The image of Onogoro Island projected onto the magi-screen expanded rapidly as the focus deepened.
Soon, the view reached the island's surface.
"As I suspected, a barrier surrounds the island," Laojun’s voice announced from the screen. "However, since this Peeping Telescope is controlled via the ground beneath the barrier, we should not have any issues."
"I see... which means there’s a possibility we could be watched as well," Jin muttered. "I’ll need to prioritize research into barriers that can be deployed anywhere, even deep underground."
He turned his full attention back to the footage. The screen currently showed the surface of Onogoro Island.
"The vegetation is quite different," Goose remarked with interest. "There might be small animals or insects here that have undergone their own unique evolution."
Suddenly, the screen went pitch black.
"Proceeding underground," Laojun reported.
The darkness lasted for about ten seconds before the scene abruptly changed.
"We have emerged into an underground cavern."
The area appeared to be unlit.
"I am currently converting mana waves into light waves."
Since magi-isotopes emit faint mana waves, Laojun was utilizing a night vision mode that used those waves as a light source. While colors were impossible to distinguish, the shapes of the objects in the room were perfectly clear.
"Are those... guardians?" Jin asked.
Lined up against the walls were rows of golems that looked identical to the guardians they had encountered previously.
"It might be a reserve warehouse," Jin suggested.
"I shall move further in."
The image panned sideways and returned to darkness for a moment, suggesting there were no adjacent rooms, before another area came into view.
"The next room."
"A materials warehouse, perhaps?"
"It looks that way," Jin agreed. "Are the more important facilities further down?"
The screen went dark again for about fifteen seconds. Then—
"What is this...?"
"This is likely a residential facility," Laojun replied.
Now that it had been pointed out, it did indeed look like a living space, though the room was in a state of extreme dilapidation.
"So dust still accumulates even underground," someone noted.
"Even the objects that look like furniture are badly deteriorated."
"It wouldn’t be surprising if these were artifacts left behind by the Progenitors, right?"
Goose countered Jin’s suggestion. "No, if you consider until when they lived here..."
"Ah, I see your point."
Goose was referring to how long the facility had been abandoned. Clearly, an immense amount of time had passed since the Progenitors who once inhabited this place—and their descendants—had departed.
"It seems the Progenitors who built this place are truly gone," Jin said.
"There don't seem to be any documents or records left behind, either," Goose added.
"But their lifestyle doesn't seem that different from ours," Vivienne observed, looking at the room from a different perspective.
Since that entire level consisted of similar residential quarters, all equally decayed, they decided to move on to the next floor. After another fifteen seconds of darkness, a new image flickered to life.
"We are approximately two hundred meters underground. This appears to be a massive Magi Machine."
"Hmm, I wonder what it is?" Toa asked, tilting his head.
"It has a strange shape..." Stearena added, looking equally perplexed.
"...Jin-nii, is this what I think it is?" Elsa asked, seemingly recognizing the device’s silhouette.
"Yeah. It's likely an ether condenser."
It was a machine designed to gather and concentrate the free ether present in the environment.
"The difference between this and the ones I’ve made is that this one seems to have directionality," Jin observed.
"My Lord, I surmise this is because managing the entirety of Onogoro Island would be difficult otherwise," Laojun added.
"Still, it’s enormous."
"Yes. The magnification ratio is the same as the residential area we saw earlier."
Based on a rough comparison, the Magi Machine appeared to be about ten meters tall. There were more than ten of them lined up in a row.
"So they're using these to harvest free ether..."
"It is likely not limited to this one location," Laojun stated. "It is reasonable to assume there are several such sites along the Tropic of Capricorn."
Laojun explained that this was a logical conclusion, given that the distribution of free ether showed almost no signs of bias. Jin agreed with the assessment.
"If that's the case, then facilities like this exist underground in other places as well."
"Yes. And Onogoro Island likely serves as the central hub for the entire network."
"I see."
"There are at least three locations," Laojun continued. "There is a high probability they are positioned at points that form an equilateral triangle with Onogoro Island."
"Hmm, that's an interesting lead."
Jin considered the possibility of attacking the network through its secondary sites, but for now, the priority was investigating this facility. "Are there any other Magi Machines?"
"Understood. Please wait."
No other machines were visible on that particular level. They pushed even deeper. After about thirty seconds of darkness, a new image appeared.
"What on earth is this...?"
It was a Magi Machine unlike anything Jin had ever seen.
"If Jin-kun doesn't know what it is, then we're at a total loss," Vivienne said, giving up almost immediately.
"Laojun, can you see the interior?"
"One moment."
Being able to perform such precise control at this distance was a feat only Laojun could manage. The image zoomed in on the Magi Machine and passed right through its outer casing.
"This is..."
"Jin? Do you recognize it?"
"Partially. I think... it’s a device for transferring ether."
However, that was the limit of Jin’s understanding.
"The internal combinations are incredibly complex. There are some things I just won't be able to grasp without seeing the actual hardware."
"It is likely because parts of the machine have been black-boxed," Laojun suggested.
"That makes sense."
A "black box" referred to a device that could be used without knowing its internal mechanisms, or one that was intentionally sealed to prevent inspection. It might have been designed that way to prevent analysis—or perhaps even the Progenitors who built it had reached a point where they used the technology without fully understanding it themselves. It was much like how modern people in Japan could master computers and smartphones without necessarily understanding their internal circuitry.
"The Progenitors were said to have shown signs of regression toward the end... so I suppose that’s to be expected."
Jin decided there was no point dwelling on what he could not yet grasp. He refocused on the screen, determined to extract every bit of information he could.