Chapter 210.2: Remote Report (Part 2)

『Right, I guess that's true. Anyway, about your question, my answer is that you don't have to hurry.』

Solomon paid little attention to Mira's prideful remarks, and answered that she did not have to hurry back, which had been Mira's original question.

『Everyone who's good at thinking here already has their hands full after all.』

Solomon replied with a slight chagrin, informing that their research into the large cave underneath the Ancient Temple Nevrapolis was still going on.

Apparently they had found out what the withered plants within the large hole were, and they were all plants that could only be cultivated in very specific locations, namely the flower gardens around strange white pylons dotted around the continent.

「Oh, those...」

Muttering that, Mira recalled those strange pylons surrounded by flower gardens. So far no one knew what they were for, though the particular flora surrounding them was used to make a special medicine known as Angel Drop, which was used to treat a bizarre disease known as Death Syndrome. Those afflicted would, as its name stated, become lifeless husks of themselves, and if it remained untreated could lead to them completely losing any sanity they had left.

『When we discovered that, it became obvious what the biggest hole was for.』

There was a large cylindrical hole around a hundred meters long. With the new information it was easy to surmise that a white pylon was once filling that space. On top of that, further investigation revealed that a major leyline ran underneath that place.

Since ages past, leylines had been regarded as important and powerful locations.

One of those white pylons had been placed on top of it, but somehow a devil had destroyed it, though that was still being investigated.

『That's as far as we've gotten so far, but there's still a lot of roadblocks ahead.』

No one knew what the pylon's purpose was, and since it was already gone, they could not research it either. For now the most common suggestion they got was to investigate the remaining pylons across the continent. Though Solomon had a rather bad feeling considering it was a devil that had made the pylon vanish.

「I see. I agree that there has to be something much deeper to this, considering the devil's involvement...」

『All the big brains of the castle are working hard with that, or rather, they all love difficult research so much they're absorbed by it. If you bring that metal plate here, their interest will double, and I'm afraid they'll want to continue working without ever sleeping again.』

Suleyman was always especially intrigued by the stories Mira brought back, and if he caught wind of her latest adventures, he might actually die from exhaustion. And Solomon thought that half jokingly and half seriously.

「Hmm...I see, we can't have them pushing themselves too hard. Though I'm actually curious about those pylons too now.」

When Mira heard why she could take her time, her interest in that also grew.

Those white pylons had been a long standing mystery. No one knew why they existed, and players just regarded them as key locations to gather certain items needed in quests.

Now that this world had become reality though, there was a proper history behind everything, which also deepened the mystery behind the white pylons.

(History and mysteries...)

The vastness of this world was something players noticed way back in the day. And it was not just vast for the sake of being vast, but everything had a deeper meaning and purpose, all linked together.

It was not just the white pylons, but the entire continent was filled with mysteries that they were too many for just one person to investigate. And obviously enough, there were plenty of eccentric players who wanted to unravel as many as they could.

Thinking of that, Mira checked her friends list on her menu, something she had not done in a while. There she found a certain name.

Eutodie Dolfin. One of those eccentric players, and a self-proclaimed archeologist.

「I just checked and it seems like Dr. Dolfin is also in this world. Maybe he could know something?」"

Eutodie Dolfin was known for his endless passion for mystery, traveling all over the continent chasing any lead he could find. If his zealousness was still the same as back then, maybe he had already looked into the white pylons, for which he had expressed interest in the past.

It could be more efficient to ask him directly instead of sending a team to investigate the white pylons again. Mira brought up that possibility, to which Solomon remarked 『That's a decent idea...』 but then he paused for a moment.

『But the issue is that we have no guarantee of how far his investigation went.』

「Ah...you're right, that could be an issue.」

The self-proclaimed archeologist's investigations always changed on a whim. Even if he had been pursuing a mystery with all his resources, if something slightly more interesting appeared, he would drop everything to follow the new one. Once he reached the end of one investigation he would return to the past one, but considering how long those chains could become, he had left countless investigations hanging in the air.

『Not to mention that there's no direct messages anymore, so we don't have any connection to him left and we'll have to figure out where he is. And that's going to take a while.』

While it seemed easy on paper, he was incredibly slippery, even for an archeologist (self-proclaimed), so trying to chase after him and find him would take at least the same amount of effort as the search for the Nine Wisemen.

「A connection...」

Mira muttered that, the specific word catching her attention. A main point of the Spirit King's Divine Protection was the power to connect. Thinking that, Mira was starting to harbor a hope that some connection to Dolfin could be found and traced.

『Mira, may I ask you something?』

The Spirit King raised his voice at that exact moment, seemingly having a question of his own.

『Go ahead.』

Mira was a bit surprised by the timing of it, but was ready to reply. The Spirit King's question ended up surpassing her expectations, and could easily be more important than trying to find Dolfin.

『Those white pylons you keep mentioning all this time, could they be the 48 Transducer Pillars of Heaven and Earth?』

The Spirit King mentioned a term, which sounded like the correct name for the mysterious objects Mira and Solomon called white pylons.

「What...?」

Thinking about it, the Spirit King had been alive for an unthinkable amount of time, so it would not be too surprising if he was there when the white pylons were built, and knew what they were for. Or rather, he was the perfect entity to ask such a question.

Mira felt slightly guilty for making a lot of the research by Solomon's team irrelevant, but the Spirit King's knowledge was invaluable.