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Once we finally arrived at a large enough area, we were greeted with a strange sight, something we've never seen before in this fantasy world, a laboratory.
"What… is this place?" Miranda wondered.
"Some sort of laboratory?" Wondered Benladann. "It reminds me slightly of how the lab looked before… I came here."
"Is it?" I wondered, looking around.
"Weird…" Kate wondered. "But somehow strangely familiar."
"Hmm, I-I don't like this place…" Benladra, who was very brave, seemed rather afraid for some reason.
"Calm down, it's just an old ruin." I said, caressing her head. "Let's explore things calmly. Tyrannus, and your group, don't get separated, stay behind us. That goes for you too, Emerald."
"Okay…" Emerald said, with a slightly tired expression.
"Very well…" Tyrannus nodded, looking around at our surroundings with curiosity and wonder.
"So this is how the depths of the Ancient Ruins looked like?"
"It feels like we shouldn't be here…"
"Are these the tools of an ancient civilization?"
"Strange…"
The warriors following Tyrannus kept close to him, but still wandered around, looking everywhere curiously.
The entire structure was rather futuristic looking. The walls were covered on blue circuits and made of a strong and ancient metal named "Technomancium" which I had never seen before.
There were broken, large computers, devices that perhaps generated holograms, enormous glass tubes shattered into pieces, and the floor was both covered on moss and mold, and many vines and trees roots.
As we walked through, we saw dried out bookshelves, whose books I couldn't read, written on a strange language. There were many other tools just lying around, but they were all dysfunctional.
Nonetheless, it was very strange and bizarre, and it gave us a sense of dread and fear of the unknown like nothing else.
Why are these things down here? Where do they come from? Who put them down here? And why did that monster originated from this abandoned laboratory?
Yet, one of the more intriguing things was the System's reaction to all of this.
["This place… this technology…"]
"System? Is there something wrong?"
["I-I don't know… It just feels so weirdly… familiar."]
"Familiar…?" I wondered. "Now that I think about it, Kate, you also find it familiar?"
"Nn." Kate nodded. "Mom too?"
["I do… But I can't remember a thing… Kate was born from a part of my own self, so perhaps she shares this same feeling…"]
"But why would this completely alien place be familiar to you guys?" Miranda wondered. "It doesn't make sense… Unless… but that doesn't make sense either, you're a manifestation of Drake's Unique Skill, right? So… why would you even feel like you had memories to begin with?"
["I was thinking the exact same thing as well, Miranda…"]
"Well, it's not like she's any different to you though, you also manifested as a Unique Skill, yet you're much more than that…" Benladann said. "We shouldn't just scratch that possibility…"
"Hmmm…" I wondered, rubbing my chin.
Suddenly, I noticed a row of many glass tubes which were broken open. Some had plants inside, and not normal ones, each one seemed much more strangely mutated.
There was one small seedling growing there, a tiny tree that couldn't grow larger.
The second glass tube had a much larger one, with strange red eyes spread about its body.
The third tube had one that was decaying and falling apart, but I could clearly notice it had many large eyes, tumors, red bark, and tentacles...
And the fourth… was empty, only with vines and leaves left.
There was text beneath the glass tubes, but I couldn't read it either… However, with the System's deciphering and analytic abilities, we were able to somehow decipher some of the text.
There was something saying [Seedling… Creation… Mutation], [Pandemonium… Lung], another area had a text saying [Adaptability Analysis] and [Alien Biosphere Terraforming], and lastly, [Test Subjects], and each large glass tube had a number, from 1 to 4, all named "Seedling Test Subject".
Strange, were they trying to make a plant monster?
These trees are all dead though, looking almost fossilized. However, they seemed to still hold some of their former essence, a strange, magical, and spiritual essence.
This essence… it reminds me of the aura that Root had.
"Papa, look, there's something over there!" Suddenly, Benladra pointed at the distance.
"A strong light is coming from over there…" Emerald nodded. "I'm feeling something strange…"
There was a huge metallic gate blocking our path, leading to a completely different room. Within the crevices, we could sense a strong divine aura of light emerging from within.
"Can we get through there?" I wondered. "Maybe it's finally time to brute force things?"
"Hmm, let me see."
Miranda slowly began to analyze things with her powers, which had grown to give her [Demonic Supernatural Senses] that surpass the power of [Divine Senses], not only allowing her to see through physical objects, but to peek at different planes of reality, such as the ethereal plane, spiritual plane, or the dream plane.
FLAAAASH!
She gently touched the door and closed her eyes, trying to concentrate, but suddenly felt something, a spark of lightning reached her head, as she cried, falling to her knees.
"UGH…!"
"Miranda!"
Benladann and I immediately ran to her side, seeing if she was alright.
"I'm fine, don't worry… It's just that, there's something there blocking my senses. Something powerful, it felt like a barrier of sorts… I wonder if your black flames could break it?" Asked Miranda.
"Barrier, you said?"
"If that barrier is…"
"Maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to destroy it!"
The warriors panicked after hearing the word "barrier", Tyrannus quickly calmed down his people, as he directed his words towards me.
"Could it be possible for that barrier to be part of the Divine Barrier?" Tyrannus wondered.
"It is…" Emerald suddenly spoke out of nowhere. "The Winds are speaking to me, this might be the source of the Divine Barrier, a Core of sorts, a very strong one."
"A core?!" Tyrannus asked. "But… is the monster there?! How did it get there? Can it manipulate this huge door somehow?"
"I-I don't know, it's strange, it feels like there… a different world over there." Said Emerald, feeling confused.
"I can sense another fragment of the inheritance…" Suddenly, a humanoid-shaped white phantom materialized at my side.
"UWAAAH!"
Everyone cried in fear as it appeared out of nowhere.
"Zero?" I asked, quickly recognizing him. "So this is… A Dungeon Core?"
"One left by my master, no less!"
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