Hollow earth theory

Jayde's mind was in disarray as he tried to understand what he was seeing.

Surprisingly, the portal didn't shock him as much as its description. The reason he was reacting so violently to the name on this gate wasn't because of what dwelled within. No, his apprehension came from the fact that if this one was possible, what about others?

The thing about mythic civilizations was that nobody could prove they were real. There were only rumors and folklore spread about them, with a few pieces of evidence of their existence, and sometimes no evidence at all.

They were only believed to be myths. The Auroran civilization was one such civilization. There were the faintest rumors about their existence, which was eons ago. There was no proof other than the Stonehenge. Though the Stonehenge was strange and mystical, with the sheer mass of its existence indicating it couldn't be built by human hands, this was still not enough evidence to prove their existence.

And here was proof right before his eyes that they existed—a civilization said to be home to both humans and giants. Not only that, it seemed they were revived by the sequence. This was the scary part. If this civilization could be real, what about the others? The scary part was that most mythic civilizations weren't human. The Anunnaki, the ancient Greeks, the Titans, and so on—these mythical races were possibly in existence right now. The disgruntling part was that they remained in the shadows in his previous life. They hid themselves very well.

A cold shiver ran down his spine at the thought of it. Modern humans were busy with infighting, restricting the growth of their best just to remain in power, while much more powerful foes were sitting in the shadows watching them destroy themselves, patiently waiting. But what were they waiting for? Could it really be that they were scared of modern humans and were thus waiting for them to be weak enough for them to act?

Seriously, one had to give credit where it was due. Back then, when he was working for the government, he knew the true strength of humans, both in their control of vast manpower and their rapid advancement in technology. Other organizations of humanity couldn't be any less. Even he, back then, was so strong he could destroy cities, take on armies, and still come out unscathed. There were three hundred and twenty people in the rankings. Even the last person in the ranking wouldn't be that much weaker than him, which showed and proved the true prowess of humanity.

So it was understandable if that was why, but it didn't make sense. From what he had seen, these ancient civilizations were so strong that even he had to turn tail and flee after an encounter with one of them. One had to take into account that he had the privilege of accessing dungeons ahead of others, not to mention his advanced cultivation arts. Right now, it was safe to say he was the strongest human present.

Yet one of their members could effortlessly defeat him. This was obviously the best time to attack humans. If their strength was so great, why not just dispatch armies to subdue them now that they were still growing? The reasons can only be twofold. One, they were not united. Two, they were concentrated on something a thousand times better than Earth and its dungeons and ether mines.

Indeed, what could be so alluring that they would rather ignore such a big pie that is Earth? What could be so grand that they would blatantly ignore the benefits of the dungeons Earth provides, yet still be so strong and ahead of humans? What could that be?

It was then Jayde seemed to recall a theory that his fellow scholars in his previous life discovered. It was a myth that Earth was a layered world. If their theory was correct, there should be another realm inside the planet called Hollow Earth, and it was sized two times bigger than Earth as it was made up of 89% land. Unfortunately for those scholars, they never found proof.

Wait a minute. Yes, if he recalled correctly, they had gone on an expedition to prove their theory correct and find any possible evidence of such a world. But several months later, they went missing. They were declared dead a few months later. He never gave their matter much thought, but if he recalled, then the scholars were all powerful individuals, as they had pretty decent talents. No matter where they went, there should have at least been a survivor. After all, their expedition was launched in the first phase of the sequence, so they definitely didn't encounter a dungeon break or a den.

That means they most probably found the other world they were talking about but likely came across some ancient civilization that probably wiped them out to silence them. Yes, that actually made sense. Suddenly, a cold shiver ran down Jayde's spine. He suddenly felt as though he had entered a game where the players were so powerful they could take his life with a glance.

But even with this, Jayde's eyes still shone with excitement. It seems this life won't be boring and simple after all. He had decided he was going to find Hollow Earth. He wanted to see what was so good about that place that it would make them willingly abandon Earth.

One could see how frightening Jayde's mind was. He could deduce this much from just a confirmation of a gate. His eyes shone with excitement as he thought, 'Elior and the rest should be able to hold on. Let me go for a little detour.'

He dashed out quickly, approaching the gate. He wanted to observe for himself closely how powerful an ancient civilization was. He quickly crossed the portal, and the scenery changed. The sky reflected faint hues of aurora, and the valiant moon shone brilliantly as he was met with the view of a dense forest. He didn't waste time and made his way through the forest, leaving marks in case of misdirection. After traveling for probably ten minutes, he came across a vast clearing. It was a colossal city. Jayde froze, astounded by the scene that lay before him.

Sweat drenched his back as he carried a helpless expression on his face. Sometimes it was better when his deductions were wrong.