Waking up in the morning, Shir Ali felt changes in his whole body. Clear mind. He did not even need a candle to find out where the wind penetrated the cave. A 2D map of the cave was visible in his head. Red marked the current where it was, blue, where there were three passages into the cave. And also there was one green and one golden dot.
Judging by the location of the blue dot, one was the entrance to which it fell, the others apparently meant exits. He was intrigued. Having gathered things, having left one more piece of a snake "Thank you, for your company and protection, peace to you, prosperity and grace"!
Shir Ali went to the green point.
Sleepy voices sounded in his head: "little brother, take care of yourself and thank you for the gifts, come when it becomes boring, if, what!"
Shir Ali smiled! And he went without looking back!
Walking through the labyrinth of the cave, he became convinced that people once lived in the cave, and maybe dwarves? The floor was clearly carved out of stone, like smooth walls, in some places runes were visible, now he could read them. "Workshop", "armory", "warehouse", "magicians", "alchemical laboratory", "servants", "slaves", "warriors", "smelter", "treasury".
Cracks that were not visible at first glance were visible on the walls; they demanded their keys to open a new passage to another level of the caves. Shir Ali could see through the walls, "apparently I hit my head hard, I see all sorts of strange things."
Looking at the "treasury" rune, he saw a room, a small one and there were several chests open there was nothing there. And in the corner was a wooden table and on it lay a few crystals. Over which there were some symbols, but he could not read them.
Judging by the crystals, it was rock crystal, onyx, diamond, ruby. Untreated, not cut. Copper, gold, and silver circles stuck in empty boxes at the bottom. A little, five-six. Apparently someone emptied the treasury in a hurry.
X-rayed his eyes through the other rooms with runes, Shir Ali found all too desolate. In the armory, there were a couple of swords on the floor, several spearheads, and the iron ax itself. Everywhere, there was a rush as they took everything from the rooms.
But he was not interested in all this. What happened here? Why such a mess. He wanted to find out the question of points.
Slowly he reached the large hall, on the walls of which there were runes that said that he had got into the main hall, magicians. In one corner was a chalice; a small fire of almost white was burning in it. The ode form the walls burned yellow in his head. Looking at her, Shir Ali said "open." The wall opened, showing a small opening, crystals lay in it. Having sent a spiritual wash in them, Shir Ali understood that the runes meant "A treatise on cooking techniques - a self-study guide for culinary art", "Tree of wisdom and health - nutrition and cultural history", "the best recipes of Ayurveda", "Fundamentals of medical science of Tibet Jude- Shi. "
Having absorbed the knowledge that passed into his spiritual essence, the crystals scattered, and the breeze that appeared from nowhere dispelled them throughout the hall. They disappeared. Shir Ali was surprised, delighted, but so far he was in no hurry to use his knowledge.
He went to the second golden point, now the boy realized that the golden points are ancient treatises. A small staircase led from the main hall, which perched in the northern corner, it went up.
After passing 76 steps, Shir Ali was in a small room, his attention was diverted from the golden point, as he saw a small hole through which you could see the desert. And there were visible several oases, in which he had never been before, not even suspecting their existence.
The distinctly old foundations of some buildings were visible, the distance seemed to be about 6 km. This was what his consciousness told him, and some voice noticed that with his level of cultivation, it was not enough to see the explanation. You need to raise the level to the fourth.
Shir Ali shrugged, he did not understand what was at stake. Apparently these are glitches after hitting his head, he thought so. Mirage!
The voice noted that you can raise the level by one, without putting effort, but only up to 4 levels. If there is food. And the remaining levels can be opened, but treatises on the cultivation of the soul are needed.
Shir Ali, it was not interesting! He did not understand any of this! But apparently, Shir Ali reasoned that he put his head well. Hoping that his consciousness will return to normal in a couple of days or weeks.
Opening a second niche in the wall, he found crystals with runes denoting "Chinese military strategy", "Tao de Jin", Wei Lao Tzu, "Sun Tzu", "Wounds and their treatment in Tibetan medicine", "natural remedies for the treatment of respiratory organs, eyes, joints, injuries and skin diseases "," Chan Buddhism cultural and psychological methods of cultivation "," Unnecessary for the unlearned - a dictionary of healing minerals, roots, plants, animals. "
The crystals also disintegrated when the mental entity absorbed this knowledge.
The small room was actually a tower through which other towers were watched. Previously, the desert seemed to be an irrigated oasis. With canals full of water. And at the place of sources that rose from the depths of the earth, towers were located. But why were they needed, Shir Ali, was at a loss. And his spiritual essence did not say anything to him.
Going down the stairs, the boy went to the green point, had to go a long corridor, almost to the place where he fell on top of the cliff. Having passed this room, where strange flowers grew, he found himself in a large cave, it was all lit by the light that oozed from small vertical holes. Anyone from the side of the outer wall, the rock, would take them for cracks and not skillfully made by people windows for air intake and lighting at the same time.
It was an ancient castle of knowledge, magicians who believed in the fire as a purifying force. The language of runes was probably Aramaic? But Shir Ali did not know what Aramaic was, he read about it in his father's library in the empire's capital. But then he did not learn in detail about this.
He did not know that this castle was not a castle of knowledge, but an analytical center, the last stronghold of the Tsao kingdom and the headquarters of the latter on the land of Tsao - the commander-in-chief of the imperial troops of the Tang Dynasty. Then they were dealt a crushing defeat, a small army of Arabs. Since then, the Chinese left the region to give it 4 centuries to the Arabs. The "New Tan Empire" came to the region of Tsao's kingdom only after 14 centuries. To become a metropolis again and have the effect of stability in the region, to restrain the imperialists from creating new colonies.
He did not know that in a few decades, China, separate sofa analysts would predict the decline of the economy and slowdown. But they miscalculated! China had statehood before all the empires of the world! This country has seen everything! Having survived the greatest victories and suffering, knowing everything about the nature of man! Having great tactics and strategists as far back as 6000 years ago!
They miscalculated! China again emerged victorious in this battle of imperialist powers; their conspiracy failed. China remained the guarantor of stability in the region and preventing the expansion of imperialist powers. They could not squeeze him out of the Tsao region, as everyone else wanted.
And Shir Ali held in his hand, a historical artifact, for the sake of which the king of the desert, the serpent cultivator, crawled from the center of the desert to master the unique method of transferring to the past. There you could find the tracts lost today, on cultivation, alchemy, the creation of healing pills for development, find artifacts, and bring them back to our time.
But this method required an equivalent exchange. The historical artifact was also a system that provided a knowledge base and was able to set tasks, upon reaching which the host received protection from external and internal threats.
The artifact was black in color, slightly oily, smelled, strange odor, porous in texture. When Shir Ali took it in his hand, the artifact disintegrated into dust, which entered through the nose and pores in his hands. The boy felt some changes, but could not describe in words.
He did not know that this artifact was the dried feces of an ancient bat. This substance was called "mumiyo."
He left the cave castle with some regret; there he was interested, calm, and fun. The boy made new friends, learned a lot, and has not yet studied this castle to the end. There could be a lot of interesting things.
However, his family worried about his fate, so he had to go home ...
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Abot "mumiyo":
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229418079_Thermal_analysis_of_mumiyo_the_legendary_folk_remedy_from_the_Himalaya_region
https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Siberian-Shilajit-mumiyo-mumijo/dp/B079ZSJMJF