancestors failed to truly defeat annihilation before the arrival of the doomsday even in their heyday. Our era is the worst era in history—a large number of Inheritors have lost their memories, and ancient knowledge is incomplete. In this case, do you think it is possible for us to truly eliminate all the annihilation pawns?"

Looking at Princess Constance, whose emotions were gradually becoming unstable, Hao Ren said lightly: "Who said it's not possible?"

Constance: "You..."

"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or think we are ignorant," Hao Ren waved his hand. "In fact, we also need to investigate some things about the truth of the transition of eras. But it doesn't matter, we can solve this battle first. Since it is a war against the doomsday... then the World Tree Temple can let go and do it."

Constance looked at Hao Ren in confusion, not knowing what the other party meant, but Lily next to her was already happy: "Wow! Landlord, so you mean we can go all out?"

Vivian looked at the husky girl with disdain: "Look at how happy you are—if you have the ability, don't be a coward on the battlefield."

"When have I ever been a coward!" Lily bared her teeth. "How can strategic retreat and strategic defense be called cowardice!"

Vivian: "..."

Hao Ren: "..."

At the same moment, in a temporary base near the Earth's core, Nolan was directing a large number of engineering machines to land on an alloy platform built close to the Earth's core.

The decoding information transmitted from Hao Ren had been entered into the database. After a simple comparison, Nolan had already determined that these things were the key to accessing the mysterious "item" in the Earth's core.

In the process of cracking it these days, Nolan was at a loss for the encryption barrier in the Earth's core. The protection of the latter far exceeded everyone's initial expectations—and this made Nolan stunned.

She realized that the thing in the Earth's core came from a creator with a very high level of technology. And when Hao Ren told her about the information about the transition of eras and the cycle of annihilation, she had vaguely guessed who left the thing in the Earth's core.

It should be from ancient times, from the lost era when civilization had not yet declined.

What would it be? And what would its role be?

The engineering machines landed on the platform, and a large number of needle towers had been erected on the platform in advance. Below each needle tower was a long data needle. The lower end of the needle probed into the hot outer shell of the Earth's core, maintaining a physical connection with the mysterious barrier deep in the Earth's core.

For many days, these needles had been Nolan's limit of penetration, and she had made no progress in accessing the data source in the Earth's core through the needles.

"Inject the decoding information and start recompiling the data stream."

Nolan stood on the bridge, watching the lines of data constantly being refreshed on the analysis interface, and the words "receiving" on the central holographic projection. On the other window next to it, the engineering machines were nervously adjusting the state of each data needle.

A heartbeat-like sound rang out on the bridge: thump, thump-thump, thump, thump-thump...

The heartbeat coming from the Earth's core seemed to be more rapid and chaotic than usual.

"Information injection successful, recompilation completed, sending initial contact pulse... sending completed."

Nolan stared at all the interfaces.

After a few seconds of agonizing waiting, a line of text suddenly popped up on the central holographic projection:

Access request received, database open.

It's done!

Yuan Tong