The airplane crossed into the new area and continued flying toward the pillar of light in the distance. As they moved closer, several enormous ruins gradually came into view. Judging by the countless marks left by time, it was obvious those structures hadn’t been disturbed for an unimaginably long period.
Vines climbed over broken walls, bird nests occupied the tops of ancient canopies, and all sorts of small animals had made homes inside the abandoned buildings. Nature had reclaimed much of the place, yet despite that, the central structure stood in almost pristine condition. The pillar of light shot straight into the sky from its center, and surrounding it floated countless cores...
"No..." Harksha narrowed her eyes. "Those aren’t the same."
She was right.
Instead of perfectly spherical guardian cores, these resembled small stars. Countless pointed rays extended from their bodies, giving them an entirely different appearance.
Rean slowed the airplane and brought several live images onto the main display while the sensors gathered more information.
"They’re some kind of worker cores," he commented after studying the readings for a moment. Then he enlarged one of the images. "Take a look. This one is repairing one of the ancient runes carved into the outside of the barrier structure."
Kentucky preferred looking through the window instead of at the displays.
"You’re right, but there are normal guardian cores floating around too. They aren’t repairing anything, though. It looks more like they’re patrolling the area while the worker cores do all the actual work."
Senkiyu checked Rean’s Godly Pressure Detection Radar, where red dots practically covered the screen.
"That’s... actually pretty terrifying. The guardian cores are still the minority here, but there are already several hundred of them within the radar’s range alone."
Rean glanced at the display before nodding.
"The difference is obvious too. The guardian cores still release Godly Pressure comparable to a Godly Predator. As for these worker cores..." He zoomed in on one of them. "Their Godly Pressure isn’t even close to that of an ordinary Godly Spawn. My radar can barely detect they’re there."
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Looks like the stronger the core, the more Godly Pressure is needed to maintain both its control and its combat capabilities."
Just then, several guardian cores suddenly drifted toward the airplane.
Everyone instinctively became alert, but none of the cores showed any intention of attacking. Instead, countless green-and-golden symbols appeared inside them, all displaying the same repeating message.
Rean immediately captured the images and ran them through the airplane’s translation database.
-Unable to update Core #9992853R-
-Unable to update Core #9992853R-
-Unable to update Core #9992853R-
-Unable to updat...-
Every single one displayed exactly the same warning.
Everyone’s eyes immediately shifted toward the main guardian core powering the disguise array.
There was no doubt.
Core #9992853R was the very same core they had inside the airplane.
"Do you think they’ll eventually react because of that?" Cantra asked.
Rean shrugged.
"Your guess is as good as mine. So far they haven’t shown any hostility, but I think this confirms something else."
Roan immediately understood what Rean meant.
"There probably aren’t any sentient beings inside these ruins anymore," he said. "If someone were actively controlling these guardian cores and monitoring everything happening here, they would’ve ordered an attack long ago. Rean’s airplane isn’t exactly subtle."
Harksha wasn’t completely convinced.
"What if there is someone watching us, but they’re deliberately choosing not to interfere?"
Roan shook his head.
"I won’t say it’s impossible, but it’s extremely unlikely. If someone had really been supervising everything from the start, the guardian cores wouldn’t have kept attacking after we entered the ruins. Instead, everything we’ve seen points toward an automated system simply following predetermined rules."
"I suppose that question isn’t the important one right now," Rico’the interrupted while manipulating one of the live images. "Forget the guardian cores for a second. Look at what those worker cores are repairing."
Everyone followed the highlighted image.
Almost immediately, they recognized the familiar patterns.
"Those are the same type of runes used to maintain the Sacred Relic!" Senkiyu exclaimed.
"Exactly!" Rico’the couldn’t hide his excitement. "And there are countless examples of them covering this entire structure. If there are this many on the outside, imagine how many must exist inside."
Rean, however, barely looked at the runes themselves.
Instead, his attention remained completely fixed on the worker cores.
"You’re all looking at the wrong thing," he said. "Forget the runes for a moment. Those worker cores know how to build them."
Everyone suddenly froze.
That simple sentence completely changed the way they looked at the ruins.
The greatest problem surrounding every Sacred Relic wasn’t protecting it.
It was maintaining it.
Nobody alive knew how to create those ancient runes anymore. Whenever one became damaged, cultivators had no choice but to search ancient ruins in the hope of finding compatible replacements.
Yet the worker cores floating before them clearly possessed that knowledge.
Rean continued before anyone could interrupt.