Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation(Vol 4)

Vol 4/Chapter 14: Missing the Dinner

"What does that have to do with being able to withstand invasions from big powers?" I asked, puzzled.

"It has a lot to do with it!" she continued. "Legend has it that the Raul royal family had a special kind of power in this tower that allowed them to control heavenly punishment and punish their enemies. Specifically, one or more beams of light would come down from the sky at extremely high speed and instantly strike the target meant for punishment. Their power could blast a huge crater in the ground! And for thousands of years, all the surrounding countries had been unable to figure out what these so-called beams of light actually were. They could only make one conclusion after countless observations - these beams were not magic as they had no aura of any element! They seemed to have flown in from outer space..."

"What exactly are these things? Could they really be some kind of heavenly punishment?" I was a bit stunned by this mystical tale! Could it be that some god in this world was playing tricks? But that didn't make sense either - why would a god obey the Raul royal family's commands?

"Of course it's not heavenly punishment! Parristol has already been conquered and occupied by the Astralrealm Kingdom for many years now, so that means the so-called heavenly punishment powers have already lost their effect. It probably doesn't have much to do with any gods," Nicola seemed to understand my thoughts and shook her head to prompt me.

"Or perhaps you still don't quite understand. If I tell you that the maidservants also mentioned an important detail - later in the craters blasted out, they would often dig up some iron shards and other melted remnants. What might you think of then?"

"Bombs? Grenades? Wait...if they flew down from the sky, then they must be...missiles?!" Drawing on my first impression, I quickly came up with an answer, then realized it was wrong and corrected myself.

"That's right, that's what I thought at the time too!" Nicola nodded and continued, "Remember the chip-like structures and other artifacts that looked like technology we found in the 'Eye of Galadra'? So I suspected that the monsters' technology might be related to this place! To prove this idea, after leaving the royal city, I flew straight to the Parristol site to investigate."

"What was the result?" I asked eagerly, hovering in midair.

"Unfortunately, I didn't find anything unusual there..." Nicola spread her hands helplessly.

"My main purpose was to examine the Chromos Tower, because according to some information I looked up later, the history of this building was quite ancient, dating back to before Parristol was founded, so at least a few thousand years old! And the way the royal family had occupied the tower as their palace over generations was also rather suspicious..."

"So you guessed it might be some kind of high-tech building?" I rolled my eyes at her - I could guess what she was thinking without her saying it.

Since the "Eye of Galadra" confiscated from Michelle was found to contain technological components mixed in, even though we had confirmed this wasn't Earth, Nicola still thought there might have been some prehistoric technological civilization or something like that in the past.

"But in reality, there was nothing particularly special about the style of this tower in this world. At best, it was just a slightly taller and thicker mage's tower. And now no one lives in the tower anymore, it's been cordoned off by the local government as a tourist attraction..." As expected, Nicola sounded a bit dejected as she said this.

"I made a wasted trip! I even stubbornly went inside Chromos Tower and took a full tour, spending a whole hundred silvers on the entrance ticket! Yet I discovered the interior had been completely renovated in a palace style, with no traces of high technology at all. It felt like I had been tricked!"