Chapter 100 - 89: [Ship of Hope]

Chapter 100: Chapter 89: [Ship of Hope]

The fishing boat pulled up to the island, and Zhang Ji looked at it.

Under the bright moonlight, he could see it was covered in dilapidated buildings, most of which had been weathered and worn down by the passage of time.

Carrying the cross, Zhang Ji disembarked. A current of water formed a platform beneath his feet. He used it to propel himself in a single leap, landing on the shore.

It really wasn’t easy to move around while carrying something so heavy.

The island was vast. There were no large creatures in the vicinity, only some insects, patches of weeds and trees, and many buildings damaged beyond recognition.

Zhang Ji walked over to a broken wall.

The material of this broken wall didn’t seem to be ordinary dirt or stone bricks.

He reached out and broke off a piece. It felt very hard, no worse than ordinary steel. It was slightly less tough and a bit more brittle, but still much stronger than brick or stone.

’This seems to be a city?’

Zhang Ji carefully recalled the memories from his past life.

He vaguely remembered the guide saying to take the cross to the island, follow the path deep into the ruins to its core, and write the answer to a question on a clay tablet. Doing so would grant him the Ark of Hope Ruins Realm core, the best Ruins Realm for farming in the early game.

Zhang Ji turned and started following the road.

This area seemed isolated from the outside world. Thanks to some special design that allowed for natural cleaning by rainwater, the road hadn’t been completely buried despite the long passage of time.

Zhang Ji could still make out the road quite clearly.

As he walked on, he saw nothing but one ruined building after another.

The entire city had suffered an unimaginable disaster.

Or rather, not just the city, but the entire civilization.

After walking for who knows how long, a pyramid-like structure appeared before Zhang Ji’s eyes.

This type of ancient architecture was generally more common in Guning Country.

At the pyramid’s entrance stood two enormous statues, a full thirty meters tall. They looked like guards, each holding a long spear. Their spears were crossed, blocking the middle of the entrance as if to bar entry.

Zhang Ji vaguely sensed a subtle fluctuation of energy emanating from them.

"So there is a combat encounter after all. If I hadn’t brought the key like the guide said, I’d probably have to fight these two," Zhang Ji muttered.

’When I watched the guide, all I remember is that damn YouTuber saying "no fighting," "no map grinding," "easily get the strongest early-game farming homestead"...’

’He didn’t mention a single bit of this key information!!’

’Of course, it’s also possible I just fast-forwarded through too much of it.’

’After all, I’m a very impatient person. When I watch guides, I usually just watch the beginning to see what I need, then fast-forward to see how to get the item. I don’t care about the rest.’

’Besides, those assholes always stick long ads in the middle and pad the video with all sorts of useless filler to create suspense for the next episode. If anyone can actually watch one of those from start to finish without skipping, I’d have to give them a thumbs-up.’

Carrying the cross, Zhang Ji cautiously approached the enormous entrance to the pyramid.

As Zhang Ji approached, the cross began to glow with a silvery-white light, and the two statues moved in response.

RUMBLE... GRIND!

Amid the rumbling, the two statues’ crossed spears separated, signaling that the way was unsealed.

Zhang Ji breathed a sigh of relief.

’If we’d actually had to fight, taking down two giants like that would not have been easy.’

Upon entering the pyramid, the lighting changed. The internal structure was designed to softly reflect the outside light throughout the interior, making it surprisingly bright inside.

The corridor walls were covered in carvings.

Starting from the entrance, these carvings told a story.

Countless people had come together, forming a great civilization. From this civilization emerged Extraordinary humans.

These humans could manipulate the earth, Control the rain, command Fire, and bend the air currents.

Under the leadership of many incredibly powerful humans, the civilization grew ever more prosperous.

Until a crack appeared in their sky.

Torrents of water poured down, battering the city and destroying everything.

At the critical moment, the Extraordinary pioneers stood forth to hold back the flood.

One powerful being among them, who carried a cross, contributed the most. His power was perfectly suited to countering the deluge, giving him an advantage.

In the face of such a disaster, the one who carried the cross rose to prominence. Out of necessity, he became their new leader.

Under his leadership, the people organized an evacuation, but no matter where they fled, the floodwaters continued to spread, consuming their lands.

Just then, other wise pioneers of the civilization found a seed of hope through another crack in the sky.

Using this seed, they built a great ship.

This ship could preserve the embers of their civilization and lead them out of danger...

The carvings ended there.

Zhang Ji remembered the rest from the video guide, where the player had continued his explanation.

The rest of the information was described in the scriptures of the church.

Afterward, Su died, having exhausted his power protecting the people as they retreated. However, they were unable to use the seed, as the spatiotemporal rift inexplicably sealed itself.

The floodwaters receded, and the survivors rebuilt their lives, establishing the Mammon Country.

The seed of hope was preserved, and Su’s cross was designated as its key.

If disaster ever struck again, the people could use the cross to board the Ark of Hope and escape, preserving their hope and the embers of their civilization.

By now, Zhang Ji had reached the very center of the pyramid.

In the vast, empty hall, moonlight was being gathered into a single spot.

It illuminated a clay tablet in the very center.

Above the clay tablet, a question was inscribed in the ancient language of Mammon.

[When disaster strikes, do you flee or face it?]

The answer to this question had to be written on the clay tablet.

An incorrect answer would get one teleported off the island instantly. Only a correct answer would grant access to the Ark of Hope Ruins Realm.

’Answering with either "flee" or "face it" is wrong.’

’A classic misdirection.’

’The real answer is hidden in that thick, bullshit Saint Su Scripture.’

’The answer is [Preserve Hope].’

’And it has to be written in the ancient Mammon language from over six thousand years ago.’

’The modern, simplified script won’t work.’

’I really have to hand it to those puzzle-solving players.’

’If I remember correctly, it’s written like this...’

Zhang Ji’s finger glided across the clay tablet, writing out two words.

He had made a point to learn some of the ancient Mammon language before coming, using the guide to find the two words for "Preserve Hope."

After writing the two words, Zhang Ji withdrew his hand.

Instantly, the illuminated clay tablet began to change. The inscription gradually vanished, returning the surface to its original smooth, flat state. The next moment, the great hall began to tremble.

RUMBLE...!

Zhang Ji felt the entire hall rising, the ceiling of the pyramid drawing closer and closer.

’No, it’s not rising. It’s descending.’

’The pyramid is sinking!!’

Zhang Ji watched as the ceiling drew nearer and nearer, until the space he occupied was less than forty square meters.

A prismatic crystal hanging from the ceiling gathered the moonlight. As it reflected the light, special energy conduits throughout the chamber lit up, all converging on the clay tablet.

From the center of the tablet, a fist-sized orb of pure white light arose, gradually floating up to Zhang Ji’s eye level before stopping.

Although it seemed to have emerged from the tablet, it actually existed within a spatial crevice.

Don’t underestimate these ancient civilizations for their lack of conventional technology. By relying on superpowered individuals and other Extraordinary beings with special abilities, they were already messing around with Space Technology thousands of years ago.

’In the lore of Ultimate Fighting, many Interstellar Civilizations haven’t even mastered Space Technology.’

’It was like a primitive tribe handing you the blueprints for a controllable nuclear fusion reactor—that level of anachronism.’

Zhang Ji reached out for the orb of light.

The instant his palm made contact, the light flared, and then it vanished.

An image of a ship appeared on the palm of Zhang Ji’s left hand, and then it, too, faded from view.

Portability. This was one of the reasons the Ark of Hope was known as the best early-game Ruins Realm.

It could attach itself directly to the person who touched it, using them as an anchor. Wherever they went, it went.

This was a truly portable Ruins Realm.

Zhang Ji closed his eyes slightly, his consciousness clearly sensing the Ruins Realm within his left palm.

With a mere thought, Zhang Ji’s form vanished. The next moment, he appeared inside another Ruins Realm.

The sky was a blank white, as was the world in every direction. The ground was perfectly flat, with only a few piles of soft, brown soil. Subtle air currents indicated that there was circulating air, suitable for most life-forms.

The entire space was like a large box.

Zhang Ji walked the perimeter and quickly got a sense of its size.

It was only about the size of four football fields, with invisible spatial walls at its edges.

Compared to the Wind God Ruins Realm, which could support tens of thousands of people, this place was minuscule.

However, according to Zhang Ji’s knowledge, its value surpassed dozens of Wind God Ruins Realms combined.

And that wasn’t just because of its portability.

It was because it had the ability to draw energy directly from the outer void.

This brought up the topic of how Ruins Realms operate.

Most man-made Ruins Realms contain simulated sunlight and other features to ensure the interior is as habitable as the outside world. This simulation mechanism works by anchoring to the Main Universe and siphoning off its energy to function.

In other words, they were a type of demi-plane.

But the Ark of Hope was different.

It drew its energy directly from the outer void.

This meant it and the Main Universe were two independent systems.

In a way, you could think of it as a pocket universe.

A function like this meant it was, at the very least, a Red (Legendary) grade item.

The only other item Zhang Ji knew of from the early game that could compare was the (Legendary) grade World Tree Sapling.

But that was an item from an Otherworld added in a later game patch. For now, this Ruins Realm was the absolute best.

One could only say that Su and the other pioneers had heaven-defying luck to have found something like this in another world through that spatiotemporal rift.

Besides being a self-contained system, it also had another special function—the primary reason it earned the title of the best early-game farming homestead.

The energy it converted was especially suitable for plant growth and was more easily absorbed by them.

Just by being here, Zhang Ji could feel his fatigue easing. The soft white light that filled the space felt incredibly comfortable.

Unfortunately, at his current level, he couldn’t utilize this energy directly. He could only do some farming or raise some Exotic Beasts to obtain its resources indirectly.

Otherwise, why would Zhang Ji even need a Gathering Light Tower? Just by using this place as his power source, he could have a stable supply of high-grade, convertible energy all the way until he reached S-rank.