Release that Witch

“You really saw the sinkhole in that manner?” Roland stood up in shock.

“My apologies…” Camila Dary was somewhat embarrassed. “My drawing skill is only of this standard.”

The image spread across the work desk was the illustration drawn up by Camilla Dary according to Joan’s memories. Ignoring Scroll and Soraya’s drawing skills, even the apprentices at the art school had standards far above hers—the numerous short lines represented grasslands, the crooked and imperfect circle was the sinkhole, the bulging mounds at the sides were mountains and the wave lines represented seawater. To any outsider, this drawing was nothing special and could not be used for reference at all.

But it was different for Roland.

He had encountered the legendary Bottomless Land in the Dream World.

It was also the ‘final location’ for the Battle of Divine Will and the passageway for the victorious race to upgrade. Although it would ultimately be be devoured by tsunamis and volcanoes and the cities built above would still be destroyed, the terrain above would remain unchanged. It was still as flat and bumpy as before with the faintly visible towering continent.

Before personally witnessing it, it had always been a vague legend, since the Northern Region above the Land of Dawn extended over a thousand kilometers and people before the Union never drew a detailed map for it. There were even doubts to its existence.

From the beginning to the end, only Lan had mentioned the location of the Bottomless Land.

But now, Joan had personally experienced it turning into a reality.

“No, this is already enough.” Roland impatiently moved the map of the continent from the bookcase and spread it across the floor. He placed the drawing north east of the continent. “It should roughly be here.”

“What is that exactly?” Camilla couldn’t resist asking, “I don’t think it is a naturally formed sinkhole.”

“Why do you say that?” Roland challenged her statement.

“It clearly doesn’t look like one.” She folded her arms. “How is it possible for the sinkhole to form so perfectly. And there is that strange seabed, and the position of the sky and water; everything looks so strange.”

Roland was silent for a moment. “I think that there never really was what you will call natural.”

“What do you mean?”

“For example, the Misty Forest and plains to the west of Neverwinter were most probably barren land in the past, but some birds and beasts that brought along seeds gradually transformed the land to what it is today. With sufficient time, this hypothesis is bound to come to fruition. But people after that would assume that this is how the world is fixed to be. Don’t you find it strange?”

Camilla frowned. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Roland sighed in his heart. Right, these principles are too complicated for people of this age, it’s normal for them to be unable to comprehend it.

“I see.” Nightingale, who was chewing on dried fish, suddenly clapped her hands. “What you’re trying to say is that we are no different from the birds and the beasts, right?”

“Is that considered a mystery?” The Chief Butler rubbed her aching forehead.

“Think about it for a second.” Nightingale pointed to the city covered in darkness. “The birds and the beasts migrate with seeds and form the forests and plains; Humans migrate from the North Slope Mountain and built up Neverwinter; to the world, this is basically the same thing. What we deem as natural is a view from our angle, but if we swapped it for a bird, the roofs of our homes are no different than the branches of a tree. If not, why would birds build their nests there as well? Following this reason, the circular hole and reverse seawater current is like the Misty Forest and Neverwinter, all part of the natural world.” She paused for a second. “Who knows, maybe even the moon and the stars are formed that way too!”

“This…” Camilla was stunned.

Roland raised his eyebrow in surprise. Nightingale is clearly a terrible student, but her insights towards particular matters are especially sharp… Is it due to her extroverted character, or is a fool’s train of thoughts broader.

The scene of rocks constantly ramming into one another and ultimately forming into a planet appeared in his mind.

God brought magic power into this world.

From that day on, this world had taken a completely different path from the others.

“Let’s answer your first question.” He cleared his throat and jolted Camilla from her daze. “The island that Joan was at should be the Bottomless Land and the black hole should be the passageway for a race upgrade. When God combined everything, the path to heaven appeared, but it doesn’t mean that the path leads to true absolution or win God’s smile. But we need to go there—the Bottomless Land is the place closest to God’s Domain, or it is only there can we find a way to absolve ourseles from the Battle of Divine Will.”

Camilla Dary’s eyes widened, as though she wanted to blurt out, “where did you infer all of these from,” but managed to hold herself back.

“As for the continent floating in the sky, I reckon that it is most likely the Sky-sea Realm that the Demons speak of.” Roland turned and picked up a pen container, then placed it to the west of the Land of Dawn. “For some reason, the Shadow Islands form a distorted passageway that connects to the Sky-sea Realm; that is why Joan found herself teleporting to the other end of the sea from the Shadow Islands. But in fact, it isn’t just her, the connection between the two seas are stable and every once in a while, a great amount of seawater will be injected into the Sky-sea Realm, then fall back into our world once more, forming the hundred-thousand-feet tall waterfalls that Joan saw.”

Camilla asked in surprise, “Could the reason for the scene Thunder witnessed, where seawater crossed the Sealine, be that water always flows downhill?”

“I am most afraid so.” Roland nodded his head. “The seawater need not have a backflow, because the altitudes of both sides are actually connected. Like the rise and fall of tides is unrelated to the world itself, it merely depends on the frequency and times the passageway opens.”

“You mean to say, there are multiple instances and it isn’t solely happening to the sea around the Shadow Islands?”

“To form a whirlpool at that scale in the ocean, just one passageway is definitely insufficient. As for whether that place has remnants of ancient civilization, we will never know.” Roland felt the jigsaw puzzle in his head fitting perfectly. “As for the stone tower ruins she saw on Shadow Island, I think it should belong to the Sky-sea Realm.”

“What about the door seen in the telescope, what is that about?” Nightingale interrupted.

“Maybe only the creator will know.” Roland shook his head.” But we can make a brazen guess; maybe it is a tower meant for observation. After all, the ruins have been submerged in water for a long period of time, and it is honestly not a good place for observation. So could it be possible that the terrain of the waters around Shadow Island a long time ago wasn’t as low as it is today, or perhaps, the Sky-sea Realm was never that high before? Everything changed in the Battle of Divine Will, the observer and the observed no longer existed and only the magic power sustaining the telescope continues to point towards its initial target and hasn’t changed till today.”

“No offense, but this just too absurd!” Camilla took a deep breath. “Changes in altitude of two continents? Do you know how large of an influence that is to the entire sea?”

“Large enough to kill all land creatures.” Roland recalled the waves taller than mountains. “Maybe that was God’s original intention… Of course, everything is just my conjecture. We can’t treat it as the truth.” He suppressed his distracted thoughts and changed the topic. “One more thing, Joan saw countless of sea monsters launching an attack at the black continent to the northeast of the Land of Dawn. Combining it with all the reports we have now, I guess that should be the demons’ territory.”

He walked over to the map and used a pencil to write down the name mentioned by Valkries.

Blackstone Region