"Here, it is completely silent."
"With the passage of time, I'm afraid the Eye of Twilight has long since become a ruin."
Lumina's cuddle time was forced to end, and everyone followed the only road forward.
They cautiously observed their surroundings while sighing in admiration.
"Ruins...?" Hearing Hyacine's words, Lumina and Herta glanced at each other, seeing the emotions contained in each other's eyes.
It seemed Amphoreus had a rather high definition of "ruins."
At least in Lumina and Herta's eyes, this place had absolutely nothing to do with the word "ruins."
With just a little tidying up, they could move in with their luggage on the spot. How could this possibly be considered ruins?
But since Hyacine said so, and Phainon didn't offer any contradiction, Lumina and Herta had no interest in stepping forward to correct her.
Every place has its own customs, and the definition of each word is naturally different.
Perhaps the Eye of Twilight before them, in the eyes of the Amphoreus locals, was a genuine ruin.
"Something's not right..."
Lumina and Herta didn't speak, and Stelle, Dan Heng, and Mem naturally didn't say much either. They walked through a door and arrived at a dark and silent space.
"I can vaguely sense the vastness and emptiness of this place, but why is everything pitch-black?" Phainon asked in confusion as he looked at the darkness.
"Um... this might be the Celestial Mural." After thinking for a moment with her hand supporting her chin, Hyacine offered an answer.
"Celestial Mural?" Hearing the answer, Dan Heng muttered softly, then asked, "What's that?"
Hearing this, Hyacine gave a brief explanation: "In the customs of the Sky City-State, it is the canopy connecting to Amphoreus. The climate depicted on the Celestial Mural is projected as the actual weather in reality."
"If you were to describe it in terms you're familiar with, you could just think of it as a giant screen."
"A screen?" Hearing this, Stelle muttered, then asked a crucial question with a serious expression, "What's the resolution of this screen?"
"Huh? Resolution?" Faced with this unfamiliar term, Hyacine paused and shook her head. "Um... I don't know what that is, but anyway, if we can light up this mural, it might provide us with the necessary light to move forward."
"A Controllable Weather System? How did the technology suddenly become this advanced?" Hearing Hyacine's explanation, Herta also understood what this thing was.
Wasn't this just a Controllable Weather System?
It wasn't something so surprising or noteworthy that Madam Herta needed to spare it a second glance.
But then again, was this thing really from the same era as the Okhema below?
Um... it really didn't seem to be from the same era.
This was something Hyacine's ancestors had created, a product of a very, very long-ago era.
"One world in the sky, and another world on earth," Herta couldn't help but sigh.
The scene she saw and experienced in person reminded Herta of a movie summary she had come across on a short-video app.
"Where are you finding a need for attention now?" Beside her, hearing Herta's sigh, Lumina glanced at her with curiosity.
Lumina remembered that Madam Herta used to be nothing like this.
The current Herta seemed much more lively than before.
And as for the reason, Lumina could more or less guess.
Short-video apps.
Sigh... Short-video apps really are a bane to society.
If even the great Madam Herta had been corrupted by a single short video, what was to become of the teenagers?
Lumina now felt like a parent, deeply worried about the children's future.
March 7th and Stelle were already completely dazed, so how far behind would the others be?
Herta glanced at Lumina and didn't reply.
Her gaze remained fixed ahead, pointing to a faintly glowing device nearby. "That device should be the one that controls the weather."
"Change the weather to daytime, otherwise it's too dark and walking will be a bit troublesome."
The so-called "trouble" was, of course, trouble for Hyacine and the others.
Even though the environment was so dark, it appeared exceptionally bright to Lumina and Herta.
It was just like having night vision.
Even if it wasn't normal darkness, but the kind of mysterious substance that would definitely plunge one's vision into blackness, it would make no difference to Lumina and Herta.
After all, even if their eyes couldn't see, they could still map out everything in front of them in their minds through perception alone.
"Mm-hmm, Big Sister Herta is right." Hyacine agreed with Herta's words, nodding her cute little head and gently reminding them, "The environment is very dark, please be careful, watch your step, and don't step into thin air."
In a city-state located in the sky, it was impossible for every spot to have ground beneath one's feet.
If one were to accidentally step into thin air...
From this height, wouldn't they be smashed into several pieces if they fell?
Following Hyacine's warning, everyone moved forward cautiously.
Before long, they arrived in front of the device.
"Hmm... this thing should be called an Armillary Sphere." After a brief observation of the device, Hyacine seemed to have seen it in a history book.
Hearing this, Phainon asked, "How about it, Hyacine? Can you activate it?"
Hyacine shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I don't know how to start it."
"Does it need some kind of key? Or other operations?"
Hyacine stared at the Armillary Sphere before her, fiddling with it for a while, but was ultimately overcome by a wave of confusion.
"Hmm... perhaps we can borrow the Power of Time, then watch how our predecessors activated this device."
Hyacine's clever mind immediately came up with a smart solution, and she turned her gaze to Stelle and Mem.
"Mem~ Leave it to us!" Sensing Hyacine's gaze, Mem clearly understood her meaning.
Next, it was time for Mem to show off her skills~
"There's no need for such trouble."
But before Mem could do anything, Lumina's voice rang out, stopping Mem's about-to-be-made action.
"Lumie?" Hearing this, everyone turned their gaze to Lumina.
Without saying a word, Lumina simply gave a slight smile of acknowledgment, took a few small steps forward, and came to stand beside Hyacine.
Feeling Hyacine's gaze, which was a mix of confusion and a hint of shyness, Lumina faced the Armillary Sphere and gently made a gesture with her palm.
The next second, with the grinding of mechanical gears, the Armillary Sphere slowly descended into a crossbow-like position, aiming at the pitch-black night sky before them.
A brilliant light condensed upon the Armillary Sphere, and after reaching a critical point, it shot out like a falling meteor.
Zzzzz—
Unexpectedly, the anticipated loud crash never came. The energy seemed to rest upon an energy barrier, sending ripples across it.
Patterns resembling a digital border spread in all directions under the blazing radiance, turning the pitch-black night into golden clouds.
As the radiance fell, all the things once hidden in darkness were now revealed to everyone's eyes.
"The art style of this city is completely different from what we saw before," Herta couldn't help but comment, feeling the warmth of the brilliant light shining on her.
It felt like stepping from a rural village into a cyberpunk city.
It was hard to imagine that this Sky City-State was in the same world as Okhema.
And this Sky City-State was built a long time ago.
Being so far ahead in technological level... it seemed a bit unreasonable.
But it didn't matter. Whether it was reasonable or not had little to do with Herta.
Right now, she only wanted to see this so-called Flame-Chasing Journey to completion, then leave Amphoreus with Lumina.
"What a magnificent sight," Phainon also remarked in admiration.
But his was a genuine expression of awe, unlike Herta's, which was tinged with other thoughts.
Suddenly, Dan Heng's expression hardened as he looked up at a point in the sky. "What is that?"
At his words, everyone followed his gaze and saw a bizarre, circular eye composed of gold, deep blue, and other colors appearing there.
Even though the light was so warm, the appearance of this eye still sent a slight shiver down their spines.
"What is that thing?" Seeing the eye gazing down at them, the expressions of Phainon and the others turned as grave as Dan Heng's, as if they were facing a terrifying enemy.
The mere sight of a single eye was enough to instill a sense of dread and timidity in their hearts. One could only imagine what kind of power the owner of this eye must possess.
After a moment, seeing that the eye showed no intention of attacking, Phainon and the others gradually relaxed their postures.
"It's truly unnerving. I wonder if Aquila can see what we're doing right now."
Though his posture had relaxed considerably, Phainon's caution toward the eye remained. If he hadn't understood that it was merely an eye, and that even an attack would be useless, he would have rushed up and given it a sword strike long ago.
"Whether it's watching us or not, its ultimate fate has already been sealed." Stelle stood with her hands on her hips, as if about to enter that same manic state again.
"With me, the Galactic Baseballer, on the scene, the outcome of this battle has long been engraved in everyone's hearts."
"Mem..." Seeing that her companion was still acting so unseriously even at a time like this, Mem's small face slumped.
But she didn't say anything.
So much experience had taught Mem that even if she did speak, it would be of no use.
It was better to let her try to release the desire to show off in her heart. Once she finished releasing it, she would naturally quiet down.
It's just—
Mem looked at Stelle's currently beaming little face, and an extremely important doubt popped up in her heart.
Could she really... completely finish releasing it?
Mem placed a question mark over this.
After all, Mem had experienced it before: if you didn't stop her, she seemed to be able to go on a manic spree from morning until night.
And even when sleeping at night, she would still go on a manic spree in her dreams.
"What are you looking at, you ugly thing?" Compared to Phainon and the others' good tempers, Lumina's temper was not so good.
This eye was ugly to death, and staring at everyone all the time made Lumina feel very displeased.
Her palm faced this eye, then she suddenly clenched it.
Zzz!
After a burst of electrical current sounded, that eerie eye instantly disappeared before their eyes.
"Lumie is so amazing!"
Facing this scene, Phainon was a little surprised, while the others seemed to find it completely natural.
Hyacine's pretty little eyes held bursts of light, looking at Lumina with admiration, her words completely revealing the style of a little fangirl.
"Hmph~" Being praised by such a cute little strawberry cake, the corners of Lumina's mouth trembled slightly, she endured a little bit, and finally couldn't help but curve them upward slightly.
It was obvious she found it very gratifying.
"Lumie is amazing, Lumie is super amazing, Lumie is the most amazing in the world!"
Lumina did not hide the upward curve of her mouth at all, so it was easily seen by Hyacine.
After Hyacine noticed this, she became even more excited and admiring. She placed her hands on her chest, leaned forward slightly, lifted her little head, and gazed at Lumina with her big little eyes.
All sorts of admiration overflowed from her, and her mouth kept spouting one word of praise for Lumina after another.
This made Lumina feel as if she had ascended to paradise, feeling extremely comfortable.
Just Hyacine alone made her feel this good, so if there were a few more people...
Castorice, Aglaea... everyone gathered around her, praising her one sentence after another.
Hiss...
Just thinking about this scene made Lumina's heart beat a little faster.
It wasn't the heart-pounding of shyness, but the heart-pounding of excitement.
Lumina was not the type of person who would only fantasize. Once this idea appeared in her mind, she would take actual action.
Um... as long as it wasn't the kind of thing that would make even Lumina feel very embarrassed.
"Wipe your drool, it's dripping down the corner of your mouth."
Herta didn't know what Lumina was thinking in her heart, but seeing her dazed posture under Hyacine's one sentence after another of praise, she also knew she must be thinking about some... unspeakable things.
This kind of thing, no matter how you look at it, is something that could easily cause irreparable damage to the soul.
Therefore, as Lumina's good friend and bestie, Herta had the right to stop this behavior.
When she saw Lumina wearing that expression, Herta immediately clenched her little fist and gave her arm a smack, accompanied by a voice full of righteousness.
In an instant, Lumina was pulled back from her fantasy world into reality.
"Drool?" Lumina reached out to wipe the corner of her mouth, feeling no moisture at all. She also understood that Herta was simply finding a reason to resent her, interrupting her thoughts.
Judging by her tone, she had obviously misunderstood what Lumina was thinking.
But it didn't matter. A few more misunderstandings were fine; let her taste this feeling.
Turning to look at Herta, seeing her currently plain little expression, a smile surfaced on Lumina's face.
"I think you're the one drooling," Lumina teased Herta lightly and then stopped paying attention to her.
Looking ahead at the distant platform, Lumina gestured to the group.
"Let's keep moving forward."