Nightingale squatted down and touched the ground with her finger. When she raised her hand, both of them saw that her fingertip was clean, without a speck of dust.
This in itself was telling.
If the Divine Will War continued to cycle, the Radiants were certainly not the first victors to attempt to explore the Bottomless Land. Whether they had stumbled and fallen, or deliberately jumped, they should have left traces, not to mention the stones and dirt that had naturally rolled down.
Over the long years, this place was still as good as new. It could only be assumed that someone was constantly cleaning the bottom of the sinkhole.
"Hey, Wendy, can you hear me?" Nightingale took out the Listening Talisman, but there was no response. "No... looks like it's out of range."
"Even if it's not out of range, it may not work." Seraphia succinctly said, "If the gods don't intend to let people leave with secrets, shielding communications shouldn't be difficult for them."
"Okay..." She shrugged. "What should we do next?"
Anna stared at the strip of light on the ground for a long time before saying, "Do you guys think these 'lights' are guiding us?"
Their flickering was extremely regular, like ripples spreading outwards from under their feet and disappearing into the darkness—except for the place where the three of them were standing, other places were still motionless, as if they were still asleep.
Calamity of Silence tried walking a few steps in the opposite direction, and the light followed suit, but the direction of the spread remained the same.
"Looks like it."
"An invitation from the gods... interesting," Nightingale gripped her rifle in her hand. "Then let's go see what it's all about."
The three followed the strip of light, slowly walking in the quiet bottom of the cave. After about ten minutes, a bright entrance appeared in front of them.
Compared to the previous pitch-blackness, the next journey undoubtedly made people feel relieved—after all, no one likes walking in a strange place shrouded in darkness, where they don't know where the end is. Although they were still underground, at least they could see the roads around them.
"Is this really the Realm of Consciousness..." Nightingale couldn't help but ask.
"Why do you say that?" Anna turned her head.
"Because it's related to consciousness," she scratched her head. "Whether it's called the Realm of Consciousness or the Source of Magic Power, it sounds like an ethereal thing. But this place..."
"It's like it was manufactured." Calamity of Silence suddenly interjected.
In this long passage, neither the walls nor the ground had anything to do with the word "ethereal". They were hard and flat, with distinct edges and corners, which looked pleasing to the eye. At the same time, these translucent metal blocks could automatically emit light. Whether stepping on them or pressing them with your hands, they would react, and the faster you pressed, the brighter they would shine. Sometimes, some incomprehensible symbols would pop up. There was none of the majesty and indifference that kept people away from the divine realm.
"Perhaps the Realm of Consciousness was manufactured," Anna's answer startled the two of them slightly, "by people like you and me... or rather, civilizations."
Nightingale swallowed. "The other party... isn't it a god?"
"The two don't conflict," Anna shook her head. "I heard Roland say that Lan called them gods because that's the easiest way for us to understand. Just like to ants, we are no different from gods—"
She couldn't help but shudder. "That's a disgusting idea."
"Indeed." Silence unexpectedly agreed. "But I can understand."
Just as Nightingale was about to say something, she suddenly realized that the front of the passage had reached its end.
"This is... we went the wrong way?"
But soon, she heard a faint hiss, and a beam of light quickly swept across the three of them. Then, their appearance appeared on the wall at the end.
Even Anna was taken aback by this change.
Before the three of them could react further, the wall quietly turned into countless hexagons and disappeared, and a huge circular space appeared in front of them.
Its edge was a wraparound track, separated by a transparent "glass wall". Through that layer of glass, they could clearly see a rotating sphere of amazing volume below, and that sphere seemed not to be a solid object, but a fluid composed of electricity and light! Countless lightning bolts shuttled up and down along the tube walls, each of which was comparable to a thunderbolt that pierced the sky. Although there was only a layer of glass between them, the entire space was extremely quiet, as if the violent changes inside had nothing to do with the outside world.
The three of them couldn't help but hold their breath. Anyone who saw this scene would feel a sincere shock—no one could have imagined that such a magnificent creation was hidden beneath an overseas island.
What surprised them even more was that a floating tubular object floated out of the wall and slowly flew to Anna, and then opened the cover.
Even if they were slow to react, the three of them had already understood what the other party meant.
Calamity of Silence and Nightingale looked at Anna together, waiting for her to make a decision. The latter stared at Roland for a long time before slowly letting go of her hands. Under the traction of the black fire, Roland, with his eyes closed, was steadily placed in the jar. Then the cover closed, and the tubular object floated back to the wall and was tightly embedded in it, as if it had disappeared into the wall.
"We... did we succeed?" Nightingale murmured.
"I don't know." Anna replied in a low voice, "But at least we have completed the established goal. All we can do next is wait."
...
The dark starry sky gradually disappeared, and white light filled all the vision.
In this infinite whiteness, a winding staircase "appeared" at Roland's feet—this time there were no snowflakes, nor familiar ceilings. He looked towards the other end of the road and saw that the staircase was connected to a flat open space, and nothing else.
I see...
He now understood why Lan would say that when the passage of erosion appeared, he would naturally feel it.
The difference between the two worlds was so great that only a blind man could not see it.
According to Lan, this was most likely the Domain of the Gods—but he didn't know whether it was Yip Xi Lon's Star Disk that provided the last expansion of the dream world, or whether the expeditionary force had successfully completed its goal in reality that allowed him to reach this place.
But thinking about these things now didn't make much sense.
Roland stepped onto the staircase.
The journey was not long. After walking for a while, he stepped onto the open space. In the center of the open space was a uniquely shaped throne, and a masked figure was sitting on it. The whole scene was extremely simple and concise, and far from what he had imagined the "Divine Realm" to be.
Roland had previously thought that the god would create an extremely glorious and solemn palace to give him a rude awakening, but he did not expect the other party to be so simple. For a moment, he did not know what tone to use to greet him.
"You are... the god?"
In the end, he chose the most steady opening.
What if the other party was just a divine envoy or a guide? Wouldn't that be ridiculous?
"You can call me that, child." However, it directly agreed. "But I prefer another name—the Omniscient Guardian."