(MC POV)
"Ah Divine One, I thank you for coming," Benjamin bowed, the tentacles on his face wriggling excitedly. "I hope I was not disturbing you?"
I waved my hand noncommittally, "It's no problem. So what do we have here?"
Stephanie stepped aside to show me the piece of parchment they had laid on the table, "Divine One might want to look at this..."
I went to her side and inspected the parchment, finding it decorated with runes and arranged in some sort of pattern.
It was a pattern that I recognised... A pattern that I was really, really familiar with.
And why wouldn't I be? This was exactly the thing that ruined my past life, the formation that I had used to ascend to the Spiritual Plane.
Ok, maybe not exactly the same, but it's similar. Mine looked a little more crude than this.
I'm pretty sure if I had used this formation to ascend, I would have managed to ascend without crippling myself.
It took me an entire year to figure something like this out with barely any guidance at all, was someone else trying to ascend on this Plane as well?
Now that I think about it... I realised I have not heard of anyone else ascending to the other Planes before, like as though no one was interested in ascending?
Oh yeah, forgot that the people on the Earthen Plane are more laid back so they don't really care about power. My bad.
Still, the fact that this formation exists means someone had at least tried to ascend before.
Benjamin must have noticed my reaction since he asked, "What is this, Divine One?"
"This," I said while stabbing a finger at the parchment. "Is a formation that can be used to connect between two different Planes when activated."
Benjamin and Stephanie looked at each other before turning back to me.
"Why would this be here?" Stephanie murmured.
I shrugged, "If I had to guess, someone here was trying to ascend to another Plane. Whether they succeeded or not, however..."
Benjamin shook his head, "My apologies, Divine One, but it is highly unlikely to have been used. I had been trying to decipher these runes while we were recording them and even tried to activate them myself. Unless an astronomical amount of Quarks is present, this formation is impossible to activate."
Oh right, that's true. I remember I actually had to brute force my way through to the other Plane and it was not pretty. I'm pretty sure I destroyed like half my courtyard while activating it.
Sad for the people who had to clean up my mess back then.
"We had also searched through this entire base, leaving no stone unturned," Stephanie continued, her skeletal fingers tapping against the table. "And yet, we could find not even a single record or mention about this room. It's as if the Dark Sect didn't even know this room was here."
I frowned, "The Dark Sect definitely did not build this place... So this was laid by someone before them. But who could have built such a place?"
Benjamin gestured to the parchment, "We were hoping you could shed some light on that, Divine One."
"Hey, I'm not the expert in ruins or archaeology. I probably know less about this place than you do."
Stephanie scratched her cranium with a bony finger, "Hmmm... Perhaps this might help?"
She took out another piece of paper, this time with some sort of drawing on it.
"These were the carvings inside the room, Divine One. I thought they might have been mere decorations but... " She explained.
I took it from her and realised the drawings were depicting some sort of wall carving where people seemed to be worshipping a demon at the centre.
Yep, the exact same ones that I saw back at the Dark Sect base that they used to summon Lilith.
I can already guess the demon is Lilith herself, the horns kind of match hers.
The only difference I can see on this carving was that Lilith seemed to be looking up at something above her. Something that looked like an orb descending from the sky.
I can't tell if she was looking up with hostility, reverence or indifference though, but this just further adds on to the mystery.
"Could this be... Something that was used to call for Lilith in the past?" I mused, looking back at the runes.
"Lilith? You mean the crazy demon bitch that went against Divine One not so long ago?" Stephanie growled.
Woah there Stephanie, what's with that hostility? I mean, sure, Lilith tried to kill us but... Ah, right, she tried to kill us. Nevermind then.
I nodded, "Yes, that demon. While I was at the other Dark Sect hideout, I saw similar carvings to this. The demon at the centre you see here also resembles her, don't you think?"
Benjamin moved to my side and examined the drawing, "Hmm... Now that Divine One mentioned it... It does bear a resemblance to that demoness... This is interesting... These ruins... They're probably made by people who had worshipped her in the past."
"The fact that there's more than one of these carvings and such a far distance apart... It must not have been a small cult either," Stephanie noted.
I scratched my head, "Still... The room is blocked for humans, so could it be monsters that were worshipping her?"
For the second time today, Benjamin and Stephanie shared a look before turning back to me.
Benjamin sighed, "Divine One... The room does not block humans from entering..."
"Huh? But I can't enter it?"
Stephanie shook her head, "We have tried pushing humans in there and they manage to pass through the doorway without issue. It is only Divine One who had trouble entering it."
"A barrier only for me?"
The Lich girl chuckled, "No Divine One, it most likely blocks Divine beings from entering it."
I don't even know if I should correct them about that since I'm obviously not the divine being they think I am.
No... wait a minute...
Origin...
Could it be? This barrier specifically blocks wielders of Origin?
Lilith could use Origin herself, so maybe this was to keep other Origin wielders out from messing with her teleportation formation?
That would make much more sense.
Huh... So maybe these guys aren't completely wrong about the 'Divine One' thing after all.
Interesting...
I took a closer look at the runes that were around the edges.
Hmmm?
There are a few runes that I actually recognise.
"Yddadkeepon?" I muttered.
There were other runes around it which I don't recognise, so this might be part of something else?
Benjamin turned to me, "Ah, as expected of Divine One to recognise the runes."
Well that's normal, I have experience with them after all.
"What does that mean though? A spell? A curse?" I wondered.
"Your guess is as good as ours, Divine One," Stephanie sighed. "We only could guess the function of the inscription by its shape and form, no one could read the runes."
Huh.
I would've thought given how studious they were, maybe one or two of them would have deciphered to runes.
Then again, that also took me around a year to do and I didn't even understand them either. Most of what I did was just following my intuition.
Which, obviously, didn't really turn out well but I learnt, ok?
"Right. So we know this thing here is a portal to other Planes. What are you guys planning to do with it?" I asked.
Stephanie tilted her head, "The sensible thing would be to explore it, isn't it?"
I crossed my arms, "Nope, the most sensible thing is to bury it and forget about it. Don't even mention this room to anyone else."
Both of them looked at me in disbelief, "Divine One?"
"You heard me. Trust me, the other Planes are crap, you don't want to go there. This place is definitely the best."
For the third time, the two of them looked at each other before turning back to me.
"Understood Divine One. We shall work to conceal this place from prying eyes," Benjamin assured me.
I nodded, "Better yet, seal it as well. Make sure that anything that happens to come from the other side won't be able to get out."
Stephanie looked at me, "Is... Is that even possible, Divine One?"
"I am not one to take chances. Do it."
"Understood."
I turned back, "If that's all, I shall be looking around again. I'd like to see how you guys are doing these few days. No need to escort me."
Both of them bowed, "Take care, Divine One."
Alright, now that's dealt with, time for me to give Xun Guan a short tour around this place.
