Mage Adam
Chapter 269: Garfield's New Information

"Master, let's go. I have a bad feeling about this!" Garfield yelled. He had just faced two near-death moments in a short time. With Adam in his overclocked state, it felt like he was about to be burned into ashes.

Adam scanned the whole pyramid and made a 3D model in his mind. The flow of energy and the signs of life in the pyramid appeared to him as data. But he couldn't analyze two areas: the core of the pyramid and the direction of the energy at the top.

The data showed that the life signals in the eighty-one broods on the bottom layer of the pyramid were very weak, like candles flickering in the wind. The eighth layer was a bit better, and the second layer had signs of healthy life. The top layer, though, was unnaturally excited---it wasn't a normal life signal; it seemed to be burning itself.

"We have less than twenty minutes. I need to go in and take a look," Adam refused Garfield's request. Now that they were here, he had to explore the pyramid.

If this place was part of a big altar covering the whole territory, the Devourer's plan would be terrifying. Adam had a vague suspicion that he needed to confirm.

At this moment, the ground in the warning area cracked, and countless Metal Eaters burst out. Their combined infrasound waves shattered the dust in the air.

Seeing a strange creature floating in front of the pyramid, they emitted blood-red energy, forming a terrifying shadow that rushed at Adam.

Adam quickly dove into the nearest brood on the ninth layer.

This seemed to be a forbidden zone. The Metal Eaters circled angrily outside but didn't dare to enter.

"Master, getting in was easy, but how will we get out? There are level-four Metal Eaters outside. We'll be torn to pieces," Garfield said as he thought of the fierce Metal Eaters outside.

Inside the brood, it was very quiet, but the quietness was eerie. After entering Adam realized it was like an insect's cocoon. It was made of a special material that felt like flesh. Adam could sense faint nerve movements inside.

However, the frequency of these movements was very slow, likely due to its near-death state. Occasionally, parts of the 'walls' would fall off, turning into gray-white material on the ground.

Adam picked up a piece and found it was metal waste that had lost all electrons and vitality.

The inside of the brood was like a maze, with a faint energy flowing through the air. The energy moved towards the depths ahead, serving as a guide.

Adam knew following it would eventually lead him where he was heading.

But Adam didn't have time for a maze. He used high-frequency currents to create a drill on his mage sword and broke through the cocoon walls.

Then he moved straight ahead, following the energy flow.

Even this rough destruction didn't draw any attention or resistance.

Within seconds, Adam reached the deepest part of the brood. He saw a parental body, one that was about to ascend to transcendent level but had been forcibly stopped.

A pipe extended from the mouth of the parental body, piercing through the cocoon wall and leading to another brood. Energy from this brood was being transferred out.

Another pipe entered the cocoon wall from the other side, directly connecting to the parental body, allowing external energy to flow into it.

The Metal Eaters had constructed a simple energy cycle this way.

If Adam guessed correctly, the central brood on the ninth layer should have a pipe connecting it to the eighth layer.

***POP.***

A small oxidation ray hit Adam's mage armor, making a barely audible sound.

This parental body was not dead. Upon seeing Adam, it had a brief resurgence of life, still fierce.

"Kill, kill!"

Adam glanced at her and then moved towards the center of the ninth layer. Killing this parental body would be pointless. Adam didn't plan to kill any energy sources in the pyramid.

He knew that even if he killed them, new parental bodies would replace them unless he could occupy the place. So, killing her would only alert others unnecessarily.

As expected, Adam found a passage to the eighth layer in the central brood. The structure was the same from the eighth layer to the fourth layer. Adam didn't plan to take risks in the upper layers, where the parental bodies had some combat ability and could cause him trouble.

Suddenly, Garfield spoke up, "Master, I think I've seen something like this before. No, not seen, but I know about it."

Adam, heading towards the core area of the pyramid, responded, "Tell me about it."

"In my inherited knowledge, there are shadows of this kind of thing. But as you know, my inherited knowledge is very vague. I can only remember that a great demon once roamed the void and made deals with a race that had these things. That race was called the Dilubos. This altar exists to create Fortresses that can travel through the void."

Adam's drill suddenly lost control. He paused and asked Garfield, "Dilubos? Are you sure that's the name?!"

Garfield, startled by Adam's reaction, replied timidly, "I'm sure, I think? Master, translating the demon's language into Titan's is awkward, I..."

Adam repeated quickly, "Dilubos, Dilutans, Dilus... yes, Dilus!"

The chaotic signals in his mind finally made sense. Adam realized that if the sender was the Titan God, he must have visited that plane and seen that race. Even his disappearance might be related to the race represented by the name Dilus!

"What else do you know?"

Garfield shook his head hastily, "The inherited memory is too vague, and I can't be sure."

"When is this inheritance from?"

"According to Mage World time, it's about seven hundred thousand years ago. It could be even longer."

Seven hundred thousand years was indeed an astonishingly long time. Back then, the Mage World didn't even have the capability to traverse time and space for plane wars. Adam was surprised that demons had such deep roots, able to pass down information from such ancient times.

Adam kept this information in mind. He couldn't investigate further now---the Titan civilization was fragmented, and the Devourer was unlikely to have a calm conversation with him. He would have to wait until the mages arrived in this world or until he returned home to verify it.

At that moment, his drill encountered its first obstacle since he started. It was a layer of film, brilliant like a diamond.

Adam peered through the film. Before him was a huge, strange thing. It looked like a mass of flesh growing within a mold but lacked any sign of life.

If not for Garfield's information, Adam would have been puzzled. But now...

"It's actually a component!"