In Sumeru, pretend to be a scholar

Her tone was very certain, indicating that she had already located the location of the agency.

"Okay, mentor."

Wang Yan knew that Falushan was testing him, so he responded and began searching carefully.

Chapter 81 The Temple of the Flower Goddess (June 20th, requesting first subscription)

According to Estelle's teachings, the institutions still operating in the field are usually interconnected.

First, the main entrance of a building should not only be openable from the inside; there must be corresponding mechanisms or other opening methods on the outside.

Secondly, any organization must have a connection with the main gate.

This connection could be achieved through purely mechanical structures, such as controlling the opening and closing of a door by the physical rotation of a wheel or gear; or it could utilize elemental forces or other forms of energy as a power source to manipulate the door.

Regardless of the type, as long as you can find the connection between the mechanism and the door, you can find the switch to open the door.

In this situation, if Wang Yan had elemental vision, he could simply open it and take a look to find the location of the switch.

Perhaps this is why travelers in games can easily enter and exit ruins.

Because in her eyes, these mechanisms and traps were all transparent, completely without secrets.

Unfortunately, a traveler is a traveler, and a king's words are a king's words.

He could only use Professor Erosham's method to examine the runes in the gate area bit by bit, searching for the gate's energy circuit through subtle changes, and then finding the gate's switch at the other end of the energy circuit.

Fortunately, Erosan passed the question to Wang Yan, probably confirming that the switch wasn't hard to find.

About ten minutes later, Wang Yan found it next to an elemental tablet that was buried under rubble.

“Mentor, I’ve found it!” Wang Yan shouted.

Erossen nodded and walked over: "Sixteen minutes. For your first time descending into the ruins, that's not bad. You're much better than some of the idiots in the Order House."

Although she occasionally refers to Wang Yan as a foolish apprentice, Erosanne is quite satisfied with this disciple.

She learns things quickly, is very polite, and even cooks for me at home after I stay up all night. She's amazing.

"Mentor, is the next step to activate the Elemental Tablet?" Wang Yan asked, accepting what wasn't exactly a compliment.

Eros nodded: "Generally speaking, elemental monuments require corresponding elements to be activated. So, what do you think ordinary people should do if they don't have the Eye of God?"

"Hmm... there should be special tools for that," Wang Yan said after thinking for a moment.

The biggest difference between humans and beasts is that humans can use tools.

“That’s right.” Erosan nodded and took out a purple fragment from her small bag. “The patterns on this tablet are standard lightning element symbols, so we can activate it using some items with lightning element power.”

“The Adventurers’ Guild has many items that can activate the Elemental Monument, but the simplest way is…” Erosanne said, running her hand across the monument with a fragment, “Rubbing it with the Elemental Fragment.”

With a sizzling sound, a fragment of lightning sparked as it rubbed against the elemental monument.

Then, Wang Yan saw the elemental symbols on the elemental tablet suddenly light up, followed by a slight friction sound.

Looking towards the main gate, the heavy stone door had slowly opened.

“Let’s go, this should be a time-limited switch, it’ll be closing soon,” Erosanne said, then walked straight to the door.

Wang Yan quickly followed.

Upon entering the site, sure enough, traces of arthropods reappeared, even more chaotic and numerous.

The "flowing sand and dust-removing pattern" on the gate seems to be for the outside, not the inside.

“We’ve officially entered their lair. Wang Yan, be careful and stay close to me.” As she spoke, Falushan reached out and summoned He Yao’s multifaceted form, which flew out and hovered beside Wang Yan.

Although the mentor is like a cute girl, she gives people an incredible sense of security.

"Yes, mentor." Wang Yan responded and took out his crossbow, ready to attack at any moment.

After walking through a passageway, Wang Yan's attention was quickly drawn to the surrounding scenery.

“Mentor, these reliefs…” he murmured in amazement.

Eros also stopped and looked around.

The surrounding walls were covered with exquisite and intricate reliefs, all featuring flowers as their subject.

Some resemble blooming roses, their petals curling and unfolding layer by layer; others resemble lotus blossoms, standing gracefully amidst rippled water patterns; still others resemble lilies of the valley, hanging in clusters as if swaying gently in the breeze…

Each flower is unique in its shape, from bud to full bloom, from single petals to double petals, displaying a myriad of forms.

The sculptor's skill was clearly superb, with smooth and vibrant lines. Wang Yan even saw a touch of delicate and lively charm in these carvings.

"Mentor, these flowers..." Wang Yan asked hesitantly, though he already had a guess in his heart.

In a desert region, with so many flowers, the answer undoubtedly points to the woman who owns the flowers.

As expected, after observing the flower carvings around her, Falushan asked Wang Yan, "Do you know the three gods in the legend of Sumeru?"

Wang Yan nodded and continued, "The mentor is talking about the Grass God, the Crimson King, and that Flower Goddess, right? Could it be that...?"

“That’s right, I think this should be one of the temples dedicated to the goddess of flowers,” Erosanne said.

"Shouldn't the goddess of flowers be Patishalan?"

“Of course not. Although Patishalan is often used to symbolize the goddess of flowers in folk tales, it doesn’t mean that Patishalan is the only goddess of flowers,” Erosan shook her head.

Wang Yan nodded, making an "I see" expression.

He knew, of course, that the flower of the goddess of flowers was not only Patishalan, and that the blue water lily was more fitting for the identity of this lady of flowers than Patishalan.

But as an apprentice, you must give your mentor a sense of accomplishment from time to time.

Just like now, seeing Wang Yan's "I see" look, Erosan was very pleased.

"Judging from the situation, this should be a lost temple of the Flower Goddess. According to records, the Flower Goddess was among the first to fall, yet this temple is still standing!"

Eros sighed.

This temple is not only wide open on the outside, but also brightly lit inside, with some kind of illuminated runes still intact, providing ample light for later visitors.

Unfortunately, apart from the Huadiao wine, there was nothing else here; there were no books or scrolls to be seen.

Wang Yan glanced at the surrounding carvings and looked at the marks on the ground: "Master, it seems that the Sacred Beast has entered the depths of the temple."

There was a row of small holes on the ground, not very neatly arranged, extending all the way into the depths of the temple.

"Okay, let's go. Hopefully, nothing inside has been damaged," Erosham said.

In fact, many of the carvings on the outside have been damaged and lost their aesthetic appeal.

Fortunately, although Estelle is skilled in mechanical arts, she is ultimately an intellectual.

If it were Kavi here, he would probably have gone berserk by now.

The exquisite ancient reliefs have been destroyed. This is even the rare Temple of Flora. Let alone Kavi, any philosopher would go berserk here.

The only difference is that some people can directly pick up a greatsword and go in to kill the monsters, some people can build an autonomous mechanism to kill the monsters, while some people have poor grades and poor practical skills, and in the end they can only be impotent and furious.

Chapter 82 The Sacred Remains of the Scorpion (July 20th, please subscribe)

Deep inside, in the main temple.

A colossal creature lay prone on the ground. It resembled a giant scorpion, its body covered by an everted, ossified shell. These ferocious armor plates made the beast look menacing.

This was naturally the Sacred Corpse Scorpion that Wang Yan and Falushan had speculated about. As a lightning elemental monster, its body, especially its huge pincers and sharp tail stinger, was surrounded by purple lightning.

At this moment, these bolts of lightning occasionally dissipated into the air, increasing the concentration of lightning elements in the surrounding area, so much so that they formed a visible purple fog, with faint crackling of electricity from time to time, illuminating the exquisite, broken reliefs all around.

In this dense area of ​​lightning element, hundreds of ordinary scorpions gathered densely around the Sacred Corpse Scorpion.

They crawled restlessly, occasionally raising their heads to try and inhale and exhale the scattered lightning elements around them.

This is actually not in accordance with the laws of nature.

Not only are ordinary people unable to use elemental power, but ordinary beasts are also unable to adapt to highly concentrated elemental power.

The scorpion is just an ordinary wild animal.

A sharp, painful hiss suddenly rang out in the air. A scorpion curled up, trembling violently. Cracks began to appear on its shell, and purple lightning crackled through the fissures.

After convulsing a few times, it went completely limp and showed no signs of life.

Its body was simply unable to withstand the raging lightning element, so it died.

What's chilling is that the surrounding scorpions showed no fear whatsoever.

On the contrary, the instant the scorpion died, dozens of its kind swarmed forward, tearing open the dead creature's carapace with their sharp pincers and greedily devouring its body.

Faint purple patterns began to appear on the bodies of these scorpions that had consumed their own kind, indicating a slight increase in their resistance to, or rather, their ability to withstand, lightning.

"Raising Gu..."

Standing at the entrance of the main hall, Wang Yan crouched down, his gaze sweeping over the scene inside, and murmured something under his breath.

Erosan also crouched on the ground, watching the scene inside the hall.

"Teacher, what's going on?" Wang Yan asked in a low voice.

He had never seen this scene in the game.

"It's simple. As I mentioned before, when the Holy Beast gets old, its physical quality declines, but its control over elemental power increases. However, its body is no longer able to bear so much elemental power, so it will actively dissipate the elemental power within its body."

"During this stage, its power will gradually decline. As a result, some sacred beasts will gather a portion of their lower-ranking kin around them and forcibly transform these kin with elemental power to use them as guards."

"Among monsters, higher-ranking monsters have a certain degree of control over lower-ranking monsters. After these scorpions received its elemental power and underwent mutation, this control became even stronger."

"After this sacred scorpion mutated these scorpions, it no longer needed to risk going out to hunt. These mutated scorpions would form a feeding system, providing it with a continuous supply of food."

After a slight pause, Erosanne's eyes were complicated: "If this situation continues, after a few years, when this Sacred Corpse Scorpion dies, a leader will emerge from its guards to devour its remains, and there is a chance that a new Sacred Corpse Scorpion will evolve."

Wang Yan listened attentively. This was knowledge that wasn't in the game and he had never seen it in books before, so it was all very new to him.

As they spoke, inside the main hall of the temple, even more scorpions continued to try to absorb elemental power.

Every now and then, a few more painful screams could be heard, accompanied by new deaths.

Then came another round of frenzied devouring.

In this brutal selection process, some scorpions gradually adapted to the lightning element in their environment.

Their carapaces began to glow with a faint purple light, and their size gradually increased. Dark purple stripes appeared on their originally yellowish-brown shells—the very characteristics of the mutated scorpions that had attacked them before.

Wang Yan noticed that the scorpions that had fully adapted to the lightning element and completed their mutation were gradually moving to the outer perimeter of the area. They began to slowly crawl around the central holy relic scorpion, forming a kind of protective formation.

In the central area, more common scorpions are still undergoing a brutal selection process.

“Mentor, we can’t let it continue to turn out like this, or we’ll both be in big trouble,” Wang Yan said.

Eros nodded: "No rush, let's go out first and prepare some things."

As she spoke, she lowered her body and slowly backed away.

Wang Yan quickly followed.

Returning to the front hall, the surrounding flower reliefs were lively and beautiful, far more pleasing to the eye than those poisonous scorpions.

"What should we do, mentor?" Wang Yan asked in a low voice.

He was also afraid of disturbing the scorpions inside. He had just glanced at them and there were about a hundred mutated scorpions. If they all rushed out at once, He Yao might not be able to protect him.

Eros didn't answer directly, but looked at Wang Yan: "What do you think? How should this situation be resolved?"

Her purpose for this trip was always clear: not to gain anything, but to bring Wang Yan out of his shell and help him improve.

Wang Yan frowned, pondered for a moment, and said, "That Sacred Corpse Scorpion has been releasing lightning element. Perhaps we can use elemental reaction to solve it?"

"Hmm, good idea." Erosham nodded in satisfaction. "What are the details?"

“I have a fragment of fire element that I can embed into a crossbow bolt. With a slight modification to the runes, I can use the wind element to diffuse the fire element, and then react with the lightning element emanating from the Holy Beast. With the concentration of lightning element inside, it should be able to take care of them.”

Wang Yan gestured and drew a 'spreading' wind element rune in the air, then took out a fire element fragment from his small bag.

The plan sounded great, but Eros rolled her eyes.

"What are we here for?" she asked impatiently.

Wang Yan was taken aback, then said sullenly, "We're here to inspect the ruins."

"So what happened to the ruins after you fired that crossbow bolt?"

"Okay, mentor, I know I was wrong." Wang Yan readily admitted his mistake.