Chapter 66: A new beginning

Rowena noticed that Alaric was still hesitating over the decision, so she pulled out a large map from one of the drawers and spread it across the desk.

"How much do you know about the world beyond this continent?" she asked. "The memories I placed inside this body didn’t contain much information that wouldn’t be necessary for maintaining its identity."

"Nothing." Alaric admitted. "Only a few places beyond the Flenn Kingdom, that’s it."

"Then you should understand where I intend to take you before making your final decision.

"We currently live upon the Southern Continent, which is only one of the five known continents."

Rowena pointed toward the large landmass occupying the southern portion of the map before moving her finger across the others.

The Eastern Continent and Northwestern Continent occupied their respective directions, while the Abandoned Continent stood farther away from the rest.

At the centre of everything was the largest marked landmass. Separating all of these landmasses was a massive water body called the Divine Sea.

"The Central Continent is the strongest of the five," Rowena explained. "Its resources, inheritances and powerful organizations are far beyond what you can find here.

"A Paragon would still be considered valuable there, but nobody would treat one as the absolute peak of existence."

"Is there a name for the rank above the Paragon realm?" Alaric asked.

I can’t really keep calling them ’existences beyond Paragon realm’ right?

"Dominion. It is the realm immediately above Paragon, and several major organizations on the Central Continent are led by Dominions or possess more than one of them."

Alaric looked at the map with a complicated expression.

Within the Southern Continent, a single Paragon could support an entire noble house and force kingdoms to treat them carefully.

The Central Continent possessed organizations where several people stronger than Paragons gathered under the same banner.

Like any other novel, Tales of Golden Era started in a beginner area like Flenn Kingdom.

Alaric silently thought.

"The power that agreed to receive me is called the Meridian Court," Rowena continued. "They believe someone with my talent is worth recruiting, even if accepting me carries the possibility of offending several Dominions."

"Several Dominions?" Alaric asked. "How many enemies did you tell them you have?"

"I didn’t give them names, and I certainly didn’t tell them about Vharaketh or the origin of your body.

"I only warned them that my departure could anger several powerful individuals. The Meridian Court still agreed, but they placed one important condition upon the arrangement."

Rowena needed to leave the Southern Continent without attracting attention. The Meridian Court was powerful enough to accept the risks surrounding her, but it had no interest in publicly entering another continent and fighting several Dominions before she had even joined them.

Their departure therefore needed to remain discreet until everyone had boarded the artifact vessel being sent to collect them.

"Why do we need their vessel?" Alaric asked. "In the Paragon realm, one can fly without using much mana, right? And I don’t think a Paragon like you would be tired of carrying several people.

"Can’t a Paragon cross between continents through flight then?"

Rowena shook her head.

"Crossing the Divine Sea is difficult even for Dominions.

"Its mana currents change without warning, spatial disturbances appear throughout the journey, and numerous creatures living inside it can threaten anyone travelling above the Divine Sea.

"Even if I could cross it by myself, protecting a large group throughout the journey would be impossible."

Ordinary ships couldn’t survive long enough to travel between the continents.

Only specially refined artifacts could withstand the Divine Sea while protecting the people inside, and the Meridian Court belonged to the small number of powers in the Central Continent capable of producing such vessels.

That explained why Rowena couldn’t arrange the journey herself despite all the treasures she had taken from the dead Paragons.

"How did you contact someone across the Divine Sea without your father discovering it?" Alaric asked.

"Even if he has stopped paying attention to you, something as significant as communication with another continent should have caught his attention if he is as troublesome, unfathomable and powerful as you mentioned, right?"

"One of Vharaketh’s gifts made it possible."

Rowena took out a thin grey relic which appeared like a shard broken from a much larger object. There were several faint markings upon its surface, but Alaric couldn’t sense any mana coming from it.

"It is called the Veil of Broken Echoes.

"It can conceal one communication exchange regardless of the distance involved, or suppress the presence of everything inside a fixed area no wider than fifty paces.

"The effect lasts for less than an hour, and it cannot perform both functions during the same activation."

Most importantly, the suppressed area couldn’t move after the relic was activated.

It could hide a meeting or protect them while boarding the Meridian Court’s vessel, but it couldn’t conceal an entire moving group throughout the journey.

"It prevents others from noticing the communication, but it doesn’t transport anyone or protect us from the Divine Sea," Rowena explained. "That is why the Meridian Court’s vessel is necessary.

"Not to mention, what is just a single foreign unknown Paragon like me supposed to do even if I cross the Divine Sea and land in the Central Continent?

"I’ll still need to join an organization before someone misunderstands my identity and puts me in danger. So it’s better to prepare beforehand."

Alaric nodded in understanding before asking another important question. "Are you leaving only because you expect trouble?"

"That is the practical reason, although I also have a personal one." Rowena returned the relic to her spatial storage.

"Taking Vharaketh’s prepared vessel away, you, from this continent could interfere with whatever my father has arranged.

"If the weakened individual I asked you about happens to leave with us as well, we might also remove Vharaketh’s intended enemy."

She didn’t know that Alice was the person Alaric had thought about during their earlier conversation, but she had clearly suspected that he would include that individual among the people he gathered to leave this continent.

"If my father genuinely has nothing to do with either of them, our departure will change nothing," Rowena continued.

"If he has spent years arranging something around Vharaketh and his enemy, then removing both from the continent could ruin a considerable part of his plan.

"After how he treated me, I would enjoy denying him whatever he wants."

Alaric couldn’t blame her for holding a grudge.

Alastair had watched his own daughter being attacked by Paragons because he wanted to discover what she had obtained, and he might have allowed her to die if her trump cards had been insufficient.

Alaric returned his attention to the map and considered everything he would lose by leaving.

There were hidden opportunities he remembered from the novel, future events he could exploit and talented people he had planned to recruit.

The Academy alone should have provided him with legal access to knowledge from both the Body and Magic Paths.

However, knowing that a valuable treasure would appear somewhere in five years was worthless if a Dominion destroyed that place next month.

His knowledge of the future also couldn’t protect him if Alastair or another existence above Paragon decided to use him for their plans.

Most importantly, Alaric still had the System and several geniuses connected to him.

His future knowledge had given him a large advantage, but it was no longer his only method of growing stronger.

"I’ll go with you," Alaric finally decided. "However, I need to speak with Orwin before he finishes transferring everything here.

"He is a Paragon Mage, while Sophia possesses exceptional talent of her own."

Rowena thought for a bit before agreeing.

"Approach him, but reveal nothing about Vharaketh. A second Paragon and another exceptional talent will improve our position to negotiate when the Meridian Court decides the final terms of our reception."

Alaric also brought up another matter while he was at it.

"There is also Mira’s family. Her younger brother is travelling with Celdric Veyr, another Paragon Knight, while her mother is still missing.

"I want Mira to leave with me but it would go against my conscience to leave the continent while abandoning both of them. Also, it would hurt Mira in the future if she comes to know the truth of our departure."

Rowena agreed to prioritize the search for Mira’s mother and contact Celdric about the coming departure.

She couldn’t guarantee that Celdric would join them or allow Velan to leave, but the possibility of bringing another Paragon and more talented children was worth pursuing.

"The vessel cannot carry House Orlen’s entire army without attracting attention, so choose carefully," Rowena warned him. "The Meridian Court values talent and strength. Every exceptional person we bring will give us more influence when we arrive."

Once their discussion ended, Alaric walked toward the window and looked into the distance at the lands under House Orlen’s control.

Until today, just leaving the Flenn Kingdom might’ve felt like a major decision. Like his earlier plan to join the Academy.

Now he had agreed to abandon the Southern Continent itself, along with nearly every place and future event he remembered from the novel.

As Alaric continued watching the familiar skies outside, the reality of his decision finally began setting in.

Leaving all this would also mean leaving the official power of the Flenn Kingdom.

I doubt Rowena cares about it, but...does it mean I put all that effort in for nothing?

No.

Alaric denied that thought. Only because he got Rowena to return was he able to know all of this, or he might have died without knowing what happened.

Sigh... a new beginning huh?