inspire-indiana Chapter 124 Star Core Embers!
Chapter 124 Star Core Embers!
Chapter 124 Star Core Embers!
The ancient pagoda is right in front of us.
The tower is dilapidated, revealing the dark passageways and rooms inside.
The runes on the tower walls are clearer, although most are incomplete, but they can be seen to be related to fire, observation, and spatial stability.
At a damaged opening near the lake, Roland clearly sensed an extremely strong yet unusually stable energy fluctuation emanating from the tower!
This fluctuation—warm, restrained, and carrying a vast sense of order—strangely blends with the surrounding raging fire environment, like a tranquil core in the eye of a storm!
"Stellar core embers?!"
Luo Lin's heart skipped a beat.
This energy signature is remarkably similar to the stellar core embers described by Soria!
It possesses both the order and stability of stellar power, and has been tempered by hellfire, enabling it to coexist harmoniously with the fire element!
The target of the Ring of Ashes was indeed it!
They set up camp here most likely to break through the ancient tower's defenses and obtain the star core embers inside!
We have to go in and take a look!
Rowling cautiously approached the damaged hole.
There are traces of residual energy at the edge of the hole, suggesting it was deliberately damaged.
He lowered his body, suppressing all unnecessary fluctuations, and like a piece of ashes swept up by a hot wind, he silently slid into the cave entrance.
The tower was dimly lit, with only the dark red light reflected from the lava lake and the faint glow of the remaining runes on the walls.
The air was scorching and dry, carrying a heavy smell of dust and rusty metal.
The interior structure is more complex than it appears from the outside, with crisscrossing passageways and numerous rooms, most of which are empty, with only some decayed fragments of utensils remaining.
Following the steady energy fluctuations, Rolin quickly navigated the labyrinthine tower.
Along the way, we saw several signs of battle and markings left by members of the Ash Ring. It was clear that they had explored most of the area and fought, possibly with the remaining defensive mechanisms inside the tower or otherworldly creatures.
Finally, as he descended a spiral staircase to the bottom of the ancient tower, he found the source of the energy fluctuations.
It was a circular hall, and on the floor in the center of the hall was an extremely complex, giant magic circle with a diameter of more than ten meters.
At the core of the magic circle, a fist-sized, dark gold crystal floats, its interior seemingly filled with liquid starlight and flames flowing slowly.
The warm and stable light emitted by the crystal illuminated the entire hall and soothed and calmed the turbulent environmental energy around it.
Star Core Embers!
And it looks to be in excellent condition!
But the hall wasn't empty. Three wizards from the Ash Ring were gathered around the edge of the magic circle, one of them holding a complex, constantly flashing compass-like instrument, attempting to analyze the circle's structure.
The other person carefully used specially made energy tweezers to try to extract a wisp of the dissipated dark golden energy from the outer auxiliary energy nodes.
The third person was in charge of guarding the area, his staff glowing as he kept watch over the surroundings.
Their progress doesn't seem to be going well.
The magic array's defenses were extremely strong, and its automatic repair speed was very fast. Their progress in breaking it was slow, and the energy they extracted was negligible.
Lorin hid in the shadows at the entrance, holding his breath as his mind raced.
The embers of the star core were right before them, but were guarded by three wizards, at least one of whom was at the peak of the first ring.
Robbery is out of the question; they have accomplices outside. But we can't let them succeed either.
We must find a way to disrupt their decryption, or even—if possible, take the star core embers before they do so, without anyone noticing?
That sounds even more impossible.
Wait a minute—the magic array—the echo unit has recorded the energy environment here, and has also analyzed the corruption source power pollution and the basic rules of this world.
Since this magic array can stabilize the embers of the forbidden star core, its energy structure must have reached a certain dynamic balance with the surrounding environment.
What if we use an echo unit to simulate an extremely strong energy noise that originates from the same source as the environment here but has a slightly distorted frequency, briefly disrupting the energy balance of the magic array?
In order to maintain stability, the magic array may temporarily shrink or adjust, and its restrictive force on the outside may weaken momentarily.
The star core embers themselves possess great stability and energy affinity—if I could "call" it with a trace of extremely pure, non-aggressive star power at that moment, would it resonate with it and allow it to break free from the slightly loosening magic array's restraints?
This idea is extremely risky, with a slim chance of success, and requires extremely precise timing.
Failure would not only alert the guards but could also trigger a backlash from the magic circle or an energy outburst.
But it's worth a try!
It's better than watching the Ring of Ashes slowly crumble.
Rowling began preparations.
With their minds highly focused, the [Myriad Stars Rotation] slowly began to operate, while the [Echo Unit] worked diligently to analyze the subtle patterns of energy flow and array fluctuations within the hall.
He needs to find a gap in the energy cycle of the magic circle.
Time passed second by second.
The sounds of battle outside seem to have subsided a bit; I wonder how things are going with Flame Shield and Nightingale.
Inside the hall, the three wizards continued working intently, the beeping of the decryption equipment standing out clearly in the silence.
found it!
Just as the energy of the magic array shifts from one small cycle to the next, its overall fluctuation will experience an extremely brief and very small ripple!
It's now!
A glint flashed in Luo Lin's eyes, and his hands, hidden in the shadows, suddenly pressed forward!
The [Echo Unit] integrates all the previously recorded chaotic, scorching, and corrupting energy characteristics of this lava lake area in a forceful and discordant way, transforming them into an invisible and intangible yet intensely present torrent of energy noise that violently crashes into the magic circle in the center of the hall!
hum! ! !
The air in the entire hall seemed to vibrate!
The light from the magic circle suddenly dimmed, then began to flicker violently!
The runes carved into the ground flickered and faded, as if they were being severely disturbed!
The three Ash Ring wizards were so startled by this sudden turn of events that they nearly jumped up, and the diagnostic equipment emitted a piercing alarm!
"What's going on? Energy backlash? Or is it the tower's defense mechanism?!"
The wizard holding the compass exclaimed in surprise.
"No! It's external interference! Someone's causing trouble!"
The wizard on guard shouted sternly, his staff shining brightly as his sharp gaze swept across the hall entrance and other directions.
At the very moment when the light of the magic circle was at its dimmest and the fluctuations were most chaotic, Luo Lin used all his mental energy to draw out a wisp of the purest, gentlest, and most unadulterated primordial star power from the depths of his spiritual sea, from the core of the morning star. It transformed into a silver thread so fine that it was almost imperceptible, and like a lover's whisper, it gently floated toward the dark golden embers of the star core in the center of the magic circle.
The light filament touched the surface of the star core embers.
It was like a drop of water falling into a pot of boiling oil, or like a key being inserted into a lock.
The starlight and flames flowing inside the star core embers suddenly shone brightly!
It seemed to sense this call from the same source, yet one that was more primal and pure.
At the moment when the magic array's confinement momentarily loosened due to energy noise interference, this top-grade material, possessing a certain degree of spirituality, made an instinctive reaction.
It broke free!
It wasn't a violent break-out, but rather like a fish, it "slid" out through the chaotic gaps in the energy circulation of the magic array!
The dark golden crystal transformed into a streak of light, faster than the naked eye could perceive, shooting straight toward the entrance to the shadowy place where Rolin was hiding!
All of this happened in the blink of an eye.
From the moment Rolin released the energy noise to the star core embers breaking free of the magic circle and flying towards him, it took less than two seconds in total!
"No!!!"
The three Ash Ring wizards were furious, watching helplessly as their target, which they had been painstakingly working on for days, vanished in a streak of light. They were almost driven mad!