Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1224: Chapter 1223: The Gods’ Pursuit

Upon hearing Victoria’s reply, Modir seemed visibly relieved, even showing a comforting smile—although to him, Victoria was still just a stranger he had met not long ago, those words "descendant" left an inexplicable mark in the mind of the perpetually forgetful old mage. As for Victoria... her feelings were much more complex.

Nevertheless, as long as using this topic to distract the old ancestor worked—it didn’t matter. The Northern Duchess, who always appeared shrewd, capable, mature, and steady in front of others, felt an unprecedented sense of helplessness at this moment.

"I’ve come here... besides recognizing you, I also want to understand your situation," Victoria said, seizing the initiative in the conversation after sighing silently in relief, to prevent the hard-earned stable atmosphere from slipping out of her control again, "I learned some things about you from the Dragonkin... like your memory disarray and lapses, and brief periods of mental confusion, which might relate to your experiences six hundred years ago..."

"Six hundred years ago..." Modir couldn’t help but mumble quietly, a complex expression on his face, "Even though I said that just now, I still find it hard to believe. Six hundred years... According to you, I’ve basically lived from the early days of the Anzu Empire’s founding until now, wandering aimlessly for so many years..."

"There are indeed ancient beings who have survived for several centuries, and miraculous resurrections have occurred; in the realm of the Transcendent, things that defy common sense are bound to happen from time to time," Victoria said softly, "As a legendary powerhouse, it’s not unimaginable that you once experienced something that could change the essence of life..."

"True," Modir thought for a moment before finally smiling with relief, "Let’s not dwell on those. It’s rare that you’ve come all this way. You mentioned my memory and mental state just now, right? Indeed, I’ve had great trouble in those areas. Not only can’t I recall my surname, but I also can’t remember my homeland or all the experiences of my youth. You see, I’m even unaware if I left any descendants, didn’t know you were my descendant, or realized I’ve been wandering in this world for so many years—but compared to memory issues, I’ve felt lately that I might be facing a bigger problem."

"A bigger problem?" Victoria’s brow furrowed slightly, "What kind of problem?"

"Recently, I’ve found myself immersed multiple times in bizarre dreams, reaching a place within the dream that seemed like the shadow realm, eerie and fraught with hidden terrors," Modir recounted his experiences while recalling, sharing his dreamscape impressions, "There, I saw a gray-white desert and distant city ruins, and an enormous deity...

"... The Dragon Tribe Leader told me what I saw could very likely be the ancient goddess ’Goddess of Shadows,’ who has been ’missing’ for nearly two million years, but as for the voice that sounded almost identical to mine, even he doesn’t know what the deal is..."

The old mage meticulously narrated every detail he could remember, while Victoria became increasingly serious as she listened intently: Even an outsider with only a basic understanding of the Transcendent realm could sense the oddity and danger of this experience from his recount, let alone her, a learned spellcaster who also possessed access to extensive data disclosed by the theocracy Authority Council—she envisaged more possibilities.

Involving an ancient deity, a deity said to exist during the same era as the Dragon God... The complexity and significance of this matter instantly exceeded her initial expectations prior to setting out.

Listening to the old mage recount the perilous moment he experienced in the ’dream,’ as he nearly stepped forth onto the gray-white desert, Victoria’s eyes showed a subtle change, and she instinctively spoke up: "You were about to step into that desert? But were pulled back by me?"

"I’m not sure what force exactly brought me back, but that’s the most likely possibility," Modir spoke very earnestly, despite his fragmented and chaotic memories, the vast accumulated knowledge in his mind as a seasoned Transcendent allowed him to theorize what factors might have led to his awakening, "Your magic power interference, mental reassurance, and possibly a bit of bloodline influence at work..."

"If that’s true, then we truly should feel fortunate," Victoria expressed sincerely, "Unfortunately, it’s hard for us to discern the essence of your ’dream’ experience, and even harder to dare to try actually stepping into that desert to see what happens... Judging by common sense, if it’s indeed a realm created by an ancient deity, regardless of the deity’s own intentions, it poses a lethal threat to mortals."

"I think so too. Either way, if I get dragged into that dream again next time, I’ll certainly try to wake myself immediately. If I can’t wake up, I’ll find a way to anchor myself in a safe place to prevent being lured by inexplicable forces into self-destruction..." Modir pursed his lips, talking while shaking one foot—that very foot was the one that nearly stepped into the desert in the dream, "Just a near miss, my toe almost touched..."

Halfway through his sentence, the old mage’s voice halted abruptly, he stared hard at his toe, and his facial expression became extremely serious.

Victoria immediately noted this, instinctively following his gaze—being sharp-sighted, she quickly saw what caused Modir’s sudden gravitas: at the front of his boot, several grains of gray-white sand silently adhered to the boot’s leather surface, standing out starkly against its dark backdrop.

"This..." Victoria momentarily hesitated before instantly reacting, yet before she could act, Modir’s voice rang out first: "Don’t move, this is a sample!"

While speaking, the old mage waved a hand in the air, and invisible magic power seamlessly condensed into a semi-transparent Sculpture Hand—Victoria had never seen such a nimble and precise spell before, she watched as the magically formed hand cautiously pinched the grains of gray-white sand, and placed them into a small wooden dish on the side table, then only did Modir stand up, moving along the route taken upon his entrance, before returning indoors half a minute later.

Victoria knew the old man went to check if there were any more grains of sand left on the ground during his earlier movement—behind his casual demeanor lay a meticulous and cautious nature, she finally formed her first impression of her ancestor.

"No more of them found," Modir returned to the table, his eyes focusing on the few grains of sand in the dish, muttering thoughtfully, "Seems like this stuff is brought over from ’the other side.’"

Then, he lifted his head, glancing at Victoria with a smile: "Contrary to conventional wisdom, right? I’ve been running into loads of things countering common sense lately. Still, considering it might be linked to an ancient deity behind this... let it contradict common sense then."

"You arrived at that place in your dreams... and then you actually brought things from there into the real world!" Victoria slightly widened her eyes, her mind racing with thoughts, "Does that mean... the ’distance’ between you and ’there’ is..."

"Yes, I’m afraid I’m getting closer to ’there’," Modir nodded lightly without waiting for Victoria to finish speaking, his expression showing no tension or fear, "At first, I could only hear some sounds, see some images, then the notes I left over there were reflected in the real world, and then... you see, I even brought things out from there. Considering the ’attraction’ I felt there, it really seems like a gradual process..."

"And you can remain so calm?" The expressionless face of Victoria finally showed a change, "That ancient deity’s power is chasing you—whether malicious or not, this is definitely not a good thing for mortals!"

"Yeah, it’s probably not a good thing. I’ve encountered many thrilling situations in my life, but this time involving the gods is an overstimulation," Modir said helplessly, "I’ll come up with some ways to deal with it, to the best of my ability, but I don’t think it will have much effect—we are facing the power of ancient deities, the peculiar nature of the gods is beyond mortal imagination... one step at a time."

"No, that’s far from enough," Victoria stood up from the chair, "I will immediately report this matter upward, and also inform the higher-ups of the Dragon Tribe, they will all think of ways—don’t worry, even if it’s truly divine power on the other side, we are not powerless, the Empire also possesses power akin to that of the gods..."

Modir looked at Victoria, who was serious, in surprise, observing her several times and then couldn’t help saying, "But you’re just an ordinary official in the Administrative Office, so why does it sound like..."

"... Trust that I am indeed," Victoria interrupted the old man’s words a bit stiffly, "This is unrelated to my identity; what happened to you is extremely special and is enough to draw the attention of the King, the higher-ups of the Dragon Tribe, and even many leaders of the alliance—your existence is far more important than you imagine."

Modir looked deeply at Victoria, then withdrew his gaze after a moment, showing a faint smile, relaxing, "If that’s the case, I certainly believe you. But before those big figures you mentioned react, I still have to find a way to protect myself..."

"I’ll stay in Talronde for the time being," Victoria immediately said, "Since I can awaken you from ’dreams,’ remaining by your side should serve some purpose..."

"Let’s not talk about that for now," Modir waved his hand, "Before I’m pulled into that ’dream’ again, I need to gather as much intelligence as possible, some intelligence about... myself. Besides the information I can’t access, I hope you can fill in those missing memories for me as much as possible."

"Of course," Victoria instantly nodded, "Where would you like to start understanding first?"

"Let’s start with my ’disappearance,’" Modir thought for a moment, then slowly spoke, "That might be the ’starting point’ of my memory loss... Victoria, what was the last clue I left before the world?"

"In the Moss Woods, your last adventure was in the northern part of the Moss Woods..."

...

In the Southwest region of New Argondale, the roaring wind from giant wings tearing through the air descended from the sky, accompanied by the surge of magic power and two gusts of strong wind, two vast black figures landed one after another on the hillside edge of the barren wilderness.

They were two black dragons, one smaller, clad in steel armor that appeared daunting, and complex magic-conducting machinery, the other large and robust, but the strong, broad wings were scarred, and the gruesome scar on its back ran through the entire torso.

"This is the boundary of the safe zone," the scarred black dragon arrived at the edge of the hill, its deep voice sounded, "Do you see those beacon lights flickering in the distance on the wilderness? Those are the borders set by adventurers and advancing troop warriors as they clear each area’s monsters, repair the local Elemental Rift and spatial rift, and set these beacon lights at its boundary; when new areas are cleared, the beacon lights are expanded outward a little—however, this expansion is not always smooth, many times wandering non-human monsters suddenly appear, taking over the still-unstable safe border again, forcing us to push the defense line back... sometimes this tug-of-war takes several tries to truly stabilize a safe area."

"For this reason, the new Five Kings Council has assigned clear ’security levels’ to each area, like Argondale, Coastal Shire, and surrounding suburbs are categorized as green safe zones; these areas are already completely stable, won’t have elemental creatures and malicious spiritual bodies, pollution has been cleared, it’s safe to live, and facilities are relatively complete;

"Further wilderness is designated as orange zones; these areas still have sporadic monster activity or unstable geological structures and unpurified pollution sources, occasional disasters occur, but activating Elemental Rifts won’t reappear; these areas are mostly transitioning to green zones—most new adventurers operate in these areas, their main task is maintaining the stability of orange zones, clearing small-scale monsters within the area, while ensuring that resources produced in orange zones can be safely transported to green zones;

"Beyond that are the unsafe ’red zones’—essentially the boundary of ’survivable areas.’ These areas underwent basic cleanup and stationing, apart from marginally passable supply lines, the wilderness still possesses large-scale activity from elemental creatures and malicious spiritual bodies, unstable Elemental Rifts and spatial rifts continuously appear. These areas are mainly managed by advancing troop dragon warriors, with a few certified veteran adventurers assisting with scouting and cleanup duties."

Koleta paused slightly here before continuing with a trace of emotion, "Before the adventurers and support materials from the Loren Continent arrived, our advancement work was fraught with difficulties, nearly all warriors’ energies were consumed at the ’orange zone’ boundary, and lack of supplies was also a significant factor for hindered progress—until the support from Loren Countries arrived, relieving our dire situation."