novelraw Chapter 325 - 324 - Cultivated Science
Chapter 325 - 324 - Cultivated Science
Lind was deep under the surface but the lightning did not follow him down. It proved that whoever designed the dome knew not only how to deflect the lightning but to repel it entirely. Likely it was a combination of the material above and below working together.
If it was a superconductor above, then in front of Lind was an ultimate insulator. No matter how destructive lightning could be, if all its power was conducted away with an insulator to repel the rest, it would be the dream of every cultivator facing tribulation.
Still, it had to have a weakness, since it was man made.
Lind found a doorway sealed behind a shell that merged with the rest of the wall in front of him. The material was much lighter in color. It was almost a mint green if he was to describe it but when he touched it, it was far from the tasty treats mint usually made.
It was more like a foam or spongy material.
The thing that stunned him was even with his increased strength and power due to his dragon soul, he could not even put a mark on it!
Tal and Kora also tried but they also only bounced off of it.
"Impressive. If really can repel the Heavenly wrath power left over after the majority is conducted away. We certainly don't have that kind of power." Lind spoke out loud for his companions more than himself.
He realized that he was probably one of a handful of people that even knew what a revolving door was but he still had to get past the seal. It was not something he had never encountered but like much of the public, he only knew a brute force approach.
Smashing glass or using a car would get in a door but this door was designed of something he doubted even a dump truck could put a scratch in.
The material was well made and for any other cultivator it would be a dead end, but not for Lind.
His Qi flowed as he placed a hand on the seal to analyze it. He was able to simply breakdown what he was seeing until a smile crossed his face.
"Sometimes the best choice is the simplest." Lind focused on a lock that simply kept the seal in place. It would resist any attack but picking the lock was not something the Heavens would think to do!
It took him more than half a day until he understood the actual locking mechanism but like everything else, it was very much based on Earth. Locks were universal but using a key was Earth style versus a sealing array like cultivators would use.
It was genius as most cultivators would try to use seal breaking formations to no effect. The assumptions behind the design would thwart 99% of all cultivators.
There was finally a click and the panel separated from the right side of the seal's outline. Lind slid it aside as Kora and Tal followed him inside.
The moment the seal broke, lightning sparks tried to come down but the seal responded instantly to slam back into place. Lind was stunned as he felt no sense of formations responding at all but that required formations to detect the lightning in the first place.
"Cultivation and science together. Someone has advanced science with cultivation or maybe they tried to reduce cultivation to science." Lind wondered if such a thing was possible in either direction.
He tried pushing on the panel in front of him but it did not move. They were in ⅓ of the revolving door but it was clearly locked in place. He once more examined the mechanism and saw the cylinder was strangely locked in place by something he recognized.
It was a formation plate.
The material repelled energy created by Qi, but he found his darkness Qi could slide through the cracks this time. The seal was intended to leave no gap, but the plate just kept the door from moving.
Once his Qi touched the plate he recognized it as a grade 4 plate. That seemed like overkill but he examined it carefully before realizing it was simply a lock, nothing more. Once he activated the formation, the cylinder actually pushed them along until the Qi ran out.
They emerged into a complex that was closer to science fiction than cultivation. Metal stairs led up to platforms covered in what looked a lot like computer interfaces. Compared to the mobile suits that looked like a machine but were refined items, Lind felt no inscriptions nor formations.
It really was some kind of monitoring system. He examined the lights and switches but the labels were in a language he did not recognize. It meant it was not from the current world, but his old one.
If it was Spanish, maybe a touch of German, he would know what he was looking at, but it was closer to Japanese or Chinese. As he could read neither, it would take him time to learn. Still, the arrangement seemed wrong.
He had seen movies from those countries and how they labeled things. These panels seemed much simpler or maybe he was simply putting too much faith in old movies.
Still, he touched nothing and warned both Kora and Tal to also not do so.
The metal gangplank took them to a much larger space. Lind felt his jaw drop as he saw something he had only heard of in science fiction for sure. Giant walls of metal tubes lined a massive room, yet it was only a small part of the dome he had seen outside.
He slowly followed a path that went by one set of cylinders but there was not the expected human inside, but a glowing flame! It was bright violet! His own harmony resonated so he recognized it but how was it outside a cultivator? How was any of this possible?!
Lind had replicated nature but whoever made this place replicated the technology of Earth and improved on it to work with Qi. He could See the flow of Qi but there was no rhyme or reason to it.
He expected fire and light to make electricity but that was not what he Saw. All 6 elements seemed to flow along the cables connected to each tube but not consistently. He saw fire, water, and earth flowing in a single cable yet no issues were noted by him.
He refrained from trying to use his Forging or Heavenly Touch, but he truly wondered how it was achieved!
He also wanted to know the source. The lightning was not being utilized, so where did the World Realm quality Qi come from?
He also did not understand why the Heavens would be wrathful to the facility he saw but likely it was not this part that was the issue.
"Do not touch anything, also you can assume your human forms." Tal and Kora happily nodded but then became concerned. Tal started braying but he quickly consoled her while Kora flapped her wings in frustration.
"You can't transform?" They both nodded but Lind looked at his hand and willed his own transformation. Emerald scales appeared at first but then he also felt immense pressure push back until his hand was human once more.
He stretched out his senses but it did not seem like an attack but a side effect. The tubes created some kind of field that prevented the harmonies from dispersing and also prevented transformations.
Because he only tried to do his hand, he crossed whatever threshold triggered the field.
"So that is how they keep the harmonies safe. It still leaves me wondering why." Lind comforted his companions before moving on. He saw many colors and shades but after nearly a half a day they still had not left the tubes behind.
He saw no branching corridors or doors to leave but there were many stairwells to reach the other floors but he wondered how to get out of this part of the complex.
It was only a few moments later he felt the breeze. He followed it carefully and finally saw that there was a recessed doorway 2 floors down. He found the stairwells and helped Tal down until they found a sliding door.
A cultivator would be stuck but Lind saw a control panel. He pressed a giant yellow button and the door hissed as it slid aside.
He was stunned to find a stone street in front of him but its quality was far above the others he had encountered. It also had no arrays or formations to make it stronger. The complete lack of cultivation artifacts yet using Qi made him very curious.
He emerged into an open space with fairly stale air but none of them were in any danger. World Realms could go without air for a few weeks and stale air was not harmful to them at all. Still, it told him the structures around him had no life in them.
Was there no one left at all?
He then realized there was fresh air back in the facility he just left behind. He turned around and saw a rather large round office building structure that was clearly Earth inspired. The scale, however, was definitely from the cultivation world.
"I get it now. They cultivate science. Whoever made this place chose to bring science to a higher level but for what purpose was it used?" The complexity of the structure was supported by the simple implementation of Qi as a power source.
They somehow resolve elemental conflict so any element could be used but what would he find in the other structures. Also, what in the complex invoked the wrath of Heaven?
He stretched out his senses and was finally able to see into each structure with ease. There were several more tube filled office structures, but he also saw strange buildings as well. There were office cubicles for some reason and Lind had a reflexive desire to destroy them.
Still, there was no life until he reached near the center of the dome. He was stunned to feel the presence of a World Realm aura that was alive. He wanted to rush there but he did not want to trigger any traps.
They slowly made their way forward but nothing reacted at all and he only saw more empty buildings. There was no sign of evacuation or death, just an eerily empty expanse of structures.
What was all of it for and why was it empty of even bones? Where did all the people go?
They finally came to the center and he saw something much more inline with his current world. It was a temple. It was made of stone and had arrays, formations, and even some refined artifacts imbedded into it.
"Let's see if anyone is home." Lind prepared his body for a fight as he walked into the dark opening of the temple as the feeling of life was coming from inside. Was the secret inside or was it a victim of whoever made this place? Only moving forward would reveal that answer.