Liam pondered deeply as he kept staring at the two news articles. They contained a lot of information. On one hand was the observatory which was certainly worth exploring. On the other hand was the appearance of Duke Demmington.
The duke didn't look entirely like elves in Fate of Crunaboul but there were some slight resemblances. Was it a coincidence? Perhaps it was a beauty standard? With modern medicine it wasn't difficult to adjust one's looks to resemble an elf. Surely the ancient civilization would only be more proficient and not less. Or perhaps the duke wasn't fully human. After all, there were many alien races out there and all of them had their own distinct appearances.
Liam shook his head. He didn't have enough clues to come to a definite answer. He moved his eyes away from the duke and looked at the bowing crowd. It was common knowledge that the ancient civilization was an elitist society. However, when Liam learned about the ancient civilization from his parents, he was still a child and didn't understand it that deeply. Only now that he saw this article did he get a good grasp of it. With the visit of a duke an entire town would stop whatever they were doing only to welcome him.
"Madness…"
Liam even doubted whether such a society could function. Although in the federation there were certain families with a lot of influence, they weren't this absurdly domineering. However, in the ancient civilization it was different. According to the information publicly available in the federation the noble families of the ancient civilisation seemed to have ruled from the civilization's rise to its downfall. They concentrated all the power on themselves. They had the most high-levelled players and the most starlight masters. Their position was unshakeable. If some new talent rose, they would either get absorbed into the noble families or disappear.
Liam inwardly thanked C that he wasn't reborn in the ancient civilization.
With that, he had drawn all the possible information from the two news articles. He stepped away from the screen and searched the room some more. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see. There were a few doors leading elsewhere but Liam didn't dare to touch them. On one hand, they looked much more solid than the doors of the houses upstairs and Liam didn't know if he could break them. On the other hand, he was afraid that some security measures might still be working and using violence would make him a target.
It's safer to report to the army. Let them deal with it.
After making a decision Liam left the shelter. He ignored the surrounding buildings and headed directly for the centre of the town. It didn't take long for him to appear in front of a large, circular building. However, although it was the largest building in the town it didn't look much like an observatory. The ceiling was flat and there was no sign of a telescope.
Liam followed the bending wall. It was a light grey without any windows or embellishments. After a short walk he saw a small group of people in the distance, revealed through the fog. They were among the players who arrived together with Liam.
"The door won't open…"
"We need to try again. This building is clearly the centre of the town. It might contain some good stuff."
"If you keep talking, you might as well just step aside. Let's see if my fist is harder or this door."
"Don't be reckless. This building seems to retain some energy. What if you trigger something?"
From the discussion Liam already knew the obstacle the other players were facing. As he came closer, the group noticed him. Everyone nodded lightly before racking their brain over the door again.
"What's the situation?", asked Liam after coming closer.
"Here, look at that console. We don't know what it wants from us. It looks like some kind of complicated passcode."
Liam raised his brows, staring at a large console next to the door. It was a deep blue screen showing many small, bright lights like a nebula of stars. There were at least one hundred. Touching one star caused it to light up but touching a second one would cause both to dim again.
"Obviously we need to activate them in a certain sequence. But there are no further clues. I fear we can only report back to the army. Perhaps they know more."
"You cowards. I'm here to get rich not to run away in front of the smallest obstacles. F*cking go away, I will take care of this now!"
One of the players was obviously getting impatient. He raised his hand and blue flames formed around his fist.
"Are you crazy?!"
"Stop him!"
The others instantly felt chills run down their spines. After months in the game everyone had good combat skills. Their reactions were on point. One of the players who was a tank in the game swiftly placed his body in front of the door and activated his skills. The other three, including Liam, rushed at the aggressive player. One against four the latter stood no chance. He was attacked from all sides until he fell unconscious.
"Damn, what a hassle! Come, let's drag that guy out and complain to the army. I will make sure this idiot will never be invited to explore an ancient ruin again."
"Yes! If he wants to risk his own life it's fine, but he even tries to drag us down with him!"
The players cursed loudly. They wore ugly expressions as they rudely picked up the unconscious player and carried him away.
"Are you not coming with us?"
"No, I want to investigate this door first.", replied Liam to one of the players. He was only answered with a dismissive scoff. After all, the other players already tried everything they could think off. What more could Liam do?
After waiting until the group left, Liam once again directed his attention back to the console. His intuition told him that these stars were not entirely random. He was sure they were hiding some patterns. But how was he supposed to discover them?
As Liam was contemplating, his eyes suddenly fell on a small symbol in the upper left corner of the console. It looked like a thin, golden ring. There was nothing conspicuous about it, but Liam thought it looked quite familiar. He just couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Liam continued to ponder for five minutes without finding the answer. Just as he was considering giving up, he came up with an idea. With a flick of his wrist a small, black sphere appeared in his hand. It looked unremarkable except for one spot which was colourful and intricate like the iris of an eye. This small sphere was the Eye of Vaunorah, which he received as a reward from C a while back and hadn't used since. It had the ability to send out up to three invisible and intangible subordinate eyes in a range of up to 20 meters which could transmit images to the main eye.
Using the Eye of Vaunorah Liam should be able to observe the inside of the observatory and perhaps even find a clue on how to open the door. Thus, he made sure that no one was around before activating the main eye. A slight tremor ran through the black sphere, and it projected a light screen in the air. Liam knew that the invisible subordinate eye had already been deployed. With his thoughts he ordered the subordinate eye to move forward and the scene on the light screen changed like a live broadcast.
Liam grinned confidently. He directed the subordinate eye to move towards the observatory until its vision was filled with the grey wall. Just as the eye was about to show its extraordinary capabilities and pass through the wall, a light flickered in front of it and the eye was repelled. Liam stared in shock at the door which was momentarily surrounded by runes shining with starlight before they dimmed again.
Was this a joke? The first time he used his new item, and it instantly failed? Liam's lips twitched. He tried another two times from different angles, but an invisible barrier held back the subordinate eye each time.
Liam had to accept that his idea didn't work. However, now that he had already employed his new item he might as well use it to gather some more information. Thus, Liam directed the subordinate eye to observe the observatory from all sides. The outer walls were plain and boring, but he made a discovery on top of the roof. There was a circular part at the centre of the roof which was separated from the rest. Liam imagined that it could be opened like a sliding door. And around this circular part were some golden letters. Liam was intrigued and controlled the subordinate eye to get a better view on the letters.
"Cannewriohl, Saintess of the New Moon. Cannariohl, Saintess of the Half Moon. Canncamohl, Saintess of the Full Moon."
As he read these three names Liam suddenly felt enlightened.