Chapter 300: The Tower of a Hundred Schools of Thought |
At the edge of the plain, beside a stretch of woods, stood the ruins of an ancient structure that seemed completely out of place with its surroundings.
Qin Ziwen had the Crowned Eagle land.
The eagle flapped its wings, startling a small snake out of the grass nearby.
Observing up close, Qin Ziwen found this complex of structures to be very orderly, square and rectangular, like a piece of cake that had been neatly sliced.
Of these surviving structures, the taller ones still had walls three or four stories high, while the shorter ones had directly become overgrown, weed-choked ruins, their original forms almost impossible to discern.
The walls were also completely covered in vines.
Qin Ziwen went in and searched around but found nothing of value.
Decades had passed here, at the very least.
Many items had already rotted away, and countless animals had visited the place. Perhaps in a few more decades, nature would completely swallow it up.
Climbing back onto the Crowned Eagle's back, Qin Ziwen said, "Let's go."
The sea of grass rolled like waves, a verdant, emerald expanse.
Herds of wild horses, zebras, prides of lions, and hyenas moved across the grassland, traveling along both banks of the river.
The river flowing out from the valley continued forward across the plains, eventually converging some seventy or eighty li away into a massive lake.
Along the lake's shores, within sparse woodlands, large beasts of various shapes and sizes were gnawing on trees or plants.
The lakeside grassland and the surrounding land were extremely fertile, with abundant plant life, giving rise to a remarkably rich ecosystem.
By the lake, a Serrated Elephant was strolling along the bank, swinging its trunk to draw water, then raising it high to spray water droplets.
The Serrated Elephant let out an excited trumpet from its trunk.
"Open areas really are more suitable for large beasts to survive," Qin Ziwen mused. He had discovered quite a few large beasts here that were extinct on Earth.
Like Elasmotherium, Deinotherium, Megatherium, Smilodon, Giant Hyena...
But even more eye-catching was a black object in the center of the lake, lying across the water like a plank.
Looking closer, it was no plank.
It was clearly a super-large crocodile over sixteen meters long.
Compared to it, the crocodiles they had encountered near the residential complex were like a bunch of immature juveniles.
It floated lazily on the lake's surface, basking in the sun. Its jet-black scales reflected a dim glow under the sunlight.
A flicker of awe passed through Qin Ziwen's eyes. At that size, even if sent to the Island map, it could become a top predator.
He tossed an Insight ability at it.
[Common · Sarcosuchus: ☆☆☆☆☆]
As if sensing the Crowned Eagle flying overhead, the Sarcosuchus lifted its head slightly, then flicked its tail and submerged into the depths of the lake, leisurely swimming toward the shore.
Qin Ziwen looked over and saw an Elasmotherium slowly drinking water by the lakeside not far away.
Completely unaware that beneath the water's surface, a dense, inky shadow was quietly approaching.
The water churned~
The Sarcosuchus erupted from the water, biting the Elasmotherium's thigh, then dragging it into the lake.
The Elasmotherium's nearly seven-meter-long, robust body struggled desperately, plowing a long furrow along the lakeshore.
It was finally dragged into the water, and a large mass of bubbles rose to the surface...
"Thank goodness our residential complex didn't land on this grassland," Qin Ziwen withdrew his gaze. "Keep going forward."
The Crowned Eagle continued flying forward.
The surrounding scenery receded behind them. This grassland was vast, with only the extremely distant mountain ranges serving as reference points.
Qin Ziwen silently pondered. Perhaps it was time to head back. This area was all grassland. After flying several hundred li, while the scenery changed, it was all monotonously similar.
After returning, he could try exploring other directions, like upstream along the river.
After flying for so long, Qin Ziwen could confirm one thing: each map was not an independent little instance, but a real, separate world.
"What's that over there?" Qin Ziwen's gaze suddenly sharpened, and he signaled the Crowned Eagle to stop.
On the plain ahead was a patch of something dark and indistinct.
That dark patch was completely out of place with its surroundings.
As they got closer, Qin Ziwen felt a jolt of surprise.
It was actually a small city!
A massive city stood imposingly on the plain.
Inside the city, tall, straight trees grew densely.
Viewed from the sky, the city's outline resembled some kind of culture dish. To Qin Ziwen, these large trees looked like "bean sprouts" growing inside the dish.
They looked strange. Their trunks were pale, straight, and tall, resembling birch trees.
Just as Qin Ziwen prepared to get closer, a whooshing sound came from below.
The Crowned Eagle gained altitude.
From high above, Qin Ziwen saw several black arrows shoot out from within the city, narrowly missing the eagle's body.
"There are actually guards," Qin Ziwen grew wary. He looked back at the city, studying it carefully. He noticed that although the city interior was overgrown with trees, the buildings were largely intact and didn't appear abandoned.
After some thought, Qin Ziwen patted the Crowned Eagle's head. "Let's go. Head back for now."
This place was problematic, perhaps not simple. It wasn't something they could engage with in the short term.
Inside the city, behind a window of one building, two humanoid figures watched the departing eagle, whispering to each other.
"Ran away quite fast."
"From another Molting Abyss?"
"Should be. A pity. If he'd come a bit closer, we'd have been confident in detaining him."
"Don't waste our chances to act. Cultivating the Tree Heart is our mission. However, discovering a new Molting Abyss is an extra surprise. We'll report it when the next handover team arrives."
On the return flight, the Crowned Eagle didn't fly directly toward the direction of the Anchor Point's arrival location but took a detour.
The round trip took half a day. They returned to the Backtrack arrival point location.
After the Crowned Eagle rested and recovered its stamina, Qin Ziwen rode it again to explore the northern mountain range and the river's upstream area separately.
Beyond the northern mountain range lay continuous, rolling mountains.
Tens of li upstream to the west along the river, Qin Ziwen saw the outline of snow-capped mountains.
But he only saw them; the snow mountains were still over a hundred li away.
The mountains soared into the clouds, with sea of clouds not even reaching their midslopes.
At the Crowned Eagle's speed, a round trip would take nearly two more hours.
After some thought, Qin Ziwen decided not to go. He rode the eagle back to the starting point.
"How were the gains from the Altar?" Qin Ziwen asked.
"Got something good," Qin Ziwu replied, handing over the harvest. There were five cards in total.
2 [Expansion Cards] Blank Expansion Card (Small), 1 [Building Card] Level 1 Rice Granary, 1 [Enhancement Card] Human Constitution Enhancement Card (1 Star), 1 [Advanced Building Card] Level 1 Hundred Schools Book Tower.
It was actually a new Advanced Building Card.
Qin Ziwen took the cards, turning them over in his hands. He decided to return to Home first to check out this card's effect.
Returning to Home, he selected to use it.
The Hundred Schools Book Tower building required a footprint of 20*20.
Judging solely by the space requirement, this was probably the Advanced Building with the smallest demand he had ever seen.
He used it without hesitation.
The card shattered, and a vast expanse of light enveloped the area ahead.
When the light faded, a simple, austere bluish-grey tower stood in its place. The tower had three stories and six sides, with eaves corners as straight as a ruler.
Entering, Qin Ziwen discovered that besides the three above-ground floors, there were also three underground levels, making six floors total.
[Level 1 Hundred Schools Book Tower: Level 2 Learning Amplification, Level 1 Inspiration Amplification, Level 1 Tranquility and Calmness] (Special Effect: Within the Book Tower, knowledge and skills one has mastered can be recorded in the form of books within the tower.)