Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1265: Chapter 1264: Entering the Kingdom of God

At the same time, at the border between the Cecil Clan and Typhon, Winterhold Castle.

The vast energy released by the three Energy Towers stirred up a visible magical vortex in the atmosphere, reminiscent of the colossal beams of the Well of Deep Blue piercing the heavens from the tower tops. The awe-inspiring magical power is gathered, transformed, and transmitted, infused into the central hall of Winterhold Castle, transformed into Arcane Torrent that maintains the stability of the portal.

The huge portal device emits a low hum, with a mirror-like circular spatial passage quietly floating at the center of the arc-shaped alloy beam. On the smooth "mirror", the scenery of the "other side" is being presented—scenes once only dared to be described and imagined in religious stories and holy ceremonies by mortals, now have become a reachable and explorable world.

That is the realm of the gods.

Kamel, Windsor Maple, and Daniel are gathered before the portal, personally checking the various preparations needed for the next exploration, and nearby, not far away, the Autonomous Magic Puppet "Explorer" with a brass shell and complex mechanical limbs is quietly stationed on a charging platform, undergoing examination and maintenance by several other technical personnel.

This advanced artificial intelligence creation from Typhon has already made a great contribution to the entire project. Over the past period, it has completed sixteen regular explorations and two "extreme walks" testing Magic Power depletion thresholds on the other side of the portal. Now, its originally sleek and shiny shell has numerous wear marks, the mechanical limbs are full of scratches, and the built-in storage structures have been repeatedly tested under environments of "Magic Power depletion", even necessitating a replacement, yet under the meticulous maintenance of the technical personnel, the performance of this magic puppet can still meet subsequent exploration actions.

"Throughout the series of exploration actions, we have roughly figured out the environment on the other side of the portal—even indirectly observed and deduced parameters that cannot be tested and quantified by existing technology," Windsor Maple looks down at the platform before her. On this silver-white platform engraved with numerous complex magic symbols and embedded with precision crystals, a clear holographic projection is floating, showing the temple square, roads, city walls, and some buildings that have been explored, presented in a translucent form to the three technical heads, these being the results of the Explorer’s recent series of actions, "All data is compiled here."

Daniel raises his hand, pointing towards the center of the holographic projection, where the virtual shadow of the portal is presented. His neural cords hang seamlessly, and the old Mage’s voice is low and steady: "This is the entrance to the pathway we’ve opened, currently the Explorer’s activity range is centered from this entrance, with a radius of approximately 1.2 kilometers in a circular area.

"This region is a spacious square of unknown purpose; the buildings around the square appear externally constructed with stone and metal but could just be some sort of ’illusion’; the Explorer’s function is limited, unable to accurately analyze these materials’ attributes. According to the captured image data, it can be confirmed that even larger palaces and buildings similar to arenas are located further from the portal, but these exceed the magic puppet’s activity limits.

"Currently, we cannot ascertain how large this space is—the Explorer’s activity range is limited, and the imaging signals have not observed where the border of the divine realm is. However, if based on all the mythical depictions of the War God Faith, this ’realm’ should only be the size of a city... further outward may be what’s called the ’Deep Sea’, a chaotic domain."

As Daniel finishes speaking, Windsor Maple gently nods her head and continues: "Aside from these ’terrains’ that have been discovered, the most significant feature of the divine realm is its eerie environment. It can now be confirmed, in the War God’s divine realm, Magic Power is scarce, the most advanced Magic Power charging devices carried by the Explorer can obtain not a single ounce of energy supplement there; devices sent through the portal can only rely on internally reserved Magic Power to function. Regarding this anomalous environmental phenomenon, we’ve consulted the senior advisor ’Lady Tower’ from the Theocracy Authority Council, the lady’s view is it’s related to the ’divine settings’ of the War God..."

Kamel and Daniel both nod slightly.

"Lady Tower" is the codename for the Goddess of Magic, Milmina, within the Theocracy Authority Council. Those few special senior advisors have such codenames—their identities are special, although known by the upper echelons of the Theocracy Authority Council and nation heads, their true identities are not suitable for direct exposure to the public or lower-level agents of the council. Therefore, under normal circumstances, when publicly referring to these senior advisors, everyone generally uses codenames.

Moreover, each of the three senior advisors specializes in different domains: "Lady of the Egg" is knowledgeable about all ancient mysteries and divine secrets, "Lady Tower" understands the features of the deities of this civilization season and the general situation of each divine realm, "Mr. Deer" is highly skilled at playing card games.

Regarding the bizarre "Magic Power depletion" phenomenon in the War God’s Divine Realm, "Lady Tower" provided a very assured judgment, her original words were: "The War God, isn’t he quite dense, unable to grasp magic, even his doctrine says: ’God of War, Kehr disdains using magic to defeat his enemies’—he’s truly dense."

After rephrasing and translating, "Lady Tower’s" interpretation becomes a version easier for the technical personnel to understand and accept: within the War God’s clerical status is a negation of magical power, thus leading to a natural repulsion between his divinity and Magic Power, such repulsion reaches its peak within the War God’s divine realm, and thereby creates an unprecedented Magic Power depletion environment.

This is a tremendous difficulty for most exploration devices that depend on Magic Power to operate, yet for researchers... it’s an "ideal environment" they could scarcely find in the real world.

The preliminary explorations conducted by magic puppets have already accumulated abundant valuable information, approaching the ultimate results that unmanned equipment can achieve. Continuing exploration in this aspect may hardly yield more gains; now, it is time for the plan to proceed to the next step inevitably.

Kamel raises his head, looking towards the open area in front of the portal, where a group of "vanguard exploration personnel" clad in heavy armor is making final preparations there.

To allow living beings to safely step into the War God’s divine realm, the technical personnel behind the "Door" plan have considered numerous details, from the selection of the first batch of exploration personnel to the protective gear they utilize, each verified over a hundred times, and these "vanguard exploration personnel" are the result of such verification. They are surprising to many, yet in Kamel’s eyes, all of this is very rational.

They are the White Knights from the Cecil Empire.

In the eyes of some outsiders who are unclear of the truth, White Knights are heavily armored priests of the Holy Light church, inseparable from the "clerical personnel" of the church, making it seem baffling to have them explore another deity’s divine realm. But Kamel knows, these "clerics" by name are actually the strongest warriors most suited to combat divine creations—

They have steadfast willpower and possess a clearer "theological essence awareness" than most technical personnel; they are the fruits from the earliest "counteracting divine" plans of the Cecil Empire, each underwent rigorous training, able to resist mental contamination fairly effectively even without the assistance of Deep Sea Runes and other protective measures; they also master the new Holy Light, a "clean" divine power fully controllable by Mage Guide Technology, which provides them extra protection.

Moreover, the most crucial point: the White Knights are very robust and excellently skilled at utilizing their intimidatingly heavy Power Armor.

The heavy armor can accommodate more divine protective gear inside and also more storage crystals, the former allows them to operate more safely within the divine realm, the latter enables them to carry ample energy reserves in the Magic Power depleted environment, ensuring their carried equipment can operate longer.

The Mage Technicians at Winterhold Castle have modified this batch of White Knight equipment to ensure that their armor is more suited for exploring the other side of the portal—the ample internal space within the White Knight Armor provided great convenience for the modification work.

Of course, the White Knights are not professional technical personnel, they cannot fulfill the role of front-line scholars, thus the positioning of this team is "vanguard"; their mission is to be the first mortals to pass through the door, to ascertain the safety of the environment on the other side, and establish a temporary base there—once the situation is stable, the true technical personnel will follow to enter.

The preparations of the White Knights are nearing completion, and Kamel hears the "clanking" sound of lock clasps closing within the armor of the twelve heavy-armored priests.

"I should get going as well," Kamel began to float, his gaze turning towards the direction of the portal. A resonant buzzing sound emanated from within him, "After so much preparation, we finally reach this moment."

"Master Kamel," although the plan was already set, Windsor Maple couldn’t help but step forward and confirm once more, "Are you really sure you want to go in person? You know, the situation over there..."

"We’ve already worked out the solutions, haven’t we?" Kamel’s voice buzzed, as if smiling, although his appearance revealed nothing, "The environment over there merely can’t absorb Mana, but it doesn’t affect the ’reserve Mana’ sent from elsewhere. Theoretically, the more abundant the ’reserve Mana,’ the more stable and sustained the actions over there. And the Mana I have stored... far exceeds anyone else’s here, even beyond any energy device other than those three Energy Towers."

"Indeed, theoretically you can stay active ’there’ the longest, but as an energy being by nature, the Mana-devoid environment poses a grave danger to you," Windsor Maple stated solemnly, "Ordinary individuals may just faint if depleted of Mana, but you..."

"Don’t worry, I’m going there to conduct research, not to throw my life away. I don’t plan to rashly use up my own Mana in a standoff against the environment there—our ’solution’ will come into play," Kamel buzzed, "Besides... don’t forget, we have a powerful ’external aid’ that will assist once the team enters."

"The Lady of the Tower?" Windsor Maple murmured thoughtfully, "Indeed, she sent word earlier that she is in position..."

Kamel nodded, saying no more, as he floated towards the White Knights who were ready, awaiting orders. After giving simple instructions to the leader of this "priest vanguard," he was the first to fly towards the portal.

The White Knights followed closely, their heavy footsteps reverberating through the grand hall of this historically significant castle. They carried a large amount of "advance equipment" and heavy supply boxes needed on the other side, striding towards the mirror-like spatial passage.

After the White Knights entered, the "Explorer" golem, having completed its maintenance, jumped down from the platform, waving its long mechanical limbs as it followed the team—this time, it would assist the team on the other side as part of the vanguard exploration unit.

In a brief moment of consciousness interruption and weightlessness, Kamel felt as if he had crossed an invisible curtain.

This curtain was only a thin layer, yet passing through it invoked a sense of a "vast distance" defying physical and spatial logic. Kamel seemed to hear countless voices burst around him, but in the blink of an eye, these voices vanished like phantoms in his ears. All these wondrous sensations lasted but briefly, and upon crossing that "mirror" layer, Kamel felt he had "set foot" firmly in another space.

"Set foot" was a psychological feeling—he floated all along, and due to his unique body structure, he hadn’t felt his feet on solid ground for a long time.

Kamel floated forward, an expansive plaza filled his vision, distant high walls and temple buildings loomed, and a murky sky covered this vast space, all resembling the "scenery" seen by the Explorer golem.

Yet the emotional impact of seeing it firsthand was utterly different from viewing through holographic projections.

Heavy footsteps echoed from behind as the White Knights crossed the portal, immediately followed by the clatter of the Explorer golem’s mechanical limbs.

"This is God’s kingdom... the domain forbidden to mortals..."

Kamel, listening to the commotion behind, couldn’t help but murmur softly to himself, all the longings, all the past, all regrets and nostalgia... they all converged at this moment, yet silently dissipated into nothingness.

He floated silently ahead of the portal, unable to express any rich expressions, nor shed a drop of excited tears.

Then, an unexpected sense of "drainage" emerged from within, interrupting his soon-to-fray train of thought.

The ancient Arcane Master looked down, seeing the Ao energy on the surface of his body fluctuating in brightness at a peculiar frequency, feeling increasingly as if even his inherent Mana and entity were "evaporating." He clearly sensed the Magic Power forming his body steadily depleting to maintain this form, and in the next instant, he sensed the surrounding environment’s... "void."

The bright point, located where Kamel’s head would be, suddenly brightened—he widened his "eyes."

This was the first time in his life he experienced such a feeling—a feeling so completely novel, incredible, yet sought-after long since!

The sensation of Mana depletion grew increasingly pronounced; each bit of loss consumed his "life foundation," yet Kamel was overwhelmed with immense joy—if it weren’t for the twelve White Knights behind and many colleagues observing from the other side of the portal, he’d even have had the urge to shout out in excitement!

However, Kamel wasn’t overwhelmed by this immense joy. Once the White Knights transported the initial exploration equipment to the space near the portal, he promptly turned and floated towards a large silver-white metal box, unhesitatingly detaching an arcane flame stream from himself to connect to a crystal atop the box.

The glimmering Mage light on him instantly stabilized.

This was a "solution" Kamel designed for himself as a Magic Power being to explore a Mana-depleted divine kingdom.

Haul a super-sized Enchanting Gem...