Volume 1: Stranger in a Strange Land Chapter 43: Cracks and Rifts
During the era when the End Watchers were active, the Mages Guild reached its peak under William's management. At that time, the best magic researchers from all over the continent gathered together and jointly proposed the concept of the Astral Circuit.
After completing the mission of "Magic Dawn", William, who disclosed the astral circuit technology, also expected that if the game had a sequel, it would be a world with a combination of magic and steam.
However, the reality went against one's wishes. At least a thousand years later, the world still had the productivity of the Middle Ages.
But later generations actually realized the idea of astral circuits.
This made William very curious about how they solved those technical problems.
The biggest technical difficulty of the astral circuit is not to build a star lighthouse, or even to build a magic network covering the continent. These are secular problems, and they can be done as long as the ruler has enough courage and resources to invest.
The real difficulty lies in how to find multiple paths that can bypass the Moon Realm and connect the real world with the astral realm.
In this world, stars are not real celestial bodies, but holes. They penetrate the moon realm, which symbolizes nothingness, and transmit the creative substance in the astral world from themselves. Those creative substances are filtered through the shell of the world and turned into starlight.
In William's time, due to the drastic changes in the moon's environment, even the greatest astrologer of the time could not accurately predict the direction of the stars.
Without being able to predict the direction stably, it is impossible to draw a star map, and naturally there is no way to build a star circuit.
According to calculations, it would take at least another 500 years for the Moon Realm to gradually calm down. But he learned from Liliana that the Star Law was established more than 200 years after he left.
So how did they bypass the unstable lunar realm and build a circuit to the astral realm?
The answer is that they didn't bypass the Moon Realm at all.
When William saw the densely packed space stabilizing runes engraved on the tower, his heart collapsed.
And when he saw the huge Moon Realm rift on the top of the tower through the spell [Moon Realm Detection], he almost vomited blood.
The designer of the Star Law did not choose to bypass the treacherous Moon Realm, but simply and crudely chiseled open the shell of the world and built a star realm circuit directly through the Moon Realm.
The Trace of Sorrow suppressed by the Dusk Fortress was once the largest Moon Realm rift in the world. It was a wound in the Shell of the World, and it was also the largest portal for the Moon Realm to invade the Vic Continent.
Although the crack that appeared on the top of the Star Lighthouse was not as large as the Scar of Sorrow, if any Void King wanted to do something through it, it would definitely lead to catastrophic consequences.
After the End Watchers repelled the invasion of the Moon Realm, they took great pains to seal the wound. Even so, the Sorrowful Scar is still a weak point in the World Shell to this day, as evidenced by the Shambler Demon summoned there before.
And they actually chiseled open the shell of the world themselves just to monopolize the source of magic power in the star world?
William still remembered that Liliana had said before that there were a total of twenty-four star lighthouses on the entire continent. If the Moon Realm rift here was not an isolated case, then there were now twenty-four Moon Realm rifts evenly distributed on the Vic continent.
This news is so shocking.
William did a simple calculation and found that if the Moon Realm intended to invade, the scale and intensity would probably be more than twice that of a thousand years ago. Considering that the rifts were spread all over the continent, the level of trouble would be at least ten times more.
"What have you done since I left?"
William stared at the crack and sighed.
His hand trembled slightly as he touched the runes on the tower. He could feel that the space runes used to prevent the Moon Realm monsters from entering the world were very powerful. Ordinary Moon Realm monsters could not even get close to here.
But these rune barriers are nothing but superficial decorations to the Void Kings. They did not destroy them simply because they did not want to do so for the time being.
Is there no one at the Tribunal to stop those bastards from doing this?
Well, the Star Law was established more than 200 years after he left, and many of his companions in the Judgment Seat should have been gone by then. But in the Judgment Thirteen Seats, in addition to mortals, there are still many long-lived species.
Duva Jinn of the Dragon Clan, Kols Jackdaw of the Crow Clan, Remedios Moonshadow of the High Elves, and Kols, whose body has become immortal...
If nothing unexpected had happened, their lifespans would definitely have been enough to survive until now.
Did they not try to stop these things, or did they try and fail?
In any case, there must be some deeper reasons behind the founding of the Riel Empire eight hundred years ago.
The only thing to be thankful for now is that the size of this Moon Realm rift is not large enough for the real bodies of the Void Kings to pass through, and even their incarnations cannot squeeze in.
As long as the enemy has a health bar, he can defeat it.
Thinking of this, William withdrew his gaze from the crack and continued to climb up the stairs of the lighthouse.
He walked and thought.
This Star Lighthouse has been in operation for nearly 800 years. During this period, there has never been an incident of Moon Realm monsters invading the Vic Continent - at least he has not seen any similar records in the historical documents he has read in the past few days.
Just as he had thought before, the fact that the Void Kings did not take advantage of these cracks only meant that they did not want to do so for the time being, but this definitely did not mean that they had no plans. Instead, their plans had been prepared for more than 800 years until now.
Unknown threats are the most terrifying threats.
So what are they planning?
William, walking in the shadows, dodged the patrol route of a fire servant.
After entering the middle level of the lighthouse, there are more security measures and spell traps along the way, and the patrolling security personnel are changed from guards to various elemental spirits.
In desperation, William changed his illusion-type stealth skills into shadow-type stealth skills.
Of course, if he was still discovered, he would have no choice but to try the stealth method of the Musou series.
I hope not.
…………
It was only after Duke Simon returned to the Rose Palace that he realized that Vincent had been waiting for him in the conference room for a long time.
When Simon came in, Vincent immediately asked the adjutant who came back with him to leave, closed and locked the door, and knocked on the door lock with the magic medium in his hand.
The blue electric light spread along the magic medium to the four walls of the room. All sounds in the room were blocked and their conversation could not be heard outside.
This was a technique he had figured out on his own to use lightning magic - shielding the sound by causing slight ripples in space. This technique was not included in the spell catalog of the Star Law, and in a sense it was considered heresy.
But neither of the two people in the room would care about this.
"If you do this I can think you are trying to assassinate me."
Simon joked that perhaps the preparations for the ceremony had been completed and he was a little relaxed at the moment.
But seeing Vincent's serious expression, Simon also restrained his smile and asked:
"What's wrong? Wasn't the matter of the Silver Stream Mine handled properly?"
Vincent shook his head and said, "There are still some things that have not been blocked."
As he spoke, he pointed the magic medium in his hand at Simon's forehead, and a faint lightning connected the magic medium and Simon's eyebrows.
In Simon's etheric realm, his connection with the three moon realm spirits was temporarily cut off.
"What do you want to do?"
Simon was really nervous now. He looked around inconspicuously and asked.
"I want to tell you what happened to me in the Silver Mine just now, but you can't let anyone else know about this. This 'other person' includes the moon spirits that signed a contract with you."
Vincent explained quickly.
"What on earth happened? Could that person really be a paladin from the Demon Burial Agency?"
Simon asked suspiciously.
"No, it's much scarier than that. Just listen to me first, and don't refute me like a rational and normal person before I finish speaking."
Then Vincent began to tell about how he met the magic caster who called himself "Judge" after going down into the mine.
He spoke quickly, but his logic was very clear and there was no emotion in his words.
Simon tried to interrupt Vincent several times at first to ask for details, but Vincent spoke too fast and didn't give him a chance to interrupt.
When Simon heard the magic caster use divine-level frost magic, his expression also became serious.
After hearing that the magic caster wanted Vincent to become the new ruler of Blackwater Province, Simon fell completely silent.
"...Until the very end, he didn't attack me when I turned my back. I rushed here immediately after leaving the mine. I asked the housekeeper and learned that you went to the Star Lighthouse and would be back soon, so I have been waiting for you here."
Vincent finally said, and then he looked Simon in the eyes and asked: "What should we do next?"
Simon looked at him in silence, and after a long while he slowly spoke:
"What about you? What do you think?"
Vincent analyzed:
"First, we need to find out the identity of the magic caster. Under the framework of the Star Law, a magic caster who can reach the divine realm will not choose to help Blackwater Province become independent. And if he is a heretic wizard, it is impossible for him to reach that realm without making any noise..."
Fifty years ago, there was a heretic wizard who arrived in the divine realm in Broken Tooth Province. In order to satisfy his huge consumption of magic power, he spread a withering plague in Broken Tooth Province. It was a disease that could cause both the body and the soul to wither after infection. All those infected by the plague would gradually burn their souls to become his source of magic power.
This turmoil, called the "Withering Plague", was eventually solved by the cooperation of the Demon Burial Agency and the Platinum Circle. The method was to slaughter all those infected with the Withering Plague, thereby cutting off the source of magic power of the heretic wizard in the Divine Realm.
From this example, we can see that if one relies on burning souls as a source of magic power, then the consequences of reaching the divine realm would undoubtedly be catastrophic.
"... and he said his goal was to get rid of the control of the gods, so it is unlikely that he reached the divine realm through the Moon Realm. Then there are only two possibilities left: one is that he was a strong man who reached the divine realm before the emergence of the Star Law, such as the member of the 'Judgment Seat' we saw under the stone tablet in the Holy Tomb, and this is consistent with his claiming to be the chief judge."
Vincent continued his analysis:
"And the second possibility is even crazier. He may be a divinely inspired person like Terra I. If that's the case, everything can be explained. Because if the Holy Spirit descends to the world, it will definitely not be bound by the laws of the stars..."
Duke Simon listened to Vincent's endless analysis for a long time before he said:
"That's not what I'm asking."
Vincent stopped and looked at Duke Simon with some confusion.
Duke Simon looked into Vincent's eyes and said carefully:
"What do you think about what he said, that he hopes you will become the new ruler of Blackwater Province?"
Vincent showed an expression of disbelief . He never thought Simon would ask this question.
"Simon Walder, I hope I can still call you that."
Vincent also stared into the other person's eyes and said:
"Let's not even mention that I have served you as your mage advisor for twenty-four years. If I had...even the slightest intention of replacing you, do you think I would have told you this? Or have you already forgotten your original intention of striving for independence for Blackwater Province and have now become a monster who keeps grabbing power?"
After Vincent finished speaking, the two of them stared at each other in silence for a long time.
Finally, Duke Simon broke the silence:
"I'm sorry, Vincent, but my current position does not allow me to miss any threats..."
Vincent said: "But you can always trust me."
Duke Simon asked: "So what are you going to do next?"
Vincent replied: "Let's first confirm the identity of that person. If he is really a divinely inspired one, or a member of the Judgment Seat, I think it's not a bad idea to cooperate with him. The conditions he proposed are not worse than those of the three goddesses. As long as you swear to him to give up cooperation with the Moon Realm, he will probably agree to let you do it..."
This is also the reason why Vincent wants to block Duke Simon’s contact with those few lunar spirits.
But before he could finish his words, Duke Simon interrupted him: "No."
The expression on Duke Simon's face returned to that of a profound superior.
"No, the arrow has been shot and there is no turning back. Whether it is the transformation of Wang Kou or the eternal gift, all the ceremonies are ready. You can go to the observatory of the Star Lighthouse later and replace that old turtle as the tower keeper for half a day."
Duke Simon spoke to Vincent in a commanding tone.
"After the ceremony on my side is completed, there should be a few days before the Star Council shuts down the Stranger Tower. At that time, you can use the authority of the tower to break through that realm. After that, you, me, and the Blackwater Kingdom will announce our new life to the world together."
Vincent looked at Duke Simon, who was becoming increasingly fanatical, with a blank expression, as if he was looking at a stranger.
"Preparations for the ceremony are complete? When was that?"
Vincent murmured, but Duke Simon did not answer.
"What about the magic caster from the divine realm? How are you going to deal with him?"
Vincent continued to ask.
"When everything is settled, not even a Divine Realm wizard will be able to threaten the new Black Water Kingdom ."
Duke Simon replied:
"Otherwise, how can I have the confidence to be independent from the Riel Empire?"
