Chapter 1115 — Revisiting the Age of Myth

"I understand," Bellantia nodded, then glanced at Elaine, who almost never left her side. "Elaine, I must go alone—wait here for my return."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

In the corridor, the Silver Empress in full vestments came before Gao Yang. This ornate attire, rich in elven style, made Gao Yang blink in some surprise: "This is the first time I have seen the most orthodox religious garb of the classical Veilmist sect—it looks somewhat better than I imagined."

"The highest priestess robes may only be worn for the grandest and most special of 'sacred rites,' and such occasions are almost never opened to outsiders, so it is quite normal that you have not seen them," Bellantia offered a faint smile. Seeing Gao Yang seemed to ease some of the tension she had accumulated, but at the same time a worried look appeared on her face. "Should I not have gone through with these ritual preparations? By your account, we should avoid establishing a connection with the deity, especially today..."

"Rest assured, since I agreed to this, I have made preparations—the anti-divinity barrier is already in operation, and everything you do today is itself part of the experiment," Gao Yang said, his expression turning somewhat grave. "And on the other hand, the effect of these rituals is not as great as you imagine. Without an 'orientation' in the mind, even the most solemn ritual is nothing but ritual. It is said that the cleverest monkeys in the ancestral forests know how to imitate the priests' movements at the sacrificial grounds, and will even baptize themselves with holy water like humans—but have you ever heard of a monkey receiving divine grace and mastering divine power?"

Bellantia thought for a moment, then suddenly laughed. "...That is true. But Uncle Gao Yang, your example is really not a good one."

...

In the deepest reaches of the Defiance Fortress, footsteps echoed through the corridor leading to the gate of the inner court. Silent streams of light flowed through the Arcane Net runes and prefabricated rune substrates, and modern mana-crystal lamps set into walls built with ancient Gondor technology dispersed the darkness that should have long shrouded this place, allowing visitors who ventured deep within to set their hearts at ease in the light.

With three parts trepidation and seven parts curiosity, Bellantia walked forward beside Gao Yang, from time to time glancing at the rooms they passed—this ancient facility had undergone a certain degree of modernization and renovation, yet most of its areas still retained their ancient appearance. The Gondor-era script and the remnants of magical devices gave her a distinct sense of temporal dislocation.

What also drew her interest were the "staff members" she occasionally saw along the way.

In the Defiance Fortress located in the material world, she had already seen many humans coming and going through those corridors and rooms, bustling about—the entire mountain fortress was a busy, large-scale base, its foot traffic no less frequent than a city's factories and research institutes. But she had not expected to see stationed staff here in the Defiance Fortress located in the Shadow Realm as well—though far fewer in number, along the way she still saw rooms brightly lit with white-uniformed researchers busily at work inside, and people hurrying through the outer galleries with folders or crystal tablets storing image data in their hands.

The Silver Empress's face was full of astonishment.

Such a change of expression did not escape Gao Yang's eyes. He turned his head to look at the golden-haired woman beside him, who was gazing all around and had grown a little less solemn, and a smile surfaced on his face: "It seems the 'liveliness' here has surprised you?"

"I thought this would be a more... lifeless place," Bellantia considered, then spoke her thoughts with complete candor. "After all, I heard that not long ago this was still a 'forbidden zone,' and even most of the Defiance Fortress outside was under lockdown... but now it seems you have developed this place into a proper research facility?"

"It was actually not long ago," Gao Yan said. "We have restarted many of the research projects from the Gundor-era Heresy Plan, and the Heretic Redoubt and Heretic Fortress are the most suitable research facilities—they boast unique 'geographical advantages' as well as defense mechanisms that remain operational to this day, so we moved all our personnel and equipment in."

"Is this what they call 'analyzing the gods'?" Bellantea could not help saying softly. "Such large-scale involvement, such matter-of-fact action... it is nothing like what I had guessed."

Gao Hengjin asked with some curiosity, "What was your original guess?"

"...Something like what my father once did—in a place of extreme secrecy, with an extremely small number of people conducting extremely secret research, where no result dared be made public, where every process was ultimately destroyed, and where all that came out were unexplained orders and ambiguous answers."

"And what would be the point of doing it that way?" Gao Song stopped in his tracks and looked at Bellantea with a half-smile. "That would not even compare to the Heresy Plan of the Gundor era."

He shook his head, drew back his gaze, and looked toward the end of the corridor, then went on as if speaking to himself: "No point at all... yet many people do things similar to what you describe—the dark cults, the Typhon imperial house... A cautious attitude is indeed not wrong, but it is far from enough.

"You should not, while analyzing the gods, still maintain your reverence for them. On this audacious path, only when we stop treating gods as gods can we draw a little closer to the truth of the divine.

"Bellantea, we have arrived—this is the last gate. Behind it lies the 'little courtyard' of the former gods."

Only now did Bellantea realize the corridor had reached its end. An alloy gate inscribed with numerous ancient runes barred her way, and no technicians could be seen moving about anywhere nearby. On the walls to either side, brightly lit warning signs stood out, reminding visitors in large lettering:

Gods ahead. Do not approach.

As Gao Yang's voice fell, the alloy gate creaked open, driven by a series of mechanical structures—yet the corridor was not directly exposed to the outside space: a semi-transparent energy barrier appeared there as the final safety partition between "the mortal world" and "the gods." Through this barrier Bellantea's gaze traveled, and in the darkness far beyond, a radiance like a mountain rose upward.

That was the mythological age the elves had lost three thousand years ago.