Lith had seen plenty of powerful arrays surrounding lost cities and he knew that they couldn't emit such brilliance. The merfolk and Xoth had mentioned to the group the existence of a Forbidden Sun, but it would have been idiotic to waste its power to produce a light powerful enough to illuminate the seabed even from that distance.
A good mage would have focused its power so to guarantee the city protection and nurture the fields. Doing more would be pointless, wasting precious energy that could have been better employed to attack the barrier and further expand the city.
The source of light was Kolga itself. Tall buildings the size of a skyscr.a.p.er had been erected right behind the barrier and from most of their glass windows came multi-colored lights that were spread and refracted by the array, producing the dazzling glow that Lith's group had seen from a distance.
"We can't have you moving awkwardly inside Kolga or asking for directions." Each one of the Merfolk said to their respective passenger. "There is no such thing as tourists. One second of amazement would make you stick out like a sore thumb.
"We'll give you a full tour of the city from the outside to let you study Kolga's layout, to become familiar with what is supposed to be ordinary for the people you are impersonating and to point out to you the little that our previous scouts have learned during the past missions.
"If the sentinels spot you swimming with merfolk, your disguise will become pointless and the mission will fail before it even starts. We'll keep ourselves at the fringes of the light ring so that we can see inside while they can't see us, yet you should conceal yourself, just to be safe."
All the members of Lith's group wore a Scalewalker armor so it took them but a thought to have their clothes turn back into a layer of dull metal that covered them from head to toe, making them look like small golems.
Lith didn't need Solus's 360-degree vision to know that the girls were probably so shocked that they had forgotten how to breathe. He was sure of it because he felt the same way.
Kolga didn't look like a medieval city, quite the contrary. Even Belius, the most modern city that Lith had ever visited in the Kingdom, looked primitive in comparison.
The buildings weren't just as tall as skyscr.a.p.ers, they were skyscr.a.p.ers made of glass, rock, and metal. Each building was like a giant mirror, reflecting all light to the outside, making the city visible from far away.
Lith could see paved roads where people walked and what looked like neon signs and huge screens placed at the street level to inform the citizens about the latest events or advertise new establishment.
Lith counted a total of five concentric rings of buildings where people lived. Each ring was arranged so that it would spread rather than block the light coming from the sun in the middle of the city, illuminating the next line of buildings in a cascade effect.
People moved on foot to reach the nearby blocks and flying cars when they needed to reach the opposite side of the city.
'By my maker!' Solus's was so shocked that she forgot about Menadion being her Mom rather than her master. Ever since the dream about Valeron's death, she had finally started to consider herself as a real person.
'Those are not carriages, wagons, or stagecoach. Those are really cars! Whoever made them, imbued them with a simple float spell to make them weightless and then used a system that generates small bursts of air magic to propel them in every direction.'
Lith looked at the swarms of cars flying around the city. The simplicity of their design amazed him, making him feel as if he was suddenly back on Earth and watching a sci-fi movie.
The darkness surrounding Kolga was no different from that of space, giving the lost city the look of an orbital colony.
Cultivated fields and cattle pens took all the space inside the buildings' rings that had clearly been designed as the first line of defense. As Xoth had told them, long life was nothing but torture without food, making it the most precious resource.
Buildings could be quickly repaired with magic and so injured bodies whereas it would take months to grow a single carrot.
Right in the middle of the city, there was a tall tower that sent shivers down everyone's spine. It was taller, better looking, and perfectly preserved yet the design of its first two floors was almost identical to Solus's.
On top of the tower, there was a white mana crystal the size of an a.d.u.l.t man and above that, there was the Forbidden Sun. It was much smaller than anyone had imagined it, barely bigger than Lith's house.
Solus could see thanks to her mana sense that while the sun was linked to all the living beings inside Kolga, the tower was linked to the buildings that comprised the five rings surrounding the fields.
Each building had been placed so that it would form the focal point of a series of protective arrays that enveloped the inner rim. An invisible beam of energy departed from the mana crystal above the tower and reached the power core hidden inside each building, forming a complex network of spells that overlapped to perfection.
The tower was right above the mana geyser, absorbing every ounce of its power, making it almost invisible to Life Vision.
Not only did the tower use the world energy to generate all arrays that kept the city protected from both water and invaders, but it also provided the buildings with enough power to fuel elevators, lights, and home appliances.
The world energy from the mana geyser was amplified by the white crystal and then relayed to the buildings' power cores that further amplified it before spreading the energy evenly, not letting a single spark go to waste.
After the tour ended, the merfolk moved back to the seabed level, using low currents and muddy waters to hide their approaching to the city.
"Once inside, never let your guard down. Every inhabitant of Kolga is a skilled fighter. They may not be as strong as an Awakened, but their wounds heal so fast that decapitating them is the only way to kill them." The merfolk said.
"The first thing you need to do is to signal us if you can understand Kolga's language. If not, only Lith has to remain and check if his condition allows him to resist longer than regular creatures while Phloria and Tista have to leave immediately.
"If that's the case, call us on our communication amulet for one second and we'll come to pick you up immediately. If Leegaain's pins work, then you must all stay as long as you can. A call lasting three seconds will inform us of the occurring of the best-case scenario."
The merfolk huddled up, allowing the group to exchange communication runes with Rem.
"Remember that you can't leave the city nor Warp away on your own. We'll remain nearby for all the time it takes. Whenever you need to be rescued, just perform a one-second call and we'll come to the exact spot where we have dropped you." She said.
