Climbing up the stairs, at the end of the path, Kai saw the huge gates to this huge castle. It was amazing because it seemed to consist of three arches of different sizes. Each one was smaller than the previous one, and the last one had a doorway.
On either side of the door were two lanterns, brightly illuminating the passage with a violet light.
Kai activated his ability to see energy and warily began to move towards the entrance of the building. He saw more and more murals and artistic carvings on the castle's facade.
"It's simply unbelievable! What grandeur!" - Kai marveled.
"But what are these creatures? They resemble humans in some ways, but their skin is much darker... Some of them even have tails or horns... And their style of dress is much more open than humans..." - Kai reasoned as he slowly made his way into the building.
After taking a few steps he stopped and started looking at the inside of the castle.
In front of him stood a huge hall, everything in it was made as if of black jade and decorated with purple stones that emitted light. On either side of it were huge columns.
They were so thick that it would take a dozen people to wrap them around. And each of them had purple flames burning on them.
"Hmm, this is also made with arrays... If I didn't know that the owner of this place was an Alchemist, I would assume that Array Masters lived here." - Examining the insides of the hall Kai reasoned.
He thought that creating energy arrays that would last for thousands of years was simply incredible. But that didn't seem to be their primary craft. Then what level of alchemy did this civilization possess?
"It's very strange that such a powerful people, lived in one small city underground... Most likely with their power, they could control large areas up there, if not the entire continent at all..." - The more Kai thought, the more questions were born in his mind.
As he stood and looked around the interior, his gaze fell on a large throne that stood on a dais at the end of the hall. But more interesting was another thing...
"What is this?" - Kai wondered, scrutinizing the object.
Thirty meters in front of the throne, a small cube was flying in the air, the likes of which Kai had never seen before....
As he got closer, he began to examine it from all sides, but he didn't touch it.
"It's all scribbled with an incredible amount of arrays. They are very small, but very detailed... It's incredibly complex, even that huge array in the cave, doesn't compare..." - Thought Kai.
"What could it have been designed for? It's strange that it's flying right in front of the throne..." - He continued to speculate.
"It's hardly dangerous... A dangerous thing, definitely wouldn't be created at the feet of a ruler... What if?" - Suddenly, Kai had the urge to check something...
The cube couldn't have been built with a destructive and negative purpose. Such things aren't placed in the main throne room, and even near the ruler. It had to have something to do with the very person sitting on the throne. One had to check it out... Kai decided that he would try to inject energy into it.
Either way, he was already trapped. He would definitely investigate this cube at some point, then it was better to do it sooner than later.
Deciding so, he slowly placed his hand on the cube!
But!
Nothing happened...
Kai waited for a while, and realized that still, he needed to inject some energy. Concentrating, his energy came out. He immediately noticed it being absorbed by the cube, and continued to infuse it further.
"Boom!" - A small pulse was heard and the cube began to glow.
At that moment, Kai felt something enter his head. It was as if through his hand, a strange energy was pouring into his brain!
He wanted to pull his hand away, but then he realized he felt no threat. At that moment he heard a monotonous voice in his head, which spoke quite clearly, it was clear that it was some kind of language.
But listening to it, Kai couldn't understand anything. He just kept feeling the energy further into his brain and listening to the muttering.
After a few minutes, Kai suddenly tensed up!
- Wait... What?" he unconsciously said out loud.
At that moment, Kai realized that he had made out a few words from what the voice in his head had said.
"What the fuck is going on here?" - Dazedly thought Kai.
After another half an hour, Kai began to understand almost all the words the voice was saying. It was just repeating different unrelated words. It seemed like he was just saying all the words he knew.
"Unreal! Am I gaining knowledge of their language through the energy from the cube? What kind of incredible method is that?!" - Kai was now standing with his mouth open. He didn't understand at all what was happening and couldn't believe what was happening.
But the fact, remained a fact. He was gaining knowledge of their language!
At the moment when Kai began to understand every word, the voice stopped incoherently speaking different words, and a realized phrase sounded.
- You have the key to the language. Declare what you came here for, bowing to the Astral Emperor of Alchemy! - Said a solemn voice. But now it did not sound in Kai's head, but echoed throughout the entire hall!
Kai stood in the same place in bewilderment, waiting to see what would happen next. He became very wary, but after a few moments he realized that nothing was happening.
"It seems this voice was just a regulation... But everything would make sense if we assume that there were many languages in ancient times. Then to communicate with the ruler of this place, one had to understand it. But what kind of incredible craftsman could have created this cube!" - Kai stood in bewilderment.
- Yes this array is incredible... He actually passed the knowledge from the language to me... - Said Kai.
- That's right, it said 'Bow to the Astral Emperor of Alchemy'! Amazing! - Kai realized that remembering the inscriptions on the statue of the huge man, he could now understand their meaning!
"It seems it wasn't limited to language alone... Even their writing has become within my control. It's just incredible... Maybe I should try to take this cube with me?" - Pondered Kai.
But when he looked at the arrays on the ground, he realized that the cube was inextricably linked to this place. There was no telling what would happen if he tried to take it away....
"I guess I won't touch it... I don't know what other arrays are here..." - Thinking about this Kai walked towards the huge throne.
Standing in front of it, he walked around it for a bit, touching it. And then, even sat on it.
- Hmm, is this the feeling that rulers have? Really majestic! Hehehe. - Laughed Kai sitting on the throne, talking to himself.
Realizing that there was nothing else of interest here, he began to look around. There were several large doors leading from the throne room into the castle. There seemed to be a whole structure of corridors and rooms. If you wanted, you could fit several thousand people inside.
"So where do I go first?" - Kai pondered.
Jumping down from the throne, he turned around to look at it once more. It was at that moment that he noticed that there was something behind him.
Going around the throne, he saw that neatly behind the back of the throne, was a large door.
- Where would I go if not on the path that only the Emperor himself traveled. Hahah. - Kai laughed merrily and went to the door.