Annan did think about this possibility.
The elves dismantled the curse shaft, not because all elves were enlightened and hated the use of curse energy to harm the world. Their civilization was prosperous, but this did not mean they had high morality.
They would choose to dismantle the curse shaft, solely because the emperor at that time had far-sighted wisdom. He predicted that if the curse energy were to be reused, the Great Barrier might collapse… Moreover, the curse energy that was mined wasn’t used to create strong individuals or for technological research, rather, it was mostly used for various luxurious and meaningless purposes.
For the sake of future generations, he decided to ban the use of curse energy — anyone found to be using curse energy would be sentenced to the “death penalty”.
Under the emperor’s supervision, it took more than a century for the elves to reluctantly abandon the practice of extracting curse energy. The officials resorted to violence, coaxing, and intimidation before finally giving it up. It was only after three hundred years that they finally adapted to a new life without curse energy.
—Since the elves dismantled the curse shaft reluctantly…
It was entirely possible that the elves somewhere would risk the death penalty and secretly leave behind one or two small curse shafts.
Annan thought of this possibility when he came into contact with the Silverstone Curse Shaft through the Child’s nightmare.
Now it seemed like his prediction was true.
“How do you open this door?” Wandering Child tried pushing the door.
The Child asked the others excitedly, “How about I melt it down? This is different from the Silverstone Curse Shaft. I feel that it is an ordinary rock and can be melted.”
When Annan recruited the Child into the party, Annan had already mentioned that he might need to melt a city wall or a gate or something. However, after he arrived, aside from melting the ceiling when jumping out of the sewer, he didn’t really do anything else.
Along the journey, he watched Citalopram taking two opponents down with suicidal attacks and Suuankou’s explosive contribution, which made him eager to stand out.
“Aren’t you the Elf Profession?” Zoya, on the other hand, threw her hand up and looked at the Child hesitantly, “Don’t you know how to open this kind of door?”
“The place where I learned Aero Strike didn’t let me enter the curse shaft.” The Child spread his hands helplessly.
[Aero Strike] was the prerequisite for Wind Dancer. When he was studying the Aero Strike dungeon instance, when he was with Miss Boffis, he also wanted to take a look inside the Silverstone Curse Shaft. However, as soon as he approached the vault and was still in the phase where the scene in front of him was split, he was mercilessly kicked out.
“…We are all greedy people…” Annan whispered.
“What?” Suuankou asked subconsciously, only to be lightly yet firmly hit on the arm by Citalopram as a sign to keep quiet.
The two Winter’s Hands focused their attention on Annan.
Annan looked at the rune on the door and recited word by word.
That was not Elvish language… but Frostwhisper language. Frostwhisper could be regarded as the dialect of elves that communicates with dragons. The writing and grammar were different from ordinary Elvish languages… probably similar to the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin.
Even elves might not necessarily understand Frostwhisper.
As a Frostwhisper, Annan could comprehend the text on the door.
He read slowly, “We are all people who long for hope…”
“We are all arrogant and corrupt people…”
“We are all rebels. We are all guilty. We are all unpardonable sinners. We are all beyond redemption, even in death.”
“We are nameless watchers—”
“—Anyone who is guilty shall not pass through this door.”
The moment Annan finished reciting, a strange hallucination appeared before his eyes.
He seemed to notice that the stairs surrounding him were filled with people. They were looking down at Annan’s party in silence. However, when Annan came back to his senses, he realized that there was nothing here.
There was no way he couldn’t see the spirit body. However, there was nobody here.
However, that feeling didn’t seem like a mere hallucination.
Annan glanced at Zoya and added, “That’s all. I think there might be something behind the door.”
“Don’t melt it yet. Maybe it is some kind of ancient seal? It’s better to be on the safe side.”
As for this door…
Annan pondered for a moment and then reached out to push the door.
Strangely, the moment Annan touched the door, it was pushed open lightly as if it carried no weight. Annan even stumbled a little.
Zoya was also a little curious. She came over and pushed the door… However, she realized that it was tough to push it, but it felt like an ordinary heavy object. It wasn’t like how it couldn’t budge when the Child pushed it.
“You stay here for now. Even though you can melt open this door, we still want to be on the safe side.”
Annan thought for a moment and said to Wandering Child, “I believe this door can detect curse energy. Those who have used it won’t be able to pass through.”
“Then, I’ll wait for you here.” The Child nodded.
Zorgen looked at the Child and tried to push the door. It seemed more difficult for him to push it compared to Zoya like he could barely push it.
“It seems that I have been judged to be a sinner.” Zorgen thought for a moment and whispered, “Then, I will stay here with him? It’s too dark here.”
“Remember to let us know if anything happens.”
Annan directed these words to the child — This place is somewhat bizarre but much better than the last nightmare. At least here, players can still contact each other, send private messages, and use voice chat.
They quickly passed through the door.
After passing through a narrow corridor that was just wide enough to accommodate two people side by side, the space suddenly opened up. Annan finally saw the true structure of the “curse shaft”.
It was a massive instrument on a square platform.
It was at least 30 meters tall, resembling a globe. However, the pure white crescent shape was not entirely perpendicular to the ground but tilted at about 15 degrees. This revealed the faintly golden sphere cradled in its center, with its axis exposed both above and below… And this crescent, like the Earth’s rotation, was revolving slowly around the light sphere.
The light sphere in the middle was not a pure sphere — there was a beam of light near the top and bottom.
Near the bottom, there was a dark gray, extremely viscous liquid. It appeared to be only as thick as three fingers held together and was flowing upwards, against gravity, into the very center of the light sphere.
Gradually, it was being decomposed and assimilated by the light sphere, transforming into a golden stream of light.
Above the light sphere emanated a thin stream of golden light, about half as thick as a pinky finger.
It looked incredibly dreamlike, slightly dispersed, resembling a gathering of many fireflies… But Annan had no doubts — this was the “curse energy” stored in jars.
Around this square-shaped giant platform, there was a circular platform with intricate inscriptions carved all over it. It was the same size as the outer “lecture room” and the two rooms together looked like an “8.”
“That’s…” Annan couldn’t help but mutter.
His “brilliance” element was awakened to its limit. Light was no longer an obstacle to him, but his ally, a part of him.
Therefore, Annan was able to see through the light and discern what was hidden in the middle of the light sphere instrument.
The core component of the device that continuously transformed the filthy, putrid, black-gray, and primal mana into a pale gold and inert mana was not some intricate, complex machine, nor was it an extremely grand magic circle.
Instead, it was a curled-up, transparent, and incomplete fetus.
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