In the past, the Korean Peninsula had a lot of gold compared to other regions.
This is because more than 50% of the geology of the Korean Peninsula is granite, and the mother rock where gold is mainly found is granite.
“More than half of the ancient gold crowns found all over the world have been found in Korea!”
There is some difference of opinion among scholars, but the number of ancient gold crowns excavated from all over the world was 14.
However, 10 of them were excavated in Korea.
Therefore, Korea was the world’s largest holder of gold crowns.
The fact that there are many gold crowns means that goldsmiths were developed early on, and the reason is that gold was very abundant.
“In particular, Silla had so much gold that it was called ‘the country of gold’!”
And more than half of the 10 gold crowns excavated in Korea belong to Silla.
It is said that Silla had a lot of gold among the many ancient countries on the Korean Peninsula that were rich in gold.
However, there were no gold mines in Silla.
Scholars wondered where Silla, which had no gold mines, was able to flourish its golden culture.
And after long research, I found the reason.
It was just gold.
There was no gold mine in Silla, but a huge amount of placer gold came out of the river.
It is said that there was a lot of ball gold (bead-shaped gold) that is much higher in purity than normal placer gold in the rivers near Gyeongju in Silla.
“Gold is so common that I didn’t even know it was valuable!”
It is said that the people of Silla did not know that gold was a treasure until the middle of the 3rd century.
The river was half gold and half sand, so they made tools used in daily life with the gold collected there.
Records say that gold utensils were used when eating, and that dog chains and monkey necks were also made of gold.
Then, due to the influence of neighboring countries that valued gold, such as Goguryeo and Buyeo, they came to know the value of gold, and began to use the overflowing gold to make accessories for kings and nobles.
In this way, Silla developed a brilliant golden culture.
“But where did all that gold go now?”
Seoyeon Kim answered my question while looking at the building in the center of Factory 4.
“Maybe there is an elixir extraction facility deep in Gyeongju! ‘They’ could have used the king of Silla to build underground facilities and collect gold!”
The ‘they’ that Kim Seo-yeon refers to refer to other alchemists who existed on earth besides me.
Whether there was one alchemist or several, it is not known for certain at this time, but it is highly likely that there were many.
This is because it appeared in many parts of the world at the same time.
In the elixir extraction facilities discovered so far, there is no direct evidence to learn more about them.
However, it can be inferred to some extent from other factors learned through psychometry.
They were active between the 10th and 12th centuries AD.
Then, using the power of the Empire, he built an elixir extraction facility.
Factory 2 received gold and labor from the Mongol Empire, and Factory 3 from the Wari Empire, which flourished before the Incas.
It’s easy to guess how the alchemists baked the empire.
‘I must have bewitched the emperor with an elixir.’
It was clear that he had dazzled the emperor with the mysterious power of the elixir.
As they consumed the elixirs given by the alchemists and tasted the mysterious power, the images of the emperors who would have been slowly driven to madness by the ‘sap of desire’ were pictured in their heads.
“Silla is also a kingdom that existed until the 10th century. It was widely rumored to be a ‘golden country’ through Arab merchants, so there is no way they just passed Silla over.”
I nodded my head at Seoyeon Kim’s words.
However, this is only an analogy.
There are only three elixir extraction facilities discovered so far, so it’s hard to make a definitive judgment based on that alone.
Factory 4 discovered in Antarctica this time has a slightly different character from factories 2 and 3.
And he found ancient letters in India and through them discovered the Oryhalcon Grassland in the deep sea of Bermuda, but he could not find a connection between them and the elixir extraction facility.
There is a very lack of historical materials to study the unidentified ‘them’.
So, we need to find and compare more elixir extraction facilities in the future so that we can know exactly about ‘them’.
You will naturally know the ‘truth’ because you will find all the elixir extraction facilities on Earth anyway.
Since you don’t know when you will face off against the demon king, what’s urgent right now is to find the elixir extraction facilities hidden all over the earth and obtain a large amount of elixir.
It is not too late to unveil them later, when you are free.
But if Gyeongju really has an elixir extraction facility, not only can you get a lot of elixir, but our analogy even proves to be true to some extent.
“Okay, off to the races!”
“yes! president!”
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I didn’t even go abroad, I left right away.
I drove to Asan Station in Cheonan and took the SRT to arrive in Gyeongju in 1 hour and 30 minutes.
The sky was clear and the greens were green.
The appearance of the temple in harmony with nature was beautiful.
‘It’s been a while since Bulguksa.’
It was the first time I had been to this place since a field trip in elementary school.
The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Gyeongju is Bulguksa Temple.
And it was the most likely candidate for the hidden elixir extraction facility.
Bulguksa Temple was built around the 6th century and went through several repairs to become a representative building of Silla.
Then, during the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592, it was burned down by arson, and Daeungjeon was rebuilt during the reign of King Yeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty.
However, during the Joseon Dynasty, when Buddhism was despised by Confucian scholars, Bulguksa Temple was completely turned into ruins.
Then, restoration began during the Japanese occupation.
The reason why the Japanese restored Bulguksa Temple was to steal the remains.
Under the pretext of repair work, they dug up here and there and took stone objects and sarira boxes back to Japan.
Then, in the 1970s after liberation, full-scale restoration work began in earnest, and it took on today’s appearance.
“Shall we see what’s under the ground?”
“Yes, boss!”
It was a weekday afternoon so there were not many people.
Still, there were quite a few people in front of Daeungjeon Hall, where Seokgatap and Dabotap were located.
We moved to the back of Daeungjeon Hall and found an empty place.
Then we arrived at the Gwaneumjeon, the most outskirts.
There was no one around.
chuck-
Kim Seo-yeon took out a portable seismic wave generator.
It was the size of a 007 bag, but it could create very powerful waves.
hiss-
In case you didn’t know, you set up an invisible barrier nearby.
Even if someone suddenly rushed here, they wouldn’t be able to see us.
Kim Seo-yeon pressed the seismic wave generator to the ground.
thud-
A wave was generated, causing a great vibration.
Food Duck-
The birds in the nearby forest were startled by the sudden shaking and took off all at once.
After analyzing the waves, Kim Seo-yeon exclaimed.
“Voids exist deep in the ground!”
There was a really huge cavity under Bulguksa Temple.
It could be an elixir extraction facility or a place where a teleportation gate is hidden.
“But there is not one cavity, but two! There is another small cavity under the main hall.”
There were two underground spaces under Bulguksa Temple.
One was a huge hollow 4,500m below, and the other was an underground secret room 30m below Daeungjeon.
“if! That place…”
“This may be where the altar is hidden!”
There may be an altar under the main hall that serves as an elevator to enter the huge cavity.
Moving back to the Daeungjeon Hall, the tourists were surprised by the vibration a while ago and were confused.
“Is it an earthquake? Don’t go inside the building!”
Seoyeon Kim shouted at the people.
“It’s not an earthquake! It’s the sound of tunnel construction in the nearby mountains!”
“Oh yeah?”
Looking at the expressions on people’s faces, most of them seemed to believe her words.
Unless you’re crazy, there’s no reason to lie like that.
In addition, in the eyes of others, Kim Seo-yeon’s appearance was not normal, but it was a great level.
A girl who looked like an elementary school student admired Kim Seo-yeon’s beauty.
“and! That unnie is so pretty!”
After reassuring the people, I entered the main hall.
It is to see if there is a secret passage leading to the secret room in the basement.
however,
‘what?!’
I could feel the presence of people in the basement.
There is someone in the secret room.
There was a slight thrill.
Maybe it’s one of ‘them’.
There is no law saying that those who were active until the 12th century should not remain in good health until now.
‘Who is it really?’
I stood inside the main hall and silently waited for him to come out.
After about 10 minutes, the person in the secret room came up to the main hall.
As expected, there was a secret passage connecting the secret room and the main hall.
He got out through the side door behind the Buddha’s pedestal and went out of the main hall without people noticing.
I followed him to the back of the Daeungjeon building.
Then the man in the locker room came into view.
He was wearing a monk’s robe.
Kim Seo-yeon checked his face and spoke in a low voice.
“This is the abbot!”
I approached the monk.
With ＜1,000 Masks＞, I had already changed my face into that of an old man.
As I approached the monk, he looked at me.
I asked him all along.
“What were you doing in the basement lockroom?”
Then he opened his eyes wide in surprise.
“How did you do that…”
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I came down to the underground secret room with the monk.
In the center of the secret room was an altar engraved with concentric circles.
Approaching the altar and examining it, there was a groove dug into which a stone box could be placed.
‘I’m sure!’
The monk opened his mouth.
“It was a secret passed down from abbot to abbot that there was an underground secret room under the main temple. But how can the donor…”
“After repeated research while searching for Korea’s hidden cultural heritage… I’ve come this far!”
“hahahaha! You are amazing!”
The monk looked at me with admiration.
But he had no idea what the altar was for.
I just heard from the previous abbot that there was a secret room in the basement of Daeungjeon Hall.
There was no mention of keeping quiet about the secret room.
So, to the monk, this was just a place that stimulated a bit of curiosity and had no special meaning.
“I suddenly remembered this place today and came down to see it. But today, meeting a landlord who knows about the secret room… What a strange coincidence!”
I asked if the monk knew about the stone box.
“Are you referring to a box shaped like a gourd for scooping rice? Is there a round pattern drawn on it?”
“yes! you’re right!”
The monk was well aware of the appearance of the stone box.
“Do you have it now?”
“No, the artifact is not here. I am in Japan!”
The monk was proceeding with a lawsuit against a university in Japan to return stone objects stolen from Bulguksa by the Japanese Empire.
A stone box was also included in the list of relics.
The monk reddened his face and shouted.
“They are very bad guys! In addition to the artifacts of Bulguksa Temple, they keep a great number of artifacts plundered by the Japanese Empire, and they never give them back!”
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I came out of the secret room and parted with the monk.
In an uninhabited place, he took out a person from his inventory.
He was a Japanese university professor who stole underwater artifacts from India.
He looked around and cried out in surprise.
“[Where the hell is this? What have you done to me?]”
“Noisy! What school do you work at?”
“[It’s Kawaramachi University…]”
As expected, it was the university the monk said.
I have to go to Japan immediately and bring back the stone box and all the Korean artifacts.