Splash~!

  A sound of splashing water broke the calm of the water surface.

  As glowing particles scattered in all directions, a figure emerged, shrouded in light, and slowly walked toward the shore.

  Hulim put on her shoes and socks out of habit,

  then stretched her body—feeling more energetic than the previous day.

  "Let’s give it a try."

  She focused her mind, guiding the mana in her body to flow along a specific mana circuit.

  "Fireball......"

  A sharp headache struck, and the Fireball failed to activate.

  Hulim stopped her attempt.

  "Not bad. Even though it didn’t work, the side effects are much milder than yesterday. I should be able to recover to the point of casting Second-Rank Magic soon."

  After the test, she picked up her backpack and headed toward the passage behind her......

  Five days had passed since she arrived underground.

  During these five days, Hulim returned to soak in the Mana Pool every day to recover—spending most of the rest of her time exploring the ancient Mogalian city.

  Back in the familiar ruined metropolis,

  she didn’t linger, heading straight for the city center.

  She had explored most of this area over the past few days and was finally close to the central district. Today, she planned to uncover its secrets.

  Navigating the undulating, crisscrossing streets of the ruined city, Hulim encountered Maintenance Golems from time to time.

  None of them showed any hostility—they simply went about their work silently.

  At first, Hulim had wondered how these Golems had remained so well-preserved after such a long time.

  After all, most ancient Golems still active on the surface spent most of their past in hibernation, only awakened by chance. In reality, their actual operating time was not that long.

  Yet the Golems in this underground city clearly hadn’t hibernated—it was unreasonable for them to maintain such high efficiency for so many years.

  However, this confusion was resolved yesterday when she discovered a still-operating facility.

  Boom, boom......

  As she passed a certain spot, Hulim paused briefly.

  This was the place she had found yesterday—a Giant Golem Factory.

  Click, click......

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  A newly manufactured Golem walked out of the factory, then immediately followed its preprogrammed orders: patrolling the streets, clearing debris, and maintaining the city’s cleanliness.

  The exact reason remained unknown, but the fact that the factory was still running was undeniable.

  "If a country got its hands on this factory, they’d probably be too excited to sleep."

  While it was an astonishing facility, it was utterly useless to Hulim right now.

  She lifted her feet again, leaving the area and continuing toward the district she hadn’t reached the day before.

  ......

  "This must be the center of the city......"

  Hulim arrived at what appeared to be the central district.

  All the previous buildings she had seen were closely connected, with the ground level almost uniform and multiple overlapping layers vertically.

  Yet the central structure before her stood entirely separate from the others.

  It was a tall tower.

  Standing in an open space at the city’s center, the light from the dome fell on its gray outer walls, casting a golden glow.

  Hulim walked toward the tower.

  The passage of time had stripped it of its original doors and windows.

  After pausing for a moment, she stepped inside.

  The interior was larger and more complex than she had imagined.

  Walls were covered in runes and various murals.

  By reading the content, Hulim deduced that they recorded all kinds of information about ancient Mogalia—

  including astronomy, geography, history, and various magic disciplines such as Magic Circle Studies and Magic Engineering......

  "Could this be a museum or something similar?"

  Hulim followed one of the corridors, delving deeper into the tower.

  Gradually, she noticed something unusual:

  the content recorded on the walls seemed to progress along a timeline.

  "Could this be a historical memorial hall?"

  Hulim formed a new hypothesis.

  To verify it, she decided to skip most of the content and head straight for the deeper levels.

  However, before she could reach the upper floors,

  she stopped at a certain level of the tower.

  For from this point onward, the content on the walls had changed—not in type, but in the script used to describe it!

  The Ancient Mogalian script had been replaced by another language.

  Hulim examined it carefully, then recognized it as a script popular in an era after the Mogalia Civilization.

  "What’s going on? Why are there scripts from a later era?"

  Hulim was puzzled.

  She wasn’t very familiar with this script, so it was difficult to interpret what was written.

  She decided to keep going to see what lay ahead.

  As she advanced, all the subsequent scripts were the same—and she noticed that their writing styles were distinct, full of personal flair, as if written by different people who had come here......

  After some time,

  Hulim discovered that the script had changed again—this time to that of yet another era, one that came after the previous one.

  Fortunately, she was somewhat familiar with this script,

  and could attempt to interpret its content.

  "......I am fortunate to have found this lost Eternal Capital...... The legends are true...... Everything here astounds me, especially this Tower of Ages, which truly symbolizes eternity......"

  As she deciphered more of the carvings, Hulim gradually learned the tower’s origins.

  According to the records, the tower she was in was called the Tower of Ages, built by the ancient Mogalians.

  Yet the builder’s purpose was highly unusual.

  This builder had strayed from the original purpose of the Eternal Capital—as if foreseeing from the start that eternity was impossible, and that the Mogalia Civilization would one day vanish into history.

  The builder had pondered how to preserve the concept of eternity.

  The final result was this Tower of Ages.

  This tower was not built for the people of its time, but for every person who would arrive here in the future.

  Starting with Mogalia, the builder preserved the civilization’s most brilliant knowledge, hoping that those who came after would leave their lifelong achievements here—forging a cross-temporal communication.

  In this way, the tower achieved eternity in the sense of inheritance......

  "The Tower of Ages...... Rather than a tower of time, it’s more like a Corridor of Sages."

  If the records were true, the content inscribed on the tower was invaluable beyond measure!

  Hulim began exploring the entire tower.

  It covered a vast area, standing over a hundred meters tall with intricate, crisscrossing corridors.

  If every wall was covered in writing......

  Hulim estimated that it would take decades to read everything.

  Unfortunately, she would have to abandon most of the content.