Chapter 297: Chapter 206: The Truth of the Darkness Clan!
Everyone finally arrived at a majestic castle where there was sufficient light.
Having walked down the corridor, Long Yi and the Crown Prince were each assigned a room.
"Dear guests from afar, please take a rest first. After dinner, we will then visit the golem," the Dark Lady mentioned.
Dinner?
Long Yi looked outside at the full sky of fireflies, really not feeling it was noon at all.
"Okay, thank you!" As a Crown Prince, representing the face of his nation, he was naturally polite. After the Dark Lady left, the Crown Prince explained to Long Yi that the timing method in the Dark City was exactly the same as on the ground. They estimated the time through the density of fireflies in the sky. As time progressed towards noon, the number of fireflies would increase. Then, as the afternoon arrived, the number would decrease until there were no fireflies in the sky by night.
These fireflies might seem insignificant to human eyes, but were extremely bright for the people of the Dark Clan and very intuitive for them.
However, it is interesting that, although they are an underground race, they still maintain similar living habits as creatures living above ground.
Long Yi practiced a set of fist-fighting techniques in his room. After all, having slept in an awkward position, he needed to loosen his muscles and activate his blood circulation.
Then, lunch arrived.
Basically, the food was the usual fare. The vegetables seemed nothing special, but there was one dish that was particularly memorable.
It was some sort of meat. The taste was not especially delicious, nor was it unpleasant; it was rather chewy. What Long Yi loved most about it was the flavor of the dish.
Spicy!
Since entering this world, Long Yi had seldom tasted anything spicy. This left him, who used to be fond of spicy food, extremely dissatisfied. Little Zi’s cooking skills were certainly great, but it would be even better if it had some spiciness.
In the Dark City, almost every dish was spicy! That meat dish was especially so! Although Long Yi didn’t see any chili or taste any pepper in the food, the spicy flavor was truly unforgettable.
The Crown Prince, who was traveling with him, was having a hard time, but Long Yi was enjoying it completely! This long-missed feeling was really touching!
After lunch, the Dark Lady appeared again, now wearing a new set of clothing. Long Yi thought she would put on some formal attire, but instead, she was wearing a work uniform. Judging by the oil stains and mottled scratches on it, though it had been washed, it certainly wasn’t her first time wearing it.
"Mr. Long Yi, did you enjoy your lunch?" the Dark Lady asked casually.
"Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic!" Long Yi gave a thumbs up in approval.
"Fantastic." For some reason, Long Yi noticed that the expression on the Dark Lady’s face seemed to have relaxed a lot.
"But, may I ask how you managed to achieve the spicy flavor?" Long Yi was curious about the origin of the spiciness.
"Sure, but can we first go to repair the golem?" For some reason, Long Yi detected a shift in the Dark Lady’s tone. It was more peaceful than before and also more respectful. Was it because he enjoyed spicy food, which made them more favorable towards him?
"Sure, let’s go." Long Yi wasn’t bothered—he felt maybe it was a secret.
The Dark Lady led the way, with Long Yi and the Crown Prince flanking her. The guards of the Dark City and the Crown Prince’s guards were on both sides. The path was quiet as they advanced without encountering any obstacles. Long Yi was genuinely intrigued by the various customs of the Dark City, but he didn’t know how to start asking about them.
Fortunately, as a Crown Prince, he had outstanding diplomatic skills. With a few casual talks, he learned a lot.
The location of the Dark City was a secret, but it was confirmed that the city was around seventeen kilometers underground. Being so deep underground, it was mostly unaffected by natural disasters.
Almost every resident of the Dark City mastered a craft, which was the construction of crystal core golems. Mostly, these were ordinary structures. The Dark City itself was built on the basis of crystal core energy. With unparalleled mastery of crystal core energy, the Dark City has made more progress in utilizing external forces than any other city on the surface. Following the excavation of ancient relics a long time ago, golem technology has become the most impressive aspect of the Dark City.
All artificially constructed creatures that could act independently and were powered by crystal cores in the Dark City were referred to as golems. They created cat golems to deal with mice, bat golems to deal with mosquitoes, and firefly golems to solve lighting problems.
Of course, there were also battle armors, which were essentially a type of golem.
Essentially, all of these came from a genuine golem found in an ancient relic.
While the Dark Lady was speaking, she led everyone in front of a very tall door.
The door was twenty meters high, and its metallic luster flickered under the dim light around it.
"Open the door," the Dark Lady commanded.
Then, the massive half-meter-wide double doors slowly opened. Long Yi could even see the complex structure on both sides of the doors as they opened.
"Sorry, this place is off-limits to the Dragon Clan," the Dark Lady told Long Yi.
Bajie nonchalantly found a corner to sit and sulk, his mind still savouring the taste of the meat he had earlier. Little Zi flew over and landed on Bajie’s head.
At last, behind the door, everyone saw the destination of their journey.
A real Golem.
It was a strapping male figure, its body over ten meters high, completely made of metal and carved with Heavy Armor. Its hands were held in a way as though it was clutching a Greatsword.
It was apparent that many parts of the Golem’s body had been pried open. There were several scaffolds around it, with members of the Dark Clan hustling everywhere.
"So, it’s hidden here." The Fine Gold Golem chuckled.
"Old acquaintance?" Long Yi asked.
"Not really, but I know him. The last and the most potent Golem, who never experienced a real battle and was packed away, even without any weapons given to him. This chap ran out of the warehouse and killed more than a hundred dragons bare-handed before being tossed into volcano magma by a group of dragons. I never thought, he would reappear here."
The Fine Gold Golem said."
"By that logic, this fella is indeed quite fierce!" He killed over a hundred dragons bare-handed without a weapon, how could one not call him fierce.
"Yes, it’s because back in the day Giant’s technology could provide him with almost an infinite source of energy. Look at that hole in his chest area, yes, the spot where the Dark Clan people are entering and exiting from, that used to be the energy core. Where would you find such an enormous energy core now?" The Fine Gold Golem asked rhetorically.
Long Yi and the Fine Gold Golem spoke softly, and so, their conversation was heard by almost no one.
An energy core, Long Yi measured it to be approximately a metre in diameter. Making such a large core with the current crystal core technology would scare anyone to death.
"So, what should we do?" Long Yi asked in return.
"Well, we’ll have to wait and see. This chap was said to be none too bright, and getting dumped into magma might have caused damage. Whether it can move or not is up for debate."
When the Dark Saintess arrived, all those working immediately descended from their high workplaces. No command was needed; everyone left the scene through the front gate.
"I apologize, Crown Prince, would you and your guards please leave this area?" The Dark Saintess said.
The Crown Prince nodded in understanding. The upcoming conversation was undoubtedly very sensitive and certainly pertained to the darkest secrets of the Underground City, hence he immediately left with his guards. Not to mention him, even the guards of the Dark Saintess left the scene as well.
In that place, only Long Yi and the Dark Saintess were left.
Watching the Crown Prince leave, the heavy door slowly closed.
"Well then, Saintess, what are we doing..."
Long Yi turned his head, but his sentence was left unfinished.
Because standing behind him, the Dark Saintess had quietly undressed herself at some unknown point!
Wait! She wasn’t entirely naked, she was wearing a work suit!
Wait a second! Is this the cliché plot twist often used in fantasy novels? Am I her never-seen-before master? And is she offering herself to her master? As a man, do I accept? Or do I accept? Or do I accept?
"Calm down, you pervert. Look at her chest." The Fine Gold Golem slapped Long Yi’s shoulder, shifting his gaze to the Dark Saintess’s chest.
There, Long Yi saw a mechanically complex device the size of a girl’s fist, with lights flickering.
Seeing this device, Long Yi was momentarily stunned, then figured out what was going on.
"You guys, are from the Core Clan."
During the grand war between the Giants and the Dragon Clan, the Giants discovered several countermeasures. For example, they created powerful golems to challenge the dragons. These golems had tremendous defensive capabilities, could use Fighting Aura and magic, and held a superior position in their fights against the Dragon Clan. However, the Dragon Clan later found a way to defeat these golems, which was to destroy the core of the golems. The golems used the core as their hub, and the vast energy flowed from the core to the golem’s body. Once the core was damaged, the golem would instantly become a heap of junk metal.
To counteract this, the Giants created intelligent cores.
The cores were no longer cold machines, but living beings, compact humans.
The Giants referred to them as the Core Clan. They were smarter and more agile. They could transform themselves into the cores of the golems, turning golems that could only follow instructions into a moving armor with wisdom. If the core sensed danger, it would decide independently to detach from the golem body, reverting to a human form.
It could be said that it was a perfect planning. However, unfortunately, this plan emerged just a bit too late.
By then, the Giants’ failure was already apparent, and a couple of armor units could not resolve it.
"That year, our ancestor piloted the Dragon Killer Battle Armor and killed 103 Flying Dragons. Still, he finally lost due to being outnumbered and was thrown into the lava. However, could the great creation of the Giants be destroyed by mere Magma? Our ancestor was brought here by the lava while he was unconscious. He used his extraordinary abilities from the core and his knowledge to build this Underground City. After that, he moved every one of us, the Core Clan, into this place to hide. He firmly believed that the Giants would return, and the Dragon Clan would be destroyed." (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote for this piece on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please, go to m.qidian.com to read.)
