Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1186: Chapter 1185: Traces

Having successfully defeated the powerful elemental creatures and closed the space rift connecting to the elemental world, the team resolved their crisis—at least it seemed quite critical—the old Mage Modir appeared rather excited. This powerful Spellcaster, who had just launched a dozen legendary spells in succession, each with the power of a battleship cannon, tightly grasped the hand of the Swordsman who hadn’t reacted much from beginning to end, as happy as a child.

The Swordsman took a long time to finally realize that the old Mage in front of him wasn’t joking with him, and the praise in his words wasn’t meant to mock him.

He’s serious... he’s actually serious...

”I...” The Swordsman, tightly held by the elder’s hands, instinctively tried to break free, but found that despite gathering all his strength, he couldn’t move. He could only blush and continue to pull while awkwardly speaking, ”I didn’t really help just now... It was all you who defeated that terrible opponent...”

The more the Swordsman spoke, the more his face reddened, recalling his ”battle experience” just now. This robust man didn’t even know how to proceed—aside from being bewilderingly pushed out and spacing out for a while, his greatest feat in the whole battle was being blown into the air by the shockwave, adding some entertainment and spectacle to the fight. If time could be reversed, his only wish would be to land on his feet when he fell... How could he say that out loud?

Old Mage Modir, on the other hand, was completely unaware of the Swordsman’s awkwardness. He continued to cheerfully hold the other’s hand and said rather humbly, ”You’re too modest, young man. This doesn’t match your expected vigor—we all know how much protection a Mage needs in a battle. If it weren’t for you standing in front, my performance wouldn’t have been as good...”

Beside him, Lola’s expression was wooden, having lost even the motivation to roll her eyes. She couldn’t help but mutter in her heart—does this formidable elder really require ”protection”? In the entire battle, anyone breathing seemed more in need of protection than him! Even the breathless flame giant appeared pitiful, weak, and helpless...

But she didn’t dare to say this out loud and could only carefully choose her words after much consideration, cautiously saying, ”Mr. Modir... I didn’t expect your strength to be so formidable. Such a powerful Spellcaster, yet so modest...”

As she spoke, this young huntress tried to deduce the level of this eccentric Mage from the chain of terrifying spells just cast. She believed he was at least powerful... possibly even a legend, but she had never seen a true legend in her life, not even encountered many powerful individuals. Modir’s strength appeared a bottomless abyss to her, completely beyond measurement.

Ultimately, the predominant thought in her mind was just awe.

”Really?” Modir was momentarily startled upon hearing Lola’s words, then cheerfully rubbed his chin (finally releasing the Swordsman’s hand), ”I don’t have any thoughts about being modest or otherwise. I simply do what I love...”

”The powerful have the privilege of choosing their path,” the Druid in the team couldn’t help but remark, immediately showing a smile, ”Regardless, having such a powerful Spellcaster among us is the most significant fortune for everyone. If you’re willing to continue operating at the Adventurer Camp, we’ll have the greatest assurance of safety in Talronde...”

The Druid voiced everyone’s heartfelt thoughts. Even Lola, though her mind was in a bit of disarray, couldn’t help but silently agree upon hearing these words. However, Modir seemed to be prompted into recalling some vague and fragmented memories by that remark. The old Mage furrowed his brow, a trace of confusion appearing in his eyes, while murmuring to himself softly, ”You can’t say that... you can’t say that... you can’t blind yourself with confidence because of your strength... sometimes you’ll face situations where you’re outmatched...”

”Modir... sir?” Lola noticed Modir’s unusual state and cautiously took half a step forward to softly inquire, ”Did you recall something? Are you alright?”

”Me? Oh, I’m fine, I’m fine,” Modir suddenly jolted out of his daze, blinking forcefully, then smiling with a hint of gratitude at Lola, ”Sorry, I fell into that kind of stupor again; thank you for pulling me out. I’m okay, just recalled some vague experience lessons. I seem to have suffered quite a bit due to overconfidence, defeated many times by tricky opponents... Sadly, I can’t remember the specific details.”

”Even such a powerful Spellcaster as yourself would encounter unbeatable enemies?” Lola widened her eyes in amazement, ”And was defeated... many times?”

Modir lightly shook his head, his memory chaotic yet the experiences from his long life deeply etched in his mind: ”There exist various powerful forces in this world, mortals who surpass me greatly, and those warships and chariots driven by Mage Power, once assembled, are unmatched by any traditional powerhouse. Not to mention those strange life forms living in parallel spaces, and the Goddess of the Night above us... Keeping humility and vigilance is the key to prolonged survival. The great pioneer Gawain Cecil once warned descendants: blind confidence is the first step to destruction, which is one of my most esteemed sayings.”

Lola displayed an expression of contemplation. Despite having spent some time with Modir, witnessing this old Mage’s true strength today, and hearing his humble, introspective words, she couldn’t help but muse anew.

Modir’s attention swiftly shifted elsewhere, this adventure and discovery-loving elder raised his head, gazing at the nearby explosion pit still emanating considerable heat, filled with various waste energy, soon showing joy: ”Ah, we have yet to examine our spoils, friends—I thought I had accidentally destroyed all the loot, but it seems like both the elemental lord and space rift have left us some goods upon destruction. See if these crystallized fragments are worth anything?”

The adventurers’ focus finally returned to their ”primary career.” Lola and her companions followed the sound towards that still scorching land. They saw countless explosion pits created by powerful spells and the wrinkled, curling layers of rock, scattered fragments of the elemental lord’s remains among them, and amidst unextinguished flames and mist-like swirling waste energy, tiny crystalline shards shimmered like gemstones at the pit bottom, stimulating the adventurers’ gaze.

...

In the New Argondale Municipal Center, within the rough yet large-scale dark-colored sentinel towers, Leader Heragor and Speaker Andar sat across a long table, looking at each other. A Dragonkin warrior reporting the situation stood with arms hanging before the two leaders, and on the long table between them lay some boxes containing fragmented crystal bodies.

After a long silence, Speaker Andar finally spoke, his elderly Black Dragon face showed a strange expression, his gaze resting on the warrior who was reporting the situation: ”Are you sure? A Legendary Mage? In the Adventurer Camp?”

”Yes, it has been confirmed. Although we currently can’t conduct direct ’tests’ on that human Mage, the battlefield handling team responsible for the aftermath can ascertain that it was at least a full-strength attack from a Legendary Mage,” the Dragonkin warrior replied earnestly, ”Moreover, even among the ranks of Legendary powerhouses, that Mage’s strength should belong to the upper echelons.”

”This is too strange,” Andar frowned, turning to look at Heragor beside him, ”A legendary powerhouse, and a Mage with a highly reputed status in the human world, how could he end up in the Adventurer Camp... Besides, he supposedly signed up for the ship at the port like any ordinary adventurer, and until today, he was doing the same tasks as others in the camp, like helping level the ground or construct town barriers... Have you ever seen such a thing?”

”I haven’t really interacted with the human tribes of this civilization cycle, just like you. My data all come from those ’patrol records’ collected from the Omega network,” Heragor shook his head, ”But no matter how you look at it, this doesn’t seem like the normal behavior of a legendary powerhouse... Could it be some ’quirk’ of this Mage?”

”If it is actually a quirk, then any explanation could be possible — humans are an incredible tribe, it’s not surprising for individuals among them to do anything,” Andar’s expression was peculiarly odd as he shook his head, ”However, the Mage claimed to join this adventurer group out of a passion for adventure, which I find... somewhat questionable. Nowadays, Talronde has several ways to open its borders beyond adventuring; what’s more comfortable than spending some extra travel expenses as an observing scholar to enjoy Talronde compared to working in the Adventurer Camp?”

”If given the opportunity, we should find a way to contact the human Mage and see what his actual intentions are,” Heragor nodded thoughtfully, ”Someone as powerful as him shouldn’t be obscure in human society; his name ought to be in the old Mithril Vault records. But unfortunately, our database is now completely destroyed, and most of the Dragonkin aren’t familiar with matters on the Loren Continent...”

”Let’s observe for a few days first. We should prepare ourselves before direct contact with him, as he is a legendary figure by human standards, and should be respected — even now in Talronde, he is considered extremely valuable combat power,” Andar pondered for a moment and said slowly, ”This matter can be set aside for now, what concerns me more is... these crystals.”

His gaze fell on the small box on the table; within that metal box, the fine fragments of crystals emitted a faint glow like some sort of gemstone. Despite having cooled for so long and being placed in a metal container with magical power suppressive effects, the elemental power contained inside occasionally seeped out, touching the senses of both Andar and Heragor.

”These are the ’spoils of war’ delivered from the adventurer management center, coming from the defeated Elemental Lord and the destroyed Elemental Rift,” Andar said, ”Elemental crystals of high quality, pure and stable, considered valuable industrial materials in the old days of Talronde... But that’s not the main point, the focus is the residual magical aura in these crystals. Did you feel it, Heragor?”

”Yes, very faint yet definitely present; a metamorphosis occurred after magical erosion... Such metamorphosis shouldn’t appear in the pure elemental realm,” Heragor nodded lightly, his expression growing serious, ”Moreover, this isn’t the first time we’ve discovered such traces... Three days ago, a battle squad from the north also returned with a small number of crystals after closing a suddenly appearing Elemental Rift, those crystals also showed similar metamorphosis traces.”

”Therefore, it can’t be an effect caused by the magic of the Legendary Mage,” Andar said in a low tone while reaching to take a nail-sized elemental crystal from the container. This translucent dark-red crystal became active in his hands, its surface shimmered with illusory flames and indistinct heat, yet when the old Speaker injected magical power into it, the restless power within the crystal immediately calmed down, and after a few flickers, completely transformed into a black stone chunk, ”The change was brought from the other side of the rift, the elemental realm... just like you said, there shouldn’t be magical erosion there.”

”The elemental realm, huh...” Heragor mused, ”Not only these crystals, but the recent frequency of Elemental Rift appearances is actually increasing...”

Andar remained silent for a moment, contemplating the implications of the residual magical traces in these crystals, until half a minute later he suddenly spoke: ”Heragor, do you feel like there’s something... familiar about the magic erosion traces here?”

Heragor’s eyes flashed with seriousness: ”Indeed, you felt it too. At first, I thought it was just my delusion, because it’s too faint...”

”It’s the Well of Deep Blue, the kind specific to the shallow streams and the second to sixth layer networks,” Andar said slowly, ”I’m... familiar with it, you know, before Talronde was completely sealed off, I spent a long time obsessively tracking the flow of the Well of Deep Blue deep within this planet, observing the various layer networks over several centuries.”

Heragor’s tone became grave: ”What do you think it implies?”

”...I’m not sure,” Andar shook his head, ”The veins of the Well of Deep Blue traverse the entire planet, even penetrating across realms from the real world to the shadow realm and further into the deep shadow realm, its projections flow across the elemental world and kingdom borders. Its scale far exceeds our imagination. The Dragonkin once studied the Well of Deep Blue, but before the Final Defiance one million eight hundred and seventy thousand years ago, we failed to completely map the network model of the Well of Deep Blue... So I don’t know what all resides within this vast magical flux system, nor do I know its complete operational laws.

”However, there’s one thing I do know, under normal circumstances, the streams of the Well of Deep Blue should flow orderly, as part of this planet’s natural structure, it shouldn’t arbitrarily change its ’path,’ nor should it suddenly leak and leave so many erosion traces in Elemental Lords and Elemental Rifts... At least in the past one million eight hundred and seventy thousand years, this has never changed.”

”There have been changes though,” Heragor reminded from the side, ”Based on intelligence we recently received from the theocracy Authority Council, seven hundred years ago, a deity sheltering the Loren Continent ignited the ’exit’ of the Well of Deep Blue in the real world to fend off the chaotic wave, the massive explosion altered the flow patterns of the Well of Deep Blue in the real world — that should count as the only change over the past million-plus years.”

Andar lightly nodded, his gaze lingering on those tiny elemental crystals in the container for a long time.

”...Could it be about to blow up again?”