"The War Legate Shrine is where hope begins?" Adrian murmured. It seemed that Sean possessed some sort of information. He then asked, "Why did he say that?"Marissa shook her head. "I don't know. He came here often and told me that something here would give me back my sight. My mother and everyone else all thought he was mad and would criticize him.""Has he ever brought you here before the disaster?" Adrian inquired.Marissa shook her head again. "He'd always come alone. He’d always be in a bad mood after coming here. He'd sometimes even get mad at me.""What made him so upset?""I don't know." Marissa continued to shake her head.A few questions arose in Adrian's mind. Sean mentioned that this shrine was where hope began, which meant he must have learned something from this place, maybe even a prediction of the future.In this world, being able to predict the future was not an uncommon occurrence. For example, Hannibal predicted the events at Wyvern Peak, Rozi predicted the ev
Adrian had witnessed these prophecies coming true. To stop them from becoming reality, he tampered with Juno's body before she participated in the selection, which resulted in her unfortunate withdrawal. Later on, Enigma City emerged and the Gost Emperor was resurrected. Rozi woke up, and Dragonbane acknowledged Adrian as its master. Adrian then went on to discover the Creator's secrets and the location of the palace that led to Wonder's world. He entered the Celestial Lake and found a stone similar to the metal block found at St. Elmer's Church atop the Apex Obelisk. Subsequently, the world was reset, and Adrian believed that Wonder had left behind a key to open the gateway to a new world. All of this revolved around one common character—Wonder. Although he and the Creator came to a truce, Wonder was not satisfied with the outcome and knew that the Creator would return to strike again after recovering his powers. To ensure that future generations could defeat him, Wonder expended
Marissa stood up and followed Adrian to the main hall. When they reached the legate statues, Adrian stared at them for a long time.He then smiled and said, "Marissa, maybe Sean was right. This shrine may indeed be where hope begins. There are others besides us who are silently guarding this world. Sean did an excellent job."Marissa did not understand what Adrian was saying.He released Marissa and gazed at the statues. "According to the Seer's layout and my knowledge of mechanisms, the underground chamber here must’ve been built during the construction of this shrine. The mechanism to activate the chamber should be on the statue of the first legate, War Legate Enneagon."Adrian narrowed his eyes and continued, "Enneagon wears a silvery-white cloak with a golden flag on it. Let's see… If I were the Seer, I’d probably install the switch at…his head!" He jumped up and, from a higher vantage point, noticed eight finger-sized holes arranged on top of War Legate Enneagon's statue.
"This should be the third part," Adrian said. When he withdrew his hand, he noticed some blood on his fingers. He rubbed them together and murmured. "Blood, which means this is probably a balance system. Only by inserting liquid in sufficient weight, volume, and density will this part unlock. Since there's blood on this, Sean probably opened it using his blood."All right, I’ve located all three mechanisms. It's time to decipher them."Adrian stepped back a few paces. "Marissa, I'm going to need you to take a few steps back so that you don't get frightened."Marissa did not know what Adrian was up to but complied and stepped back two paces.Adrian leaped onto the statue of War Legate Enneagon. He had come across such a thing before, so he knew what he was doing. After examining the eight holes, he inserted a finger into one of them. With that, the sounds of chains rattling were heard coming from beneath the shrine as though something had been opened. Adrian smiled and jumped off
"Where are we? It's so cold." Marissa’s head swiveled around.Adrian was captivated by everything in the hidden chamber. He released Marissa's hand and said, "We’re currently inside a hidden chamber. Stay here and get some rest. I’m going to go explore the place. Call me if you need anything."Marissa nodded. Adrian left Marissa’s side and used his flashlight to illuminate the chamber's walls. There were drawings all over the walls, most likely done when the shrine was constructed. The message conveyed in these drawings is similar to what he saw in Wonder's world. He was sure they were records of information but he chose not to focus on them and instead approached the mummified corpse. The mummy was dressed in a robe, and Adrian was able to quickly discern its identity. 'This must be the Seer. He built this shrine and died here.'Marissa curiously asked, "Is there a body in here, Adrian?"Adrian nodded, "There is, but don’t worry. The person has been dead for several decades. I
Adrian contemplated for a moment. The Oracle Lineage must have been an ancient tribe from the old days of the empire. Adrian had never read any information about them. He then picked up on something else from the Seer's message.“The Chosen One?” he muttered as he pondered some more, recalling all the books he had ever read.Marissa suddenly piped up, "The Oracle Lineage was from a long time ago, probably when our country was still being ruled by an emperor. They used to live in the lower parts of the Oracle Sea, hence the name of their tribe.”"You know of them?" Adrian asked in surprise.Marissa replied, "When I was about thirteen or fourteen, I heard a story about them from an old man.”"An old man?""Yes, we used to call him Grandpa Bill. Grandpa Bill’s long gone now. He told us that the Oracle Lineage had been guarding a secret since the end of an ancient war. As time passed, their numbers dwindled, and now, they’re nearly extinct.""Tell me more about Grandpa Bill."Maris
Adrian had unraveled the puzzle, connecting the dots and revealing the bigger picture of the world's history.First, Wonder came to an agreement with the Creator, then used the power of runes to prevent those in the Oracle Lineage from losing their memories. Even though the world had been reset, the Oracle Lineage retained their memories and built the palace together with Wonder, where they also built the entrance to Wonder's world. Wonder left behind the method to eliminate the Creator, and that secret needed guarding. The Oracle Lineage, whose memories were intact, accepted this mission and vowed to pass down the secret. Moreover, they split the secrets into fragments and hid them all over the place.The Seer was the last protector of this secret. When he knew that his life was coming to an end and saw that he did not have any descendants, he built the War Legate Shrine to store the secret. He then built this hidden chamber and appointed a shrine caretaker to guard it.Many cent
Adrian observed the wall drawings intently. They portrayed a fierce battle between the immortals and the Creator. However, the drawings in the chamber were much more detailed in comparison to the ones in Wonder's world. The drawings the Seer had left behind told a story. In it, Wonder led a group of immortals in an intense battle atop a mountain. Shadows blotted out the sky and an army of monsters filled the mountain. The shadow in the sky had a giant face that looked hungry to devour life.The next part of the story showed a radiant beam of light piercing through the dark sky, leaving a hole that allowed sunlight into the world once more. The source of the light was the artifact of an immortal. It shined so brightly that it pierced through all matter. The artifact itself was a marble urn with a giant eagle engraved on it, and the light poured out of the eagle's eyes.The shadow, furious, killed the immortals and destroyed the artifact. Wonder then realized the Creator was afraid