<h4>Chapter 557 Ancient ruins (1)</h4>


    Right from the first moment of entering the ancient ruins the elites got a big shock as there was a damn time limit in this ce and it said that if they could not find the return crystal in 30 days they would be stuck here forever.


    The mood was solemn as everyone felt weird about entering now . Rudra realized that he had pretty much been the only one who had always been on such high stakes mission with consequences time and time again , while this was the first one for the crew.


    Hence being the leader he needed to take charge as he said " You heard the system guys , let''s leave this damn ce in a week , who wants to stay a full month Here anyways ".


    Rudra tried to lighten the mood and it worked as some spirit returned to the group as the ten started to go on with the exploration of the ind.


    Rudra knew that for the first few minutes he and Karna should enter idle chatter to try and calm everyone down , as Rudra said " This reminds me of the dragon Ind exploration trip , that was also a lost ind , not bad experience eh? ".


    Rudra looked expressionlessly at karna as he said this as theter picked up the hint and read the mood to reply " Haha , for sure boss the alligator was on your bum , we thought you were a goner in those swamps ".


    Neatwit being the most gullible startedughing as he reminisced about the good old days and said " That raft and your stupid kraken pet , we were barely tier 2 back then ".


    One by one everyone entered the conversation as the group''s beleif in themselves strengthened , after everything all of them had been through , ruins that had not been touched for thousands of years should be least of their trouble.


    " Comeon guys we got this " said Bo the only male member who had not been on the trip to dragon Ind , as everyone talking about something that he had not experienced gave him a FOMO as he wanted everyone to focus on the present.


    This worked wonders as within 10 minutes the elites were back at their peak mindset , walking through the ancient ruins with a strong mentality.


    Thendscape was unbelievable , although it was extremely wide , Rudra had no doubt about the fact that this was a manmade structure they were walking on and not the wild.


    " There is ayer of dust and soil covering the ground however I am sure that there is manid rocks under here , even the walls on both sides of the path we are walking , are mancut rocks for sure". Rudra noticed as he shared his insights.


    " I think it''s a canal , the soil here looks like a riverbed and is arranged and deposited in a pattern that is only made when a river dries up. However that doesn''t make any sense , the path we are walking on is atleast 2 killometers wide , how can the ancients build such a structure ? ". Yume questioned as he was baffled by his own analysis.


    The groups eyes widened in shock with the realization that they were walking on a dried up canal as the architectural prowess of the ancient ruins stared them right in their faces.


    The canals made by humans of the modern times needed yearly mentainance and monitoring , however even after thousands of years of being left untouched, the ancient canal was undamaged , which showed the quality of construction from back in the times.


    There was darkness in the ancient ruins , as the elites had to use sunstones from their inventory as torches to lead the exploration , however there was a general sense of day and night even in the darkness , as during the day the ruin would be as bright as thest wisps of sunset before bing pitch ck during the night.


    In the 12 hours that the Elites walked the canal bed , they did not encounter a single life form or anything noteworthy untill they finally came across the wreckage of a ship.


    The canal had broadened to a width of over 5 killometers , and architecture had long since stopped making sense to the elites , as they realized that the wall of the canal was over 4 killometers high.


    That made the sheer scale of the river that once flowed through this canal unimaginable to the elites .


    " A ship wreckage , be careful ". Warned SMG who was leading the group from the front.


    The ship was not exactly wrecked perse however it seemed as if it had settled to the riverbed as the water level of the river fell untill one day the river dried up.


    The wood had rotted away at many ces , with algae green still visible at the keel of the ship , as the elites carefully started exploring the ship for possible clues.


    The ship was a triple decker , and without cannons sticking out of its sides , Rudra assumed it to be a merchant ship . The story which came to his mind was that this merchant dared to take the ship across the canal when the water level was extremely low and got stuck at this very ce .


    There were no signs of conflict at the deck , and nothing left of the canvas sails that must have been on the ships mast once upon a time. As the only thing left on the ship was books with wierd inscriptions in anguage that nobody understood anylonger.


    " Boss i found something ". Shouted Karna as he called for Rudra to have a look at the object.


    [ Ancient Sailor''s kit ] ( Lost in time ) : Contains three stones that every sailor had to carry while going against the mighty rivers .


    1) Water stone : Shoots out a cannon of water that can help steer the ship in critical situations.


    2) Windstone : Can generate unidirectional winds to provide wind support to turn the ships


    3) Woodstone : Can quickly repair wood damage caused by holes blown by the pirates.


    Seeing the box with the three stones and reading the description , Rudra sucked a breath of cold air. It seemed like the history of the ancient civilization was much moreplicated than Rudra could have ever imagined .


    The elites had entered and that was best forgotten to the sands of time , as now the return crystal was their only way out!