Episode 203 Ancient Ruins ②
It seems that the passageway of the underground ruins was the entrance, and there were no doors other than the one at the very back. There is also no interception system at all, which adds to the creepiness.
The Holy Knight gingerly touched the door he finally found.
"……there is nothing?"
Like the circular door at the entrance, power may not be supplied. It doesn't move when I push or pull it, and I can't slide it. Also, since there is no keyhole to be found, it appears to be an electronic lock. If the lock is unlocked using magnetism or radio waves, it won't work because there's no electricity before there's a key.
“Shu-dono, can I ask you a favor?”
"I guess we have no choice but to break it. Iris, do it. All you need to do is aim for the edge."
“I understand!”
Iris immediately activated her Sorcerer's Ring and used disassembly magic to disassemble the edge of the door. Since I was outside, I didn't hesitate to disassemble everything, but this is a small space. When metals are rapidly decomposed, the metal particles displace the air. This means there is a risk of suffocation.
Furthermore, it cannot be said that ingesting metal particles into the body is good for one's health, so in order to prevent such dangers, decomposition magic is kept to a minimum.
The door loses its support and falls to the other side due to the pressure generated during disassembly. I was planning to use movement magic to push them back if they were about to fall to my side, but there was no need to do that.
A small amount of dust flies, and Iris uses wind magic to push it back.
The space behind the door appeared.
"It's quite spacious."
While saying this, Shu summons light magic from his Sorcerer's Ring. The entire room was well illuminated, and the whole picture became clear.
There are countless pipes running from the front to the back, and there are regular depressions in the walls. There was also a humanoid machine installed in the hollow.
“Is it a type of golem?”
"That's quite accurate. What's the point..."
"Normally, if you use magic, it will work."
The magicians were confused.
The concepts of mechanical doll robots and magic doll golems are similar. A robot is a link that can be moved using only mechanical technology, and a golem is a familiar that can be moved using only magic. Of course, there are also hybrid systems that combine the two, but they can be broadly classified as follows.
And basically, robots are considered inefficient. It's one thing if it's an industrial robot, but turning a humanoid robot into a mechanical device is clearly inefficient. However, as long as you train it with magic, the golem behaves like a living thing, and it can move without any complicated machinery inside. It is also possible to move stones, earth, etc. as golems. However, since golems are a type of demonization and magical control, golems that cannot be controlled are dangerous.
In any case, from the magician's point of view, he couldn't see any meaning in a mechanical doll.
"Mr. Shu"
"Oh, I'll check it out."
Shu, who had memories from his previous life, thought of an android rather than a robot. All of the objects installed in the hollow resemble human figures. Also, the fact that it is being produced in such large quantities means it is not at the prototype level. If it were to start moving, it should exhibit athletic performance that is close to... or even surpasses that of humans.
It is currently unknown whether the energy used to move this android is electricity or magic, but as far as I can see, there is no sign of deterioration, so it should be possible to move it.
Shu approached one of the hollows and took a closer look at the android.
(There's magic inside. It's crystallized... Is it something similar to magic crystal?)
The greatest magical power that can be felt comes from the android's chest.
Also, you can feel crystallized magical power from various places other than your chest.
What we can predict from this is an operation similar to that of a sorcerer's ring. It must be a good combination of electronic technology and magic technology. If you want to move something as precise as an android, you'll need a large number of electronic and control parts. I guess they compensate for that with magic. The mechanical part is just power, and the detailed balance control and main thought routine are organized into magic circles.
The intelligence provided by the magic circle is similar to the human intelligence system, so it is excellent for central control. However, as thoughts become more complex, the act of ``worrying'' occurs, and rational thinking is lost. Therefore, it is effective to convert a flexible creative thinking system into electronic commands and process them.
Sorcerer Ring was developed with a similar concept, so you can roughly predict the specs we were looking for in these androids.
“A battle doll that can use magic?”
“Is that possible?”
"Even monsters use magic. It would be possible if we installed a system in the magic circle. This magic doll is also a monster that can be controlled... something like that."
"It looks like a mineral monster."
"Ah, it's an inefficient weapon though."
"Why?"
"Each of these dolls is equipped with a thinking system. If you want to operate it, it would be more efficient to create a central thought control system and connect it to a network. Treat the dolls as terminals for perception and magic emission, It is definitely better to leave tactical planning and operational selection to central control."
If we are to operate this many battle dolls, communication communication is essential. In that case, it is natural that it is stronger to operate as a group under central control than to fight while thinking about each other through mutual communication.
Also, if it is centrally controlled, there is no need to equip the battle doll with a thinking system; all that is needed is sensors, power, and a communication device. An OS to run the aircraft is necessary, but there is no need to use large magic crystals. This doll could also be made more compact and have weapons built into it.
From Shu's point of view, just looking at it is extremely inefficient.
“If we have this much technology, there’s no way we wouldn’t know…why?”
Or was there a reason why it couldn't be done?
Shu couldn't even imagine it now.
◆◆◆
After checking all the rooms, Shu and his team decided to investigate the next room. Due to the continued lack of power supply, nothing could be started.
The next place I started investigating was a place that looked like a residential area.
It spread out after going down the stairs from the previous room, and there were several rooms lined up with complete living spaces.
"There's nothing to investigate here, huh?"
"Shu-san, everyone is waiting for you to go downstairs."
"Did you find the stairs?"
"There was a hidden door. It looks like someone broke it open again."
The magic of material decomposition is set in the storage of the sorcerer's ring, so you can use it even if you are not Iris. Although this decomposition magic cannot be used as offensive magic due to the principle that ``magic cannot act on the medium of the soul,'' it has a tremendous effect on matter. It's useful when exploring ruins like this, so I put it in my Sorcerer's Ring.
"Where are the stairs?"
"It's at the very back. It seems like I happened to discover that the other side of the wall is hollow."
"I see"
It seems that not only Shu and Iris, but other investigators have also heard about the hidden door. Everyone was heading deeper into the living area.
This living area is very large, and the passages branch out. There are also many private rooms. It seemed like it would take a lot of time to investigate, but I'm lucky that I was able to cut that time down by chance.
When Shu and his friends arrived under that door, the Holy Knight and the Magician had already descended the stairs first.
"What's going on?"
I asked the magician of Hades who was nearby.
"Right now, I'm checking to make sure it's safe."
“Is it deep down there?”
"Yes. For now, we replaced the air downstairs."
"I see. Well done."
"Once it's safe..."
While he was talking, I heard the sound of metal tapping three times from the bottom of the stairs.
Judging from the situation, this seems to be a signal.
"...It seems like you're okay."
"In that case, let's go. Iris, follow me. You should stay here and investigate a little more. There may be other hidden doors. You can take some of our magicians with you."
"got it"
There isn't always one hidden door.
Thinking that it might be necessary to re-investigate the ruins again, Shu and his friends went downstairs.
◆◆◆
When I went down the stairs behind the hidden door, I found something that looked like a research laboratory or experiment field.
In addition to the mechanical dolls we saw earlier, there were weapons that looked like guns, and machines with unknown uses lined up. There was also a bookshelf set up, with several books lined up on it. There is also a piece of paper that looks like a memo inside the box, so there is no doubt that this is a research facility.
The church magician who was ahead of us is trying to decipher the data, but it seems like he can't read it at all. He is tilting his head.
"Finally, you found something like that. There's something that was hidden."
"What were you developing?"
"Well, let's see. Regardless of the text, I might be able to read it if there is a description of the magic circle."
As expected of Shu, he doesn't even know the ancient language.
However, the mechanism of magic remains the same, so if the magic circle itself is drawn somewhere, we might be able to figure something out. Shu immediately started looking through the box containing the memo. Iris follows suit and begins investigating.
“It’s refreshing.”
"Ah. It looks like a calculation formula, but...the symbols are completely different."
"What kind of research was this?"
"It's going to take a while to decipher this. Is there a picture for a clue?"
Shu picks up one of the notes.
There is a drawing that resembles a human, and a small cube is drawn on its chest. There seems to be some kind of annotation with an arrow pointing towards the cube, but I don't know much about it.
"Is this a conceptual blueprint for the doll from earlier? It's a rough drawing."
"There's no explanation other than the chest parts."
"Ah. The doll I saw earlier wasn't that simple. Compared to that, this figure is more like a golem. Is it different from the doll from earlier?"
"Shu-san, there's a memo here that looks like it's part of the surgical procedure!"
“Which one?”
"This one"
What Iris showed was certainly what was described in the magic circle. Unfortunately, it was only a part of it, and I don't know what kind of technique he was trying to perfect.
However, although it was fragmentary, I was able to read it.
"Space magic? That's part of the technique similar to subspace generation."
“Is this space magic?”
"What were you trying to do? I don't understand."
"I was trying to summon this golem...or something."
"In that case, a teleportation system would be sufficient."
"Ah, I see."
Shu put down the memo and looked at the machine.
A transparent board, a large number of switches, and dials of unknown purpose are lined up.
(Can you predict the numbers from this dial?)
Although the integers are not necessarily arranged in order starting from zero, they can be used as a reference. By inferring from this, you should be able to understand the symbols for the four arithmetic operations.
Unfortunately, it's not necessarily a decimal number, but there's no point in thinking about it.
"Iris, let's go to the back. There might be some experimental items or something. I hope you understand the meaning of the memo."
"Yes."
The two go further inside.
The Holy Knights who were already ahead of us seemed to be investigating various things, and the doors in various places were left open. However, what they are investigating is whether or not there is any danger, so they open the door, check everything, and then move on to the next thing.
And they stopped in front of a certain door.
"what up?"
"Ah, Shu-dono? Actually, I just have to open this door. Can you please do that?"
"I understand."
Shu uses disintegration magic again.
However, the magic had no effect.
"what?"
"What's wrong?"
"...It doesn't work. It's sealed with magic."
"Sealed!? Can it be released?"
"no problem"
Having said that, I thought it would be difficult to release it through the official method. It seems that the spell is activated with something like a magic crystal, so I can't see the spell. I had no choice but to use death magic to erase all the magic.
Unbeknownst to Shu, if the sealing technique was forcibly released using a method similar to hacking, it would explode from inside the room. The self-destruction technique was also erased by death magic, and by chance they succeeded in opening the door cleanly.
And there was something behind the door.
“People…?”
A man was placed inside a huge cylindrical transparent case.
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