Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There was a vertical crystal wall at the end of the long ramp. It was as flat as a mirror.
That was the midpoint of the crystal peak. The ramp connected the mountain and the plain like a long river suspended in the sky. When Hao Ren was looking at the end of the ramp on the great plain, he thought the road would lead directly to the inside of the crystal mountain. He did not expect its end to be a cliff, and he could not see any entrance whatsoever.
So… was the cliff a test?
“This is it?” Vivian frowned curiously at the place.
Since the ramp ended at the mountainside, there was nothing on either side. They were, however, able to get a very wide view from there. Not only could they see the great plains spreading out from below, but they could also see large white lightning bolts whipping through the air, powering the crystal clusters on the great plains. Looking up, they could clearly see the summit of the crystal mountain surrounded by dazzling lightning. Those powerful energy sparks formed a ring, from which large as well as small lightning bolts broke off and split on top of the mountain. They made a continuous loud noise.
Salaman did not speak. He advanced to the mirror-like cliff silently and tapped it three times.
Rings of light appeared on the cliff, then several crisp voices came out of the crystal.
“Who is disturbing the sleeping sprites?”
“But sprites are not asleep…”
“It’s just cool to say that!”
“Why?”
“Because sprites are the guardians here. The guardians must sound very strong and dignified!”
“Like Salaman?”
“Salaman is not dignified. His beard hides his face.”
“Oh, how silly you are! No more communication with you!”
“Well, isn’t it time to go out and meet people… Salaman is knocking at the door.”
“Oh? Is there such a thing?”
Salaman was speechless.
“Ahem.” The solemn old giant coughed with an embarrassed expression on his face. He then tapped the cliff three times, raising his voice majestically (it was mostly forced). “The guardians of the holy throne and the commander of the Guardian Corps have brought special guests to visit this holy place. Please come out and meet us.”
The light on the crystal wall shook again, and Hao Ren saw a small shimmering head emerge from above.
It was followed by more little heads.
One sprite after another emerged from the crystal wall. Some of them looked around curiously with only their heads showing, some waved excitedly at Salaman, while others flew up and down around the giant’s head in excitement. Hao Ren heard the noise of the sprite community again: chattery, noisy, illogical, messy…
Not even Salaman could stand the noise. He coughed heavily to silence the overexcited creatures. He had a stern look on his face. “Silence, please. I’m here today with something extra important…”
“Have you defeated the corrupted monsters at last?”
“Or have they finally broken in?”
“Or are you going to the temple?”
“That won’t do! The temple must not be opened without the queen!”
“I have brought her to the temple for validation.” It was unrealistic to talk with sprites seriously, so Salaman ignored their chatter and pointed at Vivian, signaling her to get to the point. “The results of the verification holds supreme authority.”
At this, all the sprites were stunned. They had a rare moment of total silence.
However, in just three seconds, their noisy voices almost pushed Hao Ren off the ramp. “The sprites can’t believe their ears!”
“Salaman has brought someone to run the verification process?”
“The supreme authority holder is the queen! Queen of the sprites!”
“The goddess has set the highest level of security restrictions on this access…”
“What if someone from an unknown source connects to the system?”
“She has gone through the verification process of the Naqdal Crystal!” Salaman shouted. “The sprites in Naqdal judge her to be the master of the holy throne, the queen of all nodes of resonance.”
The sprites fell silent again before they burst out, “Naqdal! Have you found Naqdal?”
“No wonder the resonance signal has been much stronger lately!”
“Wait, you say this woman has been authenticated by the Naqdal Crystal?”
“Since she was authenticated by one of the three crystals, then she should be able to try and connect to the main system?”
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“Yes, yes!”
“But how can the queen not know she’s a queen? If she were a queen, she would know how to open the temple herself…”
“Due to some special circumstances, your queen may have lost part of her memory,” Salaman explained. Although Vivian’s identity had not yet been verified, in order to communicate conveniently with the less intelligent sprites, he directly addressed Vivian as their queen. “She is currently unable to execute the scheduled temple activation procedure on her own, and she does not know how to prove her identity, which is why I have brought her in for the second plan.”
“Well, well, if Salaman says so…”
“We agree!”
“It can be verified here.”
“First, connect the queen to the main system!”
The sprites chattered as they flew back to the crystal wall one by one. Most of them reintegrated with the crystal, and only one little sprite remained outside. The little one flew towards Vivian, stared for a moment, and said, “Suspected queen, please step forward and put your hand on the wall.”
Vivian stepped forward doubtfully and put her hand on the crystal wall. “Is that all?”
“Of course not, that is just the first step! The rest will be on us!”
The little one was talking happily and fluttering up and down around Vivian. Then she suddenly found a stranger there and flew towards Hao Ren. “Ah! There’s a stranger here! Who are you?”
“Umm… I’ve been standing here for quite a long time. Didn’t you see me?” Hao Ren felt a little awkward. “I’m here with your queen, and I’m an ally of the Guardian Corps. You can call me Hao Ren.”
“Ally! Allies are good! We haven’t had support for a long time.”
Hao Ren frowned and looked at Vivian, who was putting her hand on the crystal wall with some doubts on her face. “I just want to make sure, is there any danger in this verification process?”
“No danger. If you do not pass the test, you will only be sent to the starting point. But you will never get near the temple,” said the sprite, fluttering up and down. “Of course, if you show hostility to the temple or carry a dangerous energy response when you fail to pass the test, you will be beaten!”
Hao Ren was a little relieved to hear the explanation. At that moment, Vivian’s contact with the crystal wall finally triggered a reaction. The smooth mirror-like cliff suddenly lit up with specks of light, then the lights moved quickly, interweaving into words and symbols!
Strings of characters scrolled across the crystal wall and a glowing strip began to stretch beneath them…
Would they hear the sound effect of the Windows startup in a short while?
“Why do I find this familiar… Don’t tell me this verification process is just a simple fingerprint unlocking.” Hao Ren then turned to look at Vivian. “And you… Vivian, what’s happening to you?”
He was shocked to see that Vivian was now wrapped in a thin halo, and a large number of mysterious ancient characters were faintly emerging on the surface of the halo. As the halo and characters flashed, Vivian’s body also gradually became corporeal, and she quickly turned translucent!
Just like those sprites.
Vivian did not seem to hear Hao Ren’s voice. She just stood there quietly with her hand on the crystal wall. Even her face was frozen in time. Hao Ren was worried. He stepped forward and was ready to interrupt, but Salaman stopped him. “Don’t worry, she just established a connection with the main system. It won’t cause her any harm.”
Hao Ren could not trust his explanation completely. He took the MDT out and asked it to check Vivian’s status immediately.
“Bro, the giant should be telling the truth.” The MDT completed the check very quickly. “There is no change in Vivian’s vitals, and no sign of mental invasion or distortion of consciousness detected—just a protective layer of energy that’s temporarily shutting her off from the outside world.”
Hao Ren was relieved.
Meanwhile, Vivian found herself standing in a strange place.
She was standing in a “forest”.
It was a crystallized world. Everything she saw was crystal clear like ice. She saw crystal trees growing all around her, and bushes as well as flowers in between. A winding river ran through the middle of the woods, and the water was like flowing crystal, reflecting colorful lights. In the midst of these crystals, she could even see butterflies flying and hares running…
They were also made of crystal.
The lights refracted off the surface of the crystals, and the crystals were connected by light. Numerous colorful light particles jumped about in the forest, forming an extremely busy three-dimensional network.
“Hao Ren?” Vivian looked around in bewilderment. She remembered that she was standing in front of the crystal wall, waiting to be “tested” by sprites but somehow ended up in this place. “Salaman?”
Vivian suddenly heard some weird noise coming from a nearby bush. She scanned her surroundings, trying to summon her lightning balls or Corrosive Bolts. But she only found a dim light in her hand.
That light dissipated at once too before it refracted and leaped into the crystalline world.
A crystal stag came out from behind the bushes. Somehow, her vigilance and hostility gradually subsided when she saw the graceful creature.
The crystal stag went up straight to Vivian and bent its neck, waiting quietly.
Vivian hesitated but put her hand lightly on the stag’s forehead.
“The primary system has been activated. The administrator is establishing connection…
“Connection is successful. Ports 12 to 86 of the Throne of Destiny are open.
“Performing unit tests… Throne node integrity rate is 65%, executable. External network integrity rate is 86%, executable.
“Playing reserved message…”