In a boundless wasteland.
The land here was desolate and utterly desolate.
Only gray sand and settled dust remained, devoid of life.
No breeze blew, only a dead silence.
Here, completely devoid of all natural sounds.
Click, click…
In the silence of the wasteland, a distant sound like some mechanical structure could be heard.
The dust on the ground seemed to drift away due to some subtle vibration, and some fine sand and gravel on the ground began to roll.
Bang.
With a sound, a mechanical object stepped onto the wasteland.
Below the mechanical structure were three toes, and behind them was another toe, similar to a heel.
The structure looked a bit like a bird's claw.
Looking up from below, the entire mechanical leg was completely devoid of outer covering. Exposed bearings, gears, and the pulsing wiring within were clearly visible.
Looking upward, the entire structure was a humanoid machine, approximately three meters tall.
The main feature was that the arms and legs, forming the four limbs, appeared unusually thick.
The center seemed slightly thinner, disproportionate to the overall shape.
A completely exposed cockpit sat at the head.
This creature was a humanoid with slightly grayish-blue skin.
Besides its skin's difference from a human's, it also possessed large, pointed ears, but instead of standing upright, they drooped down over its sides.
She reached out with her slender fingers and lifted the goggles from her face.
One corner of the goggles was visible, still cracked. The goggles had been used for a long time, and the marks of repairs were clearly visible.
As her goggles lifted, her eyes revealed themselves.
They were slightly larger than a normal person's, and gleamed brightly.
She opened her mouth, revealing two rows of sharp teeth, and said, "Why do we have to come here for an inspection?"
Her voice betrayed confusion and even more irritation.
At this moment, the sound of mechanical movement echoed from behind her, accompanied by heavy footsteps.
A similar machine, though with slightly different details, also took a step forward.
In the cockpit sat a humanoid creature resembling her.
But the difference between the two was clearly discernible: the one behind was clearly a man.
They were still largely similar to humans.
"Kavala, stop whining. The elders told us to come on patrol, so there must be a reason."
Hearing the man's words, Kavala curled her lips and said, "You only say useless things."
She glanced behind her and pulled out a vial, a tube-shaped object about the length of her finger.
The top and bottom were transparent, with a slightly crude mechanical structure in the middle, and what appeared to be an interface.
A blue light emanated from the tube, and a vertical blue line could be seen inside.
It was clear that it contained magic power.
"Alas, what a shame to waste so little magic power."
The man driving the mech beside her nodded helplessly.
"Alright, let's go." With that, he piloted the mech, swiftly moving forward with a creaking sound.
It's called a mecha, but in reality, it's more like a wearable device, like a mechanical exoskeleton.
Kavala, who was standing nearby, hurried to catch up.
"Waku, what exactly was that tremor about?" Kavala asked curiously, following suit.
Waku shook his head. "I don't know. This isn't the first time I've encountered something like this."
Just about half an hour ago, a strong tremor shook their world, causing panic among their people.
So the elders had sent them out to investigate whether something was happening outside.
Because no one alive, including the highly respected elders, had ever experienced such a tremor.
Something must have happened, perhaps something significant.
The wasteland was silent and lifeless.
"Hopefully, the tremor revealed some magical power," Kavala said.
"What are you dreaming about?" Waku said without hesitation.
But from his expression and words, it was clear that he shared this hope.
Soon, the two seemed to have reached the edge of the wasteland.
A translucent barrier could be seen at the edge. The outside of the barrier seemed infinite. It was pitch black, giving people a vague feeling of being unable to see clearly or penetrate.
But the barrier, reflecting the light, revealed a crystalline luster.
"Look, there's nothing there. What a waste of time," Kavala said bluntly upon seeing this.
Waku carefully examined the nearby border, then gazed into the distance. "Let's circle this area and take a closer look."
"Ah! Okay," Kavala said helplessly.
But fortunately, they were just one of the teams out exploring. They happened to be responsible for this particular direction, so they only needed to circle the general area they were responsible for.
The two began to slowly walk around the border. The only sounds in this silent world were the whirring of machinery and their chatter.
"Honestly, is this just my imagination? Why do I feel like something's watching me? I'm getting goosebumps," Kavala said, rubbing her exposed arms vigorously.
Hearing this, Waku rubbed his eyes and glanced around, making sure nothing was out of place before turning to Kavala.
"Are you sure you're not mistaken? Are you just a little tired?"
Kavala glanced at her. "I can't be mistaken, and I just slept a little before coming here."
Waku nodded, then frowned, looking around with a slightly wary expression.
Although Kavala seemed a bit unreliable about the strange feeling he described, Waku, as a member of the same team, knew his teammate wouldn't joke around in a place like this.
Now wasn't the time for jokes.
After inspecting the area for a short while, Waku froze in his mech, seemingly lost in thought.
"What are you thinking about? Maybe it's just my imagination. Look, it's desolate here, not a trace of anything."
As soon as she finished speaking, she felt a chill from behind her.
Her eyes widened, and she turned to look behind her.
A man who looked somewhat different from them had appeared behind him.
He stood behind them, staring at them.
"Who are you? Who are you?" Kavala yelled, driving his mech backwards, its arms raised and aimed at the suddenly appearing man.
One arm protruded with something like a gun barrel, while the other arm shot out, transforming into a spiral drill.
On the other side, Vaku also reacted quickly, swiftly joining Kavala. He similarly unleashed the weapons on his massive arms and aimed them at the stranger.
However, his weapons were clearly somewhat different.
"I mean no harm. There's no need to panic," Alka said, looking at the two men. His voice was relatively calm.
"Back off! Back off!" Vaku shouted a warning.
His reaction was somewhat unexpected.
Looking at this situation, Alka felt a little helpless.
Why are they so nervous?
The figure vanished in an instant. The two men felt dizzy, not even having time to launch an attack.
Then they felt themselves unable to move. Looking down, they found they had been dragged out of the mecha without realizing it, and were still bound by white ropes.
A faint pink mist filled the air around them, as if the place they were in had suddenly changed dramatically.
The number of Alkas before them had also grown from one to several.
Lucelia, Sofia, and Simon all stood beside Alka, curiously eyeing Kavala and the other two.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" Waku, seeing himself unable to move and realizing the two had no means of resistance, asked Alka and the others.
Hoping to get some information.
"We? We're the Compass Eye Treasure Hunting Team," Alka introduced himself with a smile.
"You can call me Alka. These are my team members, and they are..."
According to Alka's introduction, Lucelia, Sofia, and Simon all smiled. They exchanged greetings, their demeanor appearing unusually calm.
If only the two men before them hadn't been tied up.
But their attitude at least calmed the two captured men down a bit.
No malicious intent was evident yet.
"But why are you here? Are you outsiders? Did you come from outside?" Kavala asked impatiently.
The fear of being caught was gone from his voice; instead, it held a hint of excitement.
"Yes, we came from outside," Alka said bluntly.
From the effect of his answer, he could tell the two were deeply shocked by his words.
One could even describe their disbelief.
Seeing the two men seemed about to ask more, Alka quickly reached out to interrupt them.
"You've asked us so many questions, isn't it our turn now?"
After speaking, Alka looked at the two men and asked, "Are you, Vastva?"
This was a question Alka was quite curious about. He had never before considered the existence of life forms and a civilization within the Heart of Vastva.
But upon learning this, Alka's first thought was that this might be the remnant of the former Vastva city-state.
They had already confirmed that the Broken Island outside was a small fragment of the ancient Vastva city-state that had been cut off.
This meant that, contrary to his assumption, the larger portion had not shattered or sunk into the deep sea. Instead, it remained within the space of the Vastva Heart.
If this were true, these Vastva people had survived from the time of the gods to the present day, living in a closed world.
Thinking this way, Alka wondered if it was too exaggerated, but it was the only possibility.
Hearing Alka's question, Vaku and Kavala glanced at each other, taking in the message in each other's eyes.
For a moment, they were unsure whether to answer. This question seemed both important and unimportant. "Look, I could clearly be extracting information directly from your minds, but out of kindness, I'm not doing so.
Instead, I'm politely asking you questions and even answering them. That's more than enough to show my goodwill, right?"
Alkar said, looking at the two men. Under his control, two puffs of light pink mist entered their ears.
They could feel the mist as if it were peeking into their memories and information.
"Alright, stop now. I get it," Waku said quickly.
At his words, the two puffs of pink mist slowly faded from their ears.
"Yes, we do call ourselves Vastva people, and this is also the city-state of Vastva."
"As expected," Alkar nodded, understanding.
"But their appearance is so different from what we've seen in the murals and statues. They don't even look like the same species," Lusilia said, sitting on Alka's shoulder.
The Vastva people are probably over two meters tall, with four pointed, erect ears, sharp teeth, and slender limbs.
Although some subtle features could still be seen in the two people before him, the differences between them were truly significant.
"Not similar?" Lusilia's words puzzled Kavala.
A statue made of condensed mist appeared before the two.
At this moment, Alka casually placed one of the statues he had seen in the museum before, which seemed to be a Hidden Eye.
"Shouldn't Vastva people look like this? Why are you so different now?" Alka asked, looking at the statue.
"This is what our ancestors looked like. Tens of thousands of years ago, they would have looked like this. But now, over time, we've degenerated," Kavala said.
These words drew a look of surprise from Vaku, who was standing beside him.
"Don't look at me like that. This is an opportunity."
Alka didn't interrupt their conversation.
Instead, in front of everyone, he approached the two unmanned machines that stood still.
Simon had long been curious about the two machines. Upon seeing Alka approach, he quickly ran over and began observing them.
"Hey, what are you doing? Stay away from my little rock," Kavala said, watching Simon's movements. She seemed a little excited, as if she was about to charge.
However, she couldn't even move because of the immense pressure on her shoulders, leaving her sitting still.
Sofia squatted beside Kavala, his arm resting on her shoulder. "Calm down, how about being quiet?"
Looking at Sofia's smile, Kavala inexplicably sensed a powerful aura. Under such a powerful aura, she could only nod.
He looked a little pathetic.
"Little Stone? I have to admit, that name is rather tasteless." Simon examined the machine in front of him, offering a casual quip.
Soon, Simon finished examining the humanoid machine before him, presumably understanding a lot. He then began to touch the other one next to it.
He could see that the two machines shared a similar general structure, though each had its own unique modifications in the details.
Seeing Simon's manipulations, the machine's owner, Waku, had clearly prepared himself. He silently turned his head away, determined to avoid seeing it.
After a few manipulations, several transistors carrying blue energy lines appeared in Simon's hands.
"A magic battery?" Simon, looking at the transistor, roughly understood its function.
"Such a small amount of energy can actually power such a large mechanical device, and besides the core, everything else is completely mechanical.
It's a truly impressive invention, but why would it be done this way?"
"It's pointless, isn't it?"
Simon's tone was filled with confusion.
"Why? Of course it's to reduce mana consumption. What else could it be?"
Waku, after hearing Simon's words, couldn't help but speak to him.
"Reducing dependence on mana consumption..." Simon pondered.
Alka, sensing the surroundings, reached out and waved his hand. "Don't you feel it? The mana here is practically nonexistent." "
It seems that because the space within this treasure hasn't been exposed to external magical energy for a long time, the magic within has been almost completely depleted.
The magic power in the air is terrifyingly low.
It's like a sponge that's been wrung dry.
Simon felt this and instantly understood the reason for this structure.
The magic power here is too low, incomparable to that outside.
Thinking of this, he looked at the two people bound in the mist and immediately noticed something was wrong.
He quickly turned to Alka and said, "Quick, gather up these dream mists and release them."
There was an urgency in his voice.
"Huh?" Alka was puzzled, but he immediately took action. The surrounding smoke disappeared in an instant and was drawn back.
The two were also released.