Lu Yuan looked at the upside-down giant tree.
From root to trunk, from trunk to fruit.
A complete ecosystem.
A suspended farm.
Then he noticed the edge of the cave.
On one side of the sphere, near the wall at the deepest part of the cave, the cross-section of a copper pillar was faintly visible.
It was exactly the same as the ones he had seen in the abyss.
The bronze-colored surface was densely carved with runes, and a faint blue shimmer flickered in the darkness.
Several thick vines from the sphere's root system extended toward that direction, stabbing into the rock wall near the copper pillar.
The thickest among them had already touched the copper pillar itself.
Greyish-green filaments extended from the end of the vine, piercing into the runic grooves on the surface of the copper pillar.
At the point of entry, the copper was changing color.
From bronze to dark brown, and from dark brown to greyish-green.
The copper was being replaced.
At about one-third of the height of the copper pillar's base, the runes had completely gone dark.
The remaining two-thirds were still flickering with a faint blue light, but at the boundary line, the greyish-green root system was still creeping upward.
【Detection Target: Detected Bronze City core sealing structure... being eroded by an unknown creature... You have understood the sequence of events...】
【Bronze City Status: +5... 12/50】
The moment the grey text surfaced, Lu Yuan finally understood why there was a gap in the Bronze City's seal.
Why the Bronze City had ended up in its current state.
It was all caused by this thing.
At the same time, Lu Yuan noticed something else.
On the side of the sphere facing the copper pillar, in the area with the densest root system, a large area of greyish-green tissue appeared scorched brown.
That was damage seeping out from the inside.
The faint blue light emitted by the runes still lit on the copper pillar was slowly but continuously burning every hypha that had stabbed into it.
The copper pillar was fighting back.
It was not passive food; it was an active defensive seal.
When this thing thrust its roots into the copper pillar, the runes of the pillar were also burning its root system.
It was just very slow—so slow that the creature was desperately expanding outward, struggling.
But every moment, it was paying a price.
Perhaps the destruction of the sub-core or something else had finally allowed the price to catch up with it.
Lu Yuan suddenly realized something.
This strange creature is running for its life.
To go upward, to leave the range of the copper's suppression, and to spread its hyphae network on the surface—that was its only way to survive.
And they had sealed the catchment basin.
Blown up the sub-core.
It was equivalent to blocking its only escape route.
【Detection Target: ? (Main core... extremely dangerous... stay away...)】
【...You have caught a glimpse of an existence that transcends cognition... It is not a biological organism... not a traditional eerie... but a brand new... thing... that is leaping from unconsciousness to consciousness...】
【...Before it has fully been born... you have found it...】
【Warning: The target is currently in a weakened state... but still far exceeds your cognitive limit...】
【Forbidden Lore: Knowledge Seeker: +2.0... 20.3/100】
【Bronze City Status: +3... 15/50】
【Sanity: -3... -2... 59/120】
Inside the vault, there was a dead silence, save for the heavy, slow pulsing of the sphere.
Lu Yuan stood about twenty meters in front of the sphere.
The pearly white light of the sandworm oil lamp could not illuminate the entire space, but it lit up the side of the sphere facing him.
Lu Yuan looked at the prompts, feeling a bit more confident in his chances of winning.
He still had two Exorcism grenades, a jar of mithril, a bottle of Eerie-Bane Potion, two Holy Light scrolls, and a bottle of Stealth Potion on him.
Sanity was at 59.
He could still use Timekeeper for at least thirty seconds.
This was enough for him to take the risk.
But just as Lu Yuan was preparing to make a move, a change occurred inside the sphere.
Inside the semi-transparent shell, the light points jumping between the brain tissue fragments suddenly all stopped.
It was as if something had realized his existence.
Then the light points began to flow again.
The direction had changed.
All the light points were converging toward the side of the sphere facing Lu Yuan.
Like countless eyes turning toward the same direction at once.
The air in the vault became viscous.
Lu Yuan felt a layer of fine goosebumps rise on the surface of his skin.
Something was looking at him.
Then came the sound.
It did not come from the sphere.
It came from behind him.
From the suspension zone he had just passed through.
Those suspended bodies, every corpse that still had a vine remaining in its skull, opened their mouths at the same time.
Dozens of mouths spoke simultaneously.
Intermittent, overlapping, and misaligned, like dozens of people talking at once, but with everyone half a beat slow.
“You... smell... not like... human...”
Imperial Language.
Extremely blurred, but the meaning could be understood.
Like a brain that had just learned to think was struggling to mobilize dozens of mouths to pronounce in sync, but hadn't quite learned how yet.
Lu Yuan’s hand pressed against the bottle of Eerie-Bane Potion.
He did not act immediately.
“You have... the aura... on you...”
The voice was a bit clearer than before.
“The aura... of our kind...”
Lu Yuan froze upon hearing this, because this wasn't the first time such a thing had happened.
But he had never been able to figure out where the aura on him came from.
Perhaps it was from witnessing the destruction of Gelimu Port, or perhaps it was from the Sea of Knowledge...
So in this thing’s perception, he shared the same origin as it.
“Why... do you... help... them...”
The synchronization of the dozens of mouths was improving.
The delay shortened from half a beat to almost perfect sync.
It was learning how to speak while speaking.
In the less than one minute since entering the vault, its expression had evolved from single words and sentences to short phrases.
This speed made Lu Yuan’s back go cold.
Give it ten more minutes, and it might be able to speak in complete paragraphs.
Give it another month, and it might be able to think like a human.
Give it another year...
Lu Yuan did not let himself think further.
He was looking at the copper pillar.
Looking at the root system between the sphere and the copper pillar.
Looking at the scorched brown necrotic area at the bottom of the sphere.
“I can... stop.”
The voice suddenly became complete.
It was no longer popping out word by word, but coherent sentences.
“No longer... upward. The city above... I can avoid it.”
Lu Yuan’s gaze did not shift from the direction of the copper pillar.
While it was saying “I can avoid it,” not a single one of the greyish-green filaments stabbed into the runic grooves of the copper pillar was withdrawn.
Not only were they not withdrawn, the ones at the very front were still creeping upward at an extremely slow speed.
Its mouth said stop, but its body did not.
“What do you need?”
The voice became another notch clearer. The way of speaking became like a human’s.
“Knowledge, wealth, power, I have them all... My hyphae can... penetrate many... places.”
“...I will give them to you. Whatever you want... I will give it all to you...”
The voice of the hyphae became soft.
Like a mother coaxing a hesitant child.
Lu Yuan did not answer.
His gaze passed over the sphere and landed on the copper pillar behind it.
The greyish-green root system was still creeping upward.
Every second, it was devouring new runic grooves.
As the light from the sandworm oil lamp shone over, he could clearly see the movement of the filaments at the very front of the root system piercing into the copper surface—extremely slow, but never stopping.
Lu Yuan just watched.
He did not speak, nor did he make any movement.
The pulsing of the sphere became a bit more rapid in the silence.
It was waiting for a response.
“...What are you... thinking...”
The voices of the dozens of mouths took on a hint of an uncertain tone.
Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze and looked at the sphere.
“Where did you come from?”
Lu Yuan did not answer the sphere's question; instead, he asked it one.
The dozens of mouths all stopped at this moment.
The rhythm of the pulsing slowed down a few beats, as if it hadn't expected Lu Yuan to ask a question back.
After a brief silence.
“...I... have always... been here...”
“Always?” Lu Yuan’s tone had no ups or downs.
“The runes on the copper pillar have existed for at least several hundred years. If you had really always been here, it would be impossible for you to have only grown to this extent now.”
Silence.
A much longer silence than before.
Then the voice sounded again.
“...A long time ago... something... flowed in... from the rift...”
“...It wasn't me... seeds... in the cracks of the copper... waited for a long time...”
“...Until... the pipe network... changed...”
Lu Yuan made a mental note.
Seed.
Rift.
Waited for a long time.
“How did the pipe network change?”
“...The copper... grew weak...”
“...Those above... no longer...”
【Forbidden Lore: Knowledge Seeker: +0.3... 18.6/100】
The sphere’s answer was stumbling, and Lu Yuan did not press further.
He looked down at the bottom of the cave.
The range illuminated by the sandworm oil lamp was limited, but he saw many pale objects.
Those scattered on the ground were not stones.
They were bones.
Human bones.
A segment of a spine, half a shoulder blade, a few scattered finger bones.
There was also a metal button, the pattern on it corroded into a blur by sap.
After these people were used up, they fell off the vines and shattered on the ground.
They weren't even worth processing.
Lu Yuan looked up again, his gaze sweeping over those suspended hosts.
Humans, ghouls, crawlers, and those dark grey eerie he hadn't seen before.
“Just these?” Lu Yuan followed up.
“...What...”
“Your materials,” Lu Yuan’s voice was very light.
“Over a hundred humans, dozens of ghouls, plus other bits and pieces. You learned to speak by eating the brains of these things.”
He looked at the sphere.
“Is it enough?”
The sphere’s pulsing stopped for another beat.
“...Not enough...”
This time the answer was fast.
It was almost a blurting out.
A newly born consciousness did not yet understand what words should not be said.
“...Need... more...”
“...It has... never been enough...”
Lu Yuan did not respond.
Because he already knew.
While the root system said it would stop, it was still growing upward.
The credibility of its information was zero.
“How much is your promise worth?”
Lu Yuan spoke, his voice this time very calm, even carrying a hint of killing intent.
The dozens of mouths all stopped at once.
“You say you won't go up, but you need new brains to maintain your consciousness. Your roots are being burned by the copper pillar, and your body is rotting. To survive, you need more nourishment.”
“The eerie in the pipe network have been mostly eaten by you. The only direction you can obtain nourishment from is upward.”
“Your promise is worthless.”
The vault fell quiet.
The rhythm of the pulsing changed from a deliberate slowness to a rapid beat.
“...Then what do you want...”
“...Tell me... I can give it all...”
“...The secrets of this city... the structure of the pipe network... where those copper pillars actually lead...”
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