Chapter 174: Mysteries in the Deep

Mid Morning - Mid Summer : Deep Ocean (West of Central Sirathian Mountains)

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*Crumble* Finally moving for the first time in over a week, I felt the ground beneath me crumble slightly.

Carefully watching the small stone that broke off fall into the darkness, I held high hopes. -Did that thing really move on?-

Once the stone vanished into the darkness, I decided to just cross my fingers and wish for the best.

-I'll take my chances..- Very carefully moving more towards the edge of the overhang, I did everything I could to minimize my presence and effect on the current. Predators at this depth, although having eyes, mostly relied on aura and currents to determine where prey was.

-Well..- Looking back down into the dark abyss, I felt a deep unease but quickly shook it off. -If that really was a metal structure that was creaking.. It'll make for one hell of a discovery..- My curiosity had been eating me away for the past week as I waited for the serpent to swim off. -And it's finally time..-

With a serious look, I dumped my focus into controlling the currents and minimizing my presence as much as possible. -Here goes nothing..-

With a light push off the ledge, I glided out into the open water and started carefully controlling my descent to the bottom.

As I sank, I took careful note of the currents and came to realize that the overhang I had been standing on was actually the top of the entrance to a huge cave. -This must be where that serpent is living or nesting..-

Continuing to sink, the ledge above me faded into the darkness and I officially couldn't see anything but open water.

There was an unusual feeling of hopelessness that I felt as I floated there, but before I could chicken out, the sandy bottom finally came into view.

From what I could tell, the 'cave' was a little over two kilometers from top to bottom and had a strong inward current on the bottom and outward on the top.

At first, I questioned how that would naturally be possible but the more I thought about it, the more likely the possibility of it not being natural became. 

Before I knew it, a deep anxiousness started to build in my stomach, but I didn't waste any time on it. -Now isn't the time for uncertainty..-

Quickly swimming along the bottom, I made my way towards where I thought the sound came from. -It should be right around here..-

As I got close to where I thought it might be, I felt a weird warp in the fabric of space beneath the sand and probed it with my aura.

-..I'm sorry, what?- Quickly moving aside the sand covering it, I came face to face with a huge jet-black cable made of a material that simply couldn't exist without a deep understanding of atomic structures.

The cable used a mix of insanely intricate mana strengthening and layers of carbon that were woven within one another for the sole purpose of increasing the max tension of the cable, the cable was clearly made by someone who knew as much or more science than me.

Unsure of how to feel or think about it, I looked up and followed the cable through the sand until I came up to a fairly large rectangular pillar with the top sticking out of the sand.

Although also made with woven carbon, the pillar was woven differently to be stronger against perpendicular breaks, but that, although quite fascinating, wasn't what caught my eye.

On the top of the pillar was a carving that had an odd flow of mana around it. -Is this really.. a rune?-

It was a rune completely unlike anything I had ever seen, lacking every part I thought was necessary, yet somehow feeling flawless.

Quickly trying to see what the rune did, I attempted to make a copy but quickly ran into problems.

Every time I tried to make the rune, it would simply dissipate before I could run my mana through it. -Why though..?-

I was at a total loss on how to get it to work. -There must be something I'm missing..-

Hurriedly scanning over the rune on the pillar on an atomic level, I noticed something I didn't expect. -Wow.. to think that is actually causing issues..- 

All around the carvings of the runes, the seemingly perfect carbon bonds had broken and stuck out into the rune just slightly.

Although this wouldn't usually be a problem, since those little imperfections normally barely snag any mana, over time, it had clogged the entire rune. -For so much mana to accumulate on that… just how old is this thing?-

Taking an even closer look at the clogged mana, I quickly noticed some oddly crystalline mana in the mix almost as if something had been strengthened. -Wait.. is that not just coincidentally clogged mana?- Quickly copying it into my rune, I ran a bit of mana into it with halted breath.

-Okay.. it's not dissipated yet.. that's an improvement..- Continuing to give it a bit of fuel, I watched as it intricately moved the mana around and mixed attributes before taking a single proton and inverting it.

-W..what.. is that..- Although it looked like a proton, it felt like an electron.. sort of. -What.. are you?-

Unable to really come to a conclusion on what it was, I moved back over to the pillar, cleaned up the rune, and unclogged the mana.

*Brm* Almost immediately, it lightly hummed and started glowing an ominous light blue color.

-To put off such a horrific amount of radiation.. that weird particle must be used for power..- I was still confused but was starting to piece things together. -But what's that power used for?-

Going against my better judgment, I decided to give the rune a good bit of my own mana.

*brrrr-RRRMMM* Instantly kicking up a gear, the hum grew louder and the glow got brighter.

Closely watching the inside of the pillar, I watched as the unknown particles were made along with a huge amount of electricity and transported down tubes made of insanely charged wires. These wires would keep the particles from touching anything, since, as soon as they did, they would destroy themselves along with the matter it touched and release a genuinely horrific amount of energy.

That was the first time in my life I felt genuinely scared of something science-related, but at the same time, it made me unreasonably excited.

I couldn't help but watch in a trance as the particles were transported out of the pillar and into another cable that progressively lit up as the particles passed through it.

Unable to keep up with how fast the particles traveled, I stayed near the pillar and simply supplied it with as much mana as it could handle.

The cable quickly extended beyond the point where I could see it with light magic and lifted off the ground before fully disappearing into the darkness.

Just when I thought I'd have a moment to sort my thoughts though, a very faint but massive blue glow stretched out from the darkness.

*hummmMmMMmmMMMMMMM* As if warming up, a violent hum accompanied the glow. 

-What the..- I barely had time to get a thought out before blinding white lights blasted out from the darkness.

Unable to continue holding myself back, I immediately darted down the cable towards the lights and came up to a massive kilometer-tall cube-like structure floating in the water with dozens of cables tying it to the ground.

The building was covered in sediment and looked as if it hadn't been powered on in several millennia, but that was the least surprising aspect.

Written all over its sides were symbols of a language I had never seen. A language that didn't feel familiar in the slightest. -A language that's not from this world..-