CHAPTER 1373: CHAPTER 1373: UNDERGROUND FISSURE

The high mountain where the Night Shrine resides, Shard had been there twice, only inspecting the base and the internal cave, yet never actually ventured to the summit. After all, neither the Gold Mine nor the Ancient God Statue would directly be situated at the mountain top.

Upon Mr. Elfote’s reminder, Shard grew interested in the summit. So after bidding farewell to the Spirit, he returned to the spot where the three horses were tied to a tree. This time, instead of entering the cave, he circled briefly around the base, successfully finding the path up the mountain.

Though called a road, it was merely an area where trees were slightly sparse. Given that the scholar who once came here alone could reach the summit, Shard had no reason he couldn’t ascend.

The path uphill was challenging; perhaps differing from the one Shard and Mr. Elfote chose two years ago, he sometimes needed to turn the cat into a toy, transform himself into a Butterfly Swarm, or use Lagre’s Leap, to bypass obvious dead ends.

By the time Shard arrived at a spot still several dozens of meters from the summit, it was already 5:20 in the evening, with dimming skies and the sunset already visible on the horizon.

The mountain side was steep, but the summit surprisingly had a relatively flat winding trail. Shard cradled the cat as he truly arrived at the peak, and then widened his eyes at the distant white Forest Sea and the splendid sunset even farther away.

"Spring must truly be near."

He murmured softly, then glanced downward. Below his feet was an incredibly steep cliff, if not knowing the narrow platform below, no one would normally think to look down from here.

Yet, probably due to the angle, Shard barely saw the edge of the platform below, but did not see the ruins of the archway, nor the three ladies preparing a ritual.

"But, what interesting thing did Mr. Elfote mention?"

The flatter part of the summit was about as large as the second floor bedroom of No. 6, Saint Delan Square. With the absence of animals and humans visiting for a long time, no trace was left on the snow.

Shard melted the snow on the ground with the Flame, then discovered a broken stone base beneath the snow. From the style, it seemed a stele should have stood here originally.

"The style of the base is ancient, not resembling the current era. But, where is the stele?"

Unable to find the broken stele nearby by eye, Shard used "Feliana’s Witch Light" to melt the ground for examination. His intuitive approach proved correct, as half a meter below, he unexpectedly unearthed a buried broken stele, having fallen for at least several centuries, possibly even millennia, such that it nearly fused with the summit’s soil.

Shard reached over to wipe the dust off the stele’s surface; upon contact, he felt the power of the Miracle Element. It wasn’t quite pronounced but definitely present:

"Could it be because Mr. Elfote’s spirit uniquely existed due to sensing something also on the summit?"

The upward face of the stele, the inscriptions could still be barely discerned, though not of Sixth Era writing:

[May the sun illuminate the earth,

May the earth nourish all beings.

When sunlight shines upon you and me,

May the earth be with us.]

"Praise the sun, is it? Certainly not rhyming."

Shard murmured, not understanding the writing. So he unearthed the stele fully from the soil. Initially worried the reverse side would be illegible, unexpectedly the carvings were clear.

The stele’s reverse was intricate patterns and decorative designs, originally devoid of text. Yet, atop the stele, Shard discovered two lines scribed casually like with a knife, the cursive letters of beautiful form, using the language of the late Fifth Era:

[This is a riddle, the sun’s power can open the passage.]

"Hmm?"

Shard raised an eyebrow, then read the next line:

[The Chosen of the Earth shall come here.]

"Hmm?"

He reached to touch the marks, tentatively thinking:

"Fragment of Poem Chapter?"

Unfortunately, the entire stele had only these two lines later inscribed, others were original stele content.

"That’s indeed interesting, the Chosen of the Earth will surely come here, indicating this place is important."

Shard transformed the stele with a canvas into a toy and put it away, the Witch would likely be pleased to receive it. Afterwards, he gazed at the edge of the Cedar Forest where the sun had lowered nearly halfway:

"The sun’s power can open the passage... Sunlight Ray!"

The radiant beam from the fingertips hit the stele’s base, yet nothing occurred. Shard circled on the spot, letting the light pattern over the ground, but aside from the cat’s eyes widening, eager to leap from Shard’s shoulder, nothing else transpired.

"Not pure enough?"

Shard then focused his attention on the cat standing on his shoulder. Mia meowed with a sense of foreboding and was then hoisted up high by Shard, who grabbed her by the waist with both hands.

Facing the Forest Sea, facing the sunset, Shard took a deep breath, holding Mia aloft on the mountaintop, and shouted loudly:

"Praise the Sun!"

He quietly waited for a full half minute. Seeing that nothing happened, he slowly put the cat down:

"So that’s not it..."

[What exactly are you thinking?]

"She" laughed gently, and the laughter calmed Shard’s somewhat anxious heart.

"Then give me some advice."

[Sunshine is abundant here in all four seasons, so it’s impossible for simply absorbing sunlight to open this so-called passage. Therefore, you should look for a place that doesn’t get sunlight in everyday circumstances.]

"Makes sense—Power of the Red Dragon!"

Shard bent down and then exerted great force to lift the broken pedestal of the stele from the ground. Nearly two-thirds of the pedestal was already buried in the earth, but beneath it was stone instead of soil. Shard saw a rather ancient engraving on that gray stone.

The center of the circular pattern featured a typical Holy Grail design, surrounded by scattered flowers and plants. Although it was his first time seeing this pattern, Shard instinctively understood what it was:

"The Holy Emblem of the Ancient God [Mother Earth]?"

He gently caressed it with his hand, then pointed his fingers at the Holy Emblem:

"Sunlight Ray."

A bright light illuminated the Holy Emblem, which then gradually began to melt in the light. As Shard watched in surprise, an indentation formed in the stone until it was in the shape of a palm.

"What does this mean? This is..."

Shard placed his hand on that palm-shaped indentation. He felt as if he was touching an immensely weighty power, yet it felt like his hand was merely resting on cold stone.

Suddenly, there was a resounding "thump~" that echoed like a heartbeat, but then he realized it seemed like it was his own heartbeat.

A certain power flowed up his arm and entered his body, enhancing the "Power of the Earth: Healing Aura." Finally, the power reached his eyes. Shard already had good eyesight, but now it felt even sharper.

He hesitantly removed his hand and looked far into the distance from the mountaintop to confirm that it wasn’t an illusion:

"But what does this signify? Where’s the hidden passage? Could it be..."

After his hand left the stone surface, the pattern on the stone returned to its appearance as the Holy Emblem. This time, Shard, holding the cat in one hand and clutching its tail with the other, let Mia’s tail emit flames. The Holy Emblem, illuminated by the flames, melted once more, but this time it formed an indentation in the shape of a small cat’s paw.

Shard pressed Mia’s paw into the indentation, and Mia remained unaffected.

He considered whether he could dig this miraculous stone out of the earth, but upon attempting, he found the stone seemed to be connected with the entire mountain. He abandoned the idea, moved the pedestal of the stele back to its original position, confirmed there was nothing else of note atop the mountain, and descended the mountain the way he came.

After re-entering the cave, Shard did not hurry to reunite with the three ladies above but instead lit a glimmer at his fingertips to inspect the cave walls. In the deepest part of the cave, he discovered a rather conspicuous crack in the rock wall.

The crack wasn’t large enough to allow anyone overly hefty to pass through, but it was sufficiently wide for Shard.

"Hmm?"

Shard immediately approached and was quite sure that during the afternoon inspection with Luviya, such an obvious crack had not been visible. Now that it appeared so clearly, it indicated that the stele at the mountaintop indeed had an effect, and only touching it revealed this crack.

"A passage leading underground, with the key to opening it placed at the highest point... Whoever designed this, it’s quite intriguing indeed."

He extended his hand toward the interior of the crack, confirmed there were no strange elements, and then brought Mia, who was already eager for dinner, along into it.

The crack contained a downward-sloping tunnel bearing clear signs of human excavation. The tunnel was not deep; the stone walls on all sides were relatively smooth.

Shard had only taken a few dozen steps before reaching the end of the tunnel.

The tunnel ended in an old, double-doored stone gate. The left door was adorned with patterns of numerous butterflies, while the right door bore the pattern of the Holy Grail surrounded by flowers and plants.

"Key of the Door."

Shard directly applied force to push the door, but after using sorcery, it felt as though he was pushing against a mountain. This indicated that the door was set with significant power to prevent it from being opened improperly.

Contact with the door also led to another peculiar occurrence. In the dim environment, a glow began to emanate from Shard’s pocket. Upon touching his pocket, Shard realized that the antique key he had acquired from Earl Granger was now emitting a glimmer: