Chapter 1233 - 1232: Reaching a Consensus

Chapter 1233: Chapter 1232: Reaching a Consensus

Petia, the Deep Sea Sovereign, felt that things were developing in a way that didn’t quite align with her initial judgment; the Elemental Sovereign didn’t seem to have much liking for the special products brought by the sea demons—however, the outcome seemed appropriate nonetheless.

She came with her sisters for negotiation, met the Water Elemental Lord, and initially struggled; then, she presented the special products, and the Elemental Sovereign’s attitude became cooperative—as long as the final outcome remained unaffected, it was fine.

The special products worked.jpg.

After swiftly piecing together this flawless equation in her mind, Petia felt delighted. With a smile, she looked at the Elemental Sovereign towering over her, even higher than the tallest Surge, and said, "Well, since you don’t like this, I’ll take it back. Later, I’ll find something else more suitable for you from our special products..."

"Enough!" Glugruno, the Elemental Sovereign, shouted irritably, "As long as you and your unusually minded kin stop causing trouble for me, I’m not interested in your special products—the Great Harvester, you’d better explain what you intend to do before the little trust I’ve just established with you dissipates—understand my meaning? Use normal logic that living beings and living elements can comprehend, like the natural rotation of this planet’s -norm-al- log-ic, not the whimsical ideas your kind are accustomed to, and clarify things a bit more!"

The Elemental Sovereign’s manner of speaking was quite blunt, but considering what she and her sisters had done to this Sovereign and his followers over countless millennia, considering the Elemental Dome still had many holes left unrepaired, considering the sea demons forcibly occupied what was originally a Water Elemental territory—the deep-sea (mainly because the spaceship couldn’t be moved), Petia could understand the Sovereign’s foul mood—while the contract remained valid, the only thing the Sovereign could do was to sound a bit more firm. As for herself as a sea demon... her greatest strength was peace of mind.

Therefore, the sea demons Queen with peace of mind was utterly unfazed. She calmly met Glugruno’s gaze, discussing the purpose of her visit in full detail, including the abnormalities humans discovered in The Deep Blue Webway, the records of the Dragonkin two million years ago, and her own concerns regarding this matter—she explained the stakes clearly, because she believed Sovereign Glugruno was a presence filled with wisdom, as evidenced by his opposition to many others when signing the understanding contract with the sea demons Kingdom, ending the "millennia-old blood feud" of the two elemental factions.

"The Deep Blue Webway? You say there might be something happening inside it?" After listening patiently to Petia, the water flowing around Glugruno seemed to calm slightly, and the powerful Water Elemental Lord’s tone took on a thoughtful remark, "I seem to remember something like that happened a very, very long time ago... when those unfortunate Dragonkin hadn’t been trapped by their unfortunate gods yet, powerful magical currents erupted from all the planet’s magic focal points, forming circular barriers that almost sealed the entire planet from the universe... ah, ordinary mortals couldn’t see such a spectacle, but in my eyes, it was quite magnificent.

"Let me think about what happened afterward... global tsunamis? Extreme droughts in inland areas? Magnetic pole shift, hurricanes rampaging... that season’s civilization survived by relying on plenty of shelters, even the Dragonkin went through difficult times, but it was a grand festival for elemental creatures. Great Harvester, it’s a pity you didn’t witness that grand celebration, for at that time, you and your peers hadn’t fallen down yet."

The elderly Elemental Sovereign appeared no different than aged humans; once he started reminiscing, he couldn’t stop.

"I’m not interested in the past events on this planet," Petia interrupted the giant’s rambling, "I’m concerned about now, rumbling sound, I’m concerned about the current situation in The Deep Blue Webway..."

The Water Elemental Lord interrupted her loudly even before Petia finished speaking, his roaring voice echoing across the vast ocean sky: "Properly address my name! Great Harvester! I am called Glugruno!"

"Close enough, you used the strange name ’Harvester’ for me and my sisters anyway," Petia waved her tail indifferently, "After so many years, you haven’t changed your tune..."

The Elemental Giant slowly bent down, and from his body more magnificent than the Surge, came the roaring sound of waves. The swirling vortex at his head position stared intently, as if an eye, at the seemingly diminutive Petia, who looked like a small fish—but in his true vision as an Elemental Sovereign, he could see the almost limitless power surging behind this "sea demons Queen," see countless invisible elemental lines connecting her body to the surrounding ocean. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, this elemental creature from foreign realms was just as powerful a "sovereign" as he was, and this made him particularly wary—

"Great Harvester, you and your kind revived from the corpses of my brethren, revived again and again; your arrival destroyed our dome and extracted unimaginable pure water from the dome’s rift to repair your own bodies; you extracted strength from the remains of Gods, not only using them as fuel but also feasted upon them—if you cannot be called ’Harvester,’ I can hardly think of anyone else suited for that title."

"...Alright, you are right," Petia thought for a moment and readily accepted his statement, "Let’s not discuss name issues then, shall we discuss The Deep Blue Webway? rumbling sound, you’ve ruled this Boundless Sea for so long, have you..."

"I don’t know what the ’abnormal phenomenon’ you speak of looks like, but as far as I know, everything here is just the same old, nothing has changed—" The giant slowly straightened up, raising his hand to point at the vast sea behind him. In an instant, the ocean split apart like sliced by a knife, yet when the water parted like cliff edges, the exposed area beneath revealed not the seabed, but another surface of turbulent waves—a torrential downpour flew upward from that "sea beneath the sea," forming a reversed rain curtain defying physical laws, continuously merging into the "Boundless Sea" controlled by Sovereign Glugruno.

But what Glugruno intended to show Petia was not this wondrous layered sea but the blue light streams flowing through the "reversed rain curtain" and the deep-sea water.

They flowed through this vast water world, the magical torrents difficult to find in the material world attained substantial form in this pure elemental environment; they were like this world’s large blood vessels, incessantly transporting astonishing primordial power to far-off places, and at the intersections of those massive blue light streams, one could further see distorted lens-like images, where faint projections from another space emerged amid the distorting light and shadow changes.

"As you can see, the essence of The Deep Blue Webway—I haven’t found anything amiss with it, at least until now it looks pretty normal."

"...Perhaps it’s just because the anomaly hasn’t spread here yet," Petia gazed at the blue light streams flowing in all directions in the Boundless Sea, her expression gradually turning solemn, "Our allies indicate there might be someone deliberately manipulating this phenomenon, if it truly is human-made... then their actions might take time to reveal the flaws."

"Man... who can fathom the mysteries within this ’blood of the planet,’ who can control the operating laws of The Deep Blue Webway?" Glugruno’s tone was filled with disdain, "Is it those somewhat clever mortals? Or those gods behind them who go mad every so often? Even we, Elemental Sovereigns who have lived for long ages, and that once unbelievably powerful ’Dragon God’ don’t dare to claim understanding, do you truly believe there’s anyone in this world who can influence the operations of The Deep Blue Webway?"

"I don’t know, but the clues have indeed appeared, that’s why I came here to find you," Petia said earnestly, "I know you guys don’t care much about the life and death of the material world, but we live on ’the other side’ all year round."

"...Hmph, I don’t believe anyone can truly influence the operations of The Deep Blue Webway from behind the scenes, that’s something only the original Voyager might have achieved—but I am also not interested in entangling with you on this matter," Glugruno gave Petia a glance, "I have only one question... you mentioned your ’allies’ earlier, were you referring to those ’Cecil Clan’ living in the north of the Loren Continent? Or that ’resurrected’ Gawain?"

"Both," Petia replied calmly, "Gawain Cecil is our friend, and the Cecil Empire under his rule is a partner of the sea demons, and for now, we’re cooperating quite pleasantly."

"...Gawain Cecil, interesting, I thought I’d never hear that mad name again, didn’t expect he could actually come back as promised," there seemed to be a hint of a smile in Glugruno’s voice, although it was unclear whether it was mocking or wistful. Then his gaze fell back on Petia, the ’eye vortex’ on his head slowly swirling, "Alright, since you wish to cause a fuss, then go ahead and fuss here, for the sake of being fellow water elements and for that mad name—you may set up a sentinel post near the rift of the Boundless Sea and send a small number of sentinels over.

The usual elemental creatures don’t like to get close to those magic currents, but you strange beings seem indifferent to it... if you wish to monitor The Deep Blue Webway, go ahead, but some things must be agreed upon in advance.

Your sentinels must not trouble any water elements, must not wander too far from the post, the general location of the post and the number of personnel shall be designated by me, and... I will always be watching them."

"No problem—it’s your domain, all reasonable requests," Petia agreed to the request of this Elemental Sovereign without much hesitation, then as if remembering something, showed a curious expression on her face, "But there’s one thing I’d like to inquire about..."

"Speak, Great Harvester."

"Your attitude seemed a bit strange when mentioning Gawain Cecil," Petia looked at the giant elemental before her, "You also called it a ’mad name’... Why is that? And I heard that the reason Gawain Cecil could resurrect is that he received the blessings of the four elements back then, is that true? Did you bless him?"

"Ha, Great Harvester, your curiosity is certainly lively," Glugruno chuckled, his voice rumbling in the high air, then he paused momentarily before speaking in a low voice, "Yes, it’s true, the four Elemental Sovereigns unusually agreed to do the same thing... and of course, that included me."

"Why?" Petia’s curiosity grew even more, "You guys don’t seem like the type to be interested in the mortal world—if I have to say, Water Elemental Lord Wendy might have a slight interest, but how could the other three take interest in an ordinary mortal back then, and even personally bless him, granting him an immortal body?"

"Why..." As the seawater inside Glugruno surged, a deep rumbling sound was heard, and he seemed to fall into brief recollection, then abruptly laughed deeply within it, "Heh... when a daring mortal suddenly comes before you, saying that he plans to climb the Voyager’s high towers, to climb to the highest tower to ’keep an appointment,’ who wouldn’t be stirred by curiosity? What a wondrous feat... since the Dragonkin closed off, we hadn’t seen such an unbelievable event... who wouldn’t want to see just what outcome this audacious mortal would meet in the end?"

The giant’s voice was low, and he paused momentarily, then said with a touch of rue, "When he held a funeral back then, we even sent our avatars to take a look, Frem and Gunda Krulm thought we were fooled..."

He waved a hand, the water curtain swung like a waterfall at his motion, the sea restored its original state amidst a roaring sound, and his gaze fell on Petia: "Our new agreement is thus decided, Great Harvester—do you have any other matters?"

"None," Petia shook her head, a serious expression on her face, nodding slightly to the giant before her, "Thank you very much for your understanding and cooperation, rumbling sound—we shall leave now, I’ll send my general later to discuss the specific arrangements for the sentinel post and sentinels with you. See you soon."

As she spoke, this Deep Sea Sovereign turned with the accompanying sea demons towards the still-functioning elemental passage, and after a moment’s pause, Glugruno reacted, his shout reverberating like a wave over the Boundless Sea: "Damn it! My name is Glugruno! Does a creature like you, lacking even elemental cores, also lack memory?!"

However, Petia’s indifferent wave and the swift disappearance of the sea demons into the Elemental Rift were all that answered him, while the distant sea breeze blew again, leaving only the Water Elemental Lord and the sentinels of the Boundless Sea staring at one another.

After a moment, a sentinel holding a Crystal Spear couldn’t help but speak: "Feudal Lord, do you truly believe these sea demons’ words? Their story is too absurd..."

"I didn’t believe them at first, but when they brought out those ’specialties,’ I started believing," Glugruno said in a deep voice, with an inexplicable sense of emotion, "Those things... are pollutants we fear, but they’re not to them, the fact they’re willing to offer such things as ’gifts’... it shows they’re serious. After all... they are sea demons."