The alliance was sealed, and a breath of fresh air seemed to blow through the Geothermal Terminal, dispelling the stifling silence that had lingered before. Though the shadow of the Black Steel Parliament still loomed overhead, at long last, they had a safe house where they could catch their breath and gather their strength.
Jin Wanchao did not waste a single second. He waved aside the food offered by Ah Huo and Lao Zhong, and strode directly toward the enormous mural at the heart of the terminal. The firelight flickered, casting the God of Artisans into shifting shadows, as if the deity were watching everything with deep, penetrating eyes.
His gaze fixed on the mural, and the power of Divine Revelation flowed through him like a gentle stream.
During his last hurried glance, he had only perceived the mural as solemn and grand, a symbol of ancient legends. But now, with his deeper understanding of the Revelation, he could see far more.
The mural was no longer a two-dimensional totem, but an intricate, precision three-dimensional structural diagram! Those ancient, rugged lines now unfolded before his eyes as crisscrossing energy veins, interlocking with chilling precision. Mountains were no longer mountains, but massive energy pipelines; rivers were no longer rivers, but conduits carrying some unknown fluid. Even the human figures surrounding the God of Artisans held various tools, as if calibrating delicate instruments.
This was no mythology. It was a colossal mechanical blueprint.
Jin Wanchao's heart pounded violently, overwhelmed by an unprecedented surge of excitement. He reached out and gently traced a gear carved into the mural. In that instant, the flame within him roared in resonance, and a vast, ancient stream of information from the mural surged into his mind.
"So that's how it is…" Jin Wanchao muttered, his voice tinged with awe.
He spotted a tiny, inconspicuous indentation on the mural, right where the deity's heart would be. There, a minuscule rune, no bigger than a fingernail, glowed faintly. Before, it had blended seamlessly into the mural's texture, all but invisible to the untrained eye.
Guided by the Divine Revelation, Jin Wanchao pressed his finger against the rune.
Boom!
A deep, muffled thunder rumbled from behind the mural, as if an ancient beast had stirred from its slumber. At the center of the mural, a faint crack slowly widened, revealing a pitch-black passage. Grains of stone fell, raising a cloud of dust.
"Wanchao!" Ah Huo and Lao Zhong were stunned by the sudden upheaval. They tensed, grabbed their weapons, and rushed over.
"It's alright." Jin Wanchao's voice was steady. He gestured for them to lower their guard, then stepped into the passage first.
The passage was short, ending in a chamber roughly ten square meters in size. Forged from a black metal, its walls were covered in identical ancient, mysterious runes that emitted a dim, ghostly light. The air carried a cold, sacred aura, as if time itself had frozen here for a thousand years.
At the center of the chamber, on a stone pedestal, lay a metal gear etched with ancient runes. It was small, no larger than the palm of his hand, yet exuded an indescribable sense of weight. Every tooth was carved with intricate runes, interwoven into a mysterious whole. It held no light source of its own, yet reflected the faint glow of the runes on the walls, making it appear to radiate light from within.
"What… what is this…" Lao Zhong's cloudy eyes widened instantly, his body trembling violently. He tried to speak, but was too overcome to form words.
Jin Wanchao stepped forward slowly, reached out, and took the gear in his hand.
It was warm to the touch, and an enormous wave of information flooded his mind like a tidal wave!
This was no ordinary gear. It was a knowledge repository sealed for a thousand years! The mechanics of construction, the flow of energy, even long-lost ancient technologies—all were branded deep into his mind in the clearest, most intuitive way.
He heard the gear's whisper, the wisdom of the ancient artisans, the mystery of creation.
"The Whispering Tooth…" Jin Wanchao whispered the name. It had appeared directly in his consciousness along with the flood of information.
Lao Zhong dropped to his knees abruptly, tears streaming down his face, his voice shaking like a guttering candle: "A miracle… this is a miracle! The Whispering Tooth! The legendary wisdom of the God of Artisans! It… it really exists!"
Ah Huo stared dumbfounded at the gear in Jin Wanchao's hand, his eyes filled with reverence and shock. He could feel that within this tiny gear lay a vast power that even his current flame could not comprehend.
Jin Wanchao closed his eyes. He could clearly see the torrent of knowledge flowing within the Whispering Tooth. One technology stood out above all others: a blueprint named the Resonance Framework.
According to the Whispering Tooth, the Resonance Framework was a device that could amplify the Divine Revelation power of an Awakener to its extreme. It would vastly expand the range of Jin Wanchao's Flame Awakening ability, even allowing those he awakened to see the true nature of machinery to a certain degree.
This… this was a groundbreaking discovery!
If he could build the Resonance Framework, he could awaken far more workers in a short time, linking their flames into a sweeping sea of fire! Then they would no longer be a small faction relying solely on Jin Wanchao's individual power, but a formidable force truly capable of standing against the Black Steel Parliament!
Jin Wanchao opened his eyes, his gaze filled with unprecedented resolve and strength.
"Lao Zhong, Ah Huo," he clenched the Whispering Tooth tightly in his hand. "We need to build the Resonance Framework."
Using his Divine Revelation, he transmitted the blueprint of the Resonance Framework from his mind to Lao Zhong and Ah Huo.
The two were instantly overwhelmed by shock. The blueprint's sophistication and complexity far exceeded anything they had ever imagined.
"This… this is truly a creation of the gods!" Lao Zhong babbled in excitement.
"But… Wanchao," Ah Huo's brow furrowed tightly. "The blueprint shows it needs a special Resonance Crystal as its core to function."
Jin Wanchao nodded. He had learned this from the Whispering Tooth as well. The Resonance Crystal was an extremely rare mineral that produced a unique resonant frequency under high-pressure energy, making it the key to the Resonance Framework's energy transmission.
Just as Jin Wanchao was pondering how to obtain this rare material, the sound of a wrench echoed hastily from outside the chamber.
"Jin Wanchao! I just received reliable intelligence! The Black Steel Parliament is secretly transporting a shipment of special minerals through the lower district's orbital trains soon! Among them… there's a very good chance they have the Resonance Crystal you need!"