Chapter 211 Fragments and Cores

"I can try, Lord Avis."

Jom nodded calmly, took out a purple mystical array from the ring, and injected magic to light it up.

After he operated it slightly, a map of the whole island suddenly appeared in the air above the array.

At the same time, a faint green light suddenly lit up, flashing in a vague shadow area between the endless blue ocean above the island.

"It seems that on the north side of the island, five miles out to sea, it coincides with the direction of the underwater ruins."

Looking at the map, Jom said the results of the investigation in some confusion.

"Stop at the underwater ruins? It didn't leave?"

Avis looked at the map in confusion. The bright spot representing the ship was indeed hidden in the deep, making it look extremely abrupt and conspicuous.

According to the old explorer Baigson, the underwater ruins were related to the Moon Calling Secret Cult.

Originally, due to the sense of danger in the dark, Avis did not plan to go there.

But the black ship was able to go to the mainland and then successfully return more than once, indicating that it was likely to have a magical device for guidance.

After a slight hesitation, Avis finally made up his mind.

"Well, let's go around it and find a way to get the guidance device on the ship, and then leave immediately."

.

….….

The northernmost end of the island mountains, the top of the mountain.

The lonely castle hangs on the edge of the cliff, and a huge steel suspension bridge connects it to the top of another mountain.

Surrounded by many gray thorns and strange roses, the towering castle walls are covered with dark green vines, and a large number of vines even drill into the stone arched windows, giving people an ancient and gloomy feeling.

The full moon rises, and the bleak purple moonlight shrouds the castle. When it penetrates into the thick arched windows of the castle, it exudes an undisguised chilling feeling.

The howling mountain wind blew over the castle's sharp spires, bastions, and round towers, shuttling back and forth between the narrow windows and semicircular arches, making strange whirring noises.

Deep in the castle, a half-elf girl, holding a beautiful and slender one-handed sword in her right hand and a warm yellow lantern in her left hand, was moving forward carefully.

After searching around for a while, Claire turned the mechanism, opened a secret door, and continued to move carefully to the bottom of the castle.

It was almost there, she could already feel that the thing that was calling her softly was just ahead.

During the exploration, she also encountered some dangers, but for her, an experienced explorer, it was not too difficult.

The most dangerous time was when the tower on one side of the castle suddenly collapsed, seemingly due to "long-term disrepair".

But fortunately, she was used to escaping from all kinds of collapsed buildings.

Just before the thousands of tons of ancient rock collapsed like the sky, the girl rushed out of the tower of Black Steel Rock and survived.

A strange power fluctuation permeated the castle, which was completely different from any place on the island, but Claire did not sense any danger, but strangely felt a sense of familiarity with it.

It seemed that she had known it for a long time.

In front of the last secret door, the girl stopped.

The secret door was made of ancient blue-black metal, and a strange ancient symbol was engraved on the surface.

For some reason, she suddenly felt something in her heart.

Prompted by this perception, she slowly let go of the lantern in her left hand and gently placed her white palm on the surface of the symbol.

The symbol lit up slightly, and the girl felt a slight numbness in her fingertips, and a drop of blood was sucked out of her fingertips and merged into the symbol.

It seemed to meet certain conditions, and the door slid upward silently, revealing a long spiral staircase hidden in the darkness deep behind it.

The black wooden staircase was covered with bright red carpet. The part where the secret door opened was the middle of the staircase. Whether going up or down, Claire could not see the end.

Standing at the door, the girl clearly realized that the source of attraction was at the top of the spiral staircase.

The warm yellow light illuminated the darkness of the spiral staircase. The girl held the sword and climbed cautiously to the top of the building.

Although it might have reached the end, Claire still did not relax her vigilance.

Having seen many negative cases of explorers who fell into danger due to relaxation at the last moment of the expedition, resulting in disability or even death, she was well aware of the principle of "a journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step".

Although the spiral staircase seemed long, the exit at the end finally appeared in front of the girl as the girl continued to climb.

After walking out of the spiral staircase, a wide rock hall appeared in her sight.

Ancient silk banners were hung on the walls of the hall. The scarlet flag with gold edges was embroidered with a strange symbol, as if it was the symbol of an ancient country that had been destroyed for a long time.

On the stone throne in the center of the hall, something emitting light attracted the girl's attention.

It was a beautiful and illusory fragment, with a little dreamy luster around it. The wonderful color was even difficult to describe in any language.

Looking at the fragment, an indescribable sense of intimacy came from the girl's heart.

It seemed that she was very familiar with it a long time ago.

"You... are here..."

When her eyes touched the fragment, a soft female voice suddenly flowed in the heart of the half-elf girl like a clear spring.

"Are you calling me? Can you solve the characteristics of me that will bring bad luck to my companions?"

Looking at the floating fragments on the throne in confusion, Claire asked softly.

"Yes... our 'core'..."

A circle of gentle ripples emanated from the surface of the fragment, brushing against the girl's soft and white cheeks, seeming to express approval.

"What did you call me?"

The girl was slightly startled.

"core……"

The fragments rippled gently.

"There is no need to doubt that you are one of the 'fragments', and you are the most important, indispensable, and only core fragment..."

"The power of the 'shards' to merge into one will spontaneously attract you, and the 'bad luck trait' in you will probably only be related to our body..."

"Am I a 'core' fragment?"

The girl was a little shocked. She instinctively raised her hand to comb her golden hair and asked a question.

"So, before it was broken... it was a fragment of what?"

"A broken mirror cannot reflect one's full self...A damaged body tissue cannot reveal one's identity in life. The same applies to us..."

The illusory fragments wavered gently, and the light spots on the surface sometimes dispersed and sometimes condensed.

"If there is really any fragment that may record what I looked like when I was complete...then I'm afraid it can only be you as the core, as the brain..."

"Touch me, absorb me, and you will know all that I know..."

"Okay...if I absorb you, will your consciousness disappear?"

Claire nodded slightly, but because of the unspeakable kindness in her heart, she couldn't help but ask hesitantly.

"I am you and you are me. We are one and there is no way to disappear."

The fragmented female voice finally sounded, and at the same time, a scene of a huge purple moon in the sky outside the window suddenly appeared in the girl's heart.

"Go, deep under the castle, there are the legacies we left to ourselves. Take them, and then leave here, leave this island that is about to end, with our common desire to be reunited!"