Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 147: The Same Power
Myss woke up hungry.
The Crimson Marsh wasn’t large. From sunrise until noon was enough time to make a full circuit of it. According to the arrangements for the Eye-Opening Ceremony, they should have returned to the Root Church to make the final prayer.
But they hadn’t yet returned and Myss had already lost all interest in the noisy celebration. His mind was still savoring the delicious sandwiches he had eaten in the dream, while his stomach very practically rumbled and growled.
As the flower carriage headed back, Myss strengthened the illusion concealing him and pulled a flatbread out from his chest. But just as he opened his mouth, he saw Father Kalen push through the crowd and rush toward them with a panicked expression.
At the same time, an icy water pheasant came flying toward them. The long-tailed bird swept past the two of them, snatched Myss’s bread away in its beak, and tossed a small bundle of cloth onto Salaar’s lap while it was at it.
Flying swiftly through the rain of petals scattered by the crowd, the bird moved so quickly that hardly anyone noticed the inconspicuous white bundle.
The bundle gave off a familiar aura. Myss forgot all about demanding justice for his bread and craned his neck to look at the silk bundle.
Salaar expertly pulled apart the silk and, sure enough, found Tass wrapped inside.
Tass was curled up like an infant. His normally fair skin was flushed scarlet from fever, while his black wings were pressed tightly against his back. His eyes were shut, a sheen of sweat coated his forehead, and his breathing was abnormally rapid. He looked to be in terrible shape.
Salaar immediately cupped the Dragon Fae in his hands and, using the cloth as cover, immersed Tass completely in a sphere of light.
“What happened?” Myss asked curiously.
He hadn’t detected any abnormal magical fluctuations. A Dragon Fae shouldn’t collapse this easily. Even taking the worst-case scenario, if a Dragon Fae did collapse, he could still use the power of gemstones to heal himself.
For the priest to be forced to send him straight over meant the problem was serious.
“My healing isn’t working,” Salaar said, his tone somewhat grave.
Myss hissed through his teeth. “So he’s reached the end of his lifespan?”
“You’re the one… who’s reached the end of your lifespan…”
The Dragon Fae regained a little consciousness. He struggled to open his mouth and weakly raised a middle finger at Myss. “Take me to… Atla… Gemstone Lake…”
Weren’t they supposed to be going to Evening Star City?
Myss and Salaar exchanged baffled looks.
Sogné, hidden behind the seat, said, “Gemstone Lake in Atla. That is the homeland of the Dragon Faes, a city that belongs only to Dragon Faes. It is extremely well hidden and usually doesn’t open itself to outsiders.”
“Unless it is a matter of life and death, Dragon Faes prefer to meet in Evening Star City. Forget humans, even a young Dragon Fae won’t return home unless absolutely necessary.”
Salaar removed a few decent-quality gemstone fragments from his ceremonial clothes and wrapped them together with the Dragon Fae.
He lowered his voice. “You know about the Dragon Faes?”
“To achieve my ‘birth,’ I specifically sent people to study them.”
Sogné explained everything in detail. “They appeared suddenly after the Night Scourge ended, during the early stages of the Magic Enlightenment. Before Magibases had even become widespread, the Dragon Faes appeared first.”
“They are born from whirlpools in a lake where the magical environment is extremely unusual. It can condense pure magic into physical substance, while also swallowing and dispersing all kinds of magical energy.”
“Many Dragon Faes return to their homeland after growing old and allow Gemstone Lake to consume their remains, shattering themselves at the place where they were born.”
Myss looked at Tass, whose whole body was burning red, and understood.
“So you want to return home to die.”
Tass no longer had the strength to speak. He merely struggled to move both hands and raised both middle fingers at once.
“Sogné, find a way to persuade your High Priest. We can’t waste any more time. We need to leave immediately,” Salaar said after a moment of thought.
Sogné fell silent for a moment.
With Kalen’s concealment in place, they couldn’t see Sogné’s face. But for some reason, Myss suddenly felt that the atmosphere at this moment resembled that dream about a home.
…Forget mentioning leaving.
The Blind God had seen too much sunlight and too many flowers in dreams. His newly born heart wouldn’t be moved by them. Compared with cheers and blessings, he cared far more about “farewell.”
“Do you really have to leave now?” Sogné finally asked.
Amid the cheering, a tiny flower petal passed through the concealment magic and drifted gently onto the back of his hand.
“…The sunlight is very nice today,” he said to it.
Salaar froze slightly, then sighed soundlessly.
“We don’t need such a solemn farewell. We’ll come back to see you soon.”
“Just think of it as family going away on a trip, all right?”
Sogné: “I understand.”
Salaar smiled toward the direction of his voice.
“Strictly speaking, you and I really are family. I suppose that makes me your older brother.”
Sogné gave a quiet “Mm.” But the touching mood didn’t last long. The very next second, his voice wavered.
“But just now, you told me to call Mr. Myss ‘Mommy.’”
Salaar: “…Don’t get hung up on the details.”
Sogné: “…All right.”
Myss, for his part, didn’t much care about this mysterious discrepancy in seniority, just as he didn’t mind shaping Sogné’s appearance after the form he had taken in the dream.
He merely pressed a hand to his hungry stomach, his mind already wandering to something completely unrelated.
They were going to Gemstone Lake next. There would be no V.O.R there either, so he should have plenty of free time.
Once he fully mastered Sogné’s magical techniques, what kind of “weapon” would he be able to create?
……
By the time Kai returned to the area around the Crimson Marsh, his face was long with displeasure.
The higher-ups had ordered him to make a trip to Evening Star City, and Kai had no objection to that. He simply couldn’t understand why he had to use a teleportation formation near the Crimson Marsh.
He genuinely disliked the damp environment of Mondicia, and he disliked ancient alchemical lifeforms that appeared at random even more.
He had just brought back a great deal of valuable knowledge. He should have been entitled to a few days off.
Forget it. Who told the leader to give the order personally?
Their leader had instincts like a monster’s. He rarely gave direct orders, but whenever he did, the results were always worthwhile.
As long as his investigation into “that matter” went smoothly enough, Kai was willing to put up with the hardship.
Kai tightened his backpack, laboriously lifted his suitcase, and waited wearily for the teleportation formation to activate.
But just then…
“Judging by your clothes, you’re from the Kingdom of Aufon, right?”
A mud-covered wild man rushed up to Kai. The man was quite a bit taller than Kai and fairly sturdy. The small, thin Kai cautiously backed away several steps.
“And you are…?”
“I’m Earl Nebula.”
The man let out a long breath and rummaged through his pockets, pulling out a handful of gold rings.
“I became separated from the group on the expedition to the Old Lands and only just woke up near the marsh.”
“The people here don’t accept gold rings, and there aren’t any traveling merchants nearby. Please help me leave this place. The Nebula family will reward you generously.”
Hadn’t the expedition to the Old Lands ended several days ago? How had he survived after lying unconscious in the wilderness for so long?
Kai suspiciously examined the man claiming to be Earl Nebula.
Although he was covered in mud and dust, Kai could still make out dark gray hair and amber-orange eyes…
Those did match what he remembered of the Nebula family.
“I have urgent business, Mr. Nebula. I can only take you as far as Emerald Cliff along the way. There are many gemstone merchants from the Kingdom of Aufon there. You can return with them,” Kai said matter-of-factly.
Emerald Cliff lay east of the Crimson Marsh, on the border between Mondicia and Atla.
To reach Evening Star City, Atla’s capital, one had to register and transfer through Emerald Cliff.
Fortunately, Emerald Cliff wasn’t particularly remote. It sat right beside the homeland of the Dragon Faes, the legendary Gemstone Lake, a place where elderly Dragon Faes occasionally visited.
To curry favor with those experienced gem artisans, many major merchants had rented land around the area, eventually creating an entire small town.
Those gemstone merchants were extremely familiar with the nobles of every kingdom and handled social situations flawlessly.
No one could criticize Kai for delivering Earl Nebula to them.
Kai was still calculating when Earl spoke.
“You’re going through Emerald Cliff?… Forgive me for asking, but which city in Atla are you heading to?”
“Evening Star City.”
Kai hesitated for a moment but ultimately didn’t lie. It wouldn’t be difficult to investigate something like this, and he didn’t want to leave behind unnecessary trouble.
“Wonderful. Then please, you absolutely must travel with me.”
Earl let out a long breath of relief.
“The Nebula family owns property in Evening Star City. Please take me directly there. I, uh… it’s already embarrassing enough that I got separated from the group alone. If my family finds out I ended up owing a favor to some major merchant…”
Fine.
A small merchant like him really was better suited to negotiating compensation openly.
What a troublesome noble young master.
Kai wearily wiped his face.
Forget it. Earl Nebula at least had a decent reputation, and the Nebula family was related somehow to the Kingdom Archmage, Marcela Memi.
If Kai remembered correctly, Archmage Marcela Memi was currently staying in Evening Star City… There were benefits to doing him a favor.
At that thought, Kai put on exactly the right amount of pleased surprise. “My honor, young Mr. Nebula.”
It was only one unexpected companion. He could deal with that easily enough…
“Mr. Kai.” A familiar voice sounded behind him.
Was he hallucinating? Kai instinctively rubbed his temple and slowly turned around…
Salaar, Myss, Kalen—three unbearably familiar faces. Payton Karns was absent. He had probably gone back.
“Why are you here?” Kai swallowed. “Weren’t you going to the Crimson Marsh?”
Salaar unobtrusively glanced at the mud-covered Earl, whose expression had gone blank. Then he smiled slightly and casually wrapped an arm around Myss.
“We just finished watching the Eye-Opening Ceremony and were planning to go to Emerald Cliff to look at the latest jewelry.”
“Kendrick Karns.” The real Earl showed undisguised disgust.
As expected, Salaar raised his brows high. On the way here, Kalen had honestly told them about Hermit. So that mysterious Hermit had dumped the real young master of the Nebula family here.
The real Earl Nebula only wanted to stay far away from the infamous “Kendrick.” He turned his mud-smeared backside toward them and prepared to ignore the group entirely.
Unfortunately, Kai’s expression brightened.
“You’re going to Emerald Cliff too? What a coincidence. Let’s travel together!”
As a member of the Stargazers Society, Kai didn’t believe in gods. But as a traveling magical artifacts merchant, Kai believed in good luck. After all, the last time he traveled with these people, he had hooked a very big fish.
Earl Nebula’s back shifted slightly. He seemed to want to protest, but his upbringing forcibly choked it back, and in the end he said nothing.
Half an hour later, the group of six, counting Tass lying feverish inside Myss’s pocket, which made six if one was generous, climbed aboard the carriage used for teleportation.
Myss glanced at Earl across from him, who had managed to clean himself up somewhat, then turned away with little interest. Anything involving social nonsense like this was better left to Salaar.
His stomach was full of jam pie from lunch, and his fingertips idly rubbed Knife and Fork inside his pocket. The two little snakes were wrapped around the Dragon Fae, using their bodies to cool Tass down. They felt pleasantly warm to the touch.
The teleportation activated. As the magical light grew increasingly dazzling, Myss closed his eyes.
…The next second, he found himself suspended in absolute darkness.
Myss reached out and waved a hand in front of himself. His fingertips immediately struck the boundary of the space. It felt cool and resilient, like the skin of a dead person.
This was a special space he had created by imitating Sogné’s magic. It was a blend of dream magic, a little illusion-based control, and magical precision so extreme it bordered on absurdity.
Myss had practically used everything he had learned throughout the journey, and all he could create was this cramped, dark independent space.
In truth, he didn’t even know what it could be used for. It was constructed from pure annihilation magic, grounded in reality yet existing independently from reality.
He hadn’t yet had time to integrate the hole-digging magic from the Sea of Concepts—or rather, open a back door. Once he incorporated the concept of “traversal” and polished this new creation a little further, perhaps he could bring his physical body inside too…
But what good would that do?
At most, it could serve as a portable shelter. He could stuff his consciousness inside and play dead, or stuff his body inside too and run away.
Unfortunately, as the Chaos Archdemon, Myss had no need to play dead and would certainly never tuck his tail between his legs and flee.
Myss felt irritated, as though he had exhausted everything he had ever learned just to invent something useless.
Still, he greatly enjoyed the feeling of playing with knowledge… Perhaps once he learned more, this little space would become far more useful. For example, he could put a sack over Salaar’s head and do this and that.
Myss fiddled with his crude new creation for a while before dismissing the magic.
…Only then did he realize that Knife and Fork had wound themselves so tightly around his fingers that his fingertips had already turned bluish-purple.
“Myss, Myss.” Knife avoided Earl’s line of sight and quietly crawled up Myss’s collar.
“Tass suddenly got much worse. Think of something.”
“I’m not the one who knows healing.” Myss kept his mouth still and grumbled through his teeth.
“But Salaar can’t do anything, and Kalen doesn’t know magic at all. You’re a genius at analyzing magic. Take a look at him.”
Knife anxiously flicked its tongue. Even its tongue had been heated up by the Dragon Fae.
Myss shook out his numb fingers and glanced toward Salaar from the corner of his eye. Salaar was staring intently at him. Knife’s plea probably reflected what Salaar wanted too.
…Hm. They still needed to investigate V.O.R next. The Dragon Fae was useful enough in a fight.
There was no harm in taking a look. Myss rubbed his eyes and leaned his head against Salaar’s shoulder again.
Using that position, he lowered his head deeply enough to ensure that Earl across from him couldn’t see his diffused pupils. Let him take a good look at exactly what was wrong with the Dragon Fae’s body…
“Ugh!”
A stabbing pain struck. Myss instinctively covered his eyes and forcibly stopped the analysis.
The instant he tried to analyze the Dragon Fae’s body, an extraordinarily complex magical force surged out, attempting to obscure his vision. It came violently, like an enraged venomous snake, ready to strike the “intruder” at any moment.
If Myss hadn’t reacted quickly enough, he would definitely have provoked that magical force.
…He had seen it before.
Although it hadn’t been this violent or this thin back then, he definitely recognized it.
Back in Rosha City, during the Magibase summoning ritual, he had tried to peer into the process by which a Magibase took shape.
…Back then, it had also blocked his sight. Only at that time, it had seemed much stronger and far more arrogant, nowhere near as fragile as it was now.
Magibases that had suddenly appeared after the Night Scourge. And a new species that had appeared out of nowhere during the same era.
Myss slowly lowered his head and looked at the delirious, feverish Dragon Fae.
…What exactly were these so-called “Dragon Faes”?
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