Mid Morning - Mid Summer : The Ancient Wreckage, Southwestern Holy Kingdom

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-Geez... Who could even make all of this...- *tap-clunk* Gently setting down a small but exceedingly complex mechanical creation on the table, I turned my attention to a large rectangular device with its side panel off, exposing some incredibly intricate machinery.

From what I could tell, it was some sort of engraving or precision cutting tool, and the small, out-of-place mechanical piece on the table next to it was an attempt to repair it. -It looks like it might even work...-

Reaching over and gently picking up a piece of paper wrapped in an odd film, seemingly untouched by time, I saw an incredibly precise blueprint of the small piece on the table with all sorts of notes, add-ons, and additional ideas on how to approve it. It honestly looked like something from Earth if you looked past that it was all written in Acardi. -Whatever the case, this guy knew his stuff...-

Finally setting down the paper, I continued around the room to see what everything else was, and things went pretty well.

The room looked like a workshop of some kind, with all sorts of tools and salvaged equipment that had been pieced together to create more useful things; a massive titanium forge, something resembling a 3D printer, and a hand-held railgun just to name a few. It was plainly obvious that the person who created it all was related to the Acardi, if not one of them themselves. -Well, they definitely aren't a native that just salvaged some of the wreckage...-

But issues arose when I started looking for less surface-level information.

Within the workshop, every single device had a display, from the planters with isolated miniature ecosystems to the massive kiln that sat in the corner. Even the 'wooden' desk the engraver was on had one.

Under normal circumstances, this would be absolutely incredible, as it would entail access to historical information far beyond what could be provided through paper, but in their current condition, they were nothing more than fancy black mirrors. -I may be able to power them though...-

Throughout the workshop, cables were run along the walls before being combined with several junctions, eventually leading into a black rectangular pedestal in an empty corner of the room.

When I first saw it, I thought it looked incredibly out of place, especially with how crowded the rest of the room was.

However... *thump-creaaaak* As I approached it, the titanium tiles under my feet creaked, and an echo could be heard from beneath with every step. *thump* *thump* *thump* -Ah, this must be the way you're supposed to get in here...-

Quickly sending some aura into the ground, I saw a system of pulleys and cables that would lower the floor like an elevator and spread my aura out to figure out how it operated. -Geez... How long would it have taken to make this by hand?-

Eventually ending up inside the pedestal, I quickly noticed how it worked like a small junction box for the rest of the workshop, as well as a complex but reliable elevator.

But even though there were several buttons at the top of the pedestal, seemingly for controls, they all required electricity. -What if their generator breaks while they're in here? Wouldn't this become a death trap?-

Not believing what I was looking at, I used my aura to push the buttons, but as expected, they did nothing. -Talk about a design flaw...-

But I wasn't one to give up easily.

Looking at the cable leading down the elevator shaft beneath the pillar, I considered giving it some juice myself, by against my curiosity and eagerness, I held off. -Unless the destroyed wall was where the door from the cave was meant to be, the area this elevator leads should have another entrance...-

Finally standing up, I walked back out into the cave and up to the big metal rectangle that was now sticking out of the ground. -If I'm lucky, the other entrance is this...-

Although it used to be embedded slightly in the ground, it was now quite exposed and looked as if it had been sandblasted, likely from when I hit the elder, but all it did was reveal a concerning amount of corrosion.

But I didn't even think of what it meant.

Reaching down and gripping the cold iron handle, I lifted up the several-centimeter-thick plate that came off its hinge like it was nothing.

*creaaak-crumble* *pwoof* I was met with a horrible draft of damp air immediately, before looking down into the opening to see countless heavily rusted rings crudely embedded into the wall to form a ladder leading almost 40 meters down.

"Wh..what?" I honestly didn't believe what I was looking at. -There's no way this was made by the same guy as the workshop...-

The workshop was definitely of a pretty high standard, especially with all the equipment in it, but at the same time, it was most definitely not done by some professional group. -But I can't forget how old this place is... The workshop was beyond lucky to still be in such good condition...-

Deciding to stay hopeful and give it the benefit of the doubt, I hopped into the hole and fell past the ladder.

*f-f-f-f-f-f-fwoosh-DING* The titanium floor rang as it bent slightly around my feet.

But even though it rang, it was far from pristine. -Holy sh*t...- *splash* The entire floor was covered in a thin layer of water, and the sprawled-out titanium tiles were in horrible condition. "Ack..." -Holy hell, that smells terrible...-

The things above the water weren't any better off, with anything that used to be organic laying there as a pile of dirt, and anything metal being unrecognizably corroded.

But it wasn't all unrecognizable.

The wall to my left specifically was about 4 meters tall and 18 meters wide, with absolutely nothing taking up the floor space near it, but that wasn't what caught my eye.

The wall was incrementally sectioned as if it were meant to retract into itself, and in the middle of where the two retractable walls met was a small gap with something indistinguishable on the other side. -Is that a gate?-

As I walked over to it, it became increasingly obvious that the small opening in the gate was the source of the water and corrosion. *creaaak* -The hydraulics in this must have died eons ago...- With a light nudge, the outermost section of the gate retracted into itself, letting me finally see what was on the other side.

But the instant I poked my head through it, I found myself staring straight into the eyes of a nearly 10-meter-wide basilisk that took up a majority of what looked to be a cave.

I gave it an annoyed look immediately. -I guess I should just kill it before it damages anything...-

But before I could even walk out of the gate, it turned away and darted off.

*blub-splash-crunch* *crackle-crunch* The loose stones on the cave floor were turned to a fine powder under the creature's weight.

A look of surprise instantly came to my face. "Wow..." -That basilisk has some really heightened instincts...- My surprise grew even more when I looked down to see a group of six eggs laying submerged in a small pool of rainwater. -That thing has better instincts than almost all the creatures I've seen... But I guess I can't complain...-

With the basilisk gone, I could finally see what this cave was.

And it was pretty recognizable. -Is this a dead dungeon?- With mostly uniform cave walls, and a considerable amount of mythril exposed in them, it heavily resembled an older dungeon, but the flow of mana was comparably almost nonexistent.

The theory did make some sense too. A dead dungeon was an excellent place to build a shelter like this since monsters would never have a reason to come inside unless they were nesting or seeking shelter near the entrance.

But nevertheless, I had some concerns, the biggest of which being how the person who made this place even managed to move so much salvage from the wreckage at least a dozen kilometers away. -This place isn't small.. at all...-

Although it was extremely difficult to tell what sort of build quality this area was made with because of the corrosion, from what I could tell, it looked a little above the workshop. -But nothing about it is lightweight... Moving any of it so far would be a huge pain for something human-sized... Through a forest no less...-

No matter how I twisted it, it didn't make sense.

At least until my entire view of what the Acardi species looked like started to shift.

But thankfully, before it could warp too much, I managed to stop myself and make my way back into the gate to take another look through the shelter.

"Hooh..." -I need to get more information before I make any assumptions...- Quickly walking back through the gate, I looked around the room and saw a large corroded door that was opposite the ladder, but there was another anomaly that pulled my attention away from it almost immediately.

-Huh?- On the center of the opposite wall, several gunk-covered tiles stuck just above the water line, and on a few of them, there was a clean streak as if something had scraped off the organic gunk that had built up. -That looks pretty recent...-

*tap* *splash* *splash* *splash* Hastily making my way over, I walked up to the wall and immediately noticed a thin but perfectly straight line of corrosion that just so happened to be the very center of the semicircle of scraped tiles.

It only took me a moment to put two and two together. -Is this a door?-

Not bothering to take any more precautions, I pushed some aura into the wall and immediately found a sequence of touch sensors, as well as a panel that looked like it was meant to pop out of the wall, before finally undoing the mechanical part of the lock.

Then, with a click, the door popped out of the wall and swung open. *click* *clank-fwooosh*

With a gust of scentless air, the door swung open to reveal an absolutely pristine white room, completely devoid of corrosion, with a large glass tube of blue liquid at the center and a massive panel of screens, a few mechanical sensors, and a few buttons on the wall behind it.

The center tube, reminiscent of the AI in the laboratory, caught my attention quite quickly, but without the ability to power it, I forced myself to move on.

-But.. what even is this place?- All along the left wall were several spherical artifacts lined up between three metal rods that led into a hole in the wall with the text 'Hot Cores' above it, and on the right side was the same thing except with three artifacts and the text reading 'Cold Cores'

It was puzzling, to say the least, but even as I was walking over to them, a theory came to mind. -Wait a minute... 'Hot cores'.. in a room that looked like it was recently accessed...-

It was the red flag I had been looking for.