Chapter 142: Technology unveiled 1

The discussion continued for a while longer.

After the account of the journey, the topics naturally began to diverge.

Selene kept returning to the subject of the battles.

Vespera to mana compression.

Shiora had already asked several questions about the villages they had passed through and the trade routes of Sylvaris.

Isadora, for her part, mainly wanted to know if the goblin colony still posed a potential threat now that the Queen had been eliminated.

Adam answered calmly.

From time to time, he took a biscuit.

Then coffee.

The meeting was becoming less and less like an official report and more and more like their usual conversations.

Until Vespera stopped moving.

She had clearly just remembered something.

"Wait."

Adam turned his head.

"What?"

Vespera put down her cup.

"The Technology Fragment."

Silence.

Adam blinked.

Then:

"Ah."

Elaria looked up at him.

Lyriana did too.

Adam ran a hand over his face.

"With the goblin colony, the journey, and everything else... I’d almost forgotten why we’d gone so far."

Shiora smiled.

"Almost."

"I said almost."

But someone else had just reacted.

Astraea.

She was looking at Vespera curiously.

"Technology Fragment?"

Vespera turned her head toward her.

"You don’t know?"

"Obviously not."

Astraea looked at her daughter.

Lyriana looked away slightly.

"We haven’t had time to explain everything yet."

"Yet you found the time to tell me about an entire goblin colony."

Adam interjected:

"In their defense, a lot has happened."

Astraea gave him an amused look.

"I see you’re already defending them."

"Only when they deserve it."

Lyriana muttered:

"So rarely, apparently."

Adam ignored the remark.

Elaria then continued the explanation.

"These are objects from an ancient civilization."

Astraea sat up slightly.

"Ancient how?"

"Ancient enough that their exact origin is difficult to determine with the information we have."

Vespera continued:

"Adam obtained one through his power, and the other was already in Vespera’s possession."

Adam opened his inventory.

Two objects appeared above her palm.

Black fragments.

Irregular.

Crossed by thin purple lines.

Astraea immediately examined them more closely.

She didn’t touch them.

But Adam clearly felt her expression change.

The Guardian of the World Tree seemed to be analyzing their mana.

"I see..."

Shiora added:

"According to the information gathered so far, three fragments are needed to complete the object."

Astraea looked at Adam again.

"And you came here because you thought the third one belonged to Sylvaris?"

Lyriana replied:

"We didn’t think so."

She looked at her mother.

"We knew."

Astraea remained silent.

For a second.

Two.

Then her expression changed.

"Wait."

She looked at the two fragments.

Then she seemed to think.

Adam noticed immediately.

"You know where he is."

It wasn’t even really a question.

Astraea stood up.

"Yes."

Everyone fell silent.

Adam blinked.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"We traveled about fifteen hundred kilometers for this and you just answer ’yes’?"

Astraea smiled.

"What else do you want me to say?"

Adam opened his mouth.

Then closed it again.

"Good point."

Astraea was already heading towards the new Permanent Gate.

"I’ll go get it."

Vespera sat up.

"Now?"

"Yes."

She opened the gate.

On the other side appeared the empty room in her house, at the heart of the World Tree.

"I won’t be long."

Then she stepped through.

The door closed behind her.

Adam looked at Lyriana.

"She really keeps a Technology Fragment at home like it’s an old book?"

Lyriana shrugged slightly.

"With my mother, maybe."

Elaria corrected her:

"Technically, we’re at her house too."

Adam looked around.

Then the Permanent Door.

"This Room is starting to make the concept of ’at someone’s house’ very complicated."

A few smiles appeared.

They waited.

One minute.

Then two.

Vespera barely took her eyes off the door.

Adam noticed.

"You know she’s coming back?"

"I know."

"Then why are you staring at the door?"

"Because we’re finally going to find out what the fragments contain."

Adam couldn’t really blame her for her impatience.

He wanted to know too.

These objects had been sitting in his inventory for a long time.

And every time he had tried to analyze them individually...

The information obtained was extremely limited.

Incomplete fragment.

Inactive structure.

Connection required.

Nothing truly useful.

About five minutes later...

The handle moved.

Vespera sat up instantly.

Adam smiled.

"Here’s your present."

The door opened.

Astraea returned.

In her hand...

A third fragment.

Adam recognized it immediately.

Same dark matter.

Same strange surface.

Same network of purple lines.

The shape was different from the two pieces he possessed.

But there was no doubt.

It was indeed the third one.

Astraea stepped through the door and then closed it.

She approached Adam.

"Is this the one?"

Adam took out his two fragments.

All three objects reacted immediately.

A faint violet light appeared.

Adam raised an eyebrow slightly.

"I think we have our answer."

Astraea held out hers to him.

"Then take it."

Adam took it.

For a moment...

Nothing happened.

He simply held three black pieces in his hands.

Then—

Buzz.

An almost imperceptible vibration passed through the fragments.

The violet lines lit up.

Elaria sat up.

Vespera was completely still.

Adam instinctively brought the three pieces together.

He didn’t even need to figure out how to assemble them.

They attracted each other on their own.

Click.

The first joined the second.

Click.

The third completed the set.

The seams disappeared almost immediately.

Adam found himself holding a small black sphere in his hands.

Perfectly smooth.

About the size of his fist.

Fine purple lines ran across its entire surface.

Adam studied it.

"A sphere?"

Vespera moved slightly closer.

"Wait."

The lines had just begun to shimmer.

Gently.

Once.

Then again.

The pace increased.

Then Adam noticed something.

"These aren’t just lines."

Elaria saw it too.

"Separations."

The surface of the sphere was composed of dozens of tiny, interlocking segments.

The shimmering intensified.

Then the sphere suddenly left Adam’s hands.

It began to levitate.

"Oh."

Several segments moved.

A first group pivoted.

A second one separated.

Then a third.

The sphere completely disintegrated in mid-air.

Not like a broken object.

Like a perfectly organized mechanism.

The different pieces rotated around an invisible axis.

Some lengthened.

Others changed angle.

The purple lines moved with them.

A few seconds later...

The whole thing began to take on a new shape.

Long.

Thin.

Slightly curved.

Adam understood.

"A blade?"

The transformation was complete.

Before him floated a black object resembling a short, elegant blade.

No real metal edge.

No conventional guard.

Simply a black shape traversed by luminous purple lines.

It looked more like a technological object that had chosen the appearance of a weapon than a real sword.

Then it fell gently.

Adam reached out.

The blade came directly into his palm.

It was surprisingly light.

"Strange."

He immediately activated World Eyes.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Eyes of the World

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Name:

Technology Archive — Network

Type:

Ancient technology database

Status:

Complete

Primary Function:

Long-term data storage.

Interface:

Mental connection via mana injection.

Main Content:

Transmission and Network Technology

Activation:

Insert a small amount of mana into the archive’s core.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Adam remained silent.

Then he reread it.

"Database..."

Elaria asked:

"What does it contain?"

Adam raised his blade slightly.