92 Chapter 92: The Water Pool and the Road

On this evening, Liang En and Fan Meng decided to set up a tent by their car to watch over their findings. They spent the night there, and the next morning, after a quick freshening up, they continued their excavation with shovels.

Given that the previous day's relief sculpture was embedded in a curved stone low wall, Liang En and Fan Meng quickly deduced the general shape of the original water pool and pinpointed its center based on that curve.

Sure enough, after careful digging for over an hour, a slightly damaged cylindrical stone pillar appeared at the bottom of the pit they had excavated.

"You're right, this is indeed a structure built by ancient Romans." Liang En pointed to the small pit in the center of the stone after clearing away the dirt from above it.

"Look, we can clearly see that the outlet at the center of this stone is surrounded by a circle of lead. This indicates that the users at the time employed lead pipes, which was a standard Roman architectural feature."

"This sculpture looks impressive indeed." Fan Meng commented, looking at the carvings around the stone pillar. "How much do you think this thing could fetch?"

"If we were to take it away from here, this stone carving could probably be sold for around two thousand pounds. But we would also be violating the Treasure Act by doing so," Liang En shrugged.

"But honestly, we really don't need to bother with such a laborious and thankless task. As far as I know, we have a much easier way to make more money—"

Half an hour later, two off-road vehicles approached from the direction of the city. Seven or eight individuals got out of the vehicles. Evidently, Liang En had chosen to call the local cultural heritage department.

"Ah, Dr. Smith, it's a pleasure to see you again." As soon as they got out of the car, Liang En quickly recognized the identity of the elderly gentleman leading the group.

This gentleman was the director of the University of Bath's Centre for Heritage Conservation, who had previously invited Liang En to the university for academic exchange. Liang En hadn't expected that stumbling upon a fountain would attract the attention of this esteemed expert.

"Lawrence, I never expected you'd be able to find an ancient relic in such a short time," Smith walked up to Liang En and said, "I now believe you are an explorer."

In fact, when Liang En had previously claimed to be a treasure hunter, these people had found it hard to believe. In their view, the person who could decipher the secrets of ancient Egypt should be a professional scholar, not the kind of antique dealer they often dismissed.

"Yes, I believe I have talents in both areas," Liang En chuckled and then guided the respected scholar to see everything they had discovered the day before.

"Very impressive, very impressive," Smith nodded in satisfaction as he watched his assistants begin to clean up the water pool. He then turned to Liang En and said, "This should be the most valuable historical site found in the local area since the beginning of this year."

"Not just that, Dr. Smith," Liang En said as he walked to the other side. Because in his memory, about five or six steps away from this well should be an old road that had been there for years.

According to the markings on the Viking map, this location had a road that was very suitable for their activities, with parts of it paved with stones.

Considering the era in which those Vikings lived, it could be inferred that the people who lived along such roads were likely ancient Romans. During that time, only the ancient Romans would construct roads of this kind.

"Please take a look here." Leading Professor Smith, Liang En came to the grassy area beside the large pit and pointed to a spot. "I believe there's something beneath this place, otherwise there wouldn't be a path without large trees."

"There's indeed something amiss here." As a professional, Professor Smith quickly noticed the situation. After Liang En and Fan Meng did a simple excavation, concrete ground appeared about twenty centimeters below the surface of the soil.

"Another important discovery." Bending over to examine the heavily weathered road surface, Professor Smith promptly retrieved some spare tools from his car and began his study. Meanwhile, he continued speaking.

"Based on the information we've gathered before, during the ancient Roman era, there was only one major road that passed through Bath, connecting Plymouth and London. The rest were just minor paths."

"But looking at this paved road now, it turns out our traditional understanding was incorrect. This city was more prosperous during the ancient Roman times than we had imagined, perhaps even having two or more Roman roads—"

Professor Smith continued speaking at length, but Liang En's attention had shifted to the several new cards he had just obtained. Right after excavating the ancient Roman road and confirming its existence, three cards appeared in his mind.

Upon closer inspection, Liang En realized that apart from a common [Detection (N)] card, the remaining two cards were identical and entirely new to him.

[Legendary Power (N): Much of history has transitioned from fact to story, story to legend, and legend to myth. Along the way, many things have become tainted with information that doesn't align with the real world.

You, a young historical explorer, have gained power from beyond this world. Thus, you can convert this information into real power.

Skill card (One-time use): Consume this card to increase the upper limit of Legendary Power by one point.]

"Could this be the Legendary Power everyone talks about?" Liang En suddenly realized. He understood that if he were to learn and train all the skills he had previously possessed, they might not be extraordinary abilities at all.

After the [Historical Explorer (Intermediate) (UR)] card upgraded to [Historical Explorer (Advanced) (UR)], he theoretically should have gained true extraordinary abilities, which naturally required extraordinary power to manifest.

Realizing this, while pretending to listen to Professor Smith's discourse, Liang En quickly used the two [Legendary Power (N)] cards.

He had expected that using these cards might give him a unique sensation, but in reality, they simply turned into two points of light after being used, then merged into the [Historical Explorer (Advanced) (UR)] card.

Upon careful inspection, he noticed that the bottom right corner of the [Historical Explorer (Advanced) (UR)] card now had a blue circle with a gold Arabic numeral 2 above it.

"This is a bit like the blue bar in Diablo, isn't it?" Liang En mused, observing the change in the card. But this matter ended there; after all, he currently didn't possess any abilities of this kind.

"—So, this road holds significant implications for reevaluating Bath's history. It can prove that Bath held a higher urban status during the ancient Roman era," at this point, Professor Smith's explanation was drawing to a close.

"Yes, I believe this is a very important historical discovery." Liang En quickly nodded in agreement, saying, "Especially the lead lining in the water pool, which indicates this place used to be quite vibrant."