Chapter 1358: “The Sea”

The test was over. Everyone had retreated to a “safe distance” from the silver-white metal pillar standing at the center of the hall. Byron stared at the empty floor ahead, lost in thought.

It seemed there was an invisible boundary here—one step forward would trigger entry into a “judgment zone.” Then, the ancient system still running inside this tower would perform an “evaluation” on the intruder. Those who didn’t meet certain criteria would be warned and expelled; those who passed would be left alone.

For the sake of caution, Byron hadn’t dared let his soldiers risk ignoring the warning to see what would happen. After all, the original elves who stumbled here tens of thousands of years ago had already paid a heavy price. A super-advanced race, they were struck by the black technology left behind by the Voyagers—a mass mental debilitation spell combined with a genetic disorder debuff. When they finally escaped, they barely remembered how to operate their own ships. Knowing this history, Byron certainly wasn’t about to gamble on whether his soldiers could withstand the tower’s “security system.”

The test results were clear: except for the three sirens present and the dragonborn Asalina, no one here met the Voyagers’ “selection criteria.” Or, as the warning put it, they all triggered the “boundary-crossing condition.”

“What do you think?” Asalina’s voice came from beside him. The red-haired Dragonmark witch looked at Byron seriously. “Where do you think the problem lies?”

“…I suspect the criteria are racial. Humans don’t meet it, and neither did the original elves back then,” Byron muttered. “But sirens and dragonborn do… or rather, dragons. I don’t know the deeper reasons.”

Cassandra slithered over, her brow furrowed slightly. The siren woman asked, “So what’s the difference? What ‘traits’ do the Voyagers see that distinguish sirens, dragons, and humans?”

“The differences are huge,” Byron glanced at her. “No race is closer to you sirens than any other. Dragons are the same—the gap between dragons and humans is far greater than that between humans and elves or dwarves. Your origins trace back 1.8 million years…”

“Is the criterion strength? Individual evolutionary level?” Cassandra pondered seriously. Though most sirens seemed reckless and playful, they were a thoughtful race—just that their thoughts often confused outsiders. “Or is it based on whether you have a tail? I have a tail, Asalina has one when she transforms into a dragon, but humans and elves don’t…”

“Where do you come up with these ideas? Even thinking about it with your molars and heels, you’d know that can’t be it.” Byron gave Cassandra a strange look. Just then, Asalina suddenly lifted her head from her own thoughts, breaking the silence.

“Did you notice how the warning kept repeating the word ‘boundary-crossing’?”

“I did,” Byron nodded. “What are you thinking?”

“First, the system’s evaluation probably isn’t based on our ‘race’ itself. When the Voyagers arrived, humans, elves, and sirens didn’t even exist on this planet. So the criteria must be some attribute unrelated to race. Second, the word ‘boundary-crossing’… it reminds me of many research projects by the Divine Council.”

She looked up at the metal pillar nearby, thoughtful. “Crossing a boundary—stepping beyond one’s current domain into a forbidden zone—is a term with special meaning in divine contexts. The voice we heard was likely the tower’s advanced system scanning our cognition and language, then choosing the closest matching phrase. The Voyagers’ arrival was tied to the gods’ loss of control. Many of their relics here are connected to the divine. This is supported by records from Talrond and clues the Alliance recently uncovered in the ‘Gate’ project…”

Byron’s expression grew serious. He was beginning to grasp what Asalina was implying.

“So you think the tower’s criteria are…”

“Whether the approaching lifeform’s lineage is bound to the gods,” Asalina nodded, glancing at the sirens nearby. “Humans have partially broken free from the gods’ mental seals and are trying to loosen the divine system’s grip on their races, but they’re still far from escape. Sirens don’t have this problem—they lack the mental seals, and as elemental beings, they’re immune to ideological influence. As for me…”

She shrugged, her expression a little odd. “Dragons are already adults—and dragonborn are dragons.”

Byron’s mouth hung open for a long moment. After several seconds, his eyes flickered as he finally responded, his throat moving as if to speak, but in the end he admitted, “That’s probably true…”

“I’m just guessing,” Asalina waved her hand. “We can’t do further tests or long-term research. The tower doesn’t seem inclined to answer our questions. But I feel… the Voyagers’ legacy, designed to deal with gods, must have security measures tied to the divine.”

Cassandra listened, her eyes flicking between Byron and Asalina several times. Suddenly, she seemed to remember something and spoke up.

“Wait, I just thought of something. You say humans don’t qualify because of the gods’ influence, but over seven hundred years ago, Gawain Cecil climbed a Voyager tower—my sister even guided him. How do you explain that? He was human too, wasn’t he?”

Byron’s expression twisted awkwardly. Honestly, it wasn’t proper to discuss the empire’s ruler like this in private, but Cassandra was a firsthand witness to that event. And truthfully, Byron was curious too. He stroked his chin. “The tower His Majesty climbed back then wasn’t this one, right?”

Cassandra spread her hands. “No, it was south of our kingdom, probably far east from here. But the two towers look quite similar on the outside. Since both are Voyager relics, their ‘criteria’ should be similar, right? Especially if it’s divine-related—you can’t just switch towers and find a loophole…”

The siren’s point was valid. It was a difficult fact to explain. The adventure Gawain Cecil undertook seven centuries ago was shrouded in mystery, many truths lost to history. He himself had no interest in digging into the emperor’s secrets, so he shook his head.

“That’s not for me to decide. We just need to report what happened here. The key now is what we do next…”

As he finished, Asalina thought for a moment and stepped forward.

“I want to go see for myself. If we’re right, this should be the path to the upper levels of the tower.”

Byron jumped. “Are you sure? This is—”

“You and Cassandra weren’t warned, were you?” Asalina looked back. “Like you said, we’re incredibly lucky to have found this place. We can’t just leave confused. This tower isn’t like the one in Talrond that’s gone rogue. The Voyagers saved this planet 1.8 million years ago. Their relics shouldn’t harm us mortals under normal circumstances. Remember, the original elves ignored warnings and forced their way in—they were only collectively memory-wiped, transformed, and expelled. The security system here didn’t even use lethal force.”

As she spoke, she looked up at the silver metal pillar where it connected to the ceiling, a hint of longing in her eyes.

“The dragons paid a great price to become the first race on this planet to pass their ‘coming of age’ on their own. That’s why I can stand here, pass the Voyagers’ evaluation, and have the right to take a step forward. I feel… this is an invitation.”

“But these ‘criteria’ are mostly your guess,” Byron cautioned, knowing she’d already made up her mind. “Besides, even if you’re right, we don’t know if the tower’s systems still function properly after 1.8 million years. If it malfunctions, you could be in danger.”

“The safest place is lying in bed at home. The most stable life is being a good girl waiting to inherit the family fortune. If I were that cautious and timid, you wouldn’t even have met me,” Asalina laughed, then waved her hand. “Don’t worry. I’m a dragon—I’m not as fragile as you think.”

Byron frowned, conflicted for a long moment, then sighed with resignation and a hint of frustration.

“Fine. I can’t order you to stay here anyway.”

“Then I’m coming with you!” Cassandra immediately slithered forward to Asalina’s side. “If both of us can go up, it’s better to watch out for each other.”

She glanced back at the other two sirens she’d brought along and flicked her tail tip.

“You two stay here. I’m not sure how tall this tower is. If we lose contact with the magic network terminals up there, use your psychic songs to reach me.”

The impulsive sirens were even more reckless than the dragonborn, and Byron had no better plan, so he reluctantly approved their bold exploration.

After Asalina and Cassandra prepared their gear and supplies, Byron led the marines back to a safer distance, watching the two explorers approach the center of the hall.

They reached the silver metal pillar. The tower’s recognition system still gave no warning. Asalina looked up at the seamless metal wall, searching for any control panels but found none. She turned to her temporary teammate.

“Got any ideas?”

“I don’t know either,” Cassandra said, raising her tail tip to probe the mysterious metal surface. “But from experience, when you don’t understand something like this, just poke it…”

Before she finished, her tail tip jabbed the smooth metal.

Instantly, ripples of light spread out like waves. Asalina barely had time to mock Cassandra’s “siren-style exploration” when a faint hum sounded from inside the metal wall. The once seamless surface suddenly revealed countless hexagonal glowing grids. The metal shimmered, splitting, contracting, and retreating along the grid lines, unveiling a spacious cylindrical chamber within.

A voice echoed inside their minds: “Airlock opened. Visitor, permission granted to proceed.”

“You see? I told you, just a tap is enough,” Cassandra said triumphantly, turning to look at Asarena. “For relics left behind by advanced civilizations for less developed races, the simpler the operation, the better—unless they didn’t really want you to use it in the first place…”

Asarena had no response.

After carefully inspecting the interior through the suddenly opened door and confirming it was just a brightly lit cylindrical chamber, the two explorers finally stepped inside. They waved back at Byron and the others standing nearby. Then, the low humming sound returned as the silvery metal walls slid shut once more.

Asarena took a slow breath, trying to calm the nervous flutter in her chest. She knew she was now “locked” inside a facility left by a super-advanced civilization. So… what would happen next?

As if answering her unspoken question, the synthetic voice echoed again inside her mind—

“Inertial stabilizers normal. Gravity coupling points responding normally. Upper transit station responding normally. Confirming celestial feedback signal… signal normal.

“Transit path clear. Two visitors confirmed. Inertial stabilizers engaged.

“Orbital pod ascending—en route to Celestial Ring Space Station.”

A faint vibration suddenly pulsed beneath her feet, as if something had just powered on. Instinctively, Asarena gripped the circular handrail lining the cylinder’s edge. The trembling quickly subsided, and the brief sensation of upward acceleration vanished as if canceled out by some unseen force. She glanced at Cassandra in surprise, only to find the sea witch grinning excitedly, eyes darting around, her tail flicking rapidly against the floor.

She looked like a curious mix of cat and fish.

Asarena held tight to the rail. The chamber was perfectly still now—no sway, no sensation of rising—but the deep hum vibrating through the space reminded her that this elevator-like device was indeed in motion. She couldn’t see outside, but guessed she was being whisked swiftly toward the tower’s upper levels.

Then, the voice returned in her mind:

“Atmospheric boundary checkpoint passed…”

“Balance point checkpoint passed…”

“Optical masking layer breached. Entering cloaked segment. Viewing panel opening.”

Suddenly, another vibration rippled through the chamber, followed by the faint whir of machinery. In the next instant, both Asarena and Cassandra’s eyes widened in astonishment.

The “walls” surrounding the cylindrical chamber shimmered into countless hexagonal light patterns. The metallic-looking hull instantly turned transparent!

Asarena realized the elevator was now racing through a clear tube at incredible speed.

Outside the tube stretched an endless expanse of stars—more magnificent and countless than all the stars she had ever seen in her life, scattered across the vast, dark depths of space.

She stared in awe, feeling her breath catch and her heartbeat skip. She gripped the handrail tightly, as if afraid that one misstep might send her tumbling into that boundless, shadowy sea of stars.

For some reason, a detail from an ancient legend suddenly came to her mind:

—The ancient tower stood in the midst of an “Eternal Dark Sea,” a sea shrouded in perpetual night, filled with countless stars…

“So… the ‘Eternal Dark Sea’ was referring to this all along…”

(End of chapter)