The moment Nova got close to the door, she placed her hand on the black doorknob, which was icy cold to the touch.
The moment her hand touched the door, there was a slight pause followed by a sudden, heavy silence, where Maxwell could almost hear his own heart beating so fast he felt Nova could probably hear it too.
After a few seconds of painful suspense, the doorknob finally glowed a soft blue, as though welcoming a long-lost friend. There was another brief moment of silence before the heavy door silently nudged open. Nova applied a small amount of force before pushing the door all the way open.
She then turned to Maxwell, whose mouth was agape, staring at her with wide eyes, clearly confused about what had just happened. Nova wasted no time; she entered the settlement and started explaining, Maxwell quickly scrambling to follow behind her.
"Even though the person who created the settlement left no name behind, he left a massive amount of records, books, and scrolls that only God knows where they came from."
The moment they stepped through the threshold, Maxwell had fully expected a dark, rough-looking, crudely cut stone tunnel, but what he actually saw left him shaking in disbelief.
First of all, the passage was not dark at all. It was beautifully illuminated by the light of candle lamps that were placed neatly on each side of the wall—candle lamps that, after who knows how long, were still actively burning!!
This settlement just keeps getting weirder, I must take note of all of it! Maxwell thought in complete awe, reminding himself to write all this down in his notebook later.
"From his written notes, we ended up giving him the title, 'The First One'—not because he was the first person to ever exist here, but because he left the most noticeable mark, and he was strong, extraordinarily strong."
"Don't be so shocked about the things you are seeing here. Things are just like this whenever he is involved. All these lamps you are looking at have never once gone out since I first came here. We don't even know the power source they use; all we know is that whatever it is, the energy contained within them is massive."
"It might be useless for ordinary people, but for people walking the same path, it's the greatest gift you can ever give them. As you probably know, one needs Neovano cores to grow." She paused, staring thoughtfully into the burning candle flames.
"But not just any Neovano core will do," she continued. "You specifically need the core from a Neovano creature with similar or the exact same attribute, and as of now, no one truly knows which attribute the First One possessed."
"You can also use any core, but it wouldn't have anywhere near the same effect as using a core from your own pathway will have. That is why people from special organizations generally end up so much stronger than their peers from regular backgrounds—most of the time, though, because once in a while, there will be some 'oddballs', like the First One."
She then finished up with, "It is for this exact reason that people with cold-related attributes fear King Blue Blizzard, even powerful organizations and elite families like the BlackIce clan. It's because he is currently the absolute strongest creature with total control over the cold domain."
And no one has been able to take him down, and if that wasn't enough, he has actively hunted almost every other Neovano creature with the same attribute. Even though it's impossible to absorb more than one core of the same level, he still slaughters them and hides the cores so no one else can ever catch up to him or become as strong as he is."
When Nova said that, Maxwell could clearly feel her raw anger and hatred seep through her voice, as her hands clenched tightly into fists.
After a moment, Nova took a deep breath to calm her erratic breathing and turned back to Maxwell. "Any questions?"
Maxwell thought for a moment before finally making up his mind. "Those books that the First One wrote, can we check them out tomorrow? Oh, and did you say the First One was just a regular person with a normal background?"
He actually already knew many of the basic facts Nova had explained, so he didn't have any pressing questions in mind. Coupled with the fact that he was already thoroughly exhausted, he simply didn't have the mental brainpower to formulate deep questions; he just wanted to satisfy his immediate curiosity.
Nova thought for a second, finding it slightly weird that Maxwell did not have any serious questions, but lacking the energy to dwell on it.
"Alright, you will find out more later." She turned toward Snowy—the bird who sometimes acted like a wise old man—as though expecting the soul mimic to pose a question of its own. Seeing the bird merely staring blankly back at her with innocent curiosity, she turned away, remembering that he was ultimately just a bird—smart, but still just a young bird that couldn't speak.
Maxwell watched the interaction unfold, feeling quietly amused.
"Let's go." With that, Nova resumed her walk down the hall.
As they walked, Maxwell took his time to thoroughly study his surroundings, finding himself feeling more awed by the second.
The passage walls were a clean white offset by light gray floor tiles, giving off the pristine feel of a high-end hospital sanctuary. The lamps on the wall shone brightly, reflecting off the polished tiles and the walls, giving him the distinct illusion that he was walking through a modern hospital back on Earth.
"This First One was really crazy," he murmured under his breath in genuine awe.
"I agree."
Maxwell saw Nova nod her head in agreement, and even Snowy nodded as well! This bird is really strange; mimic souls shouldn't be anywhere near this intelligent, Maxwell thought in passing.
Maxwell continued observing the underground facility as they walked in silence. There were about eight doors on both sides of the main passage, making a total of sixteen doors, plus one door at the very end of the passage and one at the beginning where they entered, bringing the total to eighteen doors.
The passage itself was surprisingly long for an underground structure, spanning a length of roughly 132 meters.
They continued to walk in quiet solitude before Nova suddenly came to a halt in front of a specific door. It was the fifth door to their right.
"Each of these doors used to be filled with something specific at one point. I'm not entirely sure about all the rest, but I know this one used to be a vegetable farm," Nova explained.
"A vegetable farm?"
"Yes, a vegetable farm. It used to be the farm Mr. Tobi liked the most."
"There is more than one vegetable farm? And who is this Mr. Tobi?"
"Every door on this floor used to be a farm—all vegetable farms. They were personally taken care of by Mr. Tobi, a farmer whose ability was directly related to plants," Nova's voice trembled slightly as she spoke. "He was genuinely the most friendly and kind person you would ever meet."
"But in the end... in the end, he... he still ended up as a corpse outside." As she spoke, Nova's eyes turned red once more as she was momentarily overcome by fresh grief, but she forced herself under control and pulled open the heavy door.
The exact moment Maxwell peered inside the room and saw what was waiting, he understood something.