"Don't just stand there, lend a hand."
Soon, with Aster's help, Lind quickly broke free from the crystal magic.
"My lord, these things are... Crystal Remains?"
Aster carefully picked up a piece of crystalline magic from the ground and asked Lind a question.
"Have you seen this before?"
Logically speaking, a warrior like Astaire should be completely ignorant of the intricacies of magic, but Astaire acted as if he had seen it before, which greatly surprised Lind.
"I have indeed seen it. Does my lord still remember the Battle of Jianbi?"
Astaire's words seemed to have a jolt to Lind, who quickly asked:
"You mean this thing is the one that broke down the wall during the Battle of Fortified Walls?"
"Yes, I had the opportunity to see that thing during the Battle of the Fortified Wall. The mages called it the Crystal Bone Dragon Breath Cannon. It was a..."
As he spoke, Aster and Lind gestured to indicate something roughly: a thing held together by two plate-like objects, which the mages of the Mage Corps had used to breach the impregnable walls of the Fortified City.
Listening to Aster's description, Lind had a general idea in his mind: an orbital cannon.
"And this crystal is very similar to what they inserted."
Can this thing be used to make projectiles for railguns?
Linde picked up a piece; the crystal was crystal clear and shimmered with seven colors. Perhaps because Linde was a mage, he could feel a powerful magic force when he held it.
However, this magic was not like the flowing, "living" magic in the magic network; it was very quiet, like... "dead."
Crystal skeleton? That's quite fitting.
Linde recalled the horrific scene he had witnessed on the walls of Fortified City, realizing that the power of the crystal in his hand was far greater than he had imagined.
Lindemore stroked the crystal in his hand and asked Astaire:
Did you see it being used at the time?
Aster was somewhat embarrassed. He was among the cavalry on the flank and hadn't noticed until the city wall had already been breached.
Linde knew it from Astaire's expression; after all, you can't expect a common soldier to know inside information.
Linde plans to approach the remaining clues about the crystal from two angles.
One source is Alice, after all, she is the daughter of the inventor of this railgun, so she inevitably knows some inside information.
Secondly, we could try asking the old count and see if we could pry something out of him.
Linde called over several soldiers from outside the tent, who dragged over a few wooden crates. He wrapped all the crystals in straw, packed them inside, and ordered them to be mixed in with the baggage train for transport later.
These crystals are not needed for the time being; the priority is the ruins. If all else fails, they can be discarded.
After all, if Linde wanted to, he himself would be a walking crystal mine.
The only thing that Linde couldn't quite figure out was how the mages in those academies obtained these crystals.
Moreover, they have already applied the development of this crystal to actual combat weapons.
If these things are developed further, they will definitely shake up the entire world situation.
A sense of impending storm swirled in Linde's mind.
"I hope the world isn't as bad as we imagine."
…………
The next morning, Linde led the same group back to the valley of the ruins.
On the way, Lind had already asked Alice about the Crystal Remains and the Railgun.
Unfortunately, Alice was unaware of the secret; her mother was tight-lipped and never spoke to her about the weapon.
There were even some things that Alice was learning for the first time.
"Is this the Crystal Remains?"
Alice took a piece of crystal fragment from Lind, which Lind had kept during the cleanup last night for emergencies.
Alice used her mental energy to sense the situation and said:
"The magic in this crystal is indeed different from the magic drawn from the magic network, and its state is very stable."
"The magic it contains is immense; it's truly extraordinary."
Alice handed the crystal back to Lind, who took it and said:
"After we finish exploring the ruins and return to our territory, we'll study this thing's characteristics in more detail."
During this exploration of the ruins, Linde disregarded everything else and assigned half of the team to search for possible entrances near the mountain hollow.
The other half started digging directly in the valley to see if they could find the ruins.
With a crisp clang, a soldier's shovel struck something hard.
"My lord, I think I've found it!"
Soon, a group of soldiers put down their shovels and surrounded them.
Linde and his two companions also rushed over upon hearing the news.
"Make way, make way, the lord is here."
The soldiers parted to make way, and a dark, flat surface was revealed in the large pit that had been dug.
Alice stepped forward and touched the smooth surface, then began to explore it using her mental power.
Dozens of grown men stood silently around, not daring to utter a sound.
Alice finally let out a long sigh, stood up, and said to Lind:
"Found it, about 10 meters south, that should be the entrance."
Once the group found the right spot, they began digging again.
Alice then ran over to Lind and whispered:
"I just sensed something, and it's a bit tricky."
Linde asked in surprise:
"What's wrong? Could something possibly be difficult for you?"
Alice muttered something to herself:
"The material of this relic is Silence Stone! It can directly block all mental energy, meaning that almost all detection spells are useless against it!"
Linde was surprised. He knew about the Silence Stone, a material that could block mental energy. It wasn't very rare, as it was produced by many kinds of minerals.
This type of stone is quite special; it is highly malleable and is often used in weapons and equipment designed to target mages.
Lind said to Alice:
"Don't worry, it should just be a coating. This kind of stone can't be used for the building itself. Its appearance proves that we came to the right place."
Before long, the soldiers found the entrance.
As the cleanup work progressed, Linde recalled the soldiers on patrol, preparing to rest and begin the first exploration of the ruins.
As the cleanup continued, a building with a peculiar style appeared before everyone.
A smooth, flat door came into view, and on either side of the door were six round holes of the same thickness.
The dark, round hole seemed to be a void, captivating the mind.
What Linde and his team just dug up was the roof of this building.
This peculiar architectural style made Linde feel very out of place, as if it didn't belong in a Western fantasy world.
The style of this building is unlike anything built by any of the races currently active on the continent; at least Lind has never seen one before.
Astaire stepped forward and knocked on the seemingly thin door, but a very deep sound came from it.
Alice stepped forward and began to feel around the stone door. She quickly found a tiny gap above the door, where there was no silencing stone coating.
Alice used her mental power to try and probe into the opening, but heard a buzzing sound.
The door to the ruins slowly opened.
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