Mako stared at the record, feeling a bit speechless. It felt like it was trying to say a lot, but ultimately said nothing at all.
"Ugh! Looks like it's connected to something that fell from the sky again. Novels gloss over so much, and TV shows leave out even more."
As he delved deeper, Mako found the world becoming increasingly mysterious. Many things seemed different from what he'd imagined.
Collecting his scattered thoughts, Mako continued searching through the large stone slabs, hoping to find more records. After searching for a long time, he still hadn't found anything of use. But luck was on his side; he finally found the blueprints for this underwater palace among the many stone slabs.
In the lower levels of the Deep Ones' underwater palace, there was a large space which served as their storage and laboratory. It was then that Mako realized he'd been looking for so long without finding the real core of it all.
After memorizing the entrance location and the basic layout of the basement, Mako waved to the women, who were still searching for stone slabs, and used Soul Link to signal them to gather.
Mako informed the three women of their next destination and some important precautions. He told them that once they reached the basement, they had to follow his lead. He didn't know what they might encounter down there, so he'd prepared beforehand to avoid potential problems.
Then, Mako and his companions swam towards the basement entrance. The entrance was in the northwest corner of the hall, a very hidden location that required them to pass through several compartments and hidden rooms to find it.
Moreover, the Deep Ones had learned a fascinating magic key technology from the Elven. Their stone tablets specifically recorded the operational mechanisms of this technology. It was somewhat similar to a password lock from Earth, but even if someone managed to crack the character password, the Deep Ones had added magical black technology to this lock, capable of automatically identifying Deep One bloodlines.
The most amazing thing was that this bloodline identification magic could negate the effects of blood magic and other spells, making the key only recognize their "own people." Fortunately, the mermaids all carried a trace of Deep One blood, so Mako only needed to solve the lock issue.
Perhaps the Deep Ones believed that even if something went wrong, their enemies would find it difficult to decipher the character keys, as the Deep Ones' writing was extremely complex and difficult to understand. They probably didn't anticipate that someone like Mako, possessing the "Understanding of All Things" skill, would exist in the world.
In the following time, things became much simpler. Mako only needed to unlock the key at the entrance, and then have Nymph go up and let the magic key recognize her bloodline.
The entrance to the basement was a circular door decorated with carvings of blue waves. In the center of the door was a smaller, circular crystal plate. On the crystal plate, there was an almost imperceptible fine line, and upon closer inspection, a fine line could also be seen on the door.
These two fine lines, one long and one short, one above the other, perfectly formed a slender "+", appearing seamless, as if it were a special magical construction technique.
Mako walked to the middle of the door and gently touched the circular crystal on it. The crystal then turned into something like an LCD panel from Earth.
Mako tapped it with his hand and found that it was still functioning normally even today. He then began password testing, and the Deep Ones hadn't set any lock-out functions, so Mako could input some information and characters that he had obtained from the stone tablet.
When Mako spelled out the word "Great Father God," the door finally reacted. It seemed he'd guessed correctly this time. In the Deep Ones' faith, their creator was called the "Father God."
So, during this time, Mako had been trying to guess the password with praise. Perseverance paid off; after trying for the fiftieth time, he cracked the word symbol password. The round crystal then turned red.
Mako quickly called Nymph over and had her place her hand on the round crystal. The crystal immediately burst into a fierce red light. Mako quickly retreated. In an instant, the red light enveloped Nymph entirely.
After about a minute, the red light dissipated. Nymph looked curiously at the scene before her. The round crystal on the door began to rotate counterclockwise, and finally, two fine lines gradually merged into one. Then, after a violent tremor, the round door slowly opened.
Behind the door was a thin, deep blue energy curtain. Mako used "Elemental Vision" to check and found no issues, so he led the three women inside.
Upon entering the basement, the skeletons on the ceiling all lit up. This seemed to be just the first room. Tall crystal pillars stood within, and Mako saw another entrance behind these crystal pillars.
However, he didn't have time to marvel at the basement's size because he discovered something even more interesting. Approaching the crystal pillars, Mako realized that they contained strange creatures.
In the crystal pillar closest to Mako, there was a creature resembling a Mosasaurus from Earth's dinosaur age. Mako looked at the other crystal pillars and found many similar strange creatures. He felt that this should be where the Deep Ones created their subordinate races.
Mako did a quick calculation and realized there were at least a hundred crystal pillars here. Each one held a unique-looking creature or humanoid, and without exception, they were all aquatic species.
Just as Mako walked among the crystal pillars, the system prompt suddenly popped up.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, on discovering the special building, Hatching Pool (Variant). Activating blueprint conversion mode. Will you use 10,000 gold for conversion?"
"Ding! System initiating conversion. Please wait patiently. Ding! Conversion failed. Activating backup plan..."
"Ding! Biological template comparison failed. Importing Yingzhou faction, unsuccessful! Importing Academy faction, low match rate..."
"Ding! Re-adding 4th generation game module, 6th generation game module, 7th generation game module!"
"Ding! Synthesizing new building blueprint: Biological Laboratory. Ding! Host's abilities do not match the Biological Laboratory's functions. Analyzing..."
"Ding! To ensure the Host can use this building blueprint normally, the system will compensate by importing corresponding knowledge from the Academy faction to facilitate the Host's use of this building. Knowledge import in progress: Magical Creature Creation, Construct Creature Creation, Energy Studies..."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host! Your special skills 'Treasure Crafting', 'Elemental Vision', 'Enchanting', 'Soul Link', 'Eternal Enslavement', 'Battlecry Magic', 'Rune Magic'... have been upgraded."
"Ding! Please pay attention, Host! The treasure, the Necromancer's Helm, has been destroyed, and its skills have been absorbed. Please check immediately."
"Ding! Detecting a special ability upgrade for the Host. The system will now integrate your abilities. Please wait patiently…"
"Ding! Congratulations, Host! The integration of special abilities is complete. The new ability is now renamed 'Magic Control'."
Magic Control
Description: You now have a very proficient level of control over magic. You can perfectly manipulate the magic you have mastered. Provided the necessary resources are available, you can apply magical effects to certain items and creatures, or create magical items or constructs that meet resource requirements.
Original: Apply a single magical effect to items and creatures.
Beginner: Apply two magical effects to items and creatures.
Intermediate: Add magical effects to items and creatures, with a maximum of three effects per item or creature.
Advanced: Halves the resources required by the host, and grants a chance to obtain Magic Resistance or Magic Immunity (as well as some special abilities) during the enchantment process.
"Ding! The host's current ability level is Primitive. Skill levels can be upgraded later by constructing a Mystic Foundry. (Beginner is 1x, Intermediate is 2x, Advanced is 3x)"
A series of system notifications made Mako's head buzz. The system's actions completely bewildered him. He hadn't expected the tens of thousands of gold resources to be so worthwhile.
Especially the "Magic Control" skill the system synthesized, which was simply priceless. With this skill, Mako's "Magic Revival Plan" finally had a solid foundation to be implemented.
Mako felt a brand new future was about to appear in his hands. Various fantastical creatures and races would add a beautiful touch to this cold and cruel low-magic world.
Looking at the now empty room, the three women were completely shocked this time. If Mako making those crystals disappear earlier could be considered magic, then this scene could only be described as a miracle.
Everything within a thousand square meters had vanished in an instant, which was indeed something only a miracle could explain.
Mako didn't have any particular thoughts on the matter. He waved to Yueying and the other two, signaling them to continue forward. Mako was becoming increasingly intrigued by what lay inside.
After entering the second basement room, Mako discovered that it was filled with piles of crystal stones. Despite the passage of so many years, these crystals still seemed to be emitting a faint energy. With his ability upgrade, Mako had become increasingly sensitive to these magical objects, and his perception was getting stronger.
After carefully inspecting the area and confirming that there were no issues, Mako reached out and gently touched one of the crystals. Suddenly, a system prompt sounded once again.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host! A special resource, Mystic Crystal, has been discovered. Would you like to collect it?"
"Ding! The system has begun collecting resources. The quantity will be automatically calculated upon completion. Please wait patiently, Host..."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have obtained 100,000 units of Mystic Crystal. The system will open a special resource storage module for this."
"Ding! Resource storage is complete, and the system is currently analyzing. Please wait patiently, Host..."
Afterward, Mako found various other crystal stones in the basement, including Yellow Crystal, Green Crystal, Blood Crystal, Agate, and Amethyst. He thoroughly explored every accessible room in the basement, and without exception, the system recognized all of these mysterious crystal stones as special resources.
Even though he didn't know their specific functions, since the system had taken a liking to them, they were undoubtedly good things. What Mako needed to do now was wait for the system to completely analyze them.
Suppressing the chaotic thoughts in his mind, Mako arrived at the innermost part of the basement. He had roughly estimated the area as he walked, and discovered that the basement was actually even larger than the underwater palace ruins above.
At this moment, Mako slowly walked into the final room's door. Only upon entering did Mako realize that it wasn't as large as he had imagined. Inside, there were four rows of stone tables, displaying various objects.
Weapons, animal bones, shields, crystals, and even some eggs of creatures. Moreover, through his senses, Mako felt that they seemed to have a life force.
Without exception, all these things were floating above a circular crystal. Above these circular crystals was a force field space with a diameter of about 2 meters, which seemed to be protecting them.
Mako swam to an item that looked like a dragon egg and reached out to touch the circular crystal at the base. Subsequently, the force field on this crystal emitted a red light, and then the Deep Ones' word key popped up.
This time, Mako calmly took out something like a scepter. He had found it in a hidden compartment of a room not long ago; it seemed to be a kind of key.
Mako had also used this scepter to find many hidden rooms, which were filled with resources rich in energy. This item had been hidden above the dome initially, and because that skeleton also emitted special magic, Mako hadn't noticed it at first.
But, as luck would have it, on the framework of the room's dome, for reasons unknown, there was a pink bead that looked like a crystal. Nymph, out of curiosity, swam up and directly pulled down the bead along with the framework.
And it was this scene that made Mako sense the magical power hidden within the scepter. So, he swam to the top of the dome and found the hidden compartment where the scepter was concealed. Mako guessed it was probably the master of the basement's spare key.
After spending more than half an hour unlocking the magical key, Mako obtained the "access card" to this basement. From then on, he was unhindered and made his way to this final room.
Ding! Congratulations to the host for discovering the treasure, Ice Crystal Trident (Special)... Ding! Congratulations to the host for discovering 1 powerful Soul Core...
After ransacking this room for over an hour, Mako had pretty much touched every magical item there. On the way out of the basement, Mako used the scepter to test all the rooms again. Only after sweeping through two more hidden chambers did he leave the basement, satisfied.