( Geonmi planet at the entrance of the ancient city )
Max had brought alongside him Sebastian, Severus, Asiva, Anna, Roven, Zippo and 88 other soldiers.
Lucius on the other hand brought 4 personal guards with himself to bring the party's total strength to 100.
The entrance to the lost civilization was a tricky one as to reach there one needed to traverse a very unstable iron mine, that looked like it was abandoned hastily when someone accidentally found the entrance to the ancient city.
It was only when Max stood at the edge of the entrance that he realised that the entrance the miners had found was not a proper entry point into the underground city, but rather an abrupt entry point that had been found because of sheer dumb luck.
To enter the solid ground from the mine's entrance one needed a rope to lower themselves for an additional 150 metres before they actually entered the city.
Having the passive ability of night vision, Max was able to get a better look at the looming city under his feet as he realised that some ancient civilization had created an underground city about 300 metres below the surface of planet Geonmi with such technology that it was still standing till date.
There was one massive pillar at the heart of the city which seemed to be supporting most of the weight of the land above ground, whereas there were 14 other smaller pillars which supported the construction.
The city was sprawled for about 10 kilometres in length and about 6 kilometres in width, with the boundaries being in an uneven oval formation.
There were small weird light sources in the city which reminded him of bioluminescent plants that grew in Earth's ocean, but overall it was pretty dark.
" We need a rope to descend…. Anna do the honours " Max instructed as he let Anna stand on the edge as the Archer shot one arrow with a rope fastened towards the ground at a 45° incline, while the other end of the rope towards the top of the mine structure they were standing at to create a zipline.
After checking the zipline for weight and sturdiness, Anna slung a piece of cloth over the zipline and was the first explorer to slide right in.
" After you-" Max signalled to Lucius, who jumped right after Anna as his four guards followed him, before Max and the rest followed.
[ System Notification - You have entered 'special zone', the secret gathering city of the abyssal magi, Verondstat ]
' Special Zone? ' Max wondered as he wished to check with Drax if he had any knowledge about this location.
' Special zones are places where the laws of death are applied selectively. It's a domain created by special mages in the ancient era.
Here, those given special connection to the city's core can never die within the city's domain as the city core will collect and preserve their soul, essentially working as a system designed safe-zone.
However, other people can die normally. ' Drax informed Max as the old A.I. had quite a bit of knowledge about the working mechanisms of this age because it was from the period when he was actively serving lord Agni.
' During the ancient era, the Magi were a crazy bunch who pursued truth and knowledge like madmen.
Such ancient cities were designed so that Magi who had not yet reached tier6 did not have to worry about death in a short time and could patiently complete their research projects even if the projects lasted for centuries without fearing death.
Such cities were usually controlled by a tier6 or 7 magi and the cost of staying here was extremely high.
Most of these cities have been looted and destroyed long ago, seems like you have hit a jackpot this time ' Drax further explained as he gave Max some insight into the place he had just walked into.
Apparently this was some secret study city of Magi isolated from the rest of the world, which is why it made sense to have been constructed underground and isolated from the surface world.
The initial report compiled by the miners who found the place labelled it as a ' Lost Civilization ' which was clearly evidence of their lack of understanding of the place.
This city was the comic con of the ancient era, where all the Nerd Magi gathered to discuss their research projects and also perform their crazy experiments that might be outlawed in the wider universe.
As for the lack of light in the city, it was explained by the type of Magi who gathered here, the abyssal magi who absolutely loved darkness.
Even amongst the nerdy Magi community the abyssal magi were the super reclusive nerds which did not even prefer walking a single step out of their mage towers if they absolutely did not need to.
As all 100 men gathered around on the streets of the city, one of Lucius's men tried to light a lamp for more visibility as not everyone was as blessed as Max and Asiva to have night vision, but a strange phenomenon happened when they tried to ignite the lamp's fuse.
The moment they ignited it, it was extinguished by a weird gust of wind, as there was a weird noise in the background which sounded like
' Khikhikhikhikhi '
Max frowned, as he suddenly felt something heavy on his head as he tilted to see that it was a shivering Sebastian.
" Ghost- ghost! " Sebastian said as Max grabbed him and brought him back to the floor before igniting a fireball on his fist to become a human lamp.
Although the weird wind tried to interfere with Max's fire source, it was unsuccessful in extinguishing it as after several indiscernible noises it faded into the distance.
" Stay close, I'll lead the way, for security reasons we will shout 1..2..3..4 every 2 minutes, with me shouting 1 while the man at the very last shouting 4.
This is to ensure that none of us go suddenly missing during this stage of the exploration.
Only when we have assessed the danger will we split our ways " Max instructed as the group reorganised themselves as per Max's orders.
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/// A/N - Chapter 4/20, end of day1 ///
