Contrary to what Shi Ming had expected, the final Civilization Origin Stele was much harder to decipher than the rest.

However, after two days, Shi Ming had completely mastered it. He closed his eyes, silently sensing the once-chaotic and disorderly stream of information in his mind suddenly become orderly and perfect, like the most exquisite civilized creation in all of history.

BOOM!

As the stele thrummed with a rhythmic pulse, Shi Ming opened his eyes.

In that instant, his immense Spiritual Power surged uncontrollably, washing over the Star Domain. A civilized light flickered in his eyes, as if they concealed the world’s sharpest blade and held the most ancient wisdom from the river of time.

The ethereal symbols on the twelve steles before him no longer held any secrets for him.

Every character, every symbol, was now connected to his mind, becoming knowledge he had truly mastered.

Although they held no inherent meaning by themselves.

’Five days. A full five days!’

’I’ve finally finished deciphering all twelve of these steles!’

’That was so difficult!’

He glanced around and discovered that more than half of the stars that had once filled this space had vanished.

Over the past few days, they had turned into energy to replenish Shi Ming’s Physical Strength and Spiritual Power.

The twelve Civilization Origin Steles still floated in the space, immovable and unshakable. However, their color seemed to have dimmed considerably. They looked like paper written on with a blue fountain pen that had been leafed through for so long the ink had begun to blur.

’It’s time to leave.’

’As for how to get out of here...’

For the past few days, the Eye of Intelligence had been unable to provide any more information about this special space. But upon finishing his deciphering of the twelve steles, Shi Ming saw lines of text manifest beneath the inscriptions.

The script was composed in that very language.

’I guess this gives me a chance to put this language to use.’

These lines of text were a message from the mysterious woman who had pulled him in here.

It roughly said:

"Having been trapped here for so long deciphering these steles, you don’t hate me, do you? Let me guess how long you spent. A year? Two years? Don’t tell me it was three!"

"However many years it took, it was all worth it."

"Let’s set aside long-term goals for a moment and talk about more immediate things. On your Earth, there are several similar steles. The text engraved upon them is written in this very language."

"If you learn this language, you’ll be able to decipher them, understand them, and master the power behind them. The benefits will be immeasurable."

"But no matter what, you must remember: do not let a single other person know you can decipher them. After all, you don’t want to get captured and be used as a human decoding machine, do you?"

"That’s all for now. Who knows when we’ll meet again."

"..."

"Oh, I almost forgot. Silently recite the 1,008 symbols on these steles in your mind, and you’ll be able to leave this place and return to where you came from."

"Consider that Star Lamp my welcome gift to you!"

???

’That Star Lamp was a trophy I found in the Scorpion King’s burial chamber. How did it become a gift from you?’

’And how could it possibly take one to three years to decipher these steles?’

’Who do you think you’re looking down on?’

Although Shi Ming was grumbling internally, he had a rough idea why the woman’s estimate had been so far off. ’Is my Spiritual Power really bugged to an unimaginable degree?’ He didn’t dwell on the details and silently began to recite the text from the twelve steles in his mind.

The pronunciation was extremely obscure and difficult, convoluted, yet profound and vast. It carried a strange, mystical sense of power, unlike any sound a normal creature could produce.

"lao shai sai nal kala mana..." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

The moment the last syllable of the 1,008 characters was uttered, he felt as if his soul had left his body. An unimaginable sense of weightlessness washed over him, like falling from a dream.

As he fell, time and space twisted endlessly around him.

Mottled patches of color swirled and vanished before his eyes.

Then, a strange power suddenly enveloped him, allowing him to land safely in another world—one filled with seawater...

BLUB... BLUB...

Bubbles escaped his mouth,

and his body felt an unfamiliar pressure!

’The Calm Sea Pearl!’

When he came to his senses, Shi Ming found he had returned to the Scorpion King’s Pyramid at the bottom of the sea.

He had completely cleaved the Pyramid in two. Half of the once-intact ancient structure had collapsed into a pile of rubble, while the other half was barely holding on.

The ancient bronze mirror from the Scorpion King’s burial chamber was shattered, its fragments scattered among the Pyramid’s ruins.

The sarcophagus had been tossed somewhere during the fight and was nowhere to be seen.

’My apologies, Scorpion King.’

’I had no choice but to do it to protect myself.’

As Shi Ming was about to leave, he remembered something. Outside the burial chamber and in the Skeleton Hall, there was still some "Bone Marrow" he hadn’t collected, which could increase his stats. It came from the spine of the vicious beast known as the Steel-Maned Celestial Horse. Even after a thousand years, its marrow retained its power. Consuming it could increase one’s Endurance and Attack Power, depending on how well it was digested.

Shi Ming went over to the massive spine.

The spine was enormous, and digging out the marrow bit by bit would take too long. Not one to waste time, Shi Ming simply drew back his right fist and, with a PUNCH, struck the massive spine. The bone casing cracked open. The marrow deep inside, not yet fully weathered, remained in a greasy, paste-like state. The moment it touched the seawater, it began to ooze out thickly.

Shi Ming’s right arm glowed red as it greedily absorbed the power.

’This method actually works!’

The power of the Steel-Maned Celestial Horse transferred from the marrow into Shi Ming’s body.

[Physical Strength increased by 10 points.]

[Defense Power increased by 8 points.]

[Spiritual Power increased by 12 points.]

’That’s 30 points in total, comparable to killing two B-rank sea beasts!’

’It’s just... this Spiritual Power...’

’My Spiritual Power is still so hard to quantify. Even that woman with the extraordinary background completely underestimated it, thinking I’d need at least a year to decipher all the steles?’

’Being off by a day or two would be normal, but being off by a factor of several hundred...’

Shi Ming didn’t believe the mysterious woman would make such a glaring error.

’Could the anomaly with my Spiritual Power be related to my transmigration?’

’Or maybe it’s related to the Eye of the Divine Pendant?’

...

...

...

This trip to the Pyramid was supposed to be a simple treasure hunt, but it turned out to be full of unexpected twists and turns.

On the way back, Shi Ming took stock of his haul from the Scorpion King’s Pyramid expedition.

1. One Puppet Core and one Full Moon Pearl with an initial level of 7.

2. One Meteorite Sub-Core.

3. The Extinguished Star Lamp.

4. A stele he hadn’t yet had time to examine, its contents unknown.

’The greater the risk, the greater the reward.’

’But the most important reward wasn’t any of these treasures!’

Shi Ming had a feeling that the knowledge of that language was worth far more than all these treasures combined.

...

The Sunpiercer burst through the surface of the water.

Far in the distance, he could sense the Grand Fortune waiting for his return, right where he had left it, not having moved an inch.