Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 706, Floor 94 (8)

The intense dizziness receded like a receding tide, and the three of them crashed heavily onto the sticky, damp ground. A bone-chilling cold seeped into their skin through their clothes, mingling with the pungent smell of rust and decaying metal, assaulting their nostrils and causing them to cough uncontrollably. In the dim light, only the pale blue energy lights embedded in the shoulder armor of Riley's Karon mechanical armor emitted a faint glow, barely illuminating a three-meter radius in front of him—his standard equipment as a Phase Hunter, providing basic visibility without revealing his position. But now, this faint light only illuminated a despairing, deathly silence.

"Damn teleportation... why do I always seem to fall out of somewhere?" Fel Lord Mok breathed heavily, his thick boots grinding against the sticky mud with a dull thud. A deathly fel glow swirled around him, like a thin layer of black mist, slightly isolating him from the surrounding dampness. He was tall and almost burly, wearing dark purple fel armor with dark gold patterns flowing through the seams—the energy carriers of his healing and taunt skills. Despite being a priest-like class, he exuded a chilling aura that kept strangers at bay, only softening his gaze when he looked at the two people beside him.

No one knew where they had ended up. Just minutes before, they were checking their new quests that had suddenly appeared in their quest logs, instinctively confirming the teleportation option. Then, all they heard was the howling wind and the crackling of chaotic energy. When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves plunged into this unfamiliar underground waterway. They knew nothing about this place, where they were, what lurked around them, or even the existence of the upper and lower city districts. Their only goal was to find an exit as quickly as possible and escape this cold, damp, and unknown place.

Riley, walking at the forefront, slowly stood up. Slender yet remarkably upright, his high-tech mechanical armor clung tightly to his body, outlining smooth lines. The armor's surface was covered in subtle energy patterns, and the arm armor could extend and retract freely, catering to both melee and ranged attacks. Two energy short blades were tucked at his waist, and a folding energy rifle slung across his back, its barrel engraved with precise aiming patterns. As a Phase Hunter, his teleportation ability gave him considerable confidence. The faint phase energy surrounding him allowed him to instantly teleport to a safe area at the slightest disturbance, even enabling him to teleport short distances with his teammates.

“Stop complaining, Mok. Now is not the time to dwell on the teleportation problem.” Riley’s voice carried the faint crackling of his mechanical armor, but his tone was perfectly calm. He pressed a button on his arm armor, and a weak detection wave spread out, sweeping across the waterway ahead. “No life signals detected, and no obvious energy fluctuations. It’s safe for now, but watch your step. The structure here looks unstable and could collapse at any moment. Our only goal now is to find an exit and get out of this hellhole.”

Evan, the guardian mage walking in the middle of the group, slowly rose and gently raised his hand. A faint golden magical light emanated from his fingertips, forming a thin defensive barrier around the three of them—his basic defensive spell, "Holy Radiance Barrier." It could withstand physical attacks and isolate the surrounding moisture and potential toxins. While not top-tier in strength, its strength lay in its endurance. Once cast, it required no maintenance or power supply; the barriers absorbed energy from the surrounding environment to sustain themselves, more than enough to deal with the unknown dangers of the underground waterways. He was tall and slender, wearing a grey robe embroidered with golden magical patterns. The cuffs and hem of the robe bore the marks of countless battles. As a guardian mage specializing in defensive and area-of-effect damage spells, Evan held a staff inlaid with a pale blue gem. The gem emitted stable magical energy, serving as both the medium for casting spells and the core of his defense. In case of danger, he could instantly unleash a wide-range defensive spell to protect his teammates while simultaneously unleashing a devastating area-of-effect damage spell to eliminate surrounding enemies.

However, the staff is merely a decoy. While it is indeed very sturdy, it cannot actually cast any spells, though it can glow. As a highly customizable defensive mage, Evan has essentially opted for the passive ability to cast spells bare-handed. Therefore, if someone underestimates a mage and merely destroys Evan's staff, they are likely to first receive a flurry of punches and kicks, and then be blasted away by his spells. This can be considered a form of disguise for Evan.

Evan's gaze fell on the surrounding walls, his brow furrowing slightly, his tone grave. "Riley's right, it's too quiet here, unnaturally quiet. There's no trace of any living activity, not even a whisper of wind—this isn't natural silence, it's a deliberately concealed deathly stillness." He waved his staff, and pale golden magical specks landed on the walls, flowing slowly along the wall's texture. "Look," he continued, "there are many fine engravings on these walls, not naturally formed, but like some kind of symbol. Moreover, the materials of these engravings are a mixture of two completely different things: one part is high-tech metal, and the other part is some kind of ancient magical ore, making it all seem exceptionally eerie."

Mok stopped, raising his hand to touch the engravings on the wall. A faint fel energy seeped into the engravings through his fingertips, but there was no reaction. "Fel energy can't activate these engravings," he shook his head, a hint of doubt in his voice. "Moreover, the arrangement of these engravings is very chaotic, not like they were randomly drawn; more like clues to some kind of puzzle. We know nothing about this place right now. Perhaps, solving these puzzles is the only way to find a way out."

Riley nodded and activated the detection wave again. This time, the detection range was much wider, sweeping not only across the walls but also covering the pipes overhead and the mud beneath his feet. "Detected a wide platform fifty meters ahead. There's some kind of energy reaction in the center of the platform, but it's not enemy energy; it seems more like the core energy of some kind of mechanism." He paused, then added, "Moreover, the markings on the walls around the platform are denser, and there are many modern electronic components. It looks like that's where the first puzzle is located—judging from the style of those electronic components, they resemble a modern, technologically advanced mechanism, perhaps related to the background of the area we're in now."

The three didn't linger and headed towards the platform Riley had mentioned. The underground waterway was narrow and winding, its walls covered in moss and water stains. A few drops of murky water occasionally dripped from the pipes overhead, falling into the mud and making a faint sound that was unusually clear in the deathly silence of the waterway. Surprisingly, however, it was remarkably clean. While the surrounding water wasn't quite drinkable, it was at least comparable to a wild stream. Riley walked in front, using his Phase Hunter's agility and detection abilities to avoid potholes and potential collapses. Occasionally, when encountering a narrow passage, he would instantly teleport ahead, confirming it was safe before returning to meet Evan and Mok—Mok's large size, combined with the weight of his fel armor, made him less agile, and Evan, as a mage, had relatively weak defenses (though not actually), requiring the protection of two people.

Mok brought up the rear, the faint glow of fel energy surrounding him never fading. This served two purposes: to ward off the dampness and to be ready to unleash his taunt skill at any moment. Although no enemies were currently detected, no one knew whether solving the puzzle would trigger a hidden trap, drawing enemy attacks. He gripped a fel-powered staff, its tip inlaid with a dark purple gem—the core of his healing and taunt abilities. He could instantly unleash fel healing upon teammates taking damage; though the skill's visuals were necromantic, its healing effect was incredibly powerful, even capable of resurrecting dying teammates. When encountering enemies, his taunt skill would draw all enemy aggro to him, allowing him to withstand attacks with his exceptional defense, creating space for Riley and Evan to deal damage. In essence, Mok's class was a fel-powered, necromantic-style combat priest. With some tank class skill variations, while he lost many mobility and damage-dealing methods, his group healing and defensive capabilities were truly unique.

Evan walked along, observing the engravings and fragments of electronic components around him. He occasionally waved his staff, sending pale golden magical specks landing on them as he tried to find patterns. "Look," he said, pointing to the engravings on the wall, "these engravings, though seemingly chaotic, can actually be divided into two types. One type has electronic patterns, with tiny metal contacts around them, likely part of a modern technological mechanism. The other type has magical patterns, containing faint magical energy, somewhat similar to the energy properties of the gem on my staff. Moreover, these engravings and fragments of electronic components seem to be arranged around the platform in front of us. Clearly, the first puzzle is to combine this technology with the engravings to solve it."

Riley stopped and turned to look at the markings and electronic components Evan had pointed to. The energy lights on his arm armor lit up again, illuminating them even more clearly. “Now that you mention it,” he said, “I’m reminded of a high-tech cryptographic mechanism I once saw. That kind of mechanism requires the connection of electronic contacts and a specific arrangement of symbols to activate, thereby opening subsequent channels. Perhaps these markings with electronic patterns are part of the code, while the markings with magical patterns are used to assist in activating the mechanism—after all, the technological energy in this environment seems somewhat disordered and needs magical energy to stabilize it.”

Mok frowned and said, “But we don’t have any clues. How are we supposed to know how to connect the electronic contacts and how to arrange the engravings? We can’t just try them one by one, can we? There are so many engravings and electronic contacts here. What if we make a mistake and trigger a trap? My fel energy defense is very strong, but if it’s a large-scale trap, I might not be able to protect the two of you.”

Evan shook his head and said, "It wasn't a blind attempt. Look, the arrangement of these markings and electronic components actually has some kind of hidden connection with the pipes above and the patterns in the mud beneath our feet." He raised his staff and pointed to the pipes above, "There are two main pipes above. One is made of metal and covered with electronic circuits, which should be used to transmit technological energy; the other is made of magical ore and covered with magical patterns, which should be used to transmit magical energy. And look at the mud beneath our feet. There are two fine lines in the mud. Although they are covered with moss, you can vaguely see that these two lines are pointing in two different directions on the platform, completely consistent with the direction of the two main pipes above."

Riley looked in the direction Evan pointed, and sure enough, the two main pipes overhead, one emitting a faint blue technological glow and the other a faint golden magical glow, extended to the left and right sides of the platform respectively. Two fine lines in the mud beneath their feet perfectly matched the direction of the pipes. "You mean, these two markings correspond to the two main pipes overhead, representing technological and magical energy respectively?" he asked, his tone tinged with doubt. "But there are many of each type of marking, and the electronic contacts are scattered everywhere. Even if they correspond to the two energies, we don't know which markings to choose or which contacts to connect."

“It wasn’t a random choice,” Evan said. “I’m a guardian mage, and my perception of magical energy is more acute than yours. I just used magic to probe the inside of these engravings, and the intensity of the magical and technological energy follows a pattern—the larger the engraving, the stronger the energy; the smaller the engraving, the weaker the energy. Moreover, those electronic contacts also follow a pattern; different colors of contacts represent different energy levels: red contacts are high energy, blue contacts are medium energy, and green contacts are low energy.”

He paused, then continued, “The two main pipes overhead transmit a stable energy intensity. The metal pipes have a medium-level technological energy, and the magical ore pipes have a medium-level magical energy. This means we need to choose engravings with medium energy intensity and electronic contacts with medium energy to match the energy of the main pipes, avoiding energy overload that could trigger a trap, and also avoiding insufficient energy that would prevent activation of the mechanism. Also, you see, the engravings on the wall, although messy, have tiny connections between every two engravings, like some kind of circuit, and the electronic contacts are right at the ends of these connections—obviously, we need to connect the medium-energy engravings with the electronic contacts to form a complete circuit, and then inject magical energy to stabilize the circuit in order to activate the first mechanism and find the path to the next area.”

Mok nodded and said, "This idea sounds feasible. Although my fel energy cannot activate these markings and contacts, I can sense the intensity of the energy. I can help you find the one with medium energy in each marking and also help you distinguish the energy level of the electronic contacts." After speaking, he closed his eyes, and the faint fel energy around him became more intense. The fel energy spread along the wall, covering all the markings and electronic contacts around him. After a moment, he opened his eyes and pointed to the left side of the wall: "Among the magic pattern markings, there are five with medium energy, all on the left wall. The markings are all the same size, and the magic patterns in the middle are very clear. Among the technology pattern markings, there are also five with medium energy, on the right wall. The electronic contacts around the markings are all blue medium-energy contacts. Moreover, the positions of these markings can be connected by lines to form a complete circle, which matches the shape of the core mechanism in the center of the platform."

Riley immediately teleported to the marks and electronic contacts that Mok had mentioned, carefully observed them, and confirmed that the energy intensity of the marks was indeed medium, and the electronic contacts were all blue medium-energy contacts. "That's right, the energy response of these marks and contacts is the most stable," he said. "Moreover, the lines connecting these marks can form a circle, and the center of the circle is the core of the mechanism in the center of the platform. I'll try using phase energy to connect two of the electronic contacts to see if there will be a reaction."

As he spoke, Riley condensed phase energy at his fingertips into a thin energy line, gently connecting two blue electronic contacts on the right wall. The moment the connection was successful, the two contacts emitted a faint blue light, and the markings lit up as well. A thin stream of technological energy flowed along the connection line, extending towards the next contact, but it only flowed a short distance before abruptly stopping, and the light from the contacts and markings went out. "No, technological energy alone cannot stabilize the circuit," Riley frowned and said, "Moreover, the properties of phase energy are somewhat incompatible with the technological energy here, and it cannot maintain the connection between the contacts for a long time."