The temple was completely hidden by the snow. Rayen couldn't even find it when he passed from there. If he hadn't fallen, he wouldn't have known the temple was long gone and he was searching for nothing.
[You have entered the Sub Quest Area!]
Rayen slowly closed the gate and took out a flashlight that he bought alongside the campfire. The temple was old and abandoned, but it wasn't ruined. The carvings on the walls were still intact. The ceiling had some cracks, but it wasn't enough to fall down.
The ceiling was golden, and the floor and walls were light and dark brown. There were statues of some unknown deities on both sides, sitting on pedestals. Rayen looked at the walls carefully. There were many arts on the wall.
The deities on the walls who looked like they were dominating a battlefield and sitting on thrones were the same as the ones on the sides on pedestals. Maybe the walls were showing the supremacy of these pedestal deities.
Rayen touched the walls with his fingers. He observed all the paintings and said, "Just how old is this world?"
"These wall carving look very ancie—"
Suddenly something struck his tongue, because of which he dropped back. He looked up at the ceiling, but there was nothing. "What was that? A trap?"
Suddenly a red window appeared in front of him. Usually, the ones that appeared were either green or blue.
[You just used a restricted word!]
[You have received the punishment!]
"By restricted word, do you mean anci—"
Once again his tongue got struck by something, but the force now was greater than before. He fell on the ground, and a new window appeared in front of him.
[You again used the same word!]
[This is the last time you are getting away without any serious injury!]
[Absolute Warning: Don't use that word ever again!]
(Absolute warning? Why is this system so sensitive to that word? But I shouldn't use that.)
Rayen stood up and held the flashlight tight, then looked around the temple's first room. He watched the wall carvings for a moment, but there was nothing too mysterious about them. It was just some deities fighting some creatures.
Rayen then walked toward the deities' statues. Those deities were all different from the deities Rayen had seen. Most of them were faceless, mainly the goddesses. They had curved physiques and long hair.
The gods there were mostly either obese or scrawny. Rayen's eyes locked on a god who was the fattest among all.
"What are you, God of Obesity?" Rayen then walked further ahead and saw a god who was completely different from the other gods.
It was a god with a muscular physique. His height was taller than all the other gods and goddesses. His face was also well defined with a charismatic look. Rayen extended his hand to touch the statue, and as he touched it, the torches on all the walls lit up and the room became bright. Now Rayen was able to see everything without any problem.
And the first thing he saw was the wall carvings behind the majestic god's statue. In the center of that was this god, and around him were all the goddesses from the statues. The other male deities were in the corner of that carving, either biting their nails or with an angry expression.
"So he steals all the women? Though it isn't his problem that he is good looking. It's just how hierarchy works. The better one takes all, average and ugly ones fall behind." He said with a calm tone, without any facial expression.
Then he noticed all the other carvings that were behind the other statues. The carving behind the God of Obesity was of him with food all around. Rayen was now thinking whether it was just how it was or a joke by The Order.
But there were some texts beneath the carving. Rayen walked toward the huge wall and tried to read it. Surprisingly, it was written in his own language, or maybe he was seeing the translated version of the text. It was written "Openness."
"Openness?" Rayen looked up again at the God of Obesity, who had all types of food around him. There was even food that looked ugly, but that deity was accepting everything.
"Is it a symbolism? Maybe these foods symbolize good and bad ideas, and this deity is openly accepting both."
"No... maybe it isn't good or bad, but your opinion and others' opinions, as most people consider others' opinions inferior to theirs. So does this carving symbolize open-mindedness?"
[Ding! Ding!]
[You have uncovered the meaning behind a wall carving!]
[20 Exp Received!]
[Exp: 440/500]
Rayen noticed the reward but didn't give it much thought and walked toward the other carvings. Most of them symbolized something optimistic or positive, but only the muscular deity's one symbolized negative emotions such as jealousy, unfairness, and hierarchy.
But Rayen didn't waste his time finding the meaning behind all the wall carvings even though it was rewarding. It was because he was after the Indestructible Remain.
He still observed everything in that room, and with a yawn he walked toward the massive gate that led to another room.
"I think I'm done with this room, it is merely a free Exp farm. Nothing more." With that, he looked at the room for the last time before turning his head back to the massive gate.
He touched the door and was completely on his guard, because it was an old temple. Who knows what trap would come at him if he did anything clumsy.
From his touch, he heard mechanical sounds like some wheels rolling, and soon the gate in front of him opened, and the dark room in front of him lit up with the current room's light gone.
He didn't look back, just walked ahead inside the room. This room was octagonal, with walls in golden brown color. The floor was old white, covered with dust. It looked less like a room interior and more like a pillar interior.
On all the walls around him were paintings in golden color. In the paintings were humanoid creatures with strange snake-like weapons hunting a colossal snake. That snake's whole body was across all the walls and ended after three coils. The people on its head looked like they were dancing and were very small compared to it. Some of them were in the air, in a position like they were jumping. And some of their heads were looking up at something. Rayen couldn't tell what their expressions were from there though.
"What are they looking at?" He looked up at the ceiling to see. From what he saw, his eyes widened visibly. Even if there were no expressions on his face, he was in shock from the thing he saw.
"Is this a cockroach? But it looks like a baby? But it has legs of a millipede?"
"..."
"Just... what is this?"
On the ceiling was a huge creature, even bigger than the colossal snake below. That creature had the face of a baby, a human baby with only one eye, and that was in the mouth's place, and two mouths in the eyes' place. Its body was of a cockroach, and its legs were beyond what Rayen could count. There were so many, just like the legs of a millipede.
"This creature, is it also a dream?" Rayen blinked several times. The painting on the ceiling was so hyperrealistic that it felt like the creature would jump out and attack Rayen at any second.
That room had nothing other than those paintings. It was all empty. Rayen sat down and ran a hand through his hair.
He thought for a moment, then opened his inventory. He took out the DataTab and said, "I think this is the time I should use it."
He opened the DataTab and captured the huge baby-cockroach-millipede in it. The DataTab took a moment, then showed only one thing.
[Molgrathis]
Then another window appeared.
[Further information is restricted by The Order]
"If you are going to restrict information, then what is the use of this DataTab?" Rayen asked while looking at the window.
[This information isn't something cheap. All the Dreamers can only get information that they can perceive for now.]
[You have to climb all the stairs, can't reach the top before that.]
Rayen sighed and said, "As you say." He then took some steps back, but suddenly his foot landed on something which pressed down.
(Did I activate a trap?)
Rayen jumped aside and looked around. No trap was activated, but beside the place where he pressed something, a new path opened. It led underground.
"Is that a hidden room?"