Pillar of Yita

Miya remained noncommittal.

Fang Hong couldn’t understand the conversation between the two at all. He had put his gloves back on and saw in the dim cave beside him a girl named Eve, who was fumbling and tapping within the cavern—she seemed a bit anxious, but the more anxious she was, the more prone she was to make mistakes.

He saw the girl suddenly withdraw her hand sharply and quickly clutched it with her left hand; judging by her movements, she had cut her hand on a sharp crystal. Yet she didn’t utter a sound and continued her search.

Only then did Fang Hong realize that their current predicament had not yet been resolved, and this was not the time for such discussions.

”Eve,”

he called softly.

The girl turned her head, looking at him confusedly.

”Come back,” Fang Hong replied, ”there’s no need to keep searching.”

”But,” the girl was flustered, ”Mr. Ade, let me search a little longer; just a bit more time, and I’ll definitely find enough crystals.”

As she spoke, she fumbled with the few unremarkable grey crystals in her hands.

But Fang Hong gently shook his head: ”No need to search, we already have enough crystals.”

The girl was stunned: ”Where, Mr. Ade?”

Fang Hong shifted his gaze beside him—in a flash, he had straightened out his thoughts during his conversation with Miya and R—he lightly patted the black crystal beside him and said, ”Isn’t this it?”

They needed grey crystals to complete that sealing. But at the moment, it wasn’t about mending the sealing; these ubiquitous black crystals—or Nikopolas’s Dragon’s Scale—were indeed crystallized products containing immense magic power, weren’t they?

The girl was even more dumbstruck.

In the next moment, she anxiously said: ”But... they are crystals filled with dark force, only... only the most filthy people would dabble with these things... Those who use dark forces are unforgivable people...”

Fang Hong was also taken aback.

He unexpectedly asked: ”Who told you that?”

”The... the Great Elder said so...”

Fang Hong shook his head vigorously: ”Then he was wrong. In ’Ether Theory’, it is written in black and white in the first chapter that Eteliria’s magic power boasts four color attributes, plus the Ether of the gods and Light Crystals, making it a total of five types of magic power.”

”Scholars have long discovered that different attributes of magic only necessitate different magic aptitudes in individuals; there’s no notion of nobility or filth!”

He shook his head: ”Can those who use Light Ether be considered superior to the Magic Guided Conductors utilizing the four-element attribute? Such a concept never existed. Dark Magic Power is the same way, it’s merely magic with an erosive attribute.”

”We generally don’t use it because no one in this world possesses a Dark Ether aptitude, plus the erosive attribute magic exerts a great burden on the average person’s body. Generally, only those favored by the Dark Saints use such magic.”

”You might say those who use dark magic power are mostly followers of evil gods, but that doesn’t imply those using Dark Ether will definitely become fallen!” He found the notion utterly absurd: ”Moreover, it’s the Magic Guided Reactor that uses magic power, and as a machine, how could the Magic Guided Reactor become fallen?”

The girl was actually stunned.

In a daze, she asked softly: ”...Really?”

”Really,” Fang Hong pulled out a book: ”This is ’Ether Theory’, an essential textbook regardless of whether you’re an Alchemist, Magic Guided Conductor, or Elementalist. I carry it everywhere. If you don’t believe it, you can look—this theory was proposed over a thousand years ago by the Great Alchemist, Ade himself—of course, that wasn’t me, but a great Numelin Elf. So you could say it’s a theory of the Numelin Elves.”

The girl seemed as if she didn’t hear him, merely murmuring under her breath: ”Dark Magic Power... is it really not bad magic?”

”Magic power itself has attribute differences,” Fang Hong, not noticing the girl’s expression, meticulously corrected—this was the basic principle emphasized repeatedly by Kapuka’s Grand Artificers: ”Dark Magic Power is merely another term for magic with an erosive attribute.”

The girl opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something.

However, Fang Hong stood up, interrupting her.

He tilted his ear, seemingly hearing something from within the darkness.

”A Nightingale.”

But he couldn’t discern it yet.

R’s voice had already emerged from within the Light Page.

”Master,” Fang Hong was somewhat astonished: ”How did you know?”

R chuckled softly, looking toward Miya.

Miya answered: ”Ade, controlling sound is a basic skill of the Nightingale; listening intently won’t help find them. But Nightingales too need to use magic, need to employ a Magic Guided Reactor; you must realize magic power influences each other.”

”On the battlefield, the interference is immense—but here, with just the two of you, your Magic Guided Reactor’s light dimmed for a moment, we both noticed someone approaching.”

R then added: ”Generally speaking, the vanguard, it’s either a Nightingale, or an assassin. Assassins tend to be mindful of these details, hence it’s likely a Nightingale.”

He paused, then asked: ”I haven’t asked yet, your current situation, what’s going on?”

Without answering, Fang Hong couldn’t help but ask: ”But by your account, isn’t the Nightingale profession practically useless?”

”Of course not,” R replied: ”In ordinary small teams, team magic power often interferes with each other, so you generally wouldn’t use this little trick. Even in duels, moderately advanced Nightingales would pay heed to such details, finding ways to eliminate them.”

”So this move would work well when dealing with those amateurs.”

Only then did Fang Hong understand.

He shook his head, stating: ”I don’t know who they are, but they have a squad...”

R didn’t inquire about the identity of the approaching party, merely asking Miya: ”Do you want to handle it, or should I?”

”Let me,” Miya softly replied: ”Ade, you’re injured, for the upcoming battle—follow my lead.”

...